Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Nights 2021 Day 14
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AI: Transcript ©
Ameen, Ya Rabbal Alameen, Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu We
continue with our discussion, actually monologue, on Surah
Al-Ma'idah.
We have concluded the first four surahs, Surahs
An-Nisa until yesterday, and the first three
passages of Surah Al-Ma'idah.
So we continue from where we left off.
A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem وَإِذْ قَالَ
مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ يَا قَوْمِ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ
وَمَنْ مُنْ مُوسَىٰ عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامِ Said to his
people, that people of my nation, remember Allah's
favor on you.
إِذْ جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنبِيَاءٌ When he appointed prophets
from among you.
وَجَعَلَكُمْ بُلُوكَةٌ And he made you kings.
Now, there's two possibilities that this is referring
to.
Musa Alayhi Salaam is talking to the Bani
Israel.
And for whatever Bani Israel can make of
it, they haven't been kings.
So, they were actually the slave nation of
Fir'aun.
But that wasn't always the case.
In the time of Yusuf Alayhi Salaam, when
Yusuf Alayhi Salaam earned the favor of the
king at the time.
We're going to talk about it when we
get to Surah Yusuf, but all of you
know the story.
He was allowed to bring in his brothers
and his parents.
And the tribes that came from Yusuf Alayhi
Salaam and his brothers, they were 12 brothers
in total.
They became the Bani Israel.
And they enjoyed a very privileged position in
the society.
Prior to the coming of the Fir'aun,
Fir'aun was the title of that particular
people's leader or king.
So, before the Fir'aun came in, whatever
nation was in control, they had the rulership.
They were kings.
The Bani Israel were very tight with them.
They were on very good terms with them.
They were honored.
They were bestowed.
They had privileges.
So, it was like they were kings.
And they had positions of leadership as well
within the courts on account of that, continuing
from Yusuf Alayhi Salaam.
So, they weren't always a slave people.
Obviously, that didn't stay that way.
Another understanding that has been drawn from this
phrase is that Yusuf Alayhi Salaam, that Musa
Alayhi Salaam is prophesying.
He's telling them that this is going to
happen.
This is as good as done.
There is leadership in your future.
And we look at that in retrospect.
And with Dawud Alayhi Salaam, Suleiman Alayhi Salaam,
we see that actually happened.
Musa Alayhi Salaam is prophesying.
He's telling them the way Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam would tell the Sahaba.
So, this is a prophecy that he is
giving to them.
So, in either way, remember Allah's favor upon
you.
And the two ways that the favor of
Allah is brought together, one, Allah gave you
revelation.
So, that is the spiritual favor, if you
will.
And Allah gave you power.
That is the political favor.
Or that is, in terms of this, a
secular favor that Allah has given you.
In giving you power.
So, remember Allah's favor in both of these
instances.
That now you are liberated from Fir'aun.
And He has given you what He did
not give anyone else in the world.
The privileged position that Bani Israel had.
So, my people, Go enter the holy land.
That which Allah has destined for you.
So, it's like the army commander motivating his
army.
Letting them know that you're the kings.
You're the people.
Go ahead.
Take what is yours.
It has been written for you.
Do not turn back.
If you do so, you will become losers.
They said, Musa, a very powerful nation lives
in there.
So, Musa gives this incredible speech.
Talks to them about the past, future, present.
Allah's greatest favors upon them.
A powerful nation lives in there.
We are never entering into it.
Until they get out of it.
فإن يخرجوا منها فإنا داخلون Once they leave,
we'll enter.
Then we will fulfill your command.
You want us to fulfill your command?
By all means.
We are at your service.
Only they need to leave first.
So, conditional fulfillment of Musa's exhortation, his command.
قال رجلان من الذين يخافون أنعم الله عليهم
Two of the most God-fearing men, blessed
with Allah's favor, said, ادخلوا عليهم الباب Enter
them through the gate.
Enter upon them.
Attack them through the gate.
فإذا دخلتموه فإنكم غالبون As soon as you
enter, you will be victorious.
Victory is going to be that swift.
That's how much of a guarantee you have.
You just experienced what happened with Pharaoh.
How Allah is with Musa.
Now the demand has extended to all of
us.
وعلى الله فتوكلوا إن كنتم مؤمنين So upon
Allah put your trust if you really are
believers.
قالوا يا موسى إنا لن ندخلها أبدا They
said, Musa, we are never entering it.
Never.
ما داموا فيها As long as those people
are living in there.
فاذهب أنت وربك فقاتل You go.
Your Rabb go.
And fight.
إنا هاهنا قاعدون We're sitting right here.
قال رب إني لا أملك إلا نفسي وأخي
Musa said, my Rabb, I have no authority.
Except for myself and my brother.
So Musa, Harun, Yusha And one other person.
A total of four people.
A total of four people who are willing
to comply.
A total of four people who are willing
to listen.
A total of four people who after having
witnessed As much as the Bani Israel witnessed
Were willing to go forth and fulfill the
commandment with Musa.
From the entire Bani Israel.
This is the progeny of Ibrahim.
This is the progeny of Ishaq.
This is the progeny of Yaqub.
This is the progeny of Yusuf.
And only four people Are willing to take
Allah's command seriously.
Musa would die for these people.
The patriotism of Musa Despite being raised in
the palace Courtesy of Asiya He was
an Israeli to the core.
And that is evident from when the fight
breaks out Between an Egyptian and an Israeli
And when the fight breaks out between the
two Musa naturally sides with the Israeli To
the point of accidentally killing the Egyptian.
Whatever happens, happens.
Musa's love for his people Musa's love for
justice Prior to that accidental killing That manslaughter
was known to everybody How he would stand
up for the rights of Bani Israel How
his presence, how his influence He had influence
in the court of Firaun It was to
the credit of Bani Israel.
Musa loved his people with a passion.
And when The two commandments that he was
given One, go to Firaun, take my ayaat
And the other, see if he listens And
the other Take Bani Israel Take Bani Israel
Musa was There's nothing more that he wanted
We've heard the angel of death story We're
not ready to go I got work that
needs to be done here My job is
unfinished And he had to leave it unfinished
His exasperation His frustration with his people And
how that is mirrored In Rasulallah And at
the time of Badr Rasulallah is concerned Rasulallah
is worried When the option is given That
there is Abu Sufyan's caravan on one side
And there is the army of the Quraish
On the other Which way should we go?
Rasulallah has made his preference clear Already That
he would rather go for the army That
it's time to avenge It is time to
Raise the standard Abu Bakr responds
Rasulallah is silent Another person from The Muhajirun
respond Rasulallah is silent And they responded in
the best possible way But then when one
of the Ansar responded Precisely because the Ansar
Knew That it was within their pledge of
allegiance They had given bay'ah to protect
Rasulallah This was going A step ahead of
that They made it pretty clear Bay'ah
in its own place The pledge in its
own place We believe in you to be
the Rasul of Allah So do not think
that we are like the people of Musa
Do not think that we are like the
people of Musa We will Go with you
Wherever we have to go Even if we
have to go You order us to drive
our horses Into the sea, we'll do that
Do not think that we're the people of
Musa Who are going to say that you
and your Rab go And we're sitting right
here No, we say go and we're right
behind you We will go where you tell
us to go That is when Rasulallah said
Let's fight So how deeply he related with
Musa And how critical that moment was How
critical that response was Musa's people refused The
Muhajirun and Ansar said Yes And that made
all the difference Musa's exasperation He said, my
Rab, I have no control Even after all
of this time, I have no control It's
over myself Except over myself and my brother
That's it Separate us I don't want to
have anything to do with these people This
is it This is Musa's letter of resignation
I don't want to be with them Allah
said The land will be out of their
reach for 40 years Now that they have
refused They will be banished in the desert
for 40 years They will wander through the
earth So don't grieve Musa is grieving Allah
says, don't worry about it His resignation wasn't
accepted He had to spend However much life
he had left With them in the desert
Still continuing to bring the best out of
them And recite to them the
truth Of the tale of the two sons
of Adam So now Where did all of
this start from?
Musa's people What they had to do How
important, how critical it was For them to
do what they had to do historically For
humanity What Rasulullah did This fight between good
and evil This battle That the prophets have
struggled with their entire lives for Can you
imagine Can you imagine the chaos We see
in the world today You imagine The injustice
The helplessness that you feel That there is
so little that you can do about Most
of what goes around At home, outside of
home, anywhere Anywhere It is just So much
polarization So much This is very recent Whatever
Pakistan experienced over the past couple of weeks
Whatever was going on in the streets In
the name of religion In the name of
God, in the name of the love of
the Prophet Whatever was going on What it
was a reaction to It is very telling
Of what the state of affairs in the
world is With respect to Rasulullah Where there
is There are no qualms on one side
For blaspheming against him And then there are
no qualms On the other side For killing
In his blessed name And all the other
chaos That results Where his Sira is Where
his conduct is In all of this Seems
to be lost Across both ends of the
spectrum And it gets very depressing It gets
very frustrating It is not that this frustration
was not This was part and parcel Of
every Prophet's life Every Prophet's life And they
lived through it Not just the Prophet Imagine
the exasperation of Yusha He is not a
Prophet At least not at that time It
would be later For the degree of helplessness
If the person receiving Wahi Is putting up
his hands What to say of the ones
who are Neither here nor there They are
not the ones receiving Wahi But they are
willing to do whatever Wahi asks of them
They have lived up to its expectations And
there are others Who wouldn't care Or couldn't
care less It really gets to you Again,
Musa Yusha, Harun And the fourth gentleman Whose
name I don't know Their frustration is that
The change they are looking to bring about
That they have struggled their entire lives for
They will not see its fruit In their
lifetime They are not going to see its
fruit They are going to die in the
desert Not seeing the fruits of their victory
Of their effort, their sacrifice, their struggle What
they started Not even smelling it Not even
smelling it The habits of a slave nation
Are just far too strong Their attitude of
slavery The intimidation of the people of Firaun
Was far too strong For that generation to
step out of it Or for their willingness
To step out of it And follow in
what Musa wants to do What Allah wants
them to do Through Musa Couldn't do it
That generation has to die out A generation
of people raised in the desert Under the
leadership of Yusha Is the one who is
actually going to do it Musa Alayhi Salaam
is not going to see that He is
not going to see that That possibility was
very real For Rasulullah Alayhi Salaam And the
Sahaba as well They didn't know with precision
Who is going to live to see the
victory And how far they are going to
live to see it The Quran says in
very clear words If Allah lets you see
it Or he takes your life away before
that What is it that you can do?
