Tafseer Reflections #16 – Invented Tradition vs. Genuine Revelation

hamdulillahi rabbil Alameen wa salatu salam, ala Ashraf, an MBA or mousseline. Avena kabwata, Muhammad Ali he off to La sala was Katha Salim, Aloha Melinda, Malian, fontanelle and fat and Abby Martin and to know as in their own money out of the land, I mean, so we're in Sorrento and I'm, and we're getting close to the end of this thing.

The 120/5 verse is where we left off. You know, the main idea of this surah is talking about our faith, our belief, and also sort of clarifying for us the different sneaky ways in which kofler works, the different sneaky ways that * quirks. And the most recent one that I last found out I had been talking about, right where we left off, was the type of person that likes to call the shots. And they want to call the shots so much that they want to call the shots even with a loss of panel data. And you had a lot of different people that were like this at the time because the Quran was coming down. Prophet Mohammed alayhi salatu salam was among the people. And yet, you have people

saying, well, I'm not going to believe unless this happens. I'm not going to believe unless you make me and my homies prophets, I'm not going to believe unless you give us a physical book, like sent down, like in paper, and all these sorts of things. You got to show us a sign. How come an angel didn't come? Right? They thought that they knew better. And what do we say, for somebody who knows everything? You can't teach them anything? Right? And somebody who knows nothing, you can teach them everything. And so that was the split, you had certain people in Mecca that you know, you can't tell them anything. They think they got it all figured out. They think that well, if a prophet work to

come, it would be want me and one of my boys were the chiefs. Were the noble men were the movers and shakers of the community. And then this other this prophet comes from somebody, they didn't expect to say it. Oh, no, no, no, it can't be him. It's not who we approve of, actually a lot quoted in the Quran. He said, If this were the truth, we would have been the first to believe it. Right? Look at the attitude. Do we have people like that? Still today? Oh, yes, we do. Yes, we do inside the Muslim community and app. That that's for something for the hookah. So Allah is found to otter had just left off on this note, the it just dealt with this group of people we won't believe unless one of us

were given the message. And so Allah was showing how all Schick which is invented tradition, not real tradition, right? It's superstition. It's stuff that that Allah didn't tell anybody to do. Why are you worshiping the statue? Why are you believed that being born in April means that you're a nice guy, you're gonna get married and whatever, right? So DIAC, signs, crystals, all those stuff that we have today? Who told you that this stuff works, that Allah ever tell you that this stuff works? Now he didn't know he didn't? So by what authority? Do you make this claim? By what authority? Do you try to claim that this stuff actually matters? And what it is all the way down

underneath is people trying to reassert control. People trying to reassert control over the process of religion, because if it's just what Allah said, in this book, it's outside of me entirely, I have to submit, I have nothing else. It's like a third party audit. Right? People come in, they don't know you, they don't care who you are, where you come from, they're looking at your books, and they better be straight. And if they're not straight, you're gonna go to jail, you're gonna get a fine or you're going to be not in compliance. That's the third party audit. What the people have shooter quant. They want

the friend on the inside. They want the insider to come in and give them the audit. Oh, well, you know, me and your father went to school together, we're from the same tribe. You know, I'll take it easy on you guys. That's what they want. They want to get it easy. And so they they are trying to reassert control if we can invent these things, these guys, these statues, these zodiac signs, these crystals, guess what? They're not real gods. They can't speak for themselves. Somebody is going to have to speak for him.

Who gets to decide what the idol wants? Who gets to decide what the idle makes the idle happy or not? Who gets to decide what makes the idle angry or not? Then I get to put myself up in this position. I say, Well, you I'm the one who's able to interpret what the idle wants. And then you see how that works. So true. Faith is cutting through all of this truth. Faith is completely out of our hands. It's 100% submission to something that is completely out of our hands. And so Allah is bound to Allah calls out the code for this. He said, listen, all this nonsense that you guys are coming up with. You're just trying to keep control over something that really has to be completely out of your

hands. If you don't have nothing to hide. You shouldn't be afraid. But they know that they have stuff to hide and so they don't want to become come under the audit of divine guidance. After that Allah's power to Allah says something amazing

