Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Conversations Episode 6 We have not abandoned you We are not upset Surah AdDuha
AI: Summary ©
The segment discusses the context and emotional struggles of the revelation of Rasool Allah spring and how it impacts one's life and behavior. Jesus, who is experiencing loss of existence and fear of failure, is willing to continue sending misogyny to the
the
iself" and not the
iself". The segment also touches on the emotional struggles of the revelation and how it impacts one's life and behavior. The importance of trusting in the process and holding one's will is emphasized, along with the need to stay committed to one's journey. The segment also touches on the consequences of the "whereverver follows" and the pleasing effects of the "wherever follows."
the
iself" and not the
iself". The segment also touches on the emotional struggles of the revelation and how it impacts one's life and behavior. The importance of trusting in the process and holding one's will is emphasized, along with the need to stay committed to one's journey. The segment also touches on the consequences of the "whereverver follows" and the pleasing effects of the "wherever follows."
AI: Summary ©
Okay, bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasool
Allah, wa ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'een.
As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
We're moving right along to our sixth episode
in Ramadan Conversations.
And this particular episode, we're going to be
talking about the context of the revelation of
surat al-Duha.
The particular surah that most of us are
aware of, probably have memorized as well.
And we have some understanding that it is
a surah associated with some form of depression
that we're told recite the surah when you're
depressed or if you're depressed, etc.
The efficacy or the importance or significance of
that, I'm not going to get into.
But yes, the context of the revelation as
to how it is related to an experience
of sadness that we will talk about.
So, just to backtrack and then work our
way towards the context of the revelation of
the surah, Rasool Allah ﷺ is, as the
surah itself will tell us, lost, looking for
answers, looking for guidance.
He has questions, right?
Again, that is affirmed by this surah itself.
That the surah talks about, you know, when
somebody comes to you lost, comes to you
asking questions.
Right?
The sa'il.
Yes, a sa'il is a beggar asking
for money, but a sa'il is also
a questioner asking for answers, asking for guidance.
Right?
So, Rasool Allah ﷺ is a sa'il.
He is daalan, as this surah says, You
were lost, so he is lost and he
is confused asking Allah questions, asking for guidance.
The guidance that he gets is something that
completely shakes him, changes his life, turns it
upside down.
It's not the sort of guidance he was
expecting, that he would become a prophet.
And he became a prophet.
He made that commitment.
He accepted that prophethood.
He believed in his own prophethood.
Now, this wasn't an easy decision.
We spoke about how difficult it was for
him.
Not the least because of the consequences that
it would have.
How everything is going to be completely different
and those differences started coming in.
And so he made a very painful choice.
Accepted that mantle, that responsibility.
Goes out to deliver that message, live up
to that responsibility.
And immediately, the emotional hurt that he's subjected
to, what we spoke about last time, follows
him along and it continuously.
He is being poked, jabbed, and a lot
of times crushed by the weight of the
words that the Quraish and the people of
Mecca are hurling at him, the abuses that
he has to hear.
But the consolation that he has, which we
spoke about in Surah Al-Hijr and Surah
Al-Fatiha, is I have Allah.
He's got my back.
No matter what happens, no matter how much
pain I go through, no matter what they
say about me, I will always have Allah.
I have this relationship with Allah to fall
back on.
And what is the manifestation of this relationship?
What is the expression of this relationship?
Of course, there's prayer.
We spoke about that.
But there's revelation.
Qur'an.
Receiving Qur'an itself.
So he has that consolation that no matter
what, with everything having been put on the
line, reputation wasn't just at stake, it was
lost, it was gone.
Rasulullah ﷺ is being known as sahir, as
kathab, as all of those horrible appellations, being
majnoon, mad, crazy, poet, all sorts of things.
Liar, deceiver, con artist, all of those.
His reputation flung against the wall.
But he has this reassurance, I have Allah.
I have Allah.
What does that mean?
He will continue to send me messages.
He will continue to send me revelation to
reassure me.
He'll keep on talking to me.
We have each other.
So it is this relationship that he's putting
everything on the line for.
And lo and behold, that same revelation stops
coming.
The one thing that he was banking on,
that which was his consolation, Rasulullah ﷺ without
any notice, without any warning, without Allah telling
him that this is about to happen, it
stops.
He'd just gotten used to it.
He'd just started experiencing the fulfillment that it
comes with despite the pain.