Your commitment to the meaningfulness Of whatever it
is that you are standing for One of
the greatest signs of your sincerity To that
commitment is that you are not going to
Taste the fruits of it Yet you are
willing to go for it For the future
generations For the future generations You are not
willing You would want nothing better To see
the fruits of your labor To see the
happiness, the justice The belief At a communal
level But you have developed That love for
it You have expressed, actualized That love that
was within you And it was a struggle
to do that Because there were all these
other instincts Fighting within the human being That
those personal struggles That had to be struggled
for this priority To really crystallize And once
it did, you realize And that becomes your
passion That becomes your motivation And once it
does You come to the recognition That this
motivation, this passion This actually Taking the fruits
of your action Is not going to happen,
but the action is still required The fruits
may or may not Take place Definitely not
in your life But in the life of
those after you And to be okay with
that To be able to Come to terms
with that aspect of reality To be able
to Keep going strong Now this is a
new level of self transcendence Altogether When you're
told Go at it five years from now,
ten years from now Victory is around the
corner Fair enough Whatever self-discipline I have
to engage in Whatever sacrifice I have to
engage in Whatever delaying of gratification I have
to engage in I'll see the fruit five
years, ten years, fifteen years Twenty years But
then the years keep mounting You're like, you
know what, my lifespan is sort of running
out here Doesn't seem to happen Doesn't seem
to be happening in the near future A
lot of people can't come to terms with
it And so the long game Long game
And all of what the long game entails
Become impatient Not that Musa Alayhi Salaam did
Not that the Prophet and the Sahaba Did
But, of course, anyone else Who's looking to
do any good Any real good in this
world Realizes how long it'll take That their
meaning necessarily outlives them It has to be
carried on after them Regardless of how young
you are It doesn't matter And that the
fruit will be For your future generation, if
at all To be okay with that To
still choose to struggle And Continue going That's
another level altogether That is another test altogether
That's another level of self-transcendence And nothing
better To be reminded of that significance Than
to be taken back in history This didn't
start with you This didn't start yesterday with
your parents This didn't even start With the
onset Of the prophethood of Rasulullah Or even
Musa Go back all the way to the
two sons of Adam Alayhi Salaam This has
been going on since then The process, that's
how long This story is This is like
a once upon a time And the happily
ever after Is In the very, very, very,
very Distant future So remember once upon a
time The tale of the two sons of
Adam When both of them Offered a sacrifice
And it was accepted from one of them
That one brother saw the immediate Acceptance of
his sacrifice Fruit of his labor But it
wasn't accepted from the other And Tafathir mentioned
how This is similar, this acceptance is similar
To what the Bani Israel were talking about
That a prophet is going to come to
us He's going to offer a sacrifice And
the sacrifice is going to be There's a
fire that's going to come from the heaven
And it's going to accept that sacrifice That's
going to be the sign that it's been
accepted Something to that effect may have happened
In the case of these two brothers as
well Pain and ego So it wasn't
accepted from the other Fair enough But he
couldn't come to terms with it He couldn't
accept that The privilege of the other brother
The religious privilege His sacrifice is accepted, mine
is not Sacrifice accepted, not accepted Is A
side story It is what leads to this
development Yes, but as far as being accepted
With Allah is concerned As far as being
acceptable to Allah is concerned That's your entire
life One instant One particular effort Working out
or not working out To make the entire
judgment just about that You have to understand
the long The long term process How it
stretches out You have to understand the process
Of the whole thing You cannot be short
-sighted there You cannot be Immediately judgmental Even
if it is of something so good The
sacrifice for the sake of Allah Immediate sign
of acceptance of that sacrifice So it is
a religious privilege That this one brother has
been given That the other brother has not
been given The problem is the conclusive Categorical
judgment That the one who was not accepted
In the short run, in this one incident
That's what he couldn't swallow That's what he
could not come to terms with How could
this be?
How dare he be more privileged than I
am It is this impulsivity This jumping to
the conclusion Jumping to an absolute conclusion about
the other and the self And then acting
on that That's what messed up And again
in the example of Husa Any other example
What time are these ayat being revealed Now
this part of surah Ma'idah Seems to
have been revealed prior to brother For the
simple reason That the sahaba are quoting from
this portion When they are responding to Rasulallah
So when they are being When they are
being told of this Success is not as
much of a guarantee They haven't read the
surah like we have They are busy writing
the surah They don't know the happily ever
after Or what that's going to look like
Or when that's going to come They didn't
take Islam as in 8th grade Anything can
happen Anything And so for them to realize
What are the fruits At the very end
Loss of fruit Fruit of your own labor
Fruit of your own effort That is not
accepted Not in the short run No immediate
sign of its acceptance Continue going, keep going,
keep trying Keep struggling Don't give up Don't
be bad judgmental He says I'm going to
kill you The other responded Allah accepts the
sacrifice from the people of taqwa, alone.
You have to bring the prerequisite of taqwa,
continue to go.
The sign of acceptance that this particular brother
got, how long did he have to struggle
to get to that stage, himself, to be
able to see the fruit as he did?
لَعِمْ بَصَبْتَ إِلَيَّ يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَن۪يۡ لَعِمْ بَصَبْتَ إِلَيَّ
يَدَكَ لِتَقْتُلَن۪يۡ I will not extend mine towards
you to kill you.
إِنِّي أَقْوَ اللَّهَ رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ I fear Allah,
Rabb of the worlds.
إِنِّي أُرِيدُ أَن تَبُؤَ بِإِثْمِ وَإِثْمِكَ I want
you to obtain my sins along with yours.
فَتَكُونَ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ النَّارِ So you become of
the people of the hellfire.
I'm not going to fight.
وَذَلِكَ جَزَاءُ الظَّالَمِينَ And that is the reward
of the unjust people.
فَطَوَّعَتْ لَهُ نَفْسُهُ قَتْلَ أَخِيهِ But his nafs
drove him to kill his brother.
فَقَتَلَ And he killed him.
So the instinctiveness, the impulsivity of this action.
And he killed him.
فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ And thereupon he became a
loser.
He wasn't a loser prior to that, but
that choice that he made.
And the drivenness of his impulsivity, his instinct.
Again, originating from a religious dispute.
He made the choice.
He allowed that to take him over.
And he was driven to kill.
فَبَعَطَ اللَّهُ غُرَابًا يَبْحَكُ فِي الْأَرْضِ When Allah
sent a raven that scratched the earth لِيُرِيَهُ
In order to show him كيف يُوَارِي سَوءَةَ
أَخِي How to hide the disgrace of his
brother.
قَالَ يَا وَيْلَةَ أَعَجَزْتُ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِثْلَ هَذَا
الْغُرَابِ He said, you wish.
Damn me.
I couldn't even be like this crow.
Now the guilt taking him over.
فَأُوَارِيَ سَوءَةَ أَخِي I could have covered up
the dead body of my brother.
فَأَصْبَحَ مِنَ الْنَّادَمِينَ And so he became regretful.
مِنْ أَجْلِ ذَلِكِ From that كَتَبْنَا عَلَى بَنِي
إِسْرَائِيلِ We decreed for the Bani Israel أَنَّهُمْ
مَنْ قَتَلَ نَفْسًا بِغَيْرِ نَفْسٍ That whoever killed
someone and let it be for the murder
of another أَوْ فَسَادٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ Or a
corruption in the land unless it is legally
justified فَكَأَنَّمَا قَتَلَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا He will be
considered as if he has killed all of
mankind وَمَنْ أَحْيَاهَا فَكَأَنَّمَا أَحْيَ النَّاسَ جَمِيعًا And
whoever saves the life, saves a life, it
will be as if he gave life to
all of mankind.
The sanctity of human life to regard that,
to take that seriously, to work and struggle
towards its preservation, to work and struggle towards
its protection, its nourishment, its health, its
soundness, how that is a divine decree, how
that is part of an attribute of Allah,
one of the attributes of Allah, or actually
many of the attributes of Allah are reflected
in that pursuit, in that practice.
And taking that away, taking that right upon
yourself and not giving that sanctity, its due
regard, its honor, its protection.
As one of the brothers did it, it's
not acceptable.
And so from the time of Bani Israel,
all the way to now, the moral reprehensibility
of murder, prior to Bani Israel as well,
but it became codified, part of the Ten
Commandments, internalized.
Now this is not to be tolerated.
وَلَقَدْ جَآءَهُمْ رُسُولُنَا بِالْبَيْجِنَاتِ Our messengers did come
to them with clear signs.
ثُمَّ إِنَّ كَثِيرًا مِّنْهُمْ بَعْدَ ذَٰلِكَ Yet in
spite of that, most of them فِي الْأَرْضِ
لَمُسْرِفُونَ go around the earth transgressing, crossing boundaries.
