Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Conversations Epi 18 How could we have punished them while you were there Anfaal 3234
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The speakers discuss the negative consequences of seeking a trainer and the negative impact of scientific research on people's lives. They stress the importance of finding a trainer to guide people to their natural ways and avoid harm, and the negative impact of Rasool's influence on shaping culture. The presence of people with a certain attitude is seen as a sign of hope and presence, and they emphasize the importance of human empowerment and achieving human empowerment through knowledge and understanding.
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Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah wa nastaghfiruhu wa nu'minu bihi wa
natawakkalu alayhi wa na'udhu billahi min shururi
anfusina wa min saji'ati a'malina man yahdihi
allahu falaa mudhilla laahu wa man yudhlilhu falaa
hadhi laahu wa nashhadu wa la ilaha illa
allahu wahdahu la sharika laahu wa nashhadu anna
muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu amma ba'ad fa
inna khairul hadithi kitabullah wa khairul hadi hadi
Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam usharul umuri muhdathatuha
wa kulla muhdathatin bid'ah wa kulla bid
'atin dalalah wa kulla dalalahin firna yaqulu subhanahu
wa ta'ala fi kitabihil kareem ba'd an
aqool a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajeem bismillahirrahmanirrahim
wa idh qalu allahumma in kana hadha huwa
alhaqqa min'indika fa anqiru alayna hijaratan minassamai
aw itina bi'adhabin aleem wama kana allahu
li yu'adhibahum wa anta feehim wama kana
allahu mu'adhibahum wa hum yastaghfirun wama lahum
alla yu'adhibahum allahu wa hum yasuddoon anil
masjidil haram wama kanu awliya'ah
in awliya'uhu illa almuttaqun walakin
aktharahum la ya'alamun sadaqallahul azeem rabbish rahli
sadri wa yasir li amri wahla luqatan min
lisani yafqahu qawli allahumma arina alhaqqa haqqan warazukna
itiba'a wa arina albaatila baatin warazukna istinaba
allahumma arina haqiqata alashya'i kamahi ameen ya
rabbal alameen assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu
Alright, so, yeah, moving right along to our
episode for today.
The ayat that I just tried to recite.
Ayat number 32 and 33.
33, 33, 34.
From Surah Anfal.
So Rasulullah ﷺ, as we said, migrated and
then the change of Qibla took place.
Most of that time between migration and the
Battle of Badr, the revelation that came down
became Surah Al-Baqarah, predominant part of Surah
Al-Baqarah and Surah Al-Hajj.
Then, of course, the Battle of Badr takes
place.
Now, it is important to understand that the
Battle of Badr is, it officially marks the
beginning of the adab on the people of
Quraysh.
Every community, every settlement, every city that gets
a prophet, a Rasul to be more specific,
yet they negate the Rasul.
They do not respond to the Rasul.
The job of the Rasul from Allah is
to direct that particular community, that particular society
towards its purpose.
That the choice that human beings have, to
direct that choice in line with the purpose
that they've been created for.
That they do not abuse the authority, the
power that they have been given, that they
have attained to the physical, biological, social struggle
that has resulted in them having the peace
and prosperity that they do, that this is
directed in an appropriate direction.
It is a requirement of life, of human
life, that a prophet emerges and fulfills this
task for that particular society.
Now, whatever happens when, for example, a biological
process, a part of your body, is not
living up to its purpose, is not fulfilling
the function that it's supposed to fulfill in
terms of the role that it has in
the body, a lack of fulfillment of that
function means that that biological organ is going
to be toxic, quite literally toxic.
Chemical toxicity will hamper the functions of the
whole body and it is in the best
interest of the body if it cannot repair
that organ or part of that organ that
it gets rid of that organ altogether, otherwise
the entire body dies.
And so this life and death and how
instrumental death is in the progress of life,
it's something biological and we see that all
around us.
So when the attempts at repair are rejected
by the society in those attempts at repair,
meaning the prophet that has come in to
give those warnings, to let the people know,
okay, this is messed up, this is cancerous
growth and we need to contain it, we
need appropriate growth, we need growth which is
life enhancing, not growth which is life denying.
When that prophet is rejected, then necessarily what
follows is a punishment, it is that organ
has to be removed, that settlement, that city
has to be amputated, it has to be
resected, it has to be taken out and
that's an ugly process, a painful process.
So when every prophet, every Rasool is rejected,
the people who believed in them are saved
and the people who disbelieved, rejected, opposed, tortured,
et cetera, et cetera, those people are subject
to punishment and this was expected for the
people of Quraish as well.
Now we don't usually recognize the battle of
Badr and everything that followed all the way
to the conquest of Mecca as a punishment
of Allah because what we associate with Allah's
punishment are natural calamities and this does make
Rasool Allah's salallahu alayhi wasalam's particular role among
the prophets unique and in the history of
human society, the Muslim community stands out, the
Muslims of Medina particularly stand out as a
particular maturation that has taken place within humanity
that previously the kind of support that the
prophets received, the number of people, sheerly quantitatively,
was such that there was no realistic possibility
of the prophets and their handful of companions
to launch any sort of offense against the
disbelieving corrupt people of the land, whatever it
is that they were doing and so there
was a natural calamity.
