Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Conversations Episode 14 The prophet believed… Surah alBaqarah 28586
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss various events occurring in the region, including the loss of senior leaders, the return of Mojied Alaysha, and the return of Mojied Alaysha. They also discuss the importance of human writing in history and the need for a certificate to prove a belief. The segment touches on various challenges and challenges faced by people, such as the belief in spiritual experiences and the pain of past experiences.
AI: Summary ©
Alright, bismillah wa salat wa salamu ala rasool
Allah wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'een.
Qala tabarak wa ta'ala fi kitabihil kareem
ba'd an aqool, a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir
rajim, bismillahir rahmanir raheem.
Aman al rasool bima unzila ilayhi min rabbihi
wal mu'minun.
Kullun aman billahi wa malaikatihi wa kutubihi wa
rusulihi.
La nufarriq bayna ahadin min rusulihi.
Wa qalu sam'i'na wa at'a
'na.
Wafraana ka rabbana wa ilayka almaseer.
La yukallifu allahu nafsan illa wus'aha.
Laha ma kasabat wa alayha ma ktasabat.
Rabbana la tu'akhizna in nasina aw akhta
'na.
Rabbana wa la tahmil alayna isran kama hamaltahu
ala allatheena min qablina.
Rabbana wa la tahamilna ma la taqata lana
bih.
Wa afu'anna wa ghfir lana wa arhamna.
Anta mawlana famsorna ala alqawmi alkafirin.
We are on day 14.
This is our 14th session in Ramadan Conversations.
And this is right about the time we
have neared the end of the Meccan period
of Rasulullah ﷺ.
And the ayahs we will be talking about
today are the ayahs that were revealed in
the Meccan period, but not in Mecca per
se in the sense that Rasulullah ﷺ received
them in the Mi'raj.
And these are the ayahs that I've attempted
to recite just now.
Very special ayahs, the last two ayahs, ayah
number 285 and 286 of Surah Al-Baqarah.
A little bit of context as always.
We spoke about in our previous episode of
the difficulties of the Amul Huzn and how
Surah Yusuf is revealed in response to the
grief of Rasulullah ﷺ, where he is emotionally,
where he is socially, where he is with
respect to his responsibility as a prophet of
Allah and generally carrying the mantle of prophethood
of the Sahaba radhiAllahu ta'ala anhum and
where is all of that going.
The burden that he feels, the difficulty that
he is faced with, the difficulties, the challenges,
all of that and how they are responded
to in Surah Yusuf.
Of course we couldn't go over the entire
surah, not practical to have done so, but
it was an overview nevertheless.
Rasulullah ﷺ situation gets worse when after Abu
Talib has passed away and Abu Lahab assumes
the responsibility of the leadership of Banu Hashim
and so we know for a fact that
Abu Talib was extending protection to Rasulullah ﷺ
that nobody in Quraysh could harm a hair
on his head so to speak, even though
they did on a couple of occasions but
it was, that's all they could do.
They wanted to do more if it was
up to them, they would have attempted to
kill Rasulullah ﷺ but Abu Talib's protection, him
being the leader of the tribe, the head
of the tribe came in the way.
Now that he passes away, Abu Lahab is
the senior most and it is up in
the air initially, is he going to continue
the protection that Abu Talib extended to Muhammad
Rasulullah ﷺ?
Initially he does but then it is very
unreliable in the sense that he may withdraw
it at any point.
So Rasulullah ﷺ is looking for alternatives naturally.
There is an understanding that Makkah is not
responding, that the best response that he could
have gotten from Makkah he has already gotten.
There is nothing more here.
He needs to change strategies, he needs to
change where he's based and the Sahaba would
have to move with him.
Already a couple of migrations have taken place,
we did not talk about them but they
were relevant at the point of particularly Surah
Al-Ankabut was referring to that point that
the Sahaba did migrate to Abyssinia twice, into
contingents rather, to save themselves from the persecution
of the Quraish.
Rasulullah ﷺ did not but right around this
time he needs to know what are his
alternatives, where can he go?
