Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Nights 2021 Day 12
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AI: Transcript ©
Inna huwa nastaghfiru huwa nu'minu bihi wa natawakalu
AAalayhi wa naAAoodu billahi min shururi anfusina wa
min sayyihati yaAAmalina man yahdihi allahu fa laa
mudallala wa man yudhillahu fa laa hadi allahu
wa nashahadu wa laa ilahi illa allahu wahdahu
laa shariika laa wa nashahadu anna muhammadan abduhu
wa rasooluhu mama baAAad fa inna khayri al
khadithi kitaab Allah wa khayri al hadi yahadi
Muhammadin sallallahu alayhi wa sallam wa sharr al
umuri muhtathatuha wa kulla muhtathatin bid'a wa
kulla bid'atin balalat wa kulla balalatin finnaar
rabbi shuhli sadri wa yassir li yamri wahla
luqtata min lasani yafqahu qawli Allahumma anfa'na
bimaa ilamtana wa alimna maa yanfa'una wa
zidna ilma Allahumma rabbana zidna ilma Allahumma rabbana
taqabbal minna Allahumma arina haqiqata alashyai kamaahi Allahumma
arina alhaqqa haqqa wa rizqma tiba'a wa
arina albaatila baatila wa rizqma ajtinaba Ameen Ya
Rabbil Alameen Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu We're continuing
with ayah number 65 We concluded with ayah
number 65 in the last session So we're
going to continue with ayah number 66 Pretty
much what we have seen throughout Surah An
-Nisa Is the strands
around the rope That the analogy that we
drew from Surah Baqarah As to how the
different themes They are intertwined And they one
after the other reinforce each other And particularly
here we see the aspects of Iman Iman
and the Prophet ﷺ more specifically here Previously
there was a mention Or there was the
ayah that spoke about what Allah wants That
dimension of Tawheed and how it ties in
with Akhira Was highlighted and pretty much throughout
the commandments And the spirit of the Sharia
Looking to empower, looking to protect, looking to
safeguard The society in itself Particularly the more
vulnerable segments of the society And when you're
talking about community building When you're talking about
a community that is going to be oriented
Around a scriptural conception of Tawheed Then necessarily
joining the community Or becoming a part of
a community Entails vulnerability There's going to be
dynamics There's going to be power dynamics More
and less dynamic Some people are going to
have more of this or more of that
And other people are going to have less
of this and less of that What allows
for the two poles or the polarities Multiple
polarities within the society to come together And
we spoke about how the coming together of
these polarities Or the relationship between these polarities
Is indispensable for growth Communal growth, progression of
humanity Minus these, there is no growth And
there is risk involved Whenever you have these
dynamics, these polarities The possibilities of exploitation The
risk of exploitation becomes incredible How is that
risk to be balanced?
That is the essence of Tawheed Carrying that
conception, that relationship The understanding of Allah's attributes
and how He relates Being, as far as
polarities go His attributes, where they place Him
Some of His attributes, the attributes of transcendence
and power And then how He relates with
human beings In this fruitful relationship That allows
for so much beauty To emanate And to
take from that religious experience And embody it
in our individual lives And then in our
community lives We get to see how that
Those polarities are navigated, related Such that rather
than exploitation and injustice We get beauty, truth,
and goodness And the society grows along these
three values Of Tawheed, values that reflect
Allah's attributes of Jamal So, repeatedly we find
these themes brought up Within what we've seen
in Surah Nisa so far Disrespect of Rasulullah
ﷺ in this regard Not realizing the central
position that he has In the development of
this kind of a community Was alluded to
in the very last ayah that we spoke
about And we continue from there وَلَوْ أَنَّ
كَتَبْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ أَنِ قُتُلُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ And had we
imposed upon them أَنِ قُتُلُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ That kill
yourselves or kill each other أو يَقْرُجُوا مِن
دِيَارِكِمْ Or just leave your homes مَا فَعَلُوهُ
إِلَّا قَلِيلٌ مِّنْهُمْ They would not have done
so except a few of them وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ
فَعَلُوا مَا يُعَظُونَ بِهِ And if they do
what they are advised to do لَكَانَ خَيْرًا
لَهُمْ وَأَشَدَّ تَثْبِيطًا It will be better for
them and a firmer position With respect to
faith As far as their claims are concerned
The claims of faith that they've made Again,
remember the context منافقين المكة المدينة, sorry Having
attested to Rasulullah's truth But resorting to it
at will At pleasure When it suits them
They would swing towards Rasulullah When it doesn't
suit them They would swing somewhere else Ignore
Rasulullah altogether And when that did not work
out very well for them They come crying
to Rasulullah once again And they're being told
Hang on, make up your minds This is
not how it works This is not how
it works The claims and the degree to
which The claims have been made by you
They entail that Even if God were to
ask you to kill yourselves He should have
done that He's not asking that of you
Even if he did Your claims entail that
you should have But he's asking much, much,
much, much Much less than that And even
that's so difficult for you So what is
it that your belief Is practically leading you
towards?
If it is going to be arbitrary as
it is And what is that arbitrariness then
Unconsciously driven by?
Wish Unconscious desire Personal satisfaction That's all there
is to it then And if that's what
becomes the order of the day If that's
how everyone starts to use religion Chaos Utter
chaos And if they had done that If
they had Whatever they have been exhorted to
do Had they done that The little that
is asked of them That would have been
better for them And we would have granted
them A great reward Especially from ourselves Personally
we would have given them a reward وَلَهَدَيْنَاهُمْ
سِرَاطًا مُسْتَقِيمًا And we would have guided them
To a straight path The more you practically
proceed Along the path The further the path
opens up وَمَن يُطْعِ اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولُ And whoever
obeys Allah and the Messenger فَأُولَئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ
أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ These are the people who
are going to be In the company of
those Allah has blessed, favoured The an'amta
alayhim that you ask for Every time you
pray Fatiha إِهْدِنَا السِّرَاطِ الْمُسْتَقِيمِ Which Sirat?
سِرَاطِ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ Who are those?
أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ مِنَ النَّبِيِّجِينَ The Prophets وَالصِّدِّيقِينَ
The people of truth The صِدِّيقِينَ وَالشُهَدَاءَ Those
who really bore witness وَالصَّالِحِّينَ And the righteous
ones So these four categories of أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ
Only one of them inaccessible Which is نَبِيِّجِينَ
This one category Inaccessible to human beings From
after Rasulullah ﷺ No Anbiya The other three
صِدِّيقِينَ شُهَدَاءَ صَالِحِينَ Doors open Doors open This
is what أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ Is comprised of This
is what Paradise is comprised of And this
is what following in The footsteps of Rasulullah
ﷺ Leads to This is that That club
that you wanted Membership of How do you
do that?
You don't just sign up for it You
work for it Signing up is important, yes
But you work for it The effort that
gets put in صِدِّيقِينَ The شُهَدَاءَ And the
righteous وَحَسُنَ أُولَئِكَ رَفِيقًا And what awesome companions
What amazing companions What more could you hope
for?
The best people to have ever Walked the
face of this planet You will be in
their midst Chit-chatting Talking Asking questions Getting
answers Them asking you questions You know, there's
going to be A whole lot of that
going on That's the That's what you're Those
are the opportunities That are being opened up
for you ذَلِكَ الْفَضْلُ مِنَ اللَّهِ That is
the bounty That is the fabul From Allah
The gift from Allah Fabul, again, recall More
than what you It's a bonus There is
your reward For the effort that you put
in The paycheck, if you will And then
there's the bonus There is that which is
given Beyond what is owed Beyond what is
deserved That's the fabul وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ عَلِيمًا And
Allah is sufficient to know يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا You who have believed خُذُوا حِذْرَكُم Take
your precautions فَانْفِرُوا ثُبَاتٍ أَفِنْفِرُوا جَمِيعًا And advance
in companies Or all together One of the
things that was Incredibly difficult for the hypocrites
As we've seen in the previous passage Is
to accept the authority Of Rasulullah ﷺ And,
of course, the authority Of Rasulullah ﷺ It
really makes one wonder That it's Rasulullah ﷺ
Why would you be unwilling To accept his
authority?
But this disease It runs so deep That
even if it is The best human being
ever Accepting authority Doesn't come easy Giving respect
Doesn't come easy Disciplining yourself In front of
another human being Doesn't come easy That discipline
And how necessary it is For an individual's
growth Or an assimilation Within a community Of
course, that has to be respected By those
in authority That's what most of The surah
was about Anarchy Not utter disrespect Means
no growth Means you have signed up For
me, myself, and I That I am going
to I'm a lone wolf I go solo
I'm not going to take teachers I'm not
going to take Leaders, nothing And that's very
demonic That's how shaitan Chose to operate He
couldn't accept Adam ﷺ This is The munafiqeen
are on that legacy And so even when
they are Part of a Community with a
leader They can't live up to it They
can't accept it Another human being's Superiority Is
difficult to swallow In any domain And not
being able to Humble yourself before that In
front of that Is destructive It leads for
the hypocrisy To grow To exponential levels To
the hatred Of anyone in authority And The
second problem That opens the doors to hypocrisy
And makes it exponentially worse Is when you're
required To put in the effort The work,
the sacrifice, the jihad The two things that
they had issues with That exemplifies how you
get Put off track Unable to accept Authority,
unable to respect In their particular case Rasulullah
ﷺ And how we see From within this
surah That this respect for Rasulullah ﷺ It
extends to Respecting Whoever it is that you've
taken up As an authority after him That's
part of the organizational dynamics It has to
extend For that organization That movement To develop
To do what it has to do The
second problem That of not being willing to
Jihad is another way of saying Infaq fee
sabeelillah Because now it's Infaq taken to the
highest level In this particular context In Madinah
Rasulullah ﷺ There's Madinah and Makkah are at
war And in the middle of war You
can't have these absconders You can't have these
yellow bellies You can't have the entire community
Conspiring To go against authority And more in
favor Of those who have openly Declared their
animosity And enmity So fanfiroo thubatina winfiroo jami
'a So advance in companies Or advance all
together Whatever the situation Mandates Wa inna minkum
lamalla yubabbi anna And there will be some
among you Who linger behind Procrastination being an
Essential attribute Of this Unwillingness To participate To
sacrifice To give Fain asabatkum masiba And if
you fall in a trouble Qala qad an
'amallahu alayhi They will say Allah has done
me a favor So that person did not
proceed with The group or the company or
the Army that he was supposed to proceed
with And that army is met with Some
difficulty Or some loss Some defeat in some
way The people that stayed back Or the
person that stayed back Is like thank God
I wasn't with them I have been so
blessed An'amallahu alayhi Allah has done me
a favor Allah has saved me That I
didn't go with them Ith lamakum ma'ahum
shahida That I wasn't present with them Wa
la'in asabakum fadlum min Allah And if
you are met from a Fadl, if you
are met with a fadl Allah gives you,
grants you Victory, success War booty, whatever it
is that you That you earn La yaqoolannaka
allamtakum Bainakumu bainahuma wada They would then speak
as if there is no Affection between you
and him That they feel no Happiness for
you That there is no connection As if
Ya laythani kuntu ma'ahum I wish I
was with them Fa'afawza Fawzan azeema I
would have been able to Achieve that great
success So the standard of success Is that
immediate Whatever Comes And if it's somebody else's
And not That person's own And he's boiling
up in jealousy The ability to be Happy
for another person For a group that you
could have been Should have been a part
of yourself That escapes them Fal yuqatil fee
sabeelillah So they should fight in the cause
of Allah Allatheena yashroona alhayatad dunya bil aakhira
Those who Sell the life of this world
for the hereafter Waman yuqatil fee sabeelillah And
whoever fights in the cause of Allah Fa
yuqatal aw yaghlib Then he is either killed
or is victorious Fasawfa nu'theehi ajran azeema We
will bless him With a great reward Wamanakum
la tuqatiluna fee sabeelillah And what is wrong
with you?
