Riyad Nadwi – 0.5 Actionable Tafsir Dars 5
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And as we said, this stuff here is
not about
gaining information. This stuff here is about implementing
it in your life. And if we're gonna
make good
our engagement with Surah Al Fatiha, then it
has to start in salah. It has to
start in what we are saying, knowing what
we are saying, and knowing that Allah is
responding,
that Allah will respond when I speak. For
that, you have to focus on what you're
actually saying and I'm saying. So these were
the 6 names,
that were which we said were Tawfri, which
come was confirmed in in in durations. And
then there are another
19 names. There are Istihari.
Alla,
Welcome to our 5th session in this session,
which we are
pondering the verses of the Quran
with a view to
purifying our hearts and minds and
beautifying our conduct and character.
In our previous session, we began to study
the greatest Surah in the Quran, Surah Al
Fatiha,
starting with the names of the Surah.
And in that discussion,
there were several points to keep in mind.
The first was the first point was that
names and labels we use
in the language we speak
to describe
phenomena in our world plays a crucial role
in our ability to recognize and relate to
things.
If we happen not to have
a word for something
in our language, then it makes it difficult
to recognize it and to
appreciate and to and to relate to it.
And
in relate in in in this
regard, we
reflected on the example of the Russian words
and the
Polish
words,
Granatovy
and Niedieski.
And I explained to you how these words
carry there are words of describing
variations in color that we see as one
color as blue and dark and light blue,
but in Polish,
they these are distinct colors,
and these distinct colors come with qualifiers.
They would have a qualifier
where where we would normally translate it as
light blue, but they would translate it as
semnan neiewski,
which means dark light blue, which wouldn't make
sense
in English. So this is
an example
of the language having an effect, having a
a a relative effect, that's influence of language
on a person's actual perception,
your ability to cut the world up and
and and perceive it.
I gave you the example also reflected on
the example of
the word orange in Arabic.
Now that color orange
is whereas
the
proper Arabic word for it is,
is is lost.
And the reason for that is that the
Portuguese
were famous
in taking oranges around the world, transporting,
producing
and selling oranges, so everyone the color was
named after the country,
but it was the irony of the story
is that it was the Arabs who brought
oranges
to the Portuguese to the Iberian Peninsula while
the Muslims
were ruling Spain. They are the ones who
brought it, and this is why in the
Portuguese language,
the word for orange is still the Arabic
word, naranjil, which is from naranjil, an Arabic
word.
Even though now if you ask an Arab
what is the color orange, they will tell
you
but it's it's the but the Arabs but
but the Portuguese
still have the Arabic word for the for
the orange, the fruit orange, Naranja
Naranja, they called it. Now the point was
that if one's label for a particular Satan
in this world is absent or poorly configured,
then one's ability to recognize and to relate
to that concept or category
will be impoverished,
if not impeded.
In other words, if we lose the names
of of our concepts that we will have
difficulty in recognizing them, and this is not
only in color,
in more broadly in in linguistic
terms,
this is a problem you you will find.
Point number 2 was that
we must be
awfully cautious or wary
when people attempt to prevent us from using
our own names, our own labels, and our
own terms
because this is a,
one way of subjugating and of controlling.
Although it can seem benign, it can have
profound consequences
for one's self image and perception
in general, your self identity as well. In
in some
if someone changes your name from Mohammed to
Moe,
it might seem innocuous.
But the facts,
in effect, what what they're actually doing is
they're restructuring
how you relate to yourself.
And it's a subtle reshaping
of your identity,
organizing
the way you perceive and think about yourself,
that they're reorganizing it. If they if if
suddenly, you you know, your your your name
is Yusuf and they call you Yusuf or
Soph or something like that or Yussi,
then that will change
the way you relate to yourself.
You know, in in the 19
nineties,
I noticed here in schools,
when a child goes when when you register
the child in the school, the first thing
the teacher does is to change the name.
They they will give you some English sounding,
distortion of your name.
And for
a child that is called Samia would immediately
be called Sam.
And
what the parents then notice as she adopts
this new name is that her personality changes.
She
the way she relates to herself, she she
becomes someone else. She she has new
a new it is almost like having a
second identity.
But this is Sam speaking. This is not
Samia speaking.
So
names and labels are very important.
And we also looked at the recent example
of the lecture in where we were encouraged
to pivot away from the word Muslim and
Islam and shift towards Milat Ibrahim.
And I reminded you that it was Allah
who named us Muslims as he says in
Surat Al Hajj who was a Maqbool Muslimeena
Miqabluwafihada,
that is Allah who named you
Muslim. Allah is the one who named you
Muslim
both before
and in this scripture.
So
and that even if a Prophet were to
return, he would have no choice but to
follow Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam. This is
the the rule that we have to have
That when Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wa sallam saw,
Radiallahu
with the scriptures he said that, that he
would have no choice. Even if Moses were
to were to return alive today, he would
have no choice but to follow me.
So
that
deals with that point of calling people towards
shifting. And and, as I said earlier, is
that there is and we know what's happening
now in in Gaza and all of that.
It's very important that we that we recognize
that
the
the shift, the call to pull people
towards,
away from Islam and towards Abraham,
behind that is a bigger plan, and that
is the Abraham Accord and the Ebrahimi,
and the house of Abraham so that,
people can start accepting this plan that they
have. So one needs to be very careful
about this. Whenever someone comes along and say
that we are not Muslims and and and
try to emphasize the Abrahamic aspect of the
faith, yes, Ibrahim alaihi salaam has a very
important aspect of, role to play
in our deen and
in our history.
But
when it comes to the labeling, when it
comes to the naming and understanding
the importance of the Quran
as a final message, a complete message and
that Muhammad salallahu alaihi wa sallam is the
messenger, the final message, then one has to
be very clear on that that we do
not mix it, we do not compromise that.
Okay. Now the third point was that
translations were only approximations
and to perceive concepts other than other in
another language is not as easy as we
might think. And this is one of the
reasons why translations
of the Quran can never be considered
as Quran. They can only be,
pale approximations
of some meanings of the Quran.