إِنَّمَا جَزَاءُ الَّذِينَ يُحَارِبُونَ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولًا And definitely
the punishment for those who wage war against
Allah and His messenger وَيَسْعَونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ فَسَادًا
and strive to create mischief in the lands,
corruption, injustice, هَيْنْ يُقَتَّلُوا أَوْ يُصَلَّبُوا that they
are executed or crucified.
Now you don't turn the other cheek.
The brother of the murderer, the one whose
sacrifice was accepted, at his time, in his
age, humanity is new.
Adam Alayhi Salaam, their children, his children, turning
the other cheek, not reciprocating, order of the
day, that's how you go.
That's how you flow.
But the time of Musa Alayhi Salaam, since
the time of Musa Alayhi Salaam, no.
At times, yes, you act, you do turn
the other cheek, you restrain your hands.
But for that to become the absolute end,
that is what ensures that the legacy of
the brother who killed, that the impulsivity, the
instinct that he could not contain, the evil
that that spreads, the insecurity that emanates from
there, the injustice, the corruption, that's the legacy
that is being allowed to prevail.
It is that instinctive.
It is that instinctive.
Your failure to act, your failure to strengthen
yourself, your failure to respond is your failure
to curtail that impulsivity, that instinctive element within
the human being which will tear humanity apart
and leave it to rot.
And the best of it, tear the best
of humanity apart, tear the ones who are,
whose sacrifice would be accepted.
So this battle, this battle against this demonic
element within humanity, within individual humans, that the
best of human potential is challenged if life
is threatened by the worst of human potential.
And you have that potential in all of
you.
We carry that with us.
So to struggle with this recognition, with this
recognition, there's so much that comes out of
this story.
How in initiating this murder, the expression, the
side of humanity that was expressed and how
in the reenactment of this act, subsequently, what
doors have been opened and how in not
responding, standing honorably and dying, what, how life
-giving that was and how the context of
what this story is being revealed with Musa
Alayhi Salaam and his people refusing, with Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and the Sahaba ready to
curb that potential of humanity which would kill
indiscriminately, kill the best of it, of its
own, the most righteous of its own, the
most peace-loving of its own, that there
is a segment of the religious population, of
the spiritual population who are willing to strengthen
themselves sufficiently so as to be a force
to reckon with, so as to not allow
the force of evil to be the only
real force the one with political strength, secular
strength.
So it was ordained from the time of
Musa Alayhi Salaam, our is to be acquired,
material resources, strength, this is your motivation to
pursue it, it should come from the right
place, it is a means that if you
don't take it, others will, and what they
do with it, which side are they going
to be on, Cain or Abel?
Take your pick, and remember your own potential,
you're both Cain and Abel, you're both Cain
and Abel.
Kabil and Qabil both reside inside you, they're
this transgenerational presence, you have this scary potential
within you, very scary, and يُقَتَّلُوا يُصَلَّبُوا تُقَطَّعَ
أَيْدِهِمْ وَأَرْجُلُهُمْ مِنْ خِلَافٍ So their hands and
feet be chopped off from opposite sides, أو
يُنفَوه من الأرض or they be exiled from
the land, ذَلِكَ لَهُمْ فِي الْدُّنْيَا That will
be their degradation in this life, the idea
is to curb the injustice, the idea is
to make sure that there is a deterrent
that human life and the sanctity thereof is
taken seriously, and it's not a joke, and
it's not for anybody on account of their
impulsivity to take the life away, take anybody's
life away, and we know for a fact
that the stronger the deterrent is, the greater
the social pressure is, the greater the fear
of punishment is, the most criminal-minded of
people, the most anti-social of people, even
those psychotically driven, the social, the severity of
the social deterrent can hold them back from
taking away human life.
The stronger the deterrent, some form of, and
the form of the deterrent is being left
open, exactly what sort of punishment options are
being given, but it should be strong enough,
the principle being, the idea being, that human
life and the sanctity thereof is taken seriously.
اَوْ يُنفَوْ فِي الْمِنَ الْأَرْضِ ذَلِكَ لَهُمْ خِزِيٌّ
فِي الْدُّنْيَا وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ And
for them in the hereafter is a severe
punishment.
You also develop that moral sense, that fear,
for damnation in the hereafter.
إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ تَقَدِرُوا عَلَيْهِمْ
Except for those who repent before you overpower
them.
تَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ غَقُولٌ رَحِيمٌ So know that
Allah is also forgiving and merciful.
Why do I say also?
Because that's what you're expected to do, if
the path of repentance or if the manifestation
of them having repented is clear before they
were apprehended.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهُ So you
who have believed, attain to the taqwa of
Allah, observe the taqwa of Allah.
وَابْتَغُوا إِلَيْهِ الْوَسِيلَةِ And look, seek, pursue the
path of getting closer and closer to Him.
وَجَاهِدُوا فِي سَبِيلَ And how do you do
that?
Again, يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا are being told
again and again.
Just the claim to iman does not necessarily
mean you got taqwa.
It's the first step.
Brilliant.
Bravo.
Congratulations.
Initiation ceremonies.
Wonderful.
You ventured.
Not it.
The taqwa of Allah is going to be
that ladder that helps you climb higher and
higher and higher and higher to get closer
and closer and ever closer to Him.
And that's what it is.
It is to be more divine.
That potential within you that finds expression that
makes you worthy of Allah.
That enamoring yourself with His attributes more and
more.
What you're looking to do.
It's a struggle.
How do you get that?
وَجَاهِدُوا فِي سَبِيلَ You will struggle in His
cause.
There's going to be enemies along the way,
internal, external.
It is not going to be easy.
It is not going to be easy.
لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ So that you are successful.
فَلَاءٍ In having broken away in the way
a plant sprouts out of the ground.
As far as the ground is concerned, as
far as the earth is concerned, it has
both good and the bad.
The fruit is potentially in the earth, in
the ground.
Potentially it's there.
The leaf is potentially in the earth.
The carbon, the hydrogen, the oxygen, the nitrogen,
the sulfur, all of it is there.
The micronutrients, you name it, everything is there.
The macro, the micro, the whole shebang.
But as a potential.
It is mixed up with the gunk.
It is mixed up with a whole bunch
which is not all that great.
Which is actually harmful.
Which is actually devastating.
It takes a lot of effort for it
to rise to its wonderful and beautiful potential.
To break free of the gunk, of the
horrifyingly dangerous potential that it has.
It's a struggle.
It is a struggle every step of the
way.
And the taqwa of Allah means the ladder
to get through the struggle.
And the fala that then comes is the
fruit that is liberated, that finally actualizes itself
and is no longer just an abstract potential.
It has actually manifested itself.
And that is the closeness to Allah.
Its resemblance with Allah's attributes.
That these people, the fruitfulness of their conduct
is going to carry humanity where Allah wants
for humanity to be carried.
Only He stepped back, stopped short, and left
it to human freedom to take the next
steps.
He's there to help and facilitate, but He's
not going to do it for us.
He's going to wait for human beings to
do it themselves.
To stumble, to fall, to falter, to sin,
to earth.
At times, horribly, get things horribly wrong.
But then keep going.
Inna allatheena kafaru law anna lahum ma fil
ardi jameeAAa And those who refuse to believe
if they own everything on earth wa mithlahu
maAAahu or even twice as much liyaftadu bihi
minAAazaabi yawmi alqiyaamah To offer as ransom to
avoid punishment on the day of judgment ma
tuqubbila minhum It will not be accepted from
them.
walahum AAazaabun aleem And for them, it's a
painful punishment.
Why would you choose not to do all
of that?
Why would you not look to sacrifice and
continue sacrificing even when you think it's not
being accepted?
Why would you continue that pathway?
There is so much more attraction and just
amassing whatever is in front of you.
Just go for immediate gratification.
Even spiritually, you would want your spiritual efforts
to be immediately gratifying.
Amass the fruits here, now.
Even if you have all of that.
All the immediate gratification you can possibly get.
Everything the world has to offer.
Everything.
But it's for the sake of its own
self.
It is not directed towards the work of
the overall good for the community, for humanity,
after you're gone.
Then, no matter how much you have of
it, A.
It's never going to be enough, even for
your own ends.
B.
On the day of judgment, you'd want to
give it up as ransom.
Take it, save me.
Not going to work.
For them, it's a painful punishment.
They will want to get out of the
fire.
But they will never be able to get
out of it.
For them, it's going to be an everlasting
punishment.
وَالسَّارِقُ وَالسَّارِقَةُ فَقْطَأُوا أَيْدِيَهُمَا The thief, male or
female, chop off their hands.
جَزَاءً بِمَا كَسَبَى As a compensation for what
they earned.
نَكَالًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ As an exemplary punishment from
Allah, as a deterrent.
As a deterrent.
وَاللَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ And Allah is mighty and
wise.
Individual freedom is respected, yes, and it ought
to be respected in the community, but not
at the expense of social security.
Security that people feel within that society, that
their lives, that their properties are safe.
If there is a general sense of insecurity,
then that in itself is one of the
biggest hurdles toward the progression of humanity in
the direction where Allah wants for humanity to
progress.
Which is pretty holistic, which is pretty comprehensive.
And there has to be a deterrent in
place that ensures that that security is provided
for.
Now, in isolation, we have to take into
consideration that just to consider this one aspect,
oh, chopping off the hands of the thief.
If we have this, if we have the
punishment for zina, that's shariah.
And that's like the goal that God wants.
No, this is part of a huge structure.
