Nadim Bashir – Community Ethics – Surah Hujurat Tafsir Verse 9-10
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The speakers discuss the use of "medestream" in the Bible to describe conflict between groups, emphasizing the need for people to be mindful of their own behavior and avoiding harmful behavior. They stress the importance of acknowledging one's actions in public and breaking apart in a community, as well as avoiding conflict and bringing mercy to one's actions. The speakers also mention a video about a situation where a Muslim brother joins a group and tries to kill them, and emphasize the importance of uniting and handling one's affairs based on the way it was shown.
AI: Summary ©
So continuing on Saturday, with the tafsir of
Surah Hujarat. The next two verses
are very beautiful verses, and really Allah is
helping us address our issues and our concerns.
See, it is there's a a very well
known,
statement in Urdu. I don't know the exact
statement, but it's something along the lines
that when dishes come together,
then they're about to make some noise. What
is it called?
So, basically when dishes come together, when utensils
come together, they're bound to make some noise
when they come into contact with each other.
Basically, what it means that when people come
together,
there's bound to be some conflict. It's a
it's a human thing. And we see from
the time of the prophet
even subhanallah, the fact that
the Sahaba were the Sahaba.
But in Madinah, the Sahaba comprised of 2
different tribes primarily,
Aus and Khazraj. These were the 2 primary
tribes, besides the Jewish tribes living in Madinah.
And majority of your ansar are coming from
these from these two tribes. Now, before we
get into the next verse, one thing that
I want you to understand before we get
into this next verse is,
Allah
in some cases,
he's not gonna pinpoint
every single detail.
What he may mention is something which is
very extreme,
and that means that anything that comes below
that, everything is covered. So you mention one
thing, but in essence, Allah is covering all
the cases.
So Allah
in this verse, he says,
Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala he begins the verse
by saying, if there is a conflict,
if there is an issue
between 2 parties,
I'm gonna translate it first for you, and
then we'll go into the explanation.
If there are 2 parties
who are at each other's necks,
they are trying to kill each other.
Then you do salah amongst them. You do
conciliation. You reconcile between them.
If one turns against the other,
if one oppresses the other.
Then turn and revolt against the one who
has committed the transgression
until they come back to Allah
If they come back to Allah Subhanahu wa
ta'ala,
then
do salah amongst them, And then he says,
That be in your approach,
and apply
and be also a just in your approach.
And I'm gonna explain the difference between the
2. And then Allah says,
Allah loves those who apply justice. Now, let's
get back to the beginning of the verse.
The very first thing Allah
says Remember I told you about the extreme
thing? Now listen to this. He says,
If there are 2 groups
Or that means that there might be even
more than 2 groups.
But now a person may say that what
if there's a conflict between 2 people? It's
not 2 groups. Just 2 people. But you
see Allah when he mentions 2 groups,
everything else is covered underneath.
That means that it could be 2 individuals.
It could be 2 or 2, or 3
or 3. As long as it turns into
a group, and often it will always turn
into a group. One group may be in
a conflict with a with another group. So
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala instead of saying that
if individuals are fighting with each other, or
groups are fighting with each other, instead of
all that, Allah just says, if 2 groups
Meaning that anything beat under that, everything is
covered.
So if 2 groups are
in they are from the believers.
Now listen to this very carefully.
Why do you think Allah mentions mumineen?
He could have said Muslimine.
There's a difference between a Muslim and a
Mu'min.
The fact that he mentioned mumineen,
that is the extreme case. That means that
if it's the believers
or anyone under that, even a person who
doesn't even have a lot of religiosity
in their life. If these people come into
a conflict, everyone is covered under the word
mumineen.
And this also tells us another thing, that
it does not mean that just because we
may be believers,
that we'll there will not be a conflict.
It's very possible that you could be a
believer, you could be a sincere person, you
could have a lot of taqwa, and yet
you could get into it, you could engage
into a conflict. And there's no better example
that we find in the stories of Rasulullah
alaihi wasallam. There was not a lot of
conflicts between the sahaba,
but in during the time of the prophet
alaihi wasallam, there were 1 or 2 conflicts
that did occur. And rasul as salam, he
was able to step in, and he was
able to do sull amongst them. But you
see, if the sahaba can get into a
conflict,
then we as human beings, not a sahaba,
we can easily get into a conflict. Once
again, we're human beings. Then Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says,
Now the word technically
means that those who are about to kill
each other. Now once again Allah is mentioning
an extreme case.
What does that mean? It means that anything
below that, it could not be that they're
killing each other. Or it's not that where
they are in such a serious conflict, where
they're at each other's necks or each other's
throats. But the meaning The point is that
even if it's a minor conflict, it is
covered under the word
So if Allah is saying that if there
are 2 believers,
or there are 2 groups of believers, they
are in conflict with each other.
