Striking Examples From the Quran #26 Dead Weight
Date:
Channel: Nouman Ali Khan
Series: Nouman Ali Khan - Ramadan 2024 - Striking Examples From The Quran
File Size: 51.25MB
Related
- The Deen Show – Argument Against Quran Backfires into a Mind-blowing Quran Miracle-Reaction to Candace Owens
- Ali Hammuda – The Inked Remedy #05 – Nothing is freeing me from my pain
- Zakir Naik – Why Is Ramadan Known As The Month Of Forgiveness
- Taimiyyah Zubair – Taleem al-Quran 2010 – Juz 12 – L124B
- Mirza Yawar Baig – HM Khatira #03 Fix the leaks
- Abu Bakr Zoud – Shield – Explaining Morning & Evening Athkaar #10 – The Master Of Seeking Forgiveness (1)
- Taimiyyah Zubair – Taleem al Quran 2021 J03-040B Tafsir Aal-e-Imran 2-4
AI Generated Summary ©
The speaker discusses the parable of the shoulder parable, which describes individuals who are either mute or unable to communicate. The parable is not a complete representation of Islam and is used to explain the concept of a useless servant. The speakers emphasize the importance of protecting the rights of the Prophet's followers and the need for a legal system to prevent similar behavior. They also discuss the origins of the concept of a livable environment and the importance of trust in businesses and positive employees. The parable highlights the importance of being a useless employee and the need for people to be true to their values.AI Generated Transcript ©
Today we're going to together try and contemplate
ayah number 76 of Surah Al Nahal. This
is the 2nd parable in a row. Allah
gave the example of
2 slaves
yesterday that we talked about
meaning the one who is enslaved and owned
and has no control and the other one
who spends
secretly and openly. We made that comparison yesterday.
This is the immediate next ayah.
And I'll start again by translating it, and
you will notice that in the translation also,
that there is
an example being given and then Allah pulls
out of the example what I call tajrid
before.
Allah strikes yet another example.
2 men, one of them is mute.
Also means someone who's not very smart.
Also means someone who you are not able
able to make them understand, and they're not
able to make anybody else understand. So somebody
who has a communication problem,
both receiving information and giving information.
Okay?
So one of them is mute
or an incapable of effective communication.
Similar phrase from last time, incapable of anything.
And he is
a dull instrument when it comes to or
a burden if a burden
on his
maula. I won't translate maula yet. We're gonna
have to dig a little bit deeper, so
we'll leave the word as is.
This servant is or this man is a
burden on his maula. Maula.
Whichever direction his
maula points him in, he brings about no
good.
Can such a person be equal to someone
else
who actually commands to good or instructs to
justice rather,
and is on a straight path.
This again, one of one of
a loaded,
a parable that Allah has given. And before
I dive into this parable, I'll share a
disclaimer with you. A
large number of Mufasirun,
when they interpret this ayah, they have a
certain interpretation of what this means.
And basically,
to summarize,
they're saying that the first parable, even though
it's describing a man who is a burden
on his master
or burden on his mala,
is actually referring to idols.
It's referring to idols.
And so the the the the parable represents
false gods
because the statue cannot speak, the statue cannot
do anything,
and that's how they interpret that. And then
on the flip side, the one who commands
to good and is on a straight path,
they interpret that respectfully
to refer to Allah. Like Allah is the
one who commands to good and Allah is
the one who's on a straight path. I
personally, as much as I have respect for
our tradition,
I don't find that interpretation
as convincing at all. I I think there's
other ways there. There's another way of looking
at this parable, so I'm openly just from
the start letting you know disclaimer that I
am offering an alternative explanation
for what Allah is saying, which I feel
is more consistent with the message of the
Surah and with the rest of the Quran
and internally within the ayah itself. So I'm
going to present what I find more convincing,
and I find it
almost disingenuous to represent a view that I'm
not convinced of. So I encourage you to
do your own reading and come to your
own conclusion for that. And if you've been
listening to me for some time, then you'll
know that I am I'm a big proponent
of people thinking for themselves. You can learn
something from me. That's great. You can learn
something from others also. But until Muslims learn
to study
and investigate and ask questions and think for
themselves, the ummah is not gonna move forward.
We're not gonna move forward just by listening
and just sitting back. Right? This is the
the entire
premise of our religion is Allah wants,
you know, his servants to be independent thinkers,
and he wants them to be autonomous. He
wants them to be able to operate on
their own. Right? Which is why
So there's this enabling
that Allah is encouraging in the ummah that
all of us, none of us Even if
I study my entire life, I'm gonna be
a student and so are you, and that's
okay. Some students can be ahead of other
students, and that's fine, but all of us
have to be on a path of learning,
and we have to remain open to being
corrected, and learning more,
and enhancing our understanding. So that's just a
general message for all of you in your
own journey towards
learning from Allah's word, and learning from the
sunnah of His Messenger
In any case, so let's talk first about
the example itself and what kind of scene
is Allah painting. Basically, what Allah is talking
about here is He's going to compare
2 He says, 2 men
And by using that word, 2 men, it's
like Allah is describing 2 people that are
kind of equal or if you saw them
you think
same thing, same height, same physical ability, they
look pretty much the same, right? So he's
starting off with 2 that apparently on the
outside
look equally capable,
equal in in all respects. Okay?
