Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 17
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
Last
night
we completed Surah Al-Mu'minun and Surah An
-Nur.
Surah Al-Mu'minun is a Meccan Surah and
it talks about the issue of Iman and
getting closer to Allah SWT and denounces the
issues of Shirk.
The sections that I want to focus on
are certain verses which Allah SWT addresses the
people of Mecca with and they actually would
be even relevant today about the excuses that
people have of not following the truth.
So he asks a few questions to the
people who are denying Islam and denying the
truth.
First of all he says, أَفَنَمْ يَتْدَبَّرُ الْقَوْلَ
أَمْ جَاءَهُمْ مَا رَمْيَاكِ آبَاءَهُمْ الْأَوَّلِينَ Did they
not ponder the truth?
Or, أَمْ جَاءَهُمْ First of all, the first
thing is, did they not ponder the truth,
meaning the Quran?
All they have to do, open up the
Quran, read it, focus on it, seek the
truth in it and they will find the
truth.
This is the first thing.
The second thing is, أَمْ جَاءَهُمْ مَا رَمْيَاكِ
آبَاءَهُمْ الْأَوَّلِينَ Did something unique come to them
that did not come to their forefathers?
What it means is, that their forefathers and
the things that happened to them, previous nations,
that were really not too far from their
time, they saw what happened to them when
their Anbiya A.S. came to them and
they rejected them.
And their stories were prevalent even amongst the
Quraysh.
People knew what happened to the people of
Thamud, what happened to the people of Madian,
what happened to the people of Nuh A
.S. So these stories were prevalent, especially because
the people of the book, the Jews and
the Christians, were around them and it was
mentioned in their books also.
So, the question is, that didn't they understand
what came to their forefathers?
Didn't they see what happened to their forefathers?
This is the second thing.
So, first the Quran, secondly not taking a
lesson from what happened to their forefathers.
أَمْ لَمْ يَعْرِفُوا رَسُولَهُمْ فَهُمْ لَهُمْ مُنكِرُونَ Or
didn't they recognize their Prophet, that they are
denying him?
So, the Prophet S.A.W. was not,
and the truth was that all the Anbiya
A.S., they came from their own nations.
The people had seen them growing up.
They had seen their habits, they had seen
their attributes, they had seen their good qualities.
But the problem was, whenever the Prophet stood
up with a message of truth, they immediately
seemed to denounce it.
So, the third question is, أَمْ لَمْ يَعْرِفُوا
رَسُولَهُمْ فَهُمْ لَهُمْ مُنكِرُونَ Or didn't they recognize
their Prophet for the first 40 years before
he became a Prophet, that now they are
denouncing him?
أَمْ يَقُولُونَ بِهِ جِنَّةً The fourth thing is,
are they saying that he has a Jinn
in him?
Is he crazy?
All this time, again, before 40 years, you
had gone to him for advice.
You had given him a status, you had
called him a Sadiq, you had called him
Al-Amin.
And now you are saying, he has a
Jinn?
How can that be?
You are saying now he is crazy?
How can that be?
The reality is, Allah SWT says, بَلْ جَاءَهُمْ
بِالْحَقِّ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ لِلْحَقِّ كَارِهُونَ The reality is that
the Prophet SAW brought the truth to them,
but they just don't want to hear the
truth.
So, this is the bottom line really.
Any person who doesn't accept Islam to be
the truth, he really is closing his eyes
to the truth, he doesn't want to know
the truth, and truth to him is, you
know, it may be right in front of
his eyes, but he is blind to it,
he doesn't want to see it.
وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ لِلْحَقِّ كَارِهُونَ And Allah SWT says that,
you know, each and every person, they have
their own desires.
They want their religion to be according to
their own desires.
But this cannot be.
There can only be one truth, there can
only be one way, there can only be
one guidance, and there can only be one
God, one worthy of worship.
Allah says, وَلَوِ اتَّبَعَ الْحَقُّ أَهْوَاءَهُمْ لَفَسَدَتِ السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضُ وَمَنْ فِيهِنَ If the truth followed their
desires, if the truth followed their desires, then
what would happen?
The heavens and the earth would become corrupted,
and everybody within them would be corrupted.
So, just think for a minute, just think
of it from a worldly perspective, just think
that the roads, there is 161 close by
here, if somebody chooses, says, I want to
just drive 30 miles per hour on this
road, okay, he's going to block the traffic,
and that's a very hazardous situation.
