Yousuf Raza – Ramadan Nights 2021 Day 23
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AI: Transcript ©
The Prophet ﷺ is not only allowed to
just struggle on his own with the true
believers, they actually develop this resentment towards him
and the Sahaba for any loss that they
suffer.
And so we saw various manifestations, expressions of
that hypocrisy.
Again, that hypocrisy being a tendency that all
of us carry and express to different levels,
pretty much begins with a preferring of a
comfort zone over looking to struggle.
In whatever way, in our own individual lives
and unique capacities, we're required to suffer.
وَجَالَ الْمُعَذِّرُونَ مِنَ الْأَعْرَابِ So those with excuses
from the Bedouin Arabs will also come requesting
لِيُؤْذَنَ لَهُمْ that you grant them an exemption
وَقَعَدَ الَّذِينَ كَذَبُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ And those who
lie to Allah and His Messenger, that behind
سَيُصِيبُوا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ And soon,
a painful punishment will strike those of them
who disbelieved.
لَيْسَ عَلَى الضُّعَفَئِ وَلَا عَلَى الْمَرْضَى Neither on
the weak nor on the sick وَلَا عَلَى
الَّذِينَ لَا يَجِدُونَ مَا يُنفِقُونَ حَرَجٍ Nor is
there any blame on those who don't find
anything to spend if they stay behind.
So this is not a blanket law or
an ordinance that applies to everyone indiscriminately.
Whether you can or cannot manage to do
it, if it's physically impossible, and some of
them would be, it would be physically impossible
for them to undertake that journey.
Either their physical health doesn't allow it genuinely,
or they really don't have the resources to
go.
Neither does Rasulullah ﷺ have the resources to
finance, to support them in the bare minimum.
So this inability is completely accommodated.
It's not something that if you don't do
it, doesn't matter, you're out.
You're a hypocrite.
No, Allah ﷻ is far more accepting and
He is far more ghafoor and raheem to
be that rigid.
وَلَا عَلَى الَّذِينَ إِذَا مَا أَدْسَوْكَ لِتَحْمِلَهُمْ And
there is no way, in no way any
blame on those who come to you that
you may provide them a ride.
قُلْتَ لَا أَجِدُ مَا أَحْمِلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ And you
reply to them, I don't have anything for
you to ride on.
تَوَلَّوا وَأَعْيُنُهُمْ تَفِيضُوا مِنَ الدَّمْعِ حَزَنًا And they
turn back, their eyes streaming with tears of
grief.
أَلَّا يَجِدُوا مَا يُنْفِقُونَ That they don't have
the resources to spend to come with you.
إِنَّمَا السَّبِيلُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ يَسْتَأْذِنُوكَ وَهُمْ أَغْنِيَا But
definitely those, they are blameworthy, those who ask
you for an exemption and they had the
resources.
They could have purchased whatever it was necessary
and spent whatever it was necessary to come
with Rasulullah ﷺ.
This sharp contrast between these two kinds of
people, one of whom is desperate to go,
but can't afford and is grief stricken for
not having the resources, for not being able
to accompany Rasulullah ﷺ to the point that
they're crying.
And then there is that person who can
go, as we said, that it is typically
the more resourceful that are prone to express
this hypocritical tendency.
رَغُوا بِأَن يَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّوَالِ If they're content,
they're perfectly satisfied to remain behind with those
who remain behind.
وَطَبَعَ اللَّهُ عَلَى قُلُوبِهِنَ So Allah sealed their
hearts.
فَهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ And they have no idea.
This sealing of the heart that comes from
Allah is a very internal or a very
spiritual manifestation of His عذاب.
That there is no possibility of understanding or
turning around.
يَعْتَذِرُونَ إِلَيْكُمْ إِذَا رَجَعْتُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ When you return
to them, they will put up excuses before
you.
قُلْ لَا تَعْتَذُرُ Tell them, do not put
up any excuses.
لَن نُؤْمِنَ لَكُمْ We are not going to
believe you.
قَدْ نَبَّأَنَا اللَّهُ مِنْ أَخْبَارِكُمْ Allah has already
told us about your state of affair.
وَسَيِّرَ اللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُمْ And
then you will be returned to the one
who knows the unseen and the seen.
Whatever your excuses, whatever it is that you're
putting up, Allah knows.
فَيُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا كُنْتُمْ تَعَلُمَنَا So He will tell
you about what you were doing.
Exactly what was behind that عَمَل in terms
of the circumstances and intentions.
And you're not going.
فَيَحْلِفُونَ بِاللَّهِ لَكُمْ إِذَا نْقَلَبْتُمْ إِلَيْهِمْ They will
swear by Allah before you when you return
to them.
إِذْ تُعْرِضُوا عَنْهُمْ So that you leave them
alone.
فَأَعْرِضُوا عَنْهُمْ So leave them alone.
إِنَّهُمْ رِجْزٌ They are filth.
Again, all the opportunities in Surah Tawbah is
giving, providing, alluding to for people to clean
up that filth.
For us to turn towards Allah with all
our deficiencies and shortcomings and have an opportunity
to grow, to become more and more beautiful.
Yet a refusal to take those opportunities, just
turning away from them, is in a way
amassing more and more filth.
Which manifests itself spiritually as the deadening of
the heart, as a sealing of the heart.
And then in the state of affairs that
we see in which there is a complete
refusal to struggle in any way, shape, or
form.
إِنَّهُمْ رِجْزٌ وَمَأْوَاهُمْ جَهَنَّمٌ And their refuge is
the hellfire.
جَزَاءً بِمَا تَانُوا يَكْسِبُونَ That is a reward
for what they earned, for what they did
of deeds.
يَحْلِفُونَ لَكُمْ لِلتَّرُّضَ وَأَنْهُمْ So they will swear
to you so that you are pleased with
them, so you are okay with them.
فَإِنْ تَرُضَوْا أَنْهُمْ Even if you are pleased
with them.
فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَرْضَ عَنِ الْقَوْمِ الْفَاسِكِينَ Allah
is not going to be pleased with the
defiantly disobedient people.
الْأَعْرَابُ أَشَّدُّ كُفْرًا وَنِفَاقًا The Bedouins are stronger
in disbelief and hypocrisy.
وَأَجْدَرُ أَلَّا يَعْلَمُ حُدُودَ مَا أَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَىٰ
رَسُولِهِ And they are more likely to be
ignorant of the limits which Allah has revealed
to His Messenger.
وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ And Allah is Knowing and
Wise.
Who are the Bedouins?
These are the desert dwellers.
They are not from Medina.
They are not from Mecca.
They have not had the opportunity to study
with Rasulullah ﷺ to be exposed to the
Qur'an as those in the vicinity of
Rasulullah ﷺ.
So it is that knowledge of Qur'an,
that proximity with Rasulullah ﷺ, and the Sahaba,
those more learned of what has been revealed
over 23 years.
They are more likely to understand the hudud
of Allah.
They are more likely to understand the ayat
of Allah.
And inability to have that, to not have
that relationship or that exposure to the ayat
of Allah, necessarily means, what does it mean
to be a kafir?
What constitutes kufr after having submitted, after having
accepted Islam?
What does it mean?
They are unaware.
They entered into Islam as fives.
Everyone was doing it.
Rasulullah ﷺ was, he was victorious.
And so their entry into Islam was not
accompanied by the necessary reflection.
It wasn't accompanied by that commitment and dedication
to give, to sacrifice, to struggle.
It may actually have been the exact opposite.
So that they don't have to give or
struggle or sacrifice.
Because now that they're entering into Islam, after
having made this, after having been given the
ultimatum that you either accept or you leave
Arabia, it was a shrewd choice to just
accept.
To see the victory of Rasulullah ﷺ, who
doesn't want to side with the victor?
And so they have accepted.
But this acceptance wasn't the acceptance, say, of
the people of Mecca or even the people
of early Medina.
It wasn't, it was a completely different story.
And which is fine.
Their Islam is completely acceptable.
They are ikhwanukum fid-din.
They're still your brothers, equal, as far as
rights are concerned.
But then there has to be progress that
is made with respect to their understanding of
the ayaat of Allah.
So this possibility of kufr and nifaq, which
is associated with an ignorance of the ayaat
of Allah.
There is something that you can do about
it.
There is something that can be practically done
to ensure that that tendency for kufr and
hypocrisy does not express itself.
وَمِنَ الْأَعْرَابِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مَا يُنفِقُ مَغْرَمًا And
so some of the desert Arabs take what
they spend in the cause of Allah as
a loss.
وَيَتَرَبَّسُ بِكُمُ الدَّوَائِرِ And they wait for a
misfortune to encircle.
They're waiting for the death of Rasulullah.
For them, it is so heavy that they
have to make this commitment.
They didn't have to do it before.
And now that they have to do it,
they're not okay with it.
And so for them, what they're most intent
upon is let this person just pass away.
And then we'll show.
And all the problems that Abu Bakr had
after Rasulullah passed away was precisely from this
group of Bedouins who did not accept his
authority, who chose to rebel.
عليهم دائرة السوء Upon them is a misfortune
of evil.
وَاللَّهُ سَمِعٌ عَلِيمٌ Allah is hearing and knowing.
وَمِنَ الْأَعْرَابِ مَن يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ But
that's, you cannot categorize all of them.
All the Bedouins, just because of their distance
from Mecca and Medina, you can't paint them
all with the same brush.
Of them are those who really genuinely believe
in Allah and the Day of Judgment.
وَيَتَّخِذُ مَا يُنفِقُ قُرُبَاتٍ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ And they
take their spending as a means to getting
close to Allah.
Again, those who choose not to spend, they
amass that rigs, that filth upon themselves.
And those who are spending willingly are getting
closer and closer to Allah.
وَسَلَوَاتِ الرَّسُولِ And to win the prayer from
the Prophet ﷺ.
Their intent from spending is to become worthy
of the salawat of Rasulullah ﷺ.
Rasulullah ﷺ has made all of these duas
for believing people, for his ummah.
That your efforts to get closer to Allah
and your efforts of nusrah of Rasulullah ﷺ
and Allah would lead for you to earn
those duas.
Lead for you to become worthy of those
duas.
أَلَا إِنَّهَا قُرُبَةٌ لَّهُمْ And for sure, the
closeness will be theirs.
سَيُدْخِلُهُمُ اللَّهُ فِي رَحْمَتِهِ Allah will admit them
to His mercy.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ For sure, Allah is
extremely forgiving, always merciful.
