Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Conversations Episode 19 You could have done better… Surah alAnfaal 6769
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Okay, bismillah, alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu
ala rasoolillah wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma
'in.
Allah tabarak wa ta'ala fi kitabihil kareem.
Ma'ad an aqool, a'udhu billahi min
al shaytaanil rajim, bismillahir rahmanir rahim.
Ma kaana linabijjin an yakoon lahu asraa hattaa
yuskhin fil ardi turidoon a'araba al dunyaa.
Wallaahu yureedul aakhirah.
Wallaahu azizun hakeem.
Law la kitabun min Allahi sabaqa lamassakum fee
maa akhaztum a'adhaabun azeem.
Fakulu min maa ghanimtum halalan tajjiban wa attaqullaha
inna Allaha ghafoorun raheem.
Sadaqallahul azeem.
Rabbi Shadi Sadri wa Yaseer al Yamri.
Wa Ahla l-Qutub wa l-Isani.
Yafqahu Qawli.
Allahumma anfa'ana bima allamtana wa a'allimna
ma yinfa'una wa zidna ilma.
Allahumma arina haqqata al-asha'i kamahi.
Allahumma arina al-haqqa haqqa wa rizqna itiba
'a.
Wa arina al-baatila baatirun wa rizqna ijtinaaba.
Ameen.
Ya Rabb al-Alamin.
Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
We're moving right along to, I believe it
is the 19th episode for the day, for
the month.
We have another, we'll go up till 26
and call it a day at that.
We spoke yesterday in our last episode about
ayaat from Surah Anfal in which Rasulullah salallahu
alayhi wasalam was told, addressed about why the
azaab was not given to Quraysh while Rasulullah
salallahu alayhi wasalam, because Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam
was among them in Mecca.
And now they have no reason for that
not to happen.
Today we're going to talk about a little
reproach.
The ayaat that I recited also from Surah
Anfal and in these ayaat, Rasulullah salallahu alayhi
wasalam something that he did, a choice that
he made, is responded to with a disapproval.
That you could have done better.
You should have done better.
And the way this, or the incident that
this is talking about is when Rasulullah salallahu
alayhi wasalam and Sahaba radhiAllahu ta'ala anhum,
they're in consultation about what to do with
the prisoners of war.
After Badr, there were 70-odd prisoners of
war from the people of Quraysh, Mecca, the
mushrikeen that Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam and the
Sahaba had captured.
Now the question arose, what did we do
with them?
Umar radhiAllahu ta'ala anhum was very firm
and said that this is our first encounter
with the mushrikeen and we need to set
a precedent that we're not here to play.
That we are mean business here, we're serious,
this is not acceptable.
What they dared to do, all the time
spent in Mecca and then now, literally taking
up sword against the messenger of God, is
not something that we take lightly.
All the torture that they've done, all the
animosities that they are guilty of, and if
it was them, they would have wiped us
off.
They would not have spared a single one.
So we need to give the maximum punishment
to these prisoners and send a message, no
mercy, not for you, not now.
This is the first, this is the azaab
of Allah.
And that's how everyone gets to realize that
this is not something that you mess with.
This is not something you get away with.
Abu Bakr radhiAllahu ta'ala anhum was of
a different opinion.
He said, no, let's set up a ransom.
They can pay a particular amount, their relatives,
their families, their friends, whoever, that they pay
a certain amount and we let them go.
Rasulullah ﷺ, his own opinion is the same
as Abu Bakr's radhiAllahu ta'ala anhum, that
we set up a ransom and we let
them go.
Allah responds to this decision-making process and
the decision that was made and says straight
out, maa kaana linabeejin, that it does not
behoove a prophet.
It is beneath the stature of the prophet.
an yakoona lahoo asraa, that he takes captives,
hatta yuskhina fil ardi.
He takes captives, lets them go until there
has been a precedent that is set, a
message that has been sent through a massacre
that's taken place.
But the people, the crime that they committed
wasn't one that you just, on your first
encounter with them, getting the upper hand really
for the first time after 14 years of
them not sparing any opportunity to verbally and
physically assault Rasulullah ﷺ and the Sahaba, literally
having killed so many of them.
And so the precedent has to be set,
the message has to be sent.
This is what it's going to be like,
you don't mess with us.
tureedhoona AAaradhu al-dunya Allah addresses Rasulullah ﷺ
and the Sahaba in collective, in plural, and
says, you look for the immediate gains that
this is going to offer you.
Of course, the ransom is going to come
and the people in Medina are, they do
need that economic stability that this promises.
The economic growth that this will result in,
it is a fledgling community.
It has just started establishing itself.
It does not compete with, compared to Mecca,
their economy is pretty weak.
So if they have something coming in, it
would mean a lot for the people, for
the residents and for the community in general.
And the community stands for Tawheed, it stands
for Rasulullah ﷺ's mission, his message.
So it would bring a lot of welfare,
it'll bring a lot of ease and facility.
Allah says, is that what you want?
wallahu yureedhu al-akhira Allah wants for you
the hereafter.
Akhira is understood in both ways.
Hereafter, yes, as in hereafter, after this, after
death, but also long term.
Dunya is that which is close.
Akhira is that which is other, which is
distant.
Ultimately, that is the hereafter in the day
of judgment and everything, paradise and * thereafter.
But it is also, akhira is something which
is a distant future.
But long term is also understood to be
akhira.
And in both these capacities, in both these
understandings of the word, what it would entail
is that this message that you send is,
the Quraysh will think twice before attacking Medina
again.
And this is what happened, that because the
strong message was not sent by killing all
the prisoners of war, most of those same
prisoners returned the next year in Uhud.
And not just them, but a whole contingent,
a bigger army, 3,000 strong, attacked Medina.
The Battle of Uhud took place.
