Sulaiman Moola – Tafseer of Surah An Naml #15 Some gifts are bribery
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Amazing.
Reflect over these words of the Quran.
You know, this is the the the just
the the the the uniqueness of the Quran.
It's revealed
in a context,
but its applicability
applies to so many different scenarios.
So I had, concluded on the previous segment
about the importance of networking and doing things
together.
And this was the wise move of this
woman, the queen of Bilqis,
the queen of, Sheba, her name been Bilqis.
She said to her ministers, I'm not gonna
take any action here. I need your input.
They were smart. They were wise. They said,
listen, we ready. If you need us to
roll our sleeves, we roll it up now.
If you want to mobilize us, we mobilize.
Well, umru ilaik, but the decision is yours.
Sometimes you have children
that,
have a particular belief
and then they become so assertive
that they insist on the parent this is
the way forward. Now that defeats it.
In Hudaybiyyah, the moment was so daunting, so
challenging, Sahaba were ready, and the the
the enemies were provoking a battle. They were
provoking a battle.
They were they were so malicious.
They were so obnoxious.
They were so blasphemous
towards the messenger sallallahu alaihi wasallam. I mean,
when the document has been signed up in
the name of Allah,
Muhammad sallallahu alaihi was in the name of
Allah, the most kind, the most merciful, this
is an agreement between Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam
and the people of Makkah. They said, no,
no, no, no, no, no. You're going to
omit your name here.
If we knew you the Prophet of Allah,
Masada the Nakah Anil Bayt Bukhari, we wouldn't
have stopped you here. Take out this here.
Say there's an agreement between Muhammad the son
of
Abdullah. Now was this not being so,
you
know,
nasty
and being so obnoxious and being so malicious
and was this
not blasphemy?
Was this not,
you know,
provoking and antagonizing the situation?
And yet the Nabi of Allah sallallahu alaihi
wasallam followed through and he told the Sahaba
to just just hold yourself, just restrain yourself.
So you gotta offer what you feel and
what you assume and what you can do.
But don't override the decision. Don't override the
decision. You know, there's so many angles to
the mashwara.
And through the barakah of mashwara, through the
barakah of mashwara,
it brings about goodness.
In Badr when the whole discussion was taking
place regarding the captives of Badr and there
were different opinions and Allah says,
I mean,
If it was not for the matter that
had been passed by Allah, you would have
been gripped in a severe torment.
So the presence of mashwara and the barakah
of mashwara surely averts,
unpleasantness.
So look at the wisdom of this woman.
What did she say in the verse just
recited?
It is the nature of rulers,
kings,
monarchs,
when they enter a town, a city, a
nation, a people,
and they come in opposing those people,
then commonly,
averagely, you will find rulers, monarchs.
What will they do?
When they enter a town, a city, a
populated place.
They cause havoc there. They cause mayhem there.
They cause anarchy there. They cause corruption there.
And today we see it displaying out in
the world.
And they,
subject
the honorable
occupants and citizens to disgrace and humiliation.
We've seen it happening in the name of
democracy.
How many nations have been toppled?
How many people have been displaced?
How many people have
been denied
safety and security?
And when it is told to them don't
cause mischief on the earth,
they retort
We are those who bring about reformation
and we want to bring about stability and
safety.
Beware, behold, these are the evil mongers and
these are the evil people and these are
those people who cause corruption.
But they choose not to understand it.
In the nation
of,
SallAllahu Alaihi Salatu Was Salam. There were 9
people and they were group leaders and they
used to cause a lot of corruption. They
used to cause a lot of corruption.
So here's the thinking process of this woman
which is so amazing. She says
Right? Verse 34,
that the notion the the nature of of
rulers are if they come in in
opposing,
then you'll see they'll just cause havoc there.
And I'm afraid if we get into battle
with them, we might just, you know what,
meet a blow that we weren't able to
deal with.
So let's first
examine the situation.
Let's just see
and analyze it.
Is it someone that we could appease with
something material? Because that's the world today. You
just dangle the candy,
and, you just dangle the carrot, and suddenly
a person softens in his stance.