And it's true, as we see from the
example of Umar radiyallahu ta'ala anhu, in
the time of famine, he revoked this punishment.
He did not, he would not.
There would be no chopping off of hands
given that there is famine.
So his Quranic sense, shariah sense, was one
which saw this flexibility, this possibility of adjudicating.
Now, 14 centuries down the road, you have
empty, hollow slogans, which only sound barbaric, cut
off from the bigger structure and deprived, stripped
off of their flexibility.
Not to say that these shouldn't be their
absolute thing, but to say that this and
just this is what the aim of the
Quran is for Muslim lands and the world.
And give me a break.
You have nothing intelligent to say about how
the economic situation of the people is going
to be more judicious, that this gap, this
murderous gap between the haves and the have
-nots is going to be filled.
You have nothing intelligent to say where there
are complicated white-collar crimes to which political
leaders, business tycoons, are consistently, consistently sucking the
blood from the majority of the population.
And you have nothing to offer there.
And you want to institute punishments for stealing.
Whose wealth are you protecting?
Whose ill-gotten money is being given security?
You cannot take one element in isolation and
expect for it, it's a disgrace to that
one element, to that one commandment.
It is a disgrace to the bigger structure
and the flexibility within that structure that you're
taking it from.
The conversation has to be more nuanced.
And people having that conversation have to be
well-versed in what's going on, what's practical,
what's relevant.
You cannot have empty slogans.
فَمَن ذَابَ مِن بَعْدِ ظُلْمِهِ وَأَصْلَحَ But whoever
repents after his wrongdoing and reforms فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ
يَتُوبُ عَلَيْهِ Allah will definitely return to him
with mercy, accepting his repentance.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ For sure, Allah is
forgiving and merciful.
For with this, we see within this ayah
itself, what rehabilitative, what force of tawbah, maghfirah,
rahmah, how will that be reflected in your
society?
What rehabilitative program?
What sort of a correction do you offer?
What's the curriculum for that?
What's the modality for that?
How is the maghfirah of Allah?
You wanna go around with the might, the
aziz aspect of Allah and go out with
it.
Minus the hakeem, where it comes from.
How aziz and hakeem have to be taken
together.
You just wanna be proponents of the izzah
of Allah, the power and the weight and
how it has to be executed.
Fair enough, where's the hikmah?
Where's the hakeem?
Where all of this is part of a
bigger structure.
A structure that is capable of movement, development,
growth.
Where's all of that?
Where's the maghfirah?
Where is the aspect, that aspect of your
society which opens doors to tawbah?
In which the path of being tawbah, that
those in positions of authority, those in positions
of leadership are tawab towards those with the
criminal potential and for those criminals to be
tawab as well, so that they move closer
to each other.
That there's a, that possibility is opened up.
Where's the expression of that attribute?
Where is the maghfirah?
Where is the rahmah?
How is that going to manifest in your
darul Islam?
In your shariah, khilafah, darul khilafah?
What is that going to look like?
Who's gonna work that out?
Alam ta'ala manna allaha lahu mulku samawati
wal-ad Don't you know that it is
only Allah to whom the sovereignty of heaven
and the earth belongs to?
yu'adhibu man yasha wa yaghfiru liman yasha
He punishes whoever He wants and He forgives
whoever He wants.
And again, both readings possible.
He punishes whoever wants, who's ever, whoever is
asking for choice and He forgives whoever asks
for it.
Whoever chooses to go towards the maghfirah of
Allah.
wallahu ala kulli shay'in qadir And Allah
is powerful over everything.
So the other sahabi of Musa Alayhi Salaam,
other than Yusha in Joshua, was Qalib bin
Yafanam.
In any case, moving right along.
Surah Ma'idah, covered 40 ayat.
41 a'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim Ya
ayyuhal rasool la yakhzunkal ladheena yusari'oona fil
kufr Do not let yourself be grieved by
those who race in disbelief.
minallatheena qaloo aamanna biafwahihim From those who verbally
claim to be believers walam tu'min quloobuhum But
their hearts have not believed.
So Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's situation, there is
a lot that these ayat have to tell
us with respect to what he's going through.
In terms of the burden on his shoulders,
the situation of his people, the state of
the war, the consolations that the Quran offers,
the reassurances that the Quran offers, the stories
of the prophets that the Quran brings in,
is Allah, in so many ways, responding through
not just the external situation but the internal
situation of Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
When do you tell someone, don't worry, don't
grieve, forget it, don't worry about it, it's
okay.
When that person is actually going through all
of that, he is worried, he is grieved,
he is concerned.
That's when all of these statements make sense.
When the other person is not worried, not
concerned, not grieved, then what is it stupid
to tell them not to worry?
It's like your statement is utterly irrelevant.
It doesn't make sense.
Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam actively engaged in the
whole process, very sensitive as a human being,
deeply concerned about the people around him.
The worst of them, he would be deeply
concerned about the outcomes, about the possible devastation
that their practices will cause.
He can see what other people cannot in
terms of how far-reaching the consequences of
their evil is, are.
And so the Quran coming in, you have
issues with people who have claimed to believe
and responded to you and said, Labbaik Ya
Rasoolullah, ironic how I used that statement, right?
They've said, Labbaik Ya Rasoolullah, and you're not,
the way they're responding, the way they're acting,
the way they're carrying themselves, reflect on your
brother Musa.
He got three people other than himself.
Go back to the story of Habil Qabil.
Remember the end goal.
Remember how you're in it for the long
run.
It's not, just keep strong.
Hold strong, keep going.
This Kufr that they're racing in, or they're
struggling for, or they're striving for, this Kufr
is not just coming from the camp of
Quraysh.
This is not just coming from the camps
of Yahud.
This is coming from within the Muslims, the
hypocrites.
And that would disturb Rasoolullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
and the Sahaba the most.
These are people in our own camp.
Their hearts have not believed.
So whatever they're saying, yet their hearts are
not believing, have not believed.
وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ هَادُوا As well as for the
people of the Jews, you have treaties with
them, yet they continue to threaten, to betray.
سَمَعُونَ لِلْكَذِبِ They avidly listen to falsehood.
سَمَعُونَ لِقَوْمٍ آخَرِينَ لَمْ يَأْتُوكُ Listen for another
people who haven't come to you.
So they're listening, spying on you, against you,
for your enemies.
There will be hypocrites who would do that.
يُحَرِّفُونَ الْكَلِمَةَ مِنْ بَعْدِ مَوَابِعِهِ They distort words
out of their place.
They report things out of context.
They exaggerate things.
They would take a fragment, project that as,
Oh my God, and then stir up another
people, excite a people, diffuse another people, always
looking for some sort of mischief.
يَقُولُنَ إِنْ أُوتِيْتُمْ هَذَا فَخُذُوهُ Continuing to say
that if you are given this judgment, take
it.
وَإِن لَّمْ تُؤْتُوهُ فَأْذَرُوا But if you're not
given this judgment, reject it.
So they have their preformed conclusions before they
come for any conversation.
There is no conversation.
They're looking for their conclusions to be confirmed.
If they're confirmed, they're happy.
What is their standard of truth?
Their standard of truth is their conclusions that
they've already drawn.
That's how they come to Rasulullah ﷺ for
confirmation or for conversation, quote unquote, which is
actually confirmation.
But if they don't get that confirmation, forget
it.
We're not playing.
وَمَنْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ فِتْنَةً Whoever Allah intends to
put in fitna, فَلَنْ تَمْلِكَ لَهُ مِنَ اللَّهِ
شَيْئًا you will never have an authority to
save him from Allah.
That's just what Allah has intended for them
on account of the choices that they've made,
the attitude that they persist in carrying on
despite repeated reminders.
أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ لَمْ يُرِدِ اللَّهُ أَنْ يُطَهِّرَ قُلُوبَهُمْ
These are the people for whom Allah does
not intend to purify their hearts.
This attitude persists in every human being.
But an insistence on just this attitude, choosing
to take that forward, not willing to be
conscious of it, not willing to take it
to any level of purification, not willing to
identify it, rectify it, the whole struggle, the
whole jihad, they don't want to do it.
Allah doesn't want to do it for them.
لَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خَذْيٌ There is a humiliation
for them in this world.
وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخْرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ For them in
the hereafter is a great punishment.
ثَمَّعُونَ لِلْكَذِبِ يَكَّالُونَ لِلسَّحْتِ They listen to what's
false and they eat what is forbidden.
فَإِنْ جَأُوكَ فَحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ أَوْ أَعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ So
if they come to you, you may judge
between them or just refuse to do so.
You don't have to humor them if you
don't want to.
It's completely up to you.
They take you for a joke.
For them, you and what you represent is
nothing more than a puppet that they want
to control.
And if they can't control it, they don't
want to have anything to do with it.
Don't become that for them.
But if it is strategically important, fair enough.
But otherwise, you have the complete right to
refuse.
وَإِنْ تُعْرِضْ عَنْهُمْ فَلَنْ يَذُرُّوا كَشَيْئًا And even
if you do turn away from them, they
will never be able to harm you.
وَإِنْ حَكَمْتَ فَحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِالْقِسْتِ But if you
do choose to judge between them, judge justly.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ Allah loves those who
judge justly.
Once you have chosen to engage, then do
the best you can.
Then whatever they're doing and whatever, let that
not stop you from the justice that you
stand for.
وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ How do they come
to you for judgment?
وَعِنْدَهُمُ التَّوْرَاتِ Now specifically talking about a Jewish
people.
That they would come to Rasulullah ﷺ at
times accepting his authority, but looking for a
judgment that would be in their favor.
And Allah says, how can they come to
you?