Some flood, earthquake, some river, or as we
know in the case of Firaun, the river
splits and then it comes back together.
There was some natural calamity or the other
that facilitated, that assisted the prophet and his
supporters and the people were, the people rejecting,
the people torturing the prophet and his companions
are done away with, the amputation is complete.
Now that prophet, his companions, that's where the
legacy of Tawheed continues from, a life-giving
growth, progress in life.
With Rasool Allah's salallahu alayhi wasalam, of course,
he does get the support of a sufficient
number of people, just enough, just enough, to
launch the punishment of Allah with human hands
and of course the presence of the prophet
and their interaction with Allah is instrumental in
this taking place.
This empowering of humanity that is taking place.
You do it yourself now.
You do it yourself now.
No more earthquakes and floods.
It's human beings and of course, especially after
the prophet, there is a risk in this
empowering as well that this power will be
abused and we see, especially today, that it
is being abused.
Nevertheless, it was an important stage of empowerment.
But then the question also arises that Rasool
Allah's salallahu alayhi wasalam and the Sahaba spent
a good 12 years in Mecca.
Why were the people of Quraish not punished
at that point?
Why did nothing ever afflict them?
Harm a hair on their head?
Throughout that time period, they were allowed to
do all sorts of atrocities to the point
that the people of Quraish would stand in
public, especially their leaders, they would stand in
public and dare God.
And this is what the ayah is quoting
right here.
Ayah number 32.
وَإِذْ قَالُوا And when they said, اللَّهُمَّ إِن
كَانَ هَذَا هُوَ الْحَقُّ مِنْ عِندِكِ That, oh
Allah, if this, what this Prophet is saying,
if this is true, if this is really
from you, فَأَرْتَرْ عَلَيْنَا حِجَرَةً مِنَ السَّمَاءِ Then
rain down upon us stones from the sky.
وَإِقْتِنَا بِعَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ And bring to us a
painful torment.
And stones from the sky is particularly significant
in that sense that the عذاب that they
were familiar with, which we see in Surah
Al-Fil, birds and the stones that the
birds are actually dispatching that the elephants can't
withstand, that too was something that they'd experienced.
It was in their living experience.
And so it makes sense that they would
bring that out in their Du'a.
That's a legendary event that took place.
And that's also significant since Abraha and his
army were attacking Mecca at a very special
time period.
That was the year of the elephant.
It was the year that Rasulullah ﷺ was
born.
And why Abraha and his elephant army was
not allowed to enter into Mecca, yes, of
course, it was the sanctity and sacredness of
the Kaaba, but there was another reason.
And that other reason is also the reason
why these Qurayshi people dare in God to
punish them in the Meccan time period when
Rasulullah ﷺ is in Mecca.
Why there no عذاب came at that point?
What is that reason?
Ayah number 33 وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَأَنْتَ
فِيهِمْ Allah was not going to punish them
while you were among them.
That you, Ya Rasulullah.
You, Ya Muhammad.
عَبْدُهُ Allah's عَبْد You were in their midst.
You were in that city.
Allah says, how could I attack or punish
a people and you're with them?
You're in close proximity.
You're in their midst.
No way.
Abraha and his army of elephants with all
their might.
Don't they dare step inside Mecca.
وَأَنْتَ فِيهِمْ Rasulullah ﷺ in the womb of
Aminah is among the people of Mecca.
He's already there.
And just the fetal presence of Rasulullah ﷺ
is sufficient to ward off a punishment.
For all practical purposes, the people of Quraysh,
they weren't living by Tawheed.
All the evils that we've spoken of, they
were there even when Abraha was attacking.
Yet, Mecca was not allowed.
He was not allowed in Mecca.
And Allah intervened.
وَأَنْتَ فِيهِمْ Rasulullah ﷺ was among them.
Even when he and his companions are being
tortured, they are being subjected to all kinds
of atrocities and these people are getting up
in public, daring God, bring on your punishment.
Allah did not.
Why?
Because Rasulullah is there.
And Rasulullah is there with this compassion in
his own heart that no, we need to
give them more time.
They need more time.
The incident that we really didn't refer to
when Ta'if happened, Rasulullah ﷺ was given
the option, Jibreel said, if you want, we
can just do away with them.
Rasulullah ﷺ said, no.
No.
Not yet.
Not now, not to them.
Maybe if not them, then their subsequent generation.
No.
No punishment for that.
It was in his control.
It was his call.
The presence of Rasulullah ﷺ and the honor
that Allah extends to it, the sanctity that
he associates with it, that even the most
vile of Quraish are not going to be
punished.
Rasulullah is living in their midst.
وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ مُعَذِّبَهُمْ And Allah was not
going to punish them.
وَهُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ While they were still seeking forgiveness.
Some people, even though it was a trickle,
that trickle was enough to save them.
That every now and then, one person would
take Rasulullah ﷺ seriously.