Now Allah
says, what should the community do? Should you
just stand back and watch? Wallahi want the
greatest issues that we have. Today in our
community is, when we see an issue between
2 people,
why do you want to butt into their
business? Why? Brother, you should just mind your
own business. Don't get into their matter. You
should just stay away.
What is Allah telling us?
The society tells us, mind your own business.
Allah is telling us,
By the way the ulamadis say, this fa
in front of is
means
an emphatic
fa. Mean that you should not wait, you
need to jump in. The Muslim community needs
to jump in and do sull amongst them.
Also, look at very beautifully Allah is
telling us that he's not say telling us
take a side.
Because often what we see in a conflict
when it happens, that people are taking sides.
I'm standing on this person's side. I'm standing
on that person's side. And what happens is
Think about it. It might be 2 people
who have started a conflict,
but what happens is
that slowly and gradually, if people do not
step in and they say, let them mind
their own business, let them deal with it
by themselves,
and the community
does not step in, then it might be
2 people, but those 2 people can become
eventually 2 groups.
Because when people participate,
a lot of times they're not participating
to bring and to bring the hearts together,
they're usually taking sides. And this is a
very big problem when this happens.
Allah
is telling us, instead of taking sides,
rather step in and bring sull amongst them.
So Allah is saying,
Now Allah says,
If one of them turns against the other
group Let me give you an example.
Imagine there's a conflict between group A and
group B,
or person A and person B.
The person c, or the group c, who
is the mediator,
or the arbitrator,
they step in and they try to bring
sull amongst them.
Now if he brought sull amongst them,
then what happens if A turns against B?
Then what happens in that situation is that
B and C, person B and C, because
B is being oppressed.
Or and and C because they are the
mediators or the arbitrators.
They will join forces, and they will go
against person A or group A.
Because after doing sull,
they are still revolting against the other group,
this is absolutely wrong. When the sull has
taken place, we need to learn how to
move on. One of the another big issue
that today when we have in our relationships
is after even the soul is done, yet
we cannot let go of the past. And
we keep on bringing up the past, and
sometimes the past
is a is a reason and a cause
for future conflicts. So Allah subhanahu wa'ala is
saying that group C and group B, you
turn against group A. Now Allah is saying,
what if group A turns back to Allah?
They come back to Allah and they do
again.
Then you do amongst them with Adal. Now
Adal is something
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala he mentions many
places in the Quran.
But when you talk about establishing
justice and adal,
it is often done in a public format.
So let me give you a good example.
Imagine in the community,
there is 2 groups once again. Group a
and group b.
Group c, who's a mediator arbitrator,
instead of making it a public scene, they're
gonna take it on the, they're gonna take
it behind closed doors. And they're gonna bring
group a and group b, and behind closed
doors, they're gonna try to mediate amongst them.
Now let's just say they were able to
mediate amongst them. Later on,
if group a turns against group b, as
I as I gave you this example before,
if group a turns against group b, group
b and group C will come together against
And and tell group A what you're doing
is wrong. If group A wants to come
back, and they want to do surah,
in that case,
it is not gonna be done behind closed
doors.
It should be done in a public format.
Because Allah says in the second time,
is you establish justice in public.
Whenever he would establish justice, a lot of
times he will not just do it 1
on 1, he would do it in front
of other people, so that it will send
a message to everyone else. That anyone who
commits an injustice against anyone else, they're gonna
be brought to justice. Simple as that. So
means in a public format. Now when a
public community comes together,
when a community comes together in a public
format, and they're trying to address their issues,
Allah is giving 2 advices.
Number 1.
Do it with justice.
Now,
interesting. It's a very beautiful word. If you
look at the word
it means someone who is rebellious. Like Allah
says,
You understand? Allah here is talking about jinns
who are rebellious.
But if you add an alif to the
beginning of the word
it means
to to eradicate
injustice.
Allah subhanahu wa'am says,
It is the responsibility
of everyone in the community to ensure that
injustice will not take place. And there's no
beautiful example than the example of Rasulullah sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
that even before he became a prophet,
the story of
in the seerah of the prophet alaihi wasallam,
where you have a man coming to Makkah.
He sold merchandise. He was not paid, and
he went back to that person who actually
bought the item, to the Quraysh leader. And
that Quraysh leader, he basically said, I have
no idea what you're talking about. I did
not buy anything from you. This man went
to the Kaaba, and he basically
made a public proclamation
that I have been wronged. I have been
oppressed.
Such and such man did something against me.
The saha I mean at that time it
was rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he was
not a prophet yet. But him and other
people of Makkah, they came together, and they
And they This was the story known as
Hil fur Fudool, but they wrote a pact
that any man who comes from outside, a
foreigner who comes inside Makkah, they will not
be wronged by any Qurayshi leader. Think about
this, this is before
the prophet became a prophet.
Before the prophet became a prophet, meaning that
every single community should be standing up to
ensure that no one is treated with any
kind of injustice. And then Allah
says, Allah loves those
who ensure that justice will be applied in
the community.