وَاسْتَابِقُونَ الْأَوَّلُونَ مِنَ الْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنْصَارِ And for sure,
the forerunners, the pioneers of the immigrants or
the helpers, the muhajireen and the ansar.
وَالَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُمْ بِإِحْسَانٍ And those who followed them
with excellence.
So there is a degree of stratification with
respect to the status that they have with
Rasulullah ﷺ for having accepted him when nobody
accepted him.
For having helped him when nobody was willing
to help him.
So this acceptance, this help necessarily grants the
people of muhajireen and ansar a status, a
privilege that nobody else can come close to
given that they haven't done for Rasulullah ﷺ
what muhajireen and ansar have.
Nevertheless, following in the footsteps of the muhajireen
and ansar in the most beautiful way with
ihsan does open up possibilities of similar reward.
رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُمْ And Allah is
pleased with them and they are pleased with
him.
So as far as their conduct is concerned
in this world, it is reflective of the
state of mutual pleasure that they are in
with Allah.
As far as these people are concerned, their
pleasure with Allah and Allah's pleasure with them
is a state of being, is who they've
become as people.
وَأَعَدَّ لَهُمْ جَنَّاتٍ تَجْرِي تَحْتَهَا الْأَنْهَاءُ And He
has prepared for them gardens beneath which rivers
flow خَالَدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدَىٰ تَلِفْتَرِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدَىٰ ذَلِكِ
الْفَوَزُ الْعَظِيمُ That is the supreme triumph.
وَمِمَّنْ حَوْلَكُمْ مِنَ الْأَعْرَابِ مُنَافِقُونَ And some of
the Bedouins around you are hypocrites.
وَمِنْ أَهْلِ الْمَدِينَ As well as people of
Medina.
So even though the statistical tendency within the
Bedouins to be hypocritical is greater, that doesn't
mean that all of who are hypocrites are
and what they stand for is in the
Bedouins.
No, it is, there's people of Medina who
are very strong hypocrites as well.
مَرَدُوا عَلَىٰ النِّفَاقِ They persist in hypocrisy.
لَا تَعْلَمُهُمْ نَحْنُ نَعْلَمُهُمْ You don't know them,
we know them.
تَنُعَذِّبُهُمْ مَرْضَتَيْنَ We will punish them again and
again.
ثُمَ يُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ And then they
will be returned to a very tremendous punishment.
وَآخَرُونَ اَعْتَرَفُوا بِذُنُوبِهِمْ And the others who have
acknowledged their sins, as long as there is
acknowledgement, as long as there is effort, as
long as there is guilt, and the guilt
is being practically translated in some form of
practical means of making amends, that is a
safe place to be in.
That is a safe place to be in.
Regardless of how egregious the crime was, if
there is genuine guilt and a genuine expression
of making up for it, there is hope.
There is hope that all is not lost.
There is hope that hypocrisy hasn't gone or
hasn't become incurable.
It is a disease, and like all diseases,
it progresses.
And one of the stages of progression is
such that once you cross that line, there
is no coming back.
There is no coming back.
That's the ceiling of the heart.
So how do you ensure that it doesn't
get to that point?
Spending, struggling, continuously trying.
فَلَطُوا عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَآخَرَ سَيِّئًا They have a
mixed bag of deeds, good and bad.
They have it mixed up.
عَسَى اللَّهُ أَن يَتُوبُ عَلِهِ It is quite
possible that Allah will turn to them, accepting
them.
Allah will turn to them in acceptance.
They will turn to their...
They are in what they're doing, in acknowledging
their dhunub and trying with the صَالِحًا عَمَالًا
Even though those صالح عمال are mixed up
with the آخَرَ سَيِّئًا, the other bad عمال,
they're still trying to make up.
And this, Allah says, is a good direction
to be working in.
And overall, it says that you're you're probably
going to be accepted by Allah.
إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ Most definitely, Allah is
extremely forgiving and always merciful.
خُذْ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ صَدَقًا Except from their wealth,
their contributions, their صَدَقَات.
تَطَهِّرُهُمْ وَتُزَكِّيهِمْ بِهَا To cleanse and purify them
through it.
وَصَلِّ عَلَيْهِمْ And pray for them.
إِنَّ صَلَاتَكَ تَكَنُّ لَهُمْ Your prayer for them
is a source of peace.
It's something that brings them this سُكون.
وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ And Allah is all-hearing,
knowing.
أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهُ وَيَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةُ عَنْ عِبَادِهِ
Don't they know that it is Allah who
accepts repentance from His عباد وَيَأْخُذُ الصَّدَقَاتِ And
He accepts charities from them.
وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ اتَّوَّى بُالرَّحِيمِ And Allah is
the only one who is Relenting, extremely accepting.
Turning to people in ways that are persistent.
He's always turning towards people to accept them.
Merciful.
Always merciful.
وَقُلْ اِعْمَلُوا فَسَيَرَ اللَّهُ عَمَلَكُمْ وَرَسُولُهُ وَالْمُؤْمِنُونَ So
tell them, act.
Allah and His Messenger Will observe And the
believers will observe your performance, your conduct.
وَسَتُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَلِيمِ الْغَيْبِ وَالشَّهَدَةِ And soon you
will be brought to the knower of the
unseen and the seen.
فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنْتُمْ زَعْمَلُونَ And He will inform
you of what you have been doing.
So particularly in the context of the expedition
of Tabuk, There were a few sahaba, Abu
Lubaba radiyallahu ta'ala anhu being one of
them, Who upon the return of Rasulullah ﷺ
was so remorseful That he couldn't join.
He was, His procrastination Was such that He
wanted to join but then he put it
off, He put it off to the point
that it became Rasulullah ﷺ And the army
was too far away for him to join.
He was so remorseful upon the return that
he would, He tied himself up to a
pillar In Masjid al-Nabawi And he would
refuse To let up, to go from there
Until Rasulullah ﷺ Told him that his Repentance
was accepted.
And it was with the revelation of these
ayat That he is told you can get
down now Allah has accepted Allah has Turned
to you in acceptance And Rasulullah ﷺ is
told Accept their charities, their efforts, pray for
them Let them, do not bracket them with
the rest of the hypocrites.
أَلَمْ يَعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ يَقْبَلُ التَّوْبَةُ عَنْ
إِبَادِهِ وَيَأْخُذَ السَّدَقَاتِ And don't they know Now
we already did this وَسَتُرَدُّونَ إِلَىٰ عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ
وَالشَّهَادَ فَيُنَبِّئُكُم مِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ وَآخَرُونَ مُرْجَوْنَ
لِأَمْرِ اللَّهِ And then there are others whose
cases are deferred until the judgment of Allah
Another group of people Ka'ab ibn Malik
being one of them رضي الله تعالى عنه
And his hadith is the longest hadith in
Bukhari In Sahih Bukhari as to what his
situation was Again, he procrastinated to the point
of not being able to join Rasulullah ﷺ
And when Rasulullah called certain people out as
asking them, why didn't you come?
Most of them were hypocrites and they came
and they gave Rasulullah all kinds of excuses
When he came, he didn't give any excuse
He said, this was the healthiest I've ever
been This is the wealthiest I've ever been
I could have come, but I didn't I
don't have any excuse I should have, but
I just didn't And so what followed the
revelation of these ayat is their case is
deferred What is to become of them?
So deferred judgment on their case إِمَّا يُعَذِّبُهُمْ
وَإِمَّا يَتُوبُوا عَلَيْهِمْ And he will either punish
them or he will accept them He will
يَتُوب again دَتَّوَّابْ دَتَّوْبَ يَتُوب These words have
repeated so many times in this surah He
might accept them and accept their repentance Turn
towards them وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ
And Allah is Knowing, Wise And we've said
this before, but it's well worth repeating The
tawbah is a mutual act A human being
does tawbah And that is turning towards Allah
In repentance, in asking for His forgiveness When
Allah turns towards the human being In acceptance
In the idea of tawbah being Allah and
the person, the human being come closer They
come closer together وَالَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مَسْجِدًا بِرَاءً And
those who built a mosque to cause harm
وَكُفْرًا And to practice disbelief وَتَقْرِيقًا بَيْنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
And to cause dissension between the believers وَإِرْصَادًا
لِّمَنْ حَارَبَ اللَّهُ وَرَسُولَهُ مِنْ قَبْلٍ And as
a station for those who warred against Allah
and His Messenger before وَلَيَحْلِفَنَّ إِنْ أَرَضْنَا إِلَّا
الْحُسْنَةَ And they will swear to you that
they intend nothing but good Like we intend
nothing but good This is a masjid, we
want to pray So Abu Aamir Rahib was
one of the leading people of Medina So
there was Abdullah bin Ubayy, he was a
leader He was a leader in terms of
political authority Abu Aamir Rahib was a leader
in terms of spiritual authority Prior to the
coming of Rasulullah ﷺ, he was recognized as
He was celebrated as one of the more
righteous people He was looked up to People
would give him that respect He had that
reverence that was accorded to him And with
the coming of Rasulullah ﷺ, both these individuals
were dethroned That position of leadership that they
had, uncontested pretty much Was taken away from
them Both political and spiritual authority That reverence,
that respect was now accorded to Rasulullah ﷺ
And they just couldn't accept it They could
never wrap their heads around it And so
from the very beginning of their time in
Medina Their acceptance of Rasulullah ﷺ was very
unwilling Of course Abdullah bin Ubayy went further
ahead In attaining closeness to Rasulullah ﷺ And
creating more and more difficulties from that place
Abu Aamir Rahib, his modus operandi was different
He would be the leader of these people
who have made this masjid And their claim
was, Masjid al-Nabawi is too far away
We can't make it there And so we
miss the salah And we want to pray
in congregation for the reward of the congregational
prayer So therefore, the good, the husna of
congregational prayer Is the sole intent behind this
masjid Even though there was Masjid Quba pretty
close by The first masjid that Rasulullah ﷺ
had built Yet their insistence on this other
masjid Abu Aamir Rahib is a shrewd person,
he's a clever cat He knows how this
stuff works He's been in that position of
spiritual authority He knows exactly what an institution
of a religious intent What power it wields
over people What sort of a base it
promises to be There is hypocritical potential in
individuals and human beings There is hypocritical potential
in organizations and institutions As to how an
unpurified lot of people Or a lot of
people not committed to the practice of zakat
More than just the 2.5% zakat
But zakat as a kfander, as infaq in
the way of Allah Spending in the way
of Allah And how likely is it that
what emanates from there For whatever good it's
capable of Because when you put people together
In an organized fashion Whatever good that they
have to offer is not just multiplied It
goes up exponentially Provided that whatever way they
coordinate is efficient And so it's not just
good that rises exponentially The proclivity to evil,
to hypocrisy Also rises And so Abu Aamir
Rahib has this base now And although he
left Medina at a point But he has
left his committed, dedicated followers And so Masjid
Dhararan is being used As a base within
Medina To plot against Rasulullah ﷺ To the
point that The enemies of Islam The Quraish
and allies of the Quraish Especially in the
Babel of Ahzab Abu Aamir Rahib has a
very instrumental role In coordinating that alliance against
Rasulullah ﷺ He may have been defeated at
that point But the remains of his followers
Within Medina, they continue to plot They continue
to spread that evil وَلَيَخْلِفَنَّ إِنْ أَرَضْنَا إِلَّا
الْحُسْنَةَ And so they're swearing by Allah We
intend nothing but good وَاللَّهُ يَشْهَدُ إِنَّهُمْ لَكَذِبٌ
Allah bears witness that they are most certainly
liars لَا تَقُمْ فِيهِ أَبَدًا So don't ever
pray in it, Ya Rasulullah You're just going
there Is sanctioning Is giving them this license
of approval This certification from Rasulullah ﷺ Allah
says don't لَمَسْجِدٌ أُسِّسَ عَلَى التَّقْوَى مِنْ أَوَّلِ
يَوْمٍ Definitely a mosque founded on Taqwa From
the very first day Either talking about Quba
or talking about Masjid An-Nabawi itself That
its foundations are the foundations of Taqwa أَحَقُّ
أَن تَقُومَ فِيهِ They are worthier that you
stand, that you pray in it فِيهِ رِجَالٌ
يُحِبُّونَ أَن يَتَطَهَّرُ In it are people, men
who love to be purified Their intent on
being What is this Tahara from?