You don't fight in the way of Allah
Wal musta'du'afina minal rijali wal nisa'i
wal wildan And they are oppressed people Men,
women, and children Allatheena yaqooloon Who are crying
Rabbana akhrijna min hadhihi alqariyati alzalimi ahluha Our
Rabb, rescue us from this town Whose people
are oppressors Waj'al lana min ladunka walija
Against and appoint Some protector For us Especially
from yourself So there is a group of
people oppressed By these tyrants By these pharaohs
And they are Utterly helpless and all they
can really do Is make dua And then
there is this Group of people Who is
capable of helping them Especially in Mecca Not
everyone was able to migrate Not everyone was
able to join Rasool Allah In Medina At
that time To defect To look to develop
Diplomatic ties When war has been announced When
these people are being oppressed And tortured Incarcerated
Imprisoned Why does that make sense?
And so that is being thrown out to
them Do you realize what this war is
for?
You're looking at the war booty That comes
in The loss that comes in Zoom out
Zoom out the bigger picture There's people that
are oppressed That need to be liberated And
even more broadly The idea The entire Spirit
Is that of Liberating people That they're Imprisoned
Enslaved They don't have the freedom that is
necessary The one value That is necessary For
them to live up to their Potentials It
is the weak people From men Women and
children That this Is in favor of Especially
from yourself Personally Send us a helper So
those who've believed They fight in the cause
of Allah Those who disbelieve They fight in
the cause of Those who disbelieve Now those
Forces that have Overstepped or transgressed Their limits,
their boundaries And they have Looked to claim
Divinity Looked to claim what is rightfully Allah's
So fight these Friends of shaytan And for
sure the plan of shaytan Has always been
weak So
with that We conclude this ruku And We
move on to the next passage This is
ruku number 11 Haven't you seen those Who
were told to restrain their hands And establish
prayer And pay zakah But when fighting Was
ordained for them A group of them Fears
people Like the fear of Allah Or even
more So now The command Usually you will
find You will find groups that The past
2-3 ayahs that we just Studied They
are the go-to Ayahs Right They are
always reciting those ayahs That Those are the
ayahs To go to And they are the
highest form of serving Allah's religion In this
day and age And they hold to that
understanding And they hold to that methodology And
they go ahead with it for whatever the
results that are coming out The idea being
The same The weak people From men, women
and children They were There at the time
The decade More than a decade spent in
Mecca as well From the announcement of Rasulullah
Prophethood All the way to migration There were
There were Who could have been More of
a Than those Who And then all the
other slaves who were tortured All the other
Even non-slaves But weaker people within Mecca
Who were What did they not go through
But what was the command then And you
will not find The command Anywhere within the
Quran This was through the authority Of Rasulullah
It was communicated Even the Quran is communicated
Through the authority of Rasulullah But then There
is that Which does not become a part
of The Quran as such As we know
it Rasulullah Had told The Sahaba Within Mecca
come what may No retaliation No retaliation whatsoever
The idea is not that Qital becomes The
highest and the only Absolute end within itself
It is a means to a higher end
And if that Means is going to be
Counterproductive if it is going to be If
it is going to cause If it is
going to cause more fitna More chaos Then
you are looking to eradicate Through it Then
it doesn't make sense Hold back There are
some very important prerequisites A lot of them
requiring decades If not generations To live up
to Before you can Before you get that
license And To see that Because if it
In Mecca with the Being in their own
place Rasulullah and the Sahaba Had retaliated That
was the end That was it You are
not supposed to be idiotic You are not
supposed to As we will see in Surat
Anfal There is a respect That you have
to show For the treaties and the contracts
That you have You cannot look to in
the name of jihad Or in the name
of qital or any of these things Betray
What you have Signed Openly declared as peace
treaties It is inhumane It is un-Quranic
It is Contrary to The Sunnah of Rasulullah
You don't do that You don't do that
So if Was The Order of the day
That is understood as such But we will
identify Within Unfortunately in this day and age
People who would Ignore the context Altogether Look
at the progression from Mecca to Medina As
a linear progression That after it has already
happened What has now come in Medina Is
absolute Until the day of judgment There is
no Higher service than Just fighting, fighting, fighting
Fighting for the sake of fighting Not fighting
for the sake of Allah It is Jihad
was When did Allah become Interesting And Necessarily
when that Happens is when That which is
within you The urge to Dominate for power
For revenge For retaliation It
becomes God And chaos Results So they were
told in Mecca Hang on, no retaliation Prayer,
zakah And in Mecca, zakah was Anything you
could spend Focus on Developing yourselves Becoming those
people who are worthy For when they have
power They will use it for justice Rather
than exploitation Some of them when Retaliation was
mandated Now they can't make the transition They're
having a difficulty Adjusting A group of them
Fears people Like the fear of Allah Or
more than the fear of Allah And they
say Why did you obligate Fighting upon us
Could you not have delayed that For some
time Maybe after we died Tell them utility
Of this world Is little And the hereafter
is better For the people who have taqwa
And you will not be treated Unfairly even
to the extent Of a thread of a
date stone Wherever you are Death is going
to find you What is this What is
holding you back from giving From sacrificing Fear
of loss And ultimately that manifests as fear
of death Itself وَلَوْ كُنْتُمْ فِى بُرُوجٍ مُشَيَّدًا
Wherever you are Death will overtake you Even
if you're in a fortified tower وَإِن تُصِبْهُمْ
حَسَنًا And when these people are blessed with
some fortune يَقُولُوا هَذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ They
say it is from Allah For sure وَإِن
تُصِبْهُمْ سَجِئَةً But if a misfortune confronts them
يَقُولُوا هَذِهِ مِنْ عِنْدِكِ They say to the
Prophet This is because of you قُلُوا هَذِهِ
مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ Tell them it is all
from Allah فَمَا لِهَا أُولَٰئِ الْقَوْمُ So what
is wrong with these people لا يَكَادُونَ يَفْقَهُونَ
حَدِيثًا They don't understand anything So again their
hatred for struggling Sacrificing And their hatred for
the Prophet comes together مَا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ حَسَنَةٍ
فَمِنَ اللَّهِ Tell them whatever beneficial Comes to
you It is by the grace of Allah
وَمَا أَصَابَكَ مِنْ سَجِئَةٍ فَمِنْ نَفْسِكَ And whatever
calamity you do face Is the consequence of
your own actions وَأَرْسَلْنَاكَ And we have sent
you Ya Rasulullah لِلنَّاسِ رَسُولَ As a messenger
for mankind So although Everything is from Allah
But there is A role that human choices
Do play And they have to be regarded
And made part of Allah's bigger plans مَنْ
يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعُ اللَّهِ وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا
And Allah is sufficient as a witness مَنْ
يُطِعِ الرَّسُولَ فَقَدْ أَطَاعُ اللَّهِ Anyone who obeys
the messenger obeys Allah وَمَنْ تَوَلَّ And those
who turn away فَمَا أَرْسَلْنَكَ عَلَيْهِمْ حَفِيظًا Let
them know that you have not been sent
as a guardian over them You're not harming
the messenger of Allah His Authority Or his
Reward with Allah is preserved You turning away
Is going to be on you وَيَقُولُونَ الطَّاعَةَ
They talk of obedience They talk of discipline
They talk of listening and obeying فَإِذَا بَرَزُوا
مِنْ عِنْدِكَ But as soon as they leave
your presence بَيَّتَ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْهُمْ وَغَيْرَ الَّتِي تَقُولُ
They're talking about all those things Other than
They spend the entire night plotting Other than
What they said In your presence وَاللَّهُ يَقْتُبُ
مَا يُبَيِّجِتُ Allah is writing down every single
thing That they're planning during the night فَأَعْرِبْ
عَنْهُمْ So leave them, let them be وَتَوَكَّلْ
عَلَى اللَّهِ And put your trust in Allah
Even when they're showing all of these signs
Allah knows And Rasulullah ﷺ is being told
but don't take any action against them.
Let them be.
At that time, nothing is to be done.
For one thing, the evidence needs to be
more apparent for everyone to see.
And for another thing, there are already way
too many battlefronts that have been opened up.
You don't want to open up a battlefront
from within your own ranks.
It is, it's going to get ugly.
So let them be.
Wa ghafaba billahi wakila Allah is sufficient as
a trustee to have tawakkul upon.
Afalaya tadabbaroona al-Qur'an So why don't
they ponder?
Why don't they reflect over the Qur'an?
The hypocrites recited the Qur'an.
They knew the Qur'an.
They memorized the Qur'an.
They prayed.
All of that.
Allah is asking, take it a step forward.
Why don't you reflect over it?
Why don't you ponder over it?
walaw kana min ghayri min indi ghayri Allah
Had it been from someone other than Allah,
la wajadoo feehi ikhtilafin kathira you would have
found many inconsistencies, contradictions within it.
How do you find those internal consistencies?
You reflect over it.
Allah is opening himself up, opening the Qur
'an up for this analysis.
Go ahead.
Go ahead.
By all means, check it out.
Where do you see the inconsistencies?
Where do you see it not adding up?
It is to Allah's kalam.
Allah has given a license for a secular
analysis.
Your tadabbur.
Your tadabbur as human beings.
Bring the best tools you have, by all
means.
Allah's fine with it.
He's open to it.
He's secure about it.
wa idha ja'ahum amrum minal amni awil
khawfi And whenever they hear the news of
peace or danger, adha'u bih they spread
it.
walaw raddoohu ilal rasooli wa ila ulil amri
minhum Whereas had they referred it to the
messenger or to those of whom who are
responsible.
So there's the leaders, and then there's people
who can actually do something about it.
Everyone else, what are they gonna do?
Accept, spread fear, panic, chaos.
If it is an item or a news
that requires for people to know so that
they can act in a certain way, fair
enough.
But if all that's going to do is
spread panic, and now you have these random
people with no authority, with no expertise, with
no background knowledge, with no real action that
they can do, all of a sudden just
talking about this and that and going to
him and going to her and then spreading
this news, there's utter chaos.
It's breaking news.
It's all over the TV channels and everyone's
talking about it and people are getting their
panic attacks and their anxieties are being triggered
and they're getting episodes and what's going on?
