Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 3
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Surah Aal-e-Imran, and this surah, it
addresses a lot of the issues related to
the people of the book.
The word itself, Aal-e-Imran, the name,
it refers to the family of Imran.
Imran was the father of Maryam a.s.,
the father of Mary, who was the mother
of Isa a.s. So this surah, it
actually mentions a lot of the things, unique
things, which even are not found amongst Christian
texts and Christian, you know, scripture and Christian
teaching doesn't teach those things.
For example, the background of Maryam, how she
was born, how was her upbringing, and how
she was given to a family who were
not having a child, and her miraculous growth,
meaning as she was growing up, she displayed
signs of many kinds of miracles, which are
mentioned in the same surah.
And then in addition to that, the virgin
birth of Isa a.s. is mentioned in
great detail.
This is one of those places in addition
to Surah Maryam itself.
So this surah, it's a very beautiful surah,
and it addresses those issues and those faults
and those problems that the Christians and the
Jews were guilty of.
The situations and the things that they were
doing that were inappropriate and contrary to their
teachings.
So what were the things?
First and foremost, they were told that when
this Prophet comes, when Prophet Muhammad a.s.
comes, you have to take his message, adopt
it, and you have to follow in his
footsteps.
And this ruling was not specifically for the
Jews and Christians.
Allah a.s. in the same surah, he
says that this promise was taken from every
single Prophet, every single messenger, he was obligated
and he gave a covenant, a promise to
Allah a.s. that when Prophet Muhammad comes,
if he comes in my time, then I
have to drop everything that I have and
I have to follow his teachings.
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِثَاقَ النَّبِيِّينَ لَمَا آتَيْتُكُم مِّنْ
كِتَابٍ وَحِكْمَةٍ ثُمَّ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَكُمْ
لَتُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهِ وَلَتَنْصُرُنَّ Allah a.s. he took
a promise from all the Anbiya a.s.
that whatever I've given you, from a book,
from wisdom, from rulings, and then a Prophet
comes from amongst you that testifies to the
truth of your teachings, most certainly you would
have Iman on him.
And most certainly you would help him.
لَتُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهِ Very important, very stressed word.
لَمْ وِتَّأْكِيدْ نُونُ وِتَّأْكِيدْ If you are familiar
with the Arabic grammar.
So, each and every Prophet was obligated to
follow the Prophet s.a.w. Forget about
the regular people of the book, the regular
lay persons.
Each and every single person was obligated, including
the Anbiya a.s. So the first mistake
they made was that the teachings that they
had in their scriptures, they overlooked it, they
misinterpreted it on purpose, because they didn't want
to follow our beloved Prophet Muhammad s.a
.w. And in addition to that, what they
used to do, they used to take bribes
to give fatwas in accordance with the person
who was asking.
So if somebody came to ask a fatwa,
a ruling, they used to take a bribe
and give the ruling in favor of that
person, even though the book, the teaching of
Allah s.w.t was against it.
So Allah s.w.t in this surah,
throughout the surah, He addresses the people of
the book and says, Look, these were the
mistakes you were making, and you should make
tawbah from those mistakes, give up from that,
and follow in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad
s.a.w., who is now your Prophet.
In addition to that, throughout the surah, Allah
s.w.t addresses us as an Ummah,
and tells us certain rules and regulations that
we should be aware of.
First and foremost is the rule that, وَمَن
يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ Whoever
adopts a path other than Islam as a
religion, it will never be accepted from him.
Islam is what our beloved Prophet Muhammad s
.a.w. taught, or if the previous Prophets
came, and the people were adopting the teachings
of the Prophet, and fulfilling those teachings of
the time, then that was Islam.
But each time a new Prophet came, then
the previous teachings were cancelled out, and the
new teachings had to be adopted, and this
was Islam.
This was submitting to Allah s.w.t.
Also Allah s.w.t., He tells us,
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا بَعْدَ إِيمَانِهِمْ ثُمَّ ازْدَادُوا كُفْرًا
لَنْ تُقْبَلَ تَوْبَتُهُمْ وَأُولَٰئِكَهُمُ الضَّالُّونَ Indeed, those people
that disbelieved after their Iman, then they increased
in their disbelief.
Their Tawbah, and then they died in that
state, their Tawbah would never be accepted.
They are the ones who are misguided.
So a person has to die in the
state of Islam, he has to die in
the state of submission to Allah s.w
.t. So it's not just a person, simply
saying لا إله إلا الله one time, and
then leading his life, completely oblivious of the
responsibility of what the Shahada entails.
After saying the Kalima Shahada, there is a
responsibility upon a person, and that is to
obey the command of Allah s.w.t,
following the Sunnah of the Prophet a.s.
And if a person is not doing that,
then there is a very high likelihood that
when he dies, he will not die in
the state of Iman.
In fact, the Shaytan will come to the
person and try to mislead him, and try
to make him say things which are words
of Kufr, words of disbelief.
It's related about Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal r
.a, that he was on his deathbed, and
he kept on saying, Not yet, not yet.
And the people around him said, Oh Imam,
what are you saying?
You seem to be talking to somebody.
There's nobody here that we can see.
What are you saying, and what does this
mean?
Not yet, not yet.
So Imam Ahmed said, that the Shaytan keeps
coming to me again and again, and he
keeps telling me, Oh Ahmed, you've saved yourself.
Oh Ahmed, you've saved yourself.
And I keep on telling him, not yet.
Not yet, until I've breathed my last.
I don't trust you.
Oh Shaytan, you could even take my Iman
in my last breath.
