Zia Sheikh – Ramadan 2015 Khatira Day 17
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Surah Al-Hijr is the first Surah in
the 14th Juz.
So, we know that the Kuffar of Quraysh,
they continuously used to ask the Prophet ﷺ
to perform miracles for them.
And in Surah Al-Ra'd, specifically, the demands
that they made were mentioned in terms of
asking the Prophet ﷺ that look, if you
believe, if we believe that you are a
Prophet, then through this Qur'an of yours,
why don't you do the following?
Why don't you move these mountains that are
around Mecca?
Why don't you cultivate the land so that
we start growing food and things around it?
As you know, around Mecca, the mountains are
basically just rock.
And it's very difficult to cultivate anything around
that area.
As Ibrahim ﷺ, when he was leaving his
family there, what did he say?
He said that I'm leaving my family in
a valley which has no vegetation whatsoever.
So, they said that look, why don't you
remove these mountains and make the land flat
and then make the land in such a
way that we can start growing plants in
it, then we'll believe you.
So, Allah ﷻ revealed the verse which is
in Surah Al-Ra'd, وَلَوْ أَنَّ قُرْآنًا سُيِّرَتْ
بِهِ الْجِبَالُ أَوْ قُطِيَتْ بِهِ الْأَرْضُ أَوْ قُلِّمَ
بِهِ الْمَوْتَى The third thing that they asked
was that our forefathers, they passed away centuries
ago.
We want to have a chat with them.
We want to talk to them.
So, make them come alive so we can
talk to them.
So, Allah ﷻ revealed this verse that if
there was such a recitation through which these
things could happen, that the mountains could be
moved, the earth could be cut up and
cultivated, or that you could talk with the
dead people, then this would be the Qur
'an.
There's what's called in Arabic, قَلَام مَحْذُوف in
the sentence that this would be the Qur
'an that you could do it through.
But Allah ﷻ then continues, بَلِّ اللَّهِ الْأَمْرُ
جَمِيعًا Allah ﷻ is in full control of
everything and He chooses what to show and
what not to show.
And the reality was that whenever these people
asked for miracles, Allah ﷻ didn't show them
any miracles.
And the reason for that was that if
Allah ﷻ shows a miracle that the people
demand and then on top of that they
don't believe, the next step is the punishment
of Allah ﷻ.
So, it was actually a mercy of Allah
ﷻ that He did not send down these
miracles.
And then the other thing is that when
we talk about Iman, Iman is always Iman
bil ghayb, Iman on the unseen, Iman on
the hidden.
If everything becomes apparent, if we ask the
Prophet to show us the angels, to show
us the punishment in the grave, and he
shows it to us, then after that, what
is the concept of Iman?
Now we've seen it, now we've seen the
angels.
So, that is not Iman anymore, that is,
you know, that is believing in Mushahada, what
we've seen with our eyes.
So, what we are supposed to have is
Iman bil ghayb, Iman on the unseen, Iman
on the hidden, something that we cannot see.
So, the whole concept of Iman, it basically
goes down the drain when you just continue
to ask for these types of miracles.
The next ayah is towards the end of
Surah Ar-Ra'd.
The Prophet ﷺ was often criticized for simply
being a human.
Okay, so, you know, they said that how
come he's a human and he has a
wife, at the time it was revealed it
was Khadijah.
How come he has kids?
And last night we heard another verse which
is similar in nature, that ma li hadhar
rasool, yaqtul ta'am wa yamshi fil aswaq.
You know, what's up with this Prophet?
He eats food and he goes shopping, he
goes in the marketplaces.
Okay, as if being a Prophet automatically means
that a person is not a human anymore
and you don't have needs and necessities anymore.
So, Allah ﷻ revealed a verse saying, wa
laqad arsalna rusulan min qablik wa ja'amna
lahum azwajan wa dhurriya.
O Prophet of Allah, all the Amia' that
came, meaning the majority of them, Isa ﷺ
was the exception, who didn't have a wife,
but Allah ﷻ said that I sent many
Prophets before you, O Prophet, and they had
azwaj wa dhurriya.
