Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 29 Brief explanation of Surah Dhuha 742016
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Okay, so as you know, alhamdulillah wa salatu
wa salamu ala rasulillah, as you know, we
completed the Quran last night and the completion
of the Quran happens when we do the
30th Juz.
I'd like to just focus on a couple
of surahs that are really beautiful and they
were addressing the Prophet ﷺ when he was
going through some very very difficult times and
really if a person is going through some
difficulty in his life, some challenges, maybe he's
upset and he's despondent about situations that are
happening in his life.
These two surahs are surahs that a person
can focus on and look at the translation
and the tafsir of and really can get
a lot of hope from them.
So firstly, it's surah Adh-Dhuha.
Surah Adh-Dhuha and secondly after that, if
we have time inshallah, surah Alam Nashrah.
I will do them both inshallah.
So when was Adh-Dhuha revealed?
Both of these surahs were actually revealed approximately
around the same time at the beginning of
Prophethood and they were revealed at a time
when the Prophet ﷺ was going through a
lot of difficulty.
Surah Adh-Dhuha was revealed at the time
when the Wahi stopped coming to him for
a few days.
There are different opinions of the Mufassireen as
to how many days it was.
Some say it was 10 days, some say
it was 12 days, some say as much
as 40 days that the Wahi stopped coming
to the Prophet ﷺ and because of that
he became very upset thinking that Allah ﷻ
was displeased with him or something happened and
because of that the Wahi has stopped coming
and in addition to that, because the Wahi
was not coming, the Kuffar of Quraish, the
disbelievers, they started taunting him.
For example, Umm Jameel, who was the wife
of Abu Lahab, she started saying, na'udhu
billah, that it looks like your shaitan, your
jinn that was afflicting you, he left you
and that's why you're not getting the Wahi
anymore.
You're not getting these messages anymore and things
like that.
These were the messages that the Kuffar, the
Mushrikeen started giving to the Prophet ﷺ when
he was going through that time.
So after this period, when the Wahi started
again, Allah ﷻ revealed Surah Al-Duha and
he takes an oath by two things.
He says, first of all, wal-duha, I
swear by the morning light and the scholars
say that it's not just the morning light
that is meant here, it basically refers to
the whole daylight.
I swear by the daylight.
wal-layli itha saja, and I swear by
the night when it falls or when it
becomes tranquil and peaceful.
So the oath is taken for two things.
What is the purpose of taking the oath
by the night and the day?
A person, when he sees the transformation of
the night and day taking place in front
of him, he looks at the day and
then suddenly the night comes.
He was busy in whatever he was doing
and he feels that maybe the darkness is
a distraction for me.
It is not appropriate for me.
I wanted to continue with what I was
doing.
But the reality is that night coming is
actually a blessing for him.
The darkness is a blessing for him.
Why?
Because it gives him an opportunity for him
to go to sleep and rest and you
know, be ready for a new day the
next day.
So this is truly a blessing and there
are we know we've probably discussed the fact
that it's summer nowadays.
There are many countries in the world that
especially during the summer months, there is no
nightfall and because of that many people in
those countries in the extreme north of the
earth, they don't live a normal lifestyle.
They have to artificially create nightfall by blacking
out the windows and making sure that no
light is coming in through the through the
window and they create this artificial darkness.
Why?
So that they can get some rest, some
the actual rest that a person gets during
the night.
And again scientists will tell you that if
you want to get a really deep and
a refreshing sleep, then you should be in
an environment where there's no light whatsoever.
So this darkness is a blessing.
So a person who feels that you know,
the darkness came and it distracted me, it
stopped me from what I was doing and
I was busy building a house or I
was busy doing what I was doing and
I was traveling maybe and because of that
the darkness, I cannot travel anymore.
He is actually wrong to assume that.
So the message to the Prophet ﷺ was
that the Wahi comes sometimes and it will
stop sometimes.
Okay, so you should not feel O Prophet
that the coming and and the stopping these
are you know bad for you.
The coming is good for you and the
stopping is bad for you.
