Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Nights 2021 Day 17
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وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِن شُرُورِ يَنْفُسِنَا وَمِن سَيِّئَاتِ يَعْمَالِنَا
مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْهُ
فَلَا هَدِيَ لَهُ وَنَشْهَدُ وَلَّا إِلَٰهِ إِلَّا اللَّهُ
وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيْثَ لَهُ وَنَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبُدُهُ
وَرَسُولُهُ أما بعد فإن خير الحديث كتاب الله
وخير الهدي هدي محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم
وشر الأمور محدثاتها وكل محدثة بدعة وكل بدأة
ولا له وكل ضلالة في النار رب شرح
لي صدري ويسر لي أمري وحل لقلة من
لساني يفقه قولي اللهم انفعنا بما علمتنا وعلمنا
ما ينفعنا وزدنا علم اللهم أرنا حقيقة الأشياء
كما هي اللهم أرنا الحق حقا ورزقنا اتباع
وأرنا الباطل باطلا ورزقنا اجتنابه آمين يا رب
العالمين السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته We covered
I think pretty much half of Surat Al
-An'am yesterday or a little less than
half and we'll continue from there today one
of the flavors that we would have gotten
this is our first reading of a Makkan
of an elaborate or a longer Makkan Surah
and we've already, I hope, seen and appreciated
how the themes have what sort of themes
are being picked up and even this is
general experience in Taraweeh or when you listen
to recitation you will usually be able to
pick up as to when a Makkan Surah
is being recited versus when a Madani Surah
is being recited from the flow of the
recitation Makkan Surahs tend to have shorter ayat,
more rhythmic although Al-An'am would be
still longer of the Makkan Surahs Moving right
along we said that there's two types of
reminders that come in Makkan Surahs most typically
and one of them have to do with
the A'la Illa these are actually Shah
Waliullah, Rahmahullah's differentiations, distinctions or categories Tazkir bi
A'la Illa, Tazkir bi A'yaam Illa
A'la Illa being the ayats in the
universe and A'yaamullah being the ayats in
history, the days of Allah so far we
have seen and we will see more in
Al-An'am with respect to A'la
Illa, the ayats in the universe as far
as for the A'yaamullah are concerned we
will see a mention here of Ibrahim Alayhi
Salaam but then that's pretty much it the
rest of the Prophets are taken up in
more detail in the next Surah, in Surah
A'raf and that's going to be something
of a pattern that we're going to see
okay so Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam, the particular aspect
of his Seerah that is brought out is
when he is going around with his
people, among his people now there's two opinions
that are generally put out there that this
is a journey that Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam is
journeying himself that as a young man in
his polytheistic society where his father, all his
relatives, pretty much everyone there every kind of
shirk that you can conceive of is prevalent
in that society there it's a very very
polytheistic society it's everything is God, everything has
the potential of being God right, everything is
worshipped as a God and so Ibrahim Alayhi
Salaam is opening his eyes with all of
these different options for worship and he's reflecting
so one possibility is this is his personal
journey that he is entertaining these different options
testing them out, does it make sense and
then coming to a conclusion number two, this
is conceived of as him having reached a
decision already being a Muwhid, a follower of
Tawheed and this is him walking his people
one by one through a demonstration that what
you hold on to doesn't make sense and
this is how, right so either of these
two readings are possible from this particular passage
and Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam says وَإِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ
لِأَبِيهِ أَذَرُ when Ibrahim said to his father,
Azr أَتَتَّخِذُ أَصْنَامًا أَلِهًا are you going to
take idols or do you take idols as
gods إِنِّي أَرَاكَ وَقَوْمَكَ فِي ضُلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ I
find you as well as your people most
definitely lost so first up the idol worship
in terms of the stone idols that they
were worshiping first there his point of skepticism
and he's like this is way off and
actually not just skepticism but outright rejection this
is these are not gods I can't accept
them this looks like إِنِّي أَرَاكَ وَقَوْمَكَ فِي
ضُلَالٍ مُّبِينٍ now their dalal or their misguidance
in two ways one in the practice of
idol worship itself and then how the worshiping
of idols and their general conduct in society
the general conduct is misguided misled right it's
all over the place it's exploitative unjust immoral
and so the idol worship does not seem
to be affecting that positively in any way
right so overall misguidance misguidance in the practice
of polytheism and then misguidance in a social
conduct which in itself is a an evidence
against the validity of idol worship or its
influence the positive influence that it's supposed to
have in the society and that is how
we showed Ibrahim the realms of the heavens
and the earth so from here he goes
on to the world of nature and the
wording here seems to suggest when Allah is
saying that we showed Ibrahim so it seems
to be a personal journey that Allah is
showing Ibrahim the malakut of samawat wal ardan
he is considering them for his own selves
so that he joins the firm believers so
that he becomes of the firm believers again
suggesting that he is not already there that
this is his journey his process has started
now one of the reasons why we are
more inclined to not accepting that this is
a process to that this is not that
this is not a journey or that Ibrahim
alayhis salaam already had all the conclusions figured
out and he was from day one the
perfect muahid again we like to conceive of
guidance as a something that you just get
as something that you just pick up this
monolithic entity that you just have to proclaim
it is very simple to the point of
being simplistic and you just have it prophets
have it from day one they were born
on fitra everyone's born on fitra yes we're
born on fitra but the understanding of fitra
or how fitra expresses itself for a child
and how with the intellectual spiritual development of
a person in his life how that expression
changes how the fitra would find different manifestations
should find different manifestations why is that lost
on us why are we so against the
process that this is and should be that
all of us have to undergo again because
the process is long because the journey is
tiring because the journey is demanding because the
journey is dangerous the journey is risky you
can slip you can fall you can get
off track in fact to appreciate the track
the sirat al mustateem experiences of what is
not the sirat al mustateem have a very
important role to play and anything can happen
on those experiences our insistence that no no
no no no it was just he had
it he kept it and we should just
get it and keep it and that's it
so he becomes those of conviction so that
he becomes one of the people himself it's
speaking of him in the singular there is
a journey there is a process we have
to undergo it we will falter in its
course we should be looking to grow in
this process growth is not going to happen
with a waving of a wand or the
recitation of a few words or if whatever
growth happens with the recitation of a few
words that's not the end of the journey
why do we want the journey to have
already ended why this cop-out why this
refusal to accept the responsibility of carrying the
burden for a long distance and for experiencing
different experiences for all kinds of encounters along
the path it's why do we want this
pathos of certainty to just the perfection that
we have already attained why is that so
much of a why is that coveted so
strongly precisely because it's maintaining a sense of
security because it maintains it offers a protection
from continuous effort from risk from discovery from
novelty from newness it offers protection against the
risks of getting things wrong getting things wrong
is something we don't want to associate with
ourselves the humility of being those who
make a lot of mistakes that that doesn't
fall well with us we want to be
perfectionists and for that reason so many of
us preclude genuine growth by creating this delusion
of having attained ultimate guidance years back and
so many an intellectual potential so many a
spiritual potential so many a social potential is
utterly lost when we conceive of guidance in
that way when we conceive of the hate
in that way in such simplistic of a
way of looking at it where it is
a dogma or a creed and nothing more
not a genuine relationship a genuine relationship it's
a journey it has highs and lows it
has all kinds of emotions and that's another
reason why we want to deny the process
and the journey because we want to deny
the emotions we want to guard ourselves against
the distress of all the of all the
emotions that are part and parcel of the
journey it's a very painful journey psychologically speaking
it is marred with fear with grief and
it is so much easier to rid yourself
of it to build these walls against the
fear and the the grief by just saying
I already have it I have my paradise
I got my tree of knowledge I have
the the forbidden fruit is in my possession
and one of the understandings of what the
forbidden fruit or the tree of knowledge the
Shajar-e-Mamnua of Adam Alayhi Salaam what
it represents is absolute knowledge and we'd like
to think that we have absolute knowledge and
this selfishness of wanting to have that absolute
knowledge or deceiving ourselves into thinking that we
have absolute knowledge in the belligerent rejection of
others as it manifests itself in our interactions
which the self-deceiving disclaimers of I don't
know everything or I may be wrong here
one sentence of you know attesting to the
very obvious and very undeniable human weakness or
human ignorance but then after that one sentence
the entire paragraph or everything that follows from
there is representative of belligerent certainty and rejection
of any other conception of truth outside of
yourself that's convenient that's devastating in what it
results in so much truth comes in front
of a person and because they've already attained
their paradise their tree of knowledge is they're
holding on to it tight they're unable to
see it وَلِيَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْقِنِينَ so that he
becomes joins the firm believers those with conviction
فَلَمَّ جَنَّ عَلَيْهِ اللَّيْلِ so when the night
grew dark رَأَىٰ تَوْكَبَ he saw a star
قَالَ هَذَا رَبِّي he said this is my
رَبَّ فَلَمَّ أَفَلَ and when the star set
قَالَ لَأُحِبُّ الْأَفِلِينَ he said I don't like
those who disappear this star is going to
be my deity its limitations have already become
apparent to me it is subject to certain
fixed patterns فِتَارَ كَيَا مِنِ تَقْدِيرِ كِي خَبَرْ
دَيْگَ وَتُوْ خُدْ فَرَاخِيَ أَفْلَاقِ فَرَاخِيَ أَفْلَاقِ مَنْ
هَيْ خَارُ وَزُّبُونَ this um I can't put
it on a pedestal I attach myself we've
done that we do that to star like
stuff when the patterns of movements in the
stars and in the heavens are absolute determinants
of our behaviors that sort of fatalism again
escape from responsibility subjugation for that which is
weaker than you which is which does not
have the freedom that you as a human
being possess فَلَمَّ رَأَ الْقَمَرَ بَازِغًا and when
he found the moon shining قَالَ هَذَا رَبِّي
he said this is my Rab فَلَمَّا أَفَلَ
but then when it also set قَالَ لَإِن
لَمْ يَهْدِنِي رَبِّهِ so he said if my
Rab does not guide me again the one
when he's saying Rab he is looking for