Why doesn't it, why can't it be taken
to people that it actually concerns?
laAAalimahu allatheena yastambitoonahu minhum And had it been
taken to those who are in the positions
of leadership, who are responsible and the messenger,
people with knowledge, the people would have come
to a conclusion based on the knowledge that
they have.
walaw laa fadlullahi So laAAalimahu allatheena yastambitoonahu minhum
It would have come to the knowledge of
those who could draw the right conclusion.
walaw laa fadlullahi AAalaykum wa rahmatuh And had
it not been for the favor of Allah
and His mercy upon you, laa attabaAAatum shaytaana
illa qaleela With few exceptions, all of you
would have followed shaytaan.
It was opening the doors for people to
just go crazy and in the frenzy, ruin
things even more in the footsteps of shaytaan.
It is the favor of Allah that you
were protected of it.
faqatil fee thabeelillah So fight in the cause
of Allah.
laa tukallafu illa nafsak You are not held
responsible except for yourself, Ya Rasulullah.
wa kharridhal mu'mineen And urge the believers to
fight.
a'tallahu ayn yakuffa ba'sa allatheedan kafaru It may
well be that Allah restrains the might, the
power for war of those who refuse to
believe.
wallahu ashabdu ba'sa wa ashabdu tankeela Allah is
greater in might and stronger in punishment.
may yashfa'a shafa'atan hasana And whoever
mediates for a good cause.
yakun lahu naseebun minha There will be a
share for him in it.
wa may yashfa'a shafa'atan saji'a
And whoever intercedes for an evil cause.
yakun lahu kiflu minha Will have a portion
from it.
wa kanallahu ala kulli shay'in muqita And
Allah has ever had control over everything.
Encouraging social responsibility.
That the leadership and the people in power
who are responsible for making decisions.
If responsible citizens from within that community are
coming up to them and interceding for good,
advising good, exhorting good, sharing from what they
know for the betterment of the community that
is being encouraged.
But then you can always use this office
or this opportunity to interact with the leadership
and encourage evil.
Encourage that which is going to be against
the interests of the community.
Allah warns against that as well.
wa idha huji'tum bitahiyyatin When you are greeted
with a greeting, fahayyu bi aksana minha Let
your greetings be better than that.
awrudduha Or at least return the same.
inna allaha kana ala kulli shay'in hasiba
Definitely Allah always keeps account of everything.
It's pretty incredible that in higher talk, the
affairs of the leadership, the fight with the
Quraish, don't spread false rumors.
And by the way, spreading false rumors or
spreading rumors, even if they're true, spreading news
that doesn't concern the public, spreading it within
them is a sign of, it's a hypocritical
trait.
Why?
Because where action was necessarily required of them,
there they're not willing to act.
But here in taking the speaker and just
screaming at the top of their lungs as
to how all * has broken loose, they're
compensating for inaction where action was required.
In any case, when all of this big
stuff is being spoken of, intercede for good,
not for evil.
Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is
telling us and the community, the importance of
saying Wa'alaikum Assalam.
Something so trivial, apparently.
Something so mundane, so routine.
You're like, really?
In the context of all of what's going
on, all the big, big stuff and how
incredibly important it is for anyone in the
course of big, big stuff, in the course
of achieving or doing or looking to achieve
or looking to do, things of a greater
import, then your routine interactions, that the smallest
of actions, how you greet each other, your
openness there, your willingness there, your relational capacity
there, don't forget that.
Don't ignore that.
For if you do not take those routine
matters seriously and treat them as big, substantial,
as important, the attention, the degree of importance
that your bigger affairs require, you're not going
to be able to do that either.
If this relational capacity, this openness to random
strangers meeting each other and salamu alaykum wa
alaykum wa salam, this openness to peace or
becoming this commitment to becoming a bringer of
peace, that the person who is in conversation
with me, my intent is to come, to
provide them security, to wish well for them,
to wish better for them than what they
wish for me and what that says of
the individual and what that promises.
And if this is being done at a
regular basis, that I look to leave the
company of a people having made a difference
or at least not having made it worse.
And that's what the greeting is a reminder
for.
That is the habit or the principle of
attitude that this greeting looks to instill.
The practice in itself is important, but what
the practice is looking to instill, salamu alaykum
wa alaykum wa salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh,
my willingness to become that medium of peace,
of grace, of blessing, my heartfelt intent
of wanting peace, blessing, grace on the people
that I'm interacting with more than what they
have towards me or at least as much
as they have for me.
So let your greetings be better than, be
proactive that in this interaction, I expect myself
to give more than what I expect to
receive.
That this simple routine interaction that we're having
for as short as it may be, I
want to be on the one to give
more, to return more.
I want to be the one who gives
more benefit to the other.
And how this routine practice, mundane practice, the
habits that it instills, the attitude that it
nurtures.
Now, when these people are handling the big
affairs, you know their hearts in the right
place.
You know their hearts in the right place,
provided of course, that the spirit of the
greeting is internalized.
Inna Allaha kana ala kulli shay'in haseeba
Allah keeps everything in account.
So if you're negligent of, routine of mundane
activities during the day, do not expect that
you will be ready, willing and incredibly proficient
at the big, big stuff when the time
comes.
La ilaha illa Hu, Allah, there is no
ilah except Him.
La yajma'annakum ila yawmil qiyamah He will
definitely gather all of you on the day
of judgment.
La rayba feeh, there is absolutely no doubt
about it.
That's where the quote unquote small deeds in
the interpersonal interactions, you're gonna see their importance,
how they add it up.
Wa man asdaqu minallahi khadeetha And who is
truer in his words than Allah, who can
be more true?
Famaalakum, so what is wrong with you?
Filmunafiqeen fi'atayn, you are divided in two
groups regarding the hypocrites.
Wallahu arkathahum bima kasabu Allah has cast them
off on account of their misdeeds.
Atureeduna an tahdu man adallallah Do you wish
to now guide whom Allah has misguided?
Wa man yudhli lillah And whoever Allah misguides
Falantajida lahu sabila You will never find a
way out for him.
Arrahman, arraheem, dhul fadl He misguides as well.
Bihadi, alhadi, or bluzz, all of these
attributes, he misguides.
And the attitude of hypocrisy is such, Allah
takes personal responsibility of misguiding the hypocrites, further
and further.
Waddu lau takfuruna kama kafaru They wish that
you disbelieve as they themselves have.
They want you to be as hypocritical as
they are.
Fatakununa sawa So then you become equal.
There's movements, there's the people who are engaged
in activities of selfishness, people who are engaged
in activities of disruption and fitnah, they wouldn't
just keep it to themselves.
They're going to, there is such a massive
defense mechanism, or a series of defense mechanisms
at play where their guilt, their unconscious guilt,
because consciously they actually do think they're doing
good, is channeled, is translated, sublimated, displaced reaction
formation.
At least those three taken place, at least,
into them propagating under disguises, very beautiful
disguises, essentially what is selfish.
So they would be advocating this disobedience.
They would be advocating this anarchy.
They would be advocating this attitude of not
giving.
They would have entire philosophical systems constructed to
justify it.
They would have institutional support to justify it.
It would use the most alluring of slogans.
It's incredible.
Waddu law takfuruna kama kafur They wish that
you disbelieve as they themselves have.
Fatakununa sawa So that you become equal.
Falatatakhizu minhum awliya So don't take friends from
them.
Hatta yuhajiru fee sabeelillah Unless they immigrate in
the way of Allah.
This particular group is those people who had
the means to migrate from Makkah to Madinah,
but they didn't.
They want to stay put, and they don't
want that they're, they want to stay put,
and they don't want that their refusal to
sacrifice, refusal to migrate with Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam be held against them.
It is according, it is for these people
that the believers in Madinah are split.
Allah is saying, there's no reason to be
split.
When they should have, they should have.
That was mandatory.
That was not a voluntary exercise.
So do not take friends from them.
As of now, being in Makkah, claiming Islam,
they're dangerous.
They're living in the midst of those who
have openly declared war against Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
Hatta yuhajiru fee sabeelillah Fa'intha wallahu But
if they turn away, Fakhuzuhum waqutuluhum haythu wajattumuhum
Seize them, kill them wherever you find them.
They're with them.
They're with the other party.
Don't get fooled by their profession of Islam.
Wala tattakhidhu minhum walijan wala naseera Do not
take any friend or any helper from them.
illa allatheena yassiluna ila qawmin baynakum wa baynahum
mithaa Except those who take refuge with your
allies.
And there's, you're not openly in battle with
this other community, this other tribe.
And there are Muslims who are living with
them.
They don't necessarily have to be Muslim.
The tribe doesn't have to be Muslim.
The leadership doesn't have to be Muslim, but
Muslims are living in their midst.
It's perfectly fine.
You have alliances with them, with that tribe,
with that country, whatever it may be.
Now to rule that as, you know, they're
living in Dar al-Kufr and they're the
same as the people of Dar al-Kufr.
Come on, hang on.
Hold your fatwas.
Hold your fatwas.
Because there's pea between the countries.
There's pity between the countries.
You may have issues with that, but you
are nothing.
So hold your fatwas.
wa laa tattakhidhu minhum illa allatheena yassiluna ila
qawmin baynakum wa baynahum mithaa Except those who
take refuge with those who are your allies.
aw ja'ookum hasirat suduruhum Or approach you
as their hearts are strained.
in yuqatilukum aw yuqatilu qawmun From fighting against
you or fighting against their own people.
walaw sha'allahu lasallatahum AAalaykum If Allah wanted,
He would have given them power over you.
fala qatalukum And then they would have fought
you.
faina i'tazalukum But if they stay away from
you.
falam yuqatilukum And they don't fight against you.
wa alqaw ilaykumus salam And they offer you
peace.
fama ja'alallahu lakum AAalaykum sabila And Allah
does not give you any permission to fight
against them.
So there's that one category that you should
attack because there is no guarantee of peace
from them.
And they're living in the midst of the
enemy.
And then there's that other category who are
not living with the enemy.
They're living with those that you have an
alliance with.
Perfectly okay.
Do not touch them.
And then there's this third part who have
come out and they're unwilling to side either
ways.
And they're giving you a commitment that they're
not going to fight against you.
Allah says no action against them.
tatajiduna aakharina yuriduna in ya'manukum wa ya'manu qawmin
You will find others who want to have
security from you and security from their own
people.
kulla maa ruddu ilal fitnati urqisu feeha Every
time they're sent back with temptation, they plunge
into it.
So they come and they tell you that
they're not going to fight against you.
And then they go back and the opportunity
comes, they do fight against you.
fa illam ya'tazilukum So if they don't stay
away from you, wayulqu ilaykumu salam and they
don't offer you peace, wayakufu aydiyahum and they
do not hold back their offense against you,
fakhudhuhum muqtuluhum haythu thaqiftumuhum Seize them, kill them,
wherever you find them.
fa ulaikum ja'alna lakum alayhim sultanan mubeena
These are the people against whom we have
given you a clear license.
wa maa kana li mu'minan an yaqtula mu'minan
illa khata'a And it is not permissible
for a believer to kill another believer except
by accident.
wa man qatala mu'minan fatta'an And whoever
killed a believer by accident, fatahreeru raqabatin mu'minah
Then he must set a believing slave free,
wadiyatun musallamatun ila ahlih and also give blood
money to the family of the victim illa
an yassaddaqu unless they let it go of
their own free will.
fa in kana min mu'min qawmin adoo villakum
wa huwa mu'minun But if the victim is
a believer that belongs to a people hostile
to you, fatahreeru raqabatin mu'minah Then the penalty
is only to set a believing slave free.