Point number
4 was that coming back to the color,
the the discussion about color,
in a deeper sense, a Muslim
should be colored
through and through with the guidance of Allah.
With the guidance of the Quran as Allah
says in the Quran,
The coloring of Allah that
fashioning
of guiding you onto the straight path, who
is better at coloring than Allah? When Asadu
made Allah his sibra, and it is he
who we worship.
Sibra
is another word for baptizing.
It is it is when you immerse something
into water or turn them into color. And
it is what people do when they dye
cloth. Every fiber the the color seeps into
every fiber of the cloth. So you're colored
from inside out, everything.
And that is what is so should the
Quran color our perception, our belt and sound.
Our worldview should be based on the guidance
of the Quran and color completely through and
through via it.
Point number 5 was that the training for
this worldview,
the training for enhancement of this world view
starts
with the labels. It starts with the with
the terms. It starts with the words, the
names we use to name ourselves and phenomena
in our world.
The first thing that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taught
Adam alaihis salam when he created him was
the names.
He taught him the names, all the names.
Point number 6 was that the more labels
you have for something in your language
is the more profound
the mental purchase of that thing will be
in your mind and heart. If you happen
to have multiple words for something in your
ling in your linguistic repertoire,
then your cognitive engagement with that thing will
be deeper in a variety of ways, including
perception, recognition,
memory activation, emotion,
sense of awe, sense of grandeur,
sense of disgust, sense of benefit, sense of
attachment,
sense of relation, sense of, repulsion, sense of
connection, all of that. Your affinity with that
particular thing will be influenced by the labels
through which you recognize it. In other words,
the more names you have for something, the
clearer your recognition of it, and the better
is your ability will be your ability to
think about it. People who have multiple
words for snow in their language, for example,
I'm talking about research has been done in
the past
a few decades. This is these are this
is very old research. But people who have
lots of words for the for for for
snow relate to snow in in a much
different way, in a very in a very
different way than me and you would relate
to snow. And so it is for the
Arabs who where they have the way they
relate to camels is completely different because they
have 66 words for camels.
Depending on the color of the camel, the
way the camel is standing, the where where
the number it is, of camels it is
standing with.
And lots of other,
considerations. You'll find that the way you relate
to things will depend on the labels you
have for them. You know, the Arab,
have some 14 words for love,
and it's all arranged in in degrees of,
intensity.
The first degree
and I'll give you an example of how
how they arrange it. They're they they have
what what modern,
cognitive science is known as
as as chaining
and,
radial core radial expansion of meanings.
This is something that
Muslim scholars identified very earlier on. Imam Sa'alibi,
and this is from his book. He says,
that the first stage of love is is
is that desire. And then
and then a connection.
And
then,
that you'll find that that is the one
where when it gets connected to the heart
and then
and then where where you get where where
it starts to intensify
and and then it it turns to and
then
then
then it goes into which is beyond the
the the the level of hope And then
it's shahaf, and then then it moves
to shahaf, and then then it moves to,
and
time. Time is gonna be when it takes
you, it it enslaves you, and then it
moves to Kabul where where you become ill
with it, with this love. And then
then you lose your mind. And then,
finally,
it's Huiyun where a person becomes,
completely,
lost,
enslaved and lost and lose their mind.
So
that's the kind of, relationship,
and the the kind of pondering they had,
reflection on on phenomena in their world. And
the thing I'm
calling your attention to is the label. The
labeling of it is not you might recognize
these stages and these things that are happening,
but to have a label for it, to
have a word,
that is a very powerful thing, and you'll
you'll understand that. And At any point, the
the more names you have
is the more profound your mental engagement with
that thing will be.
You will think more about it, and you
will have a greater it will have greater
saliency in your mind. It'll be more prominent
in your mind.
And and it is with
this good reason that we have that Allah
has shared 99 of his beautiful names with
us, so that we can reflect on Allah,
so that we reflect on Allah's guidance and
Allah's gifts and Allah's
favors through his names. Yeah.
So we can recognize and remain conscious of
our creator who has promised us on the
tongue of his messenger,
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, lillahi tis a'ina Isma. Mia,
that he has 99 names,
and whoever
memorizes it
or is understands it and recognizes it will
enter parda. So the more names, the more
profound is the recognition,
and we're supposed to recognize Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala's favors and remember him
at all times. So more names, easy it
is to recognize.
Point number 7 was that with Surah Fatihah
we are blessed with a multitude of labels.
In fact, there are 25 names.
Imam Jalaluddin al Sayyuti,
in his idkhan
lists 25 names for Surah and Fatiha.
Each carrying a distinct flavor and evoking,
its own galaxy of meanings and messages.
Now engaging with these names
has the propensity to fortify
not only our recognition of the Surah,
but it would also enhance our understanding
and enhance our relationship with the Surah. This
is a Surah we recite at least 20
times a day,
with witter, of course. And then if you
pray your sunan, then it will go up
to 36 times a day. We we
recite the Surah,
many many times a day.
If you if you do your sunan of
of every salaat
and 36 times a day. Now
there's
a point to make
about
routine.
When some when something becomes routine,
the effect of the routine can have
a blurring effect in the mind. You know?
It it it we'll find ourselves that we're
we're conscious of saying,
and it's gone. Because we
have because of the routine, we are reading
it so many times,
it's it we the
we run the script of the of the
fatiha
in our minds,
but it doesn't get
fully
conveyed on the tongue. And in salah, you
need to the tongue needs to move with
it. It's not just rehearsing it in the
mind. And often with with
when something become
automated, becomes routine, then you can end up
doing it and thinking that you have read
Surafatyah
and you haven't.
This is a problem because it's just one
big blur. You can't even remember when you
when you said
And this is, this happens,
you lose time. And if you want if
you want to check that if this is
happening to you, a good way to do
is to recite Surah Fatih and time it.