Already recall that in the very first instance
of the first revelation that he got, his
conversation with Barqa bin Nawfal, he told him
that your people are going to force you
to leave Makkah and Rasulullah ﷺ could not
believe that at that point but now it's
becoming more and more believable, inevitable that he
has to leave, that he would have to
leave so he turns to Ta'if.
When he turns to Ta'if at that
point he of course extends the message foremost
to the chiefs of the people of Ta
'if and in those interactions with the people,
with the chiefs, the response that he gets
is even worse than the response of the
people of Quraish or the leaders of Quraish.
So for example one of the chiefs is
he turns to him and he says God
didn't find anyone better than you, he had
to choose you to be a prophet another
one said get away from me because either
you're telling the truth which is not good
for me because I'm going to be disrespectful
to you or you're lying and then it
does not behoove me to speak to you
so get lost.
Similar responses from the third chief, Rasulullah ﷺ
has to return pretty much empty-handed from
Ta'if.
They're not just going to let him go
like that and so as we know what
they did was that they turned the street
urchins, the bad boys who helped the
outcasts of society who would bully, torture outcasts
or madmen in the society were pretty much
given a social responsibility that he needs to
be driven out, he needs to be pushed
out and so they helped Rasulullah ﷺ with
stones and not just like small stones, stones
that literally would make you bleed that were
being thrown in order to hurt Rasulullah ﷺ
and he has according to different narrations either
Zaid or Abu Bakr with him and he's
being stoned for carrying the message of Allah
and he is driven out of Ta'if
and they don't just leave it at that
Rasulullah ﷺ, his shoes filled with blood and
he has to fall his companion whoever is
with him either Abu Bakr or Zaid they're
trying to protect him from any and all
directions but what can they possibly do?
They're getting stoned as well and so he
falls to the ground as he comes to
the words that issue from Rasulullah ﷺ's tongue
at that point and again when we talk
about conversations, when we talk about relating with
Allah it is important to identify this dimension
of the relationship which is one of complaining
and by this time we can be pretty
sure that Surah Yusuf has already been revealed
and so the same words being coded in
the Qur'an coming from Yaqub ﷺ when
he says, that I complain of my grief,
of my suffering to Allah Rasulullah ﷺ said
something similar that ya Allah I complain to
you about the weakness, about my utter weakness
I don't have strength and the scarcity of
my resources, I don't have anything at my
disposal I'm literally at these people's mercy to
do with me whatever they want to to
whom have you entrusted me?
so towards someone so distant from me, from
you they can do with me whatever they
want to to an enemy and the du
'a goes on very beautiful du'a, very
important du'a, very significant he's not holding
back, he's literally complaining and then from that
complaining he transitions towards imploring Allah's greatness, Allah's
mercy, Allah's light and that's significant too since
that's how he feels that there is utter
darkness and he's asking Allah that you are
the light and I need you to dispel
this darkness it is when literally he's at
his weakest that these words issue from his
tongue and it is at this point when
he's at his weakest when he's in so
much pain that things start turning around one
of the first instances of this turnaround is
when they're returning towards Mecca they stop at
something of a settlement, of a house outside,
in the outskirts of Mecca in which Rasulullah
ﷺ meets non-Meccan people so there's these
people who help Rasulullah ﷺ, give him some
food or water they're not from Mecca, they're
from outside they're servants or at the house
of the person, whoever that person is and
they hear the message, they respond positively to
that message they're not Meccans, they're not Mushrikeen
they're from another place, from another town I'm
forgetting exactly, either they were from Persia or
they were Christians I think they were Christians,
in any case they're non-Meccans, non-relatives
Rasulullah ﷺ has been rejected by relatives for
the most part the closest tribe affiliated with
Quraysh were the Ta'if, he's been rejected
from them as well and now others are
responding alien others, distant people, foreigners, not from
the same locality, not from the same tradition
they're responding positively Rasulullah ﷺ has that experience,
they accept right around that time is the
time where he has the Surat Jinn experience
as well as it is narrated there again,
very alien others responding positively قُلْ أُوحِيَ إِلَيَّ
أَنَّهُ اسْتَمَعَ نَفَرٌ مِّنَ الْجِنِّ فَقَالُوا إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا
قُرْآنًا عَجَبًا Right, so Rasulullah ﷺ is told
that Ya Rasulullah ﷺ tell them that it