So if there's war going on.
wa in kana min qawmin baynakum wa baynahum
yithaq But if he belongs to your allies,
fadiyatun musallamatun ila ahlih wadahreeru raqabatin mu'minah Then
he will have to pay blood money to
the family of the victim and also set
a believing slave free.
fa malam yajid And those who find this
beyond their means fa siyawu shahrayni mutatabi'ayn
Then they must fast for two months continuously.
tawbatan minallah That is the way of repentance
prescribed by Allah.
wa kanallahu aliman hakeema And Allah is ever
knowing wise.
It may not be a murder as such.
It's manslaughter.
It is by accident.
Nevertheless, the accident, there was some level of
negligence somewhere.
There are some level of precautions that weren't
taken.
A, B, there's always guilt.
No matter how accidental the death may have
been, there is guilt.
And these means, these activities, these actions are
the best way to have a good part
of that guilt addressed so it doesn't become
debilitating.
C, the community has suffered.
The community has suffered.
That was a potential, an incredible social potential
that dies off with the person.
So that has to be compensated as best
as possible as well.
The compensations and the methods of compensation advocated
are for that, towards those ends.
wa man yaqtul mu'minan mutaAAamidan And whoever killed
the believer intentionally, fa jazaahuhu jahannam thalidan feeha
His punishment is hellfire to be there forever.
wa ghathiballahu AAalayhi wa laAAana And Allah is
angered at him and curses him.
waAAadda lahu AAadhaaban AAadheema And has prepared for
him a great punishment.
Again, this is the addresses to ya ayyuha
allatheena aamanu the Muslim community.
The perpetrator is a Muslim.
ya ayyuha allatheena aamanu You who have believed
idhaa dharabtum fee sabeelillah When you go out
in the way of Allah, fatabayyanu Investigate carefully.
wa laa taqooloo liman alqaa ilaykumus salaama lasta
mu'mina Never say to anyone who offers you
a salutation of peace, a salaam, that you
are not a believer.
tabtaghoona AAaradha alhayati dunya Seeking the good in
this world only.
faAAindallahi maghanimu katheera There are many acquisitions.
There are many, there's a whole lot more
with Allah with respect to the war booty,
with respect to spoils of war, whatever you
want.
There's a whole lot more with Allah and
beyond that in akhira.
hithalika kuntum min qabla You were also like
that earlier.
So particularly referencing an incident that took place
with Usama bin Zayd radiAllahu ta'ala anhu
Rasulullah ﷺ is very close to Usama.
He is Zayd's son.
Zayd was for the most part as close
to a son as could have been to
Rasulullah ﷺ.
He was his freed slave.
He was the closest, the Umar radiAllahu ta
'ala anhu said to Abdullah bin Umar.
When Abdullah bin Umar complained that my stipend
that I get from the government is less
than Usama's, why is Usama getting more?
Hazrat Umar responded, he said, because he was
more beloved to Rasulullah ﷺ than you were
and his father was more beloved to Rasulullah
ﷺ than your father.
And it is said that had Zayd been
alive at the time that Rasulullah ﷺ passed
away, there would have been no question, no
debate as to who could have been the
khalifa after Rasulullah ﷺ.
So the closeness and then when Usama bin
Zayd, you can practically say that he grew
up in the care of Rasulullah ﷺ as
a grandfather.
And when he, it's war, it's a state
of war.
Medina is in a state of war.
There's expeditions, there's battles.
One such altercation, the one that Usama is
in conflict with, prior to being killed, professes
Islam.
Usama does not pay heed to that.
He thinks that this is a strategy.
He's just using this to get out of
the situation that he's in to escape with
his life and that he doesn't mean it.
And so he goes ahead and he finishes
him off the way he was originally intending.
But there is, he's still carrying something in
his heart.
Did I do the right thing?
And so he does report the incident and
Rasulullah is angered.
Rasulullah ﷺ, why would you do that?
Why would you do that?
And the ayat come in and say, no,
you can't do that.
If he is, you have to take that
profession of faith at face value.
You have to park your suspicion to a
side.
Even if everything in the situation about the
person is pointing in the direction that this
is a suspicious claim.
This is not a true claim.
Do not.
Rather, Allah extends his suspicion towards Usama.
And it's more than a suspicion, right?
It's coming from Allah.
You just, you wanted immediate victory.
You wanted the arms that he was gonna
leave behind.
Would you do that?
You have to accept at face value the
claim that's being made.
Park your suspicion to a side.
fa'inda Allahi maghanimu kathira kathalika kuntum min
qabla Do not forget.
Do not forget.
That's where you came from.
That is where you came from.
That side of that person and what they're
doing may be so reprehensible to you.
It may be very, it may look very
ugly to you.
You may hate it.
You may be resentful towards it, whatever.
But at the end of the day, the
degree of hatred or anger that you feel,
remember that you were like that.
Remember that you were no different.
Remember your days when you were as ignorant,
when you were as idiotic.
And let that memory that you consciously put
yourself through allow for you to relate, allow
for you to empathize and help rather than
oppose the person you're facing.
kathalika kuntum min qabla You were also like
that earlier.
fammanna Allahu alaykum Allah favored you.
If you're, what you see in the other
person, especially when it reminds you of you,
if that reminder of the other person of
your own past is, and you're very ashamed
of that past, and you should be ashamed
of that past, but you're not willing to
consciously dwell on that and how ashamed you
are.
You want to avoid the distress of those
memories.
It is going to make you even angrier
at the other person because mixed with that
anger is that guilt or how could I
have been that stupid all that time?
Why did I not listen earlier?
Why did I not respond earlier?
Why wasn't I born like this?
All of that.
You don't want to dwell on that.
You don't want to think about it.
It's distressful.
You brush it under the carpet.
You push it to a side.
You see the other person and you boil
up.
Now the anger is not just against that
person.
It's against your own former self as well.
It is your own guilt that is now,
all of it is coming out against that
person.
Remember who you are.
Allah favored you.
You need to favor this person.
Allah did not hold that attitude against you.
Allah forgave you.
Allah brought you closer to him.
He gave you knowledge.
He gave you opportunity.
He guided you further along the way.
You matured spiritually, intellectually, in whatever other way.
Do not forget your origins.
Do not forget your origins.
And when you see somebody who is at
the beginning or far, even somewhere else along
the way, at the level where you were
at some point, their journey hasn't started.
Your journey hadn't started as well, there was
a point.
Be with them as Allah was with you.
Allah favored you.
Remember Allah's favor in that.
Remembering Allah's favor is the remembering of a
debt that you pay off by finding others
in that situation and helping them out, rather
than being condescending towards them.
So investigate carefully.
Allah is ever informed of what you do.
Those of the believers who stay at home
without any disability, they're not equal.
To those struggling in the cause of Allah
with their properties and lives.
Allah has granted a higher status to those
who strive with their property and person over
those who stay at home.
And Allah has promised good reward for all
of them.
Yet Allah has distinguished the Mujahideen, those who
strive in Allah's cause above those who sit
behind by a great reward.
In degrees of ranks from him.
Again, at this time, fighting was not mandatory,
but those who voluntarily went ahead, of course
that exalted them in status and reward.
Wa maghfiratan warahma.
And in addition, forgiveness and mercy.
Wa kanallahu ghafoora raheema.
And Allah is ever forgiving, merciful.
Inna allatheena tawaffaahumul malaa'ikah.
Those whom the angels take over at death.
Zhalimi anfusihim.
While they were unfair to themselves, this is
particularly with respect to those who did not
migrate with Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
Fa'alu feema kuntum.
And the angels asked them, in what condition
were you?
Fa'alu kunna mustad'afeena fil-ard.
They said, we were oppressed.
We were victims in the land.
Fa'alu alamta kun ardullahi wasi'atun fatuhajiru
feeha.
Angels would respond, was the earth of Allah
not spacious enough for you to emigrate?
To leave.
Fa'ula'ika ma'uwaahum jahannam.
So for them, * will be their refuge.
Wasa'at masira.
And it is an evil destination.
You can't play the victim card on God.
You can't say, I couldn't.
Allah knows exactly who couldn't and who could.
And who could have taken the means so
that their state of couldn't would change.
Who could?
That had they migrated, they could have done
that.
Then all of what they couldn't do in
Mecca under the oppression of the Quraysh, they
would have been able to do with Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
All of what they were forced to do
in opposition of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, they
could have left that, but they didn't.
This victim card don't work.
Illa al-mustada'a fina minal rijali wal
-nisa'i wal-wildan.
However, the oppressed, from men, women, and children,
there are those who are genuinely victimized for
whom there was no way of escape.
No matter what, they couldn't have left.
They were locked up.
They were incarcerated.
They didn't have the means to make the
journey or the health to make the journey.
la yastati'una haylatan wa la yahtaduna sabila
Who are unable to devise a plan and
also did not find any way of doing
so.
fa-ulayka asallahu an ya'fuAAan These, Allah
will for sure overlook their sins.
wa kaanAllahu aqooban ghafoora And Allah is ever
lenient, forgiving.
wa man yuhaajil fee sabeelillah And whoever migrates
in the name of Allah, yajid fee al
-ardi muraghuman kateeran wasaAAa He will find places
of refuge and abundant resources on earth.
wa man yakhruj min baytihi muhaajidan ila Allahi
warasoolihi One who leaves his home, migrating to
Allah and his messenger, thumayudrikhu almawt And death
overtakes him.
faqad waqAAa ajruhu AAala Allah His reward is
reserved upon Allah.
wa kaanAllahu ghafoora raheema And Allah is ever
forgiving and merciful.
I think I mistranslated one of the phrases
of the ayat.