someone or the one the creator the nurturer
the one who brought him into being the
one who brought everything into being to form
a genuine relationship with he is despaired of
the idols now he's looking to the world
of nature so moon doesn't make sense either
it was bigger than the star but then
the same patterns that it's bound to قَالَ
لَإِن لَمْ يَهْدِنِي رَبِّي لَأَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْقَوْمِ الضَّالِّينَ
I'll be of the people who are lost
فَلَمَّا رَأَ الشَّمْسَ بَازِغًا and now when he
saw the sun shining brightly new contender for
the post of of a deity قَالَ هَذَا
رَبِّي هَذَا أَكْبَرُ he said this is my
Rab this is bigger فَلَمَّا أَفَلَتْ but when
the sun also set قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ إِنِّي
بَرِيءٌ مِّمَّا تُشِرِكُونَ he said my people I
have nothing to do with all that you
associate with Allah I tried it all I
gave it a serious consideration don't you think
beyond just simply accepting it it doesn't work
out إِنِّي وَجَهْتُ وَجْهِيَ I with full attention
turn my face لِلَّذِي فَطَرَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ أَنِفَ
I am exclusively dedicating myself to the one
who created the heavens and the earth وَمَا
أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ and I am not at
all of the mushrikeen those that as grand
as they may be as awesome as they
may be the awesomeness in its own place
their grandeur not rejected how great the sun
is no doubt about that how awesome the
moon is how brilliant the stars are no
problem with that but having observed their limitations
having observed the fixed patterns that they're bound
by he has to be more than that
my Rabb has to be more than that
my Rabb is other than that my Rabb
is outside of that and again that opens
up doors to complicated discussions but nevertheless very
simply put he is not this expression that
I see that I can capture with my
senses وَمَا أَنَا مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ وَحَاجَهُ قَوْمُهُ and
his people started arguing with him he said
أَتُحَاجُونِ فِى اللَّهِ وَقَدْ هَدَانِ and he said
are you arguing with me about Allah and
Allah has guided me وَلَا أَخَافُ مَا تُشْرِكُونَ
بِهِ I do not fear those whom you
associate with him إِلَّا أَن يَشَأَ رَبِّي شَيْئًا
they can't harm me whatever you're threatening that
they will do to me that my rejection
of them is going to bring me some
harm in my life I'm not afraid of
that except if my Rabb wills something وَسِعَ
رَبِّي كُلَّ شَيْءٍ عِلْمًا my Rabb encompasses everything
in knowledge أَفَلَا تَتَذَكَّرُونَ so don't you remember
don't you receive admonition there's some level of
تذكير there's some resonance with the conception of
Allah from within something strikes something makes sense
from within the best possible explanation of whatever
facts of observation in front of you and
then that on top of an intuitive recognition
that's who I'm going for rather than whatever
it is that you're calling me to the
shortcomings of which practically as well as conceptually
I've already seen وَكَيْفَ أَخَافُ مَا أَشْرَكْتُمْ and
your methodology or your defense of keeping me
to your fixed understandings your fixed beliefs is
the threats that you're leveling against me that
I am going to be smitten by some
calamity but isn't suffering generally a part of
life whether you commit to these idols or
you don't what sort of an understanding what
sort of an emotional blackmail is this that
you commit to a deity to avoid suffering
which is an inevitability in your life as
it is and then when that inevitable suffering
does result you associate this with one idol
or the other you having displeased them in
one way or the other you having been
punished by them and now there's something that
something or the other that you have to
do to appease them which if the suffering
goes away the appeasement worked which if it
doesn't you just didn't do it right that
doesn't that doesn't make sense that doesn't strike
me as all that consistent my Rabb is
beyond all of that this has to be
this to the he's he's my Rabb his
ilm is greater than that it encompasses everything
and there is something inside that's key it
is always a reminder there is something that
it clicks it resonates with inside and how
can I fear those whom you associate with
Allah and the emotional blackmail the threats that
start coming in Ibrahim is being stricken with
those like I don't I'm not going to
fear all of these other than Allah how
can I you don't fear you're not afraid
of having associated with Allah you go on
doing your shirk with all the audacity and
gall and you expect me to be afraid
of your stones your rocks your sun moon
and star you don't do you're not afraid
of Allah for which he has not sent
down to you any authority any sanction that
for the deification of anything if anything is
ultimately and absolutely divine and worthy of worship
there has to be some some evidence I
don't see any I don't see any so
which of the two parties deserves to feel
secure you or me submitting to Allah submitting
to the deities if aman is sought the
security that it comes with the one who
is the giver of ultimate security be rubbed
if you really know those who believe and
do not pollute their belief with zulm having
believed in Allah is not enough the possibility
of that belief being mixed up with zulm
mixed up with shirk in the shirk subtle
forms of shirk where especially the kind in
which there is no explicit idolatry going on
with an idol with a face and a
name but it's idolatry nevertheless for it's having
the same effects in your person in your
life in your society as idolatry would it
is they these are the people who attain
security these are the people who attain the
amn the peace and these are the people
they're going to be the rightly guided ones
the ones who have the the iman without
the zulm and that was our argument we
provided Ibrahim against his people for Ibrahim and
his the what makes him stand out from
all the prophets the ayat that he's bringing
in they're more to do with the reasoning
that he brings out the inconsistencies that he
brings out in the practice of his people
in the thought of his people whenever Ibrahim
is mentioned there is you will see him
engaging the people in dialogue you will see
him engaging the people showing the people the
limitations of their understanding and how those limitations
do not apply to what he is calling
them towards we exalt in ranks whoever we
want to and this is groundbreaking revolutionary as
far as the history of humanity is concerned
for now on after this journey of one
person humanity is going to going to swerve
in a very different direction than from where
it was headed before Ibrahim's process Ibrahim's engagement
with his people his legacy how his reflection
and then the practice that his reflection resulted
in how Allah accepts that to be the
path that the rest of humanity is to
build on is to follow and so prophethood
itself becomes exclusively an aspect of Ibrahim's
progeny and your Rabb is wise and knowing
and so we gifted him with Ishaq and
Ya'qub we guided each of them and
we had guided Nuh before them before Ibrahim
and from his
offspring and that is how we reward those
who achieve excellence Ibrahim's excellence that
Allah gives everyone that he chose to exercise
in the face of his father and his
community's opposition to think to reason independently of
their blackmail and how that is a practice
of Ihsan and the reward for that is
this incredible lineage of prophets how do you
become the father of such incredible human beings
the most incredible human beings ever it was
Ibrahim's commitment to the truth which wasn't just
the phrase has become so much of a
cliche commitment to the truth and searching for
the truth and with him we see how
much he's willing to do for it what
internal and external obstacles he's willing to overcome
what stand he's willing to take what risks
he's willing to take all of them
from the righteous Ibrahim's practice and how the
phrase and this is going to again something
that we see in the Makkan Qur'an
quite a lot a prophetic practice is highlighted
is appreciated and the reward is mentioned and
then Allah says this is how we reward
the people of Ihsan i.e. something of
this reward or this practice of Allah this
habit of Allah of rewarding this is not
restricted to Anbiya this is not restricted to
Rusul this is a practice of Allah with
respect to Muhsinin and the door to Ihsan
is open the door to Ihsan is not
closed it is not an exclusive prophetic privilege
only it is for all humanity We favor
all of them over the whole world the
preference that Allah gave these great individuals and
from their forefathers, children and brothers too we
chose them and guided them to a straight
path the possibilities that this exercise of Ibrahim
opened up for his future generation and the
expression that it found in these incredible human
beings that is Allah's guidance that's how Allah
rewarded Ibrahim that is how Allah's guidance manifests
itself transgenerationally it's not just limited to the
individual and the effects that that individual has
in his or her immediate surroundings it becomes
a legacy it becomes eternalized he guides through
it whoever from his Ibad that wants it
however, if you really have that fervor if
you really have that commitment that that Allah
says whoever really wants it we give it
to him whoever really wants it we give
it to him and from now on up
until now we've already we've always said that
this phrasing is translated can be translated both
ways that Allah guides or Allah yeah Allah
guides whoever Allah wants to but it has
legitimately been translated the other way as well
we've only chosen to go the former in
our running translations that it's Allah guides whoever
Allah wants Allah guides whichever individual wants to
be guided I'm going to try that from
now on the running translation chooses option number
two when have they committed shirk have the
prophets any of them committed shirk all of
what they had done would have become worthless
there you go so this they had the
freedom to do shirk they had the opportunity
the possibility was very open even for them
prophets not puppets and their greatness in choosing
the higher road the better path making the
right choices and so their greatness these are
the ones from whom whom we bless with
scripture wisdom and prophethood so if these people
these Quraysh also disbelieve in these ayat then
we have entrusted to another people this is
an announcement of sorts that the Quraysh have
been given repeated opportunities they're not listening look
outside of Mecca and Allah has made his
choice for where outside of Mecca this privilege
can go to the Ansar possibly by the
time of these ayat the pledges have taken
place at least one of them the pledge
of Aqabah where a group of Us and
Khazraj have come and heard the Rasulullah ﷺ
and have responded to him positively possibly that
has already happened which this phrase is referring
to so we have entrusted to another people
your opportunity to respond to the message of
Allah it's not going to remain eternally indefinite
future just you know sitting at your doorstep
pick it up whenever you want to no,
Allah is going to knock on your door
give you that opportunity you don't respond once,
twice, thrice, repeatedly he says enough is enough
go to * I'm going to take this
somewhere else as an individual somebody else can
do it as a collective nation somebody else
can do it Allah is not racist like
that that is just exclusively dependent on one
people to do his to carry his meaning
forward they don't respond, they don't respond he
will give them fair chance more than a
fair chance but then there is a limit