has been revealed to me that a group
of jinn heard the Qur'an and they
returned to their own people and said we
have heard something fascinating something incredible and the
whole surah goes on so he gets that
as a response and the third response he
gets which is not just the pinnacle of
all responses it is the greatest experience of
Rasulullah ﷺ's life of any human's life and
it is an achievement for humanity what is
of course an individual achievement for Rasulullah ﷺ
is the journey of Isra and Mi'raj
that Rasulullah ﷺ is invited by Allah first
to a journey from Mecca to Jerusalem where
in the Baytul Maqdis he has this experience
of leading the Anbiya in prayer so his
maqam is established in that community of prophets
that he is their Imam the culmination, the
last of them in the sense junior most
and being accorded a position of leadership among
them and from that experience to the experience
of Mi'raj and all of what happened
in Mi'raj happened in Mi'raj we
know of narrations that talk about his first
heaven, second heaven, third heaven, fourth heaven and
it's very difficult to conceive of it is
very difficult to conceive of because it was
again an unprecedented experience something that we cannot
really relate with as to what's going on
most of the descriptions that the Quran gives
is they're very intentionally vague because what is
it that we can relate with in that
experience what we do know is that Rasulullah
ﷺ on the seventh heaven when he goes
to where even Jibreel cannot go to he
ascends to a point where even Jibreel cannot
ascend to where no prophet, no angel no
one has ever gone before where as the
Quran describes it ما زاغ البصر وما طغى
this is Surah Najm that his basr, his
gaze did not swerve now remember Musa ﷺ
asked to see Allah رَبِّ أَرِنِي أَنظُرْ إِلَيْكَ
My Lord, my Rabb, permit me I want
to see You قَالَ لَن تَرَانِي Allah said
no you cannot Musa ﷺ insisted but I
want to and so he was shown and
his gaze, his sight could not withhold, could
not withstand just a tajalli a reflection if
you will of that possibility the mountain was
blew up so to speak Musa ﷺ fell
down could not sustain it Rasulullah ﷺ after
his entire lifetime of experiences particularly since the
first revelation and how he's responded to all
of those difficulties and challenges none of those
easy he's gotten to that level he's developed
to that level he has grown to that
level that his sight, his gaze is able
to withhold it doesn't swerve from whatever it
is that he's shown whatever he sees the
greatest of ayaat of Allah that meeting with
Allah Himself Rasulullah ﷺ's vision can withhold that
however it can ما زاغ البصر وما طغى
neither did he transgress because the second likelihood
in such religious experiences is to transgress to
forget your place one to have that baqar
that strength that standing to stand your ground
in the face of Allah Himself and the
second imbalance is to forget yourself and consider
yourself beyond your limits Rasulullah ﷺ was able
to hold that balance and so he was
able to withstand mi'raj as one of
the most incredible experiences that a human being
can possibly have his sight does not transgress
ما زاغ البصر وما طغى of the few
things that we know from that experience from
the experience in the seventh heaven Rasulullah ﷺ
says that he heard the pen writing and
that is significant for humanity to know that
the pen is still writing and that tells
us that the writing of destiny is a
continuous process and the only reason it would
be a continuous process and not a process
which is just done and dusted forever closed
and inaccessible to human beings the reason why
that's important is it would have been done
and dusted if Allah was the sole author
the only author yes there is of course
an incredible part of history and destiny that
Allah wrote and that nobody has any share
in and that part of the ink has
dried up for sure but that's not the
entirety of the story of humanity because if
it was then the pen would not be
continuing to write the reason why it is
continuing to write especially heard by Rasulullah ﷺ
in the mi'raj is because human beings
are co-authors in this history human beings
are writing this story of the universe and
Rasulullah ﷺ's mi'raj signifies this importance of
human contribution human work, human authorship in the
writing of destiny which is also symbolized by
the prayers that Rasulullah ﷺ is receiving and
that he is negotiating with Allah hearing from
Musa ﷺ get it to reduce that Allah
Himself is giving this room for negotiation again
50 prayers end up to 5 prayers it
sounds kind of weird if you don't consider
the significance of the human choice human will
being entertained by God Himself that this khudi
was that buland this khudi of Rasulullah ﷺ
his self was that high it had that
maqam that God himself asks him tell me
what is your will what is it that
you want God is giving this this permission,
he is accommodating he is inviting and what
the human being wants is being entertained is