Yes, this Tahara expresses itself, manifests itself in
physical ways Yes, in cleanliness, in wudu, in
ghusl In all of the ways that are
described, that are mandated But again, it is
what that Repeated need for physical purification represents
at a spiritual level That as likely as
you are Having to go to the bathroom
multiple times a day And then having to
purify yourself, clean yourself And then make wudu
repeatedly How that signifies your tendency to inadvertently
become impure Become in need of
showering again Just like that at a spiritual
level There is a persistent need to look
to purify yourself To look to cleanse yourself
And the way to do that is اِنْفَاقْ
فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ Which is why the mandatory
dimension of اِنْفَاقْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ Is called
Zakat Which is another word for purification Or
a persistent effort at purification So this, in
contrast to the hypocritical tendency Which is an
insistence Again, that belligerent certainty That there is
no need for purification That they are as
pure as they come That they are as
good as is required They have attained to
those standards of perfection Again, in contrast to
the people who identify this need To constantly
engage in self-purification Being suspicious of their
own faith Being suspicious of their own commitment
And therefore constantly struggling to prove it to
themselves For their own peace Working, working, working
And sacrificing and giving All of that going
on As opposed to those who are already
on that pedestal And never feel the need
to give Because they're already pure They're so
certain of their faith There is no level
of suspicion there And how that is contrasted
When the Qur'an says And we saw
this in Surah Nisa And we will see
this in Surah Najm Whenever we get there
Perhaps next year now, inshallah فَلَا تُزَكُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ
Do not consider yourselves to be Absolute purity
is no end to attain Because once you're
there And you actually feel like you're absolutely
pure That's a very dangerous place to be
And that's where hypocrisy is emanating from So
either absolute purity You have this self-concept
in which you've already attained it And that's
hypocritical Doors to hypocrisy opening up And further
efforts at purification are stagnated Or you're so
obsessive about that pursuit of absolute purity That
it cripples you It literally cripples your efforts
Because you never think you're good enough for
anything You've gone to the other extreme altogether
Again, both cases there is judgments of certainty
That are being cast upon the self Where
one is so intent upon the minor activities
of self-purification To the point that they
are avoiding major obligations Major responsibilities And focus
so much on the nitty-gritty Convinced that
they're not pure enough to proceed And on
the other end of the spectrum Is this
self-satisfaction That they are already there And
in no need for further purity So this
sense of perfection This wild goose chase For
this spiritual perfection To be 100% pure
That cripples people either way In both cases
the struggle is gone In both cases the
pursuit of goodness is hampered So the people
of the masjid based on taqwa They really
intend on purifying themselves وَاللَّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُطَّهِرِينَ And
Allah loves those who purify themselves أَفَمَنْ أَسَّسَ
بُنْيَانَهُ عَلَىٰ تَقْوَى مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٍ خَيْرٍ So
is the one who raised his building on
the foundation of taqwa and pleasure better أَمَّنْ
أَسَّسَ بُنْيَانَهُ عَلَىٰ شَفَى جُرُفٍ هَارٍ Or the
one who founded his building on the edge
of a bank about to collapse This is
character building Building of your character And of
course this is buildings as we physically see
them in the form of concrete structures in
the world But those concrete structures are so
much more for the human capacity of giving
things names Really brings into reality dangerously powerful
stuff And there is a strong potential for
that power to be ascribed in the wrong
direction altogether It's no joke Setting up a
building and committing it to religious and spiritual
or intellectual whatever activities No joke There is
a responsibility that comes with it which if
it is not realized Then when it goes
towards the direction of creating more evil than
good You won't have any idea And if
this ethical predilection is not taken seriously The
possibility that your apparently neutral efforts, value-free
endeavors Are what they're capable of As to
what kind of people they're going to produce
This ignorance, this naivety We see what it's
doing in our society Just thinking that all
of what constitutes an institution or organization is
bricks and mortar Cement and bricks you put
it together and you have an institution You
cut a ribbon and you clap and you're
so happy about all the dedicated people And
every single ceremony that takes place is As
we say in Urdu Everyone is praising each
other for how wonderful And how awesome they
are Every single ceremony anniversary Opening ceremony for
this or launching ceremony for that Is just
these amazing people Very well-dressed Very, very
well-dressed Very pure in how they look
Constantly praising each other For how awesome they
are It is as if the evil in
society God knows where that is coming from
For everyone in every position of authority Is
so praiseworthy For everything that they've done فَانْهَارَ
بِهِ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمٍ So the one who
founded his building on the edge of a
bank about to collapse So it tumbled down
with him into the hellfire Which building is
better?
وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمُ الظَّالِمِينَ Allah does not
guide the oppressive people لا يَزَالُ بُنْيَانُهُمُ الَّذِي
بَنُوا الرِّيبَةٍ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ The building that they
have built Will not cease to increase shakiness
and doubt in their hearts This masjid is
increasing them in doubt It was supposed to
take them in the other direction It is
increasing them In more and more misgivings about
Rasulullah ﷺ إِلَّا تَقَطَّعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ It goes on
with this pathological progression This neoplastic progression of
doubt That it rips their hearts apart وَاللَّهُ
عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ And Allah is Knowing and Wise
إِنَّ اللَّهَ اشْتَرَى مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَنفُسَهُمْ وَأَمْوَالَهُمْ For
sure Allah has purchased from the believers Their
lives and belongings بِأَنَّ لَهُمُ الْجَنَّةِ And they
will get Paradise in return يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ
اللَّهِ They fight in the cause of Allah
فَيَقْتُلُونَ وَيُقْتَلُونَ They kill and they get killed
وَعْدًا عَلَيْهِ حَقًّا It is a promise binding
upon Allah فِي التَّوْرَاتِ وَالْإِنْجِيلِ وَالْقُرْآنِ In the
Torah, the Gospel and the Qur'an وَمَنْ
أَوْفَى بِأَهْدِهِ مِنَ اللَّهِ And who is truer
to his promise than Allah When all of
these diverse sources Are coming together To affirm
this one truth Then the truth value Or
the integrity of that truth That it is
from Allah It goes even higher It is
even stronger And who is more true in
his promise than Allah فَاسْتَبْشِرُوا بِبَيْعِكُمُ الَّذِي بَايَعْتُمْ
بِهِ So rejoice therefore in the bargain Which
you have contracted وَذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ And
that is the supreme triumph And this is
what you miss out on When scripture is
irrelevant in your society And it has nothing
to do with the lives of your people
When this motivation for good This willingness to
give Is just taken away Now why should
anyone En masse, you need a lot of
people To do a whole lot of good
Or the challenges that we face as humanity
And then you make scripture either irrelevant Or
justified for evil What are you left with?
What are you left with?
وَذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ أَتَائِبُونَ الْعَابِدُونَ الْخَامِدُونَ Who
are the believers?
The very first attribute that the ayah starts
with They are التائبون They are people who
are persistently turning to Allah And persistently turning
to Allah means what?