And he was longing for it, anticipating it.
And it's gone.
One day, two day, three, it's not coming.
No revelation.
No revelation.
Rasulullah ﷺ starts to develop a fear.
What if I've lost it?
What if I did something wrong that has
displeased Allah and now I've been deprived?
Now I've been abandoned.
I have made all of these claims and
I don't know where to go from here.
And that which was supposed to tell me
where to go from here has been taken
away from me.
That which I was banking on, falling back
on, relying upon, that relationship with Allah, I
may have just lost it.
Allah has abandoned me.
Allah is upset with me.
He's displeased with me.
He's angry with me.
Maybe I was supposed to do something better,
do something differently.
I did not.
And so this extreme grief associated with this
crippling fear that I've been abandoned.
Now what do I do?
And now for another phase, Rasulullah ﷺ asks
himself the question or the question just pops
into his head.
What's the point then?
What is the point?
How do I carry on like this?
If it isn't coming, if it isn't going
to come, I might as well end it.
What's the point in me continuing to live?
All is over.
Everything is gone.
That's the context.
That's the background.
On top of that, the mockery of the
Quraish has reached new levels.
Now they have more to hurl at Rasulullah
ﷺ.
What happened to your demon?
You're not getting your possession spells anymore?
You're not hearing your voices anymore?
Whatever happened?
Did you do something wrong?
Did you make him angry?
Or are gods angry at you?
Etc, etc, etc.
They're not implanting these ideas.
These ideas are there.
They're inflaming them.
They're adding fuel.
Rasulullah ﷺ is struggling with these thoughts, with
these feelings.
Extremely sad.
Very scared.
Very alone.
Feeling abandoned.
And it is in this context that Surat
al-Duha is revealed.
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم بسم الله الرحمن
الرحيم والضحى By the bright morning hours.
The early morning time.
Or the bright morning time, not necessarily the
early morning, but when the night is, or
when the day is really bright.
Allah is swearing by that time.
وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَى And the night when it
is calm.
When it is still.
And how both of these states, with everything
in life, whether it is your journey in
spirituality, whether it is your journey intellectually, whether
it is your journey professionally, whether it is
your journey in any relationship of your life.
Any relationship.
Your spouse.
Your God.
There are going to be, necessarily, patches of
darkness, periods and cycles of night.
They're not just sporadic, they are inevitable and
frequent.
They are to be expected.
That even with this relationship, that relationship that
provides Rasulullah ﷺ stability in his life, even
that, you can expect for it to have
its dark hours.
Night time.
It's not always going to be the same.
It is not always going to be something
that you can take for granted.
Because that is what ends up happening.
You start taking, no matter how valuable something
is, you start taking it for granted if
it is in continuous supply.
So whether it's Iman or spirituality, whatever it
is, you're in a journey, you've taken on
this mantle, it is not a bed of
roses, it's not a walk in the park.
There are challenges that will come.
Not the least of those challenges is what
Rasulullah ﷺ experienced, that anyone journeying anywhere will
also experience.
And it is but natural that the first
time you experience that dark patch, because once
you find the light, you think this is
it, I got it, I'm going to have
it.
I'm going to have this light with me
forever.
And this is going to be my anchor.
But then there comes a time, especially the
first time is the hardest when you lose
it and you're thrust into darkness one more
time and the fear overwhelms, oh my God,
I thought I had reached, I thought I
had gotten it, I thought I had everything
that I needed.
It's been taken away from me.
Now what?
I'm back to square one.
I'm back to zero, I have to start
over.
What's the point in starting when I'm going
to lose it again?
There's no point.
There's all confusion.
Allah says don't think about day and night.
Allah is swearing by day and night.
Bright morning hours, night when it is still.
Look at this cycle.
Look at how these polar opposites complement each
other, come together and make life possible.
This is not just necessary for biological life.
This is necessary for spiritual life, for emotional
life.
That you have these cycles, if you will.
But they're not cycles that are going around
in circle.
These are cycles that are progressively taking you
higher.
Provided of course, you're bringing in the responses
that you're supposed to bring, that you're getting
from the night what you're supposed to get
and you're getting from the day what you're
supposed to get.
You take a cross section of it, day
and night look like going around in circles,
going around in circles, back to square one,
take two steps forward, two steps backward.
No.
