Riyad Nadwi – 0.9 Actionable Tafsir Dars 9
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The importance of personal and cultural responsibility is emphasized, including avoiding "footsteps of shaitan" and the need for compassion and perception. The importance of labeling and perception, language acquisition, and language expression is also discussed. The speaker discusses the importance of learning words and practicing them, as well as the importance of acceptance and forgiveness in the message of Allah. The importance of the womb is emphasized, as it is designed to protect itself from invading organisms and serve as a hostile environment for all humans. The importance of forgiveness and serving the people is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
So no claim to compassion
can be higher
than this.
No declaration of con of kindness, no declaration
of compassion, no declaration of love and affection
can be greater and higher and more supremely
than this pronouncement
above the.
It is the highest standard of that is
possible.
Now now
what is
Welcome back to our first session in this
new term.
Hope you all had a good break.
Last term,
we had
8 lectures,
in which we discussed a
broad range of topics,
ranging from
the
richness of the Arabic language,
the normative principles
of tafsir,
of exegesis. We talked about the 6 principles
of tafsir.
We also
talked about the avoid avoiding the footsteps of
shaitan.
That as in pride over
our own
sophistication,
our own cognitive sophistication because that is
the
trap that
caused Saathan
to fail,
where he walked into the trap of feeling
the trap of feeling more sophisticated
and more advanced.
And in that light, we spoke about shifting
our
self image,
shifting our view of ourselves
away from a brain centric view
towards a
soul centric view to shift,
because
modern man
is
proud over his sophistication
based on a brain centric view.
And
a Muslim's
perception is that our sophistication,
our
dignified
existence that love has given us comes through
the soul,
the soul that Allah has created in us.
We also talked about the 2 prerequisites for
seeking protection from Shaitan, which were
asking Allah for
refuge and also and
the meaning of.
And we talked about when approaching the Quran,
the three forms of touching,
direct, indirect, and through reading,
and also the Muslims' perception of toxicity of
sin.
And we talked about the Macbeth effect and
to become conscious of the effects of sin.
Also, we covered the 13
adab, the 13
etiquettes
for engaging with the Quran.
I'm going through these to jog your memory,
because as we said, this
tafsir series is not about just collecting information.
It's about,
working towards implementing what we learn
into our daily lives with our engagement with
the Quran.
And we talked about also the the the
need for divine guidance.
We talked about moral chaos that the world
is engulfed in. And today, we're we're
disconnected from guidance. When you're when human beings
are disconnected from guidance,
then more moral chaos and confusion ensues.
That's an inevitable process.
We talked about the importance
of labels,
the need for compassion, but the importance of
of labels and perception.
We looked at examples of color perception,
perception versus translation,
and how that relates to the
coloring of Allah.
That there's a difference between and
in Arabic. These are two words, and they're
both for painting for to they're used for
painting, but one is for when
you dye
cloth
the dyeing of cloth,
you have to immerse the cloth into
the dye
so that it so that the color
that seeps into every fiber of it. Tila
is
what you use for varnishing, you know, when
you when you are painting above. Our deen
and our understanding of Islam,
Islam has to come
into our lives such that as if we
as if it is,
it is immersed into every fiber
and
not something that shows up sometimes that we're
Muslim
or when we're in the Masjid or we're
Muslim and we're now Muslims and but when
we are elsewhere,
then we're we have a different color. No.
Our color is Islam.
That deep within through and through will be
Muslim. That is a
is is coloring
that that is derived from the Quran that
seeps in through and through and not.
It is not like nail varnish. You know,
when you put when when you're putting nail
varnish on, that is known as. When you
paint, you varnish things.
And we have to differentiate our Islam
as it not
making sure that our Islam is
and it's not.
It is it is dying. It is we
are we're being immersed into the color of
Islam such that it it's
occupying every fiber of our being.
Islamic,
enter into Islam wholeheartedly
and not just coloring. And also the the
coloring, if you put the dye, if you
d if you
dip a cloth
in dye, but you've tied knots into it,
then those knots will prevent they will leave
shadows, dark shadows in our lives. Dark shadows
in the fiber. And so if we are
knotted,
and these are the knots we are trying
to
remove from the mind and the heart in
things like this brain centric view and all
the other knots that come. And this is
why Akida is labeled as Akh. Akh is
literally a knot.
As you you you have to have the
the knots in the right place so that
it can come. If you have the wrong
knots, then it will leave shadows.
We also talked about the 25 names of
Surat Al Fatihah.
We talked about language acquisition, the origin of
language, proto human language, the Adamic language,
and the various theories
surrounding
the original language
because we said language we developed language. We
learn. We all learn to speak from our
parents. And if you follow that logic all
the way up
back to Adi m a, it is Allah
who taught Adi m a, but then there's
drift into Allah
providing us with a an array of different
languages. We talked about the banning of the
research into the origin of language in the
19th century,
and the 13 meanings of the first
unit of meaning in the Quran,
the first letter, the first b,
in the basmilar. The b,
the 13 meanings of that in the Quran.
We also covered last term the virtues of
the virtues of basmilar,
And we spoke about the role of brand
names in our psyche,
and we explained that branding
used to be singeing of
names of the owner of cattle on you.
But today, we're our minds are being singed
with
repeated exposure
with multiple names, with names more than any
other society before us in the whole of
history that our minds are saturated with names,
brand names,
and the need for
raising the profile,
easing the
profile of the names of Allah,
the names of our creator
over and above in our hearts,
with Tabatul with Tabatul,
which is severing the influences
and
that cast shadow of darkness in our hearts.
And then in our last session last week,
last time, sorry,
we looked at.