Another person, at 95 miles per hour, or
100 miles per hour, again, he's going too
fast, and he's going to be a hazard
to the traffic, he's going to kill somebody.
The third person, is the one that goes
according to the actual speed limit.
What's the speed limit on 161?
70.
70 on 161.
Okay, so if everybody goes at the correct
speed, then the traffic will move along smoothly.
But if each and every driver wants to
do his own thing, then the whole traffic
is going to mess up.
This is just a small road.
Now just imagine if every single person in
the world just wants to follow his own
desires, wants to follow his own ways, and
the truth is supposed to follow their desires,
then what's going to happen?
Everything is going to become corrupted.
And this is what Allah SWT is saying.
There are two or three meanings of the
word Al-Haq here.
Some scholars say it means the Qur'an.
So if the Qur'an followed their desires,
if the rulings came down according to their
desires in the Qur'an, then there will
be corruption.
Another meaning is, if Allah SWT followed their
desires, then there will be corruption.
Only Allah SWT can do what He wants,
because He is all-wise, He cannot, and
He will not follow the desires of His
people, of His slaves.
But the main, if you look at the
context of the verses, it basically means the
truth of the message, the truth of the
message of Islam.
If it follows people's desires, then there will
be corruption on the earth.
Another meaning of this verse is, لو كان
فيهما آلهة إلا الله لفسدط If there were
other gods other than Allah SWT in the
heavens and the earth, then the heavens and
the earth would become corrupted.
What does that mean?
That if you follow the message of the
Mushrikeen of Mecca in particular, who are committing
shirk with Allah SWT, then the principle is,
that if there is more than one god,
then there will be corruption on the earth.
How so?
Because if you have two bosses in one
company, it never works.
One wants to take his company a certain
way, the other wants to take his company
another way.
So there is only going to be one
CEO.
There is only going to be one boss.
So if this is the case with one
company, then there will be always disagreements within
that company.
What do you think about controlling the seven
heavens and the seven earths?
Now somebody might object to that, and say
that what if there are more than one
god, but then they agree with each other.
So then that also is problematic.
That also is problematic.
Why?
Because if they have different opinions, and then
one then says, okay, I agree with your
opinion.
That means he submitted to the other god.
And it's not from the status of a
god to submit to others.
He cannot be matboor.
He cannot be tabia.
God is always matboor.
So again, there is a problem with that.
So one god is higher and the other
is lower.
So the lower god is not worthy of
being worshipped, because he himself is submitting.
So whichever way you look at it, having
more than one god will cause corruption on
the earth.
So Allah SWT says that if we took
this understanding that the mushrikeen of Mecca have,
or any polytheist has, then there will be
corruption on the earth.
This is another meaning of this verse.
Allah SWT again emphasizes, we brought their dhikr,
their remembrance, the Quran to them, but they
want to turn away from the Quran and
the reminder that has come to them.
Another question Allah SWT asks, and tas'aluhum
kharjan, are you asking them, oh Prophet of
Allah, for any kind of monetary compensation?
Are you asking them for money, wealth, gold,
riches?
You're not.
So in fact, the mushrikeen of Mecca actually
came to the Prophet, and gave him all
of the things that any person could wish
for.
Offered them.
They offered him money, they offered him property,
they offered him leadership, they offered him women,
but he refused every single one of them.
He said, if you were to put even
the moon in my right hand, or the
sun in my right hand, the moon in
my left hand, meaning if you were to
do something as huge as that, I would
still not leave this propagation of the message
that I'm spreading.
So Allah is telling the Prophet, are you
asking them for anything financial, that they are
thinking of that to be a hindrance from
the truth?
The compensation of your Lord is better than
that.
You're not asking them for anything, and you
know that the compensation that Allah SWT is
going to give you, that is better for
you.
You are the best of the, and He
is the best of the providers, He is
the best of the sustainers, who is the
best raziq.
Now Allah SWT tells the Prophet, O Prophet
of Allah, you are not doing anything wrong.
You are doing exactly what you are supposed
to be doing.
Indeed, you are guiding them to the straight
path.
Those people that don't want to have iman
in Allah and the akhirah, and all of
the things that they are supposed to believe
in, they are basically misguided.
They are turning away from the truth, and
they are misguided.
