Riyad Nadwi – 0.2 Actionable Tafsir Dars2
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the importance of the Quran in purifying hearts and minds, as it is used to teach and guide people. They stress the need for action and guidance from Allah, and the importance of seeking divine protection from mis angst and forgiveness. The book, called Surah Al Ma, is a sign of Islam's power and importance in forgiveness, and is a book about forgiveness and the perception of sin. It is a sign of Islam's power and importance in forgiving others.
AI: Summary ©
This will be inshallah, our second our second
session to term. Carrying on the door action
to see. I think we'll carry on, we'll
pick up right where we left off last
time, and,
it's been a very beneficial session to all
of us.
It is he who was sent among the
unleaded.
A messenger from themselves reciting to them his
verses.
Purifying them. Teaching them.
Teaching them the book and wisdom,
although they were before in clear era.
And to others of them who have not
yet joined them,
and he is
the exalted in might, the wise.
That is the bounty of Allah.
Which he gives to whom he wills, and
Allah is the possessor of great bounty.
Brothers and sisters, Assalamu Alaikum.
Welcome to our second session
in this new series in which we are
pondering the verses of the Quran with a
view
to
towards purifying
our hearts and minds
and beautifying our conduct and character.
In our last session,
there were
several points. In fact, 13
major points that to be kept in mind.
And I know that you're all
super intelligent so you would have all memorized
them so there's
no need to revise it or should I?
I'll do it for Warakah's sake, inshallah, that,
I'll go over these 13 points
quickly,
summarizing what we did last week.
The first was that we discussed
the meaning of the word tafsir,
Both in the linguistic
terms,
which means
cash, it means Ibanah, it means opening, bringing
into view, uncovering.
And in its technical definition,
in the science of tafsir,
The brand that branch of knowledge in which
the meanings of the Quran are understood,
and where the deriving of injunctions and wisdoms
are explained
in clear, intelligible terms.
Now this definition, of course, is drawn from
the Quran. We said it was Surah Nahal
and Surah Al, in a Alimran, where Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
We revealed
the Quran to you so that you explain
to the people what has been sent down
to
them. And then, again, in surah surah Alimran,
That
surely Allah did a tremendous favor to the
Muslims when he sent a messenger to them
from among whom,
from among themselves,
who
who would recite his verses before them,
purify them, teach them the book and the
wisdom.
So that was the first point, the the
meaning of the word tafsir
in in technical terms.
And point number 2 was that to note
that Arabic is a
extremely rich language
densed with
meaning that is embedded not only at the
level of
the words that we use, not only at
the level of the lexicon, but also
in in letters, in phonemes, and in some
cases, even in the meanings of the positions
of the letters.
And with this word tafsir in particular,
we had we spoke about
the fasi nira in tafsir
that if
you were to
juxtapose them or mix them up, you end
up with with other words like Asfara and
Safara,
and but they all remain in the same
semantic galaxy. They keep the meaning. Even though
the the letters are and I gave you
the the equivalent in English, if if you
were to jump a lot, if you were
to take,
change the places of the two first words
of the word add, a d d, and
you put which we have with dad,
they will be completely different semantic fields. But
for Arabic when you do that, for most
cases you will find that the word will
still remain within the same semantic field.
Point number 3 was the Tawil because you
would hear this word Tawil also as Tafsir
when we in the context of Tafsir.
The tafsir is a synonym for tafsir for
tafsir.
But although tafsir is often
given broader meanings like opinions
and and it but but it is used
synonymously with the word tafsir.
Point number 4 was that Allah
did not send the Quran on its own.
Although he could have, he could have sent
a tablet down, he he could like he
sent the
food down, he he could have sent the
tablet. But he chose to send the book
with someone to explain it.
Someone to teach the book, to exemplify the
book. And this is important in today's culture
where we have people who say that all
you need is the book.
The Quran is not a DIY manual.
The Quran came with expert support, instructions on
how to engage with it, how to benefit
from it, and how to,
how to how to seek benefit, how how
to practice it.
Point number 5 was that our approach in
this series
will follow the traditional received wisdom
of Usulu Tafsir. Usulu Tafsir in which is
normative principles of exegesis,
which is drawing from a well established
scheme of interpretations.
That is,
the scheme arranged in 6
layer
structure where they're they're starting on the top
or 6, you can also
envisage this in 6 more concentric
structures around
extending outwards. So starting with Quran by Quran
then Quran. Tafsir with Quran with Quran and
Tafsir with Quran with Hadith. Tafsir with Quran
with the statement of the Sahaba. Tafsir with
Quran with statement of the Tabi'in. Tafsir of
Quran through the language of the Arabs, and
then tafsir of Quran through deliberation and deduction,
which is Istimbat,
tathabur an Istimbat.
In a way that does not undermine or
contradict
the other sources,
but augments and develop.
Point number 6, that we will include reflections
on modern scientific discoveries,
particularly in the field of cognitive sciences because
that's my ear that's one of the ears
of my expertise,
but without any claim of
diminutive
conclusions because everything we will say in this
regard will be tentative,
akin to the props and crutches
to bridge,
chasms of distance, of time, and language
that separate us
from the generation of Muslims who first understood
it. We understood the Quran with all its
nuances, registers,
and also its contacts.
Point number 7 was that a prime focus
of this stuff series will be on action.
That's why we've labeled it Actionable Tafsir.
Tafsir, in Arabic it's Tafsir We'ayniramal.
A view
towards
purifying our hearts and minds and beautifying our
conduct,
with what we learn. Putting into knowledge putting
putting the knowledge into practice
because this is the purpose of the book.
The Sahaba used to say that that they
they would say that, that
if we learned 10 verses, min al Qur'an
al kareem, lamnataalamalashrallati
badaha hadtanarifhadalaha
wa haramaha wa umraha wa nahiya. That we
will not move on to the second 10
verses until we learnt what was involved in
halal and haram and commands and all the
things that are related to that verse that
in terms of action, what should we do?
How should we act on that for those
10 verses? Then we move to the second,
the second ten. So when the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam describes his mission
as a,
as a a mission to teach conduct, to
correct conduct, to complete good conduct.
I was not sent except to perfect to
perfect good conduct. And he when
he was asked to describe his character, she
the prophet the prophet's wife, Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala,
and he said that he was a walking
talking Quran. He his character was the Quran.
So he exemplified the book in action.
