Sulaiman Moola – Tafseer of Surah An Naml #14 O ministers, I seek your counsel
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The speakers discuss the letter from Allah that describes dissatisfaction with actions of Sayedna Ali. They emphasize the importance of being brief and concise, as well as the impact of the letter on Sayyidina Ali's behavior and her personal life. They also discuss the etiquette of laid down decisions and the importance of consulting with witnesses and the head, boss, and principal before making a decision. The speakers emphasize the need for women to share their opinions and communicate their ideas to avoid jeopardizing their own health.
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The letter has been received.
The introduction has been conveyed.
It has been understood that it comes from
Suleiman.
We,
disclosed the first line of the letter, in
the name of Allah, the most kind, the
most compassionate, and we concluded on that note.
Verse 31,
look at the brief comprehensive nature of the
message itself. And again, we learn we learn
how we should be communicating.
Now sometimes in messages, people
create their own abbreviations,
but then you subject the person to difficulty
because he cannot comprehend it. I mean, I
have an issue so many times. People want
to query a ruling on fiqh, on jurisprudence,
and it's all in that, you know,
combination
of of alphabets with with numbers and abbreviations
and and you you creating difficulty
upon the individual.
So, yes, we need to be brief,
concise, but comprehensive.
Verse 31, this is what the message entailed.
And this is this is.
This is this is a a a nabi
of Allah.
Allah. Again, you know, like I keep on
saying,
you have to appreciate. Do not be arrogant
with me. Do not rebel against me. Do
not transgress against me. Don't challenge me.
And submit and come away to me.
Chapter close. That's it. Verse 31,
that was the message that it,
contained in that letter.
Of course,
the awe the awe in that letter and
understanding it's coming from a Nibi,
so so so so you could appreciate
what was the impact of that letter
in,
just 24, chapter 40,
Surah Mohammed,
in the opening comments there in Ibn Kathir,
the incident of Sayedna
is mentioned where he sat down and he
looked around and he found that one person
is missing. So he asked,
the congregants, where's so and so? They said,
no. Well, he's got some bad habits, etcetera.
Umar
said, okay. We put in the whole gathering
on pause and hold, subject to change without
prior notice as we say. And then he
wrote a letter.
From Umar. Can you imagine the a letter
from Umar?
To so and so.
After praising Allah.
I praise Allah before you. I praise Allah
who is the absolute. There is no deity
besides him.
The one who accepts
forgiveness and accepts pardon.
Who who forgives sins and accepts repentance, who
forgives sins and accepts repentance.
But yet He is mighty in His power.
Has 2 translations,
full of might, full of favor, etcetera.
There is no deity but
he to him is our return.
Said, Muhammad
then said, take this letter and go give
it to that individual
and give it
to him, you know, and told everyone that
was present there, now all of you is
engaged in du'a,
that Allah
must, change the focus of the heart of
your brother.
So it was a letter
sent by Umar,
Brahmin with verses of the Quran,
and then
it was
further given
that, you know, inspiration through the supplication
of all those that were present in the
gathering, making dua to Allah to guide the
heart of that individual.
When that individual received the letter and the
note
of
He started reading and rehearsing and repeating and
he started crying.
And he said
salute to you oh rumor that you selected
2 verses that gives me hope in the
mercy of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and equally
alerts me to the punishment of Allah. When
Sayyidina Ali radiAllahu anhu was asked, who is
a true scholar, who is a true Fatiha?
He said,
Of course, there were other things as well
in which he mentioned.
The one who doesn't make people despondent of
Allah's mercy.
And number 2, he doesn't give them concession
in the disobedience of Allah. So I cannot
tell you do wrong. I cannot tell you,
you know, yeah, okay, you're young and you
you need to do and you need to
give pleasure to yourself. You know, okay, go
ahead and do it. How can I do
that? Allah has told us in the Quran.
That Allah has made a particular way for
the fulfillment of your need and your desire,
and whoever seeks the fulfillment of his pleasure
beyond what Allah has legislated, then he has
trespassed the limits. So I cannot give anyone,
no scholar, no jurist can give,
any person,
that authority because it is
the domain of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
So, 'Amr radiAllahu anhu's letter was received. He
started reading it and he said, Salute to
'Amr. He gave me hope and at the
same time he alerted me.
