Brief Reflections from Surah 51

bIllahi min ash shaytani R rajim Bismillah R Rahman Rahim with area T dot one Phil Hammond it with Quran Farah jatiya Tucson Fennimore Cosima T umbra. No matter what I do Nana saw they are in a DE NADA WellCare propitiously Sunreaver silly Emery Hello Dr. Millis Ania. Kalief hamdulillah salat wa salam ala Rasulillah Kiyosaki, Jemaine, my bad somebody congratulate aloe vera Gatto.

Some of you are here now, already early for the Bulava intensive that's starting tomorrow. And typically, between our after their show prayer, I continue my series on SOTL cough. So I'll probably pick that up starting tomorrow again, inshallah. But I wanted to take a break from that today. And recap, something I talked about on a trip I just came back from I was in Seattle was visiting your community. And the topic of my my talk, there was reflections from Silicon Valley yet, which is the 51st Surah of the Quran. A lot of times Muslims, generally we Muslims, we know some of the more famous sutras, probably what ones from the beginning. And then ones at the very end, right, the

shorter ones. And then some of the ones that are famous for recitation, like CRC and SWAT, man and things like that. But a lot of the suitors in the Quran are relatively not as well known. So we don't really get a chance to get introduced to them in easy kind of way. Right? So this is an opportunity for you to maybe learn something about a surah that you may not have heard much about or wouldn't know as much about. Okay.

So, just a couple of quick things, because that was a pretty long lecture, but I'm just going to give you like a 10 minute or less, you know, recap of some of the things that are in the sutras that are really beautiful. So this was given to the Prophets Isola when he was still in Makkah. Right. And the suitors that were given to the Prophet in Makkah have different focus. And one of the areas of focus is that

some sewers were focused on talking to the to the people that didn't believe that anything will happen after we die.

Or they had an idea something will happen, but they didn't agree with what the Quran was saying will happen. They had their own version of what's going to happen after we die of resurrection. Right? So there are lots and lots of different religions and philosophies in Makkah at the time, there were people that didn't believe in any resurrection whereby you Hakuna in the DAB mahiya La Jolla to the dunya Muto when the hell are you looking at Illa da, that's also a mocking attitude. Some people said this is the only life we ever have. And time will kill us. And that's the end of it. That's what they believed. And Quran even recorded their belief system, it says this is what they say.

Right? Others did not believe that there's going to be a resurrection.

Others also believed that there are people that are saints or angels that are very close to to God to Allah. So when they do die, that God is going to ask those angels What should I do with this guy? What should I do with this one? What should I do with that one, and then that person, that secondary Angel, whoever that is, that's going to decide what's going to happen with you and me so so long as we're good with them, they're gonna put in a good word for us. So we don't have to deal with Allah, we don't have to deal with God, we just have to deal with these angels. And that's kind of the one of the rationales behind the idol worship, because the idols represented those who can be shuffled

around and Allah, they can be the ones that put in a good word for us with with Allah, right. So we don't have to deal with a lot so directly, but what Quran came and challenge that and said, you have to deal with Allah directly speaking to you directly, you have to worship him directly. You're answerable to him directly. And these that you are calling on and thinking that they're going to help you on Judgment Day, right? They're going to disappear on Judgement Day, you know, so and so there are students that describe and break these concepts one at a time, was sort of very odd does is it's focused on people that didn't actually didn't actually think that there's something that's

there's a reality to resurrection, like they think is far fetched. I mean, fine, I believe in a god, but I don't think anything's gonna have happen after we die. Right? And whatever justice there is, it's happening here or if there's a God, He created this universe, and he did a pretty good job, but then he's busy with something else. Why would he be? Why would he care about whether I'm doing drugs or drinking alcohol? Or why would he care if I cursed or if I got yelled at my mom, why would he care? He's got a universe to run. So he's too busy with that he's has no time for me, you understand? So what Allah does in the Surah

is he starts off by using the example of wind

Wind blowing winds as an argument for why someone who believes in Allah believes in God should believe in resurrection. He would think what would wind have to do with resurrection? They seem like unrelated things, right? So he says and by the way, they begin with oaths, I swear by when that iati fell hammy, Lottie fell God it fell mocha Sumati. So very briefly, he says, I swear by the winds that, you know, carry lots of dust. So winds that blow a lot of dust would be that yet, okay. And they do. So like, you know, desert, DESERT winds that blow a lot of sand into the air, right. So that's the image that he says, for how melotti will cry. And these, these winds are so strong, not