Point number 8
is that entertainment
should not be our goal with tafsir because
this has become in vogue now, people go
to tafsir classes seeking entertainment.
You know, the the the,
lecturer was charismatic and he was funny and
what's not. These these are not things that
we should seek in tafsir
apart from the potential disrespect,
on fixation of entertainment.
It also
fosters
procrastination.
And the Quran is the last book
to foster procrastination
with because it's the complete opposite. We should
not forget that this is the only book
in the world that trains its readers
to put what they learn into practice as
quickly as possible
by requiring them to act on the spot
when they read certain verses as in the
verses of Sajda. You have to act immediately.
There are 14, 15 places in the Quran
where when you read those when you read
those verses, you have to do you have
to prostrate immediately. And in that is a
training that this is not a book for
procrastination.
It teaches you that there's immediacy
in
acquiring the knowledge and putting it into practice.
Okay. Then point number 10.
Towards approaching the Quran, when we approach the
Quran,
the first action what is the first action
we need to do? The first thing we
need to do, we need to seek, is
that we need to seek
cleansing of ourselves.
To seek purity. Allah says in the Quran,
Innahu Laquranun Kareem fikitabim
Maknoon
fikitabim Maknoon laiamasahuillal
mutahharun.
That indeed it is the Noble Quran in
a register well protected
and none
touch it except the purified.
So you're not allowed to engage with the
Quran unless you are in a clean state.
And this will be our topic for tonight.
We will go into this later, but let's
complete the list. Point number 10 was
the the second action that we needed to
do as when we read the Quran
was what? Which is the one we discussed
last week. What did we say?
Point number 1 was seeking cleanliness. Point number
2 was?
It's da'adabillah.
Yes. See the sisters,
paying attention.
Faizaqarah'al
Quran Fazdaizbillah.
That if you read the Quran, then seek
protection in Allah from ShaTaan,
when you read the Quran.
Point number 11 was that there are broadly
two main modes in which ShaTaan influences us.
And these are I'm talking about modality here,
And one is through whispering,
instilling fear, suspicion, doubt in your minds,
as we are told in Surat In Nas,
the one who whispers in your in your
mind, in your heart. And the second mode
is through setting examples.
Getting his followers to set examples or his
own example.
And Allah mentions
repeats this. It's twice in the Quran. He
says, you ayuha ladiraamanudhhuroo
fisilmikafa.
O ye who believe, enter into Islam
wholeheartedly and do not follow the footsteps of
shaitan. Twice. Allah says this twice in the
Quran. So you can see the importance in
that. In this, and recognize in Nahu, lakumaradu
wumbabeen that he's a clear enemy to you.
Point number 12 of the cha'atans first big
step into misguidance was
to allow
his pride and his arrogance to take precedence
over what?
Direct instructions from Allah. When you engage with
instructions from Allah, you have to put all
your pride aside. When you are faced with
guidance from Allah, this is this is it.
What Shaitan made this big mistake, he said,
kalaanakayi ummin. That, oh, I'm better than him.
So he used his own
intelligence
and he
was confident in that his conclusions were correct.
That's the that's the problem. You become confident
in that you know better and this was
the problem.
So the message here is that when we
are engaging with divine guidance and the instruction
as in the Quran, we need to seek
Allah's protection from being affected by a, the
whisperings of Shaitan on one hand, and avoid
following in his footsteps into arrogance thinking of
ourselves as the
epitome of cognitive sophistication, you know. We are
at the top of the tree where we
perceive all knowledge to be the product of
human of the human brain.
And,
and therefore
we dealt with this. We we we we
we see that well, if you perceive all
knowledge to be the product of human brain
and
see all knowledge as being in need for
validation
by the human brain, then there's a problem.
So and that need was to
discard of myths about the brain,
and as we're living in the century of
the brain,
we,
we went through we we we we replaced
we tried to replace
our
value for the brain with the value for
our souls. Appreciation for the value of the
soul. Myths about the brain, we discarded with
the myth of the bigger brain being the
key to intelligence and that neurons do not
have agency as we tend to do. We
tend to ascribe agency
to the neurons because if the neuron has
an agency that they're firing and that's the
reason why we are doing x y and
z, then each neuron will need a brain
in itself.
And then that brain will need another brain,
and then we end up with infinite progress.
We also said that,
we talk about connections in the brain. We
we were, we are seeking connection with Allah
and we're with with connections in the brain,
literally do not exist in the in the
form in in in the meaning of the
word connection. Yes. They have patterns but there
there are synapses. They have axons and dendrites.
They they're gaps. It's not really connections, but
they have patterns of firing.
Now the
13th point and final one that our souls
on the other hand are imprinted
with a memory of an encounter with our
creator.
Every child is born with a memory of
meeting with Allah
deep in their souls. And as we saw
in the results of the 2 research projects
I mentioned, which were taken by which were
conducted here in Oxford, where children
naturally and instinctively
recognize Allah. Children from all backgrounds,
those of atheist parents and those who don't
believe in God, who those who don't have
a the concept of a creator God, they
all believe,
they all recognize Allah.
Not only that, but they also recognize that
Allah is omnipotent, that Allah is omniscient, that
Allah is omnipresent.
He's all powerful. They they recognize this. They
they know that they know this and they
know that he knows everything and he's always
present. They he's omnipresent.
The researchers in this study also found that
something else, which I didn't mention last week,
which is that atheism,
which we think it's natural, you know, that
people have to be in a to be
convinced to believe in God, is the other
way around. They what they found is that
atheism is not a natural state of being
for the human
mind, and that one has to be educated
out of the belief in God to become
an atheist. You you have to you have
to have a certain type of education
to start thinking that. So there will be
a training that would have happened even though
you don't think, you don't recognize it as
such. This is what happens.
And in this way, in the Quran reminds
us that you are not given knowledge but
a miniscule amount. When
it comes to when it comes to reflecting
on the roof, the other,
part of the pendulum is that you recognize
how little that Allah is when he mentions,
he's telling you that the
that
the Roach that is that the command of
Allah, it is it is it is from
Allah. Wamautitum
minalaiilmiillahqadeel.
And you are not given knowledge except a
minuscule amount, a tiny amount.
So recognize it. Here, this mentioned with the
soul and the reminder
is of one of humility.