And then see how quickly how quickly you
are able to pray for rakaat and then
add it up and you will see that
past the time is very is is doesn't
allow you that amount of time to read
it. If you're reading Surah Fatihah on your
own, then the time will be the time
it will take will be longer, and when
you're reading it in salah, it's very quick.
So why is that? That is because
routine routine, you have time gap.
In psychology, there's
a,
a a recognized phenomenon known as time gap
experience.
It happens to drivers. Those of you who
drive cars must have experienced this.
What happens is that you're driving on a
motorway,
and because everything is automated,
you're you're accustomed
to pulling the class, doing everything,
in an automated way,
and the time
just suddenly you you've you've lost
long stretches of the journey just disappears. You
have a big gap. And when you come
to a crossover, it's like it's it is
as if you've just you were asleep and
you woken up. Oh, what's happened? I I
I don't remember driving all this way, but
I've reached here.
That's known as a time gap experience. And
the reason for that
is that your
time markers
are no longer functioning,
that you're you're traveling,
but because of the
automation, the the high
automate,
automatic way of the the routine that you
that these things that you're doing are all
automated.
And and I don't mean you're driving an
automatic car. I'm talking about you, your person,
and you you have automated
the driving so much that it's no longer
become it's no longer,
functioning as marker of time. So the passage
of time then flies. You fly you've flown
through the salah, you've you've flown through the
the the motorway, you've ended up in another
city and say, oh, how did I reach
Iraq? I can't remember anything that has happened
throughout.
Now, something similar to this
happens in salah as well,
and that is because
our time marker in this is a problem.
We
and here is where I want to say
that
the labeling of Surat Al Fatiha, knowing the
names of Surat Al Fatiha will help with
this, and in particular
the name salah because
in that
discussion we had where Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
said,
That
in every verse
of the fatiha,
there
is an extent, there is a response.
When you read one Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says, Oh,
When you say, Alhamdulillah, Urubilah, Urubilah, Urubilah, Mujjadani
and Lillah Abdi Masaal, Allah is responding.
So if you have those things in mind,
it will mark your time and sequencing through
the salah and you will not go through
it not knowing what you have read and
the salah is,
you know, you flow through it as if
it doesn't,
as if it's nothing,
has happened.
You have no recollection
of the whole,
journey through the Salat.
So when you have, the point was that
when you have multiple thinking points to rest
your attention
about what you're actually saying, then that will
help to overcome the blurring from the routine.
Now the Surah
Surah An Fatiha is a short Surah. It's
just 25 words. But when you know the
these names
and the reason for the names,
it will build a broader and deeper purchase
in your mind and in your consciousness as
you engage, as I said.
Point number 8 was that the names of
the Surah can be divided into 2 categories.
Tawkifi and Istihari.
These are
names that are confirmed in
the Hadith and the change of narrations
and derived names.
So the first list was the 6 names.
We we completed 5 last week. Well, I'll
quickly go over the 5.
Fatih Atal Kitab was the first name,
and this comes from hadith where
So Fatihatul Kitab is the first one. So
in this, your fatah is your beginning. It
is the thing it is it is the
opening.
It it is it
is your opening to away. It is your
beginning away from a world of confusion, darkness,
chaos, greed, deception, and turmoil.
It's an opening
to your refuge,
which you sought when you say, a'ud billa'im
lchatadur rajeem, you said, I'm seeking a refuge.
Now this is the opening to your refuge.
This fatiha is the opening. It's a refuge.
It's a place of seeking refuge and solace.
This is it. It's an opening to the
to to a world of khaib, a world
where things are eternally beneficial and good. Because
we might see things as beneficial in this
world, and they're not, and they're not eternally
benefit beneficial.
If anything that is
beneficial in this world and not and does
not have a long term effect, then it's
not truly beneficial.
The second name was Saba'al Mathani.
And Saba'al Mathani, this name is
a double word construct and that comes directly
from the Quran, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
said in Surah Al Hajj
verse
87, And we have given you the 7
of recited verses in the great Quran
also in Hadith of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
saying,
that
there's no Surah,
it that there's none like it,
not in the Torah, nor in the in
the bible, nor in the Psalms of David,
not not in the Quran, any Surah like
it, it is the it is the Saba
Al Mathani. Now Saba is 7, that that
that is what it means. And,
Al Mathani, which is,
the seconded by
and several reasons why
why the word Mathani is
play
interpreted to mean several things of recited or
that it's seconded with another Surah or that
it is seconded by itself, it's repeated,
or that it is it was revealed twice.
The Surah is the the first Surah
that was the first complete Surah to be
revealed, and it was revealed twice. That's one
opinion,
among the scholars that it was revealed either
in, that was revealed in Mecca and then
and then in in Madinah as well,
and that's one of it.
And then
so in that is that
it's special, it it does not there's it
is not nothing like this has ever been
revealed before and so it is your special
door
and it is it's an opening, and for
it, there was a special opening of a
door. This is the interesting thing about it.
That it is your opening. It is your
special door. It is it is opening. But
for this but once Rassalahu alaihi wasalam was
sitting with Jibril alaihi salam, the angel Gabriel,
and they heard a noise, and he looked
up, and he said,
that that door opened today, that it was
that was never opened ever again. It will
never be opened. And that angel came down
to give the glad tidings of Surah Al
Fatihah and the kawatim Surah Al Baqarah. So
it has
a special status in that sense.
The word the the third word, the third
name was
Waruyaan abi Hurazir radiAllahu anan Nabi salallahu alayhi
wa sallam.
Mansallal salallam yaqarafiya
ummil Quran sahiyiqhidaj.
And he said it's a 3 times. It's
whosoever
prays and he doesn't pray, doesn't include Surat
Al Fatiha, so then it is incomplete. It
is not a siddul.
Now the word in Arabic denotes anything
around which things slough or gather.
They name the the the flag of the
army is called
in Arabic.