only are they picking up dust, they are carrying burdens with them to these burdens is an imagery in Arabic for clouds. So these winds are so strong, lowered closer to the earth, there's dust blowing, but up in the sky, the clouds are in motion, because of the same winds, they're pushing and propelling the count clouds to a certain land. Then he says, you know, for the jatiya, to use light, then they start moving slowly, the wind slowed down, and then the ease up. So they're moving pretty fast. And it was just, you know, dust was flying in the air, and it was pretty aggressive wind. And then the clouds appeared because the clouds have been pushed over to this village. And then all of a

sudden, the winds come down, and they start moving easily. And when they move, eat with ease, what happens to those clouds, they're no longer moving. Because they need more aggressive wind to keep moving. Allah is basically describing here that winds move fast, and you feel the dust and you feel this aggressiveness. And it might eat might not even be a pleasant experience on the earth. But actually, it is the reason why the same thing that is unpleasant on the earth. There's the reason why something that you need in this village or in this valley is coming your way what's that the clouds and the wind could carry on and keep blowing. But if it did, the clouds would come and they

would also go but then when the when the clouds, you know reach where they're supposed to reach number ones Calm down, and they with ease of use. And you may have known that if you if you live in a place where there's heavy rain, or if you've been somewhere where there's been really heavy rain, sometimes it's very windy before the rain. And then clouds keep bunching together. And when they really get heavy, the clouds really get heavy, then for a few minutes, there's like complete calm, but the winds just stop. Right? And you think oh things are gonna be and then it starts just pouring. Right? So there's the scene and he says, describing that core he says focus Sumati Umrah

then these wins, they divide the decision, meaning which drops should fall on which place which plant should rise, which village should get flooded, which place should get routed? Allah is describing these few if it's an oath, but the author there the purpose of the oats is to bring an image to mind as one of its functions. So what's the image that's being brought here, Allah created a system for our survival on this earth. And lots of things are needed for our survival, like the minerals on this earth are needed for our survival. But just like that, there's something in the air that is needed for our survival on the earth. If the winds didn't blow, and the dust didn't move,

well, the dust is not the only thing that the wind is carrying. It's also carrying pollen.

And the pollen is actually involved in germinating the plant life on Earth. And on top, that same wind is carrying the clouds and without clouds and rainfall, you have drought seasons and life on the earth starts suffering and can die. So what Allah is describing is you are provided for from the sky as you know it

and you need it. And it's actually a Mercy of Allah that he did. He decides where this rain shall fall and where it won't fall. Right. On a side note, I didn't I told you this is not about the winds, what's said about about resurrection, right? About resurrection. And about why would you Why should we believe that judgment is going to happen the way this man is describing it this man Mohamed salah?

Well, on a side note, when Allah describes the image, he's talking about that image but he's also talking about something behind that image that you and I should be contemplating. If Allah decides where rain falls and where every drop falls. Why is it such a problem for you to accept that Allah decided were the revelation from that same sky that he owns, that he brings rain from that revelation should should come upon a particular human being?

Why not this one? Why not that one because the court also said Lola Mozila Quran Allah Raja limonaia thenI Ozzy, how come this Quran didn't come down to one of the you know, big millionaires and towns you know, we have to tap to cities that are filled with governor's millionaires celebrities. We already they're already influencers

They had become prophets, it would have been easy because they already have a following. So they just post one thing about their new revelation, and everybody would have been like, Yay, sign me up, you know, they got lots of likes, he's relatively unknown, it's a pretty bad idea to choose an unknown man to be a prophet. When you have so many celebrities that are that could do a much better job. That's one of their complaints. And what is this subtle image describing, Allah decides where to bring his risk, every drop, and the same way, Allah is the one you don't decide where the rains gonna fall, you never control where the rains gonna fall, where the clouds are gonna stop, you can't

control it.

But Allah will decide where the rain will fall, Allah will decide whether evolution will come. The other interesting thing here is that a command from the sky comes like a system that Allah built in the sky was activated. And once it was activated, life happened on Earth. Yes, life happened on earth. Well,

if you can accept that, then it's not hard to accept that Allah has created a system in which he will send another command from the sky, and life will get recreated on the earth.

It's actually a manifestation of the same thing. It's like a 2.0 of this, the system that already exists, you understand, it's not a new phenomenon. You're seeing resurrection in front of you every time there's winds moving.

So wings have in a very creative and powerful way winds have been used as an argument to well, if you think winds are coming from Allah, then it should be if you just contemplated winds, you would know that resurrection comes from Allah, you see, you see the connection between those two things. It's pretty powerful that Allah did that. And that's why what comes as a result of that is in number two, I Donella sodic. In the dean and a worker, what you've been promised is bound to happen. And judgment is bound to occur. What you've been promised this twofold. Two statements are being made, what you've been promised is true. And and the judgment is bound to happen. So why two things? Well,

because McCain's were promised two things. If you keep this up. If you keep opposing this profit, then you will be taken care of the way that people of New were taken care of. You are going to get taken out like the people of Somalia and the mood and the Pharaoh when they went after my prophets. This is how I dealt with them unless told them that over and over, yes. So he's saying, Well, you keep this up. And the thing that you've been promised, by way of the examples of others will hit you too.