They're stumbling, they're falling They're picking themselves up
and turning towards Allah They're looking to get
better and better and better Of course, the
form of the stumble Or the way they're
erring is different The higher and closer they
get to Allah To the point that the
tawbah of those closest to Allah That what
they're turning away from towards Allah Is something
which will actually constitute a good deed for
people like us Who are far away at
a distance At a long distance away That
what is a good deed for them Or
what is a better deed for them And
what is a good deed for them Their
tawbah is going from the good to the
better For us, that's still a good deed
Because we're going from bad to good And
so, but necessarily This potential within the human
being for This consistent growth This consistent increase
in perfection Such that perfection does not become
an ideal Which is a static goal Which
once attained, you have and that's it There's
no higher that you can go In an
ever-evolving creation That standard of perfection Or
that understanding of perfection is obsolete Is in
itself stagnant Is in itself regressive For those
ta'ibun have within their personality This recognition
and so this constant struggle Al-'abidun, those who
persistently worship Al-hamidun, those who are persistently
engaged in the hamd of Allah As-sa
'ihuna al-raki'una as-sajidun As-sa
'ihun is used either way for fasting As
well as for struggling in the way of
Allah And making ruku and making sajda Al
-amiruna bil-ma'rufi wal-nahuna anil-munkar
And enjoining what is right and preventing what
is wrong This is how they appear socially
Wal-hafidhuna li-hududillah And those who set
the limits that are set by Allah Wabashshir
al-mu'mineen So give good tidings to these
believers Moving right along A'udhu billahi minash
shaitanir rajim Ma kana lil-nabiyyi wal-ladheena
aamanu It is not appropriate for the messenger
Neither those who have believed Ayn yastaghfiru lil
-mushrikeen Now they ask forgiveness for the mushrikeen
People whose shirk has been established Whose shirk
or whose being mushrik Has been categorically declared
By Allah and Rasulullah ﷺ Walaw kanu ulwi
qurba Even if they are their close relatives
Mim ba'di ma tabajjana lahum It has been
made clear to them Annahum as-habu al
-jaheem That they are the companions of the
hellfire When you have this level of clarity
As to where they're headed And that level
of clarity comes from Allah and His messenger
Then nothing going, doesn't work Wa ma kana
istaghfaru Ibrahima li-abihi And the prayer of
Ibrahim ﷺ For the forgiveness of his father
Was nothing illa ammaw'idatin wa'adha'iya
Except a promise that he had made to
him Falamma tabayyana lahu anahu adhuvu lillahi And
when it was clear to him That he
is an enemy of Allah Tabarra'min He dissociated
from him Manna Ibrahim al-awwahun haleeb Most
definitely Ibrahim ﷺ Was tender-hearted and forbearing
The treatment that his father had of him
The way his father had treated him It
wasn't something that you tolerate easily But the
kindness of Ibrahim ﷺ The forbearance, the tolerance
The hilm of Ibrahim ﷺ Was such that
even for him He had the best hopes
And it was only after Allah told him
And made it clear that no His cases
decided His place in the hereafter Has been
decided Nothing going, no more Wa maa kanallahu
liyudhilla qawman ba'da idh hadahum And Allah would
not lead a people astray After He has
guided them Hatta yubayyina lahuma yattaqun Until He
makes it clear to them What it is
that they are to guard against And after
that clarity has been made Because then the
fear of hypocrisy Can become overwhelming It can
become crippling itself That you're so suspicious of
yourself And you're completely knocked out The fear,
the anxiety It just makes a person Completely
passive Just give up altogether Allah makes it
very clear That this misguidance That comes after
guidance Is only after what has been made
clear What is it that you're supposed to
do and not do What are the prerequisites
Or the requirements of taqwa A constant engagement
in them Is the safe place to be
A demonic suspicion of your own faith Is
going to be one From which action does
not emanate Rather a further passivity Comes in,
a hopelessness Comes in, a pessimism That comes
in that's just That leads you to give
up Practical action What other action is there?
All action is practical But action is gone
It's missing So not all practices of suspicion
Are healthy They are very likely to be
demonic That you're so self-critical So self
-depreciating So condemning of your own self And
in a way that's not even suspicion That
is a certainty on the other end You're
certain of your hypocrisy To the point that
effort is irrelevant There is It's not all
in the air You don't know anything at
all No, there's clear markers There's guidance There's
red flags There's things to be done There's
things not to be done There's clarity And
there's so many different avenues From which you're
going to get those Affirmations As to what
is true and what is not And what
is to be done and what is not
to be done 100% certainty, no But
100% uncertainty, also no Because either of
those 100% positions Are very convenient places
to be in And very damaging places to
be in إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ حَلِيمٌ It
is definitely Allah who knows Each and everything
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ And for
sure, Allah For Him And for Him alone
Is the sovereignty of the heavens and the
earth يُحْيِي وَيُمِيثِ He brings to life and
puts to death وَمَا لَكُمْ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ
بِوَلِيٌّ وَلَا نَصِيرٌ And you have no one
other than Allah As a protector and helper
لَقَدْ تَعَبَ اللَّهِ So Allah has Accepted The
repentance Or Allah has turned With forgiveness The
words عَلَى النَّبِيِّ وَالْمُهَاجِرِينَ وَالْأَنصَارِ Primarily the prophet
The immigrants The helpers الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوهُ فِي سَاعَةِ
الْعُسْرَةِ Those who followed him at the time
of distress The Tabuk expedition Was the سَاعَةِ
الْعُسْرَةِ It was a time of distress It
was a painful expedition Allah has accepted that
effort What was that effort In the direction
of It was a direction of getting closer
And closer to Allah It was a form
of Tawbah And so Allah has Done Tawbah
as well And what is Allah's Tawbah Is
turning in acceptance Allah is a Thawab مِنْ
بَعْدِ مَا كَانَ مِمَا كَادَ يَزِيغُ قُلُوبُ فَرِيقٍ
مِنْهُمْ After some of them had reached The
point of losing heart It becomes so difficult
for them ثُمَّ تَبَعَ عَلِيهِمْ Following that, He
did accept them He turned towards them In
acceptance إِنَّهُ بِهِمْ رَأُوفُ الرَّحِيمُ Most definitely, He
is kind and merciful towards them وَعَلَىٰ الثَّلَاثَةِ
الَّذِينَ خُلِّفُوا And so has He accepted the
repentance Of the three who were left alone
The three people along with Ka'b ibn
Maalik Who were boycotted Whose case was deferred
Nobody in Medina would talk to them Nobody
in Medina would interact with them Very limited,
very Just enough to get them Get their
Food to them Pretty much Nothing else Nothing
else As isolated as you can be Living
in a society That was the level that
they had to suffer And it was at
that point that Ka'b ibn Maalik Even
got offers He got letters From the Romans
Empathizing with him Sympathizing with him Oh your
ruler, your prophet Is so He's so tyrannical
with you Somebody like you Of your stature,
of your commitment Is this how you're being
treated?
Oh my god And he had all these
Expressions of Of empathy extended towards him And
of course within that is an offer to
To be the Be that person in Medina
That is used against Rasulullah ﷺ And the
Muslims To the favor of Those that you
just had a An expedition against Who didn't
show up for battle But now they're trying
these ways Ka'b refused Those offers And
for somebody in Arabia to be offered by
the Romans Come on their side Especially after
they're deeply hurt Especially after they're socially boycotted
Imagine that position No one's talking to you
No one's looking at you Allah accepts Their
repentance ثُمَّ تَابَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَعَلَىٰ الثَّلَاثَةِ الَّذِينَ خُلِّفُوا
And so did he accept repentance Of the
three who were left alone Who were boycotted
حَتَّىٰ إِذَا ضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ الْأَرْضُ بِمَا رَحُبَتْ To
the point that the earth Constrained itself on
them Despite its vastness وَضَاقَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ And
they were left feeling Constrained within themselves وَوَنُوا
أَلَّا مَلْجَأَ مِنَ اللَّهِ إِلَّا إِلَيْهِ And they
realized that there is no Escape from Allah
Except towards Allah This recognition This Realization that
dawns upon them After this excruciating experience This
is the second time in this surah That
this phrase has been repeated That the earth
constrains itself on you Despite its vastness It's
vast, it's huge But external circumstances may be
such That it's just That vastness is irrelevant
to you You can You don't have space
Despite all the space that is around you
And how there is a Reflection of that
A corresponding experience to that That you had
within yourself أَنفُسُهُمْ وَعَلَيْهِمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ Within yourself And
the vastness Or the vast potential within Yet
you feel like you can't breathe وَوَوَنُوا أَلَّا
مَلْجَأَ مِنَ اللَّهِ إِلَّا إِلَيْهِ At that point
the recognition That there is no escape from
Allah Except to Allah ثُمَ تَابَعَ عَلَيْهِمْ لِيَتُوبُوا
And so He turned towards them So that
they repented إِنَّ اللَّهَ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ Most
definitely Allah is the التَّوَّاب The one constantly
turning towards people The always merciful يَا أَيُّهَا
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا التَّقُوا اللَّهِ So you who have
believed Observe the Taqwa of Allah وَكُونُوا مَعَ
الصَّادِقِينَ And be with the truthful ones This
company of those who are Truthful, who are
sincere Who are honest As few and far
between as they may be This is a
way of Protecting yourself Against the insidious Manifestations
of hypocrisy يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا التَّقُوا اللَّهِ
وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ مَا كَانَ لِأَهْلِ الْمَدِينَةِ وَمَنْ
حَوْلَهُمْ مِنَ الْأَعْرَابِ It was not appropriate for
the people Of Medina and the Bedouin Arabs
Of the neighborhood أَن يَتَخَلَّهُوا الرَّسُولِ اللهِ That
they remain behind After the departure of Rasulullah
ﷺ Forsaking him, letting him be Go, you
and your rab fight We're sitting right here
Who do you take Rasulullah to be?
Your personal servant He's there to serve you
He's there for To reinforce your grandiosity Who
the * do you think you are?
Rasulullah ﷺ Is nobody's personal servant Rasulullah ﷺ
is Allah's messenger And if you can't extend
that respect to him Then get lost You
have no place with Allah If Rasulullah ﷺ
Was not exempt from the struggle That he
was responsible for Then who the * are
you To let him be, let him stand
And go on to do Whatever it is
that you're doing What claim do you have
To respect him, to love him If you
don't care For what he stood for What
he gave for, what he sacrificed for What
he struggled for His entire life What claim
do you have What ownership do you claim
To his love It does not behoove It
does not suit It is unbecoming of the
people of Medina And The adjoining tribes Pretty
much by extension Anyone who claims to believe
in Rasulullah ﷺ That they remain behind وَلَا
يَرْغَبُ بِأَنفُسِهِمْ أَن نَفْسِهِمْ Nor is it appropriate
that they prefer their own lives to his
ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ That is because لَا يُصِيبُهُمْ ذَمَأٌ
وَلَا نَصَبٌ وَلَا مَخْمَصَةٌ They do not suffer
any thirst, fatigue, or hunger في سبيل الله
In the way of Allah وَلَا يَطَعُونَ مَوْتًا
يَغِيظُ الْكُفَارُ Neither do they tread on any
ground That enrages the disbelievers وَلَا يَنَعَلُونَ مِنْ
عَدُوبٍ نَيْلًا Nor do they afflict on the
enemy Any affliction إِلَّا كُتِبَ لَهُمْ بِهِ عَمَلٌ
صَالِحٌ Except that it is recorded for them
As a good act As a righteous act
إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يُضِيعُ أَجْرَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ Most definitely
Allah does not let the reward Of the
people of excellence Go to waste وَلَا يُنفِقُونَ
نَفَقَةً صَغِيرَةً وَلَا كَبِيرَ Nor Likewise Their spending
of anything Small or large وَلَا يَقْطَعُونَ وَادِيًا
Neither the crossing of any valley إِلَّا كُتِبَ
لَهُمْ Except that it is written for them
لَيَجْزِيَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَحْسَنَ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ So that
Allah may reward them Based on the best
of what they performed It's not an average
of your deeds That you get Recompensated for
The best is chosen For the reciprocation وَمَا
كَانَ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ لِيَنْفِرُوا كَافًا It is not possible
for the believers to go forth altogether فَلَوْ
لَنَفَرَ مِنْ كُلِّ فِيقَةٍ مِنْهُمْ تَوَائِفًا But why
not a squadron From each division come out
لِيَتَفَقَّهُ فِي الدِّينِ In order to get the
understanding of religion And how This practical struggle
And this intellectual struggle This Looking to understand
Because if you don't understand If you don't
If it doesn't make sense to you What
is Iman?