Is to have this little knowledge, to recognize
your little knowledge and have humility in thinking
about it. That when it comes to intelligence,
when it comes to knowledge,
because
if you recognize that that yours is little
then your quantity of knowledge should not allow
you to enter into arrogance.
Now another
pathway
in the footsteps of Shaitan,
of, is
in our perception of the quantity of knowledge
because Allah is clearly talking about quantity here.
He's saying little, you have a little knowledge
and what we find is that
living as we do, you know, knowledge what
we
we
derive
our this sense of being the epitome of
cognitive sophistication and knowledge
from the idea that we have, oh, we
have so much knowledge that, you know, that
we possess.
The quantity of knowledge is is a lot,
especially in today's world, living as we do
in the 21st century. People tend to take
pride in the quantity of knowledge we have.
So much so that they often assume the
authority to dismiss the need for divine guidance.
Because of quantity. On the basis of quantity,
not quality. I'm talking about quantity here. We
assume
that
and
that there's no need for guidance. They argue
they they they say that
we we know all there is to know
about everything. So there's no need for divine
guidance. Why why would you need divine guidance
at this time?
So for the benefit of the newcomers, and
I can see quite many of you,
let's do let's redo the knowledge quantity thought
experiment.
I'm sure the others would remember what it
is. We we heard the people from last
year.
Yeah. What's the knowledge quantity thought experiment?
Do anyone remember it from last year? At
the beginning of last year we we did
it. Anyway, I'm not gonna put you on
the spot.
The this is this is the thought experiment.
Imagine if I were to put
the top
100 Nobel Prize winners in a room and
ask them,
how much is the collective quantity of human
knowledge about the known universe?
In other words, what percentage
of the known universe
can we claim to have fully understood?
If I were to do this, what what
do you think the answer would be? What
would they
say?
As they usually do,
there's lots of books in which this question
has been addressed, and people have written about
it. And I've I've asked people about it
as well.
And most of them say,
between 2 to 4 percent
of what we actually understood because the they
say given things given,
black holes, given dark matter, dark flow, dark
energy,
and a whole loads of other things. If
you look at the universe,
what we understand of the universe, what we
truly understand, it's only about 2 2 to
4%.
This is,
you know, I've I've I've
the last scientist I've asked about this is,
Marcus de Sautoy, the one who took over
from Dawkins here in Oxford as the professor
for the public understanding of science. And his
answer was that,
what we do not know is infinite and
so great and what we know is so
little, it I the number, the figure that
he would put on it is,
0 to infinity. That is how much. But
we're we're not gonna take the sort of
his, number. We'll take the, people like Hawkins
and the others. Right? Let let's assume that
it's 2%.
Now keeping that conversation in mind, I want
you to
imagine that I were to bring if I
were to bring someone from the Amazon Jungle,
you know, an aborigine or someone who'd never
seen any who had never seen a car,
you know, from the Amazon Jungle
and brought him to Britain,
taught him to drive a car, and he
becomes an expert at driving this car. So
he's very good now with driving the car,
but he knows nothing about where cars come
from,
about car factories, design, or anything to do
with cars. How it works, he doesn't know
how the engine work, but he knows how
to drive it. But then one day his
curiosity got the better of him and he
decides to find out, you know, how how
does the car work.
And he hears noises in front in the
bonnet, under the bonnet. So he drills a
hole there on on top of the bonnet.
And that hole
happens to open up directly above a fan
belt, you know, cars, those of you know
about cars. It has a fan belt, that
moves a fan. So that fan belt
is view
is available to him now. So he studies
that, he puts a camera there, he,
observes it, and when he notices that when
that fan belt increases in speed the car
moves faster, the engine revs faster,
and he formulates theories of his of his
own because that fan belt,
he sees what's going on in there, and
then he decides to
make some,
arrive at some conclusion. He comes to conclusion,
and then he declares confidently that, look, this
fan belt, this thing that I've discovered that
makes that is made of rubber and twine,
this belt,
is the thing
that is responsible for the propulsion of this
car. This car is moved forward, is moved
forward, is propelled
by this fan belt.
Now, someone comes along and says to him,
oh, wait.
There are lots of there's lots more to
this engine
in the dark areas where you cannot see,
you know. You don't There's,
there are pipes, there are gears, there are
pistons,
that there's combustion and all sorts of things
are going on. And and he says to
them, look, I can only go on the
basis of what I observe.
I've studied this repeatedly. I've compared the measurement,
and I'm convinced.
Now, so far, you can say to him,
you can forgive him. You can say, okay.
Well,
because his view of the engine
is highly truncated, his knowledge about the car
is very limited,
then he cannot see beyond the fan belt.
That's and the person says to him, what
you have seen is only 2%.
What you have seen is only 2%
of the engine. The rest of it is
so much more. But he says no, that's
all dark to me. So I can only
go on the basis of what I can
see. And what I can see I have
correlation here and it tells me that this
is it.
Right? Now so far you can excuse him,
can't you? That look,
Bjarra, he doesn't know anything further. This is
what you've seen. So yes. Now what would
you say
if this person decides to go further?
And then declare now, he says, that because
I understand
the secret of of I've discovered the secret
of propulsion
of this car.
In other words, because I have discovered what
moves the car,
I now have the authority
to
declare
that cars create themselves,
that this car created itself.
What would you say to that?
What would you say to him? You would
say to make such a vast claim
on the basis of 2% of knowledge
is not only a stretch
but is it is in fact in essence
a form of arrogance. Anyone who does this
is entering entering into our arrogance because you're
making a massive claim on the basis of
something tiny. Yeah.
Tiny amount of knowledge.
Now let's come back to our scientists on
the basis of that same 2% of knowledge
about the known universe.
Many of them assume the authority to claim
that the universe and all that exist in
it
created itself.
And it's that the foundation for atheism is
that look everything created itself in today's world.
So you need that is the that is
dealing
with the question of quantity of knowledge. Because
if that's the quantity of knowledge, then it's
only 2%. So we need we need more
we need more with it's the
in that there's no
difference between
the a scientist, a person who on the
basis of that says that the world created
itself and my Amazonian friend who says that
the car created itself.
This is
in the form of arrogance and the kind
we we describe we described in the in
the Quran where it says, la
do not follow the footsteps of Shaitan.
However much our knowledge increases about ourselves and
the world around us,
it will be minuscule
compared
to the vastness of the universe
and the mysteries of our soul. That's the
thing we need to recognize,
and it is here that we need guidance.