Every now and then, one person, two people,
a couple of people here and there would
respond positively to Rasulullah ﷺ, change their ways.
That process will still continue.
And that too is associated with the presence
of Rasulullah ﷺ because they're responding to him.
The idea of istighfar, what it means, is
coming to them through him.
And so they're turning back and so there's
still a chance.
Those couple of people trickling in outweigh.
And again, the weightage that Allah gives to
one person of istighfar or a few people
of istighfar, that human resource, that these people,
their mere presence signifies hope in the face
of all possible material toxicities that you can
imagine.
The opposition, the strength of their opposition, the
animosity that they harbored, how everything within, they
have the most resources and all those resources
are being directed towards making life difficult for
truth, for tawhid.
And yet the presence of a few people,
few people who have this attitude of istighfar
signifies hope, signifies positivity, says that the community
has a future, that there are still few
people who are willing to change themselves.
And how that willingness, if they go through
with it and when they go through with
it, the strength that it brings inside of
them, that these people took on their own
demons, their own rigidities, their own arrogance, overcame
that.
And once they've done that, then these are
the best people, the ideal sort who can
then take on the society as well and
address its rigidities, its stubbornness, its arrogance, its
demons.
They've gone through the process themselves.
Those going through the process of istighfar, self
-reform, self-repair, self-control, they have the
strength, the power, even if they're few in
number, even if they don't have resources to
flip the society around.
And that is what Rasulullah ﷺ and the
Sahaba demonstrated in Badr.
As far as their numbers were concerned, they
were outnumbered, three to one at least, if
not even worse odds than that.
Rasulullah ﷺ and Sahaba, 313 thousand strong from
Quraish.
Rasulullah ﷺ and Sahaba, their weaponry, their armory
was barely sufficient for an unarmed caravan.
The initial intent was to continue that economic
blockade that Rasulullah ﷺ had enforced against the
Quraish that wherever their caravans go, we stop
them.
We take what's rightfully ours because now we
can and now we're supposed to.
We're not turning our backs on Mecca.
Although the Meccans had decided, let them be.
Let the other Arabs finish them off.
Rasulullah ﷺ said, no.
We mean business here.
We're not turning our backs on Mecca.
We're not letting these people get away with
it.
He got scores to sell.
We got places to be.
وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ مُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ And they
were still doing...
And it was those people of Istighfar, it
was those people who trickled in and around
Rasulullah ﷺ that formed a critical component of
those 313 in Badr.
How they were stronger than dozens of Quraishis.
Just one person.
Because they had this capacity for Istighfar.
وَمَا لَهُمْ أَلَّا يُعَذِّبَهُمُ اللَّهُمْ Now, what's so
special about them that Allah should not punish
them?
No more people trickling in, turning to Allah.
Those doors are closed.
All that's left there now are hard hearts
that only azaab can get through and penetrate.
And that did take place.
Those who did come afterwards were those who
responded to tough love.
The likes of Khalid bin Walid, Abu Sufyan
himself.
وَمَا لَهُمْ أَلَّا يُعَذِّبَهُمُ اللَّهُمْ What is it
so special about them?
Rasulullah is no longer there.
His sacred presence no longer, no longer sanctifies
Makkah.
Makkah is already a haram.
It is already sacred.
But it is not immune from azaab of
Allah.
When they've treated Rasulullah ﷺ the way they
did, what granted it its immunity was the
presence of Rasulullah ﷺ.
Even as a fetus in the womb of
his mother.
وَمَا لَهُمْ أَلَّا يُعَذِّبَهُمُ اللَّهُ وَهُمْ يَسُدُّونَ عَنِ
الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ When they hinder people from coming
to the holy mosque, Allah is attacking them
or having Rasulullah ﷺ and the sahaba attack
them because they violated their own values and
principles.
What characterized Quraish, what characterized their religion, was
their hospitality towards anyone, whoever, wherever.
And they came.
They're not living up to their own principles.
وَهُمْ يَسُدُّونَ عَنِ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ وَمَا كَانُوا أَوْلِيَآءَهُ
And they're not even fit to be its
guardians.
They don't deserve it to begin with.
What gives them the right?
إِنَّ أَوْلِيَآءُهُ إِلَّا الْمُتَّقُونَ The people who deserve
to be its guardians are the people of
taqwa.
وَلَكِنَّ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ Most of them have
no idea.
Most of them don't know.
And this is how taqwa ties in with
ilm, with knowledge, with understanding.
It's a very...
It's not necessarily a religious activity, a religious
responsibility, the safeguarding of a place or the
custodianship of a place, even if it is
a religious place.
Its custodianship is associated with the quality of
taqwa or the quality of ilm.
Both of them tied together.
And how that allows the people in charge
to fulfill their responsibilities the way it truly
deserves.
And so with Badr, the athab upon the
Quraysh and the inhabitants of Mecca is officially
starting.
And so the victory that was given to
Rasulullah ﷺ, 313, was a sign of that
athab beginning.
It was a sign of human empowering.
It was a sign of so much more
that was to come.
وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله ربنا