As it's arranged, it is arranged such that
these cycles are propelling you upwards, forwards.
And it is because they're cyclical that they
have this ability to propel you upwards.
If it was just one static state, that
would not have been possible.
And yes, that makes it painful.
Yes, that hurts.
It's not something pleasant.
It is devastating, especially when you encounter it
for the first time.
Rasulullah ﷺ was devastated.
He was contemplating finishing himself off.
That is how devastated he was.
مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ وَمَا قَلَ Allah comes back
with reassurance and says, You're Rabb.
You're Rabbuka.
Again, pretty much every section that we've studied.
How many times have we read Rabbuka, You're
Rabb.
And within that, the indication as to how
this is facilitating the same process of Rabbubia.
That same process of Allah nurturing you, evolving
you towards your growth, towards becoming a better,
stronger person.
For that, night and day are necessary.
For the growth of plants, for the growth
of biological life, night and day are indispensable.
Everybody knows that.
It's like sixth grade biology.
Photosynthesis, respiration.
Morning, evening, how they alternate.
Animals, plants, how that works.
For spiritual life too, it is important.
It is part of the process of Rabbubia.
As human beings who have now consciously stepped
in, deliberately stepped in and acknowledged to be
in the relationship with their Rabb, they have
acknowledged to get in a relationship of growth.
This Rabb-Abd relationship.
Now I'm going to facilitate.
Now I'm going to participate.
Prior to this, my biological life, the biological
phases of development that I went through, I
wasn't consciously, deliberately involved.
Or if I was, I don't really have
a memory of that.
But now, by choice, I'm committing.
Ya Allah, you're pulling me up.
You're making me grow.
I'm with you in this.
I'll respond.
I'll respond.
So it is for me to be grateful
in the morning hours and for me to
be patient in the night when it is
still.
Trusting that morning will come again.
Even though sometimes the night is very long
and you don't think that day will ever
come.
But to trust, to have faith, to hold
strong, to make the most of the night.
The rest.
Your Rabb has not abandoned you.
He's not displeased.
Don't worry about that.
That's not what this is.
We can't jump to that conclusion.
This too is a necessary part of who
you want to be now.
وَلَا الْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنَ الْأُولَىٰ And the
later period, what is to come will be
better for you than what was there before.
Again, the cyclical process going upwards.
Because when you do, in the short term,
experience this cyclical process, it seems like you're
still standing there.
Again, like we said, back to square one.
A lot of people say this in their
relationships, in their journeys.
I feel like I haven't made any progress
at all.
I'm still where I was two years ago.
I'm doing the same things again.
So it's a very overwhelming feeling that not
making any progress.
No, you keep at it.
You do what day requires you to do.
You do what night requires you to do.
And what consequences are going to be better.
The destination is going to be better from
where you started off.
There is no question in that.
وَلَا الْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَكَ For you, Ya Rasool
Allah, it is going to be better.
وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطُيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْبَ And pretty soon, we're
going to grant you with which you are
going to be well pleased.
You're going to be happy.
You're going to be satisfied.
Right now, there is no happiness.
Right now, there is pain.
There is difficulty.
But pretty soon, you keep yourself committed to
this process and you will start seeing the
results.
The results, of course, ultimately in the hereafter.
But we jumped to the hereafter and the
results and rewards in the hereafter way too
early.
There are results and there are rewards here
and in the immediate future.
In this world.
There is an aakhirah in this world.
There is an aakhirah after this world for
sure.
But then, the aakhirah here, the consequences here.
Which is why, the scholars have always translated
and interpreted this aakhirah not as the afterlife,
but as what is to come, the later
period.
You will see consequences.
You will see results.
And they will be pleasing to you.
Keep at it.
أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى Did Allah not find
you an orphan, and He gave you refuge?
Now Rasulullah ﷺ, in this present period of
sadness and fear, is being reassured to look
forward to the future.
But he is also being reassured by remembering
the past.
And yes, the past that he is being
called to remember is a painful past.
When he was yetim, when he didn't, he
lost his father.
He was born and his father had already
passed away.
He was put in foster care pretty early
to be nursed.
Had to leave his town, which is fine.
He was too young to realize that.
But then that meant he had to leave
whoever his foster parents were.
Leave that.
Come back to mother.
Spend a few months with her.
Or maybe even less than that and the
foster parents want him back.