And it won't be rain.

Because the sky can bring life they can also bring light can also bring death. On another note is really beautiful.

The Croatia being threatened with two things, you will all get killed in this world, like the people of newer

What's the second time you will then be resurrected? So the threat is two opposite things death, and then what life isn't it? The destruction of a nation is death. It's resurrection is again, new life, which is even scarier actually. Both things death and life. Now, think about winds and rain. Rain can bring about death, flood, can't it.

It can destroy play places the sky and the winds can destroy places. Tornadoes, and hurricanes can destroy and kill camping. And those same tornadoes and hurricanes also bring what why? They see a profound connection between the two warnings. And the the oath that were taken in the beginning to make the case for those two warnings. And number two, I do not know sodic. In other words, I don't want to make this long as I just share something really nice with you that I think is really beautiful. What Allah will do, I'll give you a synopsis. What Allah does next in this surah is he then starts talking about people who don't, who still think that they can just make whatever wild

guesses about how things are gonna turn out after they die. They'll have their own philosophies and they think this is just a fun subject to talk about, you know, like some people like to philosophize, you know, you know what I think's gonna happen, man, I just want to just shoot the breeze. It's just that entertaining conversation. Some people like to, you know, engage in pseudo intellectual conversation as a mental exercise, nothing more. Right? And he describes those people he says, one way to reject the Afterlife is to say, I don't believe in it. Another way is to actually philosophize and pretend like you're an intellectual that knows what they're talking about.

And he describes people like that in the next passage. And then the passage after that he describes people that actually accept this reality and how serious they become and how their life actually practically changes. got new kalila Mina Lady Maya, Joan Aviles, Holly homeless toffee rule, Buffy emmalin Colusa illegal my room. Right. So he, so he does, it's remarkable the cases made than the people who don't take it seriously versus the people who take it seriously. And then there's a third group

People who are hearing this for the first time. What about new audiences? Right? They don't. They're not opposed to. They're not for and they're not against, so they should be addressed to. So Allah says Well Phil or the IATA, Lil mo cunning or fear unfussy coma Falardeau soon for what up this summer he will early in the hula cone with llama and Contohnya cone. All of that is for the new audience. The neutral people, well, there's a case for you contemplate the earth you will find conviction. Who's he talking to? He's talking to people that are looking to be convinced. Obviously people that want to reject it are looking for conviction. They're looking for excuses, right? So

beautifully organized. Allah described a form of rejection, then you describe the acceptance then you describe those who are being invited, or you address those who are being invited that may be neutral to this conversation. But then there's a shift in the Surah. And it seems like it's totally unrelated. And what happens is, Allah starts talking about Ibrahim Ali salaam, when he was very old.

He says Hola, Taka, Hadith LiFi Ibrahim Al Amin has the news of the guests of Ibrahim who were honored ever come to you. Anybody ever tell you about the guests of Abraham, the honored ones, the noble ones? Ibrahima lay son lives in a small village. There is no castles or palaces in his village is a remote area. He knows everybody in the village and all of a sudden dignitaries show up at his house dressed like what could I mean? Right? So the angels are honored by Allah. That's one implication. But McRobbie can also mean they look like they were Royals, you know, they're dressed in royal garb. And they knock on his door and he opens the door and he's sees these people and they

say Salaam and he says Salaam and he says, I mean peace on you. But I don't know you guys, Coleman karoun People are known to me. Right? Some Some scholars say that the he said this in his heart. He didn't say it out loud. Which is possible. It's also quite possible piece onto you. But do I know you could be like that to come on.

And then he invited them in. And because he's old, right? It's not easy for an old person to prepare for an old man and a woman to prepare for guests, especially uninvited guests. Imagine you're your mom and dad that are of older age. And all of a sudden three people show up for dinner. Right? And they're about to go to because they've you know, older folks, they go to sleep early, they you know, the lack of energy, and all of a sudden three people show up. So it's kind of a kind of a burden, right? And then also, as people get older, their language filter goes away. So they can make comments and get away with it. Right? So they can say something like, I guess we have gas so

it's time to cook. We have anything No Well, I guess we got to cook for these guests of ours now. Now when you do that, when you make comments like that, what are you making your guests feel? That you're a burden that they're a burden that you're annoyed by they're, they're coming to you. So what does Allah say? He says for Raha Illa Utley.

So he rah rah is actually a male, it's to just hint at his wife without letting them see.