Allah's name,
Allah The name, the sublime name of Allah.
The word Allah is a proper noun noun,
and
of one of those, he is the only
one in existence is
in existence by necessity, deserving all praise. He
is the creator of all things, and there
is none deserving of worship but him.
And this is Allah's greatest name, Allahu Akbar,
that he is Asmin Asmin A'adabi Asma'iki.
That Allah
is
that he is,
all the characteristics of divinity.
In all the qualities of lordship,
the unique in existence and true reality.
The eternal
being. He is the eternal Lord. He is
the eternal creator
ever living. And we said that this is
one of the big distinctions between
us and Christianity in that
when there when
if something dies, then it is not God.
If it dies, it is not God, and
we believe in a ever living God that
never dies.
So that was the first point for last
time. And then the second one was that
we looked at the difference of opinion
regarding the etymology of the word Allah where
some say it is a non derived pronoun
and others say it has
has an etymology
from,
etcetera.
And this is the name. Allah is the
name in all human history.
In all previous revealed books, the Torah, the
Psalms, the Bible,
and even
in the Canaanites,
inscriptions, the Babylonians and Nabataeans,
all have the same version. Some some version
of the name
in of the the supreme
the supreme being without an image.
And then number 3 was that
in
the definitional theory of meaning,
words are defined via
other words.
And here, we ponder the example of the
Chinese room.
And with that, we looked into meanings of,
what it what that means for things like
artificial intelligence, chat GPT, etcetera. And more broadly,
that the language of thought hypothesis,
is not very useful,
when it comes to this. So we also
looked at the role of simulations in the
mind in in in in when meaning is
generated,
for meaning generation,
and the problem that this poses for ship,
for item worship.
In whenever you mention the name of an
idol,
an image of that idol
is presented is generated in your mind, and
this is the problem with Shirk,
is that if you're worshiping an idol, then
that image is
it comes into the mind
irrespective of whether you
want to have it or not. It's and
I give you the example if I say
don't think of an elephant.
An image of a large tusk animal will
appear in your mind. Likewise, when you say
when I say,
when you say you're worshiping a certain or
a or an
idol, then that image comes in the mind.
And the problem with that is that that
image comes with all the physical and temporal
limitations of the material world. That's an image.
It has it has a beginning. It has
an end. It has a place. All of
that. And whereas, Allah
is beyond all such limitations.
There's nothing like unto
him. There's nothing like unto Allah. And here,
we reflected on the words of Ibrahim alaihi
salam when he said that,
that I I do not like those that
disappear.
But this is Allah, your Lord.
There is no deity except him, the creator
of all things.
So worship him, and he is the discloser
of all things.
And vision perceives him not.
The vision, human vision cannot perceive him perceives
him not, and he perceives Paul vision.
He is the subtle, the acquainted. So
meaning for this great name comes to us
from multiple sources. We said
first, from what is embedded
deep within our souls.
Meaning, for what who Allah is, there's something
embedded in our souls, and that is
from the conversation
our souls had with Allah.
Before we came to this planet, Allah
spoke to us. And in that, he said,
he took an oath for us. Am I
not your lord? And we said, yes. You
are. Indeed, you are our lord.
And that
instinct, that is embedded in the soul of
every human being, even in societies. Every child
that is born
on the face of this planet
has that
memory embedded deep in their souls. And as
I told you about the research that discovered
this in,
across all cultures in the world, even in
cultures
where they do not have a the concept
of a creator god,
you find, like, in Shinto culture in Japan,
children instinctively know their creator.
And so this is the 4 first source
of meaning,
which comes from this primordial instinct deep within
our souls.
We know Allah
instinctively.
That is the first. In order to become
an atheist, one has to be educated
out of the belief of Allah.
You have to have a certain type of
education to become an atheist, But the natural,
the default of human beings is to believe
in a supreme being that created them and
the world that ever that that is omniscient
and omnipresent.
The second,
source for
meaning of the word of is through the
revealed words of Allah himself. Allah reveals when
you happen to have, as we said, multiple,
words explaining the same thing, conception occurs, and
then and then enhanced perception results with each
iteration.
And then the third is through the teachings
of the prophet
as in his supplications,
and and we reflected on that where
Rasulullah said that, that I as I
ask you with every name that you that
you have.
How is the third behavior
that I I call upon and ask you
with all the names, the names that you
have revealed, the names that you have taught
anyone, or the names that you have kept
in the vague, that you've kept on see
in the unseen with you. I ask you
with all those names
so that you make the Quran the spring
of my heart.
That you made the Quran my a spring
of my heart, the light of my chest,
the baniture of my sadness,
and the reliever of my distress.
And so learning
meaning of the word of Allah
from the teaching from the Dua of Rasulullah
And the 4th was through the recognition
of
our incapacity.
The limitations
of the human mind. Our limitations,
our perceptive capacities, the limitations in our perceptive
capacities
is restrict is restricted to this world.
So to see Allah,
to see our restrictions, in other words, in
recognizing
of our in the recognition of our limitations
itself, there is growth in the meaning of
our
addition to these, meaning for the word of
Allah
can come directly into the heart from Allah.
And this is this is a favor that
can come in the form of a pouring
of light
that eliminates the heart. This is also another
source.
Point number 4 was that Allah
has revealed to us 99 of his blessed
names.
Beautiful names. His 99 beautiful names.
And we are encouraged to engage with these
names,
to count them, to read them, to memorize
them,
and to benefit of
and the benefits of doing so are enormous
for inculcating
the qualities
of Allah,
for inculcating
inculcating within us rahma and mercy, which we
will talk about today,
and all and all other good qualities.