they're not going to disbelieve in it they're
not going to be ungrateful for it وَلَائِكَ
الَّذِينَ هَذَا اللَّهُ these are the people whom
Allah guided it's the way he guided Ibrahim
Alayhi Salaam he has picked out from the
Aus and the Khazraj as well فَبِهُدَاهُ مُقْتَدِهُ
to follow their guidance قُلْ لَا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ
أَجْرًا say Ya Rasulullah I do not demand
any compensation from you for this the message
that I am proclaiming, giving to you me
asking you to believe in me as a
prophet of God I am not asking for
my personal privilege in the society financially to
be elevated in any way Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam was very careful very very careful he
took this so seriously to the effect that
when he was on a camel and his
stick would fall down and a sahabi would
go forth to pick it up and give
it to him Rasulullah would forbid him No,
I'm going to do it myself you are
not my minions I have not hired you
or I have not enslaved you for my
personal service that's not what this is so
it in any way the leader of the
movement that this was turning out to be
was the most giving and sacrificing if anything
his investment in the cause was the greatest
and any personal very very personal gain there
was no evidence for it Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam was poorer than when he started out
his prophethood when at 40 years of age
with the business that Khadijah had made his
he was one of the more influential one
of the more wealthy people of Arabia and
he did not have that ever again in
his life even when Khaibar opens up even
when Khaibar opens up when all the believing
community becomes wealthy Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and
his family does not he does not leave
an inheritance Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam he never pays
zakah never had enough never had enough no
one can point fingers and say that ah
see and you can say that pretty much
about every single politician you talk about who
has been reasonably successful in his politics and
when there is a political dimension to the
spiritual cause that you represent all the more
reason that your finances are completely transparent so
that there is no doubt or no possibility
of doubt as to any vested personal vendetta
or before vendetta I mean I say vendetta
because typically when you look at somebody from
a who was not of a ruling class
when they are leading what would be looked
at as a rebellion then there is there
is vengeance that can be picked out in
the words in the achievements that it would
typically be a movement of the poor people
looking to overthrow undermine and take revenge from
the people of privilege we don't see that
at all with Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam no
personal interest no financial interest no vendettas I
don't ask any compensation from you for this
this is nothing but a reminder for all
the worlds people did not appreciate Allah as
was his right to be appreciated when they
ascribed all of these limitations to him what
did Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam do?
he understood the Qadr of Allah and the
Qadr in the sense of his worthiness and
so Allah reciprocated by elevating his worth elevating
Ibrahim Alayhi Salaam's worth when they say Allah
did not send down anything to a man
and interestingly enough this was always said in
any sort of understanding or any sort of
belief that looks to transcend God that looks
to make God very, very, very, very transcendent
to the point of exalting him so high
that his involvement in the mundane affairs of
the world the routine affairs of humanity is
either a formality or not there at all
as for the Quraish the greatness of they
believed in Allah Allah was the supreme God
for them as well but he was so
supreme he was so transcendent he was so
exalted that there was no possibility of any
sort of communication or access or interaction forget
about him sending anything to you you having
a dua access to him, no too transcendent,
too great you too petty too small too
inferior too impure to reach out to him
and so in their head these dogmas these
theological understandings they're exalting his greatness Allah says
no keep your exaltations to yourself Allah chooses
to exalt himself through relationship not through isolation
and the greatest manifestation of that revelation of
the Quran which mind you is a risk
for when revelation is carried out or when
revelation is revealed when there's a prophet when
there's people who hear the revelation will that
revelation always be respected?
will that revelation always be honored, loved, responded
to?
for the most part it won't for the
most part it will be blasphemed against but
he did that his exaltation is in his
eminence in his involvement in his concern, in
his love so when they say they're not
exalting his qadr they're not appreciating him for
his greatness Allah takes that as an insult
when they say Allah did not send down
anything to a man ask them who revealed
the book which Musa brought nooran wa hudal
linnas as a light and a guidance for
mankind you have written it on separate sheets
you have that with you in your midst
do you see the resemblance?
do you see the continuity between that and
what Rasulullah is bringing to you?
does this continuity not speak of the unity
of the source from where this book is
coming?
what relationship does Rasulullah have to the yahoot?
what interactions?
and yet you see the continuity the relationship
is spiritual if there is anything of lineage
that is so that is separated by so
many generations it's inconceivable that he has picked
up on it on his own independent of
any divine intervention of Allah's involvement faj'aloonahoo
qaraateesatoo bidoonaha wa tukhfoona katheera you've written it
on separate sheets disclosing some of it and
hiding a lot of it wa ullimtum ma
lam ta'lamu antum wa laa aba'ukum
and you were taught what you and even
your forefathers never knew just this legacy the
phenomena of knowledge scriptural yes for sure definitely
perhaps in this ayah primarily but all of
knowledge and how all of knowledge the acquisition
of it without divine intervention without some external
help the impossibility of that notion the fact
of that knowledge the fact of revelation or
the fact of the kitab, the qaraatees the
words on those pages of the book those
are facts right explain them explain what is
the best explanation fine you want to keep
God out of the equation and offer a
reasonable explanation without God go ahead take your
chances what do you come up with what
do you come up with that makes any
more sense than what an Abrahamic understanding gives
you how far have you succeeded in doing
that have you not made the discussions more
convoluted have you not made the explanations more
and more ridiculous internally inconsistent you want to
go with the hypotheses that they that these
did not arise from God by all means
go ahead and do that are your explanations
any more reasonable any more internally consistent are
they do they with the contradictions that they
are so rife with don't you see them
the dogma that you hold on to that
there is that this is not from God
what evidence do you have for that if
that's what you're all your explanations are proceeding
from then why why this belligerent rejection
why this dogmatism why do you become so
rigid in these rejections when you know that
you've created more problems than you've solved and
then you go on to muddy the water
to make it seem deep jargon terminologies these
ineffable conceptions vague language circular
discussions books upon books upon books upon books
so just looking at the the magnitude of
the literature any any naive but sincere individual
is intimidated and oh my god there's so
many books there has to be something in
there well really is that what you want
to do fa ullimtum ma lam ta'lamu
antum wala aba'ukum you were taught what
you and your even your forefathers never knew
that's the beauty of how knowledge has progressed
how intimately Allah has always been involved in
human progression in the form of scriptural revelation
but then in the form of other forms
of knowledge as well qullil la'ah tell
them ya Rasulullah it was Allah that this
is sourced in Allah thumma gharrhum fee khawthihim
yalAAaboon then leave them to play in their
useless arguments one thing that emanates from all
your useless arguments the khawb impracticality or
no social good one common theme after all
those convoluted discussions contradictory discussions intellectual gymnastics
what comes forth from there what social good
how is humanity a better place how are
human beings better off how?
so let them play around these discussions are
like games which are ends in themselves and
they want you to get lost in them
so that nothing comes out of them so
that nothing is demanded of them so that
nothing changes status quo maintained exploitation continues injustices
prevail shaheed is a theoretical reality and practical
social truth that it has to be made
to free choices free individuals making the right
choices that's lost it's lost whether those discussions
are philosophical or theological or a mix of
the two whatever whether they're taking place in
the university or the madrasa or wherever or
your coffee table is just the same you're
playing around with ideas of such incredible import
such sanctity and sacredness and you turn them
into a joke and this is a blessed
book we have revealed confirming what has preceded
it so that you ya rasulullah may warn
that mecca is the mother city the main
city and its surroundings those who believe in
the hereafter those who take the consequences of
their actions seriously and every consequence of your
action is a sign of akhirah and the
further ahead you recognize the impact of your
actions the furthest ahead would be yawm al
qiyamah itself the day of judgment heaven and
* and they guard their prayers they're very
vigilant recognizing the importance of the spiritual connection
of keeping the flame of tawhid alive in
their hearts so that they can keep it
alive in their lives in their societies with
their interactions they're going to take it seriously
for them these these ideas are not mere
theory for them they have a practical import
who can be more unjust than the one
who fabricates a lie against Allah i have
received revelation when he has not received anything
or the one who says again one of
two possibilities either rasulullah is the one what
the Quraish are accusing him of as i'm
saying if that is true then that is
a big deal that's horrible that's atrocious but
then he is telling the truth and then
there's others coming i can do what he's
doing i shall reveal what Allah has revealed
if you could just see when these unjust
people are in the machines of death and
the angels will be extending their hands towards
them hand over yourselves hand yourselves over you're
under arrest under death is holding you under
arrest today you will be given a humiliating
punishment why humiliating?
because you were arrogating yourself before that it
was your arrogance more than anything else and
your your great intellectual capacities were in the
service of this arrogance you used to say
about Allah what you had no right to
say and you used to be arrogant towards
his ayat so now you have come to
us alone as we created you the first
time and you have left behind whatever we
gave you and we don't see with you
your intercessors all that you thought would get
you through all that you thought was enough
for you all that you thought was more
important than Allah more important against Allah important
enough to hold you up against Allah where
are they?