Allah ﷻ has his wisdom in stopping the
Wahi when he wants and he has his
wisdom of sending the Wahi when he wants.
The other meaning that the scholars have given
of Allah ﷻ taking the oath of these
two things is that as a human, the
Prophet ﷺ, he was taking the Wahi which
is a heavenly inspiration from Allah ﷻ through
the angel Jibreel and after all the Prophet
ﷺ is a human.
He is a human being.
He is not divine.
He is not equal to Allah ﷻ even
though Allah ﷻ did give him a certain
amount of strength, which was more than regular
humans, but he was still a human being.
So this divine inspiration coming to him all
the time would have been very difficult for
him.
There are many Riwayat that suggest that sometimes
the Prophet ﷺ when he was getting Wahi
and he was sitting on a camel for
example, the weight of the Wahi was such
that the camel would sit down.
The camel would be forced to sit down
because the camel could not take the force
of the Wahi and there are other Riwayat
that suggest that the Prophet ﷺ when he
used to get the Wahi, he used to
start sweating.
So the Wahi coming to the Prophet ﷺ
was very cumbersome and very difficult for him
as a human.
So the constant coming of Wahi would have
been harmful for him.
That's why Allah ﷻ, he allowed him to
take a break so that his body could
take a rest, just like the night and
day, the night, the daytime, it is for
working and the night is for resting.
So that's why Allah ﷻ took an oath
by the daytime, the daylight and the night.
I swear by the daylight and I swear
by the night when it becomes tranquil.
Your Lord did not leave you and He
was not displeased with you.
So the consolation is that was the Qasam
and this is what's called the Jawabul Qasam.
When you say I swear by Allah, this
is the Qasam.
I did this or I did not do
this.
This is called Jawabul Qasam.
So what Dhuha wa Laila Itha Saja is
the Qasam and Ma Wada'aka Rabbuka wa
Ma Qala, it is the Jawabul Qasam.
The emphasis that Allah ﷻ did not leave
you and He's not displeased with you.
So the oath is taken to also reassure
the Prophet ﷺ that what is being said
is actual, it's a fact, it is true
and there is a lot of emphasis that
Allah ﷻ is not displeased with you.
Wala al-akhiratu khayrun laka mina al-oola
And the Akhira is better for you than
the Oola, meaning Oola refers to something that
is close to you.
Akhira of course the hereafter, Oola it means
the closeness which is the worldly life.
So this means that there will always be
ups and downs in a person's life.
There will always be ups and downs in
a person's life.
And this is what I meant by saying
that this Surah is a beautiful Surah to
refer to and turn to when a person
is going through difficulties.
That ultimately a person needs to realize that
I am heading towards the hereafter.
That is my abode, that is the thing
that I should be striving for.
And any difficulty that I'm getting in this
worldly life, it is a temporary difficulty.
It's mentioned in a Hadith that the Prophet
ﷺ said that a person who was the
richest person in the world, he never saw
any difficulty in his whole life.
He will be exposed to Jahannam for a
millisecond in the hereafter.
And then he'll be asked that did you
see any bliss and any peace in your
life?
He will say that I never saw any
peace in my life.
I never saw any happiness in my life.
That one millisecond of exposure to Jahannam will
be enough for him to make him forget
everything.
And then on the other hand, a person
who had the most difficult of lives, he
didn't know where his next meal was coming
from.
And he was maybe homeless, he didn't have
a roof over his head.
He didn't have new clothes to wear every
week.
And maybe he didn't have shoes to wear.
This person will be exposed to Jahannam for
a millisecond and he'll be asked did you
see any difficulty in your life?
And that one millisecond exposure to Jahannam will
be enough for him to make him forget
all the difficulties and the trials and tribulations
that he faced in the worldly life.
So وَلَلْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنَ الْأُولَىٰ Indeed the
hereafter is better for you than the worldly
life.
So this is what we should be striving
for.
And again a person when he's going through
difficulties, he can console himself by saying that
really this worldly life is temporary.
The difficulties of this life are temporary.
I need to focus on working on my
hereafter.
وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ And it's very close
that your Lord is going to give you
and you're going to be pleased.
The word Sufa, it's used for a future
which is a little bit distant, not very
close.
So remember that this surah was revealed at
the beginning of the prophethood of the Prophet
ﷺ.
When he had a handful of Muslims who
had accepted Shahada and the people around him
were oppressing him and giving him a hard
time and rejecting his message and calling him
Majnoon.
And here Allah SWT is saying that it's
going to be, there's going to be a
time when Allah is going to give you.
You will get from his treasures in the
worldly life also.
فَتَرْضَىٰ And you're going to be pleased.
And ultimately towards the end of his prophethood,
what did happen?
Conquest over the Roman Empire and the Persian
Empire and treasures coming from everywhere, this actually
did happen.
So Allah SWT says وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ
You will be given, Allah SWT will give
you and you will be pleased with what
he gives you.
And then Allah reminds him of the things
that happened in the past.
And this is again a very important lesson
for us to learn that sometimes a person
when he is facing difficulties and hardships, he
tends to forget the difficulties that he faced
in the past.
And Allah SWT took him out of those
difficulties and then he forgot completely about that
difficulty that he was in before.
This, if we reflect, we probably have had
many difficulties in our lives.
Sometimes maybe we lost a dear one, a
dear relative, maybe a child, maybe our parents.
Or we went through financial difficulties or we
went through a lengthy spell of illness.
But Allah SWT takes us out of that
difficulty and we then, it is kind of
human psychology that a person tends to forget
about the difficulty that he went through.
So here the Prophet SAW is being reminded
that this is not the first time that
you've been through some hardships.
You've had a lot of hardships before and
Allah SWT pulled you out of those hardships
too.
The first one was that you were born
an orphan.
You were born an orphan, Allah SWT took
care of you all these years.
Because your father was not over you, your
grandfather took care of you initially.
And then when the grandfather passed away, the
uncle, Abu Talib, took care of you.
So you never had a feeling, O Prophet
of Allah, that you were an orphan.
أَلَمْ يَجِدْكَ يَتِيمًا فَآوَى Didn't Allah SWT find
you in the state of being an orphan
and He gave you refuge?
So Allah SWT protected him while he was
an orphan.
And He took him through his years of
being an orphan and he was protected all
through those years.
وَوَجَدْكَ ضَالًا فَهَدًا And He found you, the
word ضال, it means, the literal meaning is
misguided, but also it can mean a desolate
tree in the middle of the desert.
You have a desert, no vegetation around it
and one tree in the middle that is
lush and green and can give fruit.
So this is one of the literal meanings
of ضال.
And another meaning is that you were not
aware.
Allah SWT found you unaware and He guided
you.
So from the perspective of the tree in
the middle of the desert, he was the
lone person that Allah SWT had given guidance
to in a desert of misguidance.
Everyone around him misguided, worshipping idols and strayed
away from the path of Allah SWT.
And he is the only one in the
middle of that desert of misguidance.
He is standing up and proclaiming the message
of Tawheed.
So Allah SWT found you ضال, He found
you like this tree in the middle of
the desert, and He continued to guide you,
that's one meaning.
And He also found you unaware, unaware of
what the reality of Tawheed, the reality of
Allah SWT was.
Because the Prophet ﷺ, he never worshipped idols
in his life.
Before he got prophethood, he never worshipped idols
in his life.
And he always thought that worshipping the idols
is misguidance.
And he used to worship according to the
teachings of Ibrahim ﷺ that had been handed
down across the generations.
He used to worship according to his knowledge.
But obviously there was a gap there between
Ibrahim ﷺ and himself.
So there was this level of not being
aware of what he is supposed to actually
do, and Allah SWT guided him through that.
So you are a prophet of Allah, you
are unaware, and Allah SWT guided you in
the past.
وَوَجَدَكَ عَائِلًا فَأَغْنَا And He found you in
the state of poverty, and He gave you
riches.
What happened, again, as he was growing up,
being an orphan, not too rich, and just
getting by maybe, Allah SWT blessed him to
meet Khadija, who was a rich and successful
businesswoman.