Okay, go back.
Eventually come back to mother.
Not spend a very long time with her
and she passes away.
She dies.
Goes to grandfather.
Lavished with love.
Grandfather dies.
One after the other.
Repeated orphaning that he experienced.
But throughout, and if you look at any
individual instance, it is very painful.
Whatever he went through.
But if you look at it in its
entirety, as Rasulullah ﷺ is being reminded to
look at it, he's being provided shelter one
after the other.
Not by one stable source.
But by different sources.
For him to be able to understand that
the one providing the shelter is Allah.
The one taking care of him.
Even if it's not one human person that
he can absolutely rely on.
There is one being that he can rely
on who's orchestrating all of this.
So we found you an orphan and we
gave you refuge.
وَوَجَدَكَ ضَلًّا فَهَدَى He found you wandering, lost.
Looking for guidance.
And he guided you.
Cave of Hira.
وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَى He found you poor and
he made you rich.
You didn't have a lot of resources.
Allah provided you with resources.
Marriage with Khadijah.
There is a hint here.
There is an indication to the maqam of
Hazrat Khadijah رضي الله عنها that the resources
that she provided Rasulullah ﷺ with Allah is
attributing that to himself.
That she was extending Allah's will as were
the people before providing Rasulullah ﷺ shelter.
They were extending Allah's will.
Allah takes, He reassures Rasulullah ﷺ and reminds
him that it was Him that they were
doing His will.
What does that say about them?
Their maqam.
فَأَمَّ الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْرُ And so for an
orphan, never ever be harsh.
Do not be harsh to an orphan.
Because when you start getting even a continuous
supply of spiritual good, you take it so
much for granted.
The spiritual high as we say, the honeymoon
period of your spirituality, very beginning of becoming
passionately religious, everything is flowing, going great, awesome.
And then you start stumbling, you start realizing
that there's not as much fuel in the
tank as I had when I first started
this wonderful new life.
That phase is important.
Losing that or getting out of that honeymoon
period and getting into the struggle period, it's
inevitable.
And that's where the real journey begins.
And a lot of the people at that
time like, oops, not for me.
Yeah, it was a phase, it passed, move
on, something else.
No, that's where the real challenges come in.
And that is for you to ensure that
you don't take that for granted and that
you remember, you continue to remember what it
means to be lost, what it means to
not always be in that flow state, that
blissful phase, so that there's going to be
so many other people who are lost, who
are not, who don't have that or haven't
experienced that yet.
You're able to empathize with them, remembering your
origins, remembering where you came from, remembering your
suffering.
فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ So Allah reminds Rasulullah
ﷺ of those painful experiences and how those
painful experiences culminated in relief, in the growth
of him coming out of it, being sheltered
from it, being guided, being provided.
And how all of those memories and the
reminders that you get of those right now
in your current state, with the patches of
darkness that come in, that is to ensure
that you maintain this good treatment, this compassion
towards those deprived.
That's the meaning in your suffering.
And to ensure that that meaning remains alive
and experience of that suffering has to remain
alive as well.
Otherwise we are bound to forget.
فَأَمَّا الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ So for the orphan,
never be harsh.
You were an orphan.
Take care of orphans.
وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ And for the sa'il, the
one looking for answers or for money, whatever,
either way, asking وَفَلَا تَنْهَرْ Do not shout
at them.
Do not berate them.
Do not just call out at them.
وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ And ask for the ni'mah
of your Rabb.
فَحَدِّث Continue to proclaim it, to report it.
Acknowledging it.
As you're giving, you're acknowledging.
As you're giving, you're proclaiming.
I have this, it is from Allah.
That is not the space for artificial humility.
Oh no, no, no, this is nothing.
I don't have anything.
No.
You have it.
Show it.
Give it.
Let people benefit from it.
Yes, acknowledge that it is from Allah.
Of course.
But wear it.
You don't just have to be so self
-denigrating at that point.
Oh, I don't have anything.
I am nothing.
You know you're something.
Allah's made you something.
Stand up.
Chest out.
Shoulders down.
Accept the goodness that you have.
Don't humiliate yourself.
Because when you are humiliating yourself, it is
depriving yourself or depriving yourself of the blessings
of Allah and rejecting how much of a
blessing that is.
Head high.
Again, Qiyam.
Stand up.
And Alhamdulillah.