the associates your relationships seem to have broken
between all of you and those that you
used to claim that will help you they've
forsaken you it seems that those bonds were
very weak those relationships were very fragile most
definitely it is Allah who is the cleaver
of the grain and the date seed the
potential that the date seed has the potential
that the grain has an entire tree within
itself and that potential is dormant again their
demand for ayat according to their dictation bring
us a book from the heavens the river
that should just burst through the mountain or
whatever it is that they were asking Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam for and Allah's insistence no
look at the date seed look at the
grain how it the natural processes not supernatural
natural the miracles in the mundane in the
routine in the patterns that you see around
you in the world look at those he
extracts the living from the dead the growth
of a plant from a seed being evidence
of how something dead can have the potential
of life inside it and you see it
burst forth Allah is the Faliq the one
who brings it out وَمُخْرِجُ الْمَيْجِيطِ مِنَ الْحَيْفِ
and he is the extractor of the dead
from the living from that same tree you
will get fruits and within those fruits you
will have those seeds again those dead material
things from which again he is capable of
bringing out another tree ذَٰلِكُمُ اللَّهِ that's Allah
فَأَنَّ تُؤْفَكُنْتُ how are you being misled he
is that intimately involved with every little thing
that's going on in this earth where are
you going who are you following which god
are you looking for فَالَقُ الْإِسْبَاحِ he is
the one who breaks cleaves the the daybreak
so the فَالَقُ الْحَبِّ وَالنَّوَٰى he's the god
of biology the cleaver of the daybreak the
one who makes the day burst forth from
the darkness the god of the material universe
we just saw the god of the biological
universe same Allah and now again the one
who brings the daybreak وَجَعَلَ اللَّيْلَ سَكَنَ and
he made the night to rest وَالشَّمْسَ وَالقَمَرَ
حُسْبَانَ and the sun and the moon حُسْبَانَ
according to a calculation and for a calculation
that because their patterns are fixed as to
how they orbit and therefore they are reliable
for you to develop calendars out of that's
how calendars do come out come about they
are possible because of the patterns the habits
that you observe in nature ذَلِكَ التَّقْضِيرُ الْعَزِيزِ
الْعَلِيمِ and whose habits are these who has
put these patterns in place Allah الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ
he's a reflective of his might of his
knowledge وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَ لَكُمُ النُّجُومَ لِتَهْتَدُوا بِهَا
he is the one who made for you
the stars so that you may be guided
by them فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ in the
dark of land and sea that the reliability
of the position of the stars because it
is fixed because those are regular patterns they
guide you you know where to go in
the darkness of land and sea قَدْ فَصَّلْنَا
الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمِ يَعْلَمُونَ so he is explaining we
قَدْ فَصَّلْنَا we have explained our signs for
the people of knowledge if you look at
these you enhance your ilm in them in
all of this phenomena these are ayat of
Allah وَهُوَ الَّذِي أَنْشَأَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدًا and
he is the one who raised you from
one individual فَمُسْتَقَرُّ وَمُسْتَوُّدَعْ and for everyone there
is a place to live and a place
to rest so we saw the world of
biological life concluding with that how that is
ayat of Allah and he is the same
god the one revealing the Quran is the
one who is intimately involved in the processes
of life and the seed and the grain
and plants and everything life and death day
and night the one who is the god
of the Quran the one revealing these ayats
is the same one who is who's organized
and intimately involved in the cycle of day
and night in the material universe and then
the human community the human society all what
you see your culture your politics your society
your psychologies your sociologies your anthropologies your political
sciences your economics Allah is the one who
brought you forth from one human being from
one individual فَمُسْتَقَرُّ وَمُسْتَوُّدَعْ and so for everyone
there is a place to live and a
repository now this has been themed to represent
more than one thing the dunya can be
the مُسْتَقَر and if that's the مُسْتَقَر then
the womb where the place of remaining for
a temporary period of time before coming into
the dunya that's the womb that's the مُسْتَوُّدَعْ
and if آخرة is the مُسْتَقَر then the
grave is the womb of the earth the
مُسْتَوُّدَعْ and if the آخرة is the مُسْتَقَر
then this world this dunya this life is
the مُسْتَوُّدَعْ and how the مُسْتَقَر and مُسْتَوُّدَعْ
their relationship understanding both of them in connection
in how they make each other meaningful and
how this pairing is important قَدْ فَصَّلْنَا الْآيَاتِ
لِقَوْمِ يَفْقَهُونَ and we have explained these signs
for the people who understand or the people
who are looking to understand seeking understanding وَهُوَ
الَّذِي يَنزَلَ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ مَآءًۭ He is the
one who sends down water from the sky
فَأَخْرَجْنَا بِهِ نَبَاتَ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ and we produce
with it growth of all things فَأَقْرَجْنَا مِنْهُ
خَضِرًا نُخْرِجُ مِنْهُ حَبًّا مُتَرَاكِبًا and then we
bring out from it green blades from which
we produce clustered grains so now you see
all these worlds coming together there was that
the seed and the grain life and death,
biological world and then the daybreak, day and
night and how now they interact and the
interaction is meaningful from that cycle of day
and night how the food that is produced
the seasons and how they are intimately tied
with what is grown and when it is
grown and how those changes the weather, the
rain how those facts of material world make
life in the biological world possible this interaction,
this relationship sign of the continuity or this
experience of continuity sign of the unity that
Allah is and the meaningfulness of where all
this is headed وَمِنَ النَّخْلِ وَمِنْ تَلْعِهَا قِنْوَانٌ
دَانِيَةٌ وَمِنَ النَّخْلِ وَمِنْ تَلْعِهَا قِنْوَانٌ دَانِيَةٌ of
its emerging fruit our clusters hanging low وَجَنَّاتِ
مِنْ أَعْنَابٍ وَزَّيْتُونَ وَالرُّمَانَ مُشْتَبِهً وَغَيْرَ مُتَشَابِهٍ and
olives and pomegranates similar yet varied from the
same class of foods or fruits yet you
see a diversity within each class you see
a diversity of classes then within the classes
within the categories أُنظُرُوا إِلَىٰ ثَمَرِهِ إِذَا أَثْمَرَ
وَيَنْعِهِ so look at its fruit when it
appears and when it is ripening إِنَّ فِي
ذَلِكُمْ لَآيَاتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يُؤْمِنُونَ so in all of
those are signs for the people looking to
believe for the people looking for iman for
the people having that attitude of iman for
the people wanting to look for the evidence
for the truth so they can believe in
it if you have that attitude then the
resources are out there وَجَعَلُوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ الْجِنِّ
yet they ascribe jinn to Allah as his
associates وَخَلَقَهُمْ he created them وَخَرَقُوا لَهُ بَنِينَ
وَبَنَاتٍ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ and they have fabricated for
him sons and daughters without any knowledge لَقَانَهُ
وَتَعَالَ عَمَّا يَسِفُونَ exalted is he and he
is a high above what they ascribe see
their exaltation of Allah was such that they
did not want or could not comprehend that
from that exalted pedestal that they have placed
him on he could reveal he could communicate
he could be asked of anything they've transcended
him but then there's spiritual needs that human
beings have we do need some connection with
the divine our very essence as psychological beings
we're spiritual beings what do you do about
that?
that's when all these fabrications come in oh
there's jinnah those are the intermediaries between us
and God oh God has daughters how can
God have daughters?
we can ask them we can go through
them they are our access to the divine
what?
first you throw him out of the universe
make him completely irrelevant incommunicable inaccessible and then
you fabricate and come up with all of
these other deities what's going on there?
where's all of this coming from?
what's the source?
where's the ilm?
where's the knowledge?
where are the ayats?
nothing how does that make sense?
it is Allah is exalted in that he
doesn't have these daughters he doesn't have these
jinnahs who are his associates no Allah is
exalted in that he communicates Allah is exalted
in that he responds to du'as Allah
is exalted in that he is intimately concerned
with every little thing from the tiny date
seed to the great things of orbiting of
the stars and galaxies he's great in that
he's exalted in bringing all of that together
he is the originator of the heavens and
the earth how can he have a son?