And also,
the benefit of entering into paradise for Rasool
Allah
said in hadith supported
by
Muslim.
That Allah has 99 names. And
another that whoever,
encompasses them or whoever memorized
or who memorized them, then they will enter
into paradise. And this was, of course, your
action point.
I hope you've all had a chance to
during the holidays to learn these names. This
was the action point we gave at the
end of last term, is to try and
memorize these words. Now I'm not gonna ask
you to repeat them, but, I'm sure you
would have, tried. If you tried, you had
the intention to do something,
And there's no cutoff date of how long
when you should finish it, but try. Learn
a few. You can learn a few every
week. And, eventually, you you will know them.
And there are enormous benefits that are linked
to this, so don't belittle it. Let's see.
We memorize, as I said, all kinds of
brand names and celebrities'
names and all,
football names, sports personalities, and we know,
what kind of,
you know, records each person has produced in
in their in their sports records and in
celebrity amongst with celebrities around the world. But
this is Allah's name. This is our creator's
name. You should be more familiar with this,
because this has
keys to Jannah. This will take you to
Jannah.
Allah is
saying that that look,
he will enter Jannah
straight. So this is a key.
And then finally, we talked about the joy
of seeing Allah
on the day of judgment,
which is reserved
for those who enter into paradise.
And Allah tells us
For those who do good, they will get
the best reward, and the best reward is
jannah, and then they will get the ziada.
They will get the extra. And that extra
would be that Allah will say I have
something more for you, and then we will
see. And then the veils will be lifted.
And And when that happens and we are
granted
the audience with Allah,
it will eclipse
all the pleasures of gender. That is the
beautiful thing that we will that we will
get, Insha'Allah.
The thing that we crave for here will
be fulfilled there, hopefully, for all of us.
So, inshallah now, today, I want to move
on to the following
two words in the sentence
in the Bismillah in the Basmala of Bismillahi,
Ar Rahman,
Ar Rahim,
which are both names of Allah
and for Allah says in the Quran,
That call upon Allah or call upon him
as Ar Rahman.
Whichever name you call, to him belong the
best of names.
Now
bear in mind what we said about the
meaning of our previous in our previous lesson
about about
meanings in general, that when we look at,
these two words, arrahman, arrahim,
we can see that they're both are from
a common
root. They come from and we will look
at this from multiple angles because there there's
there are oceans
of meaning here.
1st, from the perspective of language,
as
as you may know, they're both as I
said, they're
they're both from the root of,
and they're in the form they're in the
superlative
degree. They're in the superlative form form. This
form in which they are presented here, then
this is known as
in the supernative form.
Now
if you remember in our first lecture last
term,
we spoke about the richness
of the Arabic language,
And I gave you I I I made
a comparison that when we say that food
is rich, we mean that it has lots
of ingredients. It has a lot it's packed
full of ingredients. It's rich, rich food.
And so in in a similar way, when
we speak about a rich language, what we're
what we're talking about is that a language
that is packed full
of meaning,
that the the the words are have multiple
layers of meaning, and there's a rich tapestry
of for the mind to engage
or to die, as it were.
So meaning
is embedded
in
in the words of the language
in multiple layers, in multiple forms.
And in this one, we we talked about
meaning in combination. If you remember, I talked
to you about
the combination of the words.
Sometimes,
it's irrespective of order, as we saw with,
and opening and discovery and all of that.
Now Raha meme is similar, but not in
all the combinations.
But if you want to if you want
to take the meme and put it in
in at the beginning, you will end up
with Marija,
and for which you have comforting,
the same word. So if you put the
meme at the beginning. And
and so if you go on with haram,
it takes haram, you get the sanctity,
a sanctified protection. But
a person becomes with so this and this
is a switching around. I'm showing here that
the,
the individual
letters themselves in this combination
have, carries meaning. And when even when they're
turned red, the the the positions are changed.
That's one level.
And then meaning in particular positions as well.
As we also talked about words beginning with
the letter with certain letters have certain meanings.
This happens to be one of the letters
that we spoke about, which was
Ra.
Ra at the beginning depicts what? What did
we say? We said that letters words beginning
with the letter Ra
that has Ra in the first position
generally tend to meaning have the meaning of
connection.
There there's connection in there.
The meaning,
and Ra here is obviously the beginning. The
concept of connection features heavily in the
in Rahman and Rahim, which we will talk
more about later.
And then at the 3rd level, meaning in
scale, and this one we haven't touched on
before,
and which is, of course, another layer
of meaning in in in Arabic words
where words are found in,
are placed in predefined modes. They have scales
in which they are placed.
And when words are placed in certain modes,
they maintain
meaning that is consistent
in in a particular semantic field, that that
it maintains that meaning. And, for example, the
word is
in the scale is on the scale of.
This this is a mold, and this mold
itself carries meaning. And this is the beauty
beautiful thing about it, It's that the mold
itself, which is a scale that depicts,
as,
as Sar or Shamul,
which is breadth,
inclusion,
and extensive intensities.
It's coverage, vastness, and intensity.
It depicts the meaning of, something all encompassing,
such and so you will have and the
words placed in this mold will give you,
like, the the word for thirst when placed
in this.
It's an all encompassing quality. When a person
is thirsty, then it it it it takes
over them. When a person is,
a. When a person is angry, it's all
encompassing. When a person is,
when a person is when a person is
intoxicated,
it's all impounded. It takes over. It's inclusive.
It spreads over the whole person, takes over
the the entire quality. So from these are
the,
these are
3 secondary
layers of meaning. We have
for the meaning from we we have, the
meaning of connection in the position of the
first letter.