They have the Tawrat.
We have that hukmullah.
It has the hukm of Allah.
As we speak, as the Quran is being
revealed.
فَمَهِيَ تَوَلَّوْنَ مِن بَعْدِ ذَلِكِ They turn away
even from that.
They don't accept what is theirs by their
own admission, which Allah has given them, which
Allah is validating.
They're going to listen to you.
مَمَا أُولَئِكَ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ These are not believers.
إِنَّ أَنزَلْنَا التَّوْرَاتِ We have most definitely revealed
the Tawrat.
فِيهَا هُدًى وَنُورٌ Therein is a guidance and
a light.
يَحْكُمْ بِهَا النَّبِيُّونَ الَّذِينَ أَسْلَمُوا The prophets who
submitted themselves to Allah used to judge in
its light لِلَّذِينَ هَادُوا between the Jews وَالرَّبَّانِيُّونَ
وَالْأَخْبَارِ So did the rabbis, so did the
scholars.
بِمَا سْتَحْفِظُوا مِنْ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ By that which
they were entrusted with of the scripture of
Allah.
وَكَانُوا عَلَيْهِ شُهَدًا And they themselves were witnessed
with.
فَلَا تَخْشَوُوا النَّاسِ So do not be afraid
of people.
وَاخْشَوْنِي But fear Me.
وَلَا تَشْتَرُوا بِآيَاتِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا And do not
sell My ayaat for a very petty price.
وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللَّهُ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ
الْكَافِرُونَ And those who do not judge according
to what Allah has revealed, they, they are
the disbelievers.
وَكَتَبْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ فِيهَا And We commanded them in
the Torah أَنَّ النَّفْسَ بِالنَّفْسِ That a life
for a life.
وَالْعَيْنَ بِالْعَيْنِ An eye for an eye.
وَالْأَنْفَ بِالْأَنْفِ A nose for a nose.
وَالْأُذُنَ بِالْأُذُنِ An ear for an ear.
وَالْسِنَّ بِالسِّنِّ A tooth for a tooth.
وَالْجُرُوحَ قِصَاصٌ And there is retaliation for all
wounds.
فَمَنْ تَصَدَّقَ بِهِ But one who forgives his
right as a charity.
فَهُوَ كَثَارَةٌ لَّهُ That is going to be
an atonement for him.
وَمَنْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهِ And those
who do not judge according to what Allah
has revealed.
فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ They, they're the ones who
are unjust.
وَقَفَّيْنَا عَلَى آثَارِهِمْ بِعِيسَ بْنِ مَرْيَمِ And in
their footsteps we sent Isa, the son of
Maryam.
مُسَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَاتِ He confirmed
what was before him in the Torah.
وَآتَيْنَاهُ الْإِنْجِيلِ And we gave him the Injeel.
فِيهِ هُدًى وَنُورًا Therein was a guidance and
light.
وَمُسَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ التَّوْرَاتِ Confirming what
preceded it from the Torah.
وَهُدًى وَمَوْعِظَةً لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ A guidance and motivation.
Heart-softening speech.
موعظة For those who have the taqwa of
Allah.
وَلْيَحْكُمْ أَهْلُ الْإِنْجِيلِ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ So
let the people of Injeel, let the people
of the Gospel judge according to what Allah
has revealed in it.
وَمَلْ لَمْ يَحْكُمْ بِمَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ And whoever
doesn't judge according to what Allah has revealed.
فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ Such are the transgressors.
كَافِرُونَ ظَالِمُونَ فَاسِقُونَ Same phrasing, three types of
characteristics of people who refuse to judge by
what Allah has sent down.
Referring to the people of the book, but
obviously, the people of Quran are the people
of the book too.
That this doesn't just hold for the people
of Torah and the people of Injeel, not
for the people of Quran.
So the kind of religiosity that absolutely secludes
itself to affairs of spirituality, to affairs of
the masjid, to affairs of the church, to
affairs of the synagogue, we are witness to
the fact how that particular brand of religiosity,
Muslim, Jewish, or Christian, or otherwise for that
matter, is complicit in political crimes across history.
Whenever political powers have exploited their
subjects, their citizens, people of their kingdoms or
whatever, always, always, they have had some form
of religious leadership supporting them, affirming them, validating
them, which as far as the public is
concerned, has disconnected itself from affairs of the
state.
They have disconnected themselves from affairs of the
state, but to the same public, their exhortations
are affirming the oppression of the rulers.
This sort of a religion, now the ruling
class and the oppressed class, the oppressed class
has an integrity, a humanity, a potential for
rebellion.
This frustration of being oppressed, of being unjustly
treated, is put to rest absolutely by promises
of paradise.
Again, the dualistic hermeneutics.
These are affairs of the world.
What have you to do with the world?
Yours is the life of the hereafter.
You are a spiritual people.
The less world you have, the better it
is.
This world is a fitna.
This world, its worth is less than the
wing of a mosquito.
What is it to you?
Just bear with fortitude, with patience, with sabr,
whatever it is that you are afflicted with.
It is the will of Allah.
So bear through it.
Do not utter a word.
Whoever it is, just carrying on with your
worship, carrying on with your charities, and
let it be.
Your reward is in paradise.
Your reward is with Allah.
This is a standard sermon of the opioid
that religion has been for centuries.
The standard opioid.
The criminal religiosity.
It doesn't stop there.
The opium, the sedative, the anxiolytic is also
necessary for the ruling class because they're guilty
as * for having oppressed.
Their children manifest it.
It is a typical experience of anxiety that
every rich snobbish brat of a kid goes
through as they're nearing adolescence.
When they're looking at their own privilege and
the utter desperation and destitution outside of their
own houses and cars and whatnot.
There is this guilt.
And the more they get to learn as
to how complicit their business affairs are in
promoting this destitution, the more the guilt rises.
No problem, religion to your service.
What anxiety is it that you have that
religion cannot serve as a sedative?
Listen, what are you guilty for?
These are Allah's blessings upon you.
Allah has chosen you especially to be in
this privileged state that you are.
You dare challenge the decree of Allah?
Allah has put them in the situation that
he's put them because that's what they deserve.
Allah is Alim, Allah is Hakim.
It is on the basis of that ilm,
that hikmah he has given you, blessed you,
favored you.
And he has not given it to them.
They have verses of the Bible to support
these claims.
They have ayats from the Quran to support
these claims.
They have a hadith.
They have knowledge.
They can do whatever they want to.
They can use it as a weapon.
So don't worry, be happy.
Just do this zikr.
Just forward this message on WhatsApp.
You're good.
Satan will stop you from sharing.
Tahajjud.
You know, fasting, charity.
You're good.
Don't worry about these.
Because you're privileged.
Allah has chosen you, your parents, your ancestry.
And so on and so forth.
Perfect.
Perfect opioid.
Perfect opioid.
Such a potent anxiolytic.
What more could you ask for?
What more could you possibly ask for?
For there to be justice in the world?
For people to have rights?
Why do you ask this?
It's never happening.
It's utopian thinking.
Just forget it.
Let it be.
Let it be.
So that's one opioid.
There is another manifestation of that opioid.
Fight, rebel, tear apart the system, render it
asunder.
Get up, get out, blow yourself up.
Because these are kafiroon, zalimoon, fasikoon.
Oh, the Quran said kafir.
Kafir, murtad, murtad.
Wajibul qatal, go.
There you go.
So now the reaction to the opioid religion
is another more subtle form of opioid.
But when you overdose on opioid, you commit
suicide.
And so they overdose on the opioid.
Take it to heaven, blow yourself up.
Destroy everything.
It's all, they're all kafir.
These are all masjidul ziraar.
These are the masajid of the hypocrites.
Blow them up.
Fair enough?
Let the other opioid pop out of genuine
responsibility.
Pop out of really doing something in the
world.
Apparently those impulsive activities are going to bring
about that revolution.
Allah is with us.
He will give us success.
And angels will descend to our aid the
way they did in Badr.
And then all the stories of jihad and
qatal.
And when the sahaba were there, and then
Khalid bin Waleed was there, and then the
Prophet ﷺ, and he made this dua, and
then this happened.
And oh my God.
Oh my God.
Absolutely no regard for any contracts of citizenship,
of passports, visas.
What does that matter?
Acts between countries, peace treaties.
What does that matter?
What do those uqood mean?
They're void.
Pretend like you're following them.
Like you're fine.
Just like you checked that accept all cookies
on Google.
You don't really have to.
Because your commitment is greater.
You are mujahideen.
What good has that done?
What good has that done?
There's that.
And then there's the more, the subtle revolutionaries.
Who will cite all of these ayats.
They will be very careful in making sure
that they're not taken literally.
But they're not actually kafir.
But what is happening is kufr.
And therefore a struggle is mandated.
But what does that struggle entail?
Everyone has their own.
There's the political methodologies.
There's the non-political methodologies.
Qudid ka?
Get a general from the army.
Get a general from the army on your
team.
That general is going...
How do they get generals from the army?
They get the general's kids.
They get the general's kids.
I'm sorry, I can't control my laughter.
And through their kids, they get to the
general.
And then all the emotional blackmailing of the
general is supposed to take place.
And then he's going to go for a
qudid ka.
And they're going to justify that.
They're going to label the army as the
ansar.
Just like Rasulullah ﷺ sought nusrah.
We're going to seek nusrah from the army,
from a general.
Okay, fair enough.
And then there's the more step-by-step,
the six-step methodology.
The listen, I knew the steps.
First call is ideology.
Gather people around the ideology.
Then organize them, discipline them, listen and obey.