He says, For me, you really love a deer who yes, rock solid, a hole Islam, Allahu Akbar. He says whoever Allah wants to guide, he is going to open or expand his chest or his heart to Islam. That tells us a couple of things. One thing, it tells us what we just talked about in the football this Friday, that belief is not about how smart you are. It's about how sincere you are. Belief is not a cognitive triumph. It's not a cognitive issue. It's a moral issue. Because if it were a cognitive issue, if belief were just about how smart you were, then every smart person would be in Jannah. And every stupid person would be in jahannam. That's not how it works. That's not how it works. You got

people who are PhDs, multiple PhDs, award winning this award winning that and they are arrogant. And so they'll go into the hellfire, all that knowledge, it's not even neutral, it's against them. They had all that knowledge, all that intelligence, and yet, they still couldn't believe, because something inside their heart prevented them. And then you've got somebody homeless on the street, nothing, no opportunities, no, doesn't even have a high school education, but his heart is pure. And so he feels the truth, and he believes in it.

And that person is going to go into paradise. Not only that the prophesy is set on Let me blow your mind. The prophesy said I've said something amazing. He's had the poor person is going to beat the rich person into agenda by 500 years. By 500 years.

How does that work?

Why does the poor person get to be agenda 500 years before the rich person?

He's got less things to be asked about. That's right. Because what are the last panel data say and sort of the cathode? Well, I chose alone Naomi, I didn't I didn't name you will be asked on that de la. Tell peed, he says, you know, emphasis. So you are surely definitely going to be asked on that day about every blessing.

That means what gates a paradise angels are there.

The person comes in, didn't have a home, didn't have a car, didn't have a family, didn't have bills, didn't have responsibilities like that. But he had a pure heart. He did what he could. He has his mistakes. We all have our mistakes. Angels are gonna step right aside and say, You know what, you go right on it.

And the person who had the house and had the car and had the degrees and had the company and had this and had that and doesn't say hold up?

How did you use this? That car that you had? Were you always driving to something Hello. Or sometimes you drive into some of the house?

That money you had? Were you always spending it on something halal, or sometimes you were spending it on something haram and so on and so forth till it goes through the person's spouse and the person's children, the personal clothes and the person's games and their toys and everything that they had their vacations and everything. Then once it gets to the end of the list, all right. You can even go in 500 years

500 years later SubhanAllah.

So Allah subhanaw taala says that this is not about how smart you are faith. It's about how pure your heart is. And whoever Allah wants to guide he's going to open up his chest, his heart to Islam.

And on the flip side, well may already well may you're either a little who Elijah and Sadara, who later con Harold Janka, and Mr. Yasa artifice sama. He said and whoever Allah wants to misguide, then Allah subhanaw taala makes his chest tight, constricted, as if he says he's ascending through the sky.

And have you guys ever been mountain climbing?

Or you've Okay, let's be okay. What do you have to do on a plane? Anybody ever flew on a plane?

What do they have to do on a plane? They have to pressurize the cabin, right? Why do they have to pressurize the cabin? Because you're changing elevation so quickly. If you didn't have a pressurized cabin, everybody was be able to they wouldn't be able to breathe.

Right? The quality of the air it gets thin people know this for you know, some marathon runners that are up in the mountains. They train up in the mountains because the air is thinner up there, meaning there's less oxygen in the air. So if you can train and run in the mountains, then when you get down into the valley close to sea level you're it's like resistance training. You're awesome. Because your your heart and your lungs are used to working so efficiently. You're using that air that's got very little oxygen.

Usually people are used to it if you live up higher, you're always living up high. If you live in down low, you're used to it. But what if you change all the sudden you take us We're down here in Mohawk Valley. You put us on the top of Mount Everest. We're going to be a

We're not going to be able to read, right as what Allah subhanaw taala saying here, but he's not talking about breathing oxygen. He's talking about breathing faith. He's talking about guidance. He says whoever Allah wants, he's going to constrict his heart, just like that. Just like that person who is ascending through the heavens, and they're not going to be able to find the right way. Now the question is, if Allah is found to Allah is Al Hakim, then why does he say that he is the one to misguide people, he wants to guide people and he wants to misguide people. How does that work? How is that fair?

They chose them in the sky.

