Salah Mahmoud – Light upon Light Lessons from Surah Nur Jumuah
AI: Summary ©
The Surah of Surah Al provisions focus on protecting individuals' morality and decency by following clear instructions and following rules. The importance of following these rules is emphasized, as it is used to build a fence around behavior. The speaker also emphasizes the need to be aware of rumors and not share anything until verifying their accuracy. The process of building an internal wall is also discussed, and caution is given against approaching footsteps of shaitan and not being in the situation where shaitan is the main target. Overall, the speaker provides clear instructions and offers a chance to be reminded of the importance of not following footsteps of shaitan.
AI: Summary ©
My dear brothers and sisters,
for 13 years, Rasulullah
was given dawah in Mecca.
And his main focus was the aqeedah
and spirituality.
And that reflected was reflected in the Quran.
That's why majority of the Quranic
or the Quran which was revealed in Mecca
deals with the matters of.
So it was more focused.
And once the settled in the hearts of
the society,
in the hearts of the companions of Rasulullah
sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
now it was time for the hijab from
Makkah to Madina.
And then it comes the turn of the
Madani Quran,
which means the Quran
revealed in Madina.
And the nature of the Quran
was completely different from the Mecca Quran.
So our Quran
focused more on the instructions,
the the
rulings.
What should you do as a Muslim and
what should you avoid as a Muslim?
So today, inshallah, for the next few minutes,
I'm gonna share with you some reflections from
one surah that is very special to to
my heart.
And whenever we hear the name of the
surah, SubhanAllah,
you feel the positive energy.
It is surah to noor brothers and sisters.
The surah of light.
Noor ala and Noor, light upon light.
So as we said that surah was revealed
in Medina
which means that the surah focus on
instructions
and rulings and ihkam for the whole entire
society.
And if we are to talk about one
objective or the main objective for for this
Surah,
the objective from Surah al Nuhr, brothers and
sister, was or as to protect the morality
and decency
of the society.
The morality and decency of the society. If
you take it from aya 1 to till
the last aya, that that was the main
focus on the surah of Surah Almor.
Let's talk about this surah a little bit.
First of all it was revealed after the
when they accuse
the of committing adultery with one of the
companions of Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasallam. Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala revealed Suratul Noor
and amongst Suratul amongst the Ayat, which Allah
revealed in Surah al Noor was the ayat
that pro that proved the, that the saydah
was innocent for all my accusations,
which the hypocrites
claimed or accused her with.
Surah al Noor
starts with very unique word.
The word is surah.
Surah al Noor starts with
surah.
Surah al Baqarah was surah
Or a Surah, isn't it? It is Surah
as well. Surah Al Imran is Surah.
Surah Al Furqan is Surah. So what would
Allah start
Surah Al Nur with the word Surah?
Surah.
Which we revealed.
And we made its rulings mandatory,
obligatory.
And we revealed clear
so you may be reminded.
Let's talk about the first one, brothers and
sisters, Surah. As we said Surah Al Baqarah
is Surah as well. Why did Allah
give this unique name or started this Surah
with this unique word Surah? And what does
Surah mean?
The word surah in Arabic, it's coming from
the root word surah,
which has two meanings.
The first one, something of a high status
that tells us that this surah has a
very high and precious
and elevated status. That's the first meaning.
The second meaning,
an elevated structure.
Means a fence, a wall around the house.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling us
that the teachings which he reveals in this
surah will help us
build a wall around something.
And that wall, the purpose of that wall
is to protect
something.
So what is that thing that Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala wants us to build a wall
around?
It is
and manners and decency brothers and sisters, and
our faith and our.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in this surah,
I am going to give you the instructions
on how to build a wall
around your manners,
around your decency,
around the morality of the individuals as well
as the society.
So if you'll follow the instructions in which
Allah reveals
in this surah, then you will protect yourself.
And there are 2 types of wall. I
I don't want to go technical about this
surah, but there is one objective that
to clarify here.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us to build
this wall or he's helping us to build
the wall.
There is internal wall and the external wall.
If you have a house, there are internal
walls and external walls as well. The one
from outside, we call it a fence.
Okay?
So how can I protect
the house or the structure, brothers and sisters?
How can I protect the structure?
As individual,
how can I protect my morality and my
decency and my akhlaq and my manners? What
should I do to do that?
And as a society, as a community, what
should we do in order for us to
protect the decency and morality of the society?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will tell us. As
a society, what should we do? As individuals,
what should we do if we want to
protect the morality?
Go back to the second one.
We revealed it. Allah revealed the rest of
the Quran, but he's putting a lot of
emphasis.
And we made it mandatory as well. The
ruling's mandatory.
Clear
clear signs.
Clear instructions,
So we may be reminded. One thing you
will notice in this surah, brothers and sisters,
is that the word
clear instructions
was mentioned in this surah probably 6 times.