So the idea is that a person needs
to die in the state of Iman, and
the only way that a person will be
able to do that, if he tries to
preserve that Iman and strengthen that Iman, so
that he cannot be misled in his last
breath by the Shaytan.
In addition to that, Allah SWT says, Indeed
those people that died in the state of
Kufr, and they died while they were disbelievers,
the whole earth full of gold will not
be accepted as a ransom, to save them
and to forgive them.
Meaning, if the whole earth was filled with
gold, and it was given to them, and
they were to give that as a ransom,
to try to save themselves, it will not
be accepted by Allah SWT.
So this is, They will have a painful
punishment, and they will not have any helpers.
After that, again, Allah SWT throughout these verses,
addresses the people of Iman.
Tells them what they are supposed to be
doing.
Have the Taqwa of Allah SWT as he
deserves, and do not die except in the
state of submission to Allah SWT.
Don't differentiate amongst yourselves.
Don't create factions and groups.
Hold fast to the rope of Allah SWT,
the rope of the Quran and the Sunnah.
Unity, be united.
Don't separate amongst yourselves, like the previous nations
did.
So again, the people of Iman, people of
Islam are being addressed here.
In another verse, You are the best of
nations, you've been sent for the benefit of
mankind.
You order people to do good, you forbid
them from evil, and you have Iman in
Allah SWT.
Now the very special way that Allah SWT
has described this verse, and mentioned in this
verse, the difference between our Iman, and the
Iman of the people of the book.
He addressed us as a nation, and said
you are the best of the nations, because
you have complete Iman in Allah SWT.
You have complete Iman in Allah SWT, and
you do the things that you are supposed
to do.
If the people of the book had Iman,
this would be better for them.
So what does this mean?
If they claim to have Iman, if they
claim to have faith, but it doesn't correspond
with the faith that Allah SWT wants from
them, then that is not Iman.
They say we believe, they say we love
Jesus, and our belief is sufficient for us
to give us salvation, that belief is null
and void, because it doesn't fulfill the criteria
of belief, as set by Allah SWT.
So this is why Allah says, وَلَوْ آمَنَ
أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَهُمْ It's as if
they don't have Iman at all.
If the people of the book had Iman,
it would be better for them.
There are some believers from amongst them, what
this means is, that some people accepted Islam,
in the time of the Prophet SAW, so
they became believers, وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَ but the majority
of them are Fasiqeen, they are disobedient to
Allah SWT.
Now there is one verse, which may be
a little bit confusing to many people.
In it Allah SWT says, ليسوا سوا They
are not all equal.
And again, talking to the people of the
book.
Talking about the people of the book, the
Jews and the Christians.
They are not all equal.
من أهل الكتاب أمة قائمة يتلون آيات الله
آناء الليل وهم يسجدون There are some people
from the people of the book, that are
steadfast, they recite the ayat of Allah SWT
in the minutes of the night, or the
seconds of the night, while they are in
the state of prostration.
They have Iman in Allah SWT on the
last day.
They order people to do good, and they
forbid them from evil, and they rush towards
good things.
And they are the pious people.
وَمَا يَفَعَلُوا مِنْ خَيْرٍ فَلَنْ يُكْفَرُوا Whatever good
they do, it will not be dismissed.
وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ بِالْمُتَّقِينَ Allah SWT is fully aware
of the people of Taqwa.
So this ayah, it seems to indicate, that
there are some people of the book, that
are pious, they are believers, and they should
be accepted as believers.
However, this is not what the Mufassireen have
understood this verse to mean.
Some scholars, they say, that this verse is
referring to Muslims themselves.
Because in one way, the Muslims are also
people of the book.
Right?
Just like the previous people of the book.
Why they call the people of the book?
Because they were given books by Allah SWT.
So we are also given a book by
Allah SWT.
So some scholars, they say, it refers to
the Muslims, because the description fits the people
of Islam.
The people who are spending the night in
sajdah, and reading the ayat of Allah SWT.
It fits that description.
However, the majority of the scholars, they say,
it refers to the people of the book,
that become Muslims.
They accept Islam.
And they fulfill the commands of Allah SWT,
and they accept the teachings of our beloved
Prophet Muhammad SAW.
This is what it's referred to.
And you cannot take this verse out of
context, and say that, No, people of the
book are believers.
You have to have that, to fulfill that
criteria, of belief, which is iman in Allah
SWT, iman in the Prophet SAW, iman in
the last day, the judgment, and so on
and so forth.
All of those criteria have to be fulfilled,
before a person is regarded as a believer.
And this is exactly what Allah SWT clarifies,
right at the end of the surah.
Right at the end of surah Al-Imran,
He says, and this is the criteria that
every single person has to fulfill, before he
is regarded as a believer.
وَإِنَّ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ لَمَنْ يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَمَا
أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ وَمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِمْ خَاشِعِينَ لِلَّهِ There
are some from the people of the book,
that have iman in Allah SWT.
And they have iman in what was revealed
to them, and what was revealed to you.
Meaning they have iman on the Quran, and
they have iman on what was revealed to
them.
And having iman on what was revealed to
them means, that they have to fulfill what
their book say, that is following our beloved
Prophet SAW.
And then the verse goes on to say,
لَا يَشْتَرُونَ بِآيَاتِ اللَّهِ ثَمَنًا قَلِيلًا They are
those people of the book, that don't sell
the ayaat of Allah SWT, for a meager
price, for a small price.
So, this is the criteria, that is required
for the people of the book, to be
regarded as believers.
And without that, a person cannot be a
believer.
And there are some people that actually take,
a couple of verse in the Quran out
of context, where Allah SWT says, Indeed, those
people that have iman, and the Jews, and
the Christians, and the Sahabi'een, and so
on.