And then he gave up a life of
sin and of course he reformed himself totally.
When heard about this, he said
When you hear that your brother has slipped
or he has fallen, then help him to
recover, to stand, and don't push him down
further.
Right?
The Urdu poet said,
When I couldn't walk,
then people would rescue me that I mustn't
fall or see the toddler or see the
infant or see the young one. They would
offer that protection. And then when I grew
up and I started walking, then everybody was
in ambush to just drop me.
That's the sad reality of the world in
which we live.
So
verse
31, Don't rebel. Don't transgress.
Don't be arrogant.
And come to me Muslimean
in submission.
And the scholars say
come to me was not literally meaning physically
come, was meaning submit and accept because the
key that the messenger was
conveying to them was to accept the truth,
accept the
You know, our father said, My son, you
you you've gone far away from me. Meanwhile,
you're staying in the same house,
meaning you're living your own life, you're doing
your own things,
you're not connecting with your parents. My son
has gone so distant away from me, and
and sadly, today, that has become so common.
In Urdu, they say,
sometimes
Sometimes in life you have to travel very
far to find out who's close to you.
You have to travel very far. Some children
might be physically remote, but they are connected
to their parents. There's a call daily. There's
a gift occasionally. There's well there's taking care
of their needs, etcetera. And others could be
staying within the same house or in the
close precincts, etcetera,
but unfortunately there isn't that connection, attachment, union,
bond, and rapport.
So that's verse 31.
Verse 32,
she gathers her ministers, she gathers the members
of the court, and she says,
oh my courtiers, oh my ministers,
please give me counsel and advice, guidance on
my matter.
Like, this is what has happened here. Where
to from here? What's the way forward?
I'm not going to take a decision. I'm
not going to pass judgement. I'm not going
to take action.
Until you are present
and you give me your opinion.
In other words, she was now seeking
and counsel,
right, from
those, that were present, those that formed her
cabinet.
What was the cabinet of Umar
It was the learned.
Whether they were young or they were old.
Yes. The cabinet of Umar comprised
of the learned. That is why somebody even
made the remark.
How is it that is
entering into this gathering? When our children are
of his age? Our children are of his
age and Muhammad
said, you know, his knowledge is what has
brought him here.
And today, unfortunately, the cabinet is of cronies,
of allies, of family members. It's a world
of nepotism.
It's a world of who you know. It's
not a world of merit. It's not a
world of achievement and accolades and accomplishment and
feet and those who can do and achieve
and have muscle. No. It's who you know.
That's it. It's
just nepotism. When Sayidina Umar
at his in the throes of death when
he
he had appointed the group of 6 people.
And he said within 3 days, the caliph
needs to be appointed.
And if you have a difficulty in making
the decision, then Abdullah bin Umar radiAllahu anhu
can be called in to give his, input,
but he will not be made the caliph.
During the reign of Umar,
said
to his father, oh my father, you give
us such a simple,
portion from the national treasury
yet you give such a handsome amount to
Hassan and Hussain Radhiallahu Anhu.
Madinah. I was there in the front while
there were kids playing on the streets of
Medina.
How is it? I do appreciate
that you should not
discriminate and you should not be giving me
additional
compared to others. But here you're giving me
less, oh, my father. And said, Nama
said, it is not you versus them. It
is their mother versus your mother. Their mother
was Fatima radiAllahu anha. And it is in
in in regard and in response to that,
subhanallah.
What was those glory days? That was the
caliph.
One day, Said Nama
stood up and he said,
Listen, old folks, whoever from amongst you
witnesses any defect in me, then
I am telling you, you have the right
to challenge me, address it, rebuke me and
chastise me.
A villager, a Bedouin stood up and he
said, yes, O Umar, if we find you
going off the mark, we will deal with
you and we will discipline you.
All praise belongs to Allah who's kept men
in this
who are vigilant and watchful that will monitor
to see that he doesn't go off the
line. These were our glory days. These were
our glory days.
Anyway, verse 32,
she gathers the people and she says, listen,
I need input
here.
I'm not gonna take a judgement and I'm
not gonna take action until you are not
present and you don't give your counsel. Now
from here, we learn
that the etiquette of Mashwara is
that you as the head, as the amir,
you need to consult
because today, often, it's just a formality.