It is here we need to recognize the
need for wahi, the need for guidance from
Allah. Human beings need guidance, we need wahi,
we are created by the divine and we
need divine guidance. Allah created us and we
need guidance from Allah. Without it we will
perpetually stumble in the dark and this is
what happens. One only need look at the
long list of moral crisis we face in
the modern world today to see how desperate
we are in we we desperately need for
for guidance,
from the one who created us. The Quran
is
this final pristine
divine guidance
that is available to all of us.
And Fadlukadamillahi,
the superiority of this book above all other
books, and this is where we ended last
week, that the Fadlukadamillahi,
to have this distinction in your mind very
clear that this book is not like any
other book. All other all other sources of
knowledge, sources of, of,
of guidance
and theories and ideas
are in a different category when it comes
when it's compared to the Quran because Fadlukalam
Illahi Aala Sa'ilil Kalam Gafadlullahhi
Aala Khalki. That the difference between
the superiority of this book, of the words
of Allah
over and above all other words, over all
other books
is like the superiority of Allah himself
above his creation.
This has to be deeply embedded in a
Muslim's heart. This is the this is the
approach to which you will come to the
Quran.
And now to come back to the need
for cleansing and purity before we engage with
the Quran,
which is the verse in Surah Al Watihyah,
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, Inna hulah Quran
Kareem.
Fikitabim
maqnoon
la yamasuhu
ilal mutakharun
tanzilumrrubilahalameen.
Indeed, it is noble Quran in a register
well protected.
None touch it except the purified.' It is
a revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
So you're not allowed to touch the Qur'an
unless you first
acquire
purity.
You purify yourself.
This instruction
is beautifully as,
exemplified
in the conversion story of Sayedna Umar radhiallahu
anhu, which you might know but I'm going
to tell you repeat it anyway.
He had set off. Umar, radiallahu anhu, the
2nd Khalifa,
he had set off at that time, he
was not Muslim,
and he set off with his sword to
kill Rasool Allah, to kill Muhammad because he
said this is this man is causing
intent that his assassins becomes
his bodyguards
to who are ready to die for to
protect him, die to protect him. The the
person the people who set off to kill
him. Yeah. Umar is not the only one.
There are other people as well who came
to kill him and then end in a
and and turned to the become his his
closest bodyguards to to protect him from people
killing him. So, ready to sacrifice their own
lives. So so this is one of the
miracles that when when you when you discover
the truth in Islam
the complete transformation takes place. But how it
happens,
what kind how what led to it is
is is a beautiful,
lesson in in this story. That on the
way while he was going
towards, assassinating assassinating the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,
he met somebody
in the street and the man realized where
he was going. So then the man said
to him, Lawa, put your house straight. Put
your own house in in order first. Where
are you going? That your own sister and
brother have become Muslim. So
naturally, he in full rage, he stormed into
his sister's house, and he heard them reading
the Quran. He read something, well, at the
door, but he barged in and started beating
them both up. You know, he started hitting
them,
and
and then after a while, he calmed down
because he saw his his his sister bleeding
in her face. And the blood seeing the
blood, he he calmed down
and sat down
and caught his breath a bit. And then
she he said to her,
show me what you are reading. You know,
show me this thing that you are reading,
this this book. And she said to him
that no. She said, in the
That you are unclean.
Imagine she is now she's now been just
been beaten, bleeding,
and she's willing to defend the Quran.
That this is that this is Allah's word
and I'm not going to allow any impure
person to touch it. That you said, Inneka
Nijis. That the
that a la shirki. That your shirki
your your policyism and everything else that you've
done. You you you are unclean.
And seeing the
determination in the in his sister's
voice and the way she approached him,
he said he said to her, okay.
She says to him,
This word, that only pure only people who
are purified, who are clean, who are cleansed
can be
And when he took the bath, she gave
him
the scroll.
And in it was Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim Fa'am
al Salam a'atiqal.
Quran alitushka.
That's Fa'ha. We did not reveal this book.
So to put you into distress.
Accept accept but only as a reminder for
those who fear of
Allah.
That it is a revelation from the one
who created the earth and the heavens.
That
the most merciful is above the throne established.
Lahoo.
Lahoo.
Lahoo. Lahoo. Lahoo. Lahoo. Lahoo. Lahoo. Lahoo. Lahoo.
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Lahoo. That to him belong to what is
on the heavens and what is on the
earth. And what is between them and what
is under the soil.
And to him belongs every and he he
he reads these verses, these powerful verses of
Surataha
and Allah
opens his heart
and Iman enters into his heart from these
powerful words
and he changes and he says,
okay. Take me to Mohammed.
And
immediately her husband said that Rasoolullah
had made a dua that
for 2 people and we were one of
them to come into Islam. And and he
end. And the story continues but I'm not
the point I want to focus on here
is that the when Allah opens his heart
is that
By taking that first step,
Umar
was transported
from the leading ranks of the enemies of
Islam and then placed into the inner ranks
of the leadership and defenders of Islam from
that one step moving forward.
Allah
values the first step.
When you take a step, your first step
towards Allah, however small that step might be,
however insignificant
it might seem to you,
one step to Allah will bring you
miles closer to Allah. For Allah
says
in Hadith Qudsi,
that if you come close to Allah, this
much, just one hand
span, I will come this much.
So
it's a Allah's man and said if you
come this much to Allah, 1 cubit, then
Allah will come this much.
Yes. This is this is ba. This is
word.
As as this, as as law, as as
long as this.
That if you come walking, I will come
running.
This is it. Taking the first step.
So that first step is crucially important, and
do not ever think
of it as insignificant.
It can be the smallest thing, but with
sincerity,
with
true sincerity to please Allah, it can move
mountains.
And in hadith, Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam
said,
that do not belittle any good deed.
Do not belittle any good deed you have.
Even if it's just smiling in the face
of your brother. That split second smile that
brings joy to your brother's heart or your
sister. Now I don't mean you smile at
the sisters. I mean, the sisters smiling at
themselves and you smiling at each other.
But it's the bringing joy
at your,
at each other. Yeah. Bringing joy to the
face of your in in your brothers.
Now
so what does this cleansing and purifying mean?
I'm sorry I have to ask such an
obvious question, but
given that we live in the west and
we speak English, there are substantial cultural and
linguistic differences
between the Islamic and Western conceptions of cleanliness.