We have the meaning of comfort in the
switching around of and.
And then we have the meaning of extensiveness
and all encompassing.
And note here, this is the meaning
these are all meanings that, that are from
secondary layers, and we haven't translated the word
yet. But all of this is coming through
from those secondary meanings.
Now
and in this, you can see how rich
these words are, how rich the language is.
Now
that the mercy, the compassion, which is how
we tend to translate these these words, rahma,
that Allah's compassion for his servants
can be placed in 2 broad categories.
The first category is
rahmatuwahi
ala'am,
the general
his general mercies to all his creations. And
this is linked to ar Rahman. This is
that superlative degree
which is bringing them into existence. For his
creation, 1st and foremost,
the biggest mercy is
that that he starts with is bringing you
into existence.
That's your beginning.
And for everyone, for everything, for the existence,
bringing bringing
his creation into existence, then proportioning
those
creations in the best form.
He is the best
he is.
He brings and he's he when he creates,
he creates in the best proportion, the best
forms.
And then after that, he he also his
mercy is that he provides sustenance for them
in in the provision
of food through
vegetation,
animals, and then provision of of protection of
shelter from the elements,
and then the mercy of sight and hearing
and intellect
and countless
other favors that pour upon our us on
on upon every creature in every moment of
their existence.
Each one
a distinct
mercy from Allah, a distinct mercy from the
creator.
Allah
draws attention to this fact in
verse 7 where he says
So forgive those who have repented.
So forgive those who have repented
and followed your way and protect them from
your punishment,
of the punishment of the hellfire.
So
That you have covered everything
and compares everything with mercy.
The second category of rahma the second
category is
rahma al Khasa, rahma al
Khasa,
his special mercy.
And this mercy
is exclusive
for his for it's exclusive to believers.
And, these are mercies of
Hidayah,
which is guidance.
Mercy of.
Mercy the guidance towards the straight path,
the granting of favor of steadfastness,
and
on the straight path, the mercy of preserving
one's belief in in the heart,
and he'd and then
granting you good life,
and then the granting of yakin, the certainty
in the heart and in your faith,
and then granting of barakah in worldly favors,
the granting of forgiveness for your sins,
and the granting of mercy on the day
of judgment,
and the entering into the abode of parables,
All of that and much more.
And
he is he and ever is he, the
believers, Rahima,
merciful,
which all seems to come under
the second name. So Ar Rahman is the
broader one, and Ar Rahim
focuses on,
on to the believers. The name appears in
the Quran
with the definite article attached to 4 other
names. This name, Ar Rahim, if you look
at Ar Rahim in the Quran,
you will see it is attached to 4
other names of Allah.
And the first is, of course, in the
basmara,
it's attached to Ar Rahman Ar Rahim.
Here, so it is clear that it's the
same. It it's it's
depicting Allah's compassion, Allah's mercy, Allah's love and
affection for his creation.
But then
the second connection you find with Abraham
is that Allah
says and he says in
in in the in the in the in
the in the in the in the in
the in the in the in the in
the in the in the in the in
the in the in the in the in
the in the in the in the in
the in the in the in the in
the in the in verse,
37.
So
indeed, he is the accepting of repentance, the
merciful,
accepting of repentance,
guiding the minds and hearts of the believer
when up with with with the word Rahim,
away from.
Now this is a word we need to
learn. Yes is despondency,
and a lot of that happens in in
our day day to day. That's why people
end up with anxiety because they have yes.
They're suffering from despondency,
lose of hope, you know,
worry too much about things and and becoming
anxious.
Now if you're happy or if you place
your faith in Allah and recognize
how merciful Allah is,
then there is no room for yass. There's
no room for despondency. And so in this
combination,
we have an indication to one of the
ways in which the mercy is manifested.
It is manifested
in the acceptance of repentance, that Allah accepts
repentance.
This is one of the ways.
So the message is that a believer should
never become despondent and never lose hope in
the mercy of Allah.
Don't lose hope in the mercy of Allah.
So that's
in in the Huwah Tawah. This is the
the the second one. And then then you
have in Surah Yunus,
in verse 107.
And
that he is forgiving. So Rahim now is
attached. 1st, it's and
then it's in it's it's attached to,
Al Ghafoor,
the forgiving one, individual
that he forgives the individual.
Yeah.
Yeah. Allah knows Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to
to know that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will
forgive your sins. So don't feel it. No
matter what I
do,
I know that I have an Allah who
will forgive. If I have life
and I have sincerity, if you are remorseful
in whatever you've done, then you should have
firm conviction in your heart,
that
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will forgive if I
am firm that I if I am remorseful,
if I am regretful of what I did,
then Allah will forgive because he is Waghafur
Rahim. He is he is Tawawwal Rahim.
That's the 2 and then finally the 4th
one was
in
in in that
he is indeed your God he is exalted
in might
and al Aziz is also attached to Rahim.
So we have Rahm Al Rahim,
Tawaw Rahim,
Ghafoor Rahim, and Aziz Rahim,
all these 4.
Now the final one, Aziz, exalted.
Forgiveness
comes from a position of strength. So Allah
is saying that I will forgive, and I'm
I have the power to forgive. Not only
that I that he is, he's forgiving,
but he's forgiving because he's exalted and high
and high and mighty,
and he has the power to forgive, so
he will forgive.
He has the power.
Now in terms of differences between the two
words, Ar Rahman and Ar Rahim,
the scholars of Tafsir say that the word
Ar Rahman
gives the meaning of the
of of those who,
of of of the one whose mercy,
and compassion beneficence
spread over all his creation in this world
towards the believers
and,
to in this world over everyone and towards
the believers in the.
