Nadim Bashir – Conversations In The Quran #12 Story Of Talut #1
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AI: Transcript ©
Today's conversation of the Qur'an comes from
Surah Al-Baqarah insha'Allah and today I'm
going to cover just a portion of that
story because it's a long story I want
to share with you insha'Allah part one
today and part two next week insha'Allah
The story is the story of Talut, but
before that Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala He begins
the passage in Surah Al-Baqarah.
This is after Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala talks
about marriage and divorce Extensively Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala He shifts gears and he's now talking
about going and striving in the cause of
Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala Now you have to
understand in the time of the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wasallam The commander-in-chief is who?
Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
Who are the followers?
It is the Sahaba radiyallahu ta'ala anhum.
So anytime Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala mentions a
story of the past Especially when it comes
to obeying your leader and so forth There's
a reason why Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala mentioned
the story of Talut Because the story begins
with Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala saying the words
alam tara He used the words alam tara.
Alam tara anytime in the Quran Allah subhanahu
wa'ta'ala uses the word alam tara It
is a way for Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
to tell us that now you got to
pay attention See alam tara means literally it
means what?
Have you not seen right?
But think about it Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam
has not seen anything When Allah says alam
tara kayfa fa'ala rabbuka bi ashab alfeel
Have you not seen how Allah subhanahu wa'ta
'ala destroyed the ashab alfeel?
The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam did not actually
see it because he was born in the
year what?
Amulfeel So he did not see anything But
this is not what Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
is telling us because see in English too
when you understand something You know what you
say?
Ah, I see you see when you understand
something you say, ah, I see It's a
way of expression that I understand that I
understand the situation So Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
when he begins the passage by saying alam
tara, it's Allah's way of saying Pay attention,
you understand?
There's a lot of lessons and reflections that
are going to be shared with you in
the story Not only that this Surah Al
-Baqarah was revealed where?
In Medina We know that all the battles
that took place in Islam Especially in the
time of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam all
of them took place when?
In Mecca or Medina?
In Medina So this is Allah's way of
telling the sahabah radiallahu anhum that I'm gonna
share with you the story of Someone of
the past and Bani Israel They had to
go and fight and they have to go
in the cause of Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
but they instead of listening to their leader
and obeying their leader rather they Defied the
laws and they defy the rules of their
own leader and you oh sahaba Radiallahu tal
'an hum, make sure you do not ever
treat Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wasallam this way So
the story begins alam tara'il al-malai
min bani isra'ila min ba'di Musa.
When did the story take place?
Just from a historical perspective.
So you understand when Musa alayhi salam was
able to When when Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
told Musa alayhi salam take Bani Israel with
you go and conquer this land What was
the response of Bani Israel?
Idhab anta warabuka faqatila innaha huna qa'idun
rather you and Allah go and fight We're
gonna sit here as spectators when the job
is done.
Let us know we're gonna move in inshallah
very smoothly We'll make a smooth transition into
into that holy land Because of this arrogance
of theirs Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala trapped them
in a valley for 40 years During this
time.
This is when Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala talks
about the story between Musa alayhi salam And
Bani Israel, which I will share with you
as some other day inshallah, but at the
end of the story Again, Musa alayhi salam.
He was fed up with Bani Israel and
he says that Fafruq baynana wa bayn ala
qawmin fasiqin.
Ya Allah separate me from these people I
want nothing to do with these people anymore.
This is mentioned in Surah Al-Ma'idah
So now they're in this valley in this
40 years Musa alayhi salam passes away during
these 40 years Harun alayhi salam passes away
So now they are looking up to some
of the other Anbiya some of the other
prophets They are not necessarily mentioned in the
Quran by name Just besides the fact that
Allah mentioned the word Nabi mean that these
were people sent by Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala
But we don't know their names necessarily.
So these people this is the time now
that they are fighting with other people They
have been defeated now.
They are looking for some leadership now.
They have been defeated There was a time
where they were on their deen and Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala gave them a lot of
prosperity But now this was a time where
they had transgressed against the limits of Allah
subhanahu wa'ta'ala And now they were suffering
defeat after defeat and during this time now
They are saying in order for us to
gain strength.
We need a commander-in-chief We need
someone at the helm to lead us and
guide us.
So this is why they now came to
the Prophet So now this conversation takes place
between them and the current Prophet.
It is not Musa.
It is not Haroon It is some other
Prophet.