She initially employed him, and then ultimately went
on to marry him.
So because of marrying her, and because of
his own hard work in the business that
Khadija made him responsible for, he also started
making money, and Allah SWT blessed him with
this sustenance and made him rich.
So then Allah SWT then reminds him, فَأَمَّا
الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ وَأَمَّا السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ This
is, again, a human tendency, that when a
person goes through difficulty and he comes out
of it, he tends to forget where he
was and where he is now.
And this, again, probably, the majority of us,
we came back from, you know, India and
Pakistan and different countries, and we probably had
a very simple lifestyle.
You know, we maybe made a few rupees
from a simple job, and we got those
rupees and lived with our parents, and we
got by with the little money that we
had, and then Allah SWT blessed us and
enabled us to come to this country where
we maybe came for an education.
From the education we got jobs, and from
those jobs we started making a lot more
money than we could have ever imagined a
few years ago while we were back home
in our countries.
And the problem is, with a human being,
that he forgets the reality of where he
was and where he is now.
So, Allah is saying here to the Prophet
ﷺ and indirectly to us, that never forget
your origins, never forget where you were.
When you don't forget where you were, you
will appreciate where you are right now, and
the people that you find in the same
predicament that you were before, you will feel
merciful towards them.
Allah SWT says to the Prophet ﷺ and
to us indirectly, that as for the orphan,
do not harass him or do not scold
him.
When the yateem comes to you, do not
be abusive to him, but be kind and
gentle to the yateem.
And by yateem, because he was a yateem
himself, the Prophet ﷺ, the correlation is there.
Allah SWT is reminding him that just like
you are a yateem, you are an orphan,
you should also have mercy towards the orphan,
because you know how it was like being
a yateem by yourself.
And we can take that same example for
our difficulties in our life, that when we
go through a difficulty, whatever difficulty it is,
we should feel that same person who has
that same difficulty, we should feel it, and
we should feel sorry for the person and
not forget where we were before.
فَأَمَّ الْيَتِيمَ فَلَا تَقْهَرْ وَأَمَّ السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ
And if you, again, the ayat, first of
all talked about the Prophet ﷺ being yateem,
and then talked about him being not so
well off, and then reminding him that the
yateem take care of him and do not
scold him, do not be abusive to him,
and the sa'il, sa'il means the
person who asks you, فَلَا تَنْهَرْ Do not
rebuke him also.
When the sa'il comes, do not rebuke
him, do not scold him, but try to
give him something, and if you don't have
anything, at least give him a dua, rather
than scolding him and being angry at him.
So, وَأَمَّ السَّائِلَ فَلَا تَنْهَرْ And according to
some scholars, sa'il can also mean a
person who comes to you in the quest
of knowledge and asks you a religious question,
and asks you things about your religion.
Do not reject him, but teach him there
and then.
وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ And ask for the
ni'mah of your Lord, then proclaim it.
The ni'mah of your Lord, in the case
of the Prophet ﷺ, was all of these
things that Allah ﷻ gave him.
And the biggest blessing was the fact that
Allah ﷻ gave him Prophethood, gave him the
revelation, and He gave him the means to
guide other people, so this was the biggest
blessing.
In addition to all of the other blessings
that have been mentioned in this surah already,
but the biggest blessing was the blessing of
guidance, the blessing of Prophethood, and this is
what the Prophet ﷺ was instructed to proclaim.
Going on to the next surah, which like
I said, the theme is very very similar.
To the extent that some scholars say that
it may have been revealed at exactly the
same time as Dhuha.
So the Prophet ﷺ, again going through difficulty,
hardship, and very upset, Allah ﷻ says to
him, أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ Didn't we open
up your heart for you?
What that means is that Allah ﷻ, He
opened up your heart and your chest for
guidance.
He guided you.
وَمَنْ يُرِذِ اللَّهُ أَنْ يَهْدِيَهُ يَشْرَحْ صَدْرَهُ لِلْإِسْلَامِ
According to one ayat of the Qur'an.