Okay, very good. Michelle, I can't get anything by you guys. Because it's in response to what's in their heart. It's in response to what's in their heart, if they are sincere, and they want to be guided Allah's pantile is going to open their chest to guidance as a consequence of their orientation. Right. And if the person doesn't want to be told he doesn't want to accept than the last person to is going to make that person's chest tight, out of consequence of what he already put forth. And the last person to audit puts everything in his life and lets us live our lives in order to demonstrate in an obvious way, what he already knows, is hiding deep down inside of us. That Iike

the hedgehog Allah who register Allah La Nina la Yamuna, and in that way Allah Spano Tata brings filth upon the people who don't believe

we'll have a Serato Rob become Mr. keema. This is the straight path of your Lord, or the fossil fuel economy and that Karuna Allah Subhana Allah as you said, already fossil, he spelled out everything separated every sign every eye, every lesson is right there for you to see. It's not something hidden in some sort of secret philosophical treatise somewhere in some dusty library. It's out in the open for absolutely everybody to see, obvious, hiding in plain sight, but only for a certain type of person. Only a certain type of person is going to benefit from those obvious signs. For people who Yeah, that karoun They remember, they tried to think they tried to remember what's going

to be theirs, what's going to be the consequence of that orientation that they have a home dad who said

and I'll be him, they're going to have the abode of peace. Allah Spano Tata uses a play on words here because he just said that he's going to open their chests towards Islam. Now he says in the afterlife, he's going to give them dogs with Cena is going to give them the abode of peace. Because Jana, for us is about internal and external peace. Every single type of worry that you have we all got it. We're all right here today. We're all men. You got bills to pay. You got relationships, you try to fix stuffs going on all the time. Sometimes it feels like you're at war with the world. Sometimes it feels like everything's crashing down around you. Sometimes your backs up against the

wall. Can you imagine being a situation where you don't have a single worry. That's Jen Dharamsala. Allah spawn to Allah keeps on throwing these things. That's why the Companions used to be afraid of life was too easy. Because they knew that this was how it was supposed to work. This work is fighting, fighting, fighting, there's always something that's happening. But then once the angel takes your soul,

that's when your releases, and I'll promise you, that's why the people who got close to they actually saw it on the battlefield. They saw people like, you know, back at the time of the Prophet I set out to sit down they saw jihad, they saw a martyrdom they saw people that die with smiles on their faces, and they said sadaqa rasool Allah, I said that what the prophesy said I'm promised this was true.

Once you cross over to the other side, Allah promised the people of faith daughter Sadam, the abode of peace internal and external. Every need you want fulfilled every pleasure that you deny yourself with a dunya Yeah, sure, go ahead. In the afterlife,

and every single worry and setback and negative emotion that you had in this life it's all gone. It's all gone

well, hopefully you humbly Matt can oh yeah, man maroon, Allah's found out I was going to reward them and follow up in consequence because of what they used to do.

While yellow may actually go home, Jimmy ah, and on the day when Allah subhanaw taala gathers them all together, talking about the Day of Resurrection. Yeah, masha Allah Ginni is talking to the jinn goddess tech photon means you really have gone out of your way you guys really did go the extra mile to try to mislead these human beings. I was talking to the Jin

la color OLIO hormonal NC and the people who were deceived by those Gen. Remember, the Gen Xers job is to whisper these suggestions to us.

But I'll bet a stem to available now be back

It's kinda like people are making excuses. He's like, look, you know, they're to blame and we're to blame like we were both kind of in it together. It wasn't all us, right? It wasn't just our fault.

Well the Lagna agilan Allah the gel tallinna And we have finally reached the time period, the expiration date that you have set for us

last fall to auto say or it will be set to them called a narrow MathWorks home, Holly Dena fie her Illa Masha Allah, that the fire is going to be your resting place forever to be inside of it, except for who Allah wills. And Allah says that because Allah has the power to bring people out of the Hellfire, there will be people who they believed and they had a towhead. And despite all their sin, they will be put into the Hellfire for a time and then there'll be removed the last people to enter agenda, the last people to enter Jannah people who believed but were so covered in sin that they had to go to the Hellfire first. And then through the Shiva of the Prophet alayhi salatu salam to the

intercession of the Prophet Muhammad Ali, so that's Saddam, they will be removed from the hellfire and they will be dipped in a river of paradise when they come out of the Hellfire. They're charred like you've over burnt your toast

but they're going to be dipped into a river of paradise and come out sparkling shiny and then Allah is found to Allah will ask them a question Have you ever experienced every every hardship in your whole life? I'm going to say no.