Whereas the word Ar Rahim
is specific to the believers,
which is
alluded to in the Quran as in Surat
Ahazab we have,
in verse 43.
That that it is he who confers blessings
upon you and his angels
and who ask him to do so, and
he may bring forth he may bring you
out of from darkness into the light, and
he is ever to the believers, Rahima.
He is ever to the believers, merciful. So
this is a clear connection. You have Rahima
here.
But some scholars
say that
the
there are other verses in the Quran
that seems to not follow this distinction,
at least at the surface for example in
the verse 143
of Surat Al Baqarah
in verse 143 Surat Al Baqarah and also
in Surat Al Hajj verse 65
Allah says
Indeed. Allah is
to people. He's
saying to people, and this is general.
Naz. It doesn't Naz means everyone.
That he is that Allah is kind and
merciful to all.
And then again and also in Suratul Israa
verse 66, Allah says,
that it is your Lord who drives the
ship for you through the sea.
It is your Lord who drives the ship
for you through the sea
that you may seek his bounty.
Indeed, he is ever to you, Rahima, that
he is ever to you, Rahim. Now it
is obvious that,
it is not only
believers that
sail on the sea. Everyone sails on the
sea. All sorts of people sail on the
sea. So there's Rahmah Rahim there as well.
So but a subtle point to note
is that in all of these examples that
scholars are identifying as being deaf as going
against the the distinction
of Rahim or Rahman,
is that the word appears without the definite
article, that you have Rahima. It's not Al
Rahim.
In all three of these examples that I've
given you, it is Rahima.
Rahim, but not Al Rahim. And in that,
there is room for emphasize emphasizing the first
distinction that we made between Rahman and Rahim,
which is also supported of course by Hadith
not very strong Hadith but
that's
the merciful
to the duniya and the to
this world and the hereafter
and the Raheem is for.
And that is an explanation, but
the point remains the same that they're they're
both from the same root. Both of these
words, they're both from the same root. So
whatever meaning you put will go back to
the original, which is that this is.
It is
the mercy of Allah. Now, obviously,
these are finer technical details, but the main
point is that Allah,
Allah's mercy and compassion
is spread
vast and wide. That's what we need to,
understand. That's the meaning. That that's the primary
meaning. Now
what do we understand
by
vast and wide?
To answer this,
we must,
spend some time focusing on our sense of
scale
because,
we are
hopeless at
sense of scale.
We recognize
quantity and scale by comparison, and we're not
very good at it, at making
judgments of scale. In fact, we are routinely
tricked
into thinking
that we have received bargains for deals in
supermarkets
when, in fact, we're paying more or more
for less, and this is usually because of
comparison. We're making comparisons. You know? If you
want to buy a a toaster and you
go into the shop and the toaster
is £50 and you've
marketed you're budgeted for £50
for for a new toaster, and there's
one you see one that is £200,
but it has all kinds of whistles, all
kinds of mod cons and everything,
then you will
think about buying
the the one, the cheap one that does
the job. But if in between these two,
there is another one
that's doing almost the same as the £2001,
and it's only a £100,
then what happens?
You will go home with that one thinking
that you've got a real good deal. And
the reason that 200 pound toaster is there,
it's placed there specifically by psychologists
who consult with consultants that, look, this will
help you to sell a 100 pound toaster.
This is a strategy. So so it's it's
comparison,
sense of scale. We we do we're we're,
notorious when it comes to making good judgments
on this. So
to understand when we say vast and wide,
we have to think
deep about this
from what as we see what we receive
about
what are we talking about when we hear
Allah's mercy is vast and wide? Where is
it?
Yeah.
So
when you read in the Quran, Allah says,
and my mercy has covers everything.
My mercy covers everything. Now what does that
mean? My mercy cover
how is that configured in our minds and
heart?
Where the what does that mean in terms
of sense of scale?
Now as I said, this, tafsir
series is about restructuring perceptions. And to understand
this,
we must first reassess our sense of scale
for the creation of Allah.
This is important. We need to create
restructure
our sense of scale for the creation of
Allah because we have big sense of scale.
We have we we we have lots of
comparison for sense of scale of human production
of of artifacts, of things that human beings
have have produced. But when it comes
to Allah's creation, then that's back grounded and,
and lost.
So we need
to
rekindle
that sense of scale
when we when we are when we are
when we are talking about Allah. You know,
when they ask those children
about who created the earth and who created
the
artifacts, like the tools, they were able to
say Allah because they we are born with
this. We are born with the ability of
that sense of scale. But when it comes
to when it comes to this,
to we sense of scale,
we
tend to have
send a sense of view of the production,
the creation of human of of human artifacts
greater in our minds.
So to understand this, to understand this sense
of scale, in terms of size in the
material world, Allah's creation
ranges from the
countless
tiny
microscopic
creatures
from
ants, bugs,
microbes,
and each of them in their own ecosystem
receiving sustenance from Allah. Each one individually
is taken care is taken care of by
Allah. Each tiny microbe
in its
own ecosystem. Allah is taking care of that.
So that's at one level.
So
we cannot see them all, but they exist
and they are kept alive by Allah's mercy.
He's he's he's caring for each one of
them.
And then among his creations are also that's
at one end of the spectrum. And then
on the other end of the spectrum,
we have billions and billions of galaxies with
trillions and trillions of stars,
each one
surviving in space
through the power and sustenance of Allah. As
he explains, he says in the Quran,
They all in their orbit are swimming, and
Allah is controlling all of that. He's taking
care of sustaining
all those
heavenly bodies that he's all those in the
material world, all of that.