So because soldiers flock towards it. When you're,
in
in in the battle and you need to
know where to run,
especially if you're in trouble, that's where you
go. When you when you're
startled or when you're
in in in need of help, they you
run towards your flag. So that's where it
goes. And they say that is why,
the a mother is called also mother because
the children flock to her whenever they're they're
startled they run towards the mother. So that's
why she is called And
I gave you the beautiful saying of Abu
Bakr Durayd, the
the great scholar of Vasra'i said,
That this surah is named, this surah is
named
Umul Quran because it is it is the
malja. It is the refuge of Ahl Iman.
They run towards it. They run. You hear
Surah al Fatih al Fatih al Fatih al
Fatih al Fatih al Fatih. Just like children
running towards their mother.
Now this Surah is named because it is
a place of refuge, retreat.
And so when you feel down and trapped
and your opening
is fatiha, is your fatiha.
This is the surah where you'll be honored.
It is it is surah it's the It
is the place where you cling.
And it's a place of refuge for the
believers.
Now
the 4th word is Al Quran Ladi,
the Magnificent Quran.
This is also directly from the words of
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam where he said,
and he says,
it is named such because it encompasses
all the knowledge of the Quran.
That
this is because it it includes the character
the reference to Allah. It's praising of Allah
with
in all His perfection and His magnificence.
And then and
then commandments, then it has
an imperative for
for worship and for.
It's love in that. You alone do we
worship. Well,
and it's also in an acknowledgment of incapacity
in this. You know, when you are saying
that, only you will seek help from.
We we are not able to do anything
except with him. And then,
which is it also teaches you Ibtihal, which
is supplication, begging, and seeking,
help from Allah.
For
and to be led to the straight path.
Now the essence of the message of the
whole Quran is capsulated
in the Surah. The subjects
of the Surah are
broadly six things.
When we say
it means there's no other. There's
here.
That this the entire universe and everything that
exists only has one lord. So there's no
one. So there's there. It's only Allah.
And then
and warning you about
that there is day of judgment, that there
is
accountability. You will be you will be taken
to pass for what you do in this
world. So you're you're
you should not live in this world thinking
that you will not be taken to task,
that you will not be judged. So here
we have
and then
Making it very clear that Ibadah is for
Allah. That's number 3.
And also
making it exclusively
making Allah
exclusively the point of seeking help and the
point of worship, both.
And then number 5
is
seeking
to remain on the straight path.
Steadfastness on the straight path. That is seeking
and
then
and then then mentioning
the stories of past nations and how they
went astray. Well, the
recognizing that
people do go astray and in the past
to take lessons from the past. And in
that, we have.
Yes. Now the 5th name is a salah.
We touched on this earlier where we said
that,
so it is salah. Salah starts with the
word has many meanings, but here it denotes
prayer. When when the word salah is used
in relation to human beings it is worship,
it is idadah. When it's used in relation
to angels it is dua
and istifa, when they are making dua and
istifa for us. And when it's used in
relation to Allah, then it means rahmah and
mercy and forgiveness
from Allah.
So
yeah. So
the reason for the name of Surah of
of the Surah Salah, there are 2. One
is that it's clearly mentioned in the Hadith
which I mentioned earlier where Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala said, well,
that
I've divided the salah,
meaning the surah,
between
me and my servant. You know?
Because it's an essential part of the salah.
So you can name something that is essential,
to a
to a particular thing by part by by
that part that makes it essential.
So
the hadith that, this hadith that
we have where about
is crucially important
for developing your concentration in salah. That when
Allah when you say Alhamdulillah, I mean
you have to envisage, you have to be,
you have to understand, remember these words that
Allah is saying,
that my my servant has has just praised
me. Allah will say that when you do
it. And Allah
doesn't have,
attention deficit as reading. Our attention deficit is
1 phenomena at a time. Right? That we
can only speak to 1 person at a
time and concentrate on 1 phenomena at any
given time. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala is not
restricted by this. He is feeding
and
taking care of the needs
of everyone
all at once. He doesn't say to you,
line up, you know, and you take a
breath,
and then the next one, wait until I
feed I give this one this the other
one takes a breath. No. He's he takes
care of everything
all at once.
All the galaxies, the billions and billions and
trillions of galaxies
are all being sustained by him
all at once.
All the human, every life on the face
of the plant, and going right down to
the microscopic
creatures that he has created. Everyone is being
is being satisfied and sustained
by Allah all at once. He can he
can pay attention to everything all at once.
That there's nothing like unto him. So we
should not
get into this
trap of shaitan comes that why would Allah
pay attention to my salah, to my recitation
when there are so many people reciting?
Allah is not restricted. He will hear you,
He will respond to you, and He is
not restricted also by time. We are restricted
by sequential time, things have to know have
to happen one after the other for Allah
past, present and future is all one.
It's all happened and happening and happened for
us.
We are trapped, He's created us in this
sequential flow that things have to happen in
this sequential way. Allah
knows best how things can happen, but he's
not trapped by any of these phenomena, any
of these realities in which we are.
Laiisaqa mitzbi I jay. There's nothing like unto
him. So when he says,
when he informs his Prophet, Muhammad salallahu alaihi
wa sallam to inform us that he will
respond,
he can respond to all of us, all
at once,
while we are praying, just as he is
feeding us and sustaining us all at once.
He can do it. And so,
we when he says, when he says, Alhamdulillah,
when we say, Alhamdulillah,
that he says, oh my my
my servant has,
praised me. And when we say, Arrahman Rahim,
Allah
says, O,
O my servant has extolled me. You know,
he's sing my prayers,
my praises.
That all my servant has all glorified me.
And this is
when my when I say when we say
Allah
says
that this is between me and my servant.
But I will deal with this. This is
between me and him. And then when we
say he
says Allah
says when we say
Allah
says,
That this my servant, this is for my
servant and for my servant is that which
he asks.
So if he's asking,
to ask you have to be conscious. If
you show up in the court of a
king
and you're
asking for things,
but the king is in front of you
and you are
playing with your ears and looking this way
and saying, you know, I've come here to
ask you for a few things. I'm looking
there and I'm looking there and I'm looking
here and I'm thinking about talking and winking
this person and doing that. Then
what impression would that be considered asking?