Purity and cleanliness does not capture the meaning
of Tahara.
It does not.
We need several levels of perceptual leaps to
fully grasp the term. And I'm not saying
here,
this is not about,
knowing the individual information. I'm talking here about
internalizing
perception.
And but first I want to deal with
the technical aspects of Tahara as in what
what does this command in the verse means.
Laia masahu
ilalalmatahharun. That none should touch it except the
purified.
In the hadith in addition to the hadith
of that we just read, the story of
Umar radhiallahu,
there there is hadith in Sunil Darami and
Ima, Muwatta Ima Marik. And Surullah Sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam
dictated a letter to Amr ibn Hazm and
he said in that book
in that letter very clearly
that,
laia,
alayamasal Quran
illa Taherun. That no one should no one
should touch the Quran
except Taher, except the person who is Taher.
So what does this mean?
There are several points of discussion here that
we need to focus on. What do we
mean by mas masa? Masa yamusu.
Now, literally, it means to touch. Right?
But remember what we said about our scheme
of interpretation? What did we say? We said
that we'll look
at the scheme because we wouldn't we were
not gonna depend depend only on the language.
We're gonna depend on the interpretation
which we have.
So when we look at the various interpretations
of the word, of this verse, of in
the tafsir, we find that
reading is also a form of touching.
Literally, physical is touching, but reading is also
a form of touching.
There are rules governing 3 degrees of touching.
Physical touching directly, physical touching indirectly, and touching
by reading.
Point number 2.
What does Tahir mean? What does Tahara mean?
Now literally, it means to be pure, clean.
But here technically, it also means to be
purified
from a variety of specific impurities.
In the Tafsir of this we find ritual
purification
from Ahdaas and Anjas,
as in needing Khusul and Budhu. Also, purification
from Shirk, purification from Nifaaq, purification from Dunub,
purification from Khattaya.
All of these from shirk, which is insincerity
and having wrong iman, hypocrisy,
sins, and mistakes.
All of these are attached to the meaning
of the word Tahara in this verse. Now
given that the tafsir for action this is,
tafsir for action,
I will explain what
Hadas means. Hadas is a word you need
to learn about,
because a Muslim
can be in 2 states of ritual impurity.
One is known as Hadas al Athar,
which is the lesser impurity
treated with
what? Wudu. Wudu. Yeah. And the Hadas al
Akbar, which is a major one, is treated
with Wudu.
Now, these are things that you should be
familiar with, you should know by the time
you reach puberty, or at least, the latest
by the time you're 15 years old. And
if you don't know these, then there'll be
serious gaps, not only in your knowledge, but
as a consequence,
it can create major deficiencies in your practice
of deen. There is potential
in not knowing this for your salah to
become invalid.
So it is very important. For example, if
you don't know what what is the current
procedure of taking a bath.
What are the fara'ids of bath, of bath?
Is it just standing under the shower? Is
that it? No. Ghosul in Islam is not
just standing under the shower for a few
minutes. You need to wash according to the
sunnah, making sure that water gets to all
parts of the body including inside the fleshy
part of your
nostrils. This is called Istin Shahq.
And that's for people who are following the
Hanafi Madhab.
But the other Madhab see that had very
strong sunnah as well.
But but, yes, that that it for in
in Hanafi
Madhab, this is a sunnah. It's a sunnah
in Wudu. But in Hhusl, you need to
put water into your nostrils, into the fleshy
part in there. Water needs to go in
there. That is part of your Hhusl.
So
the Hhusl,
you're
having
showers, in in 4 it becomes compulsory in
4 cases. Janaba,
end of Hayd, end of Nifas, and mouth
dying. That when you when you have a
bath every day, you should reflect on the
fact that I'm having a bath today, but
a time will come, a day will come
when I'll be given a bath.
And that bath will be when I when
I die. People will bathe me. So
these are all points of reflection. The the
the the the terms these are terms that
you should be familiar with. And if you're
not, then you need to sit urgently with
someone
to go through the details. But I'll quickly
give you an overview, a brief understanding of
this is that,
and, it's a it's a very strong sunnah.
Said
hadith reported in Sahih Muslim
that That it is the it is the
right of Allah
upon every Muslim
to take a bath
at least once. And on Friday,
in in 7 days, and he should wash
his head and his body.
Now what are the fara'ids? What are the
compulsory things in the Ghusul?
And what are the sunnun of ghusl? You
need to know that. This is action. This
is actionable tafsir, so you need to know
we need to go through this. And if
you don't know them, then you need to
pay attention.
There are 3 far fara'ids. There are 3
compulsory things in ghusl that you need to
do. If you don't do this, then then
your your ghusl is incomplete and then as
a result your salah is incomplete. So you
need to be very careful about this. The
first one is rinsing the inner of your
mouth. This is known as mad madla. What
is it known as? Mad madla, which is
water in your mouth washing the inner part
of your mouth.
2nd one is Istin Sharpe, which is sniffing
water in into your nostrils up to your
the fleshy part and blowing it out. And
the third is to wash the entire body.
These are the 3 Farah'iv. You have to
wash and entire body means every body. So
if you have braids,
you don't need to undo your braids if
the water can get to the root of
the hair. But if the braids are tight
enough that it will prevent water from getting
to the root of the hair, then you
to undo your braids.
This is your plaits, so you need you
need to know that.
Now what are the sunan of the ghusl?
The sunan of the ghusl is to washing
both hands up to the wrist, saying Bismillah
before you get into the bath, before you
take your clothes off, saying Bismillah, but then
when you get then washing both hands up
to your wrists,
wash your private pots and remove dirt and
filth from your body using your left hands.
Yeah. Using your left hand. Yeah.
And then performing wudu, a blue shirt. Performing
wudu before you do, that's point number 3.
Point number 4 is to pour water over
your head 3 times and rub it, pass
your fingers in, rub your hair, so that,
so the water reaches the root of the
hair. This is Sunnah number 4. And Sunnah
number 5
is to wash the entire body ensuring water
reaches all parts of the body including your
navel.
And starting with the right side of the
body and then the left side and rubbing
rubbing your your body as much as you
can,
so the water reaches the entire body. That's
in a nutshell what Ghosul is physically. Right?
Now
point number 3.
We've we've done that.
We're going through the points about what what
is the meaning of Tahara.
Point number 3 was that we need to
be in a state of Tahara to touch
the Quran
directly. And that means that includes
anything that is attached to the Quran
permanently.