This is ayah number 99.
fa'ulayka asallahu an ya'fuAAan For such
people, there is a hope that Allah will
overlook their, will let them go, will overlook
their sins, will forgive them.
wa kaanAllahu aqooban ghafoora And Allah is ever
lenient, forgiving.
haqoobina mishnaajim wa idhaa dharabtum fee al-ard
And when you travel through the earth, fa
laysa AAalaykum janaahun an taqusuru minassalaa There is
no charge against you if you shorten your
prayer.
inqiftum an yaftinakum allatheena kaqaroo Especially when you
fear attack from disbelievers.
inna alkaafireena kaanoon lakum adooza mubeena Definitely the
disbelievers are your clear enemies.
wa idhaa kunta feehim faaqamta lahumu assalaa And
when you are among them, Ya Rasulullah, then
you lead them in prayer.
faltaqum ta'ifatum minhum maAAak Let a party
of believers stand up to pray with you.
wa liyaquzu aslihatahum Weapons in hand.
fa idhaa sajadu And when they have performed
a prostration, i.e. completed one rak'ah.
falyakoonu min waraaikum They should move to the
rear.
walta'ti ta'ifatum ukhraa lam yusallu And the
other party which has not yet prayed should
come forward.
falyusallu maAAak And pray with you.
wa liyaquzu hizrahum wa aslihatahum They should also
take the precautions and their weapons.
wadhalatheena kaqaroo The disbelievers want.
lawtaghfulunaAAan aslihatikum That if you are negligent of
your weapons and your baggage.
fayamilunaAAalaykum maylatan waahida That they should come down
upon you in a single attack.
wala junahaAAalaykum And there is no blame on
you.
in kana bikum atham min mattal in aw
kuntum mardaa If you are troubled by rain
or you are sick.
antada'u aslihatakum That you put away your
arms.
wakhudhu hizrakum Even then you should take your
shields, your protective measures.
innaAllaha aAAadda lilkaafireenaAAathabamuhina And Allah has prepared a
humiliating punishment for the disbelievers, right?
So in the battlefield, within the expeditions that
are going out, you may be attacked at
any point and you're praying.
Now this, the necessity of prayer and the
awesomeness that prayer offers and the protection that
prayer offers does not mean that you let
go of the means of protection, the material
means of protection that you have to take
up.
If an arrow strikes you while you're praying,
it will kill you, right?
So don't be in any doubt about that.
If somebody attacks you with their sword and
your tawakkul was such that you were praying
with your sword and your shield all at
a distance, they will find you at a
disadvantage.
You praying doesn't give you, doesn't offer you
a particular advantage.
So in the name of spirituality, don't be
idiots.
You take up the necessary means of protection
that you have to offer or that are
at your disposal.
And this says a lot for a people
who have given up whatever material necessities, material
realities that have to be taken up for
growth, for development, individually or as a society,
as a community, altogether in the name of
resorting to spiritual practices alone.
In the battlefield, that wasn't gonna work.
For Rasulullah and Sahaba, that wasn't gonna work.
Why in the world is that gonna work
for us?
That negligence, that idiocy, that escapism from responsibility
in the name of spirituality.
Allah absolves himself from sanctioning anything like that,
from mandating anything like that.
He has nothing to do with that.
He doesn't wanna have anything to do with
that.
Other than that, Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, when
he's there, of course, the Sahaba would want
for him to pray behind him.
So rather than having two separate sets of
prayers with another Imam, the way it was
described as we just studied, even outside of
war when traveling, the relaxation for prayer or
shorten the prayer is extended, right?
And we do that still.
We're not in a state of war.
We're not under threat, but when traveling, it
is allowed to shorten the prayer.
So even after you complete your prayer, remember
Allah while standing, sitting and reclining or laying
down on your sides.
But if you are out of danger, establish
regular prayer.
So there's prayer as dhikr, and then there's
the adhkar outside of prayer as we see
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, remembering Allah in pretty
much every routine activity that he was engaged
in.
Inna salata kanat alal mu'minina kitaban laquta And
for sure, salah has been made obligatory for
believers at prescribed times.
wala tahinu fibtigha alqawm So seek out the
people relentlessly an takoonu ta'lamoon If you
have been suffering, fa innahum ya'lamoonak tama
ta'lamoon They have been suffering like you
have been suffering.
wa tarjuna min Allahi ma la yarjoon But
you hope from Allah what they cannot hope
from Allah.
wa kanallahu aleemun hakeema And Allah is ever
knowing and wise.
inna anzalna ilayka alkitaba bilhaq We have definitely
revealed the book to you in truth, Ya
Rasulullah, li tahkuma bayna an-naas So that
you judge between people bima araaka Allah As
Allah has shown you wa la takoon lilqa
imina khaseema But do not become an advocate
for the deceitful.
wa astaghfirillah And ask Allah to forgive.
inna Allaha kana ghafoora raheema Allah is for
sure forgiving and merciful.
So there was an incident in which a
hypocrite stole from a Muslim.
And now he led the trail such that
he tried to make it seem that a
Jewish, someone, a Jew had stolen from the
Muslim.
And the trail was followed and the Jew
was implicated.
He was blamed.
The family of that person, the hypocrite, started
putting pressure on Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and
play all these Muslim-Jewish cards so that
their person, the hypocrite, who was Muslim would
not be punished for the crime.
So Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
steps in and makes it very clear that
these double standards are not going to stand.
Justice needs to be across the board.
If that person is Muslim, all the more
so.
wastaghfirillah inna Allaha kana ghafoora raheema wala tujadil
AAani allatheena yakhtaanoona anfusa We do not plead
on behalf of those who betray themselves.
inna Allah la yuhibbu man kana khubwaan anatheema
Definitely Allah does not like the habitual sinful
deceiver.
What is the habit of sinful deceiving taking
place?
Primarily against their own selves.
yakhtaanoona anfusa They are doing this khayana against
their own selves.
yastaghfoona min anath They hide from the people.
wala yastaghfoona min Allah But they can't hide
from Allah.
wahuwa maAAahum And He is with them.
idh yubajjitoona maa laa yardaa minal qawli Even
when they by night discuss what He does
not approve of.
wakaanallahu bimaa yaAAmaloona maa hayta And Allah encompasses
all of what they do.
haa antum haa ulaa ijadaltum anhum fil hayaatid
dunya Here, these are the people who may
argue, you may argue for them in the
life of this world.
famayyujaadilool laaha anhum yaumal qiyama But who would
plead for them before Allah on the Day
of Judgment?
amman yakoon alayhim wakila Or who will be
their advocate?
The Rasulullah ﷺ would say openly that some
of you may deceive me in this world
and may make me rule in their favor.
But remember that on the Day of Judgment,
Allah is going to call you to account.
You may have been able to con me
or deceive me into thinking that you are
on the right or that you deserve something
or the case should be ruled in your
favor.
And I may end up doing that.
I may end up doing that.
But on the Day of Judgment, Allah is
going to put everything right.
But do not think if you get a
decision from me by deceiving me, do not
think that that is going to hold in
your favor in the court of Allah.
waman ya'mal soo'an aw yazlim nafsahu And
whoever commits a sin or wrongs himself, thumma
yastaghfira Allah and then asks Allah to forgive,
yajidillaha ghafooro raheema He will find Allah forgiving
and merciful.
waman yaksib ithman And whoever earns a sin,
fa innama yaksibuhu ala nafsi He earns it
to his own loss.
wakaanallahu aleeman hakeema And Allah is ever-knowing
and wise.
waman yaksib khati'atan or ithman and whoever
makes an error or commits a sin, thumma
yarmi bihi bari'a and charges an innocent
person with it.
The Jewish man was innocent.
faqad ikhtamala buhdano wa ithman mubeena He has
the burden of a slander and a flagrant
sin.
walaw la fadlullahi AAalayka wa rahmatuh And was
it not for the mercy of Allah, for
the favor of Allah and His mercy upon
you, ya Rasulullah la hammat ta'ifatun minhum
anyu dilluka A group of them would have
misled you.
They were determined to waylay you.
wa ma yudilluna illa anfusan But they mislead
none but themselves.
wa ma yadurrunaka min shay And no way
will they ever be able to harm you.
wa anzalallahu AAalayka al-kitaba wal-hikma And
Allah has revealed to you the commands and
the wisdom.
wa allamaka ma lam takun ta'alam And
He has taught you what you could otherwise
never have known.
wa kaana fadlullahi AAalayka AAazeema And Allah's fadl
upon you, ya Rasulullah, is incredible.
la khayra fee katheerin min najwaahum There is
no good in most of their secret meetings.
Again, the practice of a group of hypocrites
within a larger group of Muslims.
In this case, of course, Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam's community in Medina.
They would have their secret meetings.
When meetings have already taken place with Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, they would have follow-up
meetings.
They would have, and they would offer their
analyses.
They would offer their readings.
They would offer their commentary on what went
around in the meetings.
And gently and slowly and gradually, how they
disagree with Rasulullah and how Rasulullah is wrong
or misled or misguided or whatever, starts coming
out in these meetings.
And from there, justifications emanate for how they
are planning to go against those decisions.
la khayra fee katheerin min najwaahum Most of
these secret meetings, there's no good in them.
illa man amra bi-sadaqatina wa ma'rufina
wa islahim bayna an-naas Except for those
that promote charity or virtual reconciliation between the
people.
At times, those meetings become inevitable.
Not that no two people who are not
in the presence of their leadership, that they
can't talk to each other.
Of course they can, they have to.
And as long as those meetings or those
conversations are intended towards good, that's fine.
Otherwise, you're opening the doors for hypocritical activity
within the structure.
wa mayyaf al-dhaliq And whoever does that,
ibtigha ammardaatillah Seeking the pleasure of Allah, promoting
charity, virtue, reconciliation.
fasawfa nu'teehi aliman azeema We will soon give
him a great reward.
These sorts of meetings, definitely encouraged.
wa mayyu shaaqi qirrasool And whoever opposes the
messenger.
See, if they have a disagreement, the proper
platform for it, the proper way of getting
it addressed is to take it up with
the leadership itself, with the person in charge
or the one who is superior to that
person.
Follow the proper hierarchy.
But if that hierarchy is not going to
be respected and you're just randomly talking to
another person, a random person in the organization
or the institution, whatever the case may be,
and then bringing a third person in and
a fourth person in.
And before you know it, you have a
little lobby.
And that lobby is backbiting against the leadership
itself and how the lobby knows so much
better than the idiotic leadership.
And before you know it, this lobby is
strengthening and it is breaking the institution or
the movement or the organization or whatever it
is, whatever good that organization has set out
to do for itself is breaking up from
the inside.
wa mayyu shaaqi qirrasool And whoever opposes the
messenger.
mim ba'di ma tabayyin alahu alhuda After the
guidance has been manifest to him.
wa yattabi' ghayra sabeelil mu'mineen Follows the path
other than that of the believers.
The sabeelil mu'mineen was what the consensus was
when everyone was present.
They're breaking that consensus.
They didn't speak up when that conversation was
taking place or they did and they did
not like that their opinion was not seen
to be the best opinion or best way
forward for the group.
They did not like that their opinion wasn't
taken seriously.
They could not swallow that.
And so they had to reiterate their opinion
in every which other way to other anyone
who would listen.
And that's where they started recruiting within.
Now this makes, of course, Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam and the sahaba radiAllahu ta'ala anhum
when they're the top of that leadership, you
know that they're giving adequate opportunity for everyone
to voice that opinion and that is being
given the weightage that it deserves within organizations
and within structures where this opportunity is not
given, where the members are not given the
space that they deserve, the freedom that they
need to voice their opinions, their feedback, where
they stand, given the contributions that they've made.
If that space is not given, that in
itself necessitates the frustration that they will go
ahead and go around creating their own lobbies.
So it's the responsibility in both ends.
Here it's clear that Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
is giving that space to everyone, yet despite
that, this sort of a practice is taking
place.
وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ السَّبِيلِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ And so they follow
the path other than that of the believers.
And this is the phrase from which the
understanding of ijma' is also drawn.