What is Jihad?
What is Nifaq?
What is Kufr?
What's to be done?
What is not to be done?
What's my role in all of this?
So understandably not everyone Can dedicate themselves To
this understanding, this learning Society would Stop functioning
If everyone's studying If everyone's learning It won't
move forward The society needs For there to
be people who are engaged In all the
diverse functions Needs that Are necessary For the
survival of a society For the Progression of
society It's inevitable But Someone has to do
it A group has to do it Not
everyone Fair enough but Someone take that responsibility
And then they can come back And they
can help the rest Make up for Whatever
loose ends وَلَيُنذِرُ قَوْمَهُمْ إِذَا رَجَعُوا إِلَيْهِمْ So
that they can Return to their people And
remind them, warn them لَعَلَّهُمْ يَحْذَرُونَ So that
they too will be aware Again, as far
as the Quran is concerned Understanding, knowledge It
has to have a practical bearing It has
to result In some changes that you're making
In who you are as people And what
you're doing In your lives يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ
آمَنُوا يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ يَلُونَكُمْ
مِنَ الْكُفَىٰ Fight those of the disbelievers who
are close to you وَلَيَجِدُوا فِيكُمْ غِذًا And
let them find you tough وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ
مَعَ الْمُتَّقِينَ And keep in mind that Allah
is with the people of taqwa.
وَإِذَا مَا أُنزِلَتْ سُورَةٌ وَنَا مَنَا وَنَا أَنزِلَتْ
سُورَةٌ So there's two possibilities of who these
kuffar are that you're supposed to fight.
And fighting does not necessarily mean armed conflict,
since these kuffar may be representing the hypocrites
from within Medina.
And the fight is of a different nature.
But then again, the Bedouin tribes, those who
rebelled after Rasulullah ﷺ, depicting kuffar, apostating, they
were fought, armed conflict.
And they were in the vicinity of Arabia.
وَإِذَا مَا أُنزِلَتْ سُورَةٌ Whenever a surah is
set down, فَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَقُولُ Some of them
say اَيُّكُمْ زَادَتُوا هَذِهِ اِمَانًا Which one of
you increased in faith with it?
فَأَمَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا فَزَادَتْهُمْ إِمَانًا Those who have
really believed, they did increase in faith.
وَهُمْ يَسْتَبْشِرُونَ And they are celebrating.
وَأَمَا الَّذِينَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمْ مَرَضُونَ And those who
have a disease in their hearts, فَزَادَتْهُمْ رِّجْسًا
إِلَى رِّجْسِهِمْ It adds filth to existing filth.
Again, Ramadan, Qur'an, any opportunity of good
that comes your way, there's one of two
possibilities.
It increases you in faith or it increases
you in filth based on the attitude that
we have towards it.
But both of those possibilities, it comes with
that potential.
وَمَاتُوا وَهُمْ كَافِرُونَ And they will die as
disbelievers.
أَوَلَا يَرَوْنَ أَنَّهُمْ يُفْتَنُونَ They know that they
are tested في كل عام in every year.
مَرَّةً و مَرَّتَيْن Once or twice.
ثُمَ لَا يَتُبُونَ And then they neither repent.
What is this fitna all about?
These are opportunities of tawbah.
These are opportunities of turning towards Allah because
He's turning towards.
These opportunities are Allah turning towards you.
Are you going to turn towards Him?
وَلَا هُمْ يَتذَكَّرُونَ Nor do they learn any
lesson.
وَإِذَا مَا أُنزَلَتْ سُرَةٌ نَظَرَ بَعْضُهُمْ إِلَىٰ بَعْضٍ
And whenever a surah is set down, they
look towards each other.
هَلْ بَرَاكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ هَلْ يَرَاكُمْ مِنْ أَحَدٍ
Does anyone see you?
Did anyone see you?
So then they turn away.
صَرَفَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبُهُمْ Allah has turned their hearts
away.
بَيْنَهُمْ قَوْمُ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ As they are people
who don't want to understand.
They're shocked.
Oh my God.
How can the Quran's description of what we're
going through, what we're doing, so accurate?
Do you know what we're doing?
Is it that obvious?
Do people see what's going on?
They feel so insecure.
There's this fear associated with the listening or
the reading of the Quran.
We don't want to be found out.
Obliviousness, ignorance is so much of a bliss.
Don't take our bliss away from us.
Why does every revelation have to take that
bliss away from us?
And so that wall of mockery, who increased
in Iman with these ayahs?
Nobody did.
That's just a defense, hiding that insecurity.
Whenever the ayat are able to traverse that
wall, it frightens the * out of you
because you feel like you've been found out.
And so the insistence on staying away from
this dhikr, from this Quran, so that the
self-recognition doesn't take place, because the self
-recognition is the scariest movie you've ever seen.
It tells you about how horrible and horrifying
and demonic you're capable of being.
صَرَقَ اللَّهُ قُلُوبَهُمْ Allah has turned their hearts
away.
بِأَنَّهُمْ قَوْمٌ لَّا يَفْقَهُمْ Because there are people
who don't understand, don't want to understand.
لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ For sure, a
messenger from among yourselves has come to you.
Again, all of these multiple opportunities of tawbah.
Abu Sufyan and the leaders of the Quraish,
what had they not done?
The 13 years of Mecca, eight years of
Medina, what have they not done?
What are they not responsible for?
In terms of torture, both verbal and physical
and boycott and war and battle and all
of everything.
Ta'if, what had the people of Ta
'if not done?
The hypocrites in Medina in order to hurt
Rasulullah ﷺ, in order to sabotage every one
of his efforts, what had they not done?
In tabu everything, you think it and they
did it.
Yet, the sunnah of Allah, the sunnah of
Allah, that when a Rasul is rejected, disrespected,
when he has clearly shown them ayat and
it is clear before people what those ayats
are and that they are from Allah, yet
people refuse to take that seriously.
They refuse to budge.
They continue to oppose.
Allah's sunnah is an azaab that wipes them
out.
So, the azaab begins with Badr, ends with
the conquest of Makkah.
Yet, what sort of an azaab is this?
That the Prophet of Allah with sword in
hand, with the entire population of Makkah at
his mercy, the perpetrators, the torturers, the murderers
that they were, sword in hand with a
whole army, 8,000 people.
Tahrir bin Walid on his side this time
and the azaab is announced as laa tathreeba
AAalaykumul yaum.
There is no blame on you today.
You're forgiven.
You're forgiven.
There is an announcement, Baradu min Allahi wa
Rasul.
There is dissociation.
Allah and His Messenger dissociated from the people
of Shirk this day.
Your treaties are about to come to an
end.
So, if you dishonored them, just wait.
If you have some time left, let that
time elapse.
No renewal.
And then you have the opportunity to reflect,
to think.
You'll be given that security, that chance, the
asylum, and then independently of any pressure, make
your decision.
And then if you choose still not to
accept, then you are free to leave.
That's what the azaab is.
How is this?
And the most strict of announcements, of warnings,
and then even the people who have deserted
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and they're not all
just bunched together.
Within them, the spectrum is identified, it's appreciated,
and there's a good group of them that
is still forgiven, that is still allowed off
the hook.
Do this, do this, do this.
You're good.
What sort of an azaab is this?
It is an azaab rife with tawbah.
It is an azaab which is inundated with
opportunities of tawbah, with Allah being at-tawbaab,
and Allah representing and expressing himself in so
many different ways.
Wow, why?
Because there has come to you a messenger
from among you.
It weighs heavy on him that you suffer.
It weighs heavy on him that you suffer.
The pain of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam as
appreciated, as acknowledged by Allah invokes and
evokes his being tawbaab, his being ghafoor, his
being rahim, so much so that no nation
of any prophet at any point in history
had such a merciful azaab.
Why?
Azizun alayhima alaykum Because it hurts him that
you suffer.
Because he is in pain if you're in
pain.
And so Allah does what he's never done
before for any nation who has been as
evil to their prophet.
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam's genuine feeling of pain
for the pain of others Tareesun alaykum He
wants all the good for you, for all
of you.
And his hirs is his what can you
say?
Bil mu'mineena ra'oofur raheem He is kind
and merciful towards the believers.
The attributes of Allah that he reflects Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam that of rahfa and rahma.
And so those attributes reflecting Allah's attributes and
those that relationship of Allah and Rasulullah as
it manifests in this it felt in this
in what we see in this in Surah
Tawbah in the entire seerah of Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam It's incredible.
Fa'intha wallahu But if they still turn
away Faqul hasbi Allah So say Ya Rasulullah
Allah is enough for me.
Allah is standing up for Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam letting everybody know you know what this
person is going through for you.
You don't know how much it hurts him
what you're suffering or what you're going to
suffer.
You know how desperately he wants good for
you.
Allah is letting everyone know addressing humanity advocating
Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam you know what you're
putting him through.
And then Allah knows everyone's not going to
appreciate the ra'fah and rahmah of Rasulullah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
So he turns to Rasulullah and he says
you know what if they don't care don't
worry about them I care.
Just say Allah is enough for me.
I'll take care of you.
I'll take care of you.
Forget them.
You consider them worthy of your ra'fah,
your rahmah, your you put yourself through all
of that for them.
If they don't care then know that I
appreciate.
I acknowledge.
I got your back.
Faqul hasbi Allah So say Allah is enough
for me.
La ilaha illa hu There is no one
worthy of being an ilah except him.
Alayhi tawakkaltu Upon him I rely.
And in all of this, in all of
this there is implicit Allah's response.
You say hasbi Allah what does it mean?