Then the next verse, this is the last
verse. Allah says,
You all believers,
you are brothers to each other. Not just
like brothers as we say, you are my
Muslim brother. But no, biological brothers. Now think
about this, even if it's a biological brother.
Now I know you might be thinking, well
there are a lot of biological brothers, I
know that who don't get along. There are
a lot of people who I have, you
know, their biological brothers, they don't talk to
each other. But Allah is telling us
that that's not the standard. The standard is
even when 2 blood brothers, biological brothers, when
they get into a conflict,
what does What usually happens in that kind
of situation?
Who usually steps in? Who usually steps in?
The dad. The father steps in. Right? They
don't The father does not take a step
back and say, let the 2 brothers fight.
Let the 2 siblings fight. No. The father
steps in. The mother steps in. Just like
the mother and the father, they step in
that into that situation,
likewise when there's a conflict in your community,
the Muslim community should not just be standing
back and watch the show, but you step
in and you help you help bring their
hearts together. Allah is saying,
Now listen to this very carefully, very beautiful.
Allah says,
and bring reconciliation.
Reconcile
between your brothers. And then Allah says,
This part is very interesting to note. Why
is this interesting to note? Because Allah is
telling us Allah is telling us that reconcile
your hearts. Do not create differences amongst yourselves.
Why? So that number 1,
be cautious of Allah
So that Allah can have mercy upon you.
So that you can be shown mercy from
Allah
Why is this so important?
Because the enemy
always has one thing in their mind,
divide and conquer.
When you divide people, you can attack them.
When Muslims are together,
Allah
will have mercy upon them. How does He
have mercy upon them? By aiding them, by
supporting them. When muslims work together,
then Allah will bring his mercy upon the
Muslims. But when Muslims are divided, there's no
way that Allah can bring his mercy upon
them. And there's a You know, there's a
some time ago, there's a very beautiful video
that was that was floating around on social
media, where you have 2 antelopes.
An antelope is If you don't know what
an antelope is, it looks like a deer
but it has long horns. There were 2
antelopes that were fighting. They were like in
a in a horn fight against each other.
And far away there is a lion who's
watching this,
and slowly and gradually he's creeping up on
them. Slowly and gradually he's coming close to
them. And what basically, many people there were
floating this video around, that this is the
state of today, our Muslim Ummah. We are
fighting so much internally,
and we have made small issues into big
issues, that the enemy, 1 by 1 they
are picking us apart.
Those 2 antelopes are fighting,
and the lion is coming closer and closer,
and they have absolutely no clue that the
lion is approaching them. Until the lion comes
so close and he pounces on one of
them and he kills one of them. But
this is wallahi. This video, small video,
sort of comp sort of, you know, it
it gives us a practical demonstration
of what this ayah means.
If we want the rahmah of Allah, we
want the mercy of Allah, we have to
work together. There's always gonna be some small
minor differences.
Well, why these small minor differences is not
the what we need to be focused on?
In our community, if we're making a big
difference on, if I'm raising my finger into
shahud, or if I'm making if I'm doing,
you know, rafu alayd in my salat or
not. If I'm doing something different in my
salat, but it is something that is proven
from the aimah, it is proven from the
sunnah of the prophet alaihi wa sallam, why
are we making into these big kind of
issues? Why are we raising them, and making
them into big issues? At the end of
the day, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, he will
ask us on the day of judgment, that
not if you pray salat by this imam
or this imam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
ask us, did you pray your salat or
not? But today we are
we want to make
small, small issues into big issues, and hence
this is why when communities, they break apart,
wallahi then they when when people, they break
apart in a community, and a community gets
involved, and they're taking sides, wallahi, the community
will become bickered, and the community will fall
apart. At the end of the day, every
single community, brothers and sisters, is not about
how beautiful the masjid is. It's about how
our hearts are united from within.
If the hearts are united from within, wallah,
you can have no matter you can have
the most, you know, the most less luxurious
luxurious masjid. You can have a masjid that
has no lighting, no nothing, and yet that
will be the most impactful masjid as we
saw
in the life of Rasul
rasulullah By the way, you may not know
this. The first source of light
that came inside masjid Nabawi was 1 year
before the prophet passed away.
The first source of light.
Majj al Nabawi, go back and study history.
It was palm trees. There was some, you
know, there was some mats, and you know,
as these we call it in udu chatai.
Okay? They had these kind of things at
that at that time. That's all they had.
But wallahi, they had a community.
They had rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam that
made sure that everyone's hearts are united. And
if when everyone's heart was united,
Allah's mercy came upon them, and they were
victorious wherever they went. So I ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala that he keeps our hearts
united. And even if there's a situation where
we get into a conflict, may Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala give us the tawfiq and the
ability
to handle our affairs and our issues according
to the way it was shown to us
by Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.