نُوَلِّهِمَا تَوَلَّى And we will give him what
he has chosen وَنُسْتِهِ جَهَنَّمَ And we will
throw him in the hellfire وسَأَة مَصِيرًا And
it is an evil destination.
Of course, this applies to the hypocrites at
that time when they're doing this against Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the contentment of the
sahaba at that time.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِ And
Allah does not forgive any association to him.
وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ But he
will forgive sins other than that for whoever
he wills.
وَمَنْ يُشْرِك بِاللَّهِ And whoever commits shirk with
Allah فَقَدْ بَلَّ بُلَالًا بَعِدًا He has gone
far, far away from the right path.
يَنْ يَدْعُونَ مَنْ دُونِهِ إِلَّا أَنَاثَ These pagans,
they call upon nothing but females, angels as
daughters of Allah.
So they had Laat uz-Zamanat were daughters
of Allah for them.
وَيَنْ يَدْعُونَ إِلَّا شَيْطَانًا مَرِيدًا In fact, they
call upon no one except the rebellious shaitan.
So what is the status of Laat uz
-Zamanat or what is the origin of Laat
uz-Zamanat and their theology?
The theology is demonic in its essence.
In its psychogenesis, it is extending from the
demonic within the human being and how it
has now translated into these deities outside which
are now sanctioning the injustice that this entire
polytheistic society stands for.
لَعَنَهُ اللَّهُ Allah has cursed him.
وَقَالَ لَأَتَّخِذَنَّ مِنْ عِبَادِكَ نَصِيبًا مَّفْرُودًا And he
has challenged Allah that I will definitely entice
a specific portion of your ibad.
وَلَأُبِلَّنَّهُمْ And I will definitely mislead them.
وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ And I will definitely arouse wishful beliefs
in them.
وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ And I will definitely command them.
فَلَيُبَدِّكُنَّ آذَانَ الْأَنْعَامِ So they will definitely sit
the ears of cattle.
وَلَآمُرَنَّهُمْ And I will command them.
فَلَيُغَيِّرُ النَّخَلْقَ اللَّهِ And they will alter the
creation of Allah.
وَمَنْ يَتَّخِذِ الشَّيْطَانَ وَالِيَجَىٰ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ And
whoever takes Shaytan as his protector instead of
Allah.
فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًا مُّبِينًا Then most definitely he
has failed a clear failure.
Now, I'm gonna go back to the beginning
of this ayah.
We spoke about ayatul birr, which was ayah
number 177 in surah al-Baqarah.
At that time, I spoke of an ayatul
sharf.
As opposed to that birr, there is a
sharf, there is evil.
Righteousness mentioned in that ayah, the exact opposite
of righteousness, evil, and how that proceeds mentioned
in this one, and how it is demonic
in its essence, and how it contrasts or
how it looks to corrupt what was developed
as a cohesive structure, as an interlinked, intertwined,
very deeply related understanding of righteousness as we
saw there.
So what we spoke about there was social
responsibility, right?
The giving of charity, exemplifying social responsibility.
وَآتَ الْمَالَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ ذَوِ الْقُرْبَةِ وَالْيَتَامَةِ وَالْمَسَاكِينِ
Right?
We spoke about iman, that's what the ayah
start off with.
وَلَكِنَّ الْبِرَّ مَنْ آمَنَ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ
وَقُدْبِهِ The whole iman in Allah, akhira and
prophethood, all of it.
And the third was with respect to rituals.
Wala and zakat were exemplified over there.
And then sabr and ifai ahad, that was
brought up.
And these are the people who are truly
righteous.
These are the people who have taqwa.
How does shaitan come in?
Shaitan comes in and he, أُبِلَّنَّهُمْ First, he
take them off track.
Off track meaning that which is to be
done, that which is to be carried out.
Look at this in contrast with the responsibility
that they have socially.
And why do this?
Why does this come in first?
The entire focus in surah an-nisa with
respect to social responsibility, with respect to empowering
the community, with respect to focusing on the
vulnerable segments of the community, bringing their best
potential forward.
And in order to develop that and carry
that forward, the importance of jihad fee sabilillah
was highlighted as we saw.
And how in that respect, the hypocrisy of
the hypocrites, how devastating and intolerable that is.
So wala ubillannahum.
First, take that sense of social responsibility away.
Empowering others, securing their rights, the mustabafeen, the
masakeen, the elderly, the walidayn.
Now that becomes lost on an individual or
even within the community.
You will find that a community of scripture
and degenerate community of people of scripture will
start, you will start seeing that these segments
are more and more exploited rather than empowered.
So there is misleading in that respect.
Those aspects of social responsibility, not regarded for,
not taken seriously, not a priority, if anything,
there's exploitation and abuse there.
That creates, there's clear sins, there's major responsibilities
being neglected right there.
What do you do about that?
Wala umanniyannahum.
What would have been a safety, or what
would have been a safety latch or a
safety valve within the personality of the human
being is his iman, his belief in Allah,
his understanding of akhira, his commitment to risalah,
to prophethood should have entailed a healthy guilt
that would have resulted in repair, that all
of these heinous social irresponsibilities are corrected for,
that you make amends.
That's how it should, that's how it proceeds.
We all make mistakes in interpersonal interactions.
We make errors, we may be sinful, but
that's all okay if you have that iman
inside which allows for you to rectify.
But shaitan knows how that works.
So he turns iman into amani.
Allah becomes a personal deity, an idol that
you possess.
So he becomes possessive monotheism, right?
God that I dictate to, or I take
from him what is good for me and
I ignore or reject or distort what is
against me.
I do whatever I want to in his
name.
He is my source of itminan primarily, that's
his function.
He's not my source of responsibility.
He's my source of itminan, possessive monotheism.
Akhira gets distorted to my paradise, my paradise,
their hellfire.
I'm gonna go to Jannah, even if I
go to hellfire, a little bit time there,
then paradise.
That's what akhira becomes.
The entire institution of prophethood becomes my intercessors,
right?
Those who are going to those whose love
I will exalt to an extent that they're
gonna intercede for me on the day of
judgment and how my love for him, for
the prophet is so incredible and so great
as I just expressed in that beautiful naat
that I recited, that that's it, that's all
that should be required of me.
And he's, I'm gonna be in his Kali
Kamli.
And that's pretty much it.
Part of that prophethood is the scripture.
What do you get from scripture?
Reinforcement of all of these wishful beliefs.
All there is, recitation, reward, understanding, action.
No, no, forget about that.
Forget about that.
Scripture becomes a ritual rather than having any
wisdom to offer, any knowledge to offer.
No, no, no, it's just recitation, recitation, recitation.
Scripture is banned from public reading, from public
understanding.
Scripture is interpreted dualistically, that world, this world.
All of this in the ummaniyannahum, then that's
that, that's that.
With all of these, no repair, no social
responsibility, nothing except the bare minimum here and
there.
But you still gotta do something.
Within this human being is this urge to
act.
Within the human being is this urge to
do stuff.
Responsible action is ingrained within the personality of
a human being.
He can't, his conscience won't leave him.
He will be way too anxious if he's
not doing something.
That's how Allah has created this human being.
So shaitan's like, what do I do with
that?
wala aamurannahum I will command them.
falayubattikunna aadhanal an'aam So now they're going
to engage in all of these bid'at.
Now they're going to engage in all of
these obsessive, compulsive activities and following of priorities
that weren't really priorities.
Right down the religion of haramness comes in.
Absolutely everything being prohibited.
Let them take their guilt, take care of
their guilt there.
Let that be the action that they do.
Activities that the nitty gritty, the hair splitting,
the, remember all the phrases I've been using.
The outside external form of prayer in that.
Whereas you have to be so diligent there,
excessively to the three steps, rituals, the meaningful
importance that they had, salah, zakah, hajj, fa
'um, they become meaningless.
They become empty.
They become hollow.
They become obsessive and they are surrounded by
another set of fabricated, innovated activity and prohibitions.
Prohibitions.
So then this third step follows.
And what does all of this result in?
As a result, they will change the very
nature of the creation of Allah.
They're going against fitrah.
They're taking up an unnatural course where the
imaniyat were supposed to be, where the social
responsibility was supposed to be, where the rituals
were supposed to be.
All of it has been fragmented, distorted.
This, it's disfigured form of mana of religion.
The very nature of Allah's creation has been
disfigured and it will result in other disfigurement
as well.
It will result in other disfigurements as well.
So it's a pretty incredible plan that he
has.
And if we're reading from these ayat that
the changing of the khalq of Allah is
women clipping off their eyebrows, you wanna read
that, by all means, go ahead.
I don't have issue with that.
It's very, there's so much more here.
That is all you can get from here,
really?
Waman yattakhidhi shaytaana waliyan Whoever takes shaytaan as
his protector, min doonil laa instead of Allah,
faqad khasira khusraana mubeena then most definitely he
has failed a clear failure.
This is opening, this fragmentation has taken place.
Now the doors for shirk are opened as
well.
From within there, we already saw the possessive
monotheism taking the place of tawhid.
That had already happened.
Laat o zamanataar If that takes place, that's
just, now that's shaytaan unveiling himself and making
himself far too obvious and he's smarter than
that now.
He was dumb enough to do that before.
After the Quran, he's not gonna do that.
That just makes it far too obvious that
it's him.
He's gonna make it far more subtle.
Faqad khasira khusraana mubeena So whoever takes the
shaytaan as his protector and his friend, other
than Allah, he has failed a clear failure.
Ya'iduhum wayumanneehim He makes promises to them
and he arouses wishful beliefs in them.
It just doesn't finish with this step one,
step two, step three.
There's like going around and around and around
in these steps.
Wa maa ya'iduhumul shaytaanu illa ghuroora And
shaytaan does not promise them except deception.
Wulaaika ma'uwaahum jahannam The place of refuge
for such people is *.
Walaa yajidoon anha maheesa And they will find
no escape from there.
Walladheena amanoo wa amiloos salihaat And those who
believe and do righteous deeds Fanoodukhiluhum jannatin tajri
min tahtiha linnahaar We will soon admit them
to gardens underneath which rivers flow.
Khalideena feeha abada To live therein forever.
Let's get back to that relatedness.
That understanding of righteousness.
That's where paradise is.
Waman astaqoo minallahi Wa'adallahi haqqa Definitely promise
of Allah is true.
Waman astaqoo minallahi qeelain Who is more truthful
in speech than Allah?
So you have these witchful beliefs and promises
springing from inside, sprung by shaytaan.
And that which Allah is promising you, that
which is in the context of the Quran,
that makes sense.
And then the instigations from within.
Where do you wanna go?
Where do you wanna go?
Which source would you rather create the entire
structure of your life, of your choices, of
what you wanna do?
Laysa bi'maani jikoon It is not going to
be in accordance with your wishful thinking.
Wala'maani ji ahlil kitab Neither was it going
to be according to the wishful thinking of
the people of the scripture.
You think Amani was only their problem?
You think it was just them?
It was yours as well.