That's how Allah subhanaw taala gives the data set

the abode of peace when you cross over, everybody you know you remember growing up you saw men and black women they got those little things that wipe your memory. That's what it is. As Jenna Can you imagine right? You just went through hell you literally went through hell scorching and burning in flames. Right torture, you don't know whether you're going to come out and then all of a sudden you're taken out you dipped in boom gone Torrecilla you've crossed over

Mel Omega some people from an agenda and not make us have to go through the fire first. In the Rebecca, how ki-moon Allah and Allah is found Allah knows best who those people are. Allah's found to Allah often ends the as the verses of the Quran. When he talks about something that, you know involves punishment. He often ends it with his name's Hakeem and Eileen. He's Hakeem because he knows what he's doing. He's wise. He knows better than you, Alim and he knows everything. So we can't go through life and say yeah, see this guy over here? He looks like he's going to the fire look out. Or this guy over here. Yeah, man. He's good. He's good. He doesn't have to worry about a

thing. We have no idea. Allah subhanaw taala has had chemo now the

look at that ICA No, only about a volley Mina Ba ba ba ma Khanewal Yuxi Woon. And in that way, Allah subhanaw taala saying here, he allows some of the transgressors he's talking about. He was just talking to the jinn and the people who deceived the deceivers and the ones who allowed themselves to be deceived. He says, in this way, we allow some of them to influence others and reap what they sowed. Yeah, I'm not sure Elgin Allah says Again, well ins oh you group you gathering of jinn and human beings. Hola, mi T como Salam income. Didn't there come to you a Messenger from among you? Allah Spano. Allah says elsewhere, he only sends a messenger from among that group of people. Right?

He doesn't export the job, he doesn't outsource. All right, every company now you call up customer service, right? It's some call center out in the Philippines or something like that. Or India, why did they do that?

To save money, right? Because if they had a call center here in the United States that had to pay minimum wage, they have to do this right. They're trying to save money. So they outsource that thing. last panel data does not outsource profits, is not outsource messengers. He sends people, a messenger from their own, because they already know him. They know His character. They know that he's trustworthy. The Prophet alayhi salatu salam in the Quran uses this as a proof against his own people the Quran she says you already knew me from young age. I grew up among you. You guys know me what and you know what I'm about? If Allah subhanaw taala brought someone in from outside people

would have an excuse this who's this? Who's this guy? He just showed up today. We don't know him. We don't know what he wants. Right? Allah doesn't give room for that sort of excuse. He says that he sends, he says and he's asking a rhetorical question here. Lm yatse como Salam income, hasn't there come to you? A Messenger from among you? Jaco sunnah Alikum at telling you my signs explaining my signs are you only gonna come and explain and warning ulica Iommi, calm Heather and warning you guys about this day? Didn't you have fair warning? Wasn't it true that somebody told you Oh Lucia hidden

Now other unforeseen, they bear witness against themselves. They say yeah, yeah, yeah, that's true. It happened.

Well, a lot of automata Hayato dunya, Allah subhanaw taala explains. Okay, you were warned, why didn't you do anything? Why were you asleep at the wheel? He said, Well, the rotten will hire to dunya because the life of this world had deceived them. The life of this world had deceived them, or shahidul Allah and forcing him and on can okay if he didn't, and so they bear witness upon themselves that they used to deny. That's the thing that Allah has found to Allah wants us to understand is that if we get too attached to this world, we're going to deny the message when it comes to us. And that can be like capital M message, like, for example, the people if they have a

prophet sent to them, okay? If you're too attached to the dunya, how are you going to react when a prophet is sent to you? Are you going to accept him? No, you're going to reject Him. So what happened with Benny straw ethos, what happened to the Masada, here comes a new prophet, they had built their entire identity on what what God's chosen people, then there came another prophet outside of them, ruin that whole thing, that whole narrative. And so they because they were too attached to this thing and the dunya they were prevented from following the message. And it can happen in smaller ways for us, okay, you're attached to your business, you're attached to a certain

romantic interest, you're attached to this, you're attached to that. And what if Allah subhanaw taala sends you a sign sends you a wake up call?

