Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 19
AI: Summary ©
The importance of accepting and embracing Islam as a means of faith and acceptance is emphasized in the curriculum of Islam. The importance of acceptance as a means of faith and acceptance is emphasized, as it is crucial for individuals to strengthen their faith in becoming accepted. The importance of accepting and embracing Islam as a means of faith and acceptance is also emphasized. The importance of accepting and embracing Islam as a means of faith and acceptance is emphasized. The importance of accepting and embracing Islam as a means of faith and acceptance is also emphasized. The importance of accepting and embracing Islam as a means of faith and acceptance is also emphasized. The importance of accepting and embracing Islam as a means of faith and acceptance is also emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
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 the 20th Juz, which
comprises of the completion of Surah An-Naml,
Surah Al-Qasas, and part of Surah Al
-Ankabut.
I just want to focus on the beginning
of Surah Al-Ankabut, which is a Makki
Surah.
And as we mentioned before, Makki Surahs tend
to focus on Iman, the Hereafter, and the
denouncement of Shirk.
So, as you know, at the beginning of
Islam, when people started becoming Muslim, especially in
the Makki period, there was a lot of
turmoil and a lot of difficulty for the
first Muslims, to a point that many of
them used to get thrown out of their
houses, many of them were isolated from their
families, many were boycotted.
So, this difficulty, obviously, used to be burdensome
for the believers.
And they used to come to the Prophet,
and complain about these issues.
And say that, when is the help of
Allah SWT coming?
It is mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah, Do
you think that you are going to enter
Paradise, and the example of those people that
came before you has not touched you yet?
Difficulty and hardship came to them, and they
were shaken, until the Prophet and the people
of Iman, they all said, when is the
help of Allah SWT going to come down?
Allah SWT declares that when this happens, be
aware that indeed the help of Allah SWT
is close.
So, the point that this Surah, the beginning
of the Surah, makes to those people that
were going through those difficulties, and actually to
all of us that claim to be believers,
is that we will be tested by Allah
SWT.
There will be exams from Allah SWT to
test our mettle, to test our endurance, to
test whether we are true in our claim
as believers.
Are we truly believers or not?
So, that's going to come in the form
of hardship, difficulty, sickness, maybe a natural disaster,
problems within your community, problems within the family,
there's going to be ups and downs, and
there's never going to be a situation where
everything is going to be 100% stable,
everything is going to be rosy, that doesn't
happen.
There's always going to be some form of
a test that you have to endure, and
you have to go through.
So, right at the beginning of the Surah,
Allah SWT, after saying Alif Lam Meem, which
is from the Huluful Muqatta'at, He says,
Did the people think that they can just
say, Amanna, we have Iman, and they're not
going to be tested?
Are they going to be just left alone
after they say Amanna, and they're not going
to be tested?
Allah says, Indeed, we've tested the people that
came before them.
All the nations that came before, they went
through difficulty and hardship, and they went through
a lot of turbulence when they accepted Iman.
So, this is the same situation that's going
to come for everybody.
Indeed, we have tested the people that came
before them.
The wording here is very, very strong.
Here the word, Laya'lamanna, is mentioned twice.
That didn't need to be done.
You only need to mention that once.
Then the wording itself, Ya'lamu, means Allah
SWT is going to find out.
Say, Ya'lamu, this is the real, actual,
original word.
But then if you want to put stress
on it, you can put stress on it
by putting a laam at the beginning, laam
ta'keed, laya'lamu.
And a laam ta'keed at the end,
on the second word, laya'lamu.
But there is an extra level of stress
over here.
And that is the noon ta'keed at
the end of these words, both of them.
So, laya'lamu, ya'lamu means He knows.
And laya'lamu means, certainly, He will know.
And laya'lamanna, it means, most absolutely, certainly,
He will know.
So, most absolutely, certainly, with no doubt whatsoever.
Allah SWT, He is going to know who
tells the truth.
And again, He repeats it, most certainly, absolutely,
Allah SWT is going to know the people
who lie.
What does that mean?
That means that Allah SWT will test you.
And He will find out who is true
in His claim of belief and who is
lying in His claim of belief.
Because the person who has belief, when he
is tested by Allah SWT, what does he
do?
He just accepts that this is the decree
of Allah.
And he accepts that Allah SWT is testing
him.
And he knows, fa-innama al-usri yusra,
innama al-usri yusra.
Indeed, with every difficulty there is ease, with
every difficulty there is ease.
And he waits for that ease to open
up.
In the meantime, just turning to Allah SWT,
focusing his attention to Him, making dua to
Him, asking Allah to open up that ease
quickly because of the fact that we ourselves
are weak.
But understanding that this is decreed by Allah
and it is written by Allah SWT, and
there is no way that you can counter
it.
So the truthful one will do that.
As for the one who is lying about
his iman, immediately he is going to start
complaining and wailing and saying things which are
words of kufr and disbelief.
And Allah describes that in another verse in
the Quran.