he doesn't have a wife wa khalaqa kulla
shay' and he created everything wa huwa bi
kulli shay'in alim and he is knowledgeable
of everything you're ascribing the sorts of attributes
to him that you have no sanction for
again because he is so transcendent he doesn't
care for can't know the can't know is
projected or is put forward in the form
of doesn't care it doesn't matter to him
it's too insignificant for him he's too high
and mighty for it and therefore the jinnahs
and the sons and daughters become necessary Allah
says no no no I know thank you
very much I don't need them to tell
me I already know zalikum allahu rabbukum that
is Allah your Rabb la ilaha illa hu
there is no ilah except him khaliqa kulli
shay' he's the creator of everything so to
him enter into the ibadah of enter in
his ibadah start this relationship with him he
is the disposer the caretaker of all things
the one to be relied upon vision cannot
perceive him the very limitations of your senses
that you want to have an absolute image
of him or you want to encompass him
in your vision you can't encompass his creation
in your vision and he perceives all vision
you want to see God but then what
your capacity of seeing it's whatever it encompasses
is not him he is so much greater
than all of that wa huwa yudrikul absar
wa huwa latiful khabir and he is subtle
he is subtle Allah's presence in the imperceptible
the imperceptible presence of Allah in all that
is perceptible whatever your absar can have ibraq
of can embrace or encompass his subtle presence
in them in that his involvement in taking
care of the things his knowledge as it
reflects through them his power as it reflects
to them his mercy as it reflects through
them that's where you're supposed to pick him
up or get an understanding of him from
al-khabir he is the aware fadja'akum
basairu min rabbikum there has reached you eye
-opening proofs from your Rabb you work your
way through the basair from what you have
been able to see to the rabubiyah of
humanity Allah's rabubiyah as it relates to humanity
rabbukum all of you he is all of
your Rabb fadja'akum basairu min rabbikum so
these are the basair that you're looking for
this is they've already reached you they're in
your access there's um this is what your
human faculties are capable of fa man abasara
fa li nafsih so whoever sees them he
does so to his own benefit wa man
amia fa alayha and whoever is blind to
them you're not going to pick up on
the knowledge that you've been given for whatever
it is that you can see you think
you're going to be able to understand or
pick up or comprehend or encompass Allah if
you see him wa ma ana alaykum bi
hafidh and tell them Ya Rasulullah that I
am not a guardian over you it is
not my job to force you to believe
if you don't believe that's not on me
wa kathalika nusarrifu al-ayat and that is
how we explain our ayat in different ways
wa liyaqulu darasta so that they may say
that you have studied somewhere you got this
from somewhere how do you know all of
this stuff wa linnu bayjinahu liqawmi ya'lamun
and we may make it clear to the
people who realize he has learned it from
somewhere from Allah from Jibreel ittabi'ma oohiya ilayka
mirrabi so follow whatever is revealed to you
from your Rabb la ilaha illa hu there
is no one worthy of worship other than
him no ilaha other than him wa a
'arid anil mushrikeen stay away from the people
of shirk wa law cha'allahu ma ashraq
when had Allah wanted they would not have
committed shirk people just force their hand wa
ma ja'alnaka alayhim hafeezah we have not
appointed you as a guardian over them so
if Allah does not take that right for
himself if he has given them the freedom
you let them be as well you give
them the freedom as well no human being
has that right then to force anybody's hand
towards iman wa ma anta alayhim biwakeel you
are not their manager wa la tasubbul ladheena
yada'oona min doonilla so do not insult
those whom they call on besides Allah as
much as the Quran engages with them to
identify the fallacies of their belief the shortcomings
of their understanding it does not get emotional
about it or does not resort to a
cursing of the gods then once you open
that door then you have to open that
door to them as well and Allah would
not have them so do not curse what
they hold sacred lest they start cursing what
you hold sacred the standards have to be
the same you open that door to yourselves
you're opening that door to them as well
and you don't want that so don't do
that so lest in retaliation they insult Allah
they abuse him out of ignorance that is
how we've made the practice of every community
pleasing to them they get a religious kick
out of these battles this mutual insult they
think they're doing their religiosity a favor and
it's a very it's an act of good
it is they would see this practice of
blasphemy as an act of righteousness their super
egos are going to get a nice massage
because that's what they grew up believing and
whatever you grow up believing if you anything
that challenges that belief insulting it abusing it
for the heck of it that becomes an
act of righteousness then their ultimate return is
to their Rabb and he will inform them
of what they had been doing and they
swear by Allah their strongest oaths that if
that ayah the ayah that they want whatever
that they're demanding the miracle the supernatural event
if they if it were to come to
them they would definitely believe in it tell
them straight out all ayahs are with Allah
that's his prerogative and what will make you
understand that if it does come to them
they're not going to believe in it they
just don't have the attitude for it if
they have rejected ayat after ayat after ayat
after ayat after ayat in the natural world
within themselves from the Quran you think they
will accept it when it's produced on demand
their habit has become one of kibr one
of kufr you show them whatever ayat it's
not going to work it's not going to
work we will turn away their hearts and
eyes the very faculty that give you this
at the end of the day even the
greatest of ayahs will require interpretation will require
inference will require for you to say something
intelligent about them belief is going to be
called for these same faculties are going to
be you never use them right you don't
know how to use them right Allah says
I will take them away I will turn
away their hearts and eyes as they did
not believe in it the first time so
what's the point now?
and we leave them in their transgression wandering
blindly Allah takes it very seriously that he
has given these gifts these faculties to the
human being and they're to be nurtured their
use is to be refined is to be
made more and more precise is to be
made such that the interpretation is as close
to the truth as you can humanly get
you don't use it, it atrophies there's no
shukr involved there's no appreciation of the gifts
that Allah has given you you denigrate those
gifts he takes them away he turns them
around they're twisted what they show you is
an inverted picture of reality altogether even if
we send down the angels to them and
the dead spoke to them and you produce
everything before them they will never believe except
if Allah wills but most of them are
ignorant they're overwhelmed they're stimulus response creatures they're
functioning at that level there is no whatever
higher faculties they resigned those a long time
back those faculties are subject now in the
service of their jahalah they're their resentment that
they hold against Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam the
kibr that they hold for themselves those are
the determining factors of their choices and their
responses not ayat of Allah not truth so
whatever they see not gonna work and that's
how we made enemies for each prophet these
evil people these evil human beings and jinnats
evil jinnats seen and unseen forces interestingly as
soon as their jahalah is put out is
mentioned jahil being again ignorant of ayat of
knowledge outside and overwhelmed by emotions right a
person who is overwhelmed works at limbic system
level works at a subhuman level stimulus response
as we said that's who they are that's
the sitting duck for demonic forces for demonic
personified demons forget demonic demons shayateen al insi
wal jinn and so that's who they are
and that's what they're wreaking in society because
believe it or not even in their evil
there is a manifestation of a unity of
purpose which is against the divine purpose and
so the demonic in them how it is
representative of demons of how it is representative
of shaytan that we have allah and we
have an understanding of allah and there are
ayats that point towards his involvement in the
world and the world process and the society
in its direction we have signs to the
contrary as well that there is that which
is indicative of the evil presence or the
presence of evil a conscious personified presence of
evil we can't see it but its effects
are across the board it's plain for anyone
to see how very desperate events they boil
down to they culminate in those practices of
injustice those practices of evil all of what
is categorized as evil and how it is
so systematic systematic in bringing about chaos how
incredible is that they inspire one another they're
sending out these this communication is taking place
between them this communication what is it doing?
the glittering speech this glorious speech meant for
delusion these splendid vices they're in their heads
engaged in such good such pursuit of truth
such moral uprightness but what is it bringing
about in the world?
is it making it a better place in
any way?
and they're deceiving themselves into actually thinking they're
onto something glittering speech very alluring very attractive
looking very good looking very righteous but deception
وَلَوْ شَاءَ رَبُّكَ مَا فَعَلُوا۟ if Allah wanted
they would not have done it it has
become this practice is something reflexive فَعَلُوا۟ it
is just habitual how they're engaged in these
practices and they think it's so good فَذَرْهُمْ
وَمَا يَفْتَبْنُوا۟ so let them be whatever they've
fabricated and concocted وَلِتَسْغَىٰ إِلَيْهِ أَفْئِذَةُ الَّذِينَ لَا
يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْآخِرَةِ and they do all of what
they're doing so that the hearts of those
who do not believe in the hereafter may
be inclined to their whatever it is their
deceptive speech their glorious speech وَلِيَرْضَوْا۟ and they
may be satisfied with it they need a
satisfaction as well there's an angst inside them
there's guilt inside them this glittering speech this
glorious speech these mechanisms of self-deception of
group deception this how they how within that
group and between those groups they reaffirm and
reassure each other of how they're doing something
great for humanity how their own intellectual faculties
are suppressed for the good that they have
apparently committed themselves to and they are willing
to go to the nth limit for it
they're willing to die for it and they
have this inner satisfaction وَلِيَرْضَوْا۟ so that they're
satisfied with it وَلِيَقْتَرِفُوا مَعَهُمْ وَقْتَرِفُونَ and they
continue to commit whatever it is that they're
committing it is incredible where is this motivation
from where's this perseverance coming from in this
direction of evil أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ أَبْتَغِي حَكَمًا so
should I look for a judge other than
Allah مَهُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكِتَابُ مُفَصَّلًا and
he is the one who sent down to
you the book explained in detail وَالَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ
الْكِتَابُ and those whom we have given the
book يَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ مُنَزَّلُ مِنْ رَبِّكَ بِالْحَقِّ they
know that it is revealed from your Rabb
with truth they know that Al-Haq as
represented in the Bible and Al-Haq as
represented in the Quran there is a continuity
that is the same Al-Haq فَلَدَّ كُونَنَّ
مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ so never ever be of those
who doubt وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكَ صِدْقًا وَعَدْلًا the
word of your Rabb has been perfected in
truth and in justice لا مُبَدِّلَ لِكَلِمَاتِهِ no
one can alter his words وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَالِيمُ
and he is all-hearing all-knowing وَإِن
تُطِعْ أَكْثَرَ مَنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ and if you
obey the majority of those on earth يُبَلُّوكَ
عَنْ ثَبِيلِ اللَّهِ they will divert you from
the path of Allah as far as most
people are concerned they're living at subhuman level
as far as most people are concerned the
default is to be reactionary creatures stimulus response
creatures monkey see monkey do level of operation
that's what the default becomes we are a
crowd until we consciously identify choose to not
be part of the crowd these instincts are
very powerful the default way of surviving in
the world is very overbearing the default ways
of religiosity incredibly irresistible until and unless you
consciously choose to pick yourselves up start seeing
start hearing start reasoning and ready to break
yourselves off and tear yourselves off from the
mainstreams because it's a stream and it's powerful
and unless you're you know which direction you're
swimming and usually that's against the stream and
unless you know you refined your ability to
to swim against the stream you're going to
be swept away you're going to be swept
away Rasulullah ﷺ is being warned that if
you and who is better than him if
you start listening to them if you start
falling for all that you will be swept
away off the center where are you being
swept away from off the Sirap al-Mustaqeem
off the Sirap al-Mustaqeem you want to
remain in your comfort zone you don't want
to take up any struggles you think you're
already guided you think there's no more effort
that needs to be made you want to
lay your your intellectual processes to rest you
have reached your destination fair enough if that
works for you if you're okay with that
by all means stay with it stay strong
hold on to it with both hands and
see what that makes of you they follow
nothing but assumptions this commitment to truth human
beings are naturally predisposed as children as children
it is convenient it is intellectually economical to
stereotype to resort to assumptions to trust assumptions
and that's fine as children we cannot know
everything we have to trust we have to
draw conclusions based on incomplete information and that's
fine for a child that's fine for a
teenager that's even fine for an adult as
long as the incompleteness of that knowledge is
understood for what it is and you're looking
to increase it as you're moving forward especially
when the results that you're experiencing are contrary
to what your assumptions were before but if
the assumptions if you've settled on them if
you're satisfied with very fixed beliefs based mostly
on assumptions it's a very dangerous place to
be in إِنَّ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ they follow
nothing but assumptions وَإِنْهُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُسُونَ and they're
doing nothing but guessing that's become the default
mode why is that the case?