So the 2,
cards on the side, the the bookends, the
the cover, anything that is attached to the
Quran permanently, we do not touch that with
our without Wudu. Right?
However, you can touch it indirectly with something
that is not attached permanently
such as a a cloth, a cushion, a
string, or something else. Right? Another related point
here, and this is,
I know that most of you read Quran
from your devices.
The fatwa is that you do not need
Wudu to read on to read the Quran
on the device. And that's okay
because the text is not permanently on the
screen. However,
what most people don't realize is that you
are not allowed also
to touch
the screen
where the text is, to touch the actual
text on the screen without Wudu. So swiping
with your finger is not allowed.
This directly is not allowed. So instead of
swiping with your finger, if you do not
have voodoo,
then you should scroll
with
the buttons
if you do not have voodoo. This is
something this is the fact.
Point number 4 is that,
beyond the physical aspects of clean of cleansing
ourselves, we need to recognize
that there are moral and spiritual dimensions to
the meaning of Tahara.
It is not just a tick box exercise
where for physical cleanliness.
Tahara carries what is,
carries with it profound nonphysical aspects. In fact,
we are created with an inbuilt mechanism
to benefit morally and spiritually from these actions.
It is not only about being physically clean,
which is why we need to talk about
the limitations of the language, we speak,
which is English. When it comes to perceptions
of purity and cleanliness in Islam,
the Arabic word
Tahir does not have an equivalent in English.
If I say I'm Tahir, we cannot translate
it translate that word with one word in
English. There's no equivalent.
And why is that?
Because,
what what it would mean? In English, Tahir,
for example, you could clean a surface with
alcohol and it would be considered sanitized and
clean, but for a Muslim it would remain
unclean. It would remain not Taher
because it has an impurity
that we consider impure.
Now, point number 5 was for Muslims
having for a Muslim having a sparkling surface
is not sufficient for cleanliness,
and whenever there are such limitations in the
language to capture these subtleties
the speaker needs help, props, and mental crutches
to extend
to extend our perceptive capacities to transcend the
limitations of the language.
And here I should also remind you of
a massive of the massive
influence language has on our perceptive capacities.
This is an established
phenomena.
The language you speak will influence and according
to some determine
your the parameters of your perception.
That this is,
how you see the world will be influenced,
if not determined,
definitely influenced by,
the language you speak. For example, if you
do not have a word for a certain
frequency on the color spectrum,
then, in your vocabulary, then you will be
looking at that color directly and not see
it. I will go into this later on
when when we talk about examples. But for
now take my word for it. This is
and the effect of language, the the effect
of language on perception
is, discussed under the, what is known as
the Sapir Whorf hypothesis.
So the linguists among you might recognize that,
and there are two versions of it. There's
a strong version that says that language determines,
perception and thought in in in a deep
way, and another version is the is the
weaker version which is that it influences.
Language influences the way,
the the the way your perception.
In when it comes to color, the case
is proven,
that there there's no doubt that this happens.
But in other aspects of, language, there there's
discussion and debate.
However, when it comes to Arabic,
I believe
that there's strong evidence for heavy influence on
perception and the need for that. The need
for that for Arab. Arabic and the this
is the area of my research. So, I
will tell you more about it later on
in the series, but it it does. Arabic
has a restructuring effect on the mind. So
when we are talking about Tahara, it is
essential that we restructure our perception of purity,
cleanliness, etcetera
because it is at the core of our
faith. This this concept of Tahara is at
the core of our faith. Yes. It is.
The you know, Rasulullah
was sent the book was sent to to
purify you. And then Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa
sallam,
says,
tohuru shatru il Iman that Tahara is half
of faith. It is it is half of
your deen.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, mayuridu lahuwilija'ala
alaykum.
That Allah does not intend to make difficulty
for you,
walakim.
But you read
what he wants to purify. He wants to
he wants to give you tahara.
And to complete his favor upon you that
you may be grateful.
So
so this is the importance of this concept
of Tahara cannot be overemphasized.
It is central to our Deen and therefore
understanding
and internalizing
Tahara with all its facets and meaning is
absolutely crucial.
Now how do we go about restructuring restructuring
our perception
of cleanliness? How do we go about restructuring
this? It is
here and I want to stress here,
I I I I I know I'm stressing
perception
not information. Because you would know. You would
know that, oh, Tahara is x y zed,
you know. If you know what the,
the component what are the ingredients of tea,
you know. It has sugar, it has milk,
it has that that does not really give
you,
an idea of what tea tastes like. Right?
The perceptive your perception of something is completely
different.
A joined up good perception. So,
I'm stressing perception over information. You might have
information about additional meanings to purity in Islam,
but to perceive it as, as such in
a joint up manner that is this is
not as easy as you might think.
And the reason I'm laboring the point and
stressing it is because Tahara includes
purity
from the contaminants
of sin.
This is a really important point.
Tahara
includes
purity from the contaminants of sin. That sin
has contaminants.
Sin. So that that needs to be part
of your of your
perception.
So,
so we have to ask ourselves, do we
really see our sin?
Do we really see our sins as contaminants
to our purity and cleanliness?
Is there a link of what we perceive
as sin
and linked to our cleanliness and purity? Do
we see that?
No. When you commit a sin do you
feel the polluting effects of it? Do you
feel unclean?
Well Alhamdulillah, Allah has created us human beings
with a mechanism to feel the contaminating
effects of sin at some level even if
you're not religious.
Yeah, even if you're not religious.
And here I want to share with you
the findings of a whole series of cognitive
science experiments that proves this point.
These experiments
prove that there is a deep connection
between
physical purity
and moral purity.
That if we do something knowingly,
if we do something knowing that it is
wrong,
we are likely to feel the politic the
polluting and dirtying effects of it at some
level.
Not a perhaps not at a conscious level,
but it is there.
And for a Muslim, it should be at
a conscious level. It should be there, and
because this is,
the these these series of experiments are so
well established now that it has its own
name. It is called the Macbeth effect.
And those of you who are studying psychology
might might have come across it, which is
based on Shakespeare
description of Macbeth,
behavior, where, you know, when she incited her
husband to kill the king of Scotland,
she felt he he wrote he said she
she felt she experienced repeated urges to wash
her hands.
So that's why it's called the Macbeth effect.