Many people, they just worship Allah SWT on
the edge.
fa-in asabahu khair, itma an-nabih, wa
-in asabatuhu fitnah, in khalaba ala wujhih.
As long as good is coming, as long
as the situation is favourable for him, he
will continue to be a good believer, he
will continue to be at least a good
worshipper, he will go through the motions of
worshipping.
And when difficulty comes, he will turn around
and he will turn his back on Islam.
And he will say that I was worshipping
Allah for so long and this is how
he pays me back.
This is how the person who has weak
iman reacts to difficulty.
The one who has strong iman and strong
conviction, it makes him even more steadfast.
And this is what is meant here, that
Allah will most certainly find out the people
who are true, and he will most certainly
find out the people who are lying about
their iman.
And that will come in the form of
tests.
The next thing Allah says, am hasiba allatheena
ya'amaluna sayi'ati ayn yasbiqoona sa'a
ma yahkumoon.
Do the people that are doing bad deeds,
do they think that they can beat us?
That they can outrun us?
Outrun Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?
How long are they going to run?
How long can they run away from Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala?
As much as in this world a person
can run away from justice until he dies,
right?
After he dies, if he didn't get justice
in this world, if he didn't pay back
the people that he wronged in this world,
then obviously he has to meet Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala in the hereafter.
Nobody is going to run away forever.
So again a very powerful statement.
Do the people that did bad, do they
think that they are going to outrun us?
Outrun Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala?
Sa'a ma yahkumoon.
What a bad judgement they have.
Man kaana yarju liqa'a Allah, fa inna
ajala Allahi la'at.
Whoever has the hope of meeting Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, then the time of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is coming.
So the word yarju here, it means, the
real meaning is hope.
But some scholars actually say, in the context
of the wording around it, the ayah before
it, it said that the person who did
bad, he cannot outrun Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala.
So the next verse, some scholars they say,
it refers to a person who is afraid
of death.
Why is he afraid of death?
Why does a person be afraid of dying?
He is only afraid of dying because he
knows he isn't prepared to meet Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Either because he didn't do what he is
supposed to do as a believer, or he
wronged people, he wronged Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, he didn't spend his life as he
is supposed to spend it, as obviously now
he is afraid to meet Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
So man kaana yarju liqa'a Allah, fa
inna ajala Allahi la'at.
So this can mean, in the context, whoever
is afraid of meeting Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala, then there is no point in being
afraid, it's going to come.
Whether you are afraid or not, the time
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is going
to come.
However, if you look at the real wording,
it means whoever has the hope of meeting
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, meaning a person
who is a true believer, he is obviously
hoping to meet Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
very soon, because he wants to get out
of this world and its pains and its
trials and its tribulations and its difficulties, and
he wants to get the ease of the
hereafter and the paradise that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala has promised him, and the bliss
of looking at Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
and seeing him and meeting him, so obviously
for him there is a hope, fa inna
ajala Allahi la'at, that time is going
to come and he will meet Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
He is all-hearing and he is all
-knowing.
Whoever strives, he is striving for himself.
Whoever does good deeds in this world, he
is doing it for his own benefit.
Allah doesn't benefit from it at all.
Allah is Ghani.
He is carefree.
He doesn't need anything, he doesn't need anybody.
He doesn't need our worship.
He doesn't need our qiyam.
He doesn't need our siyam.
He doesn't need our iman.
He doesn't need anything from us.
But when we do these good deeds, this
is for our own benefit.
Other scholars, they interpret this verse slightly different.
The person who makes jihad, and he makes
the jihad for his own ulterior motives, meaning
a person he is claiming that he is
making jihad, he is striving, he is fighting,
he is going out to seemingly propagate the
word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but
he is doing it for his own ulterior
motive.
He is doing it maybe to show other
people that he is very brave.
Or he is doing it to get the
spoils of war.
Or he is doing it to get some
land.
It is mentioned in a hadith, the Prophet
ﷺ was asked that a person who fights
for honour, a person who fights for the
spoils of war, a person who fights for
land, which one is fi sabirillah ya Rasulullah?
Which of these is fi sabirillah?
The Prophet ﷺ said none of them.
Fi sabirillah, when a person is striving for
the path of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
his intention is only one.
من قاتل لتكون كلمة الله هي العليا وهو
في سبيل الله.
Whoever is fighting, whoever is striving to promote
the word of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in the world, to promote tawheed, to promote
the worship of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
to denounce shirk, to get rid of shirk
from society and khufr from society, that is
fi sabirillah.
Anything else, it is not fighting with the
correct intention.
So here, ومن جاهد, whoever strives, but he
is striving for himself, he is doing it
for his own ulterior motive, Allah says فَإِنَّ
اللَّهَ لَغَنِيٌ عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala doesn't need that type of striving.
This is another interpretation.
But most scholars, they interpreted the first interpretation,
whoever strives, then he is striving for his
own benefit, meaning for his own reward, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala will reward him, because
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala doesn't need anything
from anybody.