And there was a lot of suffering that
the Muslims had to bear the brunt of
because the Quraysh felt that they could.
They had these people who had been sent
back.
They had been given a second chance.
They took that as a second chance to
attack Rasulullah ﷺ and the Sahaba.
They took that as a second chance to
attack Medina.
Because now they think, they know that at
least there's some way of getting away with
it.
So Allah intends that which is later, which
is long term, the hereafter, in this sense
that just politically, militarily, strategically, it would have
made things a whole lot easier if this
delay, if this let's just say delay in
the conquest of Mecca or the way this
would have shattered the Quraysh, it would have
been a completely different story.
So تُرِيدُونَ عَرَضَ الدُّنْيَا وَاللَّهُ يُرِيدُ الْآخِرَةِ وَاللَّهُ
عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ And Allah is Almighty, Wise.
The wisdom in Allah's preference as He's giving
it to Rasulullah ﷺ and then His authority.
That's what you're expressing.
That's what you're required to manifest here.
This is the occasion for tough love.
لَوْلَا كِتَابُوا مِنَ اللَّهِ سَبَقٍ The admonishing goes
on.
Had it not been for an ordinance already
issued from Allah.
So there was an ayah in Surah Muhammad,
Surah Qital, that had been revealed prior to
the Battle of Badr that gave options.
What should you do if you get prisoners
of war?
And in that, this option was there.
That yes, there's the option that you can
just do away with the prisoners.
Punish them with death.
The second option was that you let them
go as prisoners of war, except ransom.
And because that option was there, لَمَسَّكُمْ فِي
مَا أَخَذْتُمْ عَذَابُنَا You took from that option,
and that is a justification.
Had it not been for that option, if
that option was not there, you would have
been punished.
You would have been punished for going for
the ransom and not for the capital punishment.
Now, we get something very phenomenal here.
That Rasulullah ﷺ has before him ayat of
Allah which are guiding him, which are giving
him various options.
And he chooses from those options.
Allah is commenting on that choice and saying
that the correct choice was the one in
which, the one which you did not take.
The one you should have taken was the
other choice, was the other option.
But then he says, فَكُلُوا بِمَا غَنِمْتُمْ حَلَلًا
طَيِّبًا But enjoy what you have won in
the battle as booty.
It is lawful and pure.
Whatever you've gotten as ransom, it is lawful
and pure.
It is halal for you.
I gave you that option.
It wasn't my preferred option, but it was
still an acceptable option.
You were still within the range that you're
allowed to choose from.
You didn't transgress that outrightly.
It wasn't that it was mandated upon Rasulullah
ﷺ that you have to kill all the
prisoners of war.
There was no mandate.
The option was there and he chose from
that option.
He went for the more merciful option.
Allah's response to that is, in the long
run, it would have been better for you
to simply kill them off.
That would have been, in the bigger picture,
more merciful.
But we did give you that option.
We respect your choice.
Disagree with it, but respect it.
Accept it.
You're not going to be taken to task.
Rather, whatever you do get from that ransom,
it's yours.
And that says quite a bit to the
people now interacting with the Qur'an and
the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ that within this
interaction, we will always be faced with a
multiplicity of options, a range of interpretations.
There is good and then there's the better
and then there's the best.
And we're not always clear as to which
one to go for, which one really is
the best.
We may be considering a lesser option as
the better or the best option, but you
know what?
It's okay.
It is acceptable to go for a lesser
option as long as it is one of
the options.
Allah may prefer something else, but He respects
your preference as well.
There is no black and white here.
Only one right option.
Only one right interpretation.
Only one right answer.
No.
You have that freedom.
You have a say.
You have a choice.
It's respected.
It is given space.
It is a dialogue after all.
It is not an absolute dictatorship.
You have been made Khalifa.
And when ordinances are issued, when options are
given, when choices are put before you, you
choose.
Allah responds to your choices because He sees
through those choices as well.
And when He sees through and we chose
that which wasn't even an option or should
not have been an option, even then there
is an acceptability and there are opportunities and
ways to rectify, to repair, to do tawbah,
to learn, to move on.
There is that degree of acceptability.
What happens if I make the wrong choice?
So you made the wrong choice.
You learned from it.
That's what growth is all about.
We get so paralyzed.
We get so petrified, so fearful of making
the wrong choice.
And in our obsessionality, even making the lesser
of the acceptable choices.
It's okay.
As the results of those choices play themselves
out in reality, you will get a better
idea.
You will know more.
You will know more.
And so the next time a similar circumstance
or a similar situation arises, you'll know what
to do.
So we see within this interaction life.
We see within this, it's an interaction between
living beings, a living God, a responding God.
Not holding back on tough love either.
Rasulullah ﷺ not holding back on the revelation
that he's receiving.
Putting it out there as it is.
I just, I just got a little scolding
here.
I just got told off for not making
the best choice.
But still it's okay.
فَكُلُوا مِمَّا غَنِمْتُمْ حَلَالًا طَيِّبًا Enjoy it.
What you won, what you took in the
battle.
It is lawful and pure.
وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهِ And continue to have the taqwa
of Allah.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ Most definitely Allah is
forgiving and merciful.
Your interaction, your dialogue, your, the one responding
to your choices, the one considering whom you
are making your choices.
Yes, you need to have taqwa, consider him
in your choices.
But also know that He is ghafoorun rahim.
The balance between a complete ignorance of what
He wants or what He would have wanted.
What He would want us to do.
And the other extreme of I need to
make the absolute right choice.
Nothing else is acceptable.
No.
Rigidity, absolute rigidity, absolute imperatives.
No room, no choices.
Only one right answer.
That is not how, that is not how
Allah operates.
He is ghafoorun rahim.
He is empowering of the human being.
وآخر دعوانا أن الحمد لله رب العالمين