There are preconceived ideas, preconcluded
ideas, and then we call up a meeting.
We call up a sitting, oh, you know
what? There's a meeting with the staff and
everything. Meanwhile, the head, the person in charge,
the boss, the principal, the leader, the manager,
whoever it is, he knows what he wants
to do. And that's exactly what happens from
the micro to the macro level. You know
what? You have that,
public engagement,
opinion process,
so to say, but it's superficial
because everything has been pre,
concluded. It's been decided in advance. So it's
just it's just,
you know, this this exercise or display of
an exercise. Okay. What's your opinion? What's your
opinion? Oh, okay. Right. No. This is the
decision taken. The decision was taken in advance.
The decision was taken in advance.
Was it akhnef? Rahimahullah was asked,
you know, we're asking for your input. Why
don't you speak? He said,
The reason why I don't speak is because
I fear Allah if I speak a lie
and I fear you if I speak the
truth.
So I cannot speak anything. You say, no,
no, no. It's an open forum. You need
to be free and fair. It's gonna be,
you know what, an open election and each
person must say his thing and and and
and cast his ballot or or express his
opinion. But if you say anything in which
the individual,
you know, who is piloting
the the project
is challenged in any way or you ask
him or her for accountability or transparency,
you'll be struck off the roll. Your your
your your wings will be clipped. You won't
fly again,
and that's the end of it.
Alright. So,
verse 32,
So what what are we learning in the
etiquettes of Mashwara
is that when you sit down, you cannot
con conclude before the mashwara because then it
defeats the essence. It defeats the essence.
I am not going to
pass any judgement
until and unless you are not present and
you give your input. SubhanAllah,
see how they responded the next verse.
They said,
we are people
We are people of might
and people of strength
and people of clout.
So if your decision is to engage in
battle,
you can sigh with relief we won't launch
you. We won't
we we we will support you fully.
We are people with muscle, with skill, with
competence,
with know how. We know battle. We know
warfare.
But your Excellency, your Majesty, the matter lies
with you.
Give them out a thought,
process this here, sleep over, and then you
come up with a conclusion. You come up
with a conclusion.
So here we learn again
that when you've been asked for an opinion,
give your opinion. Sometimes a person says, what's
your no. Whatever you feel. Oh, well, then
it defeats the whole thing. What is the
person who's consulting? If he comes with preconceived
ideas, then it is just an an exercise
in futility because you're not consulting.
Number 1. Number 2, if you are being
asked your opinion and you say, oh, whatever
you feel, then then then why are you
sitting in that in that gathering?
Give your opinion but of course it needs
to be allowed the space of of free
will and free expression. I feel that we
should be doing things in this way or
we should be avoiding this or this is
the measure but,
oh my dad, oh my teacher, oh my
senior, oh my mentor, the matter lies with
you. The matter lies with you.
You look into this, you sleep over the
matter,
and,
whatever you conclude on from our side, we
are ready.
Now,
as we will progress
and unpack
and reveal
and explain to you
that this woman, the Queen of Sheba,
she was a woman of intelligence
and when she seen the truth, you would
see how quickly and swiftly she embraced.
So when she got this response from the
ministers,
she said,
okay. Okay.
Point taken. I appreciate your response.
And then she shared a very profound
reflection
before
she then communicated
her formal plan of action.
And today for people who are in the
driving seat,
so so many times as as a company
manager, you need to gather your staff. You
want them on one page. You want them
on a common focus. What is our internal
network in our homes? See, the Quran says
that as a woman, you should nurse your
child for 2 years. Right?
But if you need to wean your child
off before 2 years, you can do so,
but make sure you sat down as a
family,
husband and wife, and you sat down and
you gave this thought. See, ideally, the nourishment
this child is getting from your milk or
my wife, the mother's milk, that's wholesome. But
now your health is at risk. You have
fallen pregnant. There's another child coming, etcetera.
And if they mutually process the matter, they
reflect, they apply their minds, they deliberate, and
then they decide prior to 2 years for
reasons better understood they need to wean off
without, of course, maliciously intending the deprivation of
the child.
The point is network. What's the biggest breakup
in marriages? No communication.
No network. You don't know why, what, when,
how. Look at the network here and look
at the rich communication.
Let's wait and see what was the observation,
reflection,
and the thought process of this woman.