You have two options. You can get the message or you can deny the message you can get right? You can get straight or you can keep on doing what you're doing.

And if you don't, maybe Allah is going to ask you the same question here. Didn't the messenger come to you? Didn't I send you a message? Then you're gonna say yeah, yeah, actually you did. And Allah says was automall Hayato dunya the work the life of this world deceived them at trick them. What shall he do other and force him and on candle caffeine? And they bear witness on that day against themselves that they denied

I lost that something amazing as we turn the page to the next page dat Iike Allah Mia call Rob Okemo. Haleakala, Cora, B rune, wha hoo ha, ha Fionn. Allah is bound to Allah does not punish or destroy a Quran people, a nation, a town, oppressively, we don't mean What have you done? Allah doesn't punish people arbitrarily. Allah doesn't punish people until he sends them a warner. Allah doesn't punish people for being ignorant. Remember, the first thing we said it's not about ignorance. It's about arrogance. Allah subhanaw taala punishes people after they've rejected after they've denied not just because they don't know. He says it right here. What I have often known

we're not going to punish the people just because they didn't know any better. We're only going to punish people. After they were shown the message they were given a messenger and they rejected and then they denied while he Colin, the raja told me now I mean, and there are ranks or ranks to this to both belief and denial. There are some people that are way way way down on the bottom there's some people that are way way way up at the top and there's levels in between well amount of bootcamp is offered in May I'm alone and Allah subhanaw taala is not ignorant of what they used to do. What Abu Catalunya although Rama and Allah span to Allah is free from need. The one who possesses mercy

iya Shut up the hippo calm we are stuck with him daddy come

May Usher or come and share a common law reality calm in Korean window Realty calm in a hurry. If Allah subhanaw taala wants, then he can replace you. He can get rid of you. And he can bring about instead of you, other people, other people, whoever he wants.

Come and share a common reality calm in a hurry just as He brought you forth from another people. Okay, we think that we have these sort of like, you know, our ethnic identities, for example, they're like, actually, they go back and definitely no they don't. What does it mean to be Bosnian? What does it mean to be Somalia? Somali Bantu? What does it mean to be Italian or American or whatever, you go back far enough. It started from someplace. And that wasn't even a thing. Right? We all come from Adam. Then from Adam, his sons, and then his sons and then his sons. And then at some point here came the Somali Bantu. And from some point here come the Italians. From some point here

come the Bosnians right if you go back, back, back, back back, Allah started every group of people somewhere. So he's saying, just like we brought your people out of nothingness out of a different people, we can get rid of you and bring out an

other people from among you

that Allah says in the med who I do and

certainly that which you have been promised is coming while Matt and Tom be more edgy zine and you are not going to be able to stop it earlier call me at Mizzou Allah. Allah McKenna TiECon in ni IML he so say to your people, he says say, oh, people work for your station, we just said that it's the Rajat it's different levels. Right? Heaven has levels, hell has levels work for your spot, work for your spot. And then the prophesy said, I was instructed to say I'm working to write, I don't have it all taken care of. in me, I am. I'm also working for sofa town and Moon. Sofa town, I'm gonna mentor Cornella who aren't able to daughter, you're gonna find out in the end, who gets to inherit

paradise, who gets eternal bliss. But you're not going to figure that out. Now. You're going to figure it out later, in the whole livelihood volume on the oppressors are not going to serve. They're not going to triumph. That might seem like they do right now. But the oppressors are not going to be happy. On that day was actually law. He may Melora Amina Halsey, what, well, an army now see even the quality, then Allah has found the other and actually I think we're going to end a little bit early today. We'll end it here at last one of the other transitions from talking about these general issues of belief and disbelief and rejection and Paradise. And he gets back to some of

the taboos that the Quraysh had established for themselves. Remember that we said that they felt guilty, because they knew that they were rejecting them. The truth from the Prophet Mohammed sigh said I'm in from Allah azza wa jal. And so they had invented all of these other taboos that Allah subhanaw taala never told them to institute. It came to what to eat and what not to eat. And you can do this and you can't do that. And Allah is found to Allah is going to go through those to take us pretty much to the end of the surah and talk about some of the other superstitions that the code is used to have an invalidate them and make them seem as foolish as they are.