Allah is going to be enough for you.
You say la ilaha illa Allah what does
it mean?
He is accepting you as his abd.
You say alayhi tawakkaltu that I rely upon
him.
Then he is going to be there for
you.
wahuwa rabbul arshil azeem And who is he?
He is the Rabb of that great arsh
of that great throne.
So if he's got your back you don't
need anybody else.
Why in such magnanimous words is the reassurance
being given to Rasulullah ﷺ?
Because he's hurt.
Moving right along to Surah Yunus.
Now what we saw in Surah Al-An
'am and Surah A'raf we see the
same themes repeated of course in a different
context with complemented in other ways with other
topics coming in between as well.
Excuse me.
And the sequence is flipped where we saw
Surah Al-An'am focusing more on the
la ilaha Right?
Actually, we will see that same sequence.
It's not flipped.
The la ilaha are more of a focus
in Surah Yunus with Amba'ur Rasul finding
a mention in two of the passages.
As in A'raf we saw a predominance
of Ayyamullah or the days of Allah or
the stories of the prophets historical ayat.
We will see that more in Surah Qud.
Okay, so moving right along.
A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajeem Bismillahir Rahmanir
Raheem Alif Lam Ra Tilka Ayatul Kitabil Hakim
These are the ayat of the Book of
Wisdom.
One of the more neglected of the attributes
of the Qur'an.
We speak about the eloquence of the Qur
'an.
We speak about the the way the Qur
'an is a linguistic miracle as it was
for the Arabs and how the standards of
Arabic that were prevalent in the day the
Qur'an far exceeded those.
We talk about the guidance of the Qur
'an.
We talk about Ta'il al-Huda al
-Furqan all of these different dimensions that we
do bring out but what is most relevant
to us in this day and age the
world that we're living in again the continuation
from Tawbah Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam leaves his
mission incomplete his responsibility unfulfilled in the sense
it is impossible for the scope of that
responsibility to be fulfilled in a single lifetime.
He initiates it, he perfects it as far
as his lifetime is concerned and we see
that with the conclusion of the book but
nevertheless there is so much more that needs
to be done.
The Sahaba carry that on and generations after
them all the way to today.
It is very relevant that the immediate surah
after Tawbah is Surah Yunus or when we
studied about a prophet fulfilling his responsibility before
his people and the people refusing and how
that gets in Azaab and Anfal and Tawbah
are the manifestation of the Azaab for the
people of Arabia.
The second leg of the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam the responsibility that of his global scope
that is still unfinished and one would wonder
when you're reading Surah A'raf for example
that all of these messengers are mentioned and
all of these crimes of their people are
being highlighted particularly the post-Abrahamic prophets we
spoke about Lub alayhi salam and what he
had to confront with respect to the sexual
perversions that were prevalent in his people and
then Shu'ayb alayhi salam and the economic
perversions of his people Musa alayhi salam and
the political perversions of Firaun in a lot
of ways what we look at those perversions
in this day and age in the 20th
21st century they make the people of Lut
and the people of Shu'ayb and even
Firaun look like angels Firaun in his wildest
imagination could not have conceived a world war
one and world war two and it makes
it really does make him look like mother
Teresa and how in comparison what humanity has
perpetrated over the past couple of centuries you
talk of sexual perversions the people of Lut
alayhi salam would be compelled to astaghfirullah what
in the world are you people doing?
you talk about economic perversions the people of
Shu'ayb alayhi salam would be like flabbergasted
as to the potential that human beings have
of economically exploiting each other they would be
just the numbers they would be incapable of
computing forget about how it's all done just
the sheer number will be far beyond their
wildest imaginations as to how it's even possible
that the world has come down to this
yet where's the azab?
why are these perpetrators and criminals not having
to face any punishment of any sort in
any way?
it's and it's been going on for a
long long time and for that reason the
fact that Surah Yunus follows Surah At-Tawbah
makes a lot of sense that for this
global extension of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's
prophethood beyond Arabia to the rest of the
world for all times to come the responsibility
for that fell on the people who believed
the Muslim ummah and when the messenger failed
at communicating the message appropriately or completely then
the people are not punished in any way
the closest example that we get of that
is Yunus alayhi sallam that his people saw
the signs of punishment Yunus alayhi sallam left
however as for a lot of the standards
Yunus alayhi sallam needed to have stayed longer
to make it absolutely clear that everything has
been explained the people have had the adequate
opportunity as Allah would define adequate to understand
and now Yunus alayhi sallam can leave he
left prematurely so the nation saw the signs
of punishment and the punishment did not come
rather Yunus alayhi sallam he had to jump
ship literally and spend a considerably painful time
in the belly of a whale and now
we look at the situation of the world
and the economically sexually and politically perverse of
humanity are having a rollicking time and the
deplorable state of affairs the punishment we're still
in the belly of the whale we seem
to be the keep tasting of each other's
strength or each other's potential for war and
evil has fallen in our lot and it
makes sense to realize that we haven't come
close to establishing the evidence of the truth
that we claim we stand on and so
forget about the rest of the stages the
adhab in what form at the hands of
believers or not at the hands of believers
or natural calamities or what have you forget
about all of that the first stage hasn't
been concluded to unequivocally represent before the people
the ayat of Allah as the best possible
explanation of reality as we know it tawheed
bringing as the as the conclusion of those
ayat the risalah of Rasulullah ﷺ the truth
of his prophethood has but a natural conclusion
of how the ayat are put together in
other words the hikmah of the kitab relevant
to the times haven't done that and so
equally befitting that after tawbah the surah begins
with the ayat of the book which is
the wisdom of the book the intellectual dimension
of the book its relevance to the post
-prophetic age and therefore the post-prophetic prophetic
responsibility of those who believe in the prophet
that you are the messengers of the messenger
of Allah and so the responsibility is distributed
across the ummah the most learned of the
ummah to present the ayat of Allah unequivocally
before the people you don't do that fine
your choice but then someone has to be
punished and even if it has to be
a prophet in the belly of the whale
then why not an entire population of Muslims
in their own way in a belly of
a whale these are the ayat of this
book of wisdom and we spoke about wisdom
earlier as to how wisdom is able to
it's not just information it's not just knowledge
it is how knowledge is brought together in
a relationship and how that related cohesive understanding
of knowledge what emanates from there is practically
useful it has a bearing in society for
humanity that's the task that's what the that's
how the kitab especially in in post-modern
times where truth itself meaning itself meaningfulness truth
having any value there being any standard of
truth it's all relative relative to the point
of being anything is as truthful or as
false relative to the extent of nihilism everything
is meaningless the hikmah of the kitab as
for the proponents of belief in the kitab
should have been able to show is different
it is a light it is able to
show truth identify and acknowledge and relate with
truth wherever it is and therefore bring to
the people the the rahman the mercy that
should emanate from hikmah the practical benefits for
solutions of issues and problems people have the
world has humanity has fair enough not everyone
can do it but the entire ummah can't
do it the entire nation of Muslims is
incapable of doing it powerless to do it
that's inexcusable and كان للناس عجباً أن أوحينا
إلى رجل منهم but do people find it
strange that we have sent our revelation to
a man from among them so this was
a problem for the pagan Arabs this is
a problem for people today a prophet from
among themselves for the common conception that prevails
a pagan conception that prevails that artificially weaves
reality into this material world and that spiritual
world or the world of God and the
world of human beings now when this cleavage
between reality has taken place there is a
benefit to it now that God has been
conveniently placed in that world and has nothing
to do with this world you can do
whatever you want to you have this freedom
for that pleasure, power accumulation of wealth that
you've always wanted congratulations God has nothing to
do with the affairs of this world you
manage the affairs of this world you can
take the place of God without having to
take his name as such but then human
beings have religious spiritual needs what are you
going to do about that?
no problem deities angels as daughters of God
who are going to perform or fulfill whatever
spiritual religious needs you may have whatever nirvana
you want to achieve you will have these
very convenient concoctions and fabrications or distortions of
scriptural understandings that can perform that function for
you but be very careful since these are
more in your control than they are in
God's control because God couldn't care less he
is that transcendent he has nothing no concern
with how the world is working he's just
put it in motion and this puppet show
is going on and it will reach its
end and that'll be the end of that
the book as he wrote it it'll come
to the end what do you have to
worry about?
just it's insignificant your presence to him is
insignificant but that betrays how you want him
to be insignificant and how the world operates
and so these deities these angels or prophets
for that matter for prophets are also exalted
to a beyond human stature such that they
are so transcendent they're also irrelevant how convenient
a human can't be a prophet when you
are a person who has seen the human
being his claim to prophethood is absolutely inconceivable
when you are a human being who has
grown up in believing in him to be
a prophet to conceive of him to be
a human so that he's relevant and therefore
you have to emulate him that's inconceivable place
him on a pedestal and now all the
chairs of religious authority how convenient they're empty
you want to put idols there by all
means do so you want to put idolatrous
concepts there little more subtle a little more
abstract than actual stone idols nevertheless they'll have
the same effect you can make an idol
out of the prophets why not?
at the end of the day what does
the idol have to do?