If we had mercy on them, and we
removed any kind of harm that befell them,
then they would continue to persist in their
misguidance.
And then this is again, something that I
brought up earlier in the month of Ramadan,
the issue of the people that said to
the Prophet SAW, and it happened to the
previous Ameer SAW too, especially Musa SAW, 6
or 9 plagues came to the Bani Israel.
Each time the plague came, the people said
to Musa SAW, Ask Allah SWT to remove
this plague, and we will believe in you.
Each time that plague was removed, they again
became misguided.
So Allah SWT is saying over here, that
if we had mercy on them, and removed
any hardship from them, then they would continue
to be misguided, they would continue to wander
around in their misguidance and transgression.
And then the verses, they finish with Allah
SWT saying that indeed, we punished them, we
gave them a punishment, even if they gave
them a punishment, then they would not submit
themselves to Allah SWT, and they would not
be humble in front of Allah SWT.
Even in both situations.
So removing punishment, and even in the state
of punishment, these people are so stubborn, they
don't want to believe in Allah SWT.
And then ultimately what's going to happen?
When we open upon them a door of
very severe punishment, meaning the punishment of the
hereafter, then what's going to happen?
Then they're going to be really deep in
it, they're going to be involved in it,
meaning this refers to the punishment of the
hereafter, they cannot pull out of that punishment
at that time.
Then by that time it's going to be
too late.
Now if you pay attention to all of
these verses, these things are things that we
see on a day to day basis too.
Any person who doesn't want to believe in
Allah SWT, he will have these same kinds
of excuses.
Nowadays there are more things, character assassination of
the Prophet SAW, that he married a minor,
or there was a time where he killed
many prisoners, or things of that nature.
Assassinate the character of the Prophet SAW, don't
look at the message, assassinate the character, so
basically everything else becomes null and void.
This is exactly what the people of Quraysh
used to do, they used to say the
Prophet SAW is a poet, he is crazy,
and he is a soothsayer, and so on
and so forth, to try to dampen the
message, the truth with which he came with.
The people who actually heard the Quran, they
had no doubt whatsoever.
They immediately became Muslim, they immediately accepted Islam.
The main thing is for them to actually
research, and open their heart to the truth.
If they don't open their heart to the
truth, if they don't want to accept the
truth, then Allah SWT will seal their hearts.
Somebody actually wrote to me a few days
ago, and I'm listening to the translation of
the Quran, why does Allah SWT keep on
saying that Allah has sealed their hearts?
Their hearts are sealed.
Well if Allah has sealed their hearts, then
how are they going to have Iman?
This is not what it means.
It means that they don't want Iman in
the first place, so therefore Allah SWT has
sealed their hearts, and then guidance will not
come to it.
All they need to do is want to
be guided.
All they need to do is want the
truth, and then Allah SWT will not seal
their hearts.
So sealing of the hearts occurs after people
persist in their misguidance.
So this was Surah Al-Mu'minoon.
Surah Al-Nur is a very beautiful surah
with so many lessons.
And most lessons which are related to social
issues.
The issue of adultery, the issue of how
to deal with adultery, and especially the big
sin of making accusations against a pious and
a chaste woman.
This is mentioned.
The issue of how to deal with your
children, how to give them the correct Tarbiyah
as they're growing up.
That's mentioned.
How to enter into people's houses.
What is the ruling and regulation of going
to people's houses?
Are you supposed to just go into the
house, barge in, open the door and walk
in?
This is mentioned.
The issue of eating at people's houses.
With whose houses should you have no problem
eating at?
So the relatives that are close to you,
Allah SWT says that there's no problem in
eating at the houses of your fathers, your
children, your brothers, sisters, etc.
There's no problem at all.
And then how to deal with elders.
The respect given to elders, the scholars.
That is also mentioned in this Surah.
Summary is basically that this Surah deals with
social issues and it's a very beautiful Surah
to learn and contemplate over if you want
to know the rulings about this.
Another thing is mentioned is the issue of
the dress of the women, guiding the eyes,
guiding the chastity, what kind of make-up
is a woman allowed to wear in public,
what kind of clothing is she allowed to
wear in public.
But the main issue is the lowering of
the gaze.
That's mentioned in detail in this Surah.
So in Surah An-Nur.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us Sufiq
to understand and practice what has been said
in that.
Al-Fatiha.