So Allah says أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَىٰ الْمَلَئِ مِن
بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ مِن بَعْدِ مُوسَىٰ Do you not
understand about the story of this group of
people in Bani Israel after the time of
Musa alayhis salam إِذْ قَالُوا Remember the time
when they said لِنَبِيِّنَ To their Prophet who
was appointed at that time اِبَعَثْ لَنَا مَلِكًا
نُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ Send for us a
king meaning that you appoint a king for
us that we can stand behind him and
we can do what نُقَاتِلْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ
We can strive for the cause of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala Now look at the
arrogance of Bani Israel here If they wanted
If they really wanted They could have actually
said that you you are the Prophet You're
the one we look up to for spiritual
guidance You guide us Or they could have
said to this Prophet that you ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala To send for us
a Prophet Now I ask you you know
this The answer is very simple Would you
want to walk and be guided by a
Nabi Or would you want to be guided
by a king who's not a Nabi Who
would you want to walk behind A Nabi
of course But subhanallah you see their arrogance
The mindset of Bani Israel Instead of telling
their Prophet That ask Allah for another Prophet
that we can walk behind them They said
just send us a king That's all we
want just send us a king So the
ulema they say that this really shows and
highlights the arrogance and the stubbornness of Bani
Israel Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says
This Prophet he knew Bani Israel Because see
the first time When Musa a.s. said
let's go and let's fight What did they
say?
You and Allah go and fight So this
Prophet now is saying You want me to
ask Allah for a king But what is
the guarantee that you're going to fight behind
that king You have shown a history of
disobedience You have shown a history That whenever
anyone or Allah gives you any favors Or
any leaders You completely ignore them So they
said That will you disobey Allah After he
gives you a leader And they said They're
saying that why Should we not fight in
the cause of Allah Of course we will
fight in the cause of Allah And not
only that But this now this ayah also
highlights their insincerity too Why?
Because they said after that That we have
been driven out of our homes We have
been driven out of our homes And out
of our lands So why should we not
fight The insincerity here is Either you fight
for Allah Or you fight for land You
understand Either you fight for the cause of
Allah If Allah says go and fight You
go and you fight But if Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is saying That take the
land back Because you were driven out of
this land That's a different case But they're
saying on one hand We're going to fight
for Allah And on the other hand they're
saying We also are going to fight Because
we were driven out of our homes Where
is the loyalty?
Is it doing for Allah?
Or they're doing it because They've been driven
out of their homes So then Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala says Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala gave them a leader And they turned
away Except for a handful of people They
remained behind this leader Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala He then says Allah is very well
aware Of those who have oppressed Meaning you
made a promise That if Allah sends a
leader You will walk behind him But you
did not do that So because of that
This is considered as a zulm Now there's
one interesting thing To note from here And
to learn from here Regarding the subject of
leadership And not only that Even from the
perspective of daily life There's something to be
learned here These people They wanted motivation That's
what they wanted Right?
Yes or no?
Pay attention They wanted motivation They are telling
this Prophet Send, give us a leader That
will motivate us That we can go and
fight When they were given that leader Instead
of motivated They went behind They fell behind
What we learn from this is In life
Many people they say That in order for
me to do anything I need to be
motivated And the reality is that Yes motivation
is there But you know what comes along
with motivation?
Because see there are a lot of people
Who can give you a lot of motivation
As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in
the Quran إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوْمٍ
حَتَّى يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِأَنفُسِهِمْ If the best life
coach came today And gave anyone advice They
can sit there And give them the best
Motivational speech in human history But will they
change?
The answer is Not necessarily Unless they have
one thing in their life And you know
what that thing is called?
It's called discipline If you have no discipline
in life No motivation can change you This
is the reality I say this to my
children I say this to the other youth
No matter how much is there If you
are not disciplined in life I can stand
here and tell you The fadail of coming
for salatul fajr I can go through the
books of ahadith But if a person is
not disciplined in their life Meaning they don't
sleep on time They don't put an alarm
They don't do what is necessary In order
to wake up for fajr All the motivation
is what?
Is wasted So the thing is that A
lot of times we feel The only reason
why I'm lacking behind in life Is because
I don't have enough motivation And I'll say
to you That is not just the motivation
A lot of people will give you the
motivation But the problem that we lack in
our life Is discipline And this is something
that we all have a problem with The
young, the old, the middle age Everyone, we
have a discipline problem And in some aspect
of our life In some sector of our
life We're gonna have some disciplinary issues So
it's not just about the motivation It's about
the discipline Bani Israel They were given the
motivation Because they did not have the discipline
That's why they did not walk behind And
they never became a good follower To this
person Now, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
says The next ayah وَقَالَ لَهُمْ نَبِيُّهُمْ This
prophet of theirs told them إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدَ
بَعَثَ لَكُمْ طَالُوتَ مَلِكًا This person has been
sent to you as a leader Now, Bani
Israel If they were truly disciplined in their
life They could have said This person has
been sent by Allah خَلَصَ صَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا That's
not what their response was Look at their
response They said قَالُوا أَنَّا يَكُنْ لَهُ الْمُلْكُ
عَلَيْنَا How is this person supposed to lead
over us?
وَنَحْنُ أَحَقُّ بِالْمُلْكِ مِنْهُ وَلَمْ يُؤْتَسَعَةً مِّنَ الْمَالِ
Subhanallah Bani Israel You know, subhanallah This is
why we say these two stories Bani Israel
is saying We are more worthy of leading
ourselves Than this person coming and leading us
Based on what?