idol can't see idol can't hear idol can't
respond and so these authorities human authorities who
are representatives of those deities or those religions
or those religions in the garb of human
sciences now they have that authority so they
what they speak is truth incarnate now they
use those deities and put words in their
mouth and that deity can be called God
with a capital G and you can put
words in his mouth or the mouth of
a prophet you've already made them so transcendent
now you can take their place the God
complex of humanity as it continues to manifest
itself in religious and secular forms and the
effect is the same the injustice the exploitation
the privileged status of a few it is
maintained and so now to conceive of a
God who speaks to humanity actively interferes intervenes
controls responds listens to reveals to humanity that's
far too much interference of human being being
a prophet and that's the door that they've
been trying to close for so long a
scripture that gives us sharia do's and don'ts
no we want spirituality without sharia we want
to talk about God and all these romantic
ways and how he helps us attain this
nirvana and this awesome feeling of tranquility and
inner peace what do all these demands that
he places on us look at all this
responsibility that we have to live by we
don't want to have anything to do with
that there's a resurgence of paganism in the
world that we're living in unlike ever before
in history that the most spiritual of formulations
that you find ironically from the pedestal of
the university pagan in their essence it's incredible
it is incredible how psychology as religion sociology
as religion political science as religion economics as
religion is an order of the day and
everything that was that used to be done
in the name of religious authority is now
being done in the name of secular authority
with all of these fancy conceptions and we're
completely illiterate to have any idea of what's
going on so do the people find it
strange that we have inspired our revelation to
a man from among them a human being
prophet that God is going to speak to
who's going to tell people what God wants
oops so to warn people warn people وَبَشِّرِ
الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا and to give glad tidings to
those who believed أَنَّ لَهُمْ قَدَمَ الصِّدْقِ لِعِندَ
رَبِّهِمْ that for sure they have a precedence
of honor with their Rabb that human beings
can be honored by the divine can have
a significance with the divine provided they fulfill
a certain prerequisite قَالُ الْكَافِرُونَ إِنَّ هَذَا لَسَاحِرُ
الْمُبِينُ the disbeliever said no no no this
is without a doubt a clear magician إِنَّ
رَبَّكُمُ اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ فِي سِتَّةِ
أَيَّامٍ so without a doubt your Rabb is
Allah who created the heaven and the earth
in six days because they will bring in
their deism and they will talk about the
attributes of God that's this grand creator and
your insistence on involving him in the routine
day-to-day affairs what's wrong with you
Allah does not deny his transcendence He is
the creator of the heavens and the earth
and did create it in six days ثُمَّ
اسْتَوَعَ عَلَى الْأَرْضِ and He did establish Himself
over the throne He is more transcendent than
you can ever conceive of Him to be
يُدَبِّرُ الْأَمْرِ yet He directs the affairs day
-to-day from that throne He takes that
throne very seriously it is precisely because of
that throne that He is planning it is
an active dynamic process مَا مِنْ شَفِيعٍ إِلَّا
مِنْ بَعْدِ إِذْنِهِ so there is no intercessor
except with His permission you have to exclude
Him from the routine operations of the world
on a daily, weekly, monthly, annual basis and
that's where your intercessors become relevant what is
the role of the intercessors or they're going
to do for us in front of God
what we can't do ourselves and they'll be
the administrators of routine whatever goes on in
the mundane activities of human beings and conveniently
they don't have any representation and ilm for
that so who's going to fill up the
vacuum the hawwa of people of those who
have hijacked that proclaimed hegemony of that of
that knowledge for themselves on the basis of
authority مَا مِنْ شَفِيعٍ إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ إِذْنِهِ
ذَلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبُّكُمْ that is Allah your Rabb
all of you His Rabbiyah in His creation
of the universe in His mastery over the
universe that you're very very easily accepting of
but His Rabbiyah in His active involvement in
your nurturing day by day and wanting the
best for you and best out of you
through love and through tough love through punishment
and through grace that's too much for you
to handle He is Allah your Rabb فَعْبُدُوهُ
enter into His ibadah stop playing these games
stop fabricating this nonsense enter into His ibadah
أَفَلَا تَذَكَّرُنْفُ will you not remember will you
not reflect will you not receive this admonition
this will you not stop to reflect to
see how this makes sense even with what
you know it relates best to so will
you not remember إِلَيْهِ مَرْجِعُكُمْ جَمِيعًۭا you will
all return to Him alone وَعْدَ اللَّهِ كَفْقًۭا
the promise of Allah is true regardless of
how meaningful false meaningless and false you want
for it to be the promise of Allah
is always true إِنَّهُ يَبْدَأُ الْخَلْقِ without a
doubt He does originate creation ثُمَّ يُعِيدُ and
then He repeats it again this constant cycle
of creation that you see in front of
you and how that is a testimony to
the hereafter لِيَجْدِيَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ بِالْقِصْطُ
to reward those who believed and performed righteous
acts with a just reward now without a
doubt this reciprocation this order that you see
in the universe but then there's a moral
disorder injustice at the level of humans you
don't see things fitting in when you're looking
to explain the biological world or the physical
world or any phenomena in the material world
there is a presupposition that you adhere to
that there is a purpose behind it you
don't even ask the question is there a
purpose behind it or is there not a
purpose behind it you automatically jump to the
explanation of what that purpose is that's how
you operate those are one of the fundamental
axioms of what your inquiry into the material
world proceeds on otherwise there is no explanation
otherwise there is no explanation of why does
this happen or how does this happen everything
you seem you look to see you'd relate
with other facts how does it make more
sense but in the human world it doesn't
make sense because this order is gone there
is disorder it is unless and until you
bring into consideration the spiritual responsibleness and therefore
accountability for what should have been a responsibility
will it make sense the way it does
everywhere else and so you put the day
of judgment into the equation and it adds
up better than when you take it out
وَالَّذِينَ قَفَرُوا لَهُمْ شَرَابٌ مِّنْ حَمِيمٍ and so
those who refuse to believe for them there
will be a boiling drink وَعَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ بِمَا
كَانُوا يَكْفُرُونَ and a painful punishment because they
used to reject because they used to hide
belief وَالَّذِينَ جَعَلَ الشَّمْسَ ضِيْقَاءٌ وَالْقَمْرَ نُورًا it
is He who made the sun extremely bright
and made the moon a derived light وَقَدَّرَهُ
مَنَازِلًا and He determined for it phases لِتَعْلَمُوا
عَدَدَ السِّنِينَ وَالْحِسَابِ so you can learn to
keep count of the years in other account
everything in your world around you that you
see you see them performing this purpose so
you're not going to have a purpose you
see the meaning you presuppose the meaning in
all of this and you understand they're so
that the habit that you observe within the
natural world is so reliable that your calendars
are possible as a result and so many
other predictions that make your world in your
control over nature a reality that has exfoliated
to the level that it has over the
past century particularly مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ ذَلِكَ إِلَّا
بِالْحَقِّ Allah did not create all of that
without purpose يُقَصِّلُ الْآيَاتِ لِقَوْمٍ يَعْلَمُونَ He spells
out His ayaat for the people who know
you can call yourselves people of knowledge don't
you let's put that knowledge to hikmah let's
identify this for what it is a sign
آيَاتِ إِنَّ فِي اِخْتِلَافِ اللَّيْلِ وَالنَّهَارِ in the
alternation of the night and the day وَمَا
فَلَقَ اللَّهُ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَوْبِ and whatever Allah
has created in the heavens and the earth
in time and in space لَآيَاتِ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَّقُونَ
there are definitely ayaat for the people of
taqwa people looking to attain taqwa إِلَّا الَّذِينَ
لَا يَرْجُونَ لِقَاءَنَا except those definitely those who
have no hope to meet us وَرَضُوا بِالْحَيَاةِ
الدُّنْيَا وَطْمَأَنُوا بِهَا and they're pleased and satisfied
with what is immediately in front of them
their jannah is here exclusively immediate gratification immediately
in the life of this world alone is
all that concerns them وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ آيَاتِنَا غَفِلُنَا
who are heedless to our ayaat it goes
together it goes together speaking immediate satisfaction and
immediate gratification and not looking at the ayaat
for what they are what they represent and
who they lead to and what they are
warning us about this goes hand in hand
this goes hand in hand وَلَئِكَ مَأْوَاهُمُ النَّابِ
their refuge is going to be the fire
they're looking for refuge immediately here all the
time their refuge is the fire مِمَا كَانُوا
يَكْسِبُونَ because of what they used to earn
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ without a doubt
those who believe and perform righteously يَهْدِيهِمْ رَبُّهُمْ
بِإِيمَانِهِمْ they are Rabbul-Qahidam because of their
belief تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهِمُ الْأَنْهَارُ فِي جَنَّاتِ النَّعِيمِ
beneath them rivers will flow these are the
people who were able to see the ayaat
as ayaat the ayaat did not become veils
veiling them from the grace of Allah or
the greatness of Allah and ends in themselves
and therefore idols rather these ayaat were precisely
that ayaat signs that led them to a
greater reality تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهِمُ الْأَنْهَارُ فِي جَنَّاتِ
النَّعِيمِ a greater reality which is not of
their own fabrication which is not of their
own convenience دَعْوَاهُمْ فِيهَا their slogan in Jannah
in Paradise is going to be سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ
Exalted are you Allah that's the level of
exaltation and transcendence that Allah is looking for
you to understand the exaltation that you're going
to be pronouncing in Paradise وَاتَّحِيَّتُهُمْ فِيهَا سَلَامٌ
and their greetings in there is going to
be peace that's their peace ultimately finally you're
all set with even your religiosity is intended
for immediate gratification and peace here in tranquility
that's the highest end that you can promise
yourselves fair وَآخْرُ دَعْوَاهُمْ أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ
الْعَالَمِينَ and the last of their call is
going to be all praise and gratitude is
due to Allah the Rabb of the Aalameen
that's how intimate their relationship is going to
be with Allah as it expresses itself in
Paradise as it was manifesting itself in this
world in this dunya this recognition of gratitude
this ownership of responsibility this relationship with ربوبية
of Allah this harmonizing yourself with the Aalameen
under this relationship of ربوبية and عبودية وَلَوْ
يُعَجِّلُ اللَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ الشَّرَّ استِعْجَالَهُمْ بِالْخَيْرِ if Allah
wanted to hasten evil for people as they
hasten in asking for good for themselves لَقُضِيَ
إِلَيْهِمْ أَجَلَهُمْ their term would have been over
if Allah were to do how you what
you're like if Allah were to just reiterate
anything of your logic of life and reality
you would have been done for if immediate
and instinctive responses was all there was if
that was Allah's sunnah the way you're looking
for immediate gratification and instinctive instinctively driven lives
if that was God that was Allah finished
end of story فَنَظَرُوا الَّذِينَ لَا يُرجُونَ لِقَاءَنَا
فِي تُغْيَانِهِمْ يَعْمُونَ so we leave those who
do not entertain the hope of meeting us
again all of it revolving around and this
phrase is going to be repeated in the
surah not wanting to meet Allah how this
not wanting to meet Allah ultimately on the
day of judgment and then not wanting to
even be alone with your own self because
inevitably being alone with your own self your
conscience start communicating to you start speaking to
you about Allah the way it expresses itself
the ayat with which it expresses itself are
those of inexplicable guilt this is the way
it expresses itself this anxiety that you don't
know where it's coming from like what the
* you're constantly looking to distract yourself drug
yourself numb yourself so you don't have to
feel it and so you have a whole
generation of people who are not okay with
being alone because when you're alone you're meeting
your conscience which is representing to you Allah
and you're unwilling to do that you're unwilling
to do that because the philosophy that you
live with or live by even if you
consider yourself to be a person who has
no interest in philosophy or theology for that
matter you have a theology you have a