But then one of them he describes,
that the first of them is he can't
speak. And I told you also means not
just someone who's mute, who can't speak, but
also someone who
doesn't think clearly.
Also means
like I said, he cannot make other people
understand what he's saying, and he has a
hard time understanding what other people are saying.
So he's got a like
a kind of a disorder if you will.
Right? A mental disability if you will. A
processing disability.
And this is one of them. And then
Allah now adds to this image of this
person who has this disability,
he adds,
On top of that, he's not capable of
doing anything.
So now we already saw one problem. He
has a communication disorder.
Right? Let's just summarize that as a communication
disorder. Right?
Which means if you were to hire a
person like that, you're gonna have a hard
time because if you try to tell them
something, they're not gonna understand.
And in the off chance that they do
understand,
and they have to go tell somebody else
what You know, pass on your instructions,
they're not going to be able to communicate
that that to them. So they've got that
disability. But even if they don't have that
disability and you ask them to do some
other task that doesn't involve communication,
Allah makes the problem even more, you know,
grand by saying, He
don't He's not in control of anything. He
can't he's not capable of anything.
So it's as if even physical basic tasks,
he can't just can't do them. Or perhaps
it's an explanation of the previous, if you
cannot communicate,
then what you really can't do anything. Right?
So it's elaborating the first problem.
Here's where things get interesting.
Allah
adds,
This is not from the perspective of the
man who has this disability.
Now, Allah is describing someone else in this
picture,
and this someone else is called his
His So the word
which comes
from is someone who takes responsibility
for you. Now, in Arabic, the slave owner
can also be called a that's true. They
can be called a maulah because they are
responsible,
and they've taken charge of a certain slave.
But actually, a maulah can also be a
guardian.
Could be your uncle,
could be your older brother, could be your
boss, it could be your employer.
Could be somebody who hired you temporarily.
Amola could be any kind of authority. Let's
say, you know,
in in one scenario, you have your son,
and he's he doesn't have school in the
summer. He's a teenager, and your your your
brother has a mechanic shop, and you say
to your your your brother, hey. Take your
nephew, and just keep him for the summer.
Teach him something about cars. So in that
summer, his uncle is his He's
taking care of him. He's responsible for him.
He becomes his So any position of
responsibility,
or mentorship,
or protection,
any of those relationships can actually be considered
mawla. In that sense, all of you that
are ahead of a family are the mawla
of your family.
In that sense, you're all the mawla of
your family. Right? So whenever you take charge,
or responsibility
or, you know, stewardship over somebody, then you
become their also. So now, that by using
that word, Allah is
while seems to be talking about the master
and slave dynamic
that used to exist in the ancient world,
he's not limiting it to that. There's there's
more possibility.
Maybe this is a son
for somebody who works in a farm,
and they're, you know, they're the maula of
their son, but the son can't speak properly,
can't communicate properly, can't understand properly, can't help
him at all, and Allah says,
So let me now explain to you what
the word means.
In Arabic,
it actually means
to become
incapable
or to become, you know, meaning you run
out of energy. Like imagine if you're on
a treadmill or something, or you're running a
marathon, and you've just run out of steam.
You're done. Right? And you collapse. At that
point, you're experiencing.
Right? The word,
actually also comes,
comes in Arabic to describe
a knife that's no longer sharp.
So the knife that becomes blunt and it's
no longer any use, that's actually
Okay. So an instrument that no longer serves
its purpose.
Now, let's understand why this word is being
used here. It's as if the person the
servant
or this helper, this whoever this person is
who's got this disorder,
he's as useless to the master as a
knife that won't cut.
Right? Now let's think about the word the
or or the knife or the hammer or
whatever that's supposed to have a certain kind
of efficacy, certain kind of function.
You see, the knife has no intentions of
its own.
The knife is it it it only acts
according to the intention of its
if you will, right? So it's the will
of the
authority or will I'll use the word master.
The will of the master is being executed
by the knife.
So the knife is simply an instrument
for the intent of the one wielding it,
the one holding it. So by using this
description, it's as if Allah is saying, here's
this person who's supposed to be at the
service of his
help his in some way,
but even though he's in their hands of
his
it's he's as useless as the holding a
knife that won't cut. He can't do anything
with him. He can't give him any instruction,
can't put him to any use.
I I'm reminding you of something I said
yesterday when it came to slavery and servitude,
And that is that guardians
or protectors or even slave owner.
Sun is good for. Right?
Not helping out with the rent, not helping
out with the business, not helping not even
going to school, no nothing this is
right? So sometimes it happens that a family
member feels like a burden, some sometimes it's
an employee that feels like a burden,
right? Sometimes in the military, one of the
soldiers feels like a burden, like they're more
a liability than an asset, right? This is
the idea. So now,
whichever direction the master puts him in, he
says, Okay. You can't do this. Do this
instead. Okay. You can't do this. Try this
instead. He starts giving him and by the
way, if he couldn't do the difficult task,
you would imagine the next task he will
give him is an easier task. He can't
do that either. He goes, Okay, at least
easier than this one, can't do that either.
This one, can't do that, can't do anything.
So the phrase is whatever whatever direction the
Master puts him in,
He brings forward no good.
And again, from the previous parable,
why were masters doing that? For benefiting themselves.
Why did he buy the slave? To enhance
his wealth, to get some work done around
the house, around the farm, around the business,
around the trade. Right? And now, there's no
return on investment, no ROI coming
his way for this investment that he made.
This is one part of the scenario.
The So so it sounds like
one half of this ayah, or the first
part of this ayah is describing a useless
servant.
That's what it sounds like. And useless in
every possible way. And now it's actually getting
to the point where the master doesn't see
a purpose
at all for the slave servant, except that
he's just a burden. That's all. That's all
that's left of him.
Now what's on the flip side? You would
think, you would imagine that the contrary will
be, Oh, here's a useful servant
who does what the Master wants him to
do, who provides the service. That's what you
expect.
But the Quran is all about the unexpected,
isn't it? So what's on the flip side?
All of a sudden, Allah says,
is he going to be equal himself?
And to someone who commands to justice
and is committed to a straight path,
like that doesn't sound like an example anymore.
That sounds like a believer
who commands to justice, and is walking on
the straight path. So we've left
the parable.
One way of looking at this is it's
harder to look at it that way, but
still one way to look at this is
you haven't left the parable. You're still within
the parable. You're still within the image. So
now imagine let's let's stick with that for
a moment. You've got one servant the master
has that's useless,
and you've got another servant who's so useful
that even when the master is not there,
he's managing the other servants.
And he's going on the exact path that
was outlined for him, so he's very capable.
That's one way of analyzing the 2. 1
useless, 1 useful.
But it what seems to be more convincing
to me is there is in fact. Meaning,
Allah is now comparing
an actual servant of Allah.
And what he says about that servant of
Allah is,
someone who commands to justice.
Now, I've given you the image, but now
we're gonna try to understand what we can
learn from this. What what is it that
Allah is getting at perhaps,
from this from this, this painting that he's
picked painted in this ayah?
Let's go back to the Arabs of the
time.
You know, one of the reasons that they're
very powerful wealthy I'll I'll give you one
scenario from seerah, then I'll come to our
times. There's one report in the seerah, not
sure of its authenticity, but there was a
time early in Islam
when when 3 of the most
powerful of the Arabs in Mecca,
Abu Sufyan, Akhna, Sibun Shuraik, and Abu Jahal.
These 3 guys
started hearing the Quran, and they were openly
saying, this is magic, this is a liar,
this is poetry,
he's gone insane,
all these things.
But something about the Quran
attracted them.
So one of them showed up late at
night
to the house of the Prophet
and stuck his wall to the ear and
started listening to the Prophet recite Quran.
And the other one also showed up, but
he was on the other wall.
And the third one also showed up, and
he was on the third wall, and they
didn't know that they're on 3 different walls
listening to Quran. And before morning came, they're
trying to sneak back out and they run
into each other.
And they're like, what are you doing here?
And they're like, what are you doing here?
And it became clear. They're all they can't
help but listen to the Quran.
So they made each other promise, hey, we
can't be seen like this again.
Because by day, we tell the youth of
this city and we tell the public of
this city, Stay away from this man. Don't
listen to this Quran. And by night, we
can't help ourselves listening to it. We gotta
we gotta come up with an agreement that
we're not going to put ourselves in this
position again. And according to the report, this
happened 3 nights in a row,
Right? Until they finally just, you know, we
can't we can't risk this. This is too
risky.
The issue is they're finding something divine in
the Quran. If you were to accept this
report, they're finding something true in the Quran,
but they can't afford to say it, can
they?
They can't afford to say it. Because if
they say it, that's gonna be a huge
problem.
Those of you that do listen to my
lectures, many of you come and tell me
you listen to my lectures every night and
it helps you go to sleep. It's
you're welcome.
But today, before you go to sleep, listen
to this part again. This is an important
piece of understanding the of the Prophet
You see, the the the Haram, the Kaaba
was surrounded by idols.
Those idols were not just worshiped by the
people of Makkah.
Some of those idols belong to different tribes
in the area
around the region.
That's one of the reasons all the tribes
had respect for
Mecca
So when Now,
all the different tribes when they want to
worship their God, where do they come?
They come to Makkah. So they get what
you call religious tourism money.
So all this outside money comes in, they're
gonna stay in Makkah, they're gonna buy food
in Makkah, they're gonna, you know, get services
in Makkah, they're going to probably make donations
at the house in Makkah, etcetera, etcetera. And
this is an entire religious tourism industry
that is giving a lot of money into
Makkah. And who's benefiting from it? The wealthy
in Makkah are getting even wealthier.
Right? Here's another thing. The Arabs, the the
Quraysh,
they want to travel and go to Syria,
and buy things from Syria, because Syria is
connected to the rest of Europe. So they
want to get the European goods from the
Roman Empire and beyond, and they want to
bring that back to Mecca and travel all
the way to Yemen, which is then connected
to Africa and Asia,
and they want us to buy the goods
from Europe and sell them in,
sell them to the Asian market, and then
buy the goods from the Asian market and
sell them in
the the European market. You see, they're the
they're in the import export business.
But in order to do that,
Syria is very cold in the winter.
So they have to go to Syria in
the summer, when it's nice to travel towards
Syria. And Yemen is very hot in the
summer. So it's smarter to go to Yemen
when it's
when it's cold. The problem is, when it's
nice weather outside, there are plenty of Arab
bandits
waiting on the highway to rob you.
Right?
So you have So what most people used
to do is they used to go to
Syria in the winter,
and they used to go to Yemen in.
The
summer burning hot. Why? Because it's too hot
for the robber to sit outside and say,
man,
like they're just sitting outside like ain't nobody
came it's too hot out here or they're
sitting in the cold waiting for somebody to
come it's it's safer to travel in harsh
weather
But for the Arabs, because all of these
tribes had their gods in Mecca,
and these tribes are used to robbing other
tribes,
the only tribe they will not rob is
who?
Quresh. So Quresh can go conveniently to Syria
in the in the summer,
and they can go to Yemen in
the winter, and
all year, import, export, import, export. Money, money,
money, money, all year.
And the only reason they have the security
is because what's in what's around the Kaaba?
The idols. This is there's another reason.
Another piece was because of the year of
the elephant and other things that happened in
Arab history, the Quraysh had a very superior
social status.
These are the people that take care of
all of our gods. These are special people.
These people are chosen by the gods.
Right? So now they have economic security,
they have a social high status,
and they have political security, physical security.
Their economics
and their social status and their politics are
all protected because of the idols.
So when they hear the Quran speak against
the idols,
and they
secretly, they hear the Quran and say, Makes
sense.
If they speak about it openly,
what's going to happen?
Their economics will be in danger,
their politics will be in danger, Their social
position will be in danger
So now they're thinking,
man, I I mean it makes sense
I don't think I should say anything though
I think I need to keep quiet because
the price of opening my mouth is too
heavy.
What is the word for someone who doesn't
speak?
Someone who cannot speak is
Now go back. Allah gives the example of
2 men.
1 of them is
One of them is mute, can't speak,
doesn't truly under And they're thinking, they're thinking,
Look, if we if we speak,
I can see that our economy will be
disrupted, and people will attack us and kill
us. They're gonna become all of those tribes
will become our enemy. Hey, you killed my
idol, you killed my idol, you killed my
idol. We're all gonna attack Mecca. We're gonna
make too many enemies if we destroy these
idols. Right? So they're thinking about their protection
from the people,
and their mind is not going
far enough to think we need to seek
the protection of Allah.
They're thinking about our rizq is going to
stop, and they're forgetting to think about the
razik,
the one who actually provides risk. They're thinking
about their Izzah, and the status that they
get, and in the you know,
Allah alone owns all dignity and respect,
they're forgetting that. So their mind isn't going
far enough
to
social social status, the world's political ambitions and
the world's economic objectives that's it they can't
think further than that like Allah says also
in the Quran
That is the extent of their knowledge. They
can't go, they can't think beyond that.
And the Quran is starting from thinking beyond
that.
You have to think about the longer objective.
So now, Allah it's as if Allah is
describing It started off sounding like, you know,
these rich people that were listen they had
slaves. So when you start the example, it
sounds like they're being described
as the owner, and they have useless slaves.
And as you start thinking about the example,
you realize actually Allah is the owner,
and they're the useless slaves.
They're the ones who don't because Allah created
human beings to be able to stand up
for justice. Allah created human beings as thoughtful
beings that can speak the Haqq,
speak the truth.
There's even a deeper problem.
The deeper problem is why did Allah
bring the Final Messenger, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, and
why did Allah bring the Quran in Makkah?
Why Makkah?
1000 of years before, Ibrahim
made du'a here, as he was building the
Kaaba.
And he made dua that this should be
a place where all of humanity will turn
to find the one true God.
That was his dua for this this place.
And this place had no natural resources that
makes it livable.
It's not a livable place. And if you've
gone to Makkah, you probably try to go
for Umrah or anything else, and either either
you go in Ramadan or you go in
one of the not so hot seasons.
Right? And they know that, so the tickets
are more expensive in the nicer months.
Right? But people don't go there for the
weather, like this not exactly a vacation hotspot.
But what did Allah do? Allah like unusually
created a water supply there, Allah created a
city there where there was no
logical reason to have a city. If you've
ever traveled in Surudia even now and you're
traveling between Mecca and Medina or you're traveling
to Thay for anywhere else, what do you
see most of the way? Do you see
cities and trees and
for All these years,
man. All these years and it's still uninhabited
like that place is so unlivable
that even after all this time,
you know, you would think it's the center
of the capital of the Ummah, so some
people are gonna leave Indonesia, and India, and
Africa, and they're gonna settle down in in,
you know, some neighborhood near 2 hours away
from Makawana, ain't nobody living out there. That's
not a place to be able You can't
you can't live there.
And Allah created a livable environment. The question
is, why did Allah create a livable environment
in Makkah? Why did He allow that to
happen? For one reason, so that He could
be worshiped alone.
That like this this city only exists as
a as a city for the worship of
Allah. You could say other things about any
other city on earth, but you cannot say
that about Makkah. Makkah was created by Allah
as a city
just so He could be worshipped. So the
people in charge of that city are actually
their
is Allah
and He put them in that city so
they can serve His cause and finally, He
gave them Allah's word and Allah's word speaks
the truth. When they hear Allah's word and
it doesn't reach, they can't say it because
like the leaders of Quraysh were saying to
each other, Hey, don't let our youth hear,
Don't let our youth listen that that we're
actually listening to this. We gotta keep our
mouth shut. We gotta remain.
We gotta remain.
And why can't we if you ask them
privately, Hey, by the way,
what's the big problem? No, no, no. It
makes sense. It makes total sense. Listen, we
can't afford to do that.
You have to think about this this is
a serious issue we are incapable
our hands are tied
our hands are tied politically our hands are
tied economically
Our hands are tied in our tribal system.
What can we do?
Have you heard this kind of logic even
today?
I know this is true but I can't
do anything. My hands are tied.
I have to keep my mouth shut because
in some some some sometimes in our even
in the Forget non Muslims, even among Muslims,
in the family, there's some open injustice happening
against the word of Allah, and then in
private you say, I know what uncle is
doing is messed up. I know what my
dad is doing is messed up. I know
what my brother is doing is messed up.
I know this is messed up. Why don't
you say, I can't say anything. You know
how the family is, you know,
I can't I can't do anything.
I can't say anything.
And how did Allah describe these people? Like
an instrument
that no longer serves its purpose.
It's like Allah is describing with the subtle
language,
these are
like
remarkable creations of Allah that were designed originally
to be sharp.
They're supposed to execute the will of Allah,
like the knife executes the will of the
master, but they've turned into these dull instruments,
so they are no good. Now what happens
to dull instruments? Well, in another parable, we
already covered in the in surah
we saw
right? The froth
gets washed away. What happens to the knife
that doesn't cut? It gets tossed away.
It gets done away with, you know?
And there there's a warning explicitly in the
Quran multiple times
of
If he wants, he could do away with
all of you. He could just get rid
of you. He doesn't need you.
He doesn't need you. This is this is
the warning being given by way of that
parable.
So now, if you look at the next
part of this this, this analogy,
and that is
Remember the analogy? That the master, whichever task
he sends them to, he can't do anything.
Remember that part? Well, what did Allah do
with these people? These Quraysh that were acting
like a blunt instrument. Allah explained
Himself.
Allah introduced Himself in the Fatiha.
Allah reminded them or explained what the is
in Suru Zilzal.
Then he Oh, they don't understand? Let me
point them in a different direction. Let me
explain it again in Suratul Adiyat. Let me
explain it in Suratul Haqqah. Or they're not
understanding what happens to nations that rebel against
me, let me give them Surat Al Qalam,
Surat Al Haqqah, Surat Al Mulk, Surat Surat
Surat Surat Surat Surat Surat Surat Surat Surat
Surat
to you, maybe this one will make sense
to you, maybe this one will make sense
to you.
That is how we keep alternating the ayah,
literally the ayah,
it it points you in a different direction.
Every aya is pointing you in this direction,
than in this direction, than in this direction.
Maybe if this didn't make sense, then this
will make sense, then this will make sense.
I'm I'm experienced as a teacher, and I
I really appreciate this this analogy
from a from a teaching perspective.
Sometimes you have a student who's like,
He's like a
like, there's a student you you're you're a
math teacher. You're trying to explain 2 multiplied
by 3 equals 6, and the student goes,
And you say 2
multiplied by
3, you're going. Okay.
12,
12,
12.
How many? 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
He goes,
Like, okay.
Let's try this again. I'm gonna give you
2 Kit Kats.
Here's 2 more Kit Kats, has
2 multiplied by 3, and he keeps going,
And you come up with ways to explain
2 multiplied by 3 one way, another way,
another way, another way, another way. And this
guy's At the end of it all, like,
maybe you're just not a good teacher.
Right?
You know what that teacher is doing? That
By the way, that teacher is definitely not
from Pakistan. Okay. Because
the teacher the teacher in Pakistan
will be like 2 multiplied by what what
was I gonna say? You tell me. What
was I gonna say?
Let me give you there's educational therapy.
You should know the answer before the question
is asked.
Right? So
But the the the point I'm trying to
make is that a teacher who goes out
of his way to explain one thing, then
explain it again, then explain it again, then
explain it again. And the student is acting
dumber and dumber and dumber and dumb. Quran
is coming. It's not explaining some complicated
concept. It's a very straightforward way of thinking.
And it's profoundly rational and profoundly appealing to
the soul also. It's spiritually
appealing. It's intellectually appealing all at the same
time. It's not some convoluted philosophy.
And so Allah explains it, then he explains
it again, then he explains it again. Now
we anybody who's been in the teaching profession,
at some point you say these people are
not worth explaining.
They need a different kind of education.
Right? And there were nations before
there were nations before
who acted like they don't understand
and Allah has taught them a different way
before
Allah has taught them a different way before
but Allah decided to teach the Quraysh
with so much rahma
that even when they were refusing to learn
Allah would teach them again and teach them
again more Surah more Surah more Surah
you read the Quran now you're like why
is there so much repetition I don't understand
Just appreciate what Allah was doing for 13
years. 13
years. If you look at the concepts in
the Quran, 2 thirds of the Quran. The
concepts in the Maqan Quran, you can fit
on 2 pages.
But those concepts are being reviewed
for 13 years. This is when you understand
Quran. It's as extra kind of rahma, the
one who taught the Quran. Because if anybody
else was teaching, the teacher's patience runs out,
and then then there's another kind of teaching.
You know? Then there's physical
physical education. Right?
PT.
Right?
So now, Allah describes this on the one
hand.
Any direction He puts him in,
No other what direction He points him in
no good comes of it Allah points to
His signs in creation He doesn't want to
ponder them Allah points him to look within
himself, doesn't want to ponder that. Allah points
him to look at the the the ruins
of history, learn from that. He doesn't want
to think about that. Even before the coming
of revelation, the signs were all around and
the signs were deep inside his conscience, inside
of his fitrah.
We'll show them our signs in the skies
inside themselves. It'll until it'll become clear that
it's true. This the the lessons are being
taught in every possible way,
doesn't bring about any good.
It's interesting the word also has the meaning
of protection,
and it's like the one protecting you is
the one you are rejecting,
and
and they're you're of no service to them,
but they're the ones offering you protection, they're
the one taking care of you. Now, let's
come to the flip side. The flip side
Allah says, can this person be equal to
somebody who commands to good?
Now, you'll appreciate
You know, the one who could have spoken
up about the wrong that's happening
and decided to be quiet for political reasons,
economic reasons, social reasons,
cowardice reasons
is being contrasted with the useful slave
of Allah.
Who's the Who's useful to Allah?
Unlike any other slave owner, any other master,
they put you to work for their own
benefit, and Allah wants to put you to
work so you can enforce justice in the
world for the benefit of others. Because
When you command to good, it doesn't benefit
you, it benefits others. That's the the whole
point of it is benefiting others. Look at
the previous exit right before this ayah, the
ayah we did yesterday. What did the slave
of Allah do? The useful servant of Allah.
He spends from the money Allah gave them.
He benefits others.
That time he was benefiting others with his
charity. Now he's benefiting others by commanding, instructing,
advising people to be just, to be fair.
And this is actually Allah's way of contrasting
2 things.
Someone who doesn't stand by justice,
to Allah,
to Allah
is actually someone who's stupid,
who doesn't know how to think,
who doesn't speak up, who is incapable of
any good, who doesn't matter which direction you
point him, no good will ever come from
them because they can't speak up for what's
right.
Because the contrast is being made. By contrast,
now the definition on the Because opposite things
are contrasted.
What's one side? One side is Well, this
is, you know,
4 items.
He's he's mute and thoughtless,
then he's incapable,
then whichever direction or he's a burden and
a blunt instrument, no no longer a useful
instrument, and whatever direction you put them in,
no good comes of them. These were the
4 criticisms.
And on the one hand, what's the one,
you know, accolade? What's the one praise commands
to good?
Stands by what's right. That's all.
By putting these 2 as opposites, it's as
if Allah is saying, if you don't stand
by what's right, then that's what you are.
Then all of those 4 criticisms apply to
you.
And this is Allah's way of saying the
the who is the useful servant to Allah?
Who's the useful servant to Allah?
Anybody who will open up, who will who
will command to justice. The first application of
that is to the Rasul himself sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. And that's to anybody who accepted
his call, they weren't quiet.
This was actually the problem. They weren't just
silently accepting Islam. They were accepting Islam, and
the Quran they were learning, they were also
spreading. The message they were learning, they were
also speaking up openly about. Right? And this
represented a huge problem. If if enough of
this message spreads,
then shirk will be challenged.
Don't don't think about shirk
in
simplistic terms.
Shirk in simplistic terms is just the idols.
It's more complicated than the idols. Those people,
those rich and powerful people, they're way too
smart to worship idols.
Behind those idols are the real idols and
the real idols are money, status, and power.
Those are the real idols
that are behind the wooden idols and the
stone idols.
That's why the Quraysh don't want those idols
destroyed.
They already know those idols are nothing. They
already know that. Even when they pray in
their own false way,
Quran says, They're just doing it to show
off.
There's just a show they put on in
front of people. They don't have a religion.
Their religion is money, status, power.
That's their those are their gods.
Those are their god. And all of those,
if you want to put 3 of them
together, the word for that in the Quran
is
actually.
Includes the desire for money, for status, and
for power. All 3. And Allah says,
Did you see someone who makes their God
into their That's
actually the concept.
And now, standing against those who are hungry
for money, status, and power will always
do injustice.
Because the only way they can gather more
money than everybody else is by injustice. The
only way they can gather more power and
keep power, and the only way they can
have more status than everybody else is injustice
What's the opposite of injustice? Justice
That's the that's the flip side. That's the
useful servant to Allah.
And that so so now Allah is actually
describing
the the objective,
and the first fairness 1st of all, the
first fairness is to Allah himself.
The first unfairness they've done is to Allah
by putting words putting idols around the Haram.
But beyond that is the service to all
of humanity.
You know, it's interesting when you command to
justice, when you become
you speak out for in against injustice, and
you speak out for justice in any society
even now. Imagine there's a journalist
who called out some corrupt politician in some
country.
Usually, what happens to that journalist?
He's either killed,
he disappears,
or he
suddenly had a heart attack at the age
of 23.
Right?
Or we don't know what happened to him,
or something or the other happens.
Why? Because
speaking out for justice is actually
risking your life
is risking your life. Now it's interesting because
there's a phrase in the Quran,
Make jihad with your money and your
selves. If you look at these 2 ayaat,
the previous aya was
He spends from it. That was jihad with
money.
And in this
ayah,
what's that? Jihad?
So
is in the previous ayah, and is
in this hass,
Like the same con and this is actually
one of the ways Allah does. Right? He
he'll explain a concept briefly, then he'll open
it up like a seed that opens up
into multiple flowers.
That's what he's doing in this this absolutely
beautiful ayah. So he says now here's the
last thing.
And he is on a straight path. That's
the last part of the phrasing.
This phrasing also is If you stick with
the analogy of having a servant who's useless,
the most useful servant is the one you
can trust the most,
which means
Forget slaves, think about employees. How many people
here are business owners?
If you're a business owner Okay. Not Nobody
owns a business,
This is a great community.
You need to you're all working, making somebody
else money. Own some businesses.
Okay. So
the point when you when you own a
business, the best kind of employee you can
have
is an employee number 1 you can trust
and number 2 they're capable
They're good at the job and they're trustworthy.
Even if one of these is missing, forget
it.
Maybe they're really trustworthy, but they're terrible at
the job.
No point.
Or they are really good at the job,
but you don't what?
Right? The best you can hire
in is the one who's strong, meaning capable
to do the job, and the one you
can trust. Now imagine, if you if you
have someone who's capable,
first of all, the first parable was someone
who's not capable.
Right? They're not capable.
But if you have someone who is capable
and you can trust them,
the more capable they are and the more
trustworthy they are, the more you make them
independent,
the less instruction you give them.
If they're If if you're going to hire
them to take care of the restaurant,
you can go for vacation, you're not worried
because the the guy you hired
is 2 things, capable and
trustworthy. Now you don't have you can actually
have a vacation. You don't have to keep
checking back.
If one of those two things is missing,
you gotta keep checking the webcam,
you gotta keep checking the security camera, you
gotta keep checking and texting, and you got
to keep finding out if anything's wrong because
one of those two things is missing. You
understand?
But when someone is a capable
servant,
then they can they can act the way
the boss would have acted.
In the Quran, Allah is the one who
commands to good.
Allah is the one who commands to good.
But in this parable, I would argue, it's
the servant that's commanding to good. He's executing
the Will of Allah.
Allah Himself,
Allah is the one who commands to justice.
But in this parable, it's the servant who's
commanding to justice.
It's
you. You become the instrument of God's intent.
Allah intends justice to happen in this world.
Allah commanded it in His book, but you're
executing it.
You're the one who's actually acting it out.
And Allah has trusted you with it. This
is the Allah has given you.
And how can someone
be trusted with that if they're not doing
it themselves, they're not trustworthy themselves, they're capable
of commanding to justice, And how is Allah
showing that this person is trustworthy?
They're walking a straight path themselves.
So they're actually they're not just telling you
to be just, they're just themselves. They're living
it. They're walking on this journey.
Then there's this analogy of Just imagine someone
walking on a path.
When you walk on a path, doesn't that
mean you're on a journey?
And when you're on a journey, you're going
to experience and encounter unexpected things, isn't it?
You're going to encounter unexpected things. And the
more the farther you get from your journey,
the farther away you are from your boss.
So you can do anything, and your boss
will not know because he sent you on
a journey,
and he has no way of observing what
you're doing.
He's he's left you he's trusted you to
go on this journey.
In the case of the servant of Allah,
they walk on this long journey illustrating that
indicates
actually because the most trusted servants
will be given the the biggest tasks and
the most independent tasks. And putting someone on
a journey is a highly independent task.
Imagine in the worldly sense, somebody's been handed
a bunch of goods, expensive goods, and they're
being sent to another nation altogether.
If he's not trustworthy, he can take all
those goods, sell them and disappear, move to
another country.
He could do that. Or he could sell
some of those goods for a higher price
but tell the boss he sold them for
a cheaper price and keep some of the
money for himself. Or he could sell it
and say he got robbed. He could lie.
Anything can happen when he's on a journey.
Right? If you look at the previous example,
that guy, the first servant, is not even
capable of even a small task, so there's
not even a question about him being sent
to a journey.
But the second one is being praised so
much that not only does he command to
good,
and he himself stays on task, he stays
on the journey himself, he does exactly what
he's told, and if he sees somebody else
veering off the path, he even corrects them.
So it's a remarkable parable to describe
in the end, not just a comparison between
these two servants. Now, I'll I'll come to
the concluding portion. There's 2 things I want
you to 2 things I want you to
take away from this parable. One of them
is the Quraysh felt like they are the
masters.
And by the end of this parable, it's
as if Allah is telling them actually you're
the useless slaves.
The truth of it is, you're the useless
slaves.
And they felt that they have power,
and they're the ones being described as,
And they felt that their way of life,
and their society, and their culture is great.
And they have to preserve it. And Allah
says, no matter what direction I put you
in, no good comes from you.
You have no good in you. Like they're
being called out, that's being flipped on them.
And the one they criticize, the Muslims that
they were criticizing,
Allah says these are the only people that
are actually on the right on the right
track.
Not only are they on the right track,
they're so capable. They're not just in control
over themselves.
They're enforcing justice beyond themselves too. They're commanding
justice beyond themselves too. So Allah It looks
like Allah took who The people who are
apparently weak, and he described them as powerful.
And the people who are apparently powerful, and
he described them as weak.
And this is actually one of the great
messages of the Quran. The people that are
standing by the truth, it doesn't matter if
they look politically, socially, and financially weak.
They're in a position of power.
And the people that are standing by Batil,
and they're remaining silent about injustices By the
way, we're living through a time where a
lot of politicians, a lot of celebrities,
a lot of notable people,
they are deliberately remaining silent over the genocide
that's happening in front of our eyes because
their career is at line, or on the
line, or they're they're not gonna get the
next movie contract, or they're gonna lose their
their contract their donor contributions for the next
election, or whatever. So they know they have
to remain
and in private they'll say, we feel really
bad for what's happening. We just just wanted
to let you know that personally
I feel really really sad
and it's hurting me I just wanted to
let you know that there there are different
you know there's political constraints you
understand. Politics is complicated.
So they'll call you and tell you their
outcome and
and the last thing, yes, you are and
you're a burden on humanity and your burden
you're you're useless
servant.
There's no good that will ever come from
you. You can you can be delusional about
some good you do, there's no good that
comes from you. So even their false attribution
of good to themselves is being washed away
by this
remarkable
example.
So he says,
the final
the the the final reminder of this that
I'll I'll share with you is that not
only did Allah flip this on its head,
it's it's Allah saying, you're the ones that
are a burden,
and therefore,
the implication is just like a tool, a
knife that doesn't cut, it gets thrown away.
You are going to be removed from power
because that is what a master does when
he has a useless tool.
Tell the disbelievers it openly got said later
in in Madinah.
Tell those who have done kufr,
you will be dominated,
and you will be herded towards jahannam.
You are going to be removed, you know.
We know how much the earth is taking
away from them.
Allah says, the the sphere of influence of
the Quraysh is getting smaller and smaller,
Their borders are getting they're shrinking.
As the continues,
their their the the the almighty thought of
themselves as the almighty are becoming shrinked and
more shrinked and more shrinked in their sphere
of power. That's Allah's plan.
And that that plan of Allah, in very
succinct language, he's just kind of dropped it
in this
this really beautiful example.
But at the end of it, there's a
humbling message.
And the humbling message is, Who knows?
Who knows that they are a useful servant
of Allah, and who knows that they are
useless before Allah. Allah adds,
Allah alone owns the unseen of the skies
and the earth. That's the very next ayah.
Allah knows.
And then,
if you are a useless servant, then you
should be removed. And Allah says,
And the decision of the final hour is
nothing like the blink of an eye is
nothing but the blink of an eye. In
other words, Allah will deal with you in
his own way, and don't think it's so
far, it's so quick, it can happen like
the blink of an eye.
And then he says, look look at this
this this last part,
or it's even closer
It is Allah in fact who is in
complete control over everything. You notice in the
previous ayah, we saw the sir the useless
servant is has no control over anything.
And immediately contrasted
with I I know it's time's up, but
I'll just share one more thing with you.
One more. Quick. It's gonna be quick.
The servant who's useless,
not capable of anything. Right?
You know who's also useless?
I know it sounds bad, but a baby.
Why am I saying a baby is useless?
Because a baby is incapable of anything. You
have to take care of the baby. The
baby can't take care of you. The baby
can't clean itself. The baby can't feed itself.
The baby doesn't know anything. The baby can't
speak. You can speak to the baby. The
baby can't communicate to you. Is he crying
because he's hungry? Is he crying because his
stomach hurts? Is he crying because
he needs to poop? You don't know why
he's crying.
You don't I mean, nothing.
Kind of like the problem.
Look at the next ayah.
Allah is the one who brought you out
of the bellies of your mothers not knowing
anything.
And he put he put in place for
you here listening
and eyes
and hearts, so you can all be grateful.
So he did he did that for you.
So he made you useful.
If he created you useful, why are you
acting useless?
That's that's the message of the of these
ayaat. May Allah help us internalize
these beautiful parables and make us useful servants
to him.
That are interested on top of the students
we have in studying the Quran and its
meanings and being able to learn that and
share that with family and friends, and they
need sponsorships, which is not very expensive. So
if you can help sponsor students
on Bayina TV, please do so and visit
our sponsorship page. I appreciate it so much
and pray that Allah gives our mission success,
and we're able to share the meanings of
world over.
world over.