And then know what is going to be
their disciplining force is going to be sharia.
And then when you reach critical mass, critical
mass, then there is an unarmed rebellion.
You aggress without aggressing in the basically, very
elaborate kind of a dharna.
You know, you just a non-cooperation movement.
Okay.
And then they will be forced to listen.
You're not supposed to shed blood or retaliate
or harm even a single tree or a
pole or a window.
Fair enough.
So there's these various ways that these ayahs
have been used in the past century, either
ignored completely or taken to the point of
all of these various ways of establishing the
deen of Allah.
Without getting into the nitty gritties, without getting
into how much in conformity this may be
with with seerah, with the Quran.
You can go on and on with those
discussions.
They don't end.
They have all the Q&A's prepared.
It's a simple question.
That all of these methodologies have been there
for at least half of a century.
At least half of a century.
What have you done?
What have you done?
What do you have to show for yourself?
And when will you stop blaming anyone and
everyone other than yourselves for your utter failures,
for families that you've ruined, for careers that
you've destroyed, for incredible intellectual potential that you
have spiritually blackmailed, hijacked, robbed their entire lives
with no compensation?
People who are intellectually and spiritually stunted, people
who at one point in time were so
passionate, so zealous, so capable.
Who's going to answer to that?
Is anyone who holds you accountable without being
judged or labeled as a hypocrite according to
your standards?
The charities that you have amassed, the donations
that you have amassed on all of what
you've spent that, the sadaqat, the khairat, the
zakat, the half of a century of an
ummah, is anyone to hold you to account
as to audit where that money was spent
and what good has come out of those,
of that spending?
Where is it?
Where's that good?
Where's that good?
And how dare you continue to trumpet that
which has miserably failed according to your own
predictions, according to your own standards?
How dare you continue to spiritually blackmail people
the same way?
Your leaders, your founders, they had hypotheses.
They had an understanding of how things were
going to work.
They didn't have precedents, or whatever precedents they
had, they chose to do things in a
new way.
But we have their lives as examples as
what does not work.
How dimwitted do you have to be to
repeat their mistakes?
They have sacrificed their lives to show us
those are huge sacrifices, that this doesn't work.
This doesn't work.
Try something different, anything different.
But no, you are dogmatically permitted.
It has become a demand of your Iman
to continue to bang your head against the
wall and to continue to do what has
yielded no results.
What do you say?
What do you say to that?
What do you say to this idiocy?
You can't even call it idiocy.
Because then there's religious labels.
You're intolerant, you're disrespectful, you're sold out, you're
a Yehudi agent.
What do you say to all of that?
What do you say to all of that?
What have you produced other than keyboard jihadis?
What have you done?
Can you respond?
So, if I can tell you this much,
that at least your founders, your elders, they
were willing to show, they were willing to
own up to their mistakes.
They were willing to reform.
You wouldn't let that.
You hijacked them and then their thought.
What do you make of that?
So, an entire intellectual, spiritual, professional, economic potential
used as a pressure valve, another opioid, which
gives a people an inkling, a thought, that
they're doing something, but they're doing nothing other
than either outright suicide or the less severe,
the less drastic, but the more insidious, the
more dangerous, deliberate self-harm.
I don't know which is worse.
I don't know which is worse.
The suicides or those who continue to cut
themselves, continue to cut themselves and they're getting
this high off of this activity as if
it is a great service to God.
How many different forms of opioids would you
ask for?
How many different forms of opioids?
And justice prevails.
You talk about political Islam, you talk about
social Islam, you talk about economic Islam or
Islamic economy, Islamic society, Islamic politics, and you
talk about you have anything to show, anything,
any reasonable engagement with any of those fields,
any reasonable engagement.
Next is village.
All of what you claim that you're going
to give to the world as a panacea,
as the solution to their problems, as the
justice, do you even have examples of that
justice within your own ranks?
So how long are you going to hide
behind these ayahs to continue to blackmail people
for how utterly impotent you are yourselves?
How long?
You talk about politics in the Qur'an,
you talk about economics in the Qur'an,
you talk about psychology in the Qur'an,
you talk about all of these things and
you don't have even a beginner's introduction to
what these subjects are.
What they mean in the world we're living
in.
Can there be a greater disservice or injustice
to the spirit of the Qur'an when
those representing its political ideology, social ideology are
ignorant, illiterate.
They don't speak the language to the audience
they're addressing.
And they're hiding behind the Qur'an, they're
hiding behind Rasulullah.
Whenever they're stuck, whenever there's a problem they
don't have an answer to, whenever there's an
issue they don't understand, ayats, hadiths.
Allah says this, Rasulullah says this.
God.
Imbeciles.
You want that to be respected?
Making a mockery of Allah and his messenger.
Hiding your own ignorance behind them.
All you know is that secularism is Qur
'an.
What does that statement even mean?
What does that statement even mean?
The grunt work, the one
of the greatest tragedies of practicing Muslims over
the past few decades.
One of the greatest tragedies.
And you're not allowed to talk about it.
And they're continuing.
They will go on and on and on.
You want yourselves to be taken seriously?
Are you willing to take seriously what has
actually gone around in the world over the
past three centuries?
Why would anyone take you seriously?
Are you capable of a more in-depth
reading, a more nuanced reading of what it
is that you're engaging with, what it is
that you're talking about?
You want your good to be established, understood,
understood by others.
For people to let you, to listen to
you when you're not willing to listen to
anyone.
When you have so much to teach and
nothing to learn.
Where your default position is everything that they
stand on is false.
Everything that comes or emanates from whatever is
prevalent, practiced, established in the world is absolutely
falsehood.
You want people to listen to you.
You don't want to listen to anyone.
You want people to learn from you.
You don't want to learn anything.
Why would anyone take you seriously?
Why would anyone take you seriously?
I can't stay for politics.
I can't speak for economics.
I can't speak for sociology.
But I can speak for psychology.
There is a lot that the past couple
of centuries have to teach us.
That we continue to refuse to learn.
That the secular space within psychology is one
of the greatest achievements of humanity.
That when you outrightly reject that, without right,
what you're stripping away is something, the
value for which you want, you want secularism
when others are not.
When you're in a non-Muslim country, you
want secularism.
You want, when you go to university, you
want a secular university.
You don't want them to be preaching their
religion to you.
You want a secular knowledge.
But you're not willing to give that.
You're not willing to make room for that
yourself.
These double standards in which your desire is
for the secular space when you're on the
receiving end.
But when you're on the giving end, you
don't want to have anything to do with
that space.
How does that make sense?
How does that make sense?
What's the point?
Is there any room for intelligent conversation with
this, with the secular developments in your books,
in your attitudes?
It's going to take, it's going to take
a long time.
It's going to take a long time for
that justice to come around.
It's going to take a long time for
anyone to take your scripture seriously.
We're talking at least, at least one generation,
if not more.
We're talking at least one generation to a
tireless effort, a tireless effort of the best
intellectual potential that we have, of the best
economic potential that we can garner, of the
best spirituality that we're capable of, in the
very least, in the very least.
With the best resources, with the best aesthetic
expression that we can possibly muster.
And we're talking a couple of generations before
any of this is relevant, before any of
this makes sense to the larger humanity.
Stop, stop selling fairy tales.
There's, there's no easy road, there's no shortcuts,
there's no, there's no immediate results, there's no
revolution.
There's no revolution.
There's no revolution.
Until you start taking this seriously.
وَأَنذَلْنَا إِلَيْكُ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ So we sent you
the book of truth, We sent the book
to you, Ya Rasulullah, with truth, مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا
بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَمُهَيْمًا عَلَيْهِ Confirming that
which preceded it of the book, and as
the guardian over it.
Quran's attitude towards what exists before it is
of a protector, is of a friend, a
good friend, it never comes to supplant, to
replace, to do away with, to reject.
It comes as a muhaymin.
It comes to safeguard, to honor.
And if that honoring means correction, of course,
you would want your friend to do that.
The Quran's attitude is that of openness, such
self-confidence.
فَحْكُمْ بَيْنَهُمْ بِمَا أَنظَلَ اللَّهِ So judge between
them according to what Allah has revealed.
وَلَتَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ عَمَّا جَاءَكَ مِنَ الْحَقِّ And do
not follow their vain desires diverging from the
truth that which has come to you.
The aim, the goal, is that how much
of human judgments, systems are in the service
of personal desires or the desires of a
privileged class, and how the entire process is
supposed to be such that it becomes in
the service of truth, that it is capable
of this taqheer, of this analysis, which allows
to discern desire, demonic, from divine, from
truth, in terms of its genesis, in terms
of its origin, and allow for the submission
of the human being and the community to
beat towards that which is true, because that
which is true is that which is divine,
wherever it comes from.
In the most scriptural of sources, in the
most secular of sources, truth is divine.
لَكُلِّنْ جَعَلْنَا مِنْكُمْ شِرْعَةً وَمِنْهَاجَةً For each of
you, we have ordained a shariah, a set
of do's and don'ts, and a methodology.
How do you go for it?
It's not just conclusions.
It's not just a list of do's and
don'ts.
It's the methodology.
It's how you get to those do's and
don'ts.
How, when those do's and don'ts are not
applicable, where do you go?
When they're silent, what do you do?
To be armed with a methodology, it speaks
for creativity, it speaks for movement, it speaks
for flexibility.
But to be only open to flexibility, and
we haven't spoken about that side, because there
is that side, which is all about ijtihad,
ijtihad, ijtihad, ijtihad.
And their slogans of ijtihad are no different
from the slogans of jihad.
Because it's flexibility, flexibility, flexibility, to the point
of relativity or relativism, with no respect for
structure, with no respect for sharia.