Now, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
He doesn't look at your body, but He
looks at your heart. So if in your
heart you are walking all on all different
directions while you're saying, Idi Nasr al Mustateem,
your Allah is seeing your heart in which
direction it's focused. So we are saying in
salah, we're
we're doing this you're saying, iyak and arbudu,
but our heart is, oh, I'm thinking what
I'm gonna buy for dinner and I'm gonna
tell, you know, I'm gonna,
how I'm gonna paint the house or what
I'm going to do and how I'm going
to answer so and so. Shaitan will come
and tell you, you know, give you all
the answers that you're looking for about in
an argument. He will come and give you
all of that,
in the argument. So your your
heart
is facing left, right, and center all around
all behind, and you are asking for something,
then that's not asking.
It has to you have to be conscious
of what you're saying, and that's why it's
really important.
And as we said, this stuff here is
not about
gaining information. This tafsir is about implementing it
in your life. And if we're gonna make
good
our engagement with Surat Al Fatiha, then it
has to start in salah.
It has to start in what we are
saying, knowing what we are saying, and knowing
that Allah is responding,
that Allah will respond when I speak. For
that, you have to focus on what you're
actually saying, and I'm saying, Idi. I'm saying,
Idi Nasirah Mustaqeem, you're saying these these words.
This is for you to be care to
for you to make sure
that these time markers
as you go through the Ayah, the verses
of the Quran and the verses of the
Surah
are mentioned,
mentioned in a way that it reminds you
of the passage of time. So you don't
end up with this time gap as we
spoke about earlier. The time gap is the
problem. You end up with missing time, so
you don't know when you start and when
you finish.
Okay.
And number 6 was that,
the the 6th name was Ruqya,
And this is also some Hadith.
Now there's a story behind this
naming
is that the Sahaba were traveling,
and
they asked they sought the,
help of people of the Sahaba,
to be guests at some,
tribe, and they refused. So they went off,
and then someone came running after a while
saying that, oh, the leader of the tribe
has been bitten by some venomous
creature, and do you have someone who can
help him, who can do an incantation?
And incantation
is not a word you're probably familiar with.
It's an English word. It's to recite something
on it so that it can it will
heal the person. So that's what's known as
rupiah.
So a Sahaba went and did it. Went,
read
on him, and and then the man offered
him a whole
set of, sheep,
goats.
But he didn't he said I will not
take it until I speak to Rasool Allah
Subhana Wa Salam. But then when he went,
Rasool Allah Subhana Wa Salam, said how did
you know that this is okay? He said,
all I did, I read Surat al Fatiha,
and the man was cured. And that curing
that came,
and and then he gave me some presents.
It's a resource. So, yeah, you can you
can take the present. So there's a difference
between a present
and a fee. And this lots of people
get mixed up with this.
You know, people start business
for rupiah. That's not allowed,
to read in Quran for money.
This is completely wrong, but,
if that person gave him a gift and
it was a you're excite you're allowed to
accept gifts in Islam. So whether whether whether
you did it or not, that's a different
thing.
Whether you did something good for the person
or not, that's a different thing. So it's
not an exchange. It's a gift source. Allah
said, okay. Yes.
Give me
give me some of it as well. Allocate
for me a share among it.
Now there are 3 things here I would
would like you to keep in mind.
The first is as Muslims, we do believe
in the power and the effect
of words of the Quran.
Even if we do not understand
the meanings of the words we are reciting.
This is very important because I've been stressing
meaning and understanding, but one needs to be
careful is that when you say you understand,
you don't understand fully. You have an, an
approximation, a glimpse of some bits of the
meaning but there are aspect there's aspects of
the Quran that you will never understand
and there are aspects of the Quran that
no one understands which is like what? Aliflamimin
Parufil Muqatta'at.
Then Rasulullah SAWS told us about the benefit
of reading the Quran, of reciting the Quran,
and the reward that you will get from
every letter,
he chose
an example from an part of the Quran
that no one will ever understand, and which
is
he
says
but that they will not say
I do not say that
is a word but is a way is
a letter, is a letter, and is a
letter. Meaning that you will get a reward,
you will get rewards up to for up
to 10 rewards for each letter.
These are letters that these alif, lamim, we
will not understand. No one knows. It so
but there is power. There is
reward, there is effect, there is benefit in
reciting it. That's what we need to recognize.
And that's what the hadith is saying, that
these are not ordinary words.
These are the words of the creator of
the heavens and the universe.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, our creator, these are
his words. That's the first thing to keep
in mind. The second is that the effect
of the words of Allah as a cure
is clearly articulated
in the Quran.
That we send down in the Quran that
which that that which is a healing, a
mercy to those who believe.
And
and, so so it's very clear
that there is Shifa in the Quran.
And the third is that
there are explicit guidance in the Sahih, in
Muqaddi, in Sahih Muslim
with advice on reciting surahs, reciting Quran
for your protection, the protection of your dwellings,
the protection of yourself from the evils of
Shaitan.
Because Shaitan does affect people. Shaitan does have,
in Hadith, we are told that,
That Shaitan
has an effect
on people, on human beings, that ibn Adam,
and the angels also have effect. So
if you're feeling
the effects of bad doing bad things and
bad thoughts and doubts in your mind and
all these sorts of things, then you should
know that there's an effect that is coming
from somewhere and that's probably from shaitan.
Sometimes it can be from your own nafs,
your own,
your own thoughts but there is.
This is very clearly says that there's a
there there's an effect. There's something that happened,
but then there's also an angel. There are
also angels that that put effects on you.
So
so he's saying,
yeah.
The shaitan comes and puts, you know,
evil thoughts in your mind and then get
you to to
reject
the or reject the truth.
And then you will have.
You will have something from the from an
angel.
Bilkhair. He will promises you with with good
good what what has different
happened, confirming the truth in your heard in
your
heart. And whoever finds that, and
if you find that you're having good thoughts
in your mind and it's confirmed being confirmed,
then you should know that this this angel
is coming to you, is putting these good
thoughts in your mind, and it is from
Allah. Allah is helping you.
