Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Nights 2021 Day 18
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AI: Transcript ©
One of the worst of our deeds is
that whoever Allah guides is not misguided, and
whoever He misguides is not guided.
And we bear witness that there is no
god but Allah, and that there is no
partner for Him.
And we bear witness that Muhammad is His
servant and Messenger.
After that, the best hadith is the Book
of Allah, and the best guide is the
guide of Muhammad, peace be upon him.
And the worst of things is that it
is hidden, and every hidden thing is a
creation, and every creation is a misguidance, and
every misguidance is like a fire.
Allah says in his noble book, after I
say I seek refuge with Allah from the
accursed Satan, In the name of Allah, Most
Gracious, Most Merciful Those
who do not study the Qur'an are
heedless.
Or you say, if the Qur'an had
been revealed to us, we would have been
more guided than them.
But a warning has come to you from
your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy.
So who is more unjust than one who
denies the signs of Allah and turns away
from them?
We will punish those who turn away from
Our signs with the worst punishment for what
they used to do.
Are they waiting for the angels to come
to them, or for your Lord to come,
or for some of the signs of your
Lord to come?
On the Day when some of the signs
of your Lord come, it will not benefit
a soul whose faith has not believed before
or earned good in its faith.
Say, Wait, we are waiting.
Indeed, those who have divided their religion and
become sects, you are not of them in
anything.
Their command is only to Allah.
Then He will inform them of what they
used to do.
Whoever does good will have ten like it,
and whoever does evil will not be recompensed
except for its like, and they will not
be wronged.
Say, Indeed, my Lord has guided me to
a straight path, a just religion, the religion
of Abraham, turning away from all that is
false, and he was not of the polytheists.
Say, Indeed, my prayer and my fast and
my livelihood and my death are for Allah,
the Lord of the worlds.
There is no partner for Him, and by
that I have been commanded, and I am
the first of the Muslims.
Say, Is there anyone other than Allah whom
I seek as my Lord?
And He is the Lord of all things,
and not every soul earns except for it,
nor does a burden bear another burden.
Then to your Lord I return, and He
will inform you of what you used to
differ about.
And it is He who made you successors
over the earth and raised some of you
above others in degrees, that
He may test you in that which He
has given you.
Indeed, your Lord is swift in punishment, and
He is Forgiving, Merciful.
So we're going to conclude Surah An-Nam
today.
I usually outside of Ramadan when I begin
any particular class or khutbah, then the natural
flow of khutbah is such that it includes
a portion of the recitation and so I
go into And without realizing I went into
it today and so I thought why not.
I like this ruku anyways, it's very generally
the beginning and ending of surahs within the
Quran are very strong, they're very powerful.
And they're like, they're very packed with a
lot of, a lot of, I mean, the
entire Quran is packed with meaning but it
is in the nature of a khutbah that
it starts strong and it leaves strong, it
closes with a strong ending, looks to hit
home.
And so we will see that in a
lot of surahs and this being no exception.
So the end, the conclusion of an address,
you've built up an entire set of arguments,
an entire set of themes, subjects, reputations, all
of that has been done.
And so the ending ends up being, it
ends up being strong, very strong and it
hits, it's supposed to hit.
And so that's what we will see towards
most of the surahs within the Quran, particularly
the longer ones, and this is the longest
of the Makkan surahs.
And so we conclude with this and we
move on to surah A'raf today.
One thing, just give me a minute here,
I have an issue with the document, my
apologies.
All right, so, problem solved, my apologies.
Right, so concluding with surah A'raf, I
mean surah An'am and then continuing with,
taking it up, right into surah A'raf.
So this is an entire surah concluding the
case for the mushrikeen of Mecca, what they're
building on and what they're standing on is
religion.
They call it religion, they worship gods, they
have rituals, they have sacrifices, they have something
of a sharia of their own as well.
They have a way of praying, they have
a way of doing hajj, they have a
way of how they look at cattle and
how they look at sacrifice and in whose
name they make that sacrifice.
Which deity, what of that belongs to God,
how much of God's share can go into
the deity's share, how much of which deity
can you sacrifice what for, and which gender
of the sacrificial animal is suited for which
gender of their population, and the whole, whatever
we read.
And Allah takes them strictly to task for
that, that you have all of this on
built evidence.
There is no book, there is no authority,
nothing of the ayat of Allah tells you
about whatever it is that you fabricated and
made into religion and sharia and forced upon
people and you feel so religious doing all
of this and you feel so satisfied, so
tranquil in following all of these to the
dot, to the tittle, and you have no
evidence for it whatsoever.
The best you can say is that our
forefathers used to do it, and if it
was wrong, Allah would not have let them
do it.
That's the best you can do.
No element of ilm, no element of ayat,
nothing.
And when it comes to Rasulullah ﷺ who
was calling you towards tawheed, again the same
God that you too believe in, he is
calling you towards Allah, he is calling you
towards the same tradition that you hold on
to, he takes it all the way back
to Ibrahim ﷺ and he says, how about
his monotheism, how about his tawheed?
And for that you are demanding from him
a miracle.
Which miracle came to verify for you and
your worship of laat uz-zamanat?
Which miracle came and verified for you whatever
it is that you're holding on to as
your sharia?
Where did all that come from?
These double standards, all of what Rasulullah ﷺ
is presenting as ayat, that's not good enough
for you.
Whatever you're holding on to as religion, not
standing on any ayat, not standing on any
ilm, not standing on even the miracles that
you're demanding of Rasulullah ﷺ.
If you are so legitimate in your claim,
if your foundation is so strong, if your
demand of Rasulullah ﷺ is so justified, then
what is it in your own lives and
your own religion that has met those standards
that you're subjecting Rasulullah ﷺ to?
Where is that coming from?
And that is the same today.
Any objection that you will find, any criticism
that you find on the Qur'an or
Rasulullah ﷺ or religion in general, from any
quarter of an irreligious ideology, you ask them,
what is it that you hold on to?
What is it that you understand to be
true?
And you will find all you have to
do is scratch the surface that the standards
that they have kept for whatever truth they
hold on to or whatever truth they believe
in, are very different from the standards that
they're demanding of you.
From you, they're saying that this criteria, this
criteria, this criteria needs to be fulfilled.
This criticism, this criticism, this issue, that issue,
all of that.
But when it comes to themselves or whatever
they've held on to, nothing of that sort.
They're believing in their own free miracles all
the time.
They have their, and this is Rupert Sheldrake,
he would talk about the free miracle that
every scientific hypothesis or every rational structure stands
on.
It's not entirely rational.
For the rationality of a system to be
accepted, there's always assumptions behind it that on
the same system of rationality you can't prove.
There's this free miracle that every system of
rationality asks of you, please give me this
much, the rest I'll prove.
The rest I'll do.
Why don't you have the same standard when
it comes to religion?
Why would you, where do these, when it
comes to a systematized or organized religion with
a moral structure, which is asking of you,
be kind to your parents, take care of
the needy in your society, be judicious and
just in your interpersonal dealings.
Do not exploit one another.
And beware, there is a demonic potential within
you, which will hijack all of this and
lead for you to unjustly treat the most
vulnerable in your societies.
And so in order to relate the best
way possible, you relate with Allah or respond
to Allah looking to relate with you in
the best way possible, the way He is
with you.
And there's an entire system, there's an entire
facilitation in the form of Sharia, in the
form of prayer, that allows you this opportunity
for knowing Him, knowing yourself and improving your
conduct to build that community.
All of what you see, material life, evolving
and developing towards and making biological life possible,
all of what you see that brings biological
life together, holds it all together, that all
the disparate systems within an ecology, are teleologically
bound, that they are strung together for a
meaningful end.
And whichever way you look at it, the
meaningful end comes out to be the human
being.
Human beings' freedom, human beings' actions in the
world, and how they're going to take it.
So if those human beings use that freedom,
come together, and towards a meaningful goal of
their own community, and live in a reflection
of the attributes of Allah, how does that
not make sense to you?
What is so opposed to whatever you see
in the world around you, within yourself?
What makes it so indigestible for you?
وَهَذَا كِتَابٌ نَنْزَلْنَاهُ مُبَارَكٌ This is a blessed
book we have revealed.
فَاتَّبِعُوهُ وَاتَّقُوهُ Follow it and observe the taqwa
of Allah.
لَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُون So that perhaps you may be
treated with mercy.
أَن تَقُولُوا Lest you should say, إِنَّمَا أُنزِلَ
الْكِتَابُ عَلَى طَائِفَتَيْنِ مِن قَبْلِنَا That scripture was
revealed to two groups before us, the Jews
and the Christians, God's scripture.
وَإِن كُنَّ عَن دِرَاسَتِهِمْ لَغَافِلِينَ And we are
unaware of what they studied.
So here you go, you're getting scripture as
well.
Scripture fits in.
Wuhi fits in.
Prophethood fits in.
With whatever you see in the world around
you.
How it's bound, wound together towards the meaningful,
goal-directed progression that it shows, that the
evolution of life and human society shows.
It makes sense.
It adds up.
It is the last piece of the puzzle.
Or one of the pieces of the puzzle,
and then there's the piece of the puzzle
that you have to put in, responding to
that scripture.
Observing that taqwa of Allah.
Entering into the ibadah of Allah.
Opening the doors to His mercy that then
would manifest itself in new color.
When a community of believers responds.
When a community of humanity is formed.
أَوْ تَقُولُوا Or lest you say, لَوْ أَنَّ
أُنزِلَ عَلَيْنَا الْكِتَابِ If the scripture had been
revealed to us, لَكُنَّ أَهْدَى مِنْهُمْ We would
have been better guided than them.
It was clear at that time that what
scripture, as degenerate as its readings were, it
had made them into a civilization.
It had made them into a learned community.
That the people of the book, the Jews
and the Christians, versus the people without any
book, literally reading and writing, studying, was more
prevalent in scriptural societies versus non-scriptural societies.
Because reading and writing was a sacred act.
It would allow access to scripture for a
lot of them.
And so the Aus and the Khazraj, they
would envy the Jewish tribes prior to the
coming of Rasulullah ﷺ because it had given
them civilization.
And the doors that reading and writing opens
up, the secular doors that opens up, independent
of what it offers to you with respect
to access to scripture, what it offers to
you in terms of the rest of your
society and the dealings with people within that
society.
And so naturally, naturally, they were a more
learned people.
They had a society which was more civilized
as compared to the pagan Arabs.
So, or you say, If the book had
been revealed to us, we would have been
better guided than them.
Because you had this excuse going around that
we didn't get the chance that those people
got.
If we had gotten that chance, we would
have been better than them.
فَقَدْ جَأَكُمْ بَيْجِنَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَهُدًى وَرَحْمَةٌ So
there has come to you clear proof from
your Rabb, a guidance and a mercy.
فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِّمَّنْ كَذَّبَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ وَصَدَفَ أَنْهَا
So who is more unjust than the one
who denies the ayat of Allah and turns
away from them?
Now the ayat of Allah in your midst,
in the form of Qur'an recited by
Rasulullah ﷺ, what more can you ask for?
فَنَجِلُ الَّذِينَ يَسْدِفُونَ عَنْ آيَاتِنَسُوءَ الْعَذَابِ So soon
we will repay those who turn away from
our ayat with the worst of punishments.
بِمَا كَانُوا يَسْدِفُونَ Since they continue to turn
away.
هَلْ يَنظُنُ What are they waiting for?
إِلَّا أَن تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْمَلَائِكَةِ That the angels come
to them.
أو يَأْتِيَ رَبُّكَ Or their Rabb, or your
Rabb, Ya Rasulullah, comes himself to them.
أو يَأْتِيَ بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ Or some of
the ayat of Allah, of your Rabb, come.
What are they waiting for?
Some of the ayat, what are those some
of the ayat?
The عَذَابِ اللَّهِ The punishment of Allah.
يَوْمَ يَأْتِي بَعْضُ آيَاتِ رَبِّكَ The day some
of those ayat come.
لَا يَنفَعُ نَفْسٌ إِمَانُهَا At that point, no
one will benefit with their iman, with the
faith that they're professing at that time.
لَمْ تَكُنْ آمَنَتْ مِن قَبْل If they had
not believed earlier on.
Not all iman is the same.
Not all iman is the same.
Everybody's iman is not equal.
Iman at every occasion, at different times, in
response to different events, not equal.
And definitely iman that comes in, in the
nick of time, when death is nigh, when
some of the ayat of Allah are there,
those miracles on demand, ayat especially, the punishment
of Allah, it didn't help Fir'aun, it's
not going to help anyone else.
أَوْ كَثَبَتْ فِي إِمَانِهَا خَيْرًا Or it had
not earned anything from its belief.
Iman that had resulted in conduct, in action,
in a pattern of behavior, which was good,
which spread goodness.
The work of that iman was apparent.
If that's not there, then forget it.
قُلْ انتَظِرُوا So tell them, wait.
إِنَّا مُنْتَظِرُونَ We are waiting as well.
This is the Qur'an's way of telling
Rasulullah ﷺ, go threaten them.
Tell them, let's see, let's see.
I have something that I'm on, you got
something that you're on, let's see.
Which brings us better results?
Open challenge.
I have confidence in what I'm standing on,
even though the material resources and odds and
everything that you can possibly compute seem to
be against me, what you hold to be
standards of truth.
But then my iman tells me that bring
it and let's see what you got.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا And this was one of
the ayat of Rasulullah ﷺ's truth, as we
will see after Badr as well.
The results that he was able to produce.
That was solid proof for the Arabian Peninsula
that he is on something, that he has
brought truth, that he becomes a political force
without having any background in anything political in
his entire life prior to prophethood.
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ فَرَّقُوا الدِّينَهُمْ Those who divide their
religion وَكَانُوا شِيعًا And they become factions, they
become fragments.
لَسْتَ مِنْهُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ You have nothing to
do with them, Ya Rasulullah.
إِنَّمَا أَمْرُهُمْ إِلَى اللَّهِ Their affairs, it's with
Allah.
Allah will take care of them.
It's referred to Allah.
ثُمَ يُنَبِّئُهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْعَلُونَ And soon he
will tell them what they used to do.
And it's very interesting, wherever the Quran uses
فعل versus عمل with Iman, usually what is
associated is عمل, usually.
And when there is an exception, it's pointing
to a very subtle and a very important
exception.
We'll talk about that if and when it
comes.
But for the most part, these factions, what
has their religiosity become?
It's empty, robotic actions.
Not conscious, deliberated actions that are growing, that
are with their Iman, with the growth of
their Iman, with the changing circumstances.
They're always having to pull themselves out of
their comfort zones and improve their conduct.
عمل, against the reflexive flow, against the reactionary
stimulus that come from within or from outside.
It's عمل, it's conscious, it's deliberate, it's thought
out.
It's a struggle.
It's genuine action, it's conduct, it's not behavior.
There is a distinction.
Behavior is reactive, stimulus response.
And so most of what their religion and
there are those factions that breaking up of
truth, each group claiming their portion of truth
to be the absolute truth and then really
amputating that portion from the whole that it
was such a beautiful part of and turning
it into something so ugly.
And we know when something is amputated from
the whole, when a part of a body
is cut off from a body, a biological
body, it cannot grow, it cannot develop, it
cannot perform the function that it would have
performed so beautifully well if it was part
of the biological unity that it comes from.
And so truth as a unity, as a
body, when it is broken up, when it
is fragmented, what it has to offer in
terms of the function, in terms of its
utility, in terms of its own life, in
terms of its own growth, it's their stagnation.
That growth is done away with.
Forget growth, there is necrosis, there is pathologies,
there is diseases that come into that part
that has been cut off from its original
whole.
It's not going to grow anymore.
It is not going to flourish anymore.
It is not going to perform its function.
It is going to be degenerate.
It is going to be lifeless.
It is going to be diseased.
Forget about it performing positive functions in the
society.
It is very likely to spread disease in
the society, and that is what most of
world religion had become at the time of
Rasulullah ﷺ.
It is true for Judaism of that time.
It is true for Christianity of that time.
It is definitely true for the paganism at
that time.
And lo and behold, 14 centuries later, the
clock has turned on itself.
It's no different.
It is no different.
When you fragment truth from the original whole
that it's a part of, it is a
degenerate truth.
It is an amputated organ, lifeless, diseased, unable
to function and grow in the right direction,
and fully capable of spreading toxicity and ills
in society.
And so these fragments of Rasulullah, you've got
nothing to do with them.
Stay away from them.
All of what that is capable of doing,
all of what that dead organ is capable
of, is action-reaction, action-reaction.
You throw it against the wall, it will
bounce off with a splatter, but nevertheless, that's
the best you can expect of it.
That's the best it's good for.
Mechanical reactions.
Nothing life-giving.
It's what it is.
Fi'il is the best you can get
from it.
Not amal, not creative action, not an action
that takes society towards a community.
The best it can do is a cult.
Allah will tell them.
And a fi'il is a very apt
term to understand most of cultish behavior.
It is what cults are best for.
Repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition of the same old,
same old, same old, meaningless repetition.
Pathological, diseased.
So, ya Rasulullah, leave them.
Let them be.
They are gone cases.
Incorrigible.
Untreatable.
Incurable.
You're wasting your time with them.
Allah will take care of them.
Allah will tell them exactly what they used
to do.
Whoever comes with a virtue, he will get
ten times the like of it.
Again, the action of good and the capacity
in truth-inspired action, a truth that is
part of the whole, that it originates from,
there is a growth potential within that truth.
So beautifully symbolized in how it is multiplied
by Allah ten times for what it is
worth.
وَمَنْ جَاءَ بِالسَّيْجِئَةِ And whoever brings a sin,
فَلَا يُجْزَأْ إِلَّا مِثْلَهَا He will not be
repaid except the like of it.
Except just what that sin is worth.
So in a community, the appreciation of good
should be reflective of the appreciation of good
from the divine.
An exaggerated appreciation.
An appreciation which is far greater than what
the action is actually worth.
The encouragement, the life in that action of
goodness is to be depicted in how it
is reciprocated ten times for what it's worth.
And its worth increases as a result as
well.
Allah concretely manifested on the Day of Judgment
as hasanat, as rewards.
But then that reward, Allah's capacity to reward,
the reward that Allah does give is not
just restricted to the hereafter.
Him reciprocating and rewarding the barakah that he
puts in a hasanat, in a beautiful action.
And it's incredible how good action is depicted
with respect to its aesthetic dimension.
It is an act of beauty.
Why is it an act of beauty?
Because it is an act which is in
harmony with truth.
And so harmony depicts beauty.
And so a good action, harmonious with the
nature of truth, with the nature of al
-haqq, is beautiful.
And beauty inspires more beauty.
So ten times over the reciprocation.
وَمَنْ جَأَ بِالسَّيْجِئَةِ فَلَا يُجِدَ إِلَّا مِثْلَهَا The
reciprocation for a sin is the same amount,
just that much.
وَهُمْ لَأَيُّذْنَ مُوتُ And they will never be
treated unfairly.
قُلْ إِنَّنِي هَدَانِي رَبِّي إِلَى صِرَاطِ الْمُسْتَقِيمِ Say,
O Rasulullah, my Rabb has guided me to
the straight path.
Simple, straightforward, what has been made haram, clear.
What I got to do, clear.
Why do you want to convolute things?
دينًا قِيَمًا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا A religion, a
right religion, the way of Ibrahim, the upright.
See, the Quraysh, responding to Rasulullah ﷺ, cite
tradition.
They say, our authority comes from our tradition.
And in reputation, the Qur'an points out
the fallacies of their arguments, but then carries
that standard itself as well.
There is no outright rejection that tradition has
nothing good to offer.
Allah also brings in their tradition, Ibrahim ﷺ.
That's as far as your tradition goes.
That's where Rasulullah ﷺ is standing.
How about that?
دينًا قِيَمًا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا The way of
Ibrahim ﷺ, the upright.
وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ And he was not
of the Mushrikeen.
Can you prove what you're on, attributing that
to Ibrahim ﷺ in any way?
Do you have any way of saying that
what you're doing is sanctioned by Ibrahim ﷺ?
Your own ancestor.
قُلْ سَيَا أَرْسُلُ اللَّهِ إِنَّ سَلَاتِي My prayer.
وَنُسُكِي My sacrifice.
وَمَحْيَايَ And my life.
وَمَمَاتِي And my death.
لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ Are exclusively for Allah, the
Rabb of the Alam.
That every single aspect of my life, my
spirituality, my prayer, my sacrifice, everything in my
life and my death as well.
They have one center and that is Allah.
Everything is revolving, circumambulating, doing tawaf around this
one center.
And that is the Rabubiyah of Allah.
Allah, the Rabb of the Alamin.
My connection with Him and how that connection
results in me being rahmatan lil'alamin.
That this is, this is the whole.
This is the unity.
This is tawheed.
Reflected in the character of Rasulullah ﷺ.
The life of Rasulullah ﷺ.
That you can see within his life, in
his seerah.
Where his prayer is fitting into the whole
beautiful unity that tawheed is.
Where is his sacrifice fitting in.
Where is his life and everything that he
does in that life.
And how even his his death, his passing
away is life-giving.
Is something that as far as the Rabubiyah
of Allah is concerned.
That process of human nurturing of love for
humanity is positively contributed to even
in the departure of Rasulullah ﷺ.
Even in his passing away.
It's incredible.
It is absolutely incredible that how the Rabubiyah
of Allah is so inclusive.
It is so, it has so much capacity
that once that that conduct of tawheed, one
becomes a part of that.
How the growth of society, the growth of
community, you're capable of contributing to it even
in death.
Even in death.
That growth doesn't stop.
That for simple example that for Rasulullah ﷺ
when he chose to depart, to leave, to
accept Rafiq al-A'la the highest companion.
When he accepted passing away, the beauty that
manifested after he passed away, the strength that
the Sahaba depicted, portrayed over the next couple
of decades.
What what Islam became, what it was not
in the time of Rasulullah ﷺ.
The seed he had sown, the seed but
as far as the fruits that the civilization
was to give humanity, those fruits continue to
be harvested to this day.
To this day.
How the Rabubiyah of Allah is more manifest,
more zahir in the alameen with the life
and death of Rasulullah ﷺ.
How his prayer was not an act of
escape from social responsibility.
Rather his prayer was so inclusive of his
connection to society that it was not even
bound by time and space.
That Rasulullah is standing in the middle of
the night crying with his beard flooded with
tears.
Either he's reflecting over the ayaat of Allah
or he's expressing his gratitude to Allah or
he is praying for you and me.
How does that work?
How does that work?
Where his sacrifice and compare that to the
prayer which is screaming and yelling and this
mechanical head banging.
The sacrifice which brings life to society.
Which empowers the underprivileged.
Which develops this potential and this conduct which
sets a legacy within humanity.
See, humanity lives off of sacrifice.
We are community life becomes possible because of
sacrifice.
Because we're willing to sacrifice for one another.
That becomes the central pillar of human interaction.
Being able to sacrifice.
Give up what is yours for somebody else.
So that they have it easier.
So they have it better.
It's not just slaughtering an animal.
There is so much to that slaughtering an
animal in the name of Allah that becomes
a conduct of community.
And it is reiterated with every actual slaughtering
of the animal.
The spirit of sacrifice becomes more a part
of that community.
Provided that it is part of that whole.
That's how life and salah as life, sacrifice
and the death of the animal, but how
it gives life to the society and then
the death of the person it's themselves and
how that becomes life for the society for
the community.
For when a parent passes away.
That is a very important stage for the
development of the children for the growth of
the children.
For now, they have to survive without the
umbilical cord.
And if they're able to then the parent
has done their job.
Well, and when they're able to they're going
to carry the legacy of the parent in
a in ways that the parent themselves could
not have should not have was not supposed
to and that's what brings in the creativity
and the growth within the community and all
of it reflective of the ruby of Allah
this nurturing of human society towards becoming an
embodiment of Allah's attributes.
There is no associate to him and that
is what I have been commanded and I
am the first of those who submit before
Allah.
Rasulullah ﷺ first Muslim.
First Muslim in the sense.
There's been Muslims before him in the form
of prophets, but foremost Muslim foremost the first
responder the one who is going to be
ahead who is going to be in the
lead was going to be the Imam not
going to ask others to do what he's
not doing himself what he hasn't done himself
and tell them should I seek anyone other
than Allah as a rub while he is
the rub of everything all of this in
contrast with the kind of religiosity that shirk
is inspiring in the society and how that
is tied in with the feeding of the
vested interest of a privileged class and that's
all of what religion is that demonic religiosity.
This is divine religiosity embodied by Rasulullah ﷺ
and the Sahaba and especially when they make
it into a community so tell them should
I seek another rub other than Allah and
he is the rub of everything everyone whatever
they do earns them against their own self
if they do it wrong it's against their
own self no bearer of burden will bear
the burdens of another another characteristic of a
demonic religiosity where the burden is shifted on
others blame games scapegoating fatalism God made me
do it Shaytan made me do it he'll
take care of it he'll stand up for
me I don't have any responsibility on my
own وَلَا تَزِرُ وَازِرَةٌ وِزْرَةٌ أُخْرَى no bearer
of burden will bear the burden of another
ثُمَا إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ مَرْجِعُكُمْ then towards your Rabb
is your ultimate return فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ
تَخْتَلِفُونَ he will inform you about all the
issues that you deferred in that you had
ikhtilaf in وَهُوَ الَّذِي جَعَلَكُمْ خَلَائِفُ الْأَرْضِ he
is the one who has appointed you vicerands
of earth he is the one who has
made you khulafa given you authority, given you
power وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَكُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ and he
has exalted some of you over others in
ranks some have more in one way or
another whether it's power, whether it's wealth, whether
it's physical strength whatever it may be this
diversity in society is across these different polarities
in so many different ways and it is
how they're navigated, how they're negotiated it is
what the growth of the community falls back
on if it's done in a tawheedic way
if it is done in the way Allah
relates with humanity then that is the character
of Rasulullah ﷺ لِيَبْلُوَكُمْ فِي مَا آتَكُمْ in
order to test you by what he has
granted you and balaa having the connotation not
just of testing but also of giving an
opportunity that either way whether you have it
or you don't have it it is an
opportunity how you hold yourself, how you relate
with the other and therefore contribute to their
growth and your own اِنَّ رَبَّكَ سَرِيعُ الْعِقَابِ
and know that your Rabb is swift in
taking the task swift in retribution if he
wants to penalize, if he wants to punish
he's swift he can do it instantly you
will see results you will see results consequences
of your behavior immediately وَإِنَّهُ لَغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمِ and
without a doubt he is definitely forgiving and
merciful you will not see doubts you will
not see results you will not see consequences
every time so much of it will be
forgiven so much of it you're not going
to be taken a task for as swift
as he is he is going to let
go as well he is going to continue
to give opportunities and he is incredibly merciful
let's break here and then begin with Surah
A'raf in the next session Inshallah Inshallah
As-salatu was-salamu ala rasool Allah wa
ala alihi wa ashabihi ajma'een beginning with
Surah Al-A'raf okay as we said,
there is going to be a contrast that
you see with respect to Surah Al-An
'am less la illah more ayyamullah so ayyamullah
specifically in this surah manifesting in the form
of anba-ur-rusul the stories of the
prophets we will see six of them in
particular, elaborated in a sequence and there is
going to be a significance to that sequence
that we hope to talk about as well
starting off this surah will talk about akhira
quite a lot scenes from the akhira, from
the day of judgment and then scenes from
the beginning of creation we will see the
story of Adam and Iblis come back after
Baqarah this is the second instance that this
story is going to be coming in the
mushaf and we see how that fits in
to the whole theme right, bismillahirrahmanirrahim alif laam
meem saad kitabun unzila ilayk this book, this
is the book revealed to you, ya Rasulullah
falaa yakun fee sadriqa harajun min so let
there be no distress in your heart because
of it like the coming of the Quran
to Rasulullah ﷺ everything gets flipped upside down
as far as his own life is concerned,
where him, Khadija his family, whatever is going
on everything changes and this we're looking at
the revelation of these ayaats towards the end
of Mecca Rasulullah ﷺ pretty much ready to
leave either the as the previous surah alluded
to if that was revealed before this then
the pledge of Aqaba has happened at least
one of them has happened and the theme
is of the nature that Quraish you're done
for you're gonna get what's coming to you
and Rasulullah ﷺ and the sahabah are pretty
much ready to pack up and leave for
Medina maybe Medina has not materialized as clearly
as it would towards the very end of
the Meccan period of course, but nevertheless there's
signs coming that Rasulullah ﷺ has to leave
and Rasulullah ﷺ looking towards different tribes at
that point whoever is coming for pilgrimage to
Mecca sending out the message to them asking
them if their willingness to accept him as
a messenger extends to their willingness to accept
him and the believers as well into their
community all of that those conversations have started
right and necessarily leaving Mecca, the prospect of
leaving Mecca means opening the door of azaab
for the people of Mecca them not accepting
what Rasulullah ﷺ has brought them not accepting
the Quran, the kitab unzila ilaik that was
revealed to Rasulullah means it means death it
means azaab in that way it's heavy on
Rasulullah ﷺ it was as much of a
responsibility as he was that he was going
to fulfill to his utmost the consequences of
rejecting it or the consequences of him fulfilling
the responsibility and others rejecting it for them
hurt him he felt the pain the distress
and so the Quran consoles do not be
in distress let your heart not be in
distress because of it this is so that
you can warn with it and a reminder
this is dhikra for the believers dhikra is
something that you remember that you are at
home with that it's not a stranger there
is a kinship there is something that you
can identify with there is something that you
can relate with you may not be able
to put in words what that kinship or
what that relationship is or how you know
each other but you just do you just
feel at home so that's what a reminder
is and for the people of iman the
people who open themselves up they drop those
those walls of arrogance they'll be able to
see what resonates with the ayat of Allah
and we're going to see this later there
is one particular phrase I believe it comes
towards the end of surah an-kaboot it
is in the heart it is a book
that is in the hearts of those who
believe في قلوب الذين آمنوا if I'm getting
the phrasing right and in two ways right
that you memorize and you commit the book
to memory that's one way and you know
the ayat that well fair enough but then
there is reciting the book as if you're
reciting off of your own heart that's sort
of a relationship that's sort of a kinship
and that's the dhikra dimension of of how
it of how it gets you of how
you get it of how you connect with
it of how you roll with it of
how you live it it's a very personal
connection it's a very personal relationship for those
who are being warned with it and don't
heed the warning yet it's devastation but then
that's the cost اتبعوا ما انزل إليكم من
ربكم so now a plural address all of
you are required to follow what has been
revealed to you from your Rabb that in
following it you're living up to the requirements
of your relationship with Allah as Rabb, you're
living in what He holds of you, in
His love for you, we have spoken of
it repeatedly, Allah being Rabb what does it
mean?
Allah wants to bring the best out of
you as an individual and as a community,
what does that mean?
He sees you worthy He sees you having
this incredible potential and even if you don't
see that within yourself looking to actualize what
He sees trusting Him as what He sees
inside of you and following in that to
become that to become in the image of
the Beloved, the image that the Beloved holds
of you what He sees in you to
try to live up to it, that is
to live up to your commitment to Him
as Rabb and His commitment to you being
your Rabb is that He is sending you
the guidance and He is willing to enter
into this personal relationship with you to take
you to that level it's going to be
a collaboration وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا مِن دُونِهِ أَوْلِيَةً do
not follow protectors friends other than Him there
is going to be other options as well,
deities claiming themselves a position that is exclusive
for Allah فَلِيلَ مَا تَذْكَرُونَ little do you
remember وَكَم مِّن قَرَيَّةٍ أَهْلَكْنَاهَا how many towns
have been destroyed have we destroyed فَجَأَهَا سُنَ
بَيَاتًا أَوْ هُم قَائِلُونَ so our punishment came
to them at night or when they were
sleeping at noon when they least expected it
يَتَذْبَنَ اللَّهَ السُّنَّةُ this body of humanity is
to grow, this community has to develop and
whatever part of the body is diseased it
has to be gotten rid of it has
to be amputated because it is going to
spread that disease to the whole body that's
how it's been and that's how it will
be so either you follow in اتَّبِعُون in
the plural, what Allah is asking of you
and you grow in that direction and if
you don't then we've destroyed people before we
will destroy people again فَجَأَهَا بَأْسُنَ بَيَاتًا اَوْهُمْ
قَائِلُون so our punishment came to them at
night or when they were sleeping at noon
فَمَا كَانَ دَعْوَاهُمْ اِذْ جَآءَهُمْ بَأْسُنَ and so
they had nothing to say when our punishment
came to them except that they said we
have been unjust that in the face of
the punishment they came to realize the injustice
of their actions that this rejection of Allah's
رُبُوبِيَّ this rejection of following in the the
Wahi that Allah has sent, the messenger that
Allah has sent, it wasn't just reject them,
no big deal no, reject them means continue
with the oppression and the injustices that have
wreaked havoc in the society, not live responsibly
make others lives * there is peace quote
unquote in that society but that peace is
because there is a segment, a huge segment
of the population that is suffering and that
is too weak to even cry out for
help, they don't even have the authority to
say that they're suffering they don't have the
freedom to express how much they've been exploited
there is oppression, there is dhulm dhulm goes
hand in hand with shirk dhulm is shirk,
shirk is dhulm, dhulm leads to shirk shirk
leads to dhulm, it's a very intricate relationship
and so when Allah is eradicating a people
all together, when a punishment is coming as
it did for all the previous prophets, then
it is because there is proliferation of dhulm
tolerating this is going to mean that people
are going to endlessly suffer and not live
up to the beautiful potential that he has
placed in them فَلَنَسْأَلَنَّ الَّذِينَ أُرْسِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَنَسْأَلَنَّ
الْمُرْسَلِينَ so we will definitely ask those to
whom the messengers were sent the community is
going to be asked did you get a
messenger?
did he do his job?
and similarly we will ask the messengers as
well did you tell them?
was the messenger properly communicated?
فَلَنَقُصَّنَّ عَلَيْهِمْ بِعِلْمٍ and then we will relate
to them with عِلْم whatever their response to
that question, Allah is witness over the whole
process himself وَمَا كُنَّا غَائِبِينَ we had never
been absent وَالْوَزْنُ يَوْمَ إِذِنِ الْحَقِّ the weighing
on that day will be the truth on
that day Allah is not going there is
no dhulm everything, every single thing will be
accounted for, whatever judgments are passed are going
to be passed on the basis of truth,
on the basis of عِلْم فَمَنْ ثَقُلَتْ مَوَازِينُهُ
so those whose scale of deeds is going
to be heavy they really brought something worth
weighing, worth being weighed on the day of
judgment they brought something that was worthy of
Allah worthy of them, the ones bringing it
فَأُولَئِكَهُمْ وَالْمُفْلِحُونَ so these are the people they
will definitely be successful they will rise to
the best of their potential, they have risen
to the best of their potential, that potential
continues to grow on the day of judgment
in the form of the success that they
are granted وَمَنْ خَفَّتْ مَوَازِينُهُ and those whose
scale will be light that there is stuff
there but it's fluff, it's empty, it's hollow
it doesn't have any weight فَأُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ خَسِرُوا
أَنفُسًا these are the people who have failed
themselves again the language of the Quran is
so psychological فَلَاح in the sense of you
attaining the best of your own potential alluding
to the process of farming itself that when
you bring out the best of the potential
of the land, that's فَلَاح, the produce the
crop is the best that that earth had
despite everything else that was there the best
was able to flourish, was able to come
out, was able to bear fruit, that's فَلَاح,
breaking forth from gunk because in and around
gunk was so much goodness فَسِرُوا أَنفُسِهِمْ they
have lost themselves, they have failed themselves, they
haven't lived up to what they themselves were
capable of بِمَا كَانُوا بِآيَتِنَا يَبْلِمُونَ why did
they lose themselves, why did they suffer why
did they fail themselves because they rejected our
ayaat, because they did zulm to the ayaat
of Allah, Allah's ayaat deserved better, they deserved
an ear, they deserved reflection, they deserved to
be given life in that individual's own sphere
of influence but they didn't do that and
so they lost their own potential for life
the life giving Allah's ayaat life is giving
life to a part of your own selves
that would otherwise be dormant would remain dormant,
would remain dead and not attain falah, not
attain the fruitfulness that it's capable of, that's
the zulm against yourself because of the zulm
against the ayaat of Allah وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاكُمْ فِي
الْأَرْضِ and we have established you on earth
وَجَعَلْنَا لَكُمْ فِيهَا مَعَائِشٍ and we have produced
for you the means of livelihood in it
قَلِيلًا مَا تَشْكُرُونَ a little thanks to you
kids, picture a person coming to you and
that you have a good relationship with, that
you have a good relationship with and they're
like you're ungrateful how could you be so
ungrateful you're just Allah reiterated, this
is the second time he said this in
this waqf you just don't remember you just
don't care you're just not grateful whatever gratitude
you do give is, of course that's we
say that to each other in exaggeration and
we have this tendency for being absolute in
our accusations against one another Allah is more
careful than that he doesn't absolutely, he rejects
قَلِيلًا مَا تَشْكُرُونَ you're grateful but very little
very few and far between instances of gratitude
it's like a complaint it's a I expected
better from you I expected better from you
I deserve better قَلِيلًا مَا تَشْكُرُونَ like a
shikwa it's like a complaint وَلَقَدْ شَلَقْنَاكُمْ we
created you ثُمَّ صَبَرْنَاكُمْ we fashioned you ثُمَّ
قُلْنَا لِلْمَلَائِكَةِ and then we told the angels
أُسْجُدُوا لِآدَمٍ prostrate before Adam look at your
ungratefulness the lack of gratitude and then all
of what we did for you the love
with which the privilege with which you were
you came into being فَسَجَدُوا all of them
did sajda إِلَّا إِبْلِيسُ except Iblis, he didn't
لم يَكُن مِنَ السَّجِدِينِ he was not of
those who prostrate قَالَ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَئِذْ
أَمَرْتُكُ Allah has stopped you from prostrating when
I gave you the command I told you
to prostrate قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْ Iblis it
is very important to read every phrase that
Iblis responds with because this phrase reflects a
lot of what demonic character in human beings
is it's what it is all of these
phrases and you can map on these phrases
not just human demonic personality traits but even
systems of philosophy that rationalize these demonic traits
قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِنْ said I'm better than
him straight out superiority complex origin of a
superiority complex I'm better than him you created
me from fire you created him from clay
all he is able to appreciate of Adam
or of the human being is the clay
and when he looks at himself of the
material that he is created from it is
fire and in his estimation fire is better
than clay that the clay that Allah has
put together there is more to it than
just clay that when that clay came together
in the way it came together it was
so much more it was there was more
to it than what met the eye Iblis
refused to acknowledge more than what met the
eye and then there is so much of
demonic character in us that refuses to see
more than what is apparent more than what
meets the eye what is behind what is
more how something comes together how the sum
is much more or the total is much
more than the sum of its constituents it
is not just clay plus clay is more
clay no no no it is it has
these emergent properties it has these it's a
whole different thing it's just not a higher
animal it is an animal yes but it
is a human dimension that has been added
to the biological animal which is such which
is at a different qualitative level altogether Iblis
is not able to see that he's only
capable of seeing the animal or if he
is capable of seeing more which he is
because he is required by Allah to do
perform that sajda he refuses to see that
and how much of what has gone on
particularly in the past couple of centuries on
an insistence that a human being is nothing
more than an animal nothing more than the
clay sexual animal social animal economic animal usually
most themes of looking to describe what a
human being is is along those terms and
sexual social or economic either way what predominates
in all of them is the word animal
and the animal instinctive nature of the human
beings that everything that the human being is
going to do is fundamentally instinctive driven nothing
high about it nothing noble about it it's
it's a facade hiding low animal instincts looking
for pleasure power money nothing more and a
lot of what Iblis has since tried to
do and never in history succeeded as much
as he did over the past couple of
centuries is to convince the human being that
you're nothing more than an animal that you're
nothing more than this what you see there
is nothing more to you and so when
we definitively categorize ourselves this is just the
way I am I can't do any better
I can't perform any better I can't change
there is so much of I am just
play in those statements I can't change definitive
labels that we ascribe to ourselves depreciating our
potential not recognizing what we're what we're capable
of relating to Allah worshiping Allah is recognizing
that there is so much more to me
in terms of goodness that I can actualize
and then worshiping Shaitaan or relating with Shaitaan
is in absolute labeling of the self as
no better than this this is my label
this is who I am I am lazy
I am a procrastinator I am sinful I
am evil and then there is a full
stop I can't do any better just like
you can't do much out of clay it
is what it is just like that you
can't do much about me I am who
I am this demonic labeling of the self
just putting your own self down absolutely out
for the count it is not that and
then when we say that we become that
in a self fulfilling prophecy and that's where
the demonic has prevailed that's where that's who
we are and that's it worthy of the
prostration of angels I don't think so and
Shaitaan is like I told you so this
is who he is and I am better
than him given that I am fire أَلَفَهْبِقْ
مِنْهَا Allah said get down from here the
angelic rank that Shaitaan had been given for
all of what he done in terms of
worship taken away from him you've been he
was the general of the angels his rank
is being stripped off فَمَا يَكُونُ لَكَ أَن
تَتَكَبَّرَ فِيهَا it is not for you to
be arrogant in here a superiority complex that
manifests itself in two ways in humans as
well at least two ways there's a lot
of complicated ways that it manifests itself but
two basic ways I am so great I
don't have to do anything to prove it
or I am so great I have already
proven it and that's the end of story
I am inherently great I am entitled to
a privileged treatment I am entitled to paradise
I am entitled to guidance I am entitled
everything is entitlement everything is entitlement do I
have to do something not really so when
you already exalted yourself to the position of
the greatest height then why would you look
to do anything why would you feel the
need of working of struggling of sacrificing and
then to look at what you've done as
wrong is never going to crop up because
you're already the best the greatest even the
wrong that you've done is not wrong this
kibber in looking at the other as absolutely
inferior on account of what is apparent get
out you are of the abased you are
of the abased he said give me time
until the day of resurrection Allah says fine
you have time take your take whatever time
you want until the day of judgment you
got it and he says because you have
misled me again the fatalism in shaitan it's
not me it's you okay if I am
misled it's because you misled me does that
sound familiar if I'm not doing anything right
it is because of who I am it
is because of how I am what does
that say it's how I've been made how
Allah has made me it is not me
it's Allah it is not me it's my
circumstances again it's Allah it is not me
it's shaitan which again is Allah I can't
do anything different I have been misled end
of story full stop so for shaitan his
absolutely rigid rationalization of his misconduct God made
me do it fatalism you're all powerful it
was you I will I will
I will sit in ambush for them on
your straight path you've seen nothing of the
devil if you haven't seen him in your
religious endeavors you haven't seen him if you
haven't been religious the flavors the appearances the
manifestations that you will feel inside of yourself
in a when committed to a religious journey
that's when you're really confronting shaitan your path
Allah that's where I'm gonna live that's where
I'm gonna sit in ambush mark my words
shaitan is not outside of religion outside of
the masjid outside of the church or the
synagogue or the temple outside of the scripture
that's no fun that's boring those people are
mechanically going wherever they're going anyways within religion
on the straight path in the guise of
religiosity with beards in hijabs and niqabs that's
the most fun place to be in as
far as shaitan is concerned ثُمَّ لَآتِيَنَّهُمْ then
I will come at them مِن بَيْنِ أَيْذِيهِمْ
from in front of them and if we
look at from in front of them, we're
looking at سِرَاطِ الْمُسْتَقِيمِ or the path or
the journey and then how on the journey
so much of our choices on the path
of Allah we don't take, afraid of consequences
what if we lose out what if we
suffer, what if we fail, what if we
die that what if with respect to what
is in front of us in our lives,
in our spiritual or religious journey and how
it holds us back how shaitan lives in
this fear factor, how it fuels
see, there is the fear factor that we've
already understood that Allah has placed on the
path وَلَنَبْلُوَنَّكُمْ بِشَيْءٍ مِّنَ الْخَوْفِ that I we
will definitely test you but then within the
test is the opportunity so what does that
mean with fear to have an opportunity with
fear so what Allah has done is that
he's placed shaitan to make that fear factor
all the more overwhelming, all the more powerful
that all of these what ifs spring into
your head when you're supposed to make a
decision which is more responsible, which is more
spiritual, which involves a higher commitment and I'm
not ready for it, I can't do it
I don't want to do it I'll think
about it later whatever I have is enough
but shaitan is springing in front of you
and the fear of all that might go
wrong that will go wrong let's face it
on the path stuff does go wrong there
is suffering, there is pain there is so
much pain within that fear itself there is
so much when you choose to give into
the fear and not do what your own
conscience you know is it is to be
done it is time to do it and
you don't then that inexplicable anxiety that results
you don't even know why I have it
but it's something that suffering that doesn't make
sense that suffering that you suffer through and
nothing really comes out of it that substitute
suffering and a lot of, not all of
but a lot of psychological suffering is substitute
suffering what does that mean?
A refusal to engage with genuine suffering which
would be there if you struggled if you
confronted real challenges that could have gone either
way, either they would have yielded the result
or the growth or the good that you
were looking for or it wouldn't have and
you would have suffered but either way the
work in itself was suffering but choosing not
to go there choosing to opt out, be
lazy procrastinate that has its own suffering associated
with it the anxiety that is associated with
boredom just being, just having nothing to do
not even real, where is what the, how
do, why do I feel this I got
everything when he comes from in front of
you and how like we said that within
that fear factor there is also an opportunity
for what truly makes you brave is that
when that what if happens and all of
what you might possibly lose and it's a
real possibility it's springing up in front of
you shaytan threatens you of poverty shaytan threatens
you of poverty all those threats what makes
you brave or stronger is when despite those
thoughts that entire cascade of what ifs and
despite that incredible incredibly overwhelming sense of fear,
which I'm just going to die if I
do it, that's literally what at the emotional
level a person is feeling at the height
of fear I'm just going to die in
this my life is going to end and
my heart is testifying, my heart beat is
testifying to to the reality of that threat
to overcome that again, bravery is not the
absence of fear bravery is doing what you
have to do despite the fear and there
is no more beautiful example of that than
Musa as we will see in Surah Araf
مِن بَيْنِ أَيْدِهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ from behind them
from whatever has already happened, again looking at
it from the trajectory of the path the
Siratul Mustaqeem there is a journey that I've
already traveled and then along that journey on
the path being on the path did make
you suffer, did make you lose something or
the other fruits of your labor you missed
out on things you, there is nepothe, as
life proceeds you miss what you had that
you had to give up on natural progression
of life means loss the very first experiences
of which you had as a child losing
losing out on the connection that you had
with your mother first in the form of
the umbilical cord and then in the form
of the breast feeding and then the presence
of the mother or the other significant caretakers
in your life eventually, gradually, poised, you had
you lost, friends you had, you lost and
then this is betrayal of trust, all of
that it haunts you it haunts you, I
move on I do more I make more
connections and the more connections I make the
more vulnerable I become in that I stand
to lose them so that fear of what
will happen, the more you, further along you
go on the path is reinforced by memories
of grief by unresolved grief from your past
from behind you and what else is behind
you is your guilt of things you did
wrong of things of the way you sinned
erred, made mistakes what if I make more
mistakes?
what if I sin more?
the خَلْفِهِمْ and أَيْدِيهِمْ comes together how much
of our past guilt weighs us down as
a burden and just doesn't let you move
on guilt which was if dealt with in
relationship to غَفُورُ الرَّحِيمِ one of our most
beautiful teachers but guilt if dealt with in
relationship with الشَيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ then it's so so
overwhelming that literally you can spend nights after
nights after nights losing sleep and crying and
crying and crying and looking at yourself as
a horrible person who has no chance who
is just damned forever how many of us
have seen that?
وَأَنْ عَيْمَنِهِمْ one of the
again along the path along the path on
the journey you have strengths you have good,
you have a positive potential and how that
very same positive potential demonically interpreted demonically magnified
demonically approached can be your worst enemy that
your intelligence your eloquence your financial resource strength
your social capital whatever talents that you have
they become your fetters for the journey that
your strengths, your allies your friends how there
is so much there that if not negotiated
with appropriately carefully that within your strength if
you're unable to see the potential for evil
that within your friends and relationships you're unable
to see the potential for great harm and
enmity how damning can that be وَعَنْ شَمَاءِلِهِمْ
وَعَنْ شَمَاءِلِهِمْ and from their left we all
have weaknesses we all have within our own
personalities within our own character stuff that we
just are not good at or are really
bad at or there's baggage there's difficulties challenges
and then of course there's enemies and animosities
stuff that is pulling you down pulling you
back holding you down so all of these
different directions all of these different ways وَلَا
تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ what is the bottom line
how do we know that that's demonic influence
the results less and less gratitude a conduct
a a behavior of ungratefulness
of not being able to proceed and progress
along the Sirat al-Mustaqeem progress on the
Sirat al-Mustaqeem is hallmarked by gratitude by
giving and doing and not being able to
proceed not being able to progress on the
Sirat al-Mustaqeem is lack of gratitude in
one's life and so one way or the
other we're being weighed down from in front
of us or behind us from the right
or the left in all of these multiple
ways that demonic influences take us over قَالَ
خَرُجْ مِنْهَا مَذْقُومًا مَذْحُورًا Allah said get out
disgraced and expelled لَمَن تَبِعَكَ مِنْهُمْ so whoever
of them follows you لَأَمْلَأَنَّ جَهَنَّمَ مِنْكُمْ مَجْمَعِينَ
I'll just fill up the hellfire with all
of you وَيَا آدَمَ اسْكُنَ أَنتَ وَزَوْجُكَ الْجَنَّةَ
and Adam you and your spouse live in
paradise فَكُلَا مِنْ حَيْفُ شِئْتُمَا aid from wherever
you want to وَلَا تَقْرَبَا هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ but
do not even go close to this tree
فَتَكُنَا مِنَ الظَّالَمِينَ otherwise you will become of
the of the unjust it's like a stress
free life it is a it means no
worries for the rest of your days it's
like Hakuna Matata that state of paradise that
Adam and Hawa were in فَوَسَ لَهُمَ الشَّيْطَانُ
but Shaytan whispered to both of them now
Shaytan does not come in the form of
necessarily that can happen as well, there are
but typical demonic experiences are phenomenological they're subjective,
they're within us voices in our heads feelings
in our heart that's Shaytan so Shaytan whispers
to them لِيُبْدِيَ لَهُمَا مَا وُرِيَ عَنْهُمَا مِنْ
سَوْآتِهِمَا who exposed to them what was hidden
from them of each other's nakedness وَقَالَ مَا
نَهَاكُمَا رَبُّكُمَا عَنْ هَذِهِ الشَّجَرَةَ and so he
said your Rabb only forbade you from this
tree to prevent you إِلَّا تَكُونَ مَلَكَيْنَ أو
تَكُونَ مِنَ الْقَالِدِينَ lest you become of the
angels and those who are immortal angel representing
a type of spiritual greatness or as high
or as strong as you can be spiritually
or the immortality representing a physical invincibility you're
not gonna die you live forever the سَوْآتِهِمَا
the nakedness representing vulnerability vulnerability how sexuality and
the overwhelming need that sexuality is is a
sign of weakness both biologically that to continue
your progeny to continue your yourselves biologically since
you're going to die your species continues through
reproduction and that's the best you can do
that's best shot you have at خُلْد or
at an eternal life biologically speaking but then
the weakest part of human beings the greatest
weaknesses that which you would hide the most
from everyone is that which is below the
belt which is why below the belt vulnerabilities
are also more in very intimate relationships and
you can really exploit each other's vulnerabilities hit
them where it hurts the most but that's
the side point how the state or the
place that Adam and how well we're in
at that time is a time where this
vulnerability was not recognized and now they're coming
off age and recognizing it ironically inspired by
Shaitaan that that potential in them demonically
influenced it's already there but Shaitaan points to
it he turns their attention in that direction
and what we recognize of the overwhelming sexual
urge it fulfills that reproductive aim but it
also represents individual limitations in so many other
ways this interdependency how you cannot be alone
how you need other people other human beings
again something that makes you vulnerable that your
ultimate vulnerability in the form of death is
represented in this neediness for others as well
how the weakness and vulnerability that you expose
of yourself to each other in a in
an intimate relationship is representative of your self
consciousness you are more conscious and there is
no more self consciousness as it is not
represented any better than in the recognition of
nakedness that the human beings are coming to
realize with this exposure to the tree of
themselves in so many ways of their potential
for pain because now that you know your
vulnerability you know that it hurts and when
you know that it hurts you you know
it hurts others as well and the sort
of evil that human beings can then become
capable of by inflicting that hurt on others
more and more that I had an experience
of pain something of because that person is
human as well I can hurt them in
a similar way in a much greater way
so much of what this self consciousness opens
the doors to in terms of hurting each
other or helping each other or empathizing with
each other wants that every recognition of weakness
of vulnerability is addressed via shortcuts that
you just take and you ascend the ladder
in a jiffy all the way to the
top that you attain physical invincibility eternal life
or spiritual invincibility angelic life in a jiffy
and he is promising وَقَاصَمَهُمَا he swore before
them إِنِّي لَكُمَ لَمِنَ النَّوْسَحِينَ that I am
one of your best well wishers I have
your best interest at heart and again the
phenomenological experience, subjective experience, our own personal
experiences in our own heads with Shaytan as
to how that which is so alluring we
can't see anything outside of it and it
is this is the only way to go
for me we're not willing to listen to
reason, we're not willing to listen to nothing,
this is it nothing else and that's another
demonic element, nothing else just this absolutely great
فَذَلَّاهُمَا بِغْرُور بِغْرُور and so he made them
fail through deception فَلَمَّا ذَاقَ الشَّجَرَةَ فَلَمَّا ذَاقَ
الشَّجَرَةَ from that tree بَدَتْ لَهُمَا سَوْأَتُهُمَا their
nakedness got exposed to them they became aware
they were going to become invincible they became
aware of how weak they were how vulnerable
they were, how naked they were مُطَفِقَا يَخْصِفَانِ
عَلَيْهِمَا مِنْ وَرَقِ الْجَنَّةِ and they started covering
themselves up with the leaves of the garden,
desperate attempts to hide that وَنَادَاهُمَا رَبُّهُمَا and
their Rabb called out to them again, Allah
alluding to how Him giving this permission to
Shaytan Him setting all of this up is
in sync with His رَبُوبِيَة أَلَمْ أَنْهَكُمَا أَنْسِلْكُمَ
الشَّجَرَةَ did I not tell you not to
go near that tree وَأَقُلْ لَكُمَا did I
not tell both of you إِنَّ الشَّيْطَانَ لَكُمَا
عَدُوبٌ مُّبِينٌ that Shaytan is an open enemy
to both of you قَالَ رَبَّنَا قَالَ رَبَّنَا
ظَلَمْنَا أَنفُسَنَا both of them responded, oh Rabb
we have oppressed ourselves we were unjust to
ourselves and how as human beings we will
continue to be unjust to ourselves and there's
what is wrong with that is when we
put a full stop there, this is Adam
and Hawa we're speaking of and they slipped
and they fell and they made a mistake
and a big one but what makes them
human, what makes them honored what makes them
respected is how they responded to what they
did after they made a mistake after that
state of utter demonic overwhelming influence what they
did after that, are you going to hold
on to what you did, insist on what
you did at that time, continue to justify
rationalize, proclaim your innocence or accept it was
a mistake it was wrong shouldn't have done
that could have done better, what guilt tells
you, you could have done better, you can
still do better وَإِلَّمْ تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا وَإِلَّمْ
تَغْفِرْ لَنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا and if you do not
forgive us and have mercy on us another
thing that guilt tells you that it has
to that relate with the mercy and forgiveness
of Allah forgive yourselves forgive yourselves for us
to be able to move on understand that
He is forgiving understand that He will let
it go provided you're ready to make up
for it you understand that you can change
لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ we will be among the
losers أَوْ لَهْبِطُوا بَعْبُكُمْ لِبَعْبٍ أَدُوبٍ أَوْ لَهْبِطُوا
بَعْبُكُمْ لِبَعْبٍ أَدُوبٍ Allah said get down on
earth you are enemies to one another conflict
is now inevitable you have these instinctive animosities
the more you recognize your own vulnerabilities your
own limitations the more you're going to try
to eradicate those limitations by amassing, by getting
this, by getting that by having an unlimited
supply of this and so naturally means taking
away from others why can't I have what
he has or what she has that puts
them at so much of an advantage if
only I had it if I could climb
the ladder and be competitive there's this leg
pulling going on snatching like kids only we
learn to do it in much more civilized
fashions as we grow up بَعْبُكُمْ لِبَعْبٍ أَدُوبٍ
you're enemies to one another وَلَكُنْ فِي الْأَرْضِ
مُسْتَقَرٌ وَمَتَاءٌ إِلَى حِيمٍ on earth there will
be a place for you to live and
a provision for a certain time قَالَ فِيهَا
تَحْيَوْن قَالَ فِيهَا تَحْيَوْن you will live in
there وَفِيهَا تَمُوتُون and you will die in
there وَمِنْهَا تُخْرَجُون and from there you will
be brought forth from there you will be
brought forth again the desire for immortality immortality
when you look at whatever is promised in
paradise in the afterlife paradise is eternal life
is a superiority that far exceeds that of
angels that angels say salam to you and
a perfection in so many other ways but
it is to be earned through through traversing
the Sirap al-Mustaqim it is not to
be earned via any tree of knowledge of
eternity of eternal life of angelic life you
want perfection in knowledge you want perfection in
strength you want perfection in purity or spirituality
that supposed perfection is not gotten immediately without
effort the heights of spirituality the heights of
physical blessings the heights of physical pleasure the
heights of knowledge all of these are through
a process step by step in terms of
knowledge if you are going to grow you
are going to make mistakes and if you
don't have this attitude of tawbah رَبَّنَا وَلَمْنَا
أَنفُسَنَا وَإِلَّمْ تَقْفِلْنَا وَتَرْحَمْنَا لَنَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِينَ
for that you have to be open to
making those mistakes and then learning from them
and improving on them not having the attitude
of kibr when it comes to learning in
terms of growing having that humility to say
I was wrong what I've been holding on
to and practicing in accordance with was wrong
what I've been teaching was wrong what I've
been saying was wrong I admit, I see,
I recognize it wasn't working there's truth there
are ayat that tell me that there's more
to it than what I held on to
growth and continuously too with that that's intellectually
growing in terms of knowledge growing and then
physically the strength in terms of your health
in terms of the given everyday experience we
learn by making mistakes whatever it is of
a physical strength that we become good at
learning to ride a bicycle we learn by
making mistakes a lot of them getting hurt,
physical pain as a part of the process
of physical growth spiritual growth so much of
it marred with making mistakes sinning just like
any good teacher would know that the process
of learning and growing intellectually one of the
greatest obstacles in the path is if a
student is afraid to make mistakes just like
that all good spiritual mentors should know that
the process of spiritual growth for themselves and
whoever they're looking to mentor is marred with
human infallibility, weakness and proclivity to mistakes and
sinning that when we debar when we when
we demonize absolute demonization of sins we open
the doors to this pathological demonic guilt that
people when they inevitably inevitably fall in sin
they feel themselves to be so unforgivable so
unforgivable that they can't move on they can't
move on so many of the possibilities of
hypocrisy only open up when you're actually struggling
on the path which otherwise weren't there they
weren't there so many possibilities when the person
Surah Tawbah we're gonna read this when he
says that Ya Rasulullah I don't want to
go with you because there is fitna these
European women they're so attractive to me and
I can't go there lest I fall in
fitna fitna is true so much of the
fitna that the Quran criticizes the attitude of
the hypocrites that becomes a possibility because they
engage with Rasulullah ﷺ that if they had
not that demonic potential would not have opened
up and that's what is so beautiful about
Surah Tawbah there are so many so many
avenues to Tawbah so many not opening that
part up the maghfirah the rahmah of Allah
is being blocked off by this absolute stigmatization
of being human making mistakes spiritually speaking and
everything else that that paradise promises economic growth
there's gonna be a lot of wealth in
paradise and then there is a desire to
to be successful economically not just for personal
sustainability but for anything meaningful that you're looking
to do you have to have resources for
it and there's risk involved in all of
them in every investment that you're gonna make
you're gonna you have to risk loss you
have to risk losing out on the investment
that you've made on the time that you've
invested the only risk free guaranteed profit is
interest not allowed there is risk free investment
that shaitan promises in every dimension which always
backfires whether you speak of it spiritually, intellectually
physically it always backfires you have to take
risks you have to so this life that
you have to live فيها تحيون on this
earth in order to undergo the process on
the صراط المستقيم in order to finally culminate
in what the next passage is going to
be about attaining paradise and that خُلْد and
that قُرْب spiritually and everything else everything else
وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأُسْخَابِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَأُسْخَابِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ
قَدْ أَرْنَبْكْ and he will write long so
I hope after my very labored and convoluted
attempt at articulating of what What an
immense treasure trove these ayat are in how
they relate to what is very human about
us in all these different ways.
But moving right along, Ya Bani Adam, children
of Adam, قَدْ أَنزَلْنَا عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا We have
sent down to you a dress.
There is so much of these ayat that
in its literal meaning carries so much beauty,
so much meaning, such depth.
And then what it represents symbolically and how
the ayat are able to carry both of
those meanings together.
And how we see that coming in these
ayat that the story of Adam and Iblis,
of Adam, Hawwa and Iblis in this particular
narration, this particular place in the Quran, how
it brings out to us the element of
how their vulnerabilities become exposed to them, their
nakedness comes in front of them, how that
becomes a reason for human beings, for humanity,
and humanity was supposed to be on earth
to begin with, that's what the entire Sajdah
was, it was the subtext behind that Sajdah,
that was what the angels were already told,
that is what Shaytan is having this conversation
with Allah about, this warning that he's doing
about the Sirat al-Mustaqim, that wasn't going
to be that eternal paradise, it was going
to be, this was inevitable, this was going
to happen, it was, this life on earth
had to assume this form and it proceeds,
it progresses with human beings, taking that vulnerability,
embracing it quite literally, quite literally for the
progression of, for the progression of what it
means to be human, for what human community
is meant for, how indispensable that act of
sexuality is, the act of taking your own
vulnerabilities seriously, that there is, that they are
honored in a, in a reasonable, sacred relationship,
in their appropriate time and place, and when
that's, when that's stripped away, when that is
taken away, it's, you're just publicly naked, then
so much of what it means to be
human is lost, so much of what is
beautiful about humanity is lost, فَدَنْذَلْنَ عَلَيْكُمْ لِبَاسًا
We have sent down to you clothes, dress,
يُوَارِي ثَوَّاتِكُمْ One of the functions that clothes
perform is to cover your nakedness, to cover
your vulnerabilities.
Everyone knows what clothes hide, everyone knows that,
yet the interaction between human beings and community
is to happen behind these indispensable covers,
so that there is so much of the
other person that you respect, that you do
not bring in conversation, that you do not,
that you don't allude to, that, that is
not out there for everyone to see, it's
hidden, it is covered, it is hidden and
covered not forever, it is hidden and covered
not from everyone, but in appropriate places it
is unveiled, in appropriate settings it is required
to be unveiled, and that's the beauty in
it, that is what allows for the human
society to flourish, to develop, to grow, that
beautiful relationships, special relationships, marital relationships become
special because of this gift of Allah, and
so all the more reason to protect it,
all the more reason to hide it, but
hide it in what way?
Warisha, the way that one of the other
functions that clothes perform in addition to hiding
is beautification, is adornment, it is enamoring, there
is an aesthetic to it, how the sexual
is hidden, but what is beautiful is maintained,
right, and how this distinction serves for so
much of what human community or human society
stands out to be, and then that's not
all of what libas does, so again the
symbolic of the entire narration comes in front
of us as well, that there is a
libas of taqwa, again what does taqwa do?
That in a spiritual context it hides your
weaknesses, it hides your vulnerabilities, but also brings
you out beautifully, it allows, it's something that
you identify yourselves with, the way you identify
yourselves with clothes, it presents you with a
dignity, with an honor, respectable, every single human
being, taqwa is the way that we carry
ourselves despite all our weaknesses, again that's there,
everyone knows that we're weak, that we have
within us an evil potential that we may
have acted out on as well at some
point in time, in some way or the
other, but then how taqwa requires of us
to present the most beautiful part of ourselves
in the best way possible, that this discipline,
this recognition of Allah, this relationship with Allah,
this relationship with our own selves, and the
way we act in society in a way
very different from how we would be by
ourselves, just like with clothes, and then there
is that which is dignified within a social
setting, which would not be appropriate, which would
not even be practical when you're by yourselves,
and then there's layers that you can shed
off, which is perfectly fine, and how you
start identifying and developing as a human being
through this alternating of context, different situations require
different demeanor from you, different conduct from you,
different activities, what is appropriate in one is
not appropriate in the other, the choice of
human beings, what is going to be growth
promoting, what does Allah want from me in
different situations, it becomes a dynamic relationship and
taqwa allows for this beauty of human conduct
to manifest itself.
ذَلِكَ مِنْ آيَاتِ اللَّهِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ This is
one of the ayat of Allah, so that
they are reminded, clothes being ayat of Allah,
libas being ayat of Allah, يَا بَنِ آدَمْ
لَا يَفْتِنَنَّكُمْ الشَّيْطَانَ Children of Adam, do not
let shaitan tempt you.
كَمَا أَخْرَجَ أَبَوَيْكُمْ مِنَ الْجَنَّةِ The process through
which he got your parents expelled from paradise,
from jannah, يَنْذِعْ عَنْهُمَا لِبَاسَهُمَا Stripping them off
of their clothes, taking that away from them.
لِيُرِيَهُمَا ثَوْتَاتِهِمَا In order to show them each
other's nakedness.
إِنَّهُ يَرَاكُمْ هُوَ وَقَبِيلُهُ For sure, he watches
you, him and his tribe.
مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا تَرَوْنَهُمْ From where you do
not see them.
إِنَّا جَعَلْنَا الشَّيَاطِينَ أَوْلِيَاءَ لِلَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ And
we have made the devils, the shayateen, friends
of those who do not believe.
That a refusal to believe, how it corresponds
with kibr and how kibr corresponds with shaytan
and how a refusal to ilm, to ayat
of Allah, an insistence upon kibr opens one
up to just living off of instincts.
And living that immediate gratification life.
Pretty much everything is open game then.
No holds bar.
What morality?
What do's and don'ts?
What clothes?
What does it matter?
Anything goes.
You wear whatever you want to.
You don't want to.
Whatever it is, just all open.
وَإِذَا فَعَلُوا فَاحِشَةً So whenever they practice immodesty,
it's instinctive, right?
Whenever they do, they say وَجَدْنَا عَلَيْهَا أَعْبَانًا
We found our forefathers doing it.
It's the natural way of being.
It's the natural way of being.
So they would actually literally worship Allah, they
would do tawaf around the Ka'bah naked
and justify it as وَاللَّهُ أَمَرْنَا بِهَا Allah
Himself has commanded us to do it.
Because if it was not allowed, He wouldn't
have let us do it.
Now this would find manifestation today, they would
not use the word Allah, they would say
it's natural.
It's just what it is, except what is
natural.
وَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَأْمُرُ بِالْفَحْشَةِ Allah does not
command obscenity.
فَحْشَة This sexualization of society where you do
not see anything about the human being other
than their than them being sexual.
And that is what nakedness does.
That is what nakedness leads you to believe.
That it's that the human being is a
sexual being and all of what human activities
are supposed to be are supposed to be
around sexuality.
It's the sexualization of society that taqwa wants
you to understand that no human beings are
so much more than that so much other
than that.
Such that when human beings recognize themselves to
be more than that and other than that,
then even sexuality is honored in its place
where it's supposed to be.
Allah does not command fahsha.
What is fahsha is when that is carried
out of its appropriate place and pretty much
everywhere.
That's fahsha.
That's immodesty.
هَتَّقُولُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ Do you
say about Allah what you do not know?
Whatever this is that you've done in the
name of being natural or letting people live
or freedom or whatever where does this come
from?
What ayat of Allah what sanction do you
have for it?
What justification do you have for it?
And what it has done to the world
what it has done to the institution of
family what it has done to the sanctity
of the husband wife relationship of the upbringing
of children does that not speak for anything?
Does that not say anything about how it
doesn't work?
How so much of humanity is deprived of
its higher potential for work, for growth for
development for empowerment whatever as a result of
being overly sexualized that obsession takes away so
much of people's time, energy potential that there
is little left for the other aspects of
what humanity needs so desperately مَا تَقُولُونَ عَلَى
اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ قُلْ أَمَرَ رَبِّ بِالْقِسْطِ
My Rabb commands justice either way, no extremes
there is no monasticism and there is no
anything goes everything is okay, do whatever the
* you want regardless of the impact that
that's having on the society which is undeniable
وَأَقِيمُوا وُجُوهَكُمْ عِندَ كُلِّ مَسْجِدٍ So set your
faces in the right direction at the time
of every prayer وَدْعُوهُ and call on Him,
on Allah مُخْلِصِّينَ لَهُ الدِّينِ Devoting to Him
purely your entire being your entire conduct, your
way of life كَمَا بَدَأَكُمْ تَعُودُونَ As He
brought you to being so would you return
back to Him فَرِيقًا هَدَى وَفَرِيقًا حَقَّ عَلَيْهِمُ
الْبَلَالَ A group He guided while the other
group deserved to be misled إِنَّهُمُ اتَّخَذُوا الشَّيَاطِينَ
إِنَّهُمُ اتَّخَذُوا الشَّيَاطِينَ أَوْلِيَةً These are the ones
who took shayateen as their friends, the devil
as their friends, so all of those demonic
experiences that everyone has they could never get
out of they just went further down the
demonic ways one experience that said that became
their state and that's there is no coming
back from that there is no effort to
get out of that there is just rationalization
and committing to this is what it is
and this is what it should be and
there is nothing else that needs to be
and so Allah says they deserve to be
misguided من دون الله other than Allah, they
had an option see, demonic experiences they are
they're very black and white, they demand the
exclusion of the divine they demand the exclusion
of Allah Allah's promise or Allah's process or
a divine experience allows for you to bring
in even the demonic of your past even
the instinctive which the demons are going to
play on within your human person and just
places it in in the right place, in
the right time, enamors it, beautifies it that's
the difference how Triton rebelled against Allah and
said I'm going to sit on your path,
I'm going to take people away from you
Allah says by all means do that you
want to exclude me from your plan I'm
just going to make you a part of
my bigger plan and if there's people that
you waylay and mislead by all means take
them, they're yours but then those who despite
you come out on the Sirat al-Mustaqeem
they're stronger for that reason they're closer to
me for that reason so there is space
for the demonic and the divine and we
see it so beautifully manifest itself in the
story of Yusuf Alayhi Salaam but there is
no space for the divine and the demonic
there is no room for it, it demands
an exclusion the demon wants or what this
demonic in your head wants to cut you
off first from the divine and then everything
else and then from yourself and then forsakes
you that is essentially what the demonic way
looks like, cut off from the divine, cut
off from everyone else, cut off even from
yourself and then bye bye I have nothing
to do with you you're in this on
your own you brought this on yourself that's
so much of what isolation looks like and
they think they're rightly guided they think what
they're doing is good they think what they're
doing is actually liberating people children of Adam
put on your clothes and again the way
the clothes are represented, put on that which
beautifies you put on that that adorns you
mere places or times of prayer وَقُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا
وَلَا تُصْرِفُوا eat and drink but don't be
again the beauty with which it is brought
out that a typical standard demonic spirituality looks
at prayer as having nothing to do with
beauty and having nothing to do with dress
or if anything then dressing is to cover
and you know veil Allah describes clothes as
adornment as beauty and brings it together in
the process of prayer the act of prayer
made more beautiful if you make yourself for
it more beautiful in the appropriate manner not
sexual but beautiful وَقُلُوا وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُصْرِفُوا وَقُلُوا
وَاشْرَبُوا وَلَا تُصْرِفُوا eat and drink and do
not be extravagant again a demonic spirituality eating
and drinking that's carnal, that's animal, restricted the
little, the less no that's not what spirituality
is, go ahead do it, live but not
to extremes, do not let that be what
defines you what all of what you do
is about إِنَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ الْمُسْرِفِينَ Allah does
not like those who are extravagant وَالْمَنْ حَرَّمَ
الزِّينَةَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي أَخْرَجَ لِعِبَادِهِ وَالطَّيِّبَاتِ مِنَ الرِّسْلِ
say who has forbidden the adornments of Allah
which He has produced for His Ibad and
the pure things from provision, since when did
this become a manifestation of spirituality that you
that you're ugly that you're the roughness of
your clothes are a sign of your closeness
to Allah that doesn't, how does that make
sense وَالْهِيَ لِلَّذِينَ آمْرُوا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا These
are for the people who believe in the
life of this world and exclusively for them
on the day of judgment the desire this
aesthetic sense within the human beings is real,
it's human, it's God's gift it's Allah's ayat
so much so that He allows it in
its appropriate context, in its appropriate place within
the life of this world, so much so
exclusively for them on the day of judgment
it is not something that is anti-divine
what makes it anti-divine is when it
crosses boundaries when it becomes excessive when it
becomes sexual when it becomes at the cost
of your other responsibilities at the cost of
of what you're supposed to do for society
when it's in place, it's beautiful that's what
it's supposed to be it's in harmony with
everything else about you as an individual and
the needs of the community in general كَذَلِكَ
نُفَصِلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمِي يَعْلَمُونَ كَذَلِكَ نُفَصِلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمِي
يَعْلَمُونَ Thus we explain the ayat for the
people of ilm, قُلْ إِنَّمَا حَرَّمَ رَبِّي الْفَوَاخِشِ
My Rabb has forbidden all types of immorality
مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطًا whether open or
secret whether openly sexual or sexually
driven but apparently something else whether done in
the open publicly or done secretly but illicitly
وَالْإِثْمَ وَالْبَقْيَ بِغَيْرِ الْحَقِّ and sin and undue
transgression وَأَن تُشْرِكُوا بِاللَّهِ مَا لَمْ يُنَزِلْ بِهِ
صُلْفَانًا and that you associate partners with Allah
for which He has not revealed any authority
وَأَن تَقُولُ وَلَا اللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلُونَ and
that you say against Allah what you do
not know وَلَكِلِّ وَلِكُلِّ أُمَّةٍ أَجَلُ for every
community there is a specified term so just
like for every human being there is a
specified term of death for every community for
every ummah there is a specified time as
well فَإِذَا جَأَ أَجَلُهُمْ so when their term
approaches, when their time comes لَا يَسْتَأْخِرُونَ سَعْتًا
وَلَا يَسْتَقْدِمُونَ nor can they hasten it يَا
بَنِ آدَمَ إِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْكُمْ children of
Adam whenever messengers from within you come to
you يَقُصُونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِ relating to you my
ayaat فَمَنِ اتَّقَى وَأَصْلَحَ so whoever attains تقوى
and reforms فَلاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
so there will be no khawf, no fear
on them and no huzn so there's so
much that you try to alleviate of khawf
and huzn without taqwa, without scripture, without spirituality,
and it's only temporary and transient what those
indulgences are going to bring you.
But bring in what is prophetic, take on
what is spiritual, and then see what level
your growth, your emotional growth, your emotional maturity,
it attains.
والذين كذبوا بآياتنا And those who deny our
ayaat واستكبروا عنها and are arrogant towards them.
أولئك أصحابنا Such are the companions of the
Elphi.
Again, reiterating the demonic attitude, reliving the demonic
attitude of istikbar in front of the ayaat
of Allah.
هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ They will live therein forever.
فَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّنْ اِفْتَرَىٰ عَلَىٰ اللَّهِ كَذِّبًا وَكَذِّبَ
بِآيَاتِهِ So who is more unjust than one
who invents lies against Allah or denies His
ayaat?
One way or the other, you're either fabricating
truth when there is no sanction for it,
you're saying it's true when it's not, there
is no standard that it conforms to, that
it's true in accordance with, or there is
truth, and it is, to be accepted.
It fulfills the standards laid out, but you
reject it.
It's one of the same thing.
Calling falsehood truth or calling truth falsehood, it
has the same effects.
وَلَيْكَ يَنَالُهُ النَّصِيبُهُ مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ Such people will
get their share decreed for them, written for
them, from the Book, in the sense of
what's coming to them.
So what's coming to them, there's both possibilities,
damnation, punishment, or bliss, paradise, good, growth, Allah's
blessing, more and more.
But if you resort to the injustice of
fabricating truth or rejecting truth, either way, you
then the portion that you've signed up for,
from the Book, the possibilities for each human
being, the Kitab, what has been written for
them, is a spectrum of possibilities, extending all
the way from paradise all the way towards
*.
What your attitude towards truth is going to
be is going to determine from your range
of possibilities, which direction you're going in.
وَلَيْكَ يَنَالُهُ النَّصِيبُهُ مِّنَ الْكِتَابِ These are the
people who will get their share of what's
coming to them from the Book, from what
was decreed for them.
حَتَّى إِذَا جَاءَتْهُمْ رُسُولُنَا يَتَوَفَّونَهُمْ Until our messengers
from angels will reach them to capture them
in death, قَالُوا أَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْ تَدْعُونُوا مِنْ
دُونِ اللَّهِ Then they will say, who are
those, where are those whom you used to
call on other than Allah.
قَالُوا ظَلُّوا عَنَّا جَلْتَ لَيْفْتِفْتِفْتَعُونَ They deserted us,
they deserted us, again, very demonic, letting you
go, the strong promises of a demonic experience
that this is it, all I need, nothing
else, once I get it, I'm good forever.
And then, when you get it and you've
done the deed, and you're sitting there wondering
what just happened, and you're all alone, everything's
gone, on the day of judgment, like they're
gone, all that we banked on, all that
we relied on, all the shayateen.
They deserted us, وَشَهِدُوا عَلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ أَنَّهُمْ كَانُوا
كَافِرِينَ And then they will testify against their
own selves that they were disbelievers.
قَالُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي أُمَمٍ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِكُمْ
مِنَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ فِي النَّارِ Allah will say,
enter into the fire among the groups of
jinn and human beings who passed before you.
كلما دخلت أمة اللعنة أختها Each time when
a group will enter, it will curse its
sister.
حتى إذا الداركوا فيها جميعاً جِلْ All of
them will be in there together, one after
the other.
قَالَتْ أُخْرَاهُمْ لِأُولَٰهُمْ The last of them will
say to the first of them, رَبَّنَا أَهَا
أُولَٰئِي أَضَلُّونَ Our Lord, these are the ones,
they misled us.
They invented the sin.
It all comes from them.
It was their legacy.
They opened those possibilities up.
We didn't even know that this stuff could
be done.
He's only innocent.
فَآتِمْ عَذَابًا ضِعْفًا مِنَ النَّارِ So give them
double the punishment.
قَالَ اللَّهُ وَسَيْلِكُ كُلِّ الْضِعْفُ وَلَاكِلْ لَا تَعْلَمُ
Each of you will get double, but you
don't know.
Again, this demonic.
Allah put it on Shaytan.
Shaytan makes human beings put it on each
other.
And that even manifests itself within the hellfire.
It's their fault.
They brought us here.
وَقَالَتُ لَهُمْ لِأُخْرَاهُمْ The first of them will
say to the last of them, فَمَا كَانَ
لِكُمْ عَلَيْنَا مِنْ فَضْلٍ You're no way better
than us.
What are you blabbering at us about?
You think you're any better?
فَذُوقُوا الْعَذَابَ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَكْسِبُونَ Taste the punishment
of what you used to earn.
You did it of your own free will.
Stop blaming us.
You did exactly what we did or even
worse.
Don't put it on us.
وآخر دعواناً الحمد لله رب العالمين