And it is all about movement and growth,
with no respect for stability and foundations.
Where on one side, there is a rigidity
to the foundations, to the structure, and no
movement whatsoever.
And on the other side, you want to
be plumb free.
What kind of tree is that with no
roots?
And what kind of tree is that which
has only roots and no fruits?
No branches, no growth.
Neither of those qualifies as the shajaratun tayyibah,
neither of those.
So it's shiratan wa minhaja, walaw sha'allahu
la ja'alakum ummatan wahida.
If Allah wanted, He would have just made
you one community.
All of you across the board, just doing
what He wants you to do.
walakin liyabuluwakum fee maa ataakum But He is
going to give you opportunities for growth and
refinement and becoming better and better from what
He has given you.
The great, the grand challenge that is in
front of you, the impossible that you're confronted
with is do your best.
The more problems there are and the greater
the problems, the greater the opportunity for your
contributions, for your meaningful commitment.
There is enough for everybody to play their
part, small or big, very diverse, but play
their part nevertheless.
fastabiqul khayrat So excel in good deeds.
ilallahi marji'ukum jami'a Their ultimate return
is towards Allah, alone, Him.
Eventually, it comes back to Allah.
Eventually, there's a confluence to Allah, here and
hereafter.
Here and hereafter.
aankh jo dekhti hai lab pe aasakta nahi
Mehve hairat hun ke duniya kya se kya
ho jaye When Rasulullah ﷺ talks about what
this world is going to become, what this
world has the potential to become, and we
try to make sense of it, given the
situation that we're in, it's shocking.
It is shocking.
ilallahi marji'ukum jami'a And then ultimately,
of course, the return to Allah and the
hereafter.
fa yunabbirukum bima kuntum feehi takhtalifoon So then
He will let you know about all of
what you used to differ in, all the
ikhtilaf that you had.
Don't worry, it'll be settled.
wa anihkum baynahum bima anzal Allah So judge
between them according to what Allah has revealed.
wa latatabi'a ahwa'ahum Do not follow
their desires.
wa hathar hum And beware of them.
an yaftinuka an ba'di ma anzal Allahu ilayk
Lest they swerve you away from a portion
of what Allah has revealed to you.
fa intawallau But if they turn away, they
reject your judgment.
fa'alamanna ma yuridu Allahu an yusibahum bi
ba'di dhunubihim And know that Allah wants to
afflict them because of some of their sins.
wa inna katheeran minan nasi lafaseekoon And of
course, a great number of people are defiantly
disobedient.
atha hukmul jahiliyati yaghhoon Then is it the
judgment of ignorance?
jahiliya Absence of proof.
That what they desire.
wa man ahsanu min Allahi hukman li qawmi
yuqanoon Who is better than Allah in judgment
for the people of conviction.
ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo la tattakhidhu alyahooda wa
alnasara awliyaa You who have believed, do not
take the yahood and the nasara as your
allies.
ba'duhum awliyaa ba'd They're allies of each other.
wa mayyata wallahum minkum fa innahu minhum And
whoever is an ally to them from you,
then for sure he is one of them.
Your utter dependence, your utter powerlessness that necessitates
that you have to eat off of their
table.
Means that eventually, whatever degradation they suffered, whatever
diseases became their culture, whatever habits
became their attitude towards scripture, that's going to
become yours.
That is who you're going to end up
becoming.
Your dependence on them in every which way
is going to result in you becoming them.
Their attitude towards scripture, despite being a people
of scripture, they could not be a people
of goodness and evil spread despite them and
because of them.
You're going to become that.
You're going to become that.
We have become that.
Our alliances, our dependencies, our utter subjugation, we
are still colonized.
We are still colonized.
We lack the discernment, the incisiveness of thought
to be able to see, to be able
to become that muhayman that we've lost it.
More so when there is open animosity, when
there is an open war and these alliances
are being made against the interests of the
believers and against the interests of those Muslims
who are struggling for truth.
More damaging is that level of alignment.
That level of hypocrisy.
For sure Allah does not guide the unjust
people.
But you find those who are suffering from
a disease in their hearts.
They eagerly move around in their camps.
They say we are afraid lest a misfortune
befalls us.
But Allah is there.
The Sahaba are there.
There is a stronghold.
They have mustered their independence so as to
be an entity to be reckoned with.
And yet the difficulty to trust and yet
the fear of being, of suffering any loss
in any way means that they're going to
remain diplomatic either way.
But Allah may bring with victory or a
special command from himself.
وَيُصْبِحُ عَلَىٰ مَا أَصَرُوا فِي أَنفُسِهِمْ نَادِمِينَ Then
they will regret for what they kept secret
within themselves which was that all they really
cared for is their vested interest.
There was no commitment to Rasulullah.
Whatever commitment there was to Rasulullah was in
case he wins, will be on his side.
وَيَقُولُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَهَا أُولَٰئِ الَّذِينَ أَقْصَمُوا بِاللَّهِ
جَهْدَ أَيْمَانِهِمْ And then the believers would say,
are these the people who solemnly swore by
Allah إِنَّهُمْ لَمَعَكُمْ that they definitely are with
you.
حَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ Their deeds have become worthless because
of this.
فَأَصْبَحُوا خَاسِرِينَ So they have become losers.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا You who have believed
مَن يَرْتَدَّ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِ Whoever of you
steps back from his deen, from this conduct
that Islam inspires, that Rasulullah ﷺ lived, فَثَوْفَ
يَأْتِ اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ And then Allah will soon
bring a people يَحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَ He will love
them and they will love him.
Allah will replace you.
You'll be thrown away.
Somebody else will take your place.
And what's going to be the defining characteristics
of those people who do replace?
First up, mutual love.
First up, mutual love.
Their love for Allah, Allah's love for them.
The spirituality that they embody, that they struggle
for, that they develop is a spirituality in
which love of Allah, Allah's love for them
is a burning flame in their hearts.
Because you will find the monastic spirituality, the
demonic spirituality in which the love for Allah
is apparent, apparently, but Allah's love for them,
how Allah honors them, how Allah empowers them,
how they are worthy of respect and love.
That's completely gone.
That the highest ideal in that sort of
a spirituality is self-nihilation, is self-denial.
Absolutely.
The kind of spirituality that the Quran espouses
is very, very mutual.
اَذِلَّتِنْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ They will be humble and
soft towards believers.
Their attitude between themselves, that of humility, that
of acceptance, that of openness, that of tolerance,
that of forgiveness.
اَذْلَتِنْ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ But very stern towards those
who have outrightly rejected what they stand for.
The truth that they stand for.
The kuffar.
Those, again, you're not a kafir by default.
You have to earn that right.
It is a whole process of becoming kafireen
and kafiroon.
Active.
Just like you don't just become mu'min by
default.
It is an active process.
It is an active struggle to become mu'min.
There is an active acceptance and then living
that acceptance that is required.
Just like that, kuffar is an active rejection
and then living that rejection.
يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ They struggle in the
cause of Allah.
And the way the Qur'an spreads out,
opens up, broadens the understanding of what يُجَاهِدُونَ
فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ can entail.
The way the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ opens
up the different facets, the different dimensions of
what يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ entails.
The way the seerah of the sahabah رضي
الله تعالى عنهم opens up what يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي
سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ entails.
That there is so much that falls under
the category that to reduce it to just
one and to pronounce that as the only
form of jihad absolutely superior and no other
accepted or acceptable, that is what has brought
this ummah to ruin.
That the best of its potential has been
conned into thinking that's how things are.
Guilt tripping the rest.
Whereas Rasulullah ﷺ was open in accepting the
jihad of Hasan bin Thabit رضي الله تعالى
عنه which was poetry.
Which had nothing to do with swords.
Which had nothing to do with arrows.
It had nothing to do with fighting at
all.
Even when fighting was actively happening.
Where Rasulullah ﷺ himself when it was time
for peace, it was time for peace.
When it was time for defense, it was
time for defense.
When it was time for a treaty, it
was time for a treaty.
Jihad was never the absolute only form of
jihad as the end in itself.
It was a means necessarily resorted to after
the prerequisites for it were fulfilled.
Within the community of Rasulullah ﷺ and all
the different aspects of the different dimensions of
jihad when it was taking place, the life
of Rasulullah ﷺ from the onset of prophethood
to his passing away is jihad fi sabilillah.
Nothing else.
And there is so much diversity that you
see across those 23 years that it opened
up for any individual who is looking towards
the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ to find guidance,
to find something relatable across the board.
The diversity that Rasulullah ﷺ embraced among the
Sahaba is it bears witness to how open,
to how accepting, how broad this perspective
is.
Not to say that it is anything goes,
anything and everything is acceptable.
At the end of the day, it is
every person with their own circumstances, with their
own understanding of their own struggles.
A refusal to struggle that struggle, whatever level,
whatever stage, whatever form it takes for you
opens the door to hypocrisy.
Opens the door to hypocrisy.
It's a very personal call.
It's a very personal call even within the
life of Rasulullah ﷺ.
The mandatory expression of jihad only happened twice.
Only twice.
At the time of migration and at the
time of Tabuk.
These were the only two times where the
mandatory demand from everyone who accepted Rasulullah ﷺ
that this is the form of jihad and
nothing else will be accepted.
Only on those two occasions.
Between them, before them and after them, it
was voluntary.
It was voluntary, meaning that nobody could hold
the other accountable.
Why didn't you do that?
Why didn't you come?
Why didn't you go?
No.
No.
It's a personal choice.
It was a personal choice and it was
to be respected and it was respected.