So all of these these
magnificent creations from the tiniest microbes
to those that stretch out trillions and trillions
of miles in all directions, into the vastness
of space,
in any direction you look,
estimated to be 45,000,000,000
light years in expanse, any direction you look.
Now all of the space in the heavenly
bodies,
are dwarfed
by all of this that we have that
here are dwarfed
by the magnificent by another magnificent creation
of Allah. And that creation
is
his,
which is above that. So we have this
material world and 7 layers of it, and
then above that, we have
7 layers of the heavens above that. And
then above that, there is Kursi,
the Kursi of Allah. Now Kursi is often
translated as
throne or place of feet,
and various. We don't know exactly what it
what what what what what is the shape
of it, but all but what we do
know that it's it is larger than all
of this, and we have comparisons. We have
we have very clear,
way 2 ways to to make the comparison
to scale for it. So it is larger.
It is larger than all of this material
world, all these billions and billions of galaxies,
and and the seven levels of it, and
then the seven levels of of the heavens.
And between each level is 500 years of
travel, and the thickness of each one is
500 years of travel. So that is all.
And above that, you have Korosi, Allah's Korosi.
That is the that so which is greater
than all of this. And he tells us
in the Quran,
that his
his his covers his covers his extended. It
it compasses. It's it's larger
than it's larger than all of this that
all that we can imagine
of the of the existence of the universe
and the heavens. Not only the universe, but
the the heavens as well above that. Okay?
And then beyond that magnificent creation of Qusi,
there's a further creation of Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala,
which is even bigger, which is known as
an Arsh,
which is bigger than the Kursi, the Arsh,
which is also often translated as a as
as throne, but it is it is related,
but there's size comparison between the 2, and
this is what we're aiming at.
So it is described as throne, but it's
the control. It's a it's a system of
control of all of Allah's creation, and it
is the is
Allah's largest creation. There's nothing bigger than that.
Allah's creation the largest creation of Allah is
the arsh.
In the Quran, he said,
that we were told that
that, that if they turn away, then sufficing
unto us. Allah is sufficient for
us.
And he is the lord of the magnificent
throne of the of that this this arch.
This is the largest creation of Allah.
Now
how big is the arch?
And here is where our sense of scale
should converge
for the meaning of
that the universe in which we we live
in, this is,
540
the estimates that we have is 546,000,000,
miles, which is 40, 54
with, 54 with 22 zeros. If if you
and then that with the the 7 layers
and then 7 layers of heaven above that.
That is all this. But then how is
this explained in
Hadith for us? These these comparisons.
An Abi Zarim Al Fadi Fadi Fadi Darul
who says that Anar Musa Alaihi
Salam,
He asked him about the.
He asked
Rasulullah about the. What how what's the size?
Then explained it to him. He said,
I swear in in in the hands in
a in whose hand my life is.
That the
the seven heaven the seven
layers of this material universe
and the seven layers of the heavenly universe,
that compared to the Kursi is nothing is
it the difference between them,
It is like a ring
tossed in the desert.
That's the difference between. Now, toast, when you're
standing in the desert now this is this
is an example that the Arabs use for
for for scale of comparison. It says that
the the toast in the desert, meaning that
a tiny that all of this, this heavens
and the earth and all of that compared
to the Kursi is like in a vast
desert, a ring a ring that is tossed
in the ground. It's lost. It will be
lost in it. That is how large the
Kursi is.
That is how large it
is. And then he said,
and then he says
that the difference between the Kursi and the
Aush
is like the difference between that ring and
the desert. There's a further level of comparison.
So you can imagine how large the ash
is,
how big Allah's ash is. This is why
it is Allah's largest creation.
Now
on top of all of that,
on the,
Allah says that that this is
so you have this massive
universe,
the 7 layers of it,
the 7 layers of the heavens,
and then the massive
Kursi,
which makes which makes this all look like
a tiny ring in the desert, And then
the arsh that makes the looks like a
tiny ring in the desert. And then above
that, he said,
that when Allah created the the creation,
he he wrote in his book,
Fahuwa Indahu felt the Arts, and it is
with him above the Arts.
It is with Allah above the Arts, something
above the Arts. And what is written there?
Above the Arts, above all of this, this
entire creation,
the proclamation, the thing that is written up
there, it is.
It's written there,
that my mercy predominates my wrath. That is
Allah's Rahma covering everything.
It's written there.
The mark of Allah's dominion
is compassion, is Rahma. The highest label in
the entire creation
in is the label of compassion
above the universe,
in its 7 layers and above the heavens
in its 7 layers, above the, above the,
the
magnificent
throne
written above is the declaration,
the rule of compassion
above all that exist. That is where Baha'at
is Rahma above
all.
This is the vantage point of scale.
This is the vantage point of scale
from which we must start to recognize
the spread of Allah's compassion,
the spread of Allah's mercy and dominion.
Here is what it means to be
my mercy covers all things.
Here we understand the use of his blessed
name, Ar Rahman, and then he tells us
again and again in the Quran. Allah says
he declares his sovereignty over the ark.
His sovereignty over the ark, he says,
that the most that that Ar Rahman
then established himself on the throne. Allah has
established on the throne. And then another insult
that that's in Surataha. And then Surat Al
Farqhan, he says,
And then he says,
The Delhi established himself on the throne, the
most Ar Rahman.
Ar Rahman was established on the throne. So
there was this link always returning back to
Rahma and Rahmaan above all.
So ask
about him.
1 will inform.
So no claim to compassion
can be higher
than this.