Now now before I,
explain the experiments, I want you I want
you to keep in mind
this hadith reported in Sahih Muslim.
And Abdul Muslim
that when a believer when a Muslim
performs wudu, when he washes wudu, when he
does,
And he washes his face.
That every sin that he's committed
with his eye is is
washed off with every with the drops of
excuse me. With the drops of water.
Oh, with the last drop of water, it
is washed off.
Now these are perceptions that we need to
include in our understanding of the concept of
Tahara, that it is linked to power, it
is linked to sin, and it it washes
off.
And then when he washes his hand, all
the sins that he has committed, you know,
all the websites that you have typed into
and looked at and all of that. It
all gets washed off, insha Allah, with that
intention then you will come out. What you
have done with your hands. The wrong places
that you've gone to, you know. He's saying
that and he's saying that if he when
he washes
when he washes his feet, then the same
happens. All with the wrong places that you've
gone to, all that. The sin is washed
off with from the body. So in other
words, the organs of the body
through which you commit sins
is cleansed from sin.
From sin with this washing, with this out.
So there's a there's a strong
spiritual dimension to this state that to what
you're doing.
Now
keeping this hadith in mind, in the experiment
I want to tell you about, the subjects,
mind you these are not Muslims, the subjects
in this experiment.
There were average undergraduate students in the Western
University who
were invited to take part in 2
apparently unrelated experiments. So these are 2 experiments
but they're not told that these these two
experiments are connected. Right?
They were told that one was a cognitive
science experiment and the other was a product
evaluation
exercise.
So,
in the first task they were given a
scenario in which they had to tell a
lie
or tell a truth depending on the the
divided into,
2 groups.
And they had to tell a lie and
for and that lie,
was a hypothetical, but you had to say
it in one of 2 modalities. You had
to either type it,
type an email telling the lie,
or you have to leave a voice message
in it.
And and and in the lie, you have
to say something like, you know, I didn't
find
a document that it to you and your
friend were you and your friend were applying
for the same job and you found his
his his, a document that would give him
an edge over you. You hid it and
said, no. I didn't find it or something
like that.
So they
typed. Some of them typed it, some of
them spoke it, and some didn't. Some did
the opposite. Some told us the truth.
Now that was the first part of the
experiment, and then as they came out of
the room, they put them in the in
the second room.
And in this room, this they they told
they didn't tell them that the two experiments
were connected.
They said that this is a product evaluation,
exercise. So you go in there and, they
they they were told that they were shown
pictures of a variety of products, you know,
things you find in the in the in
a supermarket,
like cleaning products, like soap, mouthwash,
handwash,
and also non cleaning products like batteries, glue,
perfume, etcetera. And they had to choose
a number of desirability for each product. And
that number of desirability,
how much they value the product and how
much they were prepared to pay for it.
Right? So they they they give a number.
So you could you could, at the end,
do a statistical analysis and see who is
willing to to
pay more and who is more interested in
it. So those who told the lie
were,
and when they
did the statistical analysis, those who told the
lie and those who told the truth, they
they compared the the
how much they were,
they valued those products, cleaning products. So they
had 2 categories of product, cleaning products
and products,
non cleaning products. So those who told the
lie, and and this is the result.
The people who told the lie can you
see? Yeah. This is this is what happened.
And this is all happening
unconsciously. They're doing it. And not only that,
it goes even further.
It goes further. Is that those who told
the lie
with their hands
showed a greater preference for handwashing products.
And those who told the lie with the
voice message,
they showed a greater preference. They were willing
to pay more for
oral hygiene products.
So yes. For oral hygiene products.
Now so
this is the effect I'm telling you that
that there is an inbuilt mechanism, but there
are not most there are not Muslims that
that are likely
the highly,
likely that there were
people who don't,
believe in God. But this is this is
the effect that it has. So if you're
doing Budhu, you know, what this tells us
is that human beings are created with a
natural mechanism deep within us to recognize the
polluting effects of sin. As long as we
recognize
sin as sin.
The polluting effects. As long as you have
a concept of sin prominent in your mind,
then for a Muslim, we need to have
it higher. Not not to that level, not
to the level where it's happening on, of,
under the consciousness, but we need to raise
our raise our, or the saliency of this
in our minds. For a Muslim who believe
in the power of wudu to cleanse our
sins,
this finding is doubly interesting given that these
people were not Muslims.
They were not conscious of the Hadith we
read earlier explaining
the sins are washed away in,
but the connection between the bodily impurity
and moral purity, bodily purity and moral purity
is certainly there. Now concepts and categories labeled
in the mind by particular words
have fluctuating frequencies.
Right? So
depending on what I mean mean by that
in, is that
the prominence in your mind of a certain
concept will depend on the frequency of access,
how how often you access this word and
use it. So if you have high frequency
then that prominence will be in your mind.
And so for example, if you are accessing
the category of kindness, mercy, charity frequently,
then you will find yourself often
leaning towards behaving in a kind manner or
acting in a kind way. And conversely, if
you're accessing category,
the category
of harshness and engaging with it with, brutality
and cruelty
then you will find,
that you're more lenient and tolerant towards that
kind of behavior. Now there are several other
cognitive science experiments that prove this but which,
I will not go into now. Take my
word for it, it does happen. Now now
if the language we
speak, if there is a low in the
language we speak there's a low frequency
of the concept of sin, as we see
in today's world where every concept is deconstructed
and muddled in the mind,
then the saliency, the promise, the the prominence
of the concept of sin in our mind
will be low.
And of course
it will not be non existent as we
have saw, we've seen in the experiment, but
it will be low. And for English speakers
the use of the word sin
has become so low
that some dictionary stopped listing it, you know
that. In the Oxford Junior Dictionary
removed the word sin in 2,008
from from its
from the dictionary.
Because it's it's it has very low frequency.
Now think of it, when was the last
time you used the word sin in your
own conversation?
Well, I mean, we're using it now, but
in day to day conversation we tend not
to use the word sin. We use all
sorts of other words.
For a Muslim, the saliency of the category
of sin needs to be high. The prominence
of the polluting effects of sin should be
such that when we make wudu for salah
5 times a day, our mind should automatically
connect with the washing, the cleansing, our sins
from the eyes and our limbs. This is
the concept of Tahara.
So when we when we are approaching the
Quran to recite and study tafsir,
the first prerequisite
is Tahara. And Tahara
with this with all of these facets that
we have discussed, with all of these, Tahara
as it as in all that it entails.