being accommodated that's huge and the third thing
that he receives from that 7th heaven are
these 2 ayats foremost in these ayats what
the ayats begin with please understand that we
take iman for granted we have a very
superficial understanding of what it means to believe
and in that I say I believe which
means I believe we have from the life
of Rasulullah ﷺ and sahaba radhi allahu ta
'ala anhum adequate evidence to to know that
that's not how they perceived iman and belief
they weren't sure do I really believe they
weren't that certain in their faith they had
certainty of faith but they did not they
weren't certain of their own faith what is
to be believed in they believed in but
do I really believe in it that part
was always suspect for them which is why
they always fear hypocrisy upon themselves so much
and so in this particular instance for them,
for Rasulullah ﷺ to be told by Allah
Amanar Rasool the prophet believed tells you so
much one, he had to undergo that process
of belief and we see from the first
revelation itself he didn't immediately believe, he was
doubtful how can I be prophet how can
this there's other alternative explanations to what the
experience I just had I need to figure
out all of them Khadijah radhi allahu ta
'ala anha subsequent revelations, all of those things
played a part where he did go ahead
to believe and then he lived that belief
over the course of the next 10 years
to the nth degree as beautifully with as
much ihsan as a human being can possibly
manage to the point that within this world
within this life Rasulullah ﷺ gets the certificate
yes you have belief for all the rest
of us, all the rest of us that
certificate does not come until the day of
judgment we cannot know do we really believe
but for Rasulullah ﷺ's ma'aj he's given
that certificate prior to the day of judgment
he doesn't have to die to find out
if he really was a believer why?
because the degree to which he is shaken
up by the amul huzn by the year
of grief by the experiences in ta'if
he's given all sorts of reassurance surah yusuf
was a reassurance so many other revelations around
that time was a reassurance the belief of
the people that he met on his way
back from ta'if that's a reassurance the
experience with the jinn that's a reassurance so
much but no there's this reassurance Allah invites
Rasulullah ﷺ all the way to the seventh
heaven to meet him in person gives him
this reassurance you've believed and it's stated in
third person the prophet has believed so it's
like an announcement to the world it's like
a ceremony it's like the way you would
announce an award the person standing right there
but you would refer to them in third
person so that the audience can hear that
this is certified that this belief is certified
aman ar-rasul the prophet believed more than
anything else we've seen before he would be
suspicious of his own am I doing something
wrong?
and Allah is telling him ma anta bi
maloomi you're not blameworthy you're not to blame
but now he does something more special most
special aman ar-rasul bima unzila ilayhi min
rabbihi in whatever has been revealed to him
from his Rabb the prophet believed wal mu'minoon
he doesn't just get this certificate from himself
for himself he gets it for the believers
back in Makkah all of whom Khabbab, Bilal
the pain that they've all been through he
brings a certificate for them as well you've
believed which is why they're they're the maqam
of the muhajiroon it's inimitable nobody comes close
nobody comes close wal mu'minoon he brings it
for them too they really believe kullun aamana
billah every one of them really believed in
Allah wa malaikatihi wa kutubihi he has angels
in his books and his messengers they've lived
what it means to believe in angels' books
and messengers their life is testimony to that
their choices are testimony to that their patience
is testimony to that that these are people
who believe in values that come from from
up high that Allah sends through angels in
books that messengers truthfully attest to they live
by those values and they say we don't
distinguish any of his messengers lesser prophet not
enough of a prophet that one's not real
prophet no they understand that the prophets are
a community and their message is a holistic
message and the community is a whole you
cannot take any part away from the community
it doesn't remain a community after that so
the organic wholeness of the community of prophethood
how they reinforce each other their responsibilities may
be different their time periods may be different
there is so much about them that may
be different but they all formulate one family
of prophets and they say we have heard
and we obey we have heard and we
obey they testify to this experience we hear
we obey but we're not always perfect we
can't really obey the way the right is
to be obeyed we have shortcomings and towards
you is our ultimate destination and this recognition
of returning to Allah is a mixture of
fear and hope a fear of returning to
Allah have I done enough?