They had wives and they had children.
Okay, so having wives and children is not
something that is contrary to the teachings of,
contrary to the rules of Prophethood.
So, this also we learn from this that
many people think that if I become religious
then I have to just give up everything.
I have to give up my worldly life
and I have to give up things that
I enjoy and I have to just become
like, you know, a monk who lives in
a cave and this is not what Islam
is about.
People are afraid of that and that's why
they don't want to adopt religion.
They think that they have to give up
everything.
The reality is that Islam doesn't forbid you
from enjoying your life and having a good
life and having wives, having children, having a
nice house, as long as all of these
things are done within the boundaries of Sharia,
within the boundaries of the teachings of Allah
ﷻ.
In fact, many people have this understanding that
having wealth is something which is contrary to
the teachings of Islam.
Whenever Allah ﷻ mentions wealth in the Quran,
He uses the word Fadl, Fadl, a blessing.
So, wealth by itself is not something bad.
It's how you earn it that makes a
difference, how you spend it that makes a
difference and then you'll be held accountable.
If you earn it in a wrong way
or you spend it in a wrong way,
then you'll be held accountable for it.
But wealth by itself, there's actually nothing wrong
with it and of course you have to
fulfill the obligation of Zakat and giving charity
from it so that other people can benefit
from the wealth that Allah ﷻ has given
you.
So, being religious doesn't necessarily mean that you
just give up your worldly life, you continue
with your worldly life and at the same
time, prepare yourself for the hereafter.
This is what we learn from these verses.
Going on to Surah Al-Hijr now, we
have some people who when giving lectures, they
just want to focus on the hellfire, they
want to focus on the punishment of Allah
ﷻ.
Whereas if you look at the teaching of
the Quran, there's always a balance between the
two.
If Allah ﷻ mentions verses of Jahannam, then
He will also mention verses of Jannah and
there's always this balance that Allah ﷻ creates
when He is talking about the hereafter.
The Prophet ﷺ himself used to tell people,
بَشِّرُوا وَلَا تُنَفِّرُوا يَسِّرُوا وَلَا تُعَسِّرُوا Give people
glad tidings, give people hope, give them something
to aspire for and don't make them run
away, don't make them hate Islam, don't make
things difficult for them.
So, this is what happens that when we
start, for example, instilling into our children, just,
you know, Allah is going to punish you
for this, you're going to go to the
hellfire for this and Allah is going to
become angry at you for this, then they
will become a distancing of the children from
the Deen of Allah ﷻ.
And the reality is that we need to
create within our children and even within ourselves
a love for Allah ﷻ and a hope
in His mercy and something to aspire to
and when people basically just focus on Jahannam,
Jahannam, Jahannam, people basically get scared away.
And that is why there's a very important
principle in Islam which is called Iman is
between the hope and the fear of Allah
ﷻ, hope in His mercy and fear of
His punishment.
The balance is very, very important.
Why are we supposed to have hope?
So that, you know, we turn to His
mercy and we have hope in His mercy
and we should be afraid of His punishment
so that we don't fall into the trap
of what people think that Allah ﷻ, I
can do whatever I like and He will
not punish me.
And on the other hand, we have to
believe in His punishment.
Why?
Because if a person, you know, thinks that
the same thing, that if a person thinks
that Allah ﷻ is going to if He
is Ghafoor Raheem, so He's not going to
punish me.
And we have to believe in His mercy.
Why?
Because many people, they commit sin after sin
after sin and then they think Allah is
never going to forgive me so I may
as well just continue to do what I'm
doing.
So this is why this very important principle
of Al-Iman Bain Al-Khawfi Wa Raja
is found in the Qur'an and in
the way Allah ﷻ expresses both Jannah and
Jahannam in the Qur'an.
For example, Allah ﷻ says in Surah Al
-Hijr and there's a riwayat of Salman Al
-Farsi ﷺ he said that when I heard
these verses I became very upset and despondent
thinking that, you know, I'm going to it
looks like I'm going to end up in
a hellfire.