Listen to this very carefully وَنَحْنُ أَحَقُّ بِالْمُلْكِ
مِنْهُ وَلَمْ يُؤْتَسَعَةً مِّنَ الْمَالِ He has not
been given money He is not a wealthy
person By the way Talut, if you study
his history And you study Bani Israel And
all their 12 tribes The most elite tribes
Were like the tribes which in Biblical references
They are usually referred to as the Levi
tribe Or the Judah tribe and so forth
This person Talut Came from a lower tier
tribe Which was from the descendants of Bani
Amin The brother of Yusuf a.s So
this is who they are from This is
where he is from So first of all
They are looking at him From an elite
perspective Elitist perspective He does not come from
an elite family But number two is He
does not even have money وَلَمْ يُؤْتَسَعَةً مِّنَ
الْمَالِ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says قَالَ
إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاهُ عَلَيْكُمْ This Nabi is telling
them Allah chose this person اصْطَفَاهُ means a
special selection That's why Rasulullah ﷺ One of
his names are مُصْطَفَاهُ مُصْطَفَاهُ Why?
Because he was very specially selected When Allah
talks about Maryam a.s in the Qur
'an يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ اصْطَفَاهُ Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala chose Maryam a.s As
a very special selection By Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala So Allah is telling This Prophet
is telling these people This person طالوت Is
a special selection by Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala وَزَادَهُ بَسْطَطًا فِي الْعِلْمِ وَالْجِسْمِ And why
did Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Give him
that status?
Why did he make him a leader?
Because there are two things that he had
Number one is علم And he had knowledge
And especially you wanna go in battle He
has knowledge of the battlefield And number two
is he is a brave person In this
particular situation If you're gonna go to battle
It makes no sense If I appoint upon
you a rich person The rich people a
lot of times They are so pampered in
their life They don't wanna put their life
in danger They don't wanna put their life
on the line So I'm giving you a
leader That is fit for this situation So
now at this time There's another lesson to
be learned in this And that is Leadership
is never based on how much money we
have And let me be very honest when
I say this Because I've heard many stories
Especially when it comes to masajid and so
forth Around America You know you talk to
some imams You talk to some communities and
so forth And subhanAllah I don't know why
There is this perception That the person who
has the most amount of money In the
community He should become the leader for some
reason He should become the board member You
know how many times I've traveled around America
And I've talked to people And I've heard
That oh this person He is the leader
He is the president of the masjid Why?
Oh he's a doctor You know subhanAllah It's
just that you know what it is The
problem is That we have this mindset That
the one who has the most amount of
money Should be by default A person in
leadership And that's not necessarily the case You
see Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala He's choosing
a person That is a good fit for
this position And that's why When it comes
to Islamic organizations It should be people who
know About the organization If you bring someone
And you tell them Be in a position
of leadership Who has absolutely no clue Who
has never volunteered Who has never done anything
for the masjid Or anything for that organization
They don't know how the organization Is run
and operated Then how can that person Even
serve that Islamic organization So you see even
from a leadership perspective Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala Did a very special selection And this
is where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then
says That فِي الْعِلْمِ وَالْجِسَمِ وَاللَّهُ يُعْتِي مُلْكَهُ
مَن يَشَىٰ Allah then says That we give
مِلْكِيَة Or we give power and authority To
whoever we want Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
Is وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
Is all encompassing In favor and in knowing
About things Next Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
He talks about Which I'm gonna go ahead
and finish right here In sha Allah But
this has been the conversation so forth Next
They were asking See Subhanallah Once again Look
at the arrogance of Bani Israel They could
have said آمَنَّا وَصَدَّقْنَا لَبَّيْتْ Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala Send this leader We'll follow him
We'll walk behind him But no They said
Now we want a sign We want a
sign So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Said
You want a sign so bad I'll give
you a sign What is that sign I'll
cover that next week In sha Allah Keeping
you hanging By the thread But in sha
Allah That sign And not only that But
then You see One thing One thing I
wanna say In When Talut was sent A
lot of them backed away So now Out
of Huge pool of people That you have
Now you have a smaller pool And now
After this After this Sign that comes Some
back out And then not only that But
in the journey With Talut Even some back
out At that time Overall What is Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala Trying to tell the
sahabah Radiyallahu anhum When the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam Goes for battle When he goes
And he puts his life On the line
You Don't start Bringing up all these excuses
Like the way Bani Isra'il did You
put your life On the line For Rasulallah
Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam Allah sent Talut Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala Sent Rasulallah Sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam He is your leader And you
walk behind him We'll finish the story In
sha Allah Next week I ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala To grant all of us
Tawfiq And to take lessons From the Qur
'an Amin Rabbil alameen Wa jazakumullahu khair Assalamualaikum
warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu