Nouman Ali Khan – The Quran – True Goal is Transformation – Surah Al-Hadid
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The Quran, of course, has history. It has
laws. It has,
events of the future, judgment day. It has
the origin of the universe. It has many
subject matter. Right? There's all kinds of subjects
in the Quran.
But the goal of the Quran, the agenda
of the Quran,
is actually transformation.
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If you want to, one of the ways
you can think of the agenda, the goal
of the Quran is transformation.
So I'm gonna give this to you by
way of an analogy, and we'll come back
to that analogy over and over again. Of
course, people say, well, you know, Muslim countries,
like a country like Pakistan where I come
from. Right? There's arguments about we should have
Islamic laws implemented because we are a Muslim
country, therefore, if we don't have Sharia laws,
then we're not we're disobeying Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. We have to implement the hudood etcetera
etcetera. This is a very common conversation.
Right? So I'm gonna give you an analogy
today. Imagine there's a family, they weren't very
practicing, they're it's Muslim but not very super
religious. Right? And the dad, I don't know,
he watched one of them videos online and
he just
he just he'd probably watch one of those,
like, British Dawah videos. Come on, bruv. You've
got my double bruv. Like, one of those
bruv videos. And he's just like, oh, I'm
those I'm a bruvah now. Right? So he
so he comes home.
His daughters are 18, 19, 20 years old,
you know, he's been married to his wife
for, you know, 25, 30, 40 years or
whatever, right? And he comes on from today
on, all of you are wearing hijab. And
today on, everyone here is praying 5 times
a day. I don't wanna hear it.
He comes on and he implements,
You're gonna pray 5 times, I don't wanna
If you all live under this house, this
is how it's gonna be.
You better you better do And he just
lays down the
Now you tell me logically speaking,
those girls that are 18, 19 have never
been told to do this, don't understand why
that all of a sudden dad's going crazy,
wife doesn't understand, she's been married to him
all this time, he's never said anything like
this,
And he they they start listening to him
because they get scared because he's really authoritative.
So they get scared and they start observing
hijab. They start praying 5 times a day.
My question to you is, do these young
girls
develop a love for Islam or a hatred
for it?
Anybody here can tell you.
If you're if you're a sane human being,
you know that this this is a surface
transformation,
but on the inside, it's actually building resentment.
In fact,
there's a good chance that some of these
girls might even run away from home.
There's also a good chance that they might
rebel
and become they were okay before but they
really don't want anything to do with Islam
ever again. In fact, later on, they might
even become better Muslims on their own after
rebelling
and now they're thinking about wearing hijab on
their own but what stops them is the
reminder of what it triggers, the memory that
it triggers and it gets in the way
of them actually
being able to do that. Why? Because somebody
said the goal of Islam is
the the the the goal of Islam is
obedience.
I started by saying the statement that I
wanna unpack for you through this ayah. The
goal of Islam, what did I say is
it?
Transformation.
And goal of Islam is
transformation. I gave you the analogy that was
given in Surat Al Fath, how the companions
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam were
transformed
like a seed is transformed into a full
crop. Now the transformation of a seed is
a is a farming process and it takes
cultivation and care and time. Now what does
that have to do with this ayah?
First thing Allah mentions is that Allah sent
his messengers with albayinaat.
He sent his messengers with.
We're gonna
keep things simple so
will be two things for this discussion.
Is miracles
that prove
that what these messengers are saying is in
fact from Allah. Like it is in fact
divine.
It's not just somebody's opinion. It's not just
somebody's philosophy. It is the truth coming from
the highest heavens and there's proof for that.
And when it's proof that is absolutely clear,
that is called bayyanat, number 1.
The second thing bayinaat will mean is teachings
or were a worldview
in which nothing is confusing, everything is crystal
clear.
Not only do I know my why is
crystal clear and my what is crystal clear.
So why should I pray? Why should I
believe? Why should I dress like this? Why
should I eat like this? The why behind
all of that is why should I believe
this is God's book? Why should I believe
in a God to believe with begin with?
Why should I believe in a prophet? The
why is absolutely clear. And then on top
of that,
what do I have to do and exactly
what is expected of me is also absolutely
clear.
The why and the what are within the
bayyanats.
The why of Islam and the what of
Islam.
Messengers came with this. Now imagine a human
being that is absolutely clear after this this
exposure,
they know exactly why they're Muslim.
If you if you take a survey of
the Muslim world, if you go to a
Muslim country, right, where there are the majority
of the population is Muslims, and you interview
the average 16 year old, 18 year old,
20 year old, even in fact 30 year
old, why are you Muslim? Can you tell
me why you're Muslim?
What convinces you of Islam?
You frame it another way. What convinces you
of Islam? What will be
are understandably the vast majority response
of the people in that country?
My parents are Muslim.
What do you mean? We're all Muslim. That's
what you're supposed to be. What do you
mean what convinces you? It's obvious. No. How
is it obvious? It it just is. Stop
messing with me.
In other words, it's been passed down
and that's good enough.
Is it Bayin to the next gen Is
the why Bayin? Is the why clear?
No. Because
if that's the answer, then a Christian,
in a Christian country, in an African Christian
nation, in a in an Asian Christian nation,
you go to the Philippines, you go to,
you know, parts of Nigeria, you go to
other places, ask a Christian young man, Why
are you Christian? What are they gonna tell
you? Same answer, My parents, everybody is Christian.
What do you mean? That's just what it
is, that's just my religion.
If you ask a Hindu, he's gonna say
the same thing. If you ask a Buddhist,
he's gonna say the same thing. So then
our answer is no different meaning it's not
Bayin.
In fact, that answer is recorded in the
Quran.
We just follow what our parents did. That's
in the Quran. But that's not a description
of the Muslims, that's a description of
everybody else.
So it's not
Now
the I said the why should be clear
and what else should be clear.
The what should be the what is the
revelation itself.
What
does your religion say? What is the Quran?
What's in the Quran?
Do you know about Surat Al Baqarah? Do
you know about Adi Imran, Nisa, Maidah, and
Aam Aras,
you know,
and Fa'al Tawba,
you know, can we can I ask you
some questions about Surat Al Tawba? Ask a
30 year old educated, got a bachelor's degree,
even got a master's degree, well educated Muslim,
born and raised in a Muslim country, ask
them, Hey, do you know anything about, I
don't know, Surat Al Baqarah?
Can you tell me about Surat Al Baqarah?
They'll be like, I'm not a sheikh.
What do you mean?
You know do you know what Allah says
about? I don't know.
Inheritance? Well, it's complicated.
Do you do you know anything do you
know what Allah says about, I don't know,
the prophet Nuh alaihi salaam? Do do you
know anything about the in which Surah he
talks it? I've this is complicated, bro. I'm
not a PhD in Quran studies.
I'm just a programmer. I'm just a taxi
driver. In other words, for the vast population
of people,
the what of revelation,
the what of revelation is actually not what.
The first thing that Allah mentioned in this
ayah is messengers came with
That's the first thing.
And the people that listened to the messengers,
these truths, the why and the what became
absolutely clear to them.
Then came the second step.
Then Allah says
then he sent with them
the book. The book is a reference to
law.
So the law came second after clarity.
Clarity was first, that's what the messengers came
with. And once clarity was there, then came
the law. So if you notice for example
in the sealah of the Prophet
it's easy to say, the sahaba were the
most obedient. These were the people of
These were the people.
But actually when the Quran was being revealed,
the vast majority of the Quran was revealed
in Makkah. And in Makkah, there wasn't much
to be done as far as the laws
of Islam.
Allah didn't reveal women covering their heads until
couple of years into Madinah.
We don't often talk about that but some
of the greatest Sahabi'at
in Islam
that were living in Makkah
probably didn't cover their hair because the ayat
hadn't been revealed yet.
A huge chunk of the seal of the
prophet
there were no 5 prayers, so there was
nobody getting up for fajr.
That that came a little bit a few
years in. Few years in. Zakat hadn't been
revealed, halal meat hadn't been revealed,
inheritance law hadn't been revealed,
hijab hadn't been revealed. All the things that
you look at, the visible sides of Islam,
observance of Islamic law weren't there. What is
being revealed then?
What's being revealed is stuff that transforms
the inside.
What's being revealed is what creates
within.
It makes everything
within.
The You're not in a construction of a
building. I want you to think of Islamic
laws, the laws as the building,
But you cannot build a building until you
have a what?
Foundation.
Or another analogy you can think of is
the laws of Islam are like the tip
of an iceberg.
In the ocean, you can see the part
that's above the water but the vast majority
of it is
underneath the water. The laws in the Quran
don't even amount to 10% of the text.
They don't even amount to 10% of the
text. So what is 90% of the text
doing?
It's creating a transformation
within.
A transformation of how I see the world,
how I see reality, how I think about
history, how do I think about myself, how
do I think about others, when do I
think about the future, my thoughts about right
and wrong, my feelings about right and wrong,
spiritually, intellectually, and emotionally it is transforming. These
three ways. Spiritually, emotionally, and intellectually, it is
making things clear to me. Then Allah revealed
laws.
Then Allah said,
But even that and once he sent the
law let me tell you something about the
law now and it's I'm getting a little
ahead of myself.
This is important. The difference between the law
and the balance because Allah said he sent
the law and the scale, the balance scale,
right? Which is obviously a term for justice
because scales are a symbol for justice. So
what's the difference between law and justice?
Right? We call it the legal system. In
America, we call it the legal system. We
also call it the
justice system.
Right? That is
a misnomer
and I'll explain to you why.
The law
can be misused.
The law can easily be misused, and even
Islamic law can be misused, and I'll show
you how.
For example, in Islamic law for certain allegations,
you have to produce at least 4 witnesses.
Four reliable witnesses.
Okay. Is it possible that somebody says, I
really wanna ruin this person's life,
and the society thinks of these 4 guys
as reliable,
decent people, but they decided together, these 4
people, that they're going to ruin that person's
life and they said, we are the 4
witnesses that accused this person of doing x
y z. Did they produce the 4 witnesses?
Yes.
Did the legal requirement get met?
Yes.
Was justice served?
No. So you can actually fulfill the law
and still not get
justice. The law and justice are 2 separate
things.
The ideal situation is the law is supposed
to be used so you can get justice.
But is separate and
is separate. Allah said,
And the reason He said that is once
your world view changes from within,
then you understand
the law isn't just there so you follow
the law, the law is there so you
get the result of justice.
The purpose of the law is to actually
get you to justice. The purpose of the
law isn't the law is a means to
a greater end and that greater end is
justice.
Okay?
Now you come to a country that says,
you know, or a society that says we
have to implement Islamic laws. We have to,
for example, cut the hand of the thief.
Okay? We have to cut the because Quran
says, you know,
So we have to implement the hudood, we
have to cut the hand of a thief.
And in that society,
the judge, the Sharia court judge accepts bribes.
The person who appointed him Appointed him because
of personal connections,
so he's not even qualified to be that
judge.
The person who stole
can can can't find honest living because of
the corruption of the politician of the system
that they've created.
In other words, the entire society is out
of balance,
but the one poor guy that got caught
stealing, what are we saying about him? We
should do what with him?
Cut his
hand.
And we're saying this is the implementation of
Islamic law, and you might even get away
with saying we implemented the law, but we
certainly did not implement what?
Justice.
The goal of message the message was first
to make things clear, and when things become
clear, the goal and the objective of the
law becomes clear, and the laws of Islam
are not isolated.
They are like, like, you know how there's
a neural network, everything is connected to everything?
One law cannot be taken in isolation from
the entire system of laws and the system
of justice that Allah created because in isolation,
it can create injustice.
It create ravages justice, and that's why when
Allah talks about his laws in the Quran,
one of my favorite examples is divorce law,
when he talks about it, he keeps talking
about Taqwa.
The ayat should be legal. The ayat the
the conversation should be do this, don't do
this, do that. And every time at the
end of the
you better know Allah is Allah knows what
you're up to. You better Why is Allah
saying that you have to have taqwa of
Allah because those laws that Allah has revealed
can easily be turned into injustice in the
absence
of taqwa.
Easily. You can take Islamic laws and do
loads of injustice.
And guess what the Israelites had done?
The Israelites said we are committed to the
law of God
without actually having the the spirit of the
law. There's something called the letter of the
law and the spirit of the law. The
spirit of the law is what produces justice.
The spirit of the law was gone.
Allah revealed in his revelation not just laws
but also the scale.
So this is the alfaq byan alkitabwal mizal.
This is an important distinction.
That alfaq
that then on after all of that, he
mentioned
iron. And iron was a reference to warfare.
And we talked about that yesterday a little
bit. But we need to understand the connection.
The first time I mentioned to you warfare
or prophetic wars
were revealed as a commandment.
Believers commanded to fight. Was which messenger? Do
you remember?
Good. Musa alaihi salam. We have to understand
why. Why wasn't Nuh told to fight? Why
wasn't Ibrahim Alaihi Salam told to fight? Why
wasn't Salih alaihi salam told to you read
all their stories, nobody's doing jihad.
And all of a sudden Musa Alaihi Salam
Musa Alaihi Salam wasn't even told to fight
with Fir'aun.
He wasn't told to fight. He was told
to do Dawah.
And then they're freed, they go in the
desert, they're in Umma, they're they're freed, and
all of a sudden Allah reveals that to
them the commandment to do what? To fight.
To fight. Why?
What what just what happened? And why couldn't
you tell people to fight before? Why now?
It has to do with law.
If you guys are law students, you already
know this. If you're sociology students, you already
know this. If you're political science students, you
already know this. Laws are different from morals.
So I'll give you 2 terms now, laws
and morals.
Humility, is that a law or a moral?
That's a moral teaching. Okay?
Modesty, is that a law or a moral
teaching?
That's a moral teaching. Stopping at a red
light, is that a law or a moral
teaching?
That's a
law. Now if you break a moral teaching,
kindness,
modesty,
humility, if you break a moral teaching, there
are no legal ramifications.
You don't get a fine for being a
jerk.
K? Allah says,
the ugliest voices
is the braying of a donkey,
meaning don't raise your voice. The Quran condemns
raising the voice.
But is it like, right now I'm raising
my voice in some context
and the the Dawah guy
with that guy.
But is he doing something that that is
illegal?
No.
It goes against the wisdom or the morality
in the Quran.
It goes against that but it's not illegal.
So it may be something maybe immoral and
still not be what?
Illegal. So morality and law are 2 separate
things. One way you can understand that in
the Quran is the terminology
One way to think about that. The laws
fit under al kitab
and the moral system fits under
al hikma. Okay?
The best you can be to your parents,
tala law or wisdom.
What do you
think? The best you can be to your
parents.
That's wisdom. That's not a law.
That's not a law because it's it's there's
a range.
There's a range in it. Some people's best
is different from other people's best.
Different scenarios. The best Ibrahim alaihis salam can
do is leave the house.
That's his ihsan to his walid.
That's his ihsan. And somebody else has to
stay with their parents no matter what. That's
their ihsan. Different situations.
So
when laws come we're talking about laws because
Al Kitab was used, right? So we're talking
about laws not wisdoms.
Prophets many prophets, Nuh alaihi salam,
they were given morality.
And the first time Allah gave laws was
who?
Musa'ris.
And the thing about laws like stopping at
a red light
is it cannot be considered a law until
there is law enforcement
that will punish you for breaking the law.
Law cannot be considered law until there is
law enforcement.
And you cannot have law enforcement until there
are there's force. And the phrase for force
in this surah on this ayah is iron
is iron. You have to have power
to execute laws. Any laws in any society,
any any governance. The moment laws come into
the picture, you must have enforcement. The power
to enforce those laws. Criminal laws for example,
imagine a judge who passes a verdict,
and says this one's guilty, this one stole
the land, the land shall be signed over
to this person.
The judge himself doesn't have the power to
go there, and then hand the deed over
to this one or that one. The state
has the power.
Right? And if you don't If you break
this, the police will show up,
or the authorities will show up, and they
will enforce the law. They will Because they
have the power to do that.
The police officer has the power to stop
your car, and he's armed.
He has the power of the state behind
him. He's got hadith on him
in order to be able to implement the
law. So I want you to understand why
hadith was mentioned, why iron was mentioned in
context of the law. That's one.
But I want you to also understand the
relationship between
clarity and the even before the al Bayyanath
and hadith also have a relationship.
Prophets alaihi wasallam
came to give clarity.
But some prophets,
Allah wanted them
not just to be saved but for them
to leave to create a society.
Nuh alayhi salaam
couldn't save everybody in his society, he had
to escape.
Salih alayhi salaam had to escape.
Right?
Shoaib alayhi salaam had to escape.
Musa alayhi salaam is being commanded to create
a society,
to to create an actual living society that
lives under the law of Allah
based on these bayinaat.
And when prophets are commanded to create a
society,
they must replace a power system that already
exists. So be so there will be the
those prophets will have enemies that will try
to crush and destroy their message as much
as possible. Allah does one of 2 things.
Either Allah will say to that prophet, leave
town, I will destroy them.
I won't let you be killed, loot, leave
town, I will take care of them.
Leave, I'll take care of them.
Shayeeh believe, I'll take care of them. Nuwah,
build an ark, I'll take care of them.
But then some Prophet salallahu alayhi decided, No,
you won't leave, you'll take care of them.
The bayyanath have come, the bayyanath have been
rejected, and when the bayyanath have been rejected,
those people need to be punished, and Allah
will punish them.
He could punish them by his own He
could send a flood, He could send an
earthquake,
but with
the Musa alaihis salam and the subsequent prophets,
and finally the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, Now those who reject the bayyanat
of the Messenger while the Messenger is there,
they will be punished by Allah by that
Messenger himself
and by the believers himself which is why
in Surat Tawba Allah says,
Allah will punish them
by your hands.
Allah will punish them by your hand. That's
what I call prophetic war. Now Allah can
Allah can have his own baas.
Right?
Baasullah as the phrase that's used in Surat
Raafir.
Who's gonna save us from the Baas of
Allah? Allah can wage war Himself.
And when Allah wages war,
Allah can destroy their buildings from their foundations
from the foundation.
But but with prophet Musa alaihi salam culminating
in Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam, the commandment is
you will become God's punishment on those who
rejected the Bayyanath
by which I'm referring to the Quraysh.
They rejected the Bayinats because they were the
recipients of it right in front of the
the living prophet right in front of them.
This is about the
Then,
even with justice
the thing is nowadays, there's lots of rhetoric
and conversations about social justice and the fight
for justice and there are societies which you
will find that because there's enough injustice, people
pick up arms or there's a civil war
or they're talking about war, they're talking about
fighting for it, you know, in the name
of justice. So we all know throughout history,
the call for justice
passively,
non violently
goes so far, and in some cases it's
successful.
But after so much non violent calls for
justice, eventually what happens?
I hope you guys enjoyed that video clip.
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