What were those verses?
وَإِنَّ جَهَنَّمَ لَمَوْعِدُهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ لَهَا سَبَعَةُ أَبْوَابٌ لِكُلِّ
بَابٍ مِّنْهُمْ جُزْءٌ مَّقْصُونَ Allah ﷻ says, indeed,
the hellfire is their place of promise, all
of them.
This Jahannam, it has seven doors and every
door will have a fixed share of people
going through it.
So Salman Al-Farsi said when I heard
these verses I became very sad and depressed
that there are going to be so many
people going to the hellfire because of what
Allah ﷻ mentioned here.
Then Allah ﷻ revealed the following verses إِنَّ
الْمُتَّقِينَ فِي جَنَّاتِ وَعُيُونِ أُدْخُلُوهَا بِسَلَامٍ آمِنِينَ Indeed,
the people of Taqwa, they're going to be
in gardens and in springs.
Enter into them with peace.
Full of aman and without any kind of
fear.
That Allah ﷻ says that the ghil that
is in their hearts it will be removed.
So what does that mean?
Say for example there is some problem that
you have.
Somebody says to you that how about I
guarantee you paradise if you're allowed to be
with that person that you really hate in
this world.
You hate that person but if you say
that you will live with that person in
paradise Allah ﷻ is going to give you
paradise.
So all of us are going to jump
at that opportunity, right?
That okay, I'll get along with this person
in Jannah just so that I can get
into Jannah.
Allah ﷻ says that actually there will be
no hatred in the hereafter.
Allah ﷻ is going to remove all those
illnesses and impurities from our hearts before we
are entered into paradise.
And that is again something that we need
to understand that Jannah is pure.
So only pure people can enter and the
purity of the heart has to be there
also.
Allah ﷻ is going to remove it.
And how is it going to be removed?
It is going to be removed, there's a
couple of riwayat.
One is it's mentioned that there's going to
be a spring before people enter into paradise
and people are going to be washed in
that and when they wash themselves then that
impurity is going to be removed and then
and only then they'll be entered into paradise.
But in any case, even if people are
sworn enemies and they end up in paradise
together there's not going to be any hatred.
Allah ﷻ says وَنَزَعْنَا مَا فِي سُدُورِهِم مِّنْ
غِلِ إِخْوَانًا عَلَىٰ سُرِّ المُتَقَابِلِينَ We'll remove that
impurity from their hearts and they're going to
be brothers, they're going to be reclining, facing
each other on couches and beds, relaxing in
Jannah, relaxing in paradise.
And then two verses later actually there's another
example of that balance that Allah ﷻ creates.
Allah ﷻ says نَبِّي عِبَادِي أَنِّي أَنَا الْغَفُورُ
الرَّحِيمُ Inform the people, inform my slaves that
I am Al-Ghufur Rahim, I am forgiving,
I am merciful.
وَأَنَّ عَذَابِي هُوَ لَعَذَابُ الْأَلِيمُ But at the
same time remember that my punishment is very
painful also.
So again that balance is being created just
two verses later.
Finally, towards the end of Surah Al-Hijr
is something that we need to learn a
lesson from especially in this day and age
when our beloved Prophet ﷺ is being ridiculed.
Cartoons are being drawn about him.
Movies are being made about him.
There are websites criticizing the Prophet ﷺ and
saying bad things about him.
There's a whole actually industry which is set
out to defame our beloved Prophet ﷺ.
Now this is not something new.
This was something that was going on at
his time also.
He had incidents where people and even thinking
about it makes us cringe for a regular
human being let alone our beloved Prophet ﷺ
where the Prophet was thrown trash upon him
and feces were thrown on him.
You know, waste, human waste was thrown on
him.
People used to joke about him and ridicule
him as he used to walk past.
They used to say bad things about him
and they used to wink at each other
and nudge each other that this is that
crazy guy who's spreading around this message of
worshipping one God and people used to just
mock him and just ridicule him.