If their Amani were rejected, if their wishful
shaytaan-inspired internal fabrications of religion, pleasure
principle-oriented fabrications of religion, if they were
rejected from them, they will be accepted from
you?
What do you take God for?
Your personal puppet?
May ya'mal su'an yujaza bih And whoever
commits a sin will be rewarded according to
it.
Because your wonderful perception of religion just absolves
you of all responsibility and sins are the
order of the day.
Wala yajid lahum min doonillahi walijan wala nasira
And he will not find anyone other than
Allah as a protector or helper.
waman ya'mal minas salihat And whoever performs righteously
mith dhakkarin aw antha be it male or
female wahuwa mu'minun Provided they are believers.
fa'ulaika yadkhuluna aljannah These are the people,
they will enter paradise.
wala yuzlamuna naqeera And they will not be
wronged even as much as a speck of
a date seed.
waman ahsanu deena And who is more beautiful
in deen?
Who is more beautiful in their conduct of
life?
How they carry themselves?
mimman aslama wajhahu lillah The one who has
submitted himself to Allah.
wahuwa muhsinun And he is a muhsin looking
for excellence, striving for excellence.
wattaba'a millata Ibraheema haneefa And he follows
the path of Ibraheem alayhi as-salam with
commitment.
wattakhazallahu Ibraheema khaleela Allah took Ibraheem as an
intimate friend, as a close friend.
There's Allah's rububiyah and his love by default,
which you have to give up on.
And you have to turn the other way
to miss out on.
He would still reach out to bring you
back, but then if you insist, then he's
like, fine.
But then there is following that path of
rububiyah, following in what he wants for us,
in what he has placed inside us as
potential, what he has placed outside of as
opportunity.
And in going towards him, in trying our
best, wahuwa muhsinun with the attitude of ihsan,
attaining, looking for excellence, not perfection, excellence.
There's a difference.
This is the path of Ibraheem alayhi as
-salam.
This is the path that leads to Allah
taking you as Khalil, as a buddy.
How's that?
walillahi maa fil samawati wa maa fil all
To Allah belongs whatever is in the heavens
and whatever is in the earth.
wakanAllahu bi kulli shay'in muhita And Allah
has always been encompassing everything.
wa yastaftoonaka fil nisa They ask you regarding
the women.
kullillahu yufteekum fee hinna Tell them Allah passes
his verdict with respect to them.
This is in continuation of a command that
was given earlier in the beginning of the
surah, particularly with respect to orphan girls.
wa maa yutlaAAalaykum fil kitaab Whatever has been
recited to you, revealed to you, upon you,
recited upon you In the book, fee yataaman
nisa Regarding the orphan girls allathee laa tootoonahunna
maa kutiba lahun Whom you do not pay
what Allah has declared as their due.
This is referring back to ayah number three.
watarghaboona an tankihoohunna While you are inclined to
marry them walmustaAAafina mina alwildaan And it was
also concerning the helpless children wa antaqoomu lilyataama
bilqist That you maintain orphans justly wa maa
tafAAaloo min khayrim And whatever good you do
fa inna Allaha kaana bihi alima Allah is
ever aware of it wa inimraAAatun khaafat min
baAAaliha nushoozan aw iraada And if a woman
fears cruel behavior from her husband or that
she will be deserted falaa junaha AAalayhima Then
there is no blame upon them an yusliha
baynahuma sulha That they reconcile by means of
reconciliation or compromise wa sulhul khair And reconciliation
is always better wa uhdiratul Reconciliation is better
Always is in brackets So reconciliation is better
wa uhdiratul anfusul shuh And people tend to
be inherently self-centered wa in tuhsinoo watattaqoo
But if you are behaving well If you
are aspiring for excellence and taqwa fa inna
Allaha kaana bimaa taAAamaloona khabeera Then know that
Allah has ever been aware of all that
you do So the self-centeredness and how
it in marital interactions leads to an incredible
lot of problems as inherent as self-centeredness
is We are all self-centered And how
marriage and an intimate relationship that is present
within a marriage is an opportunity to overcome
that self-centeredness It is as the relationship
progresses When what a relationship entails of you
What it asks of you Is to come
out of yourself Is to be less and
less self-centered To accommodate the other person
To love the other person To grow as
a couple Or grow in the relationship So
if those obstacles are not overcome If that
self-centeredness persists If that adjustment is not
made Then there are going to be problems
And when those problems do come up The
option for parting of ways is always there
But then what options you have for reconciliation
should be considered If you part ways prematurely
If you part ways in a marriage After
having invested in it Committed to it from
your part And of course the other party
has invested in it as well Committed to
it as well A good part of their
life has been committed to it Which they're
not getting back Which they're not getting back
So if you got into that marriage at
25 or 26 And now you're in your
30s You're not getting those 10 years back
If that relationship ends And you don't have
the potential Or the advantages that you did
10 years ago There's a whole lot that
has gone into this relationship That's not coming
back So when you part ways Without having
resorted to all possible options Of reconciliation, of
improving Of repairing what is wrong in that
relationship Of growing as a couple If you
haven't resorted to those Then what you carry
out of that relationship is A lot of
guilt For not having played your part That's
something you will have to live with That
and Whatever opportunities of growth that marriage did
offer you Opportunities As we said before That
everyone enters into a relationship with their baggage
Everyone enters into a marriage with their shortcomings
With their pathologies In marriage and all relationships
In a professional way as well In a
social way There are opportunities for fixing those
pathologies Or making them worse Now having unresolved
issues in a marriage Means whatever was unresolved
as those inner pathologies Within yourself You're also
taking those out of that relationship And now
they have been compounded Because that entire time
period that you spent each other Is now
part of the baggage That you take out
So in resorting to any possible reconciliation That
you can resort to That you have the
option for It has very deep-seated benefits
to offer It has the long-standing impact
That it promises it has to be considered
وَلَن تَسْتَقِعُوا أَن تَعْدِلُوا بَيْنَ النِّسَاءِ And you
will never be able to do justice Between
your wives وَلَوْ حَرَصْتُمْ Even if you try
to فَلَا تَمِيلُوا كُلَّ الْمَيْل So do not
incline completely towards one فَتَذَرُوهَا كَالْمُعَلَّقَةَ Such that
you leave another hanging completely Just in the
lurch, waiting, neglected وَإِن تُصْلِحُوا وَتَتَّقُوا And if
you rectify your affairs And observe the taqwa
of Allah فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ غَفُورًۭا رَحِيمًۭا Then
for sure Allah is ever forgiving, merciful وَإِن
يَتَفَرَّقَا But if they separate يُغْنِ اللَّهُ كُلَّ
مِّن ثَاعَتِي Allah will enrich each from His
abundance The understanding that I can't live without
this relationship After having resorted to all possible
means of repair, reconciliation Everything that you could
Until the toxicity prevails And it is beyond
your personal capacity Or that of any other
To fix what is messed up in that
relationship To simply then persist in that Thinking,
where am I going to eat from?
How am I going to survive?
If I now opt out?
If I now jump ship?
What is going to become of me?
I will be destitute I will be poor
I will be impoverished I will be To
imagine that The entirety of your sustenance Survival
Is extending from that marriage And that marriage
alone That's against your tawakkul Now you have
made that toxic space That toxic relationship that
you have With that person God And that's
a very toxic God to have To think
that this is it and nothing else And
outside of this is Is damnation يُغْنِ اللَّهُ
كُلَّ مِّن ثَاعَتِي Allah will enrich each of
them from His abundance Allah's abundance extends beyond
that Persisting in a marriage That's a very
unhealthy attitude To persist in a relationship with
To begin with You're just continuing You're starting
off on the wrong foot The toxicity is
only going to increase If this is the
attitude that you're carrying Into the marriage Or
the continuation of that marriage That I don't
have a choice That this is it for
me It's not going to improve I don't
know how I can't leave it I can't
have it Then you're only going to make
it worse With that mind frame وَقْتَعَنَ اللَّهُ
وَاسِعًا أَكِيمًا Allah is ever-encompassing, wise وَلِلَّهِ
مَا فِي السَّمَاوَةِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ And everything
in the heavens and earth belongs to Allah
Alone وَلَقَدْ وَسَّيْنَ الَّذِينَ أُوَسُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ
وَإِيَّاكُمْ And we have already directed those Given
the book for you And we have directed
you as well We have given this guidance
to you as well أَنِ اتَّقُوا اللَّهُ Observe
the taqwa of Allah وَإِنْ تَكْفُرُوا But if
you reject that If you refuse to do
so فَإِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَةِ وَمَا فِي
الْأَرْضِ So to know that Allah To Him
alone belongs everything in the heavens And everything
on the earth You want to turn away
your loss وَكَانَ اللَّهُ غَنِيًّا حَمِيدًا Allah is
Ever-Rich, Praiseworthy وَلِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَةِ وَمَا
فِي الْأَرْضِ And to Allah alone belongs everything
in the heavens And everything on the earth
وَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ وَكِيْلًا And Allah is sufficient for
you to rely upon التوطل Given the وسعة
أوواسع Allah is Should lead for you to
That should be influencing the decisions you make
إِنِّي عِشَاء يُذْهِبْكُمْ أَيُّهَا النَّاسِ If He wants
He can do away with all of you
People All of you وَيَأْتِي بِآخَرِينَ And bring
others to replace you Whatever function you're performing
in His grand scheme If you don't perform
it He would want for you to perform
it He has already shown His His care
and concern And What we studied in the
very beginning of Nisa His الله يريد What
He wants وَيَتُوبَ عَلَيْكُمْ He's already shared that
with you But if you continue to resist
and go to * Literally He can do
away with you He'll find somebody else to
do that To have that They can perform
those functions They can attain that growth and
His reunion In paradise can be with them
وَيَأْتِي بِآخَرِينَ And bring in others Don't take
this for granted This sense of entitlement When
you got to the head of a lot
of people before you And they screwed up
And they were worse than people without scripture
وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ ذَلِكَ قَدِّيرًۭ Allah is fully
capable of that Has always been capable of
that مَن كَانَ يُرِيدُ ثَوَابَ الدُّنْيَةَ Whoever wants
the reward of this world فَإِنَّ اللَّهِ ثَوَابُ
الدُّنْيَةَ وَالْآخِرَةَ Then with Allah is the reward
of both this world and the Hereafter Do
not make Him The God of this world
alone Do not make Him The God of
the next world alone Do not Do not
create this partition in Him وَإِنَّ اللَّهِ ثَوَابُ
الدُّنْيَةَ وَالْآخِرَةَ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ سَمِيعًۭا بَصِيرًۭا And Allah
is ever hearing, ever watching يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا You who have believed كُنُوا قَوَّامِينَ بِالْقِسْطِ
Stand up for justice سُهَدَاءً لِلَّهِ Witnesses for
Allah When you're standing up for justice You're
standing up for Allah وَلَوْ عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِكُمْ Even
if it is against your own selves أَوِي
الْوَالِدَيْنِ وَالْأَقْرَبِينَ Or your parents or your relatives
إِيَّكُمْ غَنِيًّا وَفَقِيرًا Whether rich or poor الله
أولى بهم Allah is more worthy than them
What does it mean Allah is more worthy
than them?