No declaration of con of kindness, no declaration
of compassion,
no declaration of love and affection can be
greater and higher and more supreme
than this pronouncement
above the arch. It is the highest standard
of that is possible.
Now what is rahma?
This is usually, as we said, translated
as mercy, beneficence,
compassion in English.
But for our purposes,
which is to use the word
the the words
excuse me. To use the words in the
Quran to restructure our perceptions along the lines
of,
the coloring of Allah,
to foster
pious cognition,
righteous conduct. We need to develop
a more a broader and a deeper appreciation
for the meanings of the words of Quran.
Now remember what we said about the importance
of names?
Through names,
perceptions are facilitated,
and the more names you have for something,
the more profound is the perception.
Al Rahman
is, of course, one of the majestic names
of Allah.
This is the name that was recognized
even by the Arabs before Islam.
If you look at the pre Islamic
our poetry, you will find the word Rahman.
But the best explanation
for the name
is in the words of Allah himself.
Allah himself saying telling us that this is
his name. He's saying, Anar Rahman. Allah
declared himself.
He said that Anar Rahman.
That I am Ar Rahman.
Yes.
And the next thing he tells you first,
he tells you that, look, I am Ar
Rahman Ar Rahman.
So don't be confused that anyone else can
be Rahman. I am Ar Rahman. And
mind you, this is one of the names
of of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala that you're
not allowed that no one else is allowed
to be named. Nobody is allowed to no
human being is allowed to be named by
this name, Ar Rahman.
You can name Rahim, but not Ar Rahman
Because this is specific to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala. He says it very clearly now in
this hadith, hadith could say Alam Rahman and
then the second thing, after telling us who
he is,
who we are,
and where we came from. That's the next
thing that's that starts to explain. He says
that,
and I create the Rahim.
Rahim from Rahim. He said, I create Rahim.
Rahim means the womb,
w o m b, womb.
Yep. I created the womb,
and I derived a name for it from
my own name.
Said, what? Anak Rahman.
And I created the womb and I've derived
a name from my own name.
And here is the concept of connection
that comes into play in the meaning of
Rahmah here. Connection.
We are connected to the mercy of Allah
through something that is named after his majestic
name of Rahman.
We're all connected by
to to to Allah's name, not only literally
by being connected from the womb, but we
are connected also to his Rahmah by name,
the name of the womb in Arabic,
and Allah is saying he named it.
No one else, Allah himself,
is saying I named it Rahm.
I created it, and I named it Rahim.
Now
what is the relationship between the womb
and Rahmah?
To comprehend this, one
must first
think about, ponder the role of the womb
in the lives of each of us.
We all came into this world via a
womb.
And
now what is the connection to Rahmah?
If you think about it,
the human body
is designed by Allah
to protect itself, to protect itself from invading
organisms,
to foreign organisms, to to be hostile. The
body is designed
to be hostile, to be a hostile environment
to foreign organisms.
If a virus or a bacteria
breaches the defenses
of the barriers
and and enters the body, the body has
a powerful
array of defense mechanism
in the form of the immune system, etcetera,
to isolate and destroy that organism
in in order to maintain the integrity of
the system. And if that fails, then because
if if it fails, then the system crashes,
and can result in fatality. So
we have been given a whole battery of
defenses by Allah. We have white blood cells.
We have antibodies. We have complement system. We
have lymphatic system. We have spleen,
bone marrow, thyroid,
or thymus. Sorry.
And, also, we have skin with waterproof barriers
that stretch
that that secretes oil with bacteria killing properties.
We have lungs with mucus,
with phlegm,
and then we have cilia to get the
phlegm out, and we
have digestive tract with, mucus lining containing
antibodies. We have acid in the stomach,
that kills microbes,
and and further, we have other defenses like
bodily fluids,
like skin oils,
saliva tears with antibacterial
enzymes in them. And all of this is
constant flushing of urinary tract, retract, and bowel,
everything. These are all systems that Allah has
given us all to protect the integrity of
the system. So it it it the human
body is a hostile environment for foreign organisms.
That's the point.
Now all of this is designed to keep
out
and to destroy and to keep us safe.
Now the wound
that lives in this hostile environment
functions
in the exact
opposite manner to all of these.
Instead of isolating, attacking, and destroying,
what does it do?
It accommodates,
it nourishes, and helps an organism
to flourish.
It indulges
in caring and protective behavior.
It embodies Rahmah.
In the womb of our mothers,
our first encounter
with the caring instinct, the caring instinct of
compassion, of Rahmah, the caring instinct of love,
the caring instinct of connection.
There, in the womb, in Rahmah, the thing
that is named after the blessed name of
Allah, our Brahman,
manifest we have the first manifestation
of Rahmah.
We're we're manifesting
the the the first call in the womb
for every human being.
This compassionate behavior
is ultimately from Allah who has placed it
there and named it there.
And if he wishes, he can also care
for his creation
directly
without the help of the womb. He can,
as he did for Adam and Eve and
from time to time with ectopic pregnancies,
showing us that all compassion and care
comes from him. It stems ultimately from him.
But the womb, the name Rahim,
care and love and compassion
ensues towards the fetus
from Allah
in that naming of the womb. This is
this is the point.
What else could one expect from something named
after the majestic name of Al Rahman, the
most compassionate, the most merciful?
Therefore,
the place to begin our journey
of reflection on the meaning
of Arrahma,
the meaning of Ar Rahman,
the meaning of compassion
is our first
moments of life
when we were vulnerable,
when we could not feed ourselves, nor even
cry
to let someone know that we were hungry.
There, the mercy of Allah reached us.