No judgments.
No spiritual blackmail.
Exhortation, encouragement, all of that, yes.
But no judgment and blackmail.
So how dare we restrict it?
And Rasulullah, for the most part, did not.
And even when it was mandated at the
point of migration to Medina, at the time
of Tabuk, there were still exceptions.
There were still exceptions.
يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ So this mutual love
and how it finds expression as this lifelong
struggle وَلَا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَ تَلَائِمُ And they do
not fear the blame or criticism of any
critic.
Three dimensions so far of the people of
Allah.
But when those who had the privilege, the
chance, the opportunity to carry the standard of
truth, they didn't or they refused to.
They were replaced.
The potential candidates who will replace have these
three dimensions.
One, mutuality of their love for Allah in
which Allah loves them and they love Allah.
Two, it alludes to their respect for each
other, their humility before each other.
A possible indication towards the collectivity, the community,
the communal aspect of their effort, the organized
dimension of their effort.
And considering that we're talking 14 centuries down
the road and there is no prophet that
we have to respond to or answer to
or rally ourselves around.
These are going to be multiple pockets, multiple
movements, organizations, institutions and their mutual respect for
each other.
Their community, their communal binding, not necessarily under
one leadership, but with each other for sure.
And then, of course, there will be a
strong stance against the opponents of what they
stand for, the truth that they stand for.
Third dimension, struggling, thriving, working.
Proactive people.
Proactive people.
وَلَا يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَ تَلَائِمًۭ Without fear of blame
or criticism, when you're doing, when you're doing
anything, that is in any way, in the
direction of any form of justice, get ready.
Get ready for criticism.
It is going to come starting from home,
those closest to you.
ذَلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ That is the favor of
Allah.
يُعْتِيهِ مَن يَشَاءِ He gives it to whoever
He wills.
وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ And Allah is all-embracing.
وُسْعَةٌ Of Allah.
The verse of Allah.
Knowing.
إِنَّمَا وَلِيُّكُمُ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولٌ For sure, Allah and
His Messenger are your friends.
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا As are the people who have
believed.
الَّذِينَ يُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ وَيُقْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ وَهُمْ رَوْكِعُونَ The
ones who pray, pay zakah, and are humble
together.
The community is very broad.
It's very broad.
It's just these requirements.
Just these requirements.
Carry that sense of community forward.
Do not reject.
Do not cast out.
If these three are there, it's good enough.
It is good enough.
Individual methodologies, personal understandings, pursuits, in their own
place.
وَمَن يَتَوَلَّ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولَهُ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا And whoever
befriends with Allah, whoever befriends Allah, His Messenger
and the believers, فَإِنَّ حِزْبَ اللَّهِ هُمُ الْغَالِبُونَ
And for sure, it is the group of
Allah which is going to prevail.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُهُوَ هَمْ بِلِيبِ لَا
تَتَّخِذُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُ دِينَكُمْ هُزُوًا وَلَعِبًا Do not
take those who take your religion as a
joke and a game.
مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ وَالْكُثَارَ Be
they from those given the scripture before you
or the kuffar, awliya.
Don't take them as your allies.
وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهُ And observe the taqwa of Allah.
إِن كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ If you really are believers.
وَإِذَا نَادَيْتُمْ إِلَى الصَّلَاةِ And when you call
to prayer اتَّخَذُوهَا هُزُوًا وَلَعِبًا They take it
as a joke and an amusement.
ذَلِكَ بِإِنَّهُمْ قَوْمُ اللَّهِ يَعْطَلُونَ That is because
there are people who don't use reason.
People of nonsense.
قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابَ هَلْ تَنْقِمُونَ مِنَّا Ask
them, people of scripture, what turns you against
us?
Why are you so resentful of us?
إِلَّا أَنْ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَا
أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِ Except that we believe in
Allah and what has been revealed to us
and what was revealed earlier.
وَأَنَّ أَكْثَرَكُمْ فَاسِقُونَ And the fact is that
most of you are defiantly disobedient.
The defiance, the disobedience, that's what turns you
against us.
قُلْ هَلْ أُنَّبِئُكُمْ بِالشَّرِّ مِن ذَلِكَ Ask them,
can I tell you of something worse than
that?
مَثُوبَةً عِنْدَ اللَّهِ The penalty from Allah.
بَلْ لَعْنَهُ اللَّهُ وَغَضِبَ عَلَيْهِ The ones whom
Allah has cursed and whom He is angry
with.
وَجَعْلَ مِنْهُمُ الْقِرَزَةَ وَالْخَنَازِيرَ He turned some of
them into pigs and apes.
وَعَبَدَ الطَّغُوتِ They worshipped Allah's opponents.
وَلَئِكَ الشَّرُّ مَكَانُهُمْ وَأَبَلُوا عَنْ سَوَاءِ السَّبِيلِ These
are the worst in rank and further astray
from the right path.
وَإِذَا جَعُوكُمْ وَإِثَى جَاءُوا الآفِبِ And when they
visit you, قَالُوا أَمَنًا They say we believe.
وَقَدْ دَخَلُوا بِالْكُفْرِ وَهُمْ قَدْ خَرَجُوا بِهِ After
they entered as disbelievers and they left as
such.
وَاللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا كَانُوا يَكْفُمُونَ Allah knows fully
well what they're consciously hiding.
Again, the second place in the Qur'an
where conscious deliberate hypocrisy, strategic hypocrisy is alluded
to.
وَتَرَى كَثِيرًا مِّنْهُمْ يُسَارِعُونَ And you see them
eagerly advancing فِي الإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ وَأَكْلِهِمُوا السَّخَطِ in
thin transgression and devouring of what is unlawful
لَبِئْسَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَدُونَ And how wretched is
what they have been doing لَوْ لَا يَنْهَا
هُمُ الْرَبَّانِي جُونَ وَالْأَبْبَابِ Why do their rabbis
and priests not stop them?
Ouch!
Whatever evil is going on in their society,
why is their religious leadership quiet?
Why is it silent in the face of
their evil?
Those are the first people Allah calls to
account.
There is evil in your society, why don't
you speak out against it?
This is your pedestal for the criminal injustice
that is taking place in your society and
you have nothing intelligent to say.
You have no alternatives to offer.
You have no...
What is your contribution?
You weren't supposed to condone them.
You were supposed to condemn them.
You weren't supposed to stand in their support.
What is wrong with you?
قَوْلِهِمُ الْإِثْمُ وَأَكْلِهِمُ السُّهْتِ For their sinful speech,
for devouring what is unlawful, لَبِقْ سَمَعْتَ عَنْهُ
يَسْنَعُونَ and how wretched is what they have
been practicing when scholars become the puppets of
leaders.
But that only hoped to happen with the
Jews and the Christians, right?
That cannot have happened to Muslims.
I mean, come on.
How could we have stooped to that level?
Our religious leadership, our saints, our political leaderships
are angels sent from heaven.
God's...
ظِلُّ اللَّهِ فِي الْأَرْضِ Allah's...
Allah's shadows.
Allah's shade, actually.
On earth.
Right?
That the problems were only with the people
of the book.
Is that the wrong book?
وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ يَدُوا اللَّهِ مَغْلُولَةً The Jewish people
say Allah's hands are tied up, Allah has
handcuffs on.
قُلَّتْ عَيْدِيهِمْ مَيْدِيَارْهَمْ بِي فَرَرْدْ وَالْلُعْنُ بِمَا قَالُوا
And they're cursed for what they say.
بَلْ يَدَاهُمَ بُصُوِّقَتَا And in fact, both His
hands are extended free.
يُنْفِقُ كَيْفَ يَشَٓاء He spends however He wants.
both hands.
The hand that gives revelatory knowledge, scriptural knowledge.
And the hand that gives the other.
The hand that sends ambiya and the hand
that makes imams, leaders, whether that's political leadership
or secular knowledge.
The two hands of Allah.
He spends however he wills.
They would say that because they're like Allah
was stingy with us.
He didn't give us.
He gave to them.
Everyone else has everything.
Why can't we have it too?
Why didn't we get it?
Your treasures are open for the others, them,
not us.
Why didn't we get anything?
Start playing the victim card and projecting stinginess
on God.
Now Allah's hands are free.
He's spending openly.
But why does this disparity take place?
Some get, others don't.
Because Allah, whatever he has sent down to
you, whatever has been sent down to you
from your Rab, will increase most of them
in transgression and disbelief.
And we have cast them or cast among
them enmity and hatred to continue till the
day of resurrection.
Every time they kindle the fire of war,
Allah puts it out.
They're constantly in this state of sharing enmity
between people.
And they strive to spread corruption in the
land.
Allah does not love those who are corrupt.
Even if he has blessed them, even if
he has given them, even if they have
the resources and the power, to one, Allah's
hands are still open.
That is, we're open for others to cash
if they want to.
As we will study later, there's there is
an encouragement and there's a way of doing
that that's supposed to be taken up.
But then those who are taking it up,
getting it, don't take that to mean that
they have all good.
If they're getting it for all the wrong
reasons, that it's increasing them in all the
wrong ways.
It's not growth, that's a cancer.
And had the people of the book believed
in Allah and observed his taqwa, we would
have forgiven them their misdeeds, their shortcomings, their
everything.
We would have blotted it out.
And we would have anchored them to gardens
of pleasure.
If they had established the Torah and the
Injil and whatever was revealed to them from
their Rabb, they would have eaten from above
them and beneath their feet.
Paradise on earth would have been given to
them.
And yet there are some of them who
are balanced, who are moderate.
Most of them, evil is what they do.