Justice is more worthy You cannot have these
affiliations tear you apart from what is just
and what needs to be carried on as
such فَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا الْحَوَىٰ أَن تَأْدِلُوا Do not
follow your desires lest it swerves you away
from justice وَإِن تَلْوُوا أَوْ تُعْرِضُوا But if
you distort your testimony or decline to give
it all together فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
خَبِيرًا Then remember Allah is ever aware of
what you do So whether it is in
a particular case or in general Allah requires
the people of Iman the people of Allah
to be people of justice You cannot take
that idea of social justice and strip it
away from your understanding of your relationship with
Allah It can't work It can't work The
moment you do that The moment you do
that You have allowed for yourself to to
fall into that hole of using God for
whatever personal desires يَا أَيُّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا You
who have believed آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ Believe in
Allah and His Messenger وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِينَ أَنزَلَ عَلَىٰ
رَسُولِهِ And in the Book which He has
revealed on His Messenger وَالْكِتَابِ الَّذِينَ أَنزَلَ مِنْ
قَبْلٍ And the Scripture that He revealed earlier
وَمَن يَتْفُرْ بِاللَّهِ And whoever denies Allah وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ
And His Angels وَكُتُبِهِ And His Books وَرُسُلِهِ
And His Messengers وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ And the Last
Day فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَالًا بَعِيدًا He has gone
far far astray إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُونَ Those who
believe for sure ثُمَّ كَفَرُوا And then they
disbelieve ثُمَّ آمَنُوا And then they believe ثُمَّ
كَفَرُوا And then they disbelieve ثُمَّ ازْدَادُوا كُفْرًا
Then they continue advancing in disbelief لَمْ يَكُنِ
اللَّهُ لِيَغْفِرَ لَهُمْ Allah is neither going to
forgive them ولا ليهديهم سبيلًا Nor is He
going to guide them in the right direction
بَشِّرِ الْمُنَافِقِينَ بِأَنَّ لَهُمْ عَذَابًا عَلِيمًا Give these
glad tidings to the hypocrites That for them
is a torturous punishment Guess what?
Kufr here is not being employed In the
sense of I am Muslim today I am
openly declaring with my tongue That I am
not Muslim the next day And then I
go on to No no no no I
am Muslim today And then a few days
later No no no You know what?
I am not Muslim That's not what it's
talking about The kufr is more practical More
attitudinal than verbal It is the kufr of
hypocrisy It is the kufr of munafiqeen And
as we study more and more We will
see the manifestation Of the possibility of that
hypocrisy open up More so for believers Those
claiming iman than anybody else More so for
people who do not testify Either way with
their tongue Especially they don't testify to kufr
With their tongue In saying that they are
now kafir And they are no longer Muslim
That's not what it is This hypocrisy and
the dangerous Unconscious processes that Underpin it That
motivate it That drive it That are the
origins of a religious practice Bear one thing
in mind We've seen this already The Quran
for the most part Maybe 98% of
the times If not more Addresses a religious
people All the groups that we've seen Addressed
alluded to up until now Are all religious
people Are all religious people Those explicitly Adhering
to a religion Yahud, Nasara Ya ayyuhallatheena amanu
And the hypocrites included The people of Quraysh
The mushrikeen All of them are religious people
And you can go as far as saying
That even those who are irreligious Even in
this day and age Those who are atheists
Free thinkers Whatever labels they ascribe to themselves
There is a theology behind that There is
some affiliation Or religiosity behind that That you
cannot escape That is in your very nature
It is not the distinction Between religious and
irreligious Is insignificant When compared to the distinction
Between demonic religiosity And divine religiosity As far
as the Quran is concerned You're religious by
default Your main concern As individuals and as
a community Should be to distinguish Whether that
religiosity is demonic Or divine And where most
religiosities Initiate When they're conscious When they're passionately
Dedicated and committed They initiate on On divine
parameters Or with divine intents Or from a
divine source But when they become demonic Along
the way And how they become demonic Along
the way And how they are predominantly demonic
Eventually Is what's scary Is what needs to
be guarded against That's what we should be
looking for Within the Quran Where and when
Is my religiosity Demonic In my experience And
if I have been religious For a very
long time And I haven't been able to
Identify the demonic elements In my religiosity That's
dangerous That is very dangerous If I cannot
identify Within my religious journey Possible expressions of
hypocrisy Or enough evidence That my Religious
manifestations May be selfishly motivated entirely If I
can't see that If I don't have that
suspicion Towards myself That very distressful That very
disconcerting Sufficient I don't know what book it
is that we're reading Because the impact of
the Quran And the Sahaba was very different
They were very suspicious of themselves Not of
Allah Not of Rasulullah But of their Iman
in Allah And their Iman in Rasulullah There's
a difference So this attitude of the Quran
Or this pattern that we see Within the
Quran If we're not able to pick up
on it There's ways that we're going to
be misled The ways of the Mushrikeen There's
ways that we're going to be misled There's
ways of our religiosity That is going to
be demonic On the pattern of the Mushrikeen
There's going to be ways In which our
religiosity Is going to be demonic On the
pattern of the Yahud There's ways that our
religiosity Is going to be demonic On the
pattern of the Christians There's ways in which
our religiosity Is going to be demonic On
the ways of the Munafiqeen And then there's
an overlap in all of them where the
underlying themes are the same, where the underlying
drives are the same, the external manifestations and
expressions may be totally different.
To pick up on those and to see
how what is subtle today, what is not
very, you know, it's not very blasphemous today.
It is not very audacious today.
It doesn't take long for that cancerous growth
to take it to the point of animosity
that we see in the worst of hypocrites
and their hatred for Rasulullah and for the
rest of the community of believers.
These are the ones who take disbelievers as
their protecting friends instead of believers.
So there's open war, declaration, battles being fought,
and in the midst of all of this,
they're committed to Rasulullah on one end, but
they have alliances with the mushrikeen in Mecca
as well.
Do they look for honor in them?
All power belongs to Allah alone.
And he has already revealed to you in
the book, that whenever you have the ayat
of Allah being denied, whenever you hear the
ayat of Allah being or ridiculed, do not
sit with them unless they start talking about
something else.
This was the norm that they used to
do in Mecca.
The mushrikeen used to do this.
The sahaba were instructed when that is happening,
do not fraternize with them, do not associate
with them.
When they're talking about other stuff, by all
means.
Because if you don't do that, then you're
going to become like them.
It doesn't take long for that influence to
catch on, that that attitude of taking Allah's
ayat as a joke becomes internalized.
The longer you spend in that environment, it
is going to influence you necessarily.
Without a doubt, Allah will gather the hypocrites
and disbelievers together in the hellfire.
So you see the intimate relationship between kufr
and nifaq as to how that then they
did kufr and then they did iman and
then they did kufr and then how that
is hypocritical in its essence.
Kufr and nifaq are this.
What's the essential nature of hypocrisy?
It's waiting and watching.
It's indecisive.
Looking here and there.
Let's see how things, let's see which way
the cookie crumbles.
فَإِن كَانَ لَكُمْ فَتْحٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ Then if
there is a victory for you from Allah,
قَالُوا أَلَمْ لَكُمْ مَعَيْكُمْ Then they're like, weren't
we with you?
وَإِن كَانَ لِلْكَافِرِينَ نَصِيبٌ Or if the disbelievers
are given a success, قَالُوا أَلَمْ نَسْتَحْوِذْ عَلَيْكُمْ
They will go to say to the disbelievers,
did we not win you over?
وَنَمْنَعَكُمْ مِّنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ We protected you from the
believers.
فَاللَّهُ يَحْكُمْ بَيْنَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ Allah will judge
between all of you on the Day of
Judgment.
وَلَنْ يَجْعَلُ اللَّهُ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ثَبِيلًا And
Allah will never allow the disbelievers to have
a way over the believers.
إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ يُخَادِعُونَ اللَّهُ Most definitely the hypocrites
try to deceive Allah.
وَهُوَ خَادِعُهُمْ Allah has deceived them.
Wow.
وَإِذَا قَامُوا إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ And when they stand
up for prayer, قَامُوا قُسَالًا They stand lazily.
Laziness being one of the most subtle and
the most dangerous manifestations of hypocrisy.
يُرَأُونَ النَّاسِ Merely to be seen by the
people.
The رِعَى element in hypocrisy.
Laziness, ostentatiousness.
Being to be seen.
The reputation.
وَلَا يَذْكُرُونَ اللَّهَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًۭ And they don't
remember Allah except very little.
مُذَفْذَبِينَ بَيْنَ ذَالِكَ They're wavering between back and
forth.
Belief and disbelief.
لَا إِلَى هَٰؤُلَيْ وَلَا إِلَى هَٰؤُلَيْ Neither with
these nor with them.
Neither here nor there.
وَمَن يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَلَنْ تَجِدَ لَهُ سَبِيلًۭ And
whoever Allah misguides, you won't find any way
back for him.
Again, the balance that we speak about, the
moderation that we speak about.
To be able to decipher from our reading
of the Qur'an, is that balance, is
that moderation actually hypocrisy?
To develop the sense, intellectual and spiritual.
So as to distinguish between the two.
Are we being Ummatan Wasata?
Or are we being مُذَفْذَبِينَ بَيْنَ ذَالِكَ Because
they're both in the middle.
What is it that they're in the middle
of?
Because one middle is very dangerous.
One middle is optimal, is desired.
One middle is divine, the other middle is
demonic.
Where do we stand?
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا You who have claimed
Iman, belief.
لَا تَتَّخِذُ الْكَافِرِينَ أَوْلِيَأَ مِنْ دُونِ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ Do
not take the disbelievers as your protectors, friends,
against the believers.
أَتُرِيدُنَا أَن تَجْعَلُوا لِلَّهِ Do you want to
produce for Allah عليكم سلطان مُبينًا A clear
evidence against yourselves?
إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ فِي الْذَرْكِ الْأَسْفَلِ مِنَ النَّارِ The
hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of
the fire.
وَلَن تَجْدَ لَهُمْ نَصِيرًا And you will not
find any helper for them.
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا وَأَصْلَحُوا Except those who repent
and rectify.
وَأْتَصَمُوا بِاللَّهِ And hold on to Allah.
وَأَخْلَصُوا دِينَهُمْ لِلَّهِ And make their deen, their
conduct, pure for Allah.
فَأُولَئِكَ مَعَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ These are among the believers.
Again, this being depicted as a conscious, deliberate
asad that you engage in.
فَأُولَئِكَ مَعَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ These are the people who
are among the believers.
وَسَوْفَ يُؤْتِ اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ And Allah will soon
bless the believers أَجَلًا عَظِيمًا With a great
reward.
مَا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ What will Allah get
out of punishing you?
وَإِن شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنْتُمْ If you're grateful and truly
believe وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا Allah is ever
appreciative and knowing.
Let's close with this.
And we start from here tomorrow.
InshAllah wa aakhiru da'wana And alhamdulillahi rabbil
alameen