There, in our mother's womb, in that secure
place, Allah created for us and named it,
named the womb,
named it after his blessed name of Rahman.
So whatever the whatever we needed was provided,
and there was no shortage of anything.
The Mercy even took control
of our mother's sense of craving.
When we needed calcium,
she was gripped with unexplainable
urge
to eat things with calcium, even
feeling like eating raw chalk.
She would do. She would have cravings
because
you were running low on calcium.
This is the power of Allah's Rahmah
through which Allah cared for you in your
mother's womb,
and that's just the beginning.
Allah
did not leave it there
for us
to cut the umbilical cord after birth and
lose connection with the womb. No.
Instead,
he commanded that the connection of the womb,
silat al Rahim,
was to be maintained.
And so
further aspects of Rahmah,
in addition
to love, compassion, and mercy, connection is also
a feature of Rahmah,
which inshallah we will discuss next week.
May Allah
fill our hearts with Rahmah,
with his compassion, his love, and bring us
closer to his grace
with every breath we take and with every
step we make,
and grant us the ability to recognize
his subtle mercies that permeate
our lives continuously
from
our
first moments of life in the womb
to the day we will die and beyond.
The mercy, the rahma of Allah
is ever present,
widespread,
vast
across all that
exist.
Now for our action point,
when we learn about
the mercy of Allah,
the first thing that Allah connects it to
was what? When we learn about Rahim, we
become we're told
Rahim
that
at Tawaw, that Allah is accepting of Allah
is accepting
of
repentance.
Al Rahim, Allah is of Allah is Ghafoor
Rahim, that he is accepting of forgiveness.
And we are told
that he is and this is
an that Allah says this is in Hadith
Qudsi. Allah is addressing the human being and
saying,
That ibn Adam, oh son of child of
Adam,
that that as long as you call on
me and you place your hope in me,
that I will forgive you. I will forgive
you, whatever
you have, whatever you have done,
and I will not worry about it. This
is the beautiful thing about it. Allah is
saying that, you know, you speak to a
child, what do you say? Don't worry about
it.
You know, don't don't don't
get anxious.
Don't get worried.
If your sins
were to reach the clouds as high as
the clouds,
Then I will forgive you and I wouldn't
worry I wouldn't worry about it.
If you come with with sins as large
as this whole world,
And if you come to me without any
shirk, without any policies, without ascribing anyone else,
without worshiping anyone else, without
including anyone else in your worship with me,
then I will come to you with forgiveness
as large as the earth.
And if your
that we used to count in sitting with
Rasulullah that
he used to say something a 100 times
in one sitting. In one sitting, he used
to say it. This is Rasulullah. This is
Muhammad
who had no sins,
but he used to say it. He used
to say it a 100 times. What he
used to say? What was it? He used
to say,
Oh, Allah, forgive me and repent and accept
my repentance.
That verily, you are
the kind, you are accepting, you are accepting
of repentance.
You are Raheem, that you are the kind
one. You are the merciful one. This is
the dua.
Oh, Allah, forgive me and accept my repentance.
Is that you'll you've recognized the rahma. You've
recognized Allah's rahma covering everything,
what you can see and beyond, and you've
recognized Allah's rahma
acting
from the first moment of your existence in
the womb of your mother when you were
first conceived. That Allah's mercy is has been
with you from there on till now. It
is time to recognize that that mercy also
will forgive you. That Allah, the one the
the rahman, the rahim will forgive you if
you follow the sunnah of his hadib. Sunnah
of Rasool Allah Subhallahu Alaihi wa sallam. And
what is that sunnah? That sunnah
is
Oh Allah, forgive me and accept my repentance.
This is your action point. Memorize this dua
and make an effort to read it at
least a 100 times a day. It doesn't
take
more than a few minutes, but it will
transform your life and fill your heart with
blessing. Fill your heart with hope. Fill your
heart with the caring and the love and
the compassion
that Allah is offering you. Allah is offering
this. He is he's stretching his hand out
here.
That he stretches out his hand at night
to
to grant forgiveness to grant forgiveness
for those who have
for those who have committed sins in the
day, and he does the same during the
day for those who have committed sins in
the night. So let us make use of
that. Make it your daily habit to ask
for forgiveness.
Is tikfar a hundred times. But if you
can't if you can't do all of this,
Say even that is beneficial,
insha'allah.
Okay. Let us pray.
Oh, Allah, cleanse our souls
and fortify our hearts
with the dikr,
of your beautiful names
and with the compassion and the mercy with
the Akhmat
of your blessed name,
oh, Allah.
Grant us
refuge. Protect us from all the designs of
evil.
Oh Allah, we are gathered here to seek
your guidance and to seek your mercy, and
we are begging for your forgiveness. We are
asking for your forgiveness.
We are repenting from all sins. We are
returning to you. We are seeking your love,
your grace,
with hands raised as big as do. We
are all beggars,
and we are all sinners, and we are
begging you, your kindness, your love, and your
mercy.
Oh, Allah, you are the most kind, the
most merciful.
Do not turn us away empty handed.
Oh, Allah, if you were to turn us
away,
we will have no one to turn to.
Oh, Allah,
we have none but you.
You are our only hope and savior.
We have no one to protect us. Protect
us, oh, Allah.
Oh, Allah, these young people have come here
today
raising hands
and asking for your forgiveness. Oh, forgive
them, oh, Allah.
Oh, Allah, our brothers and sisters, our innocent
children, our mothers and our fathers,
our elderly, the sick are suffering great pain
around the world and especially in the land
of Masjid Al Aqsa. Oh, Allah, protect them,
help them. Oh, Allah, we beseech you. We
beg for your mercy,