Whoever Allah ﷻ wishes to guide, He opens
up his chest for Islam.
أَفَمَنْ شَرَحَ اللَّهُ صَدْرَهُ لِلْإِسْلَامِ فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ
مِنْ رَبِّهِ As for the person who Allah
ﷻ opens his heart for Islam, he is
on a nur of guidance from his Lord.
So Allah ﷻ saying to the Prophet ﷺ,
أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ Didn't we guide you?
So again, guidance not in the sense that
he was misguided, but he was unaware of
what the reality is of Allah ﷻ.
And Allah ﷻ guided him and gave him
the prophethood and made him aware of who
he actually was.
So أَلَمْ نَشْرَحْ لَكَ صَدْرَكَ means, Didn't we,
O Prophet of Allah, open your heart up
to guidance?
وَوَضَعْنَا عِنْكَ وِذْرَكَ أَلَّذِي أَنْقَضُوا طَهْرَكَ And we
removed from you the weight which was breaking
your back.
What was that weight that was breaking his
back?
The confusion that he was in, that he
sees the people around him engaged in idolatry,
worshipping idols, in shirk, and rejecting Allah ﷻ,
and doing things around the Ka'bah, making
tawaf around the Ka'bah naked, and the
other things related to jahala, burying their daughters
alive, drinking alcohol, engaging in warfare, these things
were making the Prophet ﷺ upset.
So he wanted a way out of these
things and wanted guidance as to what to
do about these things.
So the fact that Allah ﷻ guided him
and made him a prophet, this removed that
weight that was on his shoulders and was
breaking his back, because now he had a
way out of those things, and a means
to guide those people that were in that
deep misguidance.
وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ And we elevated for you
your remembrance.
And remember this is the time in which
there was only a handful of people that
were listening to the Prophet ﷺ and believing
in him.
And yet Allah ﷻ is telling him that
we have elevated your remembrance for you.
Again, it doesn't make sense.
In the way that the Prophet ﷺ was
given this message, at the time that he
was given this message, what does it mean?
There were only a few people believing in
him.
Most of the people were against him.
Most of the people were calling him majnoon
and sahir and all of the rest of
the things.
So what does it mean when Allah is
telling him that we have elevated your remembrance
for you?
It means up until the Day of Judgment,
you will be remembered, and you will be
respected, and you will be dignified and honoured.
وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ And we elevated for you
your remembrance.
So whenever we make a dhaan, أَشْهَدُ أَنَّ
مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ is right there with أَشْهَدُ
أَنَّ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَى اللَّهِ with the name
of Allah is the name of our beloved
Prophet ﷺ.
Whenever we hear his name, we say ﷺ.
And this is being done every time there
is a dhaan, we hear the name of
the Prophet ﷺ being elevated.
Whenever we are in salat, we mention his
name.
أَتَّحْيَاكُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَوَاتُ وَالطَّيِّبَاتُ السَّلَامُ وَعَلَيْكَ
أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ Sending salam upon
the Prophet ﷺ.
And then when we send salawat, اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّي
عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ Every single time
when we are praying.
And then one of the unique things, the
boxer Muhammad Ali died recently, right?
And you probably, all of those emails that
were floating around about the walk of fame
in Hollywood and how when he was offered
this star on this walk of fame, he
refused it saying that I don't want the
name of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to be on
the floor and people trampling on it.
So his is the only star that was
put on a wall because of the request
made by Muhammad Ali or his refusal to
accept the star, the name of the Prophet
Muhammad ﷺ was put on a wall.
That is what is being mentioned here right
now.
We elevated for you your remembrance.
Nobody was allowed to disrespect you.
So even though there are many people trying
to malign the character of the Prophet ﷺ
and trying to say bad things about him
and trying to dig up and use character
assassination of the Prophet ﷺ to make people
run away from our beloved Prophet ﷺ.
But for the most part there is even
non-Muslims have praised the Prophet ﷺ and
said good things about him.
Michael Hart wrote a book about the 100
most influential people in the world and right
at the top, number one was the Prophet
Muhammad ﷺ.