Tahara,
cleansing of the place where you sit. Tahara,
place cleansing of the of your bodies. Tahara,
cleansing of your clothes. Taheratulbaltin
minal kibri. Wasshirki wannifati wal khatai wal I
siyyan. Cleansing of yourself or your inner selves
from arrogance, insince in insincerity,
hypocrisy
from mistakes, and from sins.
Tahara from sins.
Tahara is a comprehensive cleanliness
that
transcends
the physical surface of the body. And this
is what we need to recognize. That when
we say Tahara, when we use this word,
we have to see it as transcending
the physical
of the body. That that is and and
that's the key message. That's the key lesson
for today. May Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
cleanse us
from all sin and enlighten our hearts with
reveal with his revealed word.
I close today
with these heart soothing words we read earlier
in Surah Al Maidah, where Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala
lovingly
in words
full of mercy. He said,
that Allah does not intend to make difficulty
for you.
But he intends to purify you.
But Allah wants to purify you.
And to complete his favor upon you.
So that you may be grateful. Shaitan doesn't
want you be to be grateful. Shaitan doesn't
want you. He said to Allah that
that
he will attack the children of Adam and
he will make sure that they are not
grateful. And Allah is saying that I want
to complete my favor to make you grateful.
So this is the challenge
for us is to fight our arrogance, fight
our pride,
and to restructure our understanding
of cleanliness.
Seeking tahara, cleanliness.
Tahara.
And there's more good news in the words
of the prophet salallahu alaihi wa sallam who
says,
That the one who repents from the sin
is like one who has not committed a
sin. That is how that is how much
the cleansing is there for you. So taking
the first step, recognizing that Allah wants to
purify you and
to recognize that if you do, if you
take that first step and come towards Allah,
you come towards the book, come towards guidance
then
Allah will purify you. Allah will wipe you
clean.
That if you come to me with sins
as large as this whole earth, at the
core at the whole earth,
and you are sincere, you are asking for
forgiveness,
That I will come to you with
an earth size forgiveness.
So Allah is there waiting for you to
turn. So take that first step and in
your approach and you're coming to the Quran,
making sure that you cleanse yourself
in all these ways and inshallah, Allah, you
will benefit from the words of Allah, from
this from this book, from this tafsir, from
these classes inshallah.
Now for homework,
I want you all to listen to the
lecture
which we had last year, which was,
the
title was suggested by brother Mohammed, the power
of Tawba.
I want you all to listen to this
lecture. It's it's it's on the,
is it the ISOC website? Is is it
up? Do you know?
Yes. It is. Right?
Yeah. So,
the power of Tawba is the is the
lecture which is closely related to the discussion
that we had here tonight
about the horror and about sin and about,
about the the perception of sin and, and
inculcating that idea of of of needing to
clean cleanse ourselves.
It it was delivered here at the beginning
of last term. And,
and I I I would strongly
advise that you listen to that during this
week, that that lecture. Inshallah.
May Allah
protect you,
and let us,
make dua, inshallah.
Allah
keep you all safe. No. We are living
in difficult times. This is a,
very,
trying time for the believer,
but we should know that nothing happens
with,
where Allah is not seeing it. That we
a day
in our lifetime, we want everything to happen
right away. We want things to happen in
our lifetime. But
a 1000 years a day in front of
Allah can be a 1000 years. But this
deen will survive. That Allah will will no
one can destroy this deen.
People who are
when when the Muslims were killed
in in the battles at the time of
the prophet
went to them and tell them that we're
not the same. We're not the same. Yes.
Yes. We people died, you know, in the
battle of Uhud. They they said, oh, you
you your people died and we our people
died, so we're the same. But, umur
went and he said, no. No. No. It's
not.
That
that
that our dead is in heaven. Our dead
is in with Allah.
This morning, I saw
a report of a person pulled from
a rubble
of a building that was destroyed 3 days
ago.
And they managed to dig him out this
morning.
And they, they arrived at his body from
a smell. A strong smell of musk
led them to his body eventually digging him
out. And when they came out, he had
fresh blood.
After 3 days,
it didn't conjure. And this is one of
the signs of a shahid.
And it's it's on it's on my Twitter
feed. You can see it. It's, so a
so Allah, mutakum. So Umar said to them
that mutakum mutana filjannati or mutakum finnaar. That
your dead is in the fire. So there
is no equivalence here and we should not
lose hope. We should recognize that Allah subhanahu
wa'ala that this is Darul Bala. We're living
in the abode of test and every person
has their own test according to the level
of their iman. That and
the people who are most tested were who?
Were the ambia, the prophets. Because Allah when
Allah loves you he tests, he tests you.
And this is a sign of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala testing
and he will reward. No one will go,
not even a scratch.
It says, haptashawka
in Hadith, it says that if you have
even a tiny scratch and you look, you
have Ikhdisab.
But oh, Allah, I have a scratch.
And that for that reward for that scratch,
you will get full reward on the day
of judgement. So how about people who are
being killed and children who are being killed?
This will not go. This will not go
unheard and unrepaid
in Jannah, Insha'Allah.
Allah
Oh, Allah. Cleanse our souls.
Oh, Allah. Cleanse our souls and fortify our
hearts
with the guidance of Quran.
Oh, Allah cleanses outwardly
and inwardly
and purify our conduct.
Oh, Allah. These young people have come here
today
seeking your guidance.
They're asking for your forgiveness from sin.
Knowingly
committed in sins they have forgotten.
They repent. They seek your forgiveness
with outstretched hands
raised as beggars do,
begging you.
Oh, Allah, you are merciful. You are the
kind one.
You you you are you are the one
from whom Allah love spreads.
Oh Allah, you are the most kind the
most merciful.
Do not turn us away empty handed, oh
Allah. Oh Allah, do not turn us away
empty handed. We have no one else to
turn to. You are our
Lord. You are our sustainer. You are our
creator. We have no protection except from you.
Protect us. Protect our brothers and sisters
suffering in the land you have blessed, the
land of Masjid I Asa. O Allah, our
brothers and sisters, our children, our mothers and
our fathers,
the elderly, the sick suffering tremendous pain in
the land of Al Aqsa,
at the hands of those who have lost
all sense of sin.
With these outstretched hands, oh Allah,
we beg you. We beg for your help.
We beg for your mercy.