And if it comes if you get bad
thoughts and and doubt and, things start to
flow in your mind, then you should know
that this is from Shaifa, and you should,
protect yourself from it. And this is why,
the protection is
to
do
to ask Allah for help
or protection from these things. And so
in general,
in addition to your
when you go to bed at night,
reading
when you go to bed at night, when
you go to bed at night,
there's a Hadith in Sahih Hadith, a Muslim,
it says that
here,
that you should recite,
the Surat Al Baqar. K?
To protect your house, Surah Al Baqarah is
a very good surah to read for protection
from from for the house. And as for
yourself,
reading at night,
regularly morning and evening if you can, but
especially at night,
Ayatul Kursi.
This is also from, in in Sahih Muslim.
It says that you should
That you will get a protector from Allah
will be with you will be with you.
Shaitan
will not come close to you during the
night until the morning, he will not be
able to come if you read Ayatul Kursi.
So these were the six names,
that were which we said were Tawfri will
come confirmed
in in in the rations. And then there
are another
19 names. There are Istihari,
and and the first one is
Shifa.
Shifa, which means
cure.
You know? Remember, these
are names that perhaps give you same meanings,
but they are they are they are more
labels. And the more as we said, more
the more labels you have for something is
the better it and to relate to it.
So in this one,
was Allah sallallahu alaihi wasallam saying in the
hadith
reported by, Darmi
That there is
from
there's cure from all disease in this in
Fatih Atal Kitab.
The second one is Shafi'a. Now it's the
same word, but this is in the active
participle. Shafiya.
Shafiya
and
shafiya.
This is another word and which is the
active voice. And as we mentioned earlier, shifa.
So it's cure and curing.
And here we have, again,
it it it is for,
the
curing of all diseases.
Point the number 3 is al wafi'ah,
Suratul wafi'ah.
A truncating.
You can't cut it up. You can cut
off the other surah, you know, if if
you can read a part of Surah Baqarah
in your salah. But this surah, you can't
read half of Surah of Atiha and then
say, oh, well, that's enough. Well, it always
has to be the full. So it's warfia.
It's a full measure. You get the full
measure with it. It comes always with full
measure of goodness. It never split, truncated, deny
the full
benefit. And warfia, which also means to bring
to bring it,
to bring in terms of benefit. It's it's
wafia in terms of benefit. You get the
full measure of the benefit,
and not just restricted or inadequate.
Number 4
is.
That it's it's it's the sufficient it it's
the surah of sufficiency,
and it's it gives sufficiency.
Now without it,
no other surah can be sufficient. You cannot
replace
Surah Fatiha with another surah. So that's why
it's it gives sufficiency
to everything else, but nothing can give its
sufficiency. Nothing nothing can be sufficient for it.
Number 5 is
It is the dua. The dua.
Yeah? And it says,
the It is it is called the dua
because it includes
Whoever the Quran occupies
away from asking of me,
I will give him more than those who
ask of me. So when you engage with
the Quran and you don't have time to
make dua, but you have a dua in
your heart and you must finish your word
of the Quran,
I must finish
this much I'm reading, then Allah
will reward you of that whatever you have
in your dua. He will give you more
than those who stop reading Quran to make
dua.
And in Hadith
reported by the imam
The dua
is the kernel of Ibadah. It is the
essence of Ibadah. That's that's the main it's
a pith, you know, the you see the
the essence, the the core of it, the
core of Ibadah is dua.
So this this surah is known as dua.
Dua.
Then
okay. Number 6 is Al Asas.
Surah Al Asas.
And in this it is the foundation, Asas
means foundation because it is the first surah
and it contains
the most noble endeavor, it is
which is salah,
the Asas, the foundation of everything.
Then number 7 is a shukr.
It is the surah of gratitude and thanking
and praise,
extolling of his kindness and his favors.
Then Al Munajjad, Surat Al Munajjad.
It
is the Surah of that begging monologue with
Allah. You're speaking to Allah
and where you're saying, Oh Allah, You alone
do we worship and You alone, so this
is munajat.
And then it is the surah 2 Taaleem
Al Mas'ada,
the surah
for teaching
supplication.
It's the the Surah for teaching supplication.
That there is the adab
of asking
in this. The adab of how to ask.
It teaches that this. It teaches you, this
surah teaches you how to how to beg,
how to ask Allah, how to speak to
Allah. What do you do?
You start with you start when you are
asking of Allah, you have to start with
you have to start by asking, by praising
Allah. This is where you start. By praising.
When you are praising Allah and
and,
First you start with
and then you move on to asking of
what you want.
So that is the adab the adab. Surah
is instruction
in the correct method of asking from Allah,
which starts with salah and then following with
declaring full reliance on Allah and then asking.
So that's,
the the meaning of of Surah Al Ta'aleem.
That that's that's another name for it. So
it's it's a it's a teacher. The Surah
is a teacher. It's teaching Ta'aleem.
It's giving education.
And then again, the next the next name
is Surah Al Kans
Surah Al Kans, the Surah
of
treasure. This the treasure.
This is the Surah of the treasure.
It is named it is named such because
it encompasses
of immense treasures.
It is immense treasures. Now if you connect
this
word to the first one we did, which
is,
then
a picture comes in your mind that when
you have a treasure, what do you do?
You want to open it. So this is
your fatiha, opening your treasure. This is this
is the treasure, and it's your fatiha.
And then
Surat al Nur,
it is the it is the Surah
of light.
That it what it does, it it it's
it's the Surah is the light that out
of darkness. It is a light to guide
you out of your darkness.
Quran is a noor. This is a light.
This is a light for guidance. Guidance is
to guide you from in the darkness of
the world. Without guidance, you're in darkness.
But then you have guidance, then you're in
light. So
and then
Surat Al Hamd.
