Nadim Bashir – Conversations In The Quran #7 Test Of Bani Israel
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AI: Transcript ©
So, inshaAllah, continuing with our series, the divine
conversations or the Qur'anic conversations,
today, inshaAllah, I want to share with you
it's a very short story.
Basically, there is just only 1 just
2 lines of conversation
that takes place back in the time of
Bani Israel
2 powerful lessons.
Because you have to wonder and you we
have to really ask ourselves,
stories like this that happened 1000 of years
ago,
there must be a reason why Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala
put these stories in the Quran.
Stories that you and I will recite till
the day of judgment. There is probably a
reason behind it. So let's go into the
story. The story is that Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, he wanted to test Bani Isdal,
And this is something that he would do
often.
He want to test their loyalty. He want
to test their obedience. And Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, he makes mention of this in various
places in the Quran.
The At this particular moment, Allah
gave a very important instruction
to Bani Israel that you are not allowed
to fish.
You're not allowed to put your nets out
for
from Friday night to Saturday night. This is
the time, this is your
day of sacredness, this is your day of
worship,
and you are not to put out your
fishing nets to catch any fish.
Now, it just so happened that Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala in order to test
how far they're willing to go to obey
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, Allah destined,
and Allah put in place
this I mean, this was Allah's plan, that
the fish would come often when on Saturday.
So throughout the entire week, the fish will
not come as much as on Saturday. But
on Saturday when they're told not to put
other fishing nets, then that is when they
would that is when the fish would come.
So what they did was that, they said
that let's try to create a khelah. Okay?
Let's try to create a loophole in the
system. We're not gonna disobey Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala, but let's try to find a system
a loophole in Allah's laws.
So what they did was that they said,
We're gonna put out our fishing nets much
in advance. We're
not committing a violation,
but we're putting our fishing nets out in
advance,
and the fish is gonna come, they're gonna
catch our fish, we're gonna use it for
consumption purposes, for economic gain and so forth,
and we're not violating anything. Now, the idea
was
that you know that these people in Bani
knew that the fish would come here at
this particular time, and Allah
did not want them to fish.
The fact that they were doing something that
is wrong. First of all, which tells us
what?
To try to find loopholes
in Allah's system
is a crime in itself.
To try to find loopholes and to try
to twist the haqq. This is something that
we often see happening at time to time
that we're You know, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
made something Haram, we're gonna twist it a
little for our own gain, for our own
advantage, and we're not committing a violation.
When we twist the orders of Allah, when
we twist the instructions of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
that twisting in itself is a crime in
itself. So this is what Bani Isaiel did.
Now at that time, three things happened. There
are 3 different groups at that time. 1
was that group who was committing the violation.
The second group was
a group who told them that what you're
doing is completely wrong. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,
you don't understand.
You know the wish and the desire of
Allah. You understand the mansha of Allah
Allah does not want you to do this.
Why are you doing something like this? So
they were doing,
Then you had a 3rd group. Then you
had a 3rd group. The 3rd group was
going back to was they were going not
to the 1st group who were coming in
violation, they were going to the 2nd group
and saying, bro, my own business, basically. You
understand? What they're doing, let them mind their
own Let them do whatever they wanna do.
You're not the one who are committing haram,
let them do whatever they wanna do. So
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he highlights this in
the Quran. First of all, he says, was
alhum You Rasulullah
was alhum anilqarya tilleti
kannathhadutalbahar.
O Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, ask them,
your Sahaba,
about that group of people, this this city
or these people, these these dwellers who were
living on the shore, near the shore. If
you a'duunafis
sabati,
when they committed a violation regarding their day
of Sabbath,
That the fish would come on Saturday and
he would not come throughout the other days.
Allah then
says,
This was Allah's way of testing them. Now
where is the conversation?
In the next
ayah.
1 group of them said to the other.
Who is telling who? Group number 2,
who is telling that this is haram,
this is not right, they're telling group number
1 the violators.
No. In fact, this is the 3rd group.
The 3rd group telling the 2nd group.
Why are you trying to give them advice?
Let them do whatever they want to do.
And then Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says,
When they forgot
about their true purpose.
The purpose, one that their responsibilities was
to stop anything that was wrong.
Allah
Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la said, When they ignore
the warning they were given, We save those
who forbid the evil. Meaning that Allah SAWHANahu
Wa Ta'ala saved group number 2. And he
punished the wrongdoers severely
because of their
disobedience. But what about the other ones too?
When they're When, in their ignorance, when they
persisted in doing what wrong they were doing,
and what they were forbidden to do, Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says that,
That they were turned into monkeys and they
were turned into apes.
Then in another ayah, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala
says, so
Again, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala talks about changing
people's faces into monkeys and apes and pigs
and so forth. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala highlights
this. Now there's 2 key important,
pieces
of lessons here for us. First thing is
Allah
tested Bani Istai'il
in terms of their money. How do they
earn their money?
And by the way, just like they were
tested,
the the Sahaba were also tested.
When were they tested?
When were they tested?
In the Battle of Tabouk.
They were tested when? In the Battle of
Tabuk. Because the Battle of Tabuk took place
at a time when the Sahaba were waiting
for the entire year. These people waiting on
the week on a weekly basis. The Sahaba
waiting
for that one time in the entire year,
where now they can pluck the great, the
the dates. They can take those dates, get
them from the trees, and sell them in
the marketplaces.
At that
time, where the dates become ripe,
Allah
ordered all the Sahaba radiAllahu ta'ala home, you
have to go to Tabuk.
No questions asked.
The Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala tested Bani Israel
Bani Israel failed.
Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala tested the Sahaba radiAllahu
they passed. And by the way, in Tabooq,
if you remember the whole story of Ka'bim
Malik
there were 3 Sahaba
3 of them who got who stayed behind,
who never traveled with Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
for Tabuk. They were boycotted,
literally
boycotted by the Muslims for approximately 50 days.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam did not
talk to them, the sahaba did not converse
with them, They were left as if they
were all alone in the island by themselves,
although they were living in a very hustling
and bustling place known as Madinah. But this
was their punishment. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala likewise
for all of us. Allah has made it
very clear,
money is something that we all love. But
just like Allah tested Bani Israel, Allah is
putting us to a test also. This is
how you can earn money. And by the
way, you will see that one of the
most lucrative ways of earning money often, not
all the time, but often, they will come
from haram sources.
Yet today, yet today, we find so many
Muslims who are engaged in haram businesses.
Haram sources of earning money. Why? Let me
just earn the money today, tomorrow I will
make tawba. But the reality is that when
you when you opt for that that style
of making money, no one stops. There is
rishwa that takes place, bribery that takes place,
there is riba that takes place, there are
people who take loans, they don't return them
back to other people, There are people who
take money from others, and they don't show
up ever again. There are so many ways
that today, in our Muslim community, people are
earning haram income, haram money, and they're doing
it what? In the name of Islam. Or
they're doing it why? Because I'm in a
desperate situation.
I understand there are there might be times
of desperation,
but times of desperation
does not allow a person to have a
haram income. So that is why it is
absolutely important that one of the key lessons
that we learned from this story of Bani
Israel is,
Allah tested them when it came to earning
money. Allah will test us also when it
comes to earning money.
The second thing that we learned from this
story, which is very prevalent
within our Muslim community is that Allah
He punished group number 1 because they were
the violators,
But Allah also punished the 3rd group too.
The ones who are going to group number
2 and saying, why? Just mind your own
business. Why do you have to interfere? Why
do you have to fix things that are
wrong? Just mind your own business. You don't
have anything better to do? This third this
third group were also punished. What does that
teach us? Right now, today also in our
Muslim community. Wallahi, there is so much wrong
that is taking place, whether it's in families,
whether it's in the community, whether it's amongst
people and so forth, and we know,
we know what's going on. Yet, you you
see, what what is our response?
Our response is wallahi,
like group number 3.
Our response is like group number 3. You
know about it, just stay quiet. It's none
of your business. It has nothing to do
with your family. I share with you some
stories in the past also, where people, they
see haram things being done. They see other
families, potentially
they could be harmed
by other families, and they know, they can
go to their family and say, you are
about to be harmed by this family.
But they usually stay quiet. Why? Because it's
not my place to speak.
Brothers and sisters, this is one of the
things that is wallahi destroying our community. And
in this society especially,
why can we not speak up the truth
anymore now?
Because people are gonna become demonized.
In this society, wallahi, I'd be I'm very
blunt about this. There are people who are
staying quiet.
They don't speak the Haqq anymore. Why?
Because what are some groups are gonna say?
Why? If I speak up, I may get
cancelled in my society.
If I speak up and I speak the
Haqq, then someone is gonna spread something about
me on social media. And wallahi, all these
people who spread this kind of fitnah, they
have to answer to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
But especially in times like this,
if I sit there and I say, I'm
too scared to speak the truth.
I'm too scared and afraid to speak the
truth, then guess what? We are also a
part of group number 3. We don't realize
this. We might think that, yes, I have
some iman in my heart, but if I'm
too afraid to speak the truth, then we
belong in group number 3. And group number
3 was also punished by Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. So that is why This is why
Allah Subhanahu
These people, Bani Isaa'id, they were cursed
on the tongues of Dawud
and Isa
Why were they cursed?
What crime did they commit?
They saw the wrong taking place,
but they were too afraid to speak up.
Or because of their companionship,
this is my friend. If I go and
I tell him, or I tell her that
what you're doing sister, what you're doing brother
is haram. Don't do this, don't do this,
then they will cut off all friendship from
me. My friendship in this situation,
we believe
our friendship is more important to us than
stopping them from the Haram. That is what
we're showing Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta A'la. And
imagine if this is what we're showing to
Allah, what kind of a face are we
going to show to Allah on the day
of judgment? So that is why these two
important lessons are learned from this story. And
once again, why are they mentioned? Because we
see even today the Muslim ummah is indulged
in these two problems,
these two sins,
these two crimes. The amount of ways that
people are acquiring money
and through haram sources is number 1. But
number 2, the biggest problem that today we
have in our Muslim community is that people
there are people who wanna do the right
thing. But because
because you have this third group type of
people who are saying, Islam is your business.
Or it's the other way around too. What's
what is it? You know, we're living in
a very liberal society.
Islam needs to be changed, Islam this, Islam
that, and they wanna change Islam, they wanna
modify Islam and so forth, and in doing
that, they also are part of group 3,
and they suppress everyone else. So that is
why it's very important. If I see something
that is wrong, if I cannot go and
talk about it, if I cannot go and
address it directly myself, then I need to
get other people involved in the community to
address the issue. But staying quiet by the
way, staying quiet
is you putting more fuel to the fire.
This is one thing we have to always
keep in mind. If I see something that
is wrong and I stay quiet, Allah will
ask me. Allah will ask us, you knew,
yet you stay quiet, and Allah will punish
those kind of people. So I ask Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that in all circumstances He
always makes us from group number 2, The
group that always does
and may Allah
grant us the tawfiq
to always make sure that our sources of
income are coming from halal sources.