And,
you know,
everything changes.
No. No. No. No. No. No. We we
tough against, criminals.
There's no bribery here. We we move by
the book and law execution
and enforcement at its greatest. I mean, what's
the good of legislating the best of rules
if there's no enforcement?
And and that's exactly what we see happening
in the world.
So you you could dangle anything
and,
and then you just see how that individual's
stance changes.
When the prophet presented
the dawah to to Waleed
and Waleed thought that this is someone who
he could sway
with the things of this
world.
You want leadership, we'll make you our leader.
You will pass judgement on all our matters.
You tell us what you want. You have
the desire of women.
We give you the best of women. Nabi
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
responded by saying
are you done with what you needed to
say? He said, yes. He said, now listen
to my Dawud and then the messenger sallallahu
alaihi wasallam recited to him,
Okay. So here you have in verse 34,
the queen of Saba is saying, the nature
of kings are when they come in, they
can destroy an entire nation up, and they
can completely topple those people.
So I think this is my process
I'm going to send them some handsome gifts,
some exclusive gifts,
And I want to see
if they buy into
my material display. So I'm going to present
this to them, nicely, officially present it to
them,
you know, in a world where bribery is
rife, in a world where bribery is rife,
and then a person needs to present his
document
to, the traffic officer. So sometimes,
if it was an ID document or something,
then inside that document, he puts a bill.
He puts a bill there. He puts a
note there.
It doesn't say anything.
He offers the document, but there's a subtle
hint there to say that, you know what?
If you undertake,
well, here there is something. Here there is
something for you.
And you could see unfortunately today, bribery has
destroyed the world. The prophet
said,
the person taking bribery, the person accepting bribery,
both are destined for help. Both are destined
for help. Right? Of course, there's a whole
explanation to it in the books of fiqh,
that when a person is denied his right,
he's denied his right,
and something that is due to him and
he's entitled to, and he's been barred and
blocked off, then at that time,
within the limited contacts, it would be permissible
for him to offer the bribery. But it
will never be permissible for the person taking
the bribe to accept the bribe.
So there's no place in which it is
correct to accept the bribe. There are certain
moments, occasions, situations
where unfortunately,
you are in a situation where you denied
what you are entitled to your right as
a citizen. You've just been denied your right
and that is sad and unfortunate.
So verse 35, she says,
and verily I will send to him some
gifts. And then I'm curious
to know
what the messengers return with. What's their take?
What's their input? What happened? Give us the
rundown.
Now
she then
prepares this handsome gift. Of course, she was
a queen. She had an empire. When Hudhul
narrated,
in terms of ruling, she had everything, but
of course, no comparison to the empire of
because he was the of Allah and he
had divine, you know,
resources that were at his disposal. The winds
were in his command. He would instruct the
wind and then it would flow.
It would fly and and the entire throne
would move.
But nonetheless, she prepared gifts.
Historical narrations differ in the expression. Some say
it was gold, it was silver, it was
exclusive things.
It was helpers. It was servants. It was
like handsome, handsome things. You know? I mean,
that that that that's how it happens today
in the world.
You you you
undercover, you kinda exchange these exclusive things, and
that's how you then you
secure your own interest. You secure your own
interest, and a person then mellows down to
your thinking. And that's how you bring people,
into whatever you want them to do or
or,
believe into.
Verse number 36.
They arrive.
The messengers, the envoy, the delegation,
the gifts,
you know, whatever she sent, everything comes to
Soleiman alaihis salam.
When those gifts, those people,
those tokens, those contributions,
those expressions,
those exclusive things came to Sulaiman alayhis salam,
He said, are you trying to aid me?
Are you trying to help me? Are you
trying to impress me with material?
Now what what the thinking process of this
woman was, is he one of the regular
kings of this world? Is he one of
the regular rulers of this world? We can
buy him with our wealth. We can impress
him with our empire. We can do that
very nicely, and that's how, you know, the
people move on.
But, of course, when you look at Khilafat,
Sayidna Abu Bakr,
Sayidna
Umar,
you could never you could never,
dangle
anything material before them and try and sway
them off their focus, not at all. They
were firm. They were zahid.