Surat Al Hamdil Ula. Now they've Surat now
not Surat Al Hamdil will come at the
end, but
there's 3 three names with the word hamdilib.
The first one is Alhamdil Ula. Right? Alhamdil
Ula, Surah Alhamdil Ula because
there are
Suras other Suras in the Quran that begins
with Alhamdu.
They're called Hamida. These are the Suras that
begin. So this is Hamdul Ula, the first
the hamdul of the first one.
So the second one is Surat Al Anam.
That's in Surat Al Anam.
The second ham of the hamidat.
And then the 3rd is,
Surat Al Kahf. Alhamdulillahi
laddi ananjalalabihilkitabuhlalahuirbata.
That is
the 3rd of the hamidat.
And then the 4th is,
Surat Al Sabah. Waheer Alhamdulillahi
laddi lahu mafi samawati mafi'a'a'ab.
And
then finally number,
5, Surah Al Fathir is Alhamdulillahi
laddi fathir samawati wal'a'b.
So that is the,
5 Hamidat.
The the Surah Surah
with that begin that began with,
Alhamdulillah.
And then
the second label with hamdanid is is known
as Surah Surah Al Hamd Al Khusra.
The ham the the shortest of the Hamidat.
This is the Surah that is the shortest
of the Hamidat, so it's known as Hamdul
Khusra.
And that's self explanatory. I don't need to
go into that. And then Suratil Hazima,
the compulsory Surah. Why is it compulsory? Because
it's compulsory for you to for praying.
That's also self explanatory.
And and then
Surat al Suwal, it is the Surah
of the asking.
Surah Surah, the question. You're asking the question
of begging. So it is also referred to
as Surah Al. And these are all names
that the Ulema have given have referred to
this and Imam Imam Suyut Arhatullah Alaihi was
one of these encyclopedic
scholars. So he went through the literature and
pick out the names with which people referred
to Surat Al Fatih and and he he
listed them. So he came up with these
25 names. And I think it's a beautiful
thing to have in your repertoire so that
you can relate to it when you're when
when you're thinking about Surat Al Fatih. It
is all of these things. Even though it's
only 25 words but it has 25 names.
The whole Surah is 25 words, but it
has 25 names. So how beautiful is that?
And then,
ul Kitab, the mother of the book.
Now,
Iftarafo featasmeati ul Kitab,
some say that Al Kitab is actually the
one the preserved tablet above. So there's difference
of opinion among the scholars, but it is
a name that you can use. They say
that,
it is it's there's hadith for it.
This is hadith.
Then we
had at the beginning, we started with Fatiha
Abdul Kitab and Surat Al Fatiha. There's another
name. The one is Fatiha Abdul Kitab and
Fatiha and also Fatihatul Kitab.
It is that,
the opening of the book. This one is
Suratul Fatiha. It is this it's the surah
of the opening surah.
And then Suratul
Tafweel.
The surah of
handing over one's matter to Allah. It's to
giving up, to give,
to expressing,
ads, expression in incapacity and saying to Allah,
oh Allah, You help. When we say
that we have nothing, that we are alone.
We're all we all we can have, all
we can give is all we can give
you all we have is from
is is your help. We we we need
your help. And then finally, Surat is hammed.
Surat al hammed, which
is showing gratitude and we are thanking.
There is praise and glorification
of Allah who Allah is at the same
time of thanking Allah for the favors that
he has given to you. That is all
encompassed in this in in this word, Amr.
Allah
has given us a beautiful word. This word,
which we will go into in great detail
inshaAllah, when we start with the tafsir or
the actual tafsir word for word.
This is just the introduction to the Surah.
But today, I'd like to spend a few
minutes
in reflecting on because I know we've all
come here with heavy hearts
over what's happening in Gaza.
And,
we're talking about Hamd,
and
it is
very difficult. It is painful,
and it's something that I know
we're all suffering for from it. And in
that suffering,
there is
in that pain,
there is reward.
There is benefit
because Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
says that
not even if a phone pricks you, the
believer that he looks to Allah for reward,
Allah will reward you. So we will be
rewarded for our pain
and that we can be certain about.
And
there
are certain there's there are a few things
to well, a couple of things to
also
be
happy about
in
the way the Ummah have come together, the
Ummah the entire Ummah has come together over
this issue.
But
we're seeing literally
the effect
of a description
of the Ummah that Rasool Allah sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam painted when he said that we
are like one body, that that that
a believer to a believer is like one
body, That where
that
is
a
is
a
that if one part of the body is
hurting, then the entire body feels the pain.
And we are all feeling this pain,
But there are some beautiful things that are
also happening that we can see, and one
of those is that the entire Ummah has
come together
for the first time in a very long
time that we all
every every every member of the Ummah you
you see is suffering the pain, and I
also agree that this should not be happening.
That and and they are feeling the pain.
So in that, there is something to celebrate.
And there is something else. And the other
thing that which relates to what we were
talking about is that I saw a video
about,
of some non Muslims
in in the West, in North America and
various other places
asking a question
over and over.
We do not understand
why these people
who are suffering so much, the people in
Gaza suffering so much, are saying these words.
And they were saying, Alhamdulillah.
Alhamdulillah.
Praise be to Allah.
That they were saying it over and over
and over. And we couldn't understand how could
they say that
in in the face of all of this
tragedy
and difficulty.
And
when you look at
why a Muslim will say Alhamdulillah
when they see their children
being
slaughtered,
then
you understand. When you look at what Hawassulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
explained it, what did he say?
He said that and this is a beautiful
hadith,
hadith where Allah
is saying
to the angel, he says to him,
did you take the life
of the child of my servant?
In other words, did you take my servant's
son? Did you did you take the the
life of this child, of this child?
And the angels will say, yes,
That yes, we have taken the child's life.
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala who knows
the condition of the heart of a parent,
he's the one who turned this heart,
the heart of a parent,
into a loving
and caring creature.
If Allah did not put the special mercy
in the heart of the parent,
we would put the child
out in a shoebox when they started when
they cry after, you know, for weeks weeks
they're crying and not allowing us to sleep.