Which tells us that everything is revealed in
this surah is straightforward. It is clear. You
wanna be protected from indecency
and morality, then you need to follow these
instructions. If you try to build the system
and work and go around it,
the society is going to be corrupt.
Right?
How can we build the wall and which
wall will start should start first? Is it
the internal wall or the external wall?
Very important question.
So Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
starts from right after ayah number 2 talks
about indecency,
immorality. He said
Allah
is talking about the society right now. He
said, do not allow indecency and and filth
and zina to spread in the society. You
need to protect the morality of the society.
It is the it is the job and
the responsibility
of the leadership. It is the job and
the responsibility of the parents. It is the
rule the the job and the responsibility of
the society as a whole.
Protecting the decency of the society.
You need to enforce certain rulings. But of
course, after you
you apply
other things first. You don't go to start
with that.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
goes to the next next set of and
he talks about accusing
modest women.
Accusing them with committing adultery or any kind
of immorality.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said be careful and
be aware as a society from spreading rumors.
Spreading rumors
is never, never good in the society.
Even those
people they need to be punished for that.
And then the next set of ayat Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala said, what if the husband
and wife accusing one another?
What should we do in this case? The
rulings are there as well. So as a
society
we have rulings.
We have clear instructions from Allah
on how to deal with the in indecency,
immorality and how to build the external wall.
Then Allah
talks about and
what happened. I said to say that, happy
to the household of
And at the society when we hear some
rumors about someone, what should we do? How
should we react to these rumors? Should we
just go ahead and, you know, click share
without even verifying
whether these rumors are accurate or not?
That's not what Quran wants from us.
By just sharing, clicking, and you think it's
easy. Watch,
you know, slander, scandal.
Watch what is happening. Watch what he did.
Watch what we did without even verifying.
Allah
says,
You think it's just clicking or share?
It's it's about it's not just about clicking
the button.
It's much more than that. Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala says,
Be careful
when you talk about somebody.
Be careful when you hear something about somebody.
You need to verify.
And if you cover up for people, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala will cover up your mistakes
and your errors and your shortcomings as well.
That's how we protect the morality and the
the decency of the society, brothers and sisters.
Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
tells us
in the Those who like for the filth
and immorality spread
amongst the believers,
for them there will be severe punishment.
Brothers and sisters,
talking about social media, before sharing anything, before
posting anything, ask yourself a question. Would Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with what I'm
sharing, what I'm posting right now
or not?
After I die, is it the post this
post, would I like to have it in
my record or not? If the answer is
yes, post to whatever you want. If the
answer is no, then you need to pause.
Spreading something
and sharing something that has something inappropriate.
How many people are going to watch it?
How many
are you getting to get because of that?
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,
As a society, this is how you build
the external wall.
As parents,
how can you build the external wall to
protect your household
and to protect your children?
Don't say that we live in a now
it's it's an open world. If they want
to do anything, they will do. Yes, which
is true somehow.
To a certain extent, it is true. But
it is your responsibility
to build this fence and this wall around
your household to make sure that they are
as protected as possible.
Very important. They have Netflix open. Did you
ask what you watch?
They have all kind of social media.
Did you try to understand what they do
in their social media? Or you just lift
left it open for them? This is how
you build the wall. That's the wall that
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants you and I
to build around our household.
And we're not saying, you know, you need
to make them feel like they don't trust
them. We're not saying that. Just do your
job as as as a parent.
You need to do your job to build
the external wall to protect them.
Because when we come to the internal wall,
when we come to the internal wall, when
we talk about this, you say sometimes it's
not enough. You need some external
instructions
and protection from outside.
Yeah?
That's very important.
Suratun.
We're just talking about one one word from
this Suratunur
Suratun.
It's the structure. It's the fence. It's the
wall that we build around our morality and
our akhlaq and our manners in order for
us to protect them.
Then Allah
talks about something very important
on how to build
the external and the internal wall as well.
Allah
says,
whenever you hear
Quran, whenever you hear
or you believe in Quran, you need to
listen attentively
because
it's going to be something which Allah's good,
which Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala ask you to
do, which is good for you or something
bad that you should avoid.
Do not follow the footsteps of shaitan.
When we talk about immorality and indecency, brothers
and sisters,
Allah
says the footsteps of shaitan
because you will never ever
commit adultery or do any kind of immorality
or indecency
if you do not follow the footsteps of
shaitan.
The footsteps of shaitan eventually will lead you
there. This how it starts.
Right? That's true. Nobody can deny that.
Shaitan does not tell you go and commit
adultery right away or watch something or do
this or do that. Shaitan doesn't tell you
this. Shaitan takes you step by step.
Right? And he knows what works for Mohammed
and works for Fatima, what works for Ahmed.
He knows.
Right? He knows what triggers you and he
takes you from there.
And this is extremely dangerous.
Let the shaitan. Do not let shaitan
do not let shaitan take you away from
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Do not let shaitan
takes you to
committing adultery or filth.