Zahid. 1 of my scholars had once mentioned,
zahid means one who is not consumed by
this world. Study all our pious predecessors.
They contributed
indeed in different fields, but there were 2
common denominators to them all, Zohad and Khulus.
They were sincere in their motives and they
had no attachment to this world. And because
of that, Allah allowed their cause to prosper.
Allah allowed their cause to prosper.
So
says to the men to envoy and to
the messengers,
do you seriously mean you want to help
me with your wealth?
What Allah has given me is way better
than what you have.
My wealth is way better than yours. Number
1, the wealth I have is more than
yours. Number 2, my wealth is coupled with
piety and obedience and the pleasure of Allah.
Your wealth is not coupled with that. If
you have little wealth, but it is halal
and it is blessed. That is more wholesome
versus someone who has abundance of wealth that
is forbidden.
So, if if that wealth is in large
volume but you know what? You have severed
tithes, you have disobeyed Allah, you are dealing
in interest, you are in gambling,
then then what's the good of that money?
It will not buy you any good. It
will buy you the item. It won't buy
you the happiness. It will buy you the
home. It will buy you the house. It
won't give you the home.
It will buy you the bed. It will
not buy you the tranquility and peace on
that bed. It will not. That's the system
of Allah. You can see people that have
so much wealth, but when it does not
come through halal avenues,
they are miserable.
In essence, the wealth Allah gave me is
far more wholesome than the wealth that I
have you you have because I have that
wealth with the obedience of Allah. And that's
what we ask for Allah from. Allah.
Oh, Allah give us health that doesn't make
us rebel. Give us wealth that doesn't make
us transgress.
This has been explored in many ways.
You can go and impress yourself and you
can rejoice with your own gifts. You know
what? Good luck to you with your money.
Good luck to you, man. Yeah. Good luck
to you because you love this world and
it's the absolute place for you and it's
be all and absolute.
So you know what? Thrill yourself, fascinate yourself,
amuse yourself, impress yourself with with what you
have. But hang on now. Now listen,
I'm giving you a warning.
I sent you a lovely note. I gave
you a word of caution. I told you
don't challenge me. I said accept the truth.
Go back to,
your people
and tell them,
We will march with an army.
We will march with an army.
You will have no clout, no muscle to
challenge us.
And if you if you accept, good luck.
But if you persist in your opposition,
then we will have no choice but to
expel you from your own land
and you will be left humiliated.
Yes, indeed.
So I've sent you a note. I've communicated
it. I've told you respond.
The woman wanted to process the whole thing.
She wanted to find out the merits of
the case. Is it someone
that is,
just screaming, yelling? You know, in the world,
there are a lot of people that can
bark, but they can't bite.
There are a lot of people that can
bark, but they can't bite. Yes. That's the
the world in which we live today. So
they talk a lot. They make the noise,
but when it comes to crunch time, I'm
afraid there's no teeth there. There's nothing to
bite.
So Reiman alayhis salaam was straight. He was
clear. He was articulate.
The woman wanted to verify.
Is he from the regular kings and rulers
or he's different? So she sent the gifts.
He responded by saying
go thrill and impress yourself with your own
gifts and make yourself happy with it. Allah
has given me more than enough.
And please tell them And that's the next
verse. Return to them to to them.
We will march out with an army.
You won't able to challenge us because remember
Surayman alaihis salatu wa salam has the the
the the the the of Allah. He has
the help of Allah When
Musa Alaihi Salam
was sent to pharaoh,
don't
fear. He cannot touch you. I'm watching his
moves and monitoring his actions.
And so the man said tell them
we will be compelled to expel them from
their own town and city,
and they will be left humiliated.
So that's it. The messengers are disappointed in
the sense that, you know what? This man
didn't receive any gift. He returned everything
and they come back to build this, narrate
the sequence of events,
return the gifts to her and equally
convey
the warning that Soleiman
had sounded.
Let's wait and see what's the next move
of this woman
following the alert, the caution,
and the danger warning from Soleiman alayhis salam.