But it is a mercy, a special
mercy. Allah says
that he that I've
I've revealed, you know, 1%
1 rahma in this world
among the angels,
among the jinn, the men, the insects and
the animals. And with
that one mercy, they all show this affection
and compassion to each other.
So much so that the wild beast began
to show compassion to its young.
It lifts its hoof and so as not
to crush its young.
That is with the mercy of Allah. So
Allah knows
that every fiber in the heart of that
parent
is
in pain, is in intense pain and it
wants to save the child but
so Allah
didn't stop there in the conversation with the
angel. He says to him,
that did you take the fruit of his
heart?
Did you take the fruit of his heart?
And you can see it in the eyes
of these parents whose children are dying.
That conversation that Allah is having with the
angel, did you take
did you take the fruit of his of
his heart? Did you rip it out?
And the angel said,
We did. We did take
that child. We didn't take that life of
that child.
And then Allah
says to the angel,
And what did my servant say? What did
that what did they actually say? What did
he say? What did she say when I
took that when you took
the fruit of the heart?
And they say,
They said,
This is what they said. And upon hearing
that, Allah says to them,
that build for my servant, these servants, these
mothers and these fathers,
build for them a house in Jannah.
And and name it,
and then name it Baytul Hamd, the
the the house of Hamd.
This is the label will be of that.
So may Allah
gives those parents all
houses of Jannah who have lost their children,
and give us the patience
and make us share in their reward because
this is
the full story
that is happening. It is not what we
are seeing
only of the tragedy that's coming out of
Gaza. There's another bit of it that we
are not seeing, but that is happening.
That is happening where the angels are taking
it and Allah is giving and Allah is
rewarding.
That bit we're not seeing, but we as
believers, we believe in this. They're in Jannah.
They're going to Jannah. They're happening. So to
share in their
blessing,
in their reward,
we can
pray for them. We can ask Allah to
help them. Not that they need us, but
not that they need our dua. We need
them. We need we need to get we
need to get a
share of that blessing that Allah is pouring
on those who go through sacrifice and say
Alhamdulillah.
So Alhamd
is something
that we should value
and especially in these days where we can
see it, real life happening. As a result
of these people asking this question, why are
they saying Alhamdulillah?
These non Muslims in the video I've seen,
they are going around and reading the Quran,
and many of them have accepted Islam
because of this because of seeing this thing
that's happening
that they are doing. They are accepting Islam.
So it is
a great play a great benefit, a great
opportunity
to reflect on the wider story that's happening,
the wider events that are happening. But Allah
have not has not abandoned us, has not
abandoned
anyone and he never abandons us. We keep
our hearts strong.
Things happen
according to the timetable that Allah has set,
not according to us.
Dua we make, the prophets, the dua of
prophets are accepted.
Rasulullah salallahu alaihi wasalam was among the Sahaba,
and they were boycotted
and had to
eat grass, had to eat leaves. They were
in in Sharad Abi Talib. The when, when
they were boycotted, they for 3 years, they
didn't have food,
and they were suffering. And they had Rasool
Allah sallallahu alaihi wa sallam who was making
dua. Allah accepts dua, but when he brings
the relief, that is up to Allah. He
decides when he does it. When Musa alaihis
salam said to said that you have given
pharaoh,
all this wealth to to lead people astray
or destroy it. Allah said, yes, I've accepted.
Because
that that your accept your your your dua
is accepted.
But
the
fulfillment of that dua came 50 years later.
Pharaoh drowned
in the sea 50 years later after the
dua was accepted. So time, we want things
to happen in our lifespan,
but the time when Allah decides for things
to happen, that is when it will happen.
So we should make sure that we don't
fall into this trap that shaitan, you know,
people say, you know, well, what,
where's the flourishing of Islam?
The flourishing of Islam is in the hearts
of the Muslims. That's where it does. And
it's flourishing when the angels
are speaking when the angels are taking us,
taking,
people to Jannah. That is where it's flourishing.
It's flourishing
when beautiful angels come to to receive
the dead bodies,
the people who are the the souls of
from from the bodies. Those are the things
that we need to think about, that we
need to recognize that Allah
is merciful
and his plan. He he that he
may not act as the exactly as we
want at at the time we want, but
nothing will go on,
on check. Nothing will go no one will
get away with any oppression.
Allah's justice is such
that on the day of judgment, if an
animal if an animal with a horn
goed another animal,
He will cause that horn to be taken
off and put on the other animal so
that it hits it back. That is the
extent to which
the justice of Allah will be fulfilled on
the day of judgment, even an animal. So
what about human beings and people who commit
crimes and injustices?
And so
may Allah
give us the strength
to be strong in these days of tests
and keep our hearts and minds focused on
the bigger picture and not
get caught up only in looking at what's
happening in this world.
There is another world. There is a bigger
picture.
Let's pray.
Allah,
cleanse our souls and fortify our hearts with
iman and yaqeen.
Grant us your refuge and protection.
Oh Allah, these young people have come here
today
seeking your mercy.
They are asking for your forgiveness.
They are repenting from all sins.
They are returning to you. They are seeking
your love and your grace.
They're seeking they're seeking your forgiveness
with hands raised as beggars.
Oh, Allah. We are begging you.
We are begging of you for your kindness
and your love.
Oh, Allah. You are the most kind.
You are the most merciful.
You do not turn away anyone. Oh Allah,
do not turn us away empty handed, you
Allah.
Oh Allah, if you turn us away, we
have no one to turn to.
We have no one else to turn to.
You are our only lord and our sustainer.
We have no protection except you. Protect us
and protect our brothers and sisters.
Suffering
in the world
and suffering in the land of Masjid Al
Aqsa. Oh, Allah, our brothers, our sisters, our
children,
our mothers, our fathers, our elderly,
our sick, suffering, tremendous pain
at the hands of those who have lost
all sense of sin.
Oh, love. With these feeble hands and painful
hearts, we beg of you. Help them and
help us, oh, Allah.