I think that's the case oh you think
why do you think that's I feel it
oh you feel it okay I think I
feel is your is the entirety of your
epistemology of your understanding of what knowledge and
what truth is the sole criteria understandably I
think I feel is a necessary criteria for
knowledge one of many others how I think
and I feel is refined is made better
is improved with time that requires the attitude
of Iman that's commitment to the truth the
الحق that is opening yourself up to the
fallibility of not just your own individual person
but the fallibility of of others your elders
that they gave us greatness they gave us
wisdom but it wasn't the final word to
build on it to understand it to stay
rooted in it but not stuck in it
our tradition can be the roots of our
tree that grows and has branches and fruits
or it can be the swamp that we're
drowning in what do you want for it
to be إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ مَن يُبِلَّ
عَن سَبِيلِهِ Most definitely your Rabb knows who
strays from his way these definitive categorical declarations
of this is the guidance that which I
am upon that's that's a divine claim Allah
makes those pronouncements He makes that judgment how
dare anybody else you're not a prophet you're
not getting direct revelation with no demonic interpolation
you don't have that where is this belligerent
certainty coming from why such godlike claims He
is the one who knows best who the
rightly guided are so eat upon which Allah's
name has been mentioned if you really are
believers in his signs in his ayat وَمَا
لَكُمْ أَلَّا تَأْكُلُوا مِمَّا ذُكِرَ اسْمُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ
and why would you not eat of what
Allah's name has been called upon وَقَدْ فَصَّلَ
لَكُمْ مَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ and he has already
explained to you what he has made forbidden
upon you إِلَّا مَا صُرِّرْتُمْ إِلَيْهِ except what
you are forced you don't have a choice
you have to eat fine وَإِنَّ كَثِيرًا لَيُضِلُّونَ
بِأَهْوَائِهِمْ بِغَيْرِ عِلْمٍ but for sure many people
look to mislead others through their own desires
without knowledge not having a standard of truth
and therefore being vulnerable to very dangerous personal
desires that goes hand in hand إِنَّ رَبَّكَ
هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُعْتَدِينَ for sure your Rab knows
best about the transgressors وَذَرُوا ظَاهِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَذَاطِنَ
and leave all sins whether open or secret
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْسِبُونَ الْإِثْمِ for sure those who
earn sin سَيُجْزَوْنَ بِمَا كَانُوا يَقْتَرِفُونَ they will
soon be rewarded of what they used to
commit so there's two ways of the ظاهر
إثم and the باطن إثم one is obvious
that you're sinning openly everyone can see the
sin the flagrant sinning going on fair enough
and then there is sinning when nobody is
watching fair enough but then there is that
which is a righteous deed a good deed
a wonderful act an act of piety on
the outside but it is sinful inside the
sinfulness of it is unconscious from the outward
appearance Rasulullah ﷺ is leading the Sahaba in
Masjid al-Nabawi in Salat al-Fajr Zuhr
Asr Maghrib Isha Abdullah bin Ubayy is part
of that congregation from outward appearance he's part
of the Sahaba he's following Rasulullah ﷺ does
that look to be an إثم in any
way?
it looks like a wonderful deed to be
you're praying in Masjid al-Nabawi behind Rasulullah
ﷺ in the front row but how that
activity in itself the most righteous from where
it is finding its motivation inside the أهواء
that it's satisfying and that being the dominant
overwhelmingly dominant motivation drive for that apparently religious
activity makes that very religious activity very sinful
very very sinful what emanates of our fasting
our charity our prayers in terms of the
personality that we develop is it better or
is it worse?
is it more or less arrogant?
is it more or less open to truth?
is it more or less socially beneficial?
وَذَرُوا so leave ظاهِرَ الإِثمِ وَبَادِرِ it's a
very very difficult struggle it requires a conscious
engagement إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْسِبُونَ الْإِثْمَ سَيُجِزَوْنَ بِمَا كَانُوا
يَقْتَرِفُونَ those who earn sin they would be
rewarded for what they used to commit they
will be paid for for what they used
to commit again with this recognition it makes
sense why you have to be so vigilant
in five daily prayers why do you have
to say the same words again and again
and again and again and again and again
have to go back the same motions the
same rituals again and again because it has
to be associated with this this degree of
suspicion am I really a believer?
and quite honestly you can't have the answer
to that question you shouldn't have an answer
to that question am I a hypocrite or
am I a believer?
because if you could have if you should
have then Hazrati Umar رضي الله عنه should
have known do I understand the Qur'an
better than him?
do I have a better understanding of what
Rasulullah ﷺ was doing than him?
so if after all of that his conclusion
is that attitude of suspicion before himself and
he is literally begging Huzayfa please tell me
is my name on that list if that's
the degree of his suspicion about himself about
his own faith then not have that belligerent
certainty about your faith is that humility is
the way to go is the way to
approach it's balanced by a hope but again
hope not certainty سَيُلِذَوْنَ مَا بِمَا كَانُوا يَقْتَارِفُونَ
وَلَا تَأْكُلُوا بِمَا لَمْ يُذْكَرِ اسْمُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْهِ
and do not eat on which Allah's name
has not been mentioned وَإِنَّهُ لَفِسْقٌ and it
is for sure an act of disobedience وَإِنَّ
الشَّيَاطِينَ لَيَوْقُونَ إِلَىٰ أَوْلِيَائِهِمْ لَيُجَادِلُكُمْ and the
shayateen inspire their allies that they should argue
with you وَإِنْ أَطَعْتُمُوهُمْ إِنَّكُمْ لَمُشْرِكُونَ and if
you obey them you will definitely be of
the mushrikeen so much of their eating practices
their sacrificing practices and the lack of commitment
or the absence of the commitment to tawheed
has a bearing on the society itself because
it's a very routine act it's a very
mundane act sacrificing an animal and saying Allah's
name on it but the impact that it
has the bearing that it has what it
says what it reflects of a culture and
the impact that that culture can have on
you if you're not careful وَمَنْ كَانَ مَيْتًا
فَأَخْيَيْنَاهُ can a person who was dead and
we brought him to life وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا
يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ and we gave him
light to walk with among the people فَمَنْ
مَثَلُهُ فِي الظُّلُمَاتِ can he be like the
one who is in the depths of darkness
لَيْسَ بِالْقَارِجِ مِنْهَا from which he is never
going to come out فَذَلِكَ الزُّجِّنَ لِلْكَافِرِينَ مَا
كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ that's how the practice of disbelievers
was decorated for them the one who has
a light it's so beautiful that this parable
of light with iman what does the light
give you?
that on your journey your light lets you
see the path on your journey your light
lets you see where the path is turning
where the path is changing your light lets
you see new things on the path pretty
much any exploration that you do any knowledge
that you're looking to discover you have to
bring it to light there's one form or
the other of a light source that you
need to be able to see it to
be able to make sense of it so
having iman and the reason why we keep
referring to it as an attitude it is
like having that light not having the tree
of knowledge but having the light with which
to see ever-increasing knowledge and then there's
that person who is fixated in his zulumat
just sitting there the one with light is
walking the one in zulumat is fixated he's
already attained his perfection and the veils of
darkness surrounding him they don't bother him they
are the strength of his iman alas, are
these two people the same?
one sitting in darkness the other walking with
light the walking and the sitting the process
versus apparently having attained perfection this is how
for the kafirin their amal is made beautiful
they're sitting in their darknesses not moving not
growing not evolving nothing staying with and they
think that's awesome and they look at this
this flux this movement your qibla was somewhere
else till yesterday it's somewhere else today what's
going on with you people?
your commandments what's going on with you people?
first there was this revelation now there is
this other what's going on with you they
can't see that and they are so proud
of how they don't have this flux how
they don't have this movement they look at
this movement as a sign of imperfection they
look at their own fixity as a sign
of perfection having attained it Allah looks at
this movement as growth and this is how
we place in every town the ringleaders of
its criminals but they do not plot except
against themselves so they're so proud rigidly rooted
in what they understand to be their traditions
and they see Rasulullah ﷺ as a rebel
moving away from their traditions and they're like
we have to stop him we have to
stop this growth but they're not aware they
have deceived themselves so well that they think
they're on the side of good and this
is evil that they're fighting whenever they receive
an ayah what is the essence of the
person who is rooted fixated in his layers
of this temple this shrine they're like sitting
meditating and surrounded in darknesses eyes closed whenever
this sign is come that sign comes to
them we will never believe until we are
also given what the messengers were given Allah
knows better where to place his message don't
dictate to him don't try to thank you
very much for your advice don't need it
Allah knows who deserves it and who doesn't
so soon these criminals will be afflicted with
a humiliation which is a befitting punishment for
their kibr a humiliation from Allah because they
used to plot all these plans these plans
to bring down Rasulullah ﷺ these plans to
stemming his growth and that of the community
of believers responding to him and so whoever
Allah wants to guide he opens his heart
for Islam and whoever Allah decides to mislead
he makes his chest constricted and tight as
if he is ascending the sky as you're
ascending the sky it becomes more and more
difficult so for an Arab ascending the sky
would be climbing a mountain or something to
that effect not flying on a plane in
any way but necessarily the more you're climbing
the more you're losing your breath the more
difficult it's getting the more it's you don't
want to go on it's not acceptable that
is how Allah places defilement, ridges upon those
who do not believe and this is the
path of your Rabb straight and we have
clearly spelled out ayat for a people looking
to remember or a people looking to understand
لَهُمْ دَارُ السَّلَامِ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ for these people
is an abode of peace with their Rabb
وَهُوَ وَلِجُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ and he is
their protector because of what they used to
do they're people of action they're people involved
in activity in doing and they would find
Allah to be their friend وَيَوْمَ يَحْشُرُهُمْ جَمِيعًا
and the day he will gather them all
يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ Allah will say assembly of
jinn قَدْ اسْتَكْثَرْتُمْ مِنَ الْإِنْسِ you have misled
a good number of human beings وَقَالَ أَوْلِيَأُهُمْ
مِنَ الْإِنْسِ and their friends from humanity will
say رَبَّنَا اسْتَمْتَعْ فَعَضُنَا بِفَعَضٍ our Rabb we
used each other it's not just them we
were we were pretty demonic ourselves مَا بَلَغْنَا
أَجَلَنَا الَّذِي أَجَلْتَ لَنَا now we have reached
the end of our term that you appointed
for us قَالَ النَّارُ مَخْتْرَاكُمْ Allah will say
hellfire is your home خَالَدِينَ فِيهَا you live
therein forever إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ اللَّهِ except what
Allah wills if hellfire is purgatory for someone
then that's Allah's will if he deems that
the punishment is enough sufficient now that kibr
has melted away and that predilection for iman
has been revived so be it he will
he will bring that person out إِنَّ رَبَّكَ
حَكِيمٌ عَلِيمٌ for sure your Rabb is wise
and knowing وَكَذَٰلِكَ نُوَّلِّي بَعْضُ الظَّالِمِينَ بَعْضًا بِمَا
كَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ and so this is how we
will bring those who are unjust as allies
to one another because of what they used
to earn birds of a feather flock together
eventually they find each other يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ
وَالْإِنْسِ again the day of judgment the inquiry
the interrogation rather the accountability is being is
carrying on Allah is going to ask the
jinn and the human beings يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ
وَالْإِنْسِ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِّنْكُمْ the messengers not
come to you from among you يَقُسُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ
آيَاتِ relating to you our ayat وَيُنذِرُونَكُمْ لِقَاءَ
يَوْمِكُمْ هَذَا and warning you about the meeting
of this very day of yours قَالُوا شَهِدْنَا
عَلَىٰ أَنْفُسِنَا they will say we bear witness
against ourselves وَغَرَّتْهُمُ الْخَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا the life of
the world deceived them it was so alluring
it was so overwhelming that akhira was out
of the picture altogether وَشَهِدُوا عَلَىٰ أَنْفُسِنَا so
they will testify against themselves أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا كَافِرِينَ
that they used to deny the truths so
the ones being addressed the ones that are
testifying that yes messengers came ayat came yet
our addiction to whatever we had immediately in
front of us was so strong so overwhelming
we paid no attention neither to the messengers
nor to the ayat and akhira was forgotten
as a consequence ذَلِكَ أَلَّمْ يَكُرْ رَبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ
الْقُرَابُ ظُلْمًا and so that is why your
Rab was never to destroy a town out
of injustice وَأَهْلُهَا غَافِلُونَ while its residents were
ignorant Allah takes it very personally that his
justice is in any way doubted and so
on the day of judgment the explicit message
being related by the messengers and the ayat
having come in front of the people is
going to be a criteria criteria and the
people will bear witness themselves that yes it
did happen it came and so this principle
is operative in this world as well only
the adab of allah that used to come
in this world was in response or in
rejection to a prophet who had done his
job right so never
ignorant people were not destroyed were not punished
everyone will be awarded according to their actions
they will have ranks that there will be
given granted according to the action that they've
done and your rabb is not unaware of
what they acted he is aware of actions
in all of its dimensions in its external
internal what did they know how much did
they know how much could they have done
how much did they do where was this
uh the motivation for what they're doing coming
from all of it is in front of
allah we we don't have to bother with
giving categorical judgments as to the fate of
people in the hereafter or which how where
they stand in terms of guidance with allah
that's his job that something only he can
do your rabb is ghani your rabb is
independent the possessor of mercy if he will
he can do away with you if he
wants you'd be gone and replace you of
others with others of his choice whatever it
is that he has created this world for
you don't live up to that replaced just
the way he raised you as a progeny
from some other people miss the cycle of
life the progression of life rather and it's
not cyclical it's progressive surely what you are
being promised is going to come you're not
going to be able to defeat allah so
you tell them yeah uh yeah rasulullah tell
them my people do whatever you can whatever
is in your power and i'm going to
do what i can and we will soon
find out who is going to get the
ultimate success of the hereafter without a doubt
the unjust people are not going to succeed
and they assign allah a share of the
crop and cattle which he created so he
said okay this belongs to they're like this
belongs to god this belongs to allah and
they say this is allah that was their
claim and that is for our that that
idol that deity that god whatever but the
share assigned to the associates will not go
to allah they're very rigid with respect to
what their deities are going to be given
but as to whatever allah was going to
be given that would regularly go to the
deities how evil is their judgment by their
own testimony he is the greater god he
is allah and these are the daughters or
whatever the lesser gods yet this this this
this injustice as to how they would be
with him versus how they would be with
the gods of their own fabrication the gods
that they themselves have made how their commitment
to those gods is so much greater fair
enough if you're going to be polytheistic if
you're going to have gods with allah at
least by your own declaration he is greater
so your dedication dedication and commitment to hamster
should be greater but here again you're you're
injustice and that is how the
act of murdering killing their own children was
made was decorated was disguised and made attractive
for the people who do in order to
ruin themselves and make this been obscure more
and more convoluted confusing what's going on this
killing of children in the name of deities
other than god how this polytheism sanctioned injustice
for them they cannot find any sanction for
it with allah with whatever they believe of
the greater god with a capital g they
cannot find any justification any sanction whatsoever for
this mean of crime but with their deities
because the deities of their own fabrication have
no basis in real knowledge real truth they
can justify with them using them from them
anything they want to no problem if allah
wanted they wouldn't have done stuff like that
he wouldn't have allowed them so leave them
and whatever they invent they've given them this
themselves this license to invent whatever they want
to with this invention of gods with these
fabrications of god and that's dangerous and they
call it religion and they call it being
and all of what's going on in the
name of that religion in the name of
that in the name of those deities because
they've given themselves such absolute licenses for which
they don't have ilm frightens them they're insecure
of knowledge because knowledge can call them out
for the deceptions that they're guilty of for
the crimes that they're guilty of without knowledge
crimes are not even crimes they're acts of
worship and they say that such and such
cattle and crop are reserved no one will
eat for them from them except as whoever
they want on the basis of their assumptions
well similarly they're inventing lies against allah they
say these are the cattle prohibited for riding
and these are the ones on whom it
is forbidden to take allah's name allah will
repay them for their fabrications that they have
been making well and they would say whatever
is in the bellies of that cattle is
reserved for only our males and it is
forbidden for our wives but if it was
dead then they all eat from it then
men women all eat from it allah will
soon repay them for this their descriptions that
they're just coming up with he is wise
and knowing so on one end they've killed
their children they've killed babies and on the
other end they're so committed so rigidly committed
through these fabricated bid'ahs these rituals that
they've invented they're so unyielding they're not going
to move a jot or a tittle here
and there from what they've made up by
themselves they follow it so religiously allah is
not falling for it allah is not falling
for acts that they think are good and
they seem to atone themselves or they they
channel their guilt these meaningless activities these meaningless
rituals and they think that's punishment enough or
that's atonement enough that's enough of a kaffarah
for the crimes that they've committed no allah
will convict them of the crimes that they've
convicted committed and no amount of meaningless rituals
and no level of rigidity therein or religiosity
therein is going to absolve them of them
allah is wise and knowing don't try to
fool him you fool yourselves very convincingly in
thinking that that's all there is to religion
fair enough those who kill their own children
in foolishness without any knowledge have really suffered
a huge loss and by inventing against allah
wrongly they deprive themselves of what allah has
provided go on continue killing children continue fabricating
lies against allah religiosity as far as that
goes there these complicated laws about which animal
is halal and which animal is haram and
what kind of the son of which she
camel is okay for which gender is they'll
be very nitpicky about that and on the
other hand their egregious signs are ignored and
of course it was very blatant with the
quraish with the people of mecca it was
so easy to see and identify and point
out it's more subtle when we do it
it's far more subtle and therefore more insidious
and more dangerous there is no deity as