And then many many orientalists, many many non
-Muslims have said good things about the Prophet
ﷺ and praised him even though they were
not even Muslim.
So, وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ We have elevated for
you your remembrance.
So this is real comfort for the Prophet
ﷺ when he's going through this difficulty and
he's in a minority and people are against
him.
The fact that Allah ﷻ is telling him
that your remembrance is going to be elevated,
this could be a huge source of hope
for him.
وَرَفَعْنَا لَكَ ذِكْرَكَ And then after that Allah
ﷻ says one of the most beautiful verses
for a person who's going through difficulty فَإِنَّ
مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا فَإِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا Indeed
with every difficulty there is ease.
Repeat it two times for emphasis.
Why two times?
Why was it mentioned two times?
Just to emphasize the point that when you're
going through a difficulty in your life just
be patient and Allah ﷻ will bring ease
for you.
No need for you to get upset and
lose hope and become despondent.
With that difficulty ease will come for sure.
And there's again some grammatical kind of stuff
if you're familiar with Arabic.
The word الْعُسْر is mentioned twice but الْعُسْر
with alif-laam the scholars say that whenever
something is mentioned with alif-laam that same
thing applies in both situations.
So الْعُسْر is mentioned twice in two sentences
but it's the same difficulty.
الْعُسْر means difficulty.
So because it's with alif-laam it's the
same difficulty but يُسْر is mentioned without alif
-laam.
So that those are two different eases.
So from that we can derive that with
every one difficulty there are two eases that
happen to a person.
So again if a person reflects upon his
life and what happened in his past he
will think about maybe some difficulty that he
went through, maybe a job loss and he
was thinking to himself you know I had
such a great job, I lost this job,
what's going to happen to me?
But then within a matter of weeks Allah
SWT blesses him with a much better job
and maybe better pay, better hours, ease for
him to come to the masjid, maybe closer
to home.
So with that one difficulty that took place
of losing the job Allah SWT made a
whole lot of other things easier for him
and this is what is meant by إِنَّ
مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا So these are verses that
we should always remind ourselves of when we're
going through hard times in our life.
فَإِذَا فَرَغْتَ فَانصَبْرْ وَإِلَىٰ رَبِّكَ فَرُغَبْ The Prophet
A.S.A. is being addressed and we
indirectly are being addressed also.
That once you have freed yourself and to
the Prophet A.S. when he was freed
from giving dawah to people, inviting to people
and for us it means that when you're
free from your worldly you know busy schedules
and your workload then فَانصَبْرْ فَانصَبْرْ the word
نصَبْرْ it means you take a stick and
you basically pound it into the ground so
that it becomes firm.
So what it means is that once you're
free then become firm and solid in the
worship of Allah A.S. Become like this
peg that cannot be moved.
So this is how we're supposed to be.
Irrespective of the things that we're going through
in our lives our focus in the obedience
of Allah A.S. should be the same.
We should be like this peg that cannot
move.
Unfortunately what happens to a lot of people
that are weak of Iman is that when
they go through some difficulty they will turn
to Allah make more dua to Him and
this is fine.
But then the problem is that when they
come back into you know ease and that
difficulty is removed from them they tend to
forget about Allah A.S. They even will
forget about the obligation of Salat.
They may even fall back into disobedience of
Allah A.S. But Allah A.S. says
become like this stick that cannot be moved
and be obedient to Him in all situations.
Good or bad situations always be obedient to
Allah A.S. and only to your Lord
pay attention.
Meaning that in all of these situations our
attention and our focus should be in first
and foremost pleasing Allah A.S. then the
rest of our worldly life comes second after
that.
So like I said these two surahs very
beautiful surahs revealed to the Prophet S.A
.W. when he was going through hard times
and again when a person is going through
difficulty he should ponder over these surahs over
these ayat and inshallah it will make things
very very easy for him and give him
some kind of solace and some kind of
comfort in the difficulty that he is going
through.
I pray that Allah A.S. gives us
tawfiq to understand and practice what has been
said and heard.