Do
May Allah protect us.
Step small thing leads to a bigger thing
and bigger thing leads to a bigger thing.
And then you find yourself in a mess.
And then you ask yourself, how did I
end up being there? It is the footsteps
of shaitan. You need to build this external
wall to protect yourself
from shaitan by not following the footsteps of
shaitan.
Alimab Al Qayyim
talks about the psychology of sin. How do
we sin as human beings? Right? He says,
it starts in your mind as just a
thought.
For a few seconds comes to your mind,
something to your mind. If you do not
immediately stop it, what is going to happen
after that? It becomes an idea. It becomes
an idea. If you do not stop the
idea, if you do not resist the idea,
it turns into actions. If you do not
stop the action, it turns
into a habit,
and then it becomes extremely difficult to change.
If you want to build the the internal
and external world, brothers and sisters, you need
to be careful from the footsteps of
One of the techniques that we should use
to build our internal wall
as instructed in Surat,
a Nur is not to follow the footsteps
of shaitan.
You know, all the time we hear, like,
young people, even brothers and sisters, even adults,
Sheikh, she's just my colleague.
SubhanAllah. Look how shaitan takes you.
Look how shaitan starts. She's just we're just
friends.
Right? We're just talking. Why you always have
to think negative?
Yeah. And then she's just like my sister.
He's just like my brother. He's my cousin.
InshaAllah, the whole community is cousins to one
another. Right?
She's my cousin and shaitan is playing.
Alright?
And, assalamu alaikum, and how are you? And
then
more.
Right? Full steps of shaitan. Shaitan has a
goal, but he is not going to take
you there right away.
He is going to work on the external
walls first. They're not there.
The the parents are not paying attention. They
don't know what's going on. Right?
The internal wall is weak. You're not building
the internal wall.
Right? You're not protecting yourself
internally.
Then you become an easy target to shaitan,
footsteps of shaitan.
So you're talking to her
and the conversation, short conversation becomes longer.
Right? And then shaitan whispers, you like it.
It's fun.
And next
step
until shaitan gets you to
to commit adultery
and to do the haram thing. And that's
exactly what Allah
is warning us from.
Says,
Be
careful.
Do not approach. Don't even go there and
say that, you know, I'm not gonna do
anything. I'm just trying to check it out.
Don't even try to go there. It is
very dangerous.
Right?
What an evil way.
If you know Allah through the counseling sessions,
what we hear from community members, wallahi, you
will cry and you will feel like how
did we people end up doing this or
going through that path. SubhanAllah.
How how did it happen? And every single
time
I hear something like that, what comes to
my mind is suratunur.
Do not follow the footsteps of shaitan.
And then Allah
moves on Surat al Nur, how to build
the internal wall. He comes after that and
he says,
when you visit one another, seek take permission
first.
When you visit somebody's house, make sure to
sit somewhere when you don't expose
certain areas in the house
to lower your gaze.
That's next to it.
You want to protect yourself from immorality?
You need to build that You need to
know how to build that internal and external
wall around yourself to protect yourself.
Right? Lower your gaze. And for the sister,
wear modestly clothes outfit.
So that for the brothers, don't say that
it's because of the sisters and the sister
says it's because of the brothers. That's what
happened. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told you
in Surat Al Nuhr, I have sent clear
instructions for you
if you want to be reminded.
If you want to be protected, these are
the clear instructions.
You follow them. You're protected. Otherwise, forget about
it. Shaitan will find you an easy target.
Ramadan is right around the corner.
It's wonderful opportunity, brothers and sisters, to build
this internal walls.
The purpose of Ramadan is to
to say no to shaitan. Even nobody can
see you, but you know that Allah, subhanahu
wa ta'ala, can see you. And that's what
the surah focus. How many times in this
surah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says?
Allah is aware of what you do.
Allah knows what they do.
So Allah
is also focusing on the s the concept
of
If nobody
can see you, know that Allah
can see you. Allah
is your creator, your maker. He knows what
you do, what you have in your mind.
And guess what?
He is not going to cover up for
your mistakes and your shortcomings
all the time.
Eventually,
eventually,
they will be exposed in the way or
the other. That's what happens.
That's the deal.
If someone is being exposed, it doesn't mean
that that's the first time. No way it
was the first time.
Allah
covers up.
Right? And he gives you a lot of
signs
and he gives you a lot of ways
to build the internal wall to protect yourself.
But when you do not respect that,
when you take it for granted, then Allah
says, you know what?
Everyone, this is what they do. This is
what he does. That's what she does. We've
seen it.
It happens. May Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, protect
all of us. You Rabbalalamin.
May Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, protect the morality
of the society. You Rabbalalamin.
So Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, to make us
from those who understand the Quran, who applied
the Quran in their lives. Ras Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala to place the love of Surat
An Nur in our hearts. Ras Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala to make us understand
and implement Surat An Nur and the of
Surat An Nur in our lives.