such our rigidities the meaninglessness of our rituals
very very um cleverly disguised the way sons
and daughters are killed in our society is
not just burying them alive that was that
level of barbarianism is gone but now we're
still barbaric only more subtle as to how
we do it but it's still there it's
still there the crimes are there the social
injustice is there and the rigid following of
meaningless rituals is there meaningless innovations is there
of these arbitrary prioritizations within religion where each
group each group has its own priorities and
they are rigidly dedicated to those and those
priorities alone the priorities of the others are
relegated ignored underplayed undermined criticized declared all kinds
of labels and there is this holier-than
-thou attitude that each group cultivates for itself
but they have one thing in common that
regardless of the rigidity of their commitment to
their brand of religiosity they have no bearing
no impact on improving eradicating
in any way any form of social injustice
no bearing and they are high off of
their own supply the supply being their their
particular religious commitments and they've come in all
forms and shapes and sizes and they have
the satisfaction of being ultimately guided whereas what
emanates from them socially globally as far as
humanity is concerned or as far as the
ills of humanity are concerned they have nothing
nothing intelligent to say forget do forget practically
eradicating anything even to say you find nothing
prohibitions the difficult lives that they're leading as
horrible well strangers who are made fun of
and mocked and it's really difficult for them
to get along because really their lives are
that impractical they're very proud of them they're
very proud of them okay they really really
lost their way and they were not guided
specifically speaking about in makkah we cannot make
such specific and categorical allegations on anyone in
our society that's allah's job we don't play
god but the patterns the patterns are there
allah knows best Allah is the one who
produced gardens and they're like grapevines the way
they're all branched and then there's those that
they're not like they don't have that grapevine
sort of an appearance and he produces the
date palm and crops with diverse tastes and
olives and pomegranates alike yet unlike they look
similar but they taste so different so eat
of its fruit when it yields do pay
his due on the day of its harvest
whatever very small percentage that allah asks of
you to share with others in charity and
sadaqat and zakat do that the rest don't
don't get a religious high of prohibiting upon
yourselves allah's blessings do not be excessive do
not overstep your boundaries in that overstepping of
boundaries occurs in both directions overstepping in self
-indulgence and just not caring at all everything
is mine everyone can go to * that's
one overindulgence that's one extreme the other extreme
is giving everything away or prohibiting everything upon
yourself Allah does not like the extremists and
out of cattle he created some for heavy
transportation and others close to the ground in
size so eat what allah has provided you
do not follow the footsteps of shaitan open
enemy to you eight pairs a pair of
sheep and a pair of goat eating about
cattle well as the kareen so ask them
has he forbidden the two males or two
females is it really the fabrications that they've
gone to the level that they've gone to
allah is now being very sarcastic with them
so is it the two males that are
haram or is it the two females that
are amish or that which the womb of
the two females contain please tell us with
knowledge if you really know so there's a
pair of camels and there's a pair of
cows so is it the two males that
he has forbidden or the two females or
the wombs of the two females what that
contains is that what is forbidden were you
there when allah was commanding all of this
the precision with which you are delineating all
of these prohibitions who is more a volume
who is more unjust than the one who
invents a lie against allah declaring something to
be haram or mandatory it's a big deal
big deal be very careful mislead
people without knowledge the level of the degree
of conviction of soundness of knowledge that is
required for these proclamations it has to be
very very sound as as close to as
close to foolproof as you can humanly get
definitely allah is not going to guide the
unjust people tell them i don't find anything
in what has been revealed to me anything
forbidden to anyone who wants to eat except
that it's dead animal or blood that is
spilled or flesh of a spine as for
all of that is concerned that is impure
or that which is slaughtered in the name
of anything other than allah has an act
of disobedience but if someone is forced by
necessity even there there is flexibility without having
any intention of rebellion or transgression then your
rabbi is certainly forgiving and merciful so the
rigidity the obsessive nature of this religiosity takes
away from the that those attributes are missing
altogether with these kinds of meaningless rigid observances
of ritual allah continues to remind the list
of muharramat very short very short and even
their flexibility allah is don't make this religion
out to be that and we forbade for
every for the jewish people every animal without
undivided hoops so how did these defense mechanisms
operate in them when they're similarly despite being
people of scripture following in the ways of
the people of shirk again injustice in the
society silence in the name of injustice guilt
that comes from that uh silence or the
actual committing of that injustice what do you
do about that guilt more and more prohibition
more and more meaning meaningless rituals there you
but so allah says we made that haram
for them allah takes ownership if they were
going wrong we let them go wrong further
you'll be he misleads people through fiqh how
about that he misleads people through quran why
not through why not through more and more
prohibition from cows and sheeps we made the
fat impermissible to them except that which the
back or the entrails carry on the mixed
with the bones my god the complications within
the uh within the prohibitions this is allowed
but this of that is disallowed of what
is disallowed this is allowed that was their
reward for their rebellion and we are indeed
true but if they deny you tell them
your rub is full of mercy and his
punishment is not going to be averted from
the people who are guilty because all of
what this was in the service of is
to hide that germ that the mujrimin could
get away all of these fanciful constructions of
these these convoluted prohibitions no allah is not
going to let them get away you're not
fooling him through all of this and the
mushrikeen will continue to say if allah wanted
we as well as our parents would not
have committed the shirk it's interesting how in
the previous uh couple of ayat allah took
ownership that when they were getting misled we
misled them even further and here comes the
mushrikeen saying see if we did it allah
let us do it if allah let us
do it since you can't do anything without
allah's permission right so if allah let us
do it and we did it that's his
sanction that is his authority this fatalism is
the evidence that they're bringing in because we
were allowed to allah did not kind of
lightning bolt to kill off the person who
did it for the first time i mean
that's okay so there that's your proof so
they're going to come and they're going to
say that we would not have done this
shirk if allah had not wanted us to
but we would not have made anything prohibited
if allah did not want us to that
is how those before them used to deny
they used to scapegoat allah it's his fault
it's not us it's him there's so many
scapegoats allah shaitan he made me do it
he made me do it he made me
we're innocent they also had these same stories
until our punishment came to them then they
forgot all of these fabrications and these rationalizations
then they realized that how exactly how much
freedom they did have but they refused to
take seriously or responsibly and they blamed it
all on god well tell them did you
read do you have any knowledge any real
knowledge if so produce it before us not
these rationalizations without evidence all you're following is
conjecture assumption knowledge with no or claims with
no knowledge what standard of knowledge what standard
of truth when you do nothing but guess
so tell them to allah alone belongs the
conclusive argument so if he willed he would
have guided all of you again their argument
their justification for their shirk and their bid
'at emanating from um fatalism allah made us
to it his power he controls everything his
decisions if we did it he made us
to it allah response one thing when about
comes to those those rationalizations are no good
for you second thing there's no real knowledge
or evidence that you have to support that
claim third thing allah has given human beings
freedom so much so that even if he
really did want to guide everyone he could
have but he doesn't he respects human freedom
he respects human beings to make the choices
that they have to make even if it's
in the wrong direction he lets that go
he lets them go further down the wrong
track for as far as they can possibly
go if he wanted he could have guided
all of you ask them to bring their
witnesses who will testify that allah has forbidden
this but if they do testify do not
testify with them well at that the way
i do not follow the desires of those
who negate our ayat so there is this
decency that allah is invoking that you know
there's there's people that level of decency they
should have that if they don't have genuine
evidence then they should not come out and
make claims that they do but if some
people do not have that level of decency
either they actually come forward and start testifying
don't don't don't take those people serious than
those who do not believe in the hereafter
and they equate others to their rab they
create equals with allah tell them come i
will recite what your rab has prohibited for
you and that you do not do shirk
with him and that you treat your parents
nicely that you do not kill your children
out of poverty we provide you and them
as well and do not even go close
to immoralities immodesty be they manifest or hidden
and do not kill anyone allah has forbidden
except if it is legal retribution if it
is by law that the punishment has to
be given these are the things he enjoins
upon you how difficult is that don't commit
shirk be nice don't kill your children do
not commit zina from the things that lead
to zina and do not murder people is
that too difficult to remember do you have
to complicate things further than that more than
that these are the things he enjoins upon
you so that you use your reason well
and the rights of the orphan do not
come close to the money to the wealth
of an orphan except in the best possible
way in order to empower them not exploit
them until they reach the age of maturity
and pay full measure way justly in your
economic transactions don't cheat each other we don't
put anyone under a burden beyond his capacity
in your economic matters you shouldn't either do
not exploit your customer is vulnerable to your
expertise and you may end up short changing
them or taking advantage of them be careful
there and when you speak be just even
if it is against a near relative if
you have to give a testimony against someone
very close to you justice will be and
the covenant of allah fulfill it that these
are the things which he enjoins upon you
so that you may remember so where where's
this as a priority list in our religious
circles these become the defining features of the
group how about all of this where's this
this is my path absolutely straight tell them
straight out so follow it and do not
follow other ways so you will be separated
from his way that is what allah enjoins
upon you so that you may stave yourselves
so may you may attain one this is
the main highway there's embellishments on the side
there's a little bit of this and a
little bit of that but minus this if
a little bit of this and a little
bit of that is what has become the
main deal there's a problem there are serious
problems there so we gave musa the scripture
to complete our favor to those who attain
excellence so the people attaining to do this
in the best possible manner as well as
to explain everything and a guidance and a
mercy you will find that whatever has just
been listed you will find corresponding priorities given
in the biblical scripture the ten commandments are
they any different and the main text of
what was just in the previous couple of
ayat and a guidance and a mercy so
that they believe in the meaning of their
rabb