What does Allah ﷻ say about that situation
and what can we learn from it?
Allah ﷻ says إِنَّا كَفَيْنَاكَ الْمُسْتَحْزِئِينَ O Prophet
of Allah, we are enough for you when
it comes to the people who are ridiculing
you.
We're enough for you.
So we see even despite all of the
propaganda against the Prophet ﷺ, we still find
that there are people interested in learning about
Islam and still we find that people are
becoming Muslims.
إِنَّا كَفَيْنَاكَ الْمُسْتَحْزِئِينَ Allah ﷻ says we're going
to be enough for the people that are
ridiculing.
Okay, so the Prophet was told that Allah
is enough.
Who are those people?
الَّذِينَ يَجْعَلُونَ مَعَ اللَّهِ إِلَهًا آخَرٌ فَسَوْفَ يَعْلَمُونَ
They are those people that are making a
God with other than Allah ﷻ.
It's very close that they're going to find
out.
Allah ﷻ is going to deal with them
in a very close time.
وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ يَضِيقُ صَدْرُكَ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ And
indeed we know that your heart becomes tight
because of what they're saying.
Of course when we hear these things about
our Prophet ﷺ we find that cartoons are
being drawn.
Because we love our Prophet ﷺ so much
of course our hearts become tight.
And of course we become upset.
And of course we want to do something.
But what does Allah ﷻ say?
I'm enough for these people.
You don't have to do so much that
your doing becomes counterproductive.
Sometimes we basically lose it and do things
that actually have the opposite effect.
Like for example we have this whole issue
of Salman Rushdie in the 90s, right?
Where he wrote a book which was really
it's not a book worth reading.
It wasn't any kind of special type of
literature.
But because there was a few verses which
were blasphemous against Islam the Muslims took it
upon themselves that they had to boycott this
book and have protests and worldwide condemnation.
And what happened?
A completely unknown author became famous and started
getting book awards and Booker Prize and Pulitzer
Prize and whatever other prizes there are for
authors.
Completely unknown guy became famous.
So we sometimes become our worst enemy by
doing things which actually become counterproductive.
Okay, so we need to be a little
bit more wise and understand that Allah ﷻ
is watching everything.
Even in his time the Prophet ﷺ could
have been told to actually raise arms against
such people.
But Allah ﷻ said وَلَقَدْ نَعْلَمُ أَنَّكَ يَلْضِيقُ
سَدْرُكَ بِمَا يَقُولُونَ What did he actually tell
the Prophet ﷺ to do?
فَسَبِّحْ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّكَ وَكُمْ مِّنَ السَّاجِدِينَ Continue to
praise your Lord and become amongst those people
that prostrate to Allah ﷻ.
Turn to Allah.
Glorify Allah ﷻ.
Allah ﷻ is pure.
سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ الحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ This is
what we are supposed to do.
وَكُمْ مِّنَ السَّاجِدِينَ And become from those people
that turn to Allah ﷻ and prostrate to
Him.
وَاعْبُدْ رَبَّكَ حَتَّى يَأْتِيَكَ الْيَقِينَ And continue to
worship your Lord until الْيَقِين meaning death comes
to you.
So this is a huge lesson that we
learn from these verses that what should we
be doing when it comes to these kinds
of incidents.
More often than not it is better to
ignore these types of things and leave those
people to Allah ﷻ and let Allah ﷻ
deal with them.
Allah will deal with them in His own
time when He wants to.
If not in this world then certainly in
the hereafter.
What we need to do is focus on
ourselves on our cleanliness or cleansing ourselves purifying
ourselves turning to Allah ﷻ making more ibadah
making his tasbih and becoming good examples of
Islam so that we can be ambassadors of
this beautiful religion and people can start following
us and taking and saying that this is
what Islam is about and we want to
be part of this.
This is what we are supposed to be
doing inshaAllah.
I pray that Allah ﷻ gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what is being said
in the hadith.