a hope of returning to Allah it's Allah
that I'm returning to no one is burdened
beyond his capacity no human being is burdened
beyond his capacity it is a reassurance to
Rasulullah ﷺ at this point that you've been
through a lot but it's because you could
go through a lot you have the capacity
to do so this ayah is a testimony
it is a reassurance especially when we feel
we can't take it the degree of our
suffering is testimony to the degree of our
capacity of our strength لَا نُفَرِّقُ لا يُكَلِّفُ
اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا أُسْعَى Allah does not burden
anyone beyond their capacity لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ for
it is what it has earned the judgment
is going to be in accordance with that
capacity no one is going to be asked
to pay on the day of judgment just
like Ammar bin Yasir said words of kufr
in the face of the torture he could
not do otherwise Allah is not going to
hold him accountable for that Rasulullah ﷺ told
him so you're not going to be held
accountable for it لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ so for
it is whatever good it earns وَعَلَيْهَا مَا
كَسَبَتْ and against it what it wrought you
do good, it's for you you do evil,
it's for you your freedom is being testified
to your responsibility is being affirmed رَبَّنَا لَا
تُؤَاخِذْنَا and so the believers they implore Allah
Oh Rabb don't take us to task إِن
نَسِيْنَا أَوْ أَخْطَانَا it is beautiful, it is
being revealed in the form of a dua
which means the possibility of its acceptance is
definitely there Allah is giving us this dua
to make what does that say?
it's an acceptance إِن نَسِيْنَا أَوْ ask it,
earn it, get there Oh Rabb do not
take us to task إِن نَسِيْنَا أَوْ أَخْطَانَا
if we forget or we make a mistake
Allah reassuring human beings I know you forget
I know you make mistakes رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ
عَلَيْنَا إِسْرًا Oh Rabb do not make us
bear a burden كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِنْ
قَبْلِنَا like that which you laid upon those
before us the sacrifice of Rasulullah ﷺ and
the Sahaba in Mecca is being accepted and
a dua in the form of a dua
is being announced that because of your sacrifice
those who come after you will suffer less
we owe it to that sacrifice they sacrificed
for us the dua is telling us this
that we ask Allah Ya Allah do not
place a burden upon us because of the
way you burdened those before us we don't
have that capacity we have to go through
what Bilal went through we go through what
Khabab bin al-Art went through and he
said we're not going to make it we'll
snap and so the dua asking us to
remember that sacrifice that an entire community of
believers made for us so that
we don't have to suffer and we suffer
less on that account رَبُّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا
لَا تَوْقَتَ لَنَا بِنَا Oh Rabb burden us
not with that which we have no ability
to bear وَعْفُوا أَنَّا give us relaxation وَاقْفِرْ
لَنَا forgive us وَارْحَمْنَا and have mercy on
us this is a very real relationship real
time relationship make mistakes, seek forgiveness go back
at it, fallible make mistakes again, get back
to it talk, talk, talk, communicate with Allah
أنت مولانا you are our guardian and protector
فَانْصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ so help us against
a disbelieving people again, this dua is relevant
it makes sense because the sahaba and the
Prophet ﷺ they're taking a stand in the
face of which they're opposed they're being oppressed
if there is no such stand if there
is no such commitment that creates ripples and
opposition it becomes very difficult to relate with
it becomes very difficult to relate with وآخر
دعوانا أن الحمد لله ربنا