So it's kind of like the eye contact thing. Like he turned away from them and said, just a little nod. And she knows what to do. She wasn't being difficult either. She didn't say what are you doing? What's wrong with your eyes? What do you do? head hurt? Are you saying I should cook? Is that what you said? She didn't do that.

I mean, the Okay.

The mic is off your meter, raise it.

Bring it down, okay.

So he, he didn't make them feel like they're being a burden. And they went, she went and he went and he slaughtered an animal. And they cooked and they put the meal in front of them. This is the story right? And I'll fast forward the story because this is supposed to be a synopsis. But the point is, they would need the food.

And he's a little bit worried now because when they don't eat the food, that could mean that there's something wrong with these people. It could also mean there's something wrong with their intentions. Because back in the day, people that came to kill you in your home they it was part of their Assassin's Creed that they wouldn't kill you in your home. They wouldn't eat your food if they're gonna kill you so now he's kind of worried or are these assassins are they're gonna kill me? Probably just I mean he fought and he he's he's he felt a level of fear from them. They noticed this fear and said latter half No, no, don't be scared. They gave him good news of a boy he's going to

have who's going to grow up to be very knowledgeable.

Baba, shall we who I mean Eileen Kabbalah Tamra to houfy Salatin, her wife slapped her face and jumped out at them.

And said I'll use an argument old woman that has never given birth.

But she just screamed out at them. In shock she was quiet cooking in the back when she heard this she up by that they use this this phrase sobre la Sol for us they use it for they say when the horses ears perk up, when it's going to race really

But it's gonna leap. Right? So it's describing this old woman in shock leaping out at them. And you're talking about, have you seen who you're talking about? And so she's in shock. So they tell her no, no, no, this is the command of Allah. Ibrahim alayhis salam says no way Allah didn't just send three angels over here to tell me about a boy. He has other ways of informing me of that they're here for something more.

And it says if Allah wants me to know what what else they're here for, so he asked them Nakatsuka universal What are you really here for? What's your actual mission? Messengers? Are they say well, actually analyse Lila calm emoji mean Lucilla Ali, Jonathan, mentally, we are actually sent to a criminal people, so we can descend upon them. Pebbles made of clay, meaning a firestorm a storm from the sky, a meteor shower from the sky of stones, Musa woman and the rabbinical Muslim Dean that's been branded, every bullet has been branded for the people it's going to strike. For those who access this is a nation of loot. They're going to go kill everybody in the nation of loot. Right.

Now, I won't go further. But I'll just I'll just tell you one thing. We started talking about this what are what were we talking about?

The winds,

judgment a how there's a system in the sky that brings about life and brings about death and then all of a sudden, Ibrahim Ali Salaam and a barbecue and he was what's going on. you contemplate this a little bit, you will appreciate something really beautiful. These angels came from the sky. And they came to deliver two messages one of life and one of death. They came to deliver the message that Ibrahim Ali Salam is going to have a child. That is the message of what of life and they also brought with them a mission of death for the people of Lutheran Islam. This is actually a continuation a manifestation of the same system. The same procedure Allah has put in place, what he

does with the winds, he can bring life he can bring does, what does he do with the angels? He will bring life he will bring death. What does he bring through Revelation he will bring life through this revelation he can bring about destruction through this revelation is part of the same systems. How Allah subhanaw taala. Is it really, really incredible how the argument is, you know, postulated in the so this is not the end of the surah. There's a couple more passages, but I'll end with like, one is towards the end. It's one of my favorite ayat in the Surah. Allah describes himself, he says in Allahu wa Zaku Timothy,

it is a lie. In fact, he is the provider.

And he is the Possessor of extensive power.

He described himself in two ways. He's the provider, and the possessor of extensive power, two attributes of Allah.

Again, profoundly beautiful, because when Allah brings life from the wind, and when Allah brought life into the family of Ibrahim alayhis, salam, he that was his role as a Rezac.

But when Allah takes those same wins, and destroys towns, and when Allah takes that still same angels and destroys the people of Luth, that is Allah being the COVID-19.

So Allah mentions two of his names that summarize what's been going on earlier on in this surah and kept you know, it's like, a succinct summary of so much of what has been said, in just a simple phrase. It's just a simple if Subhanallah So, these are just some, some observations about this really, really beautiful, so it's not a long surah and if you haven't memorized it should take up the task of memorizing it, you'll really enjoy it. It's a very rhythmic, very beautiful surah and it's lessons and it's in the way it's it, you know, binds together all of its lessons is really quite something so I pray Allah gives us more and more appreciation of the Quran and helps us see

helps us see its beauty, its logic, and make us think the way and make us see the world the way Allah wants us to see it through his word BarakAllahu li Walakum for the Quran, and Hakeem when a family what year could be it are the lucky