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ لَنُكَفِّرَنَّ عَنْهُمْ
سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ وَلَنَجَزِيَنَّهُمْ أَحْسَنَ الَّذِي كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ And
those people that had iman, and they did
good deeds, most certainly we are going to
forgive them their sins, and most certainly we
are going to reward them better than what
they did.
So we mentioned this before, that really our
a'mal, in comparison to the blessings of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, are really nothing.
A few fasts we keep, you know, we
pray maybe 5 times a day, takes 10
to 15 minutes, what is that in comparison
to the eyesight that Allah subhanahu wa ta
'ala has given us?
The ability to walk, the ability to talk,
the ability to eat, the ability to digest
our food, the ability to do so many
things Allah has given us, if you were
to compare that with the a'mal that we
do, and you try to value our a'mal
in comparison to the blessings that Allah has
given us, then we are really in negative.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala taking the
deeds that we do, multiplying them in these
blessed times, for example in Ramadan, or multiplying
the deeds because he does multiply the deeds,
and then just giving many many fold to
us more than we deserve, this is what
is meant, most certainly we are going to
give them better than what they did.
After that Allah says, we talked about this
a little last night, the issue of respect
to the parents.
وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِذَهِ حُسْنًا وَإِنْ جَاهَدَاكَ لِتُشْتِكَ بِمَا
لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ فَلَا تُطِعْهُمَا إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ
فَأُنَبِّيُكُمْ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَلُونَ Indeed we advise the
human that he should do good to his
parents, even if they are disbelievers, and the
only thing that you should stop with is,
وَإِنْ جَاهَدَاكَ لِتُشْتِكَ بِمَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ
عِلْمٌ When you are worshipping Allah it has
to be with firm knowledge, and with the
firm conviction that you believe in Him.
When you are committing shirk, then the situation
is that you are worshipping idols, obviously their
non-existence in the form of being gods
is true, that they are non-existent, so
you cannot have knowledge about something that is
non-existent.
مَا لَيْسَ لَكَ بِهِ عِلْمٌ means that these
partners that people commit shirk about, they do
it without knowledge, basically they should not be
doing that.
So if your parents strive to make you
commit shirk with that about which you have
no knowledge, then don't obey them at that
time.
But other than that, even if they are
disbelievers, you are supposed to obey them.
إِلَيَّ مَا رَجِعُكُمْ فَأُنَبِّعُكُمْ بِمَا كُنتُمْ تَعْمَدُونَ Only
to me is your return, and I'm going
to inform you of everything that you did.
I'm going to just skip a verse and
just come to the final verse that I
want to talk about, and this goes back
to this issue of the trials and tribulations
that Allah SWT gives us.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ فَإِذَا أُوذِيَ
فِي اللَّهِ جَعَلَ فِتْنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللَّهِ Talking
about the munafiqeen, and again the people of
weak of iman.
There are many people that say that we
have iman in Allah SWT, but when they
are tested by Allah, when they are harmed
by Allah SWT in anything, then what do
they say, or what do they do?
They make the trial of Allah SWT, the
test of Allah SWT into the punishment of
Allah.
So Allah is testing you, He gave you
the flu, He gave you a headache, He
made you sick for a while, He made
you lose your job for a while, and
instead of accepting it as being a test
from Allah SWT and a phase that you
will come out of, people regard it as
being a punishment from Allah.
They think, why did Allah punish me?
What did I do to deserve this?
So this is not how a mu'min reacts.
This is talking about the munafiqeen, the hypocrites.
Because straight after that Allah SWT says, وَلَإِن
جَاءَ نَصْرٌ مِّن رَّبِّكَ لَيَقُولُنَّ إِنَّا كُنَّ مَعَكُمْ
The munafiqeen, whenever the spoils used to come,
they used to come to the Prophet SAW
and they said, we are with you.
So basically we want a part of the
share of these spoils that you are distributing.
أَوَلَيْسَ اللَّهُ بِأَعْلَمَ بِمَا فِي سُدُورِ الْعَالَمِينَ Do
they not realize that Allah SWT is more
knowing about what is in the hearts of
the worlds, meaning the different people, whatever they
have in their hearts in terms of nifaat,
hypocrisy or iman.
Are they not aware that Allah SWT is
aware of it?
So the summary basically is that we as
Muslims, we claim to be bearers of iman
and followers of Islam and believers in Allah
SWT, but with that comes the certainty that
we will go through some kind of difficulty
in our lives, sometimes.
So the question is, how do we react
to that?
If we accept it and accept it to
be a decree of Allah SWT, then this
is a sign of our strong faith and
conviction.
And if not, then there is some weakness
that we need to work on.
We need to work on our iman and
strengthen it to a point that we become
to that level or we become acceptable of
the qadaa and the qadar of Allah SWT.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what has been said
and heard.
I heard your message, but I did not
speak to Sheikh Osama that he is ready
or not, because he has been sick for
two days.