philosophy and the bottom line in that is
you don't want to meet Allah so yeah
Rasulullah leave those who do not entertain the
hope of meeting us let them blunder about
in their transgression blindly going around stumbling and
even stumbling around they're not willing to acknowledge
okay hello the light is not on or
if the light is on still we cannot
see let's fix something inside of us so
we stop stumbling oh they're okay stumbling when
man is afflicted by trouble any pain any
suffering he falls on us lying down on
his side sitting or standing and he's really
pushed into that corner distractions won't do and
drugs can't numb you and you're so desperate
of getting out of that painful and distressful
situation all of a sudden your tawheed comes
out all of a sudden you're so spiritual
you're so nice and kind and warm and
all that dedication i'm this time i'm gonna
do it but as soon as we relieve
him of his trouble of his distress he
just goes on with life as before and
then he never called on us yesterday for
the crippling for the trouble that afflicted him
that he wanted us to relieve him of
and that is how the israf or the
transgression the crossing of boundaries for the people
is made alluring for them so pleasing for
them because of what they do whatever they
do of this israf of this transgression it's
it because it's become goodness they have become
a value and there are a lot of
values that are used to justify this life
of transgression when we did destroy many generations
before you when they did wrong when they
were oppressive and their messengers came to them
with clear signs that is how we pay
back and we made you their successors in
the land to see what you do and
when our clear ayat are recited so those
people who do not want to meet us
they say bring us a different quran or
just change this see the kind of religiosity
the kind of spirituality that we're used to
it's so flexible it's so tolerant it's like
play-doh we can make anything out of
it so either you turn this quran into
play-doh or you bring some different play
-doh the kind of play-doh that we've
always enjoyed playing with because this we can't
stand it's asking too much of us we
have a status quo we have a way
of life there's good stuff in it what
isn't that what isn't that enough for you
what's with you and all of this you
want us to give rights to them and
them and them and what's what's with all
of that why why do we have to
be more giving and sacrificing and what's what's
with you what's with you bring a different
quran say ya rasulullah it is not possible
for me to change it on my own
i am not like you the religion that
i'm not i'm bringing is not the religion
that you brought it is how it's so
it's so convenient for you that every religion
every god every idol even christianity even judaism
that was tolerable for you but the quran
isn't how incredible this absolute tolerance that you
expressed whatever happened to that you were those
people anything went any idol goes and no
one did whatever you were the whatever generation
if there ever was one we give them
a run for our money for their money
now we're more whatever anything goes than ever
than any pagan could ever be but they
had a problem with quran with rasulullah like
dude don't you see what we've done with
our religion what kind of a prophet are
you we're not even prophets and we're still
that you know we have that much control
over our religion what can't you do this
we want to share our spirituality don't you
understand that that rasulullah is told to say
no i can't do that not of the
of my own i can't do that arbitrarily
i am i'm submitting to it before i'm
asking anybody else to in attabio illa ma
yuha ilayh all i do is follow what
is revealed to me i am afraid if
i disobey the punishment of a great day
tell them if allah wanted i would not
have recited this upon me nor would he
have made you aware of it you wouldn't
have had any idea that this quran exists
or there allah could have just saved you
the trouble and you've lived a life before
this in front of you are you idiots
don't you have a brain can't you use
your intellect what reason don't you see my
seerah don't you see my life in front
of you if this quran is coming to
you it's coming for a purpose it's not
just random you just think again what are
they saying they're projecting their own their own
standards of religiosity upon rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam
because that's what they did to what they
made out of religion and so they want
him to make the same out of religion
and he's trying to tell them hello listen
when did i ever come off to you
like that kind of a person in my
entire life and somebody who wants this religious
authority or that political authority or this economic
wealth or whatever to loot and plunder and
to just live it up when have i
ever come across as that person that you
now want me to do with revelation what
you've done with your religion so who is
more unjust than the one who fabricates a
lie against allah you're denied his ayat you're
in one of two positions either i am
telling a lie okay then that's a big
big big deal i stand to suffer if
i've done that or you're rejecting his ayats
and they've been brought to you then you're
gonna have to pay in now and without
a doubt the criminals will never succeed of
the two people of the two groups one
rejecting the ayat of allah one presenting the
ayat of allah the possibility of both of
them being right can't be true one of
them is right one of the signs of
picking out which of them are responsible for
and which of them are responsible for justice
history bears witness to the to the justice
of rasulullah that at best at best when
they try their level best when they put
on the most critical of their lenses they
pick out two or three incidents from the
entire life of rasulullah aha see don't you
see how desperate that makes you look i
promise entire life of 23 years all you
could do was find two or three incidents
and those two you are forcing pigeonholing those
incidents according to your own standards how does
that make sense and then the germ of
those who are rejecting him what sort of
a lifestyle do they represent what good has
that brought humanity they worship others besides allah
which neither harms nor benefits them and they
say these are our intercessors before allah tell
them are you going to inform allah what
he doesn't know in the heavens or the
earth oh that's what you want to do
you want to dictate to god you want
to play god he is exalted far above
all of what they associate with him humanity
used to be one homogenous community one big
homogenous community everyone believes the same thing then
they differed then they had and had it
not been for a verdict passed by your
rab a judgment would have been passed between
them allah would have announced his judgment who's
right who's wrong in this ikhtilaf who's on
the right no allah has made this decision
allah has purposefully created humanity such that they're
allowed to proceed so that they are able
to see and work out from the standards
of truth that they're shown from the ayat
that they're given themselves how to acknowledge truth
despite the ikhtilaf now stop crying why can't
all of them be on one page why
can't everyone agree to one thing why can't
they just give us one interpretation and tell
us shut up shut up and how can
you be such babies when it comes to
matters of religiosity and spirituality when you don't
have that standard in any of the other
avenues of your life where the diversity never
troubles you where the ikhtilaf never bothers you
but here it becomes an excuse those who
have perpetrated it doesn't let them off the
hook those who have made this made religion
the ivaj or the crookedness and the muddiness
that they've that they've created to push people
away they're in their own ways responsible and
accountable but their crookedness or their seeking to
make this crooked doesn't mean that there's that
you live by double standards that you live
by double standards of the hundred ways of
treating a particular physical illness that are out
there that are available you will conclude on
whatever it is that you're going to practically
pursue because you're intent on practically pursuing something
the ikhtilaf there never put you off the
randomized control trials of minimal effect sizes never
put you off from following a particular path
of treatment you're willing to try experimental drugs
that's how desperately you want to cling on
to life but when it comes to spiritual
religious affairs I don't know why
is a sign not sent down to him
from his Rab?
tell them the ghayb belongs to Allah he
has the knowledge of the unseen wait I
will wait with you again the Quran's openness
and Rasulullah's openness to let's see what happens
and that's going to be our standard of
truth and when we give mankind a taste
of mercy after an adversity has afflicted them
they immediately start conspiring against our ayat Allah
is swifter in planning for sure our messengers
are recording whatever you plot so after adversity
has gone mercy of Allah has come the
mercy of Allah in itself is an ayah
of Allah but now and whatever commitments you
made after that adversity or during that adversity
now you have to rationalize your betrayal of
those commitments and you start planning and plotting
and rationalizing what do we how do we
you know explain that away so that we
don't have to live up to our own
commitments what do we do with these ayats
that have shown up how do we ignore
them how do we deny them how do
we reject them the point is to make
them practically irrelevant Allah is swifter in planning
I want to take them on my messengers
Allah says our messengers the angels are writing
down everything you're doing he is the one
who enables you to travel in the land
and by sea as well when you're in
a ship and the ships are sailing with
them by a good wind they're so happy
with it there comes a stormy wind and
waves come upon them from every direction and
they think they are surrounded they said we're
done for we're drowning here that's when they
call on Allah dedicated devoted sincere to him
you save us from this we will definitely
be of the most faithful but when he
saves them they go on unduly rebelling on
earth Allah started the passage by saying he
is the rab of the of the regular
storm free travel he is the rab of
the routine mundane life that nothing big dramatic
is going on and your experiences of the
drama or the near death experiences or the
desperate situations was for you to he's just
making sure he he makes his presence felt
his presence is in the mundane routine affairs
he's the rab of all of what goes
on there your inability to see that and
you deny it when you're utterly desperate and
then when you're out of that desperate situation
still you can't see ya ayyuhan naas innama
baghyukum alaa anfusikum people your rebellion is only
against your own self it's like that child
teenager actually adolescent he knows studying is good
for him and there's so many of us
that in therapy we've seen that studying is
good not doing drugs is good drugs are
bad all of that but their insistence why
do I not want to study and why
do I want to continue with drugs because
my parents want me to study and they
want me to not do drugs now just
out of rebellion because they just want so
much control over my life which in itself
is problematic but nevertheless knowing what's good yet
not pursuing it and persisting on rebellion and
you ask who is it that you're hurting
I know it's my own future and my
own prospects that are getting hurt but still
I'm so angry at that even let's talk
about that why are you so angry against
God what is making you so resentful what
is it that you thought you should have
gotten and you didn't and he owed it
to you what contract did he sign with
you where did he not when he was
your god of bargains not live up to
his end of the bargain are you sure
it was him on the other side signing
the contract and not your own desire are
you sure let's talk about that your rebellion
is against your own selves you're just putting
your own selves in perdition just for fleeting
enjoyment the high that you're going to get
oh my god someone's got to try it
why don't it's just fleeting it's for a
little bit of time then eventually you're going
to return to us and we will inform
you all what you used to do the
example of this life is like water which
we sent down from the sky the plants
of the earth absorb from which both men
from human beings and cattle do eat until
the earth puts on its garment and looks
so attractive and its people assume that they
have a capability over it all of this
is very meaningful the rain, the crop, the
beauty, everything but the problem is when you
consider in that state when the fields are
in their full pomp and glory so strong
you forget that that's not how it always
was and you forget that this is not
going to remain that it is for this
temporary time period if you miss out on
this critical time period you don't harvest it
it's gone it'll wilt and die away but
they felt like they got all full control
over they got it they pull it off
they made the earth produce that crop then
our command comes over it we turn it
into a harvested crop you thought you had
time before you could harvest guess what Allah
comes and takes it all away what you
gonna do as if it was never there
yesterday that is how we spell out our
signs for a people to reflect let's break
here and continue inshaAllah from tomorrow