Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 5

			Last night we completed Surah An-Nisa and
		

			we completed a major portion of Surah Al
		

			-Ma'idah.
		

			Towards the end of Surah An-Nisa, Allah
		

			SWT talks about some issues related to the
		

			claims of the Jews and the mistakes made
		

			by the Jews and also it refers to
		

			the perception that the Christians have about the
		

			crucifixion of Isa AS and what is our
		

			belief on it.
		

			So basically you have three views.
		

			You have the Jewish view, you have the
		

			Muslim view and you have the Christian view.
		

			The Jewish view is that they, even though
		

			it's not politically correct to say it in
		

			this day and age, but their understanding is,
		

			their belief is that they took Isa AS
		

			and they killed him and their understanding is
		

			that again he was a false messiah, he
		

			wasn't the messiah that they were waiting for
		

			and even to this day when they are
		

			at the wailing wall, they are still waiting
		

			for that promised messiah because they believe that
		

			Isa AS was not the messiah that was
		

			supposed to come.
		

			So this is the Jewish view.
		

			Then we have the Christian view.
		

			The Christian view is that, and this is
		

			a very fundamental and central view of Christianity,
		

			is that Jesus died on the cross and
		

			his death was a means of salvation for
		

			humanity and Jesus basically dying on the cross
		

			without it, the sins of humanity could not
		

			be forgiven.
		

			So this is the Christian belief and they
		

			are very adamant on that.
		

			And then we have the Muslim belief.
		

			The Muslim belief is what Allah SWT mentions
		

			in this verse in Surah An-Nisa.
		

			At the end of Surah An-Nisa.
		

			And they are saying, meaning this is the
		

			Jewish saying, it's a section of verses which
		

			talk about the mistakes that the Jews made
		

			and the things that they did in disobedience
		

			to Allah SWT and one of those things
		

			is, they are saying, that we killed Isa
		

			AS, Messiah, Isa Ibn Maryam, Rasool Allah.
		

			They didn't kill him and they didn't crucify
		

			him, but the matter was made confusing for
		

			them.
		

			Something was made confusing for them, meaning that
		

			it wasn't clear for them what happened, something
		

			happened.
		

			The Quran doesn't clarify what happened.
		

			So there are, in Riwayatul Hadith, there are
		

			a couple of things that are mentioned.
		

			One thing that is mentioned is, that Isa
		

			AS, he actually knew that he is going
		

			to be killed, so he asked from amongst
		

			his followers, his disciples, somebody to take his
		

			place.
		

			So he asked three times, who is going
		

			to take my place?
		

			One of his companions stood up.
		

			He asked again, the same one stood up.
		

			The third time he asked, the same person
		

			stood up.
		

			So Isa AS said, you will be the
		

			one who will take my place and his
		

			features were changed to be that of Isa
		

			AS and he was the one that was
		

			crucified and Isa AS was raised up as
		

			the following ayat they suggest.
		

			However, again, this is not very clear how
		

			strong or authentic those Riwayat are.
		

			The Quran is not very clear as to
		

			what happened and we rely on such Riwayat
		

			to figure out what actually happened.
		

			In any case, Allah SWT goes on to
		

			say, وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُهُ وَلَكِنْ شُبْيَهْنَاهُمْ وَإِنَّ
		

			الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْ Indeed, those
		

			people that dispute about him, they are in
		

			doubts about him.
		

			What does that mean?
		

			That even amongst the Christians, there are differing
		

			views about the crucifixion of Isa AS.
		

			It is not a clear cut matter.
		

			Some people say that he was put on
		

			the cross and then before being put on
		

			the cross, before dying, he was taken off
		

			because apparently what was going on was that
		

			the Passover was coming.
		

			It was a Friday and before sunset, they
		

			had to take the bodies down and finish
		

			everything before sunset.
		

			So, one understanding is that before dying, he
		

			was put into a tomb and he hadn't
		

			actually died.
		

			And then there are different views upon that.
		

			And there are different books written about this
		

			subject amongst the Christians.
		

			One is called the Jesus Papers.
		

			One is called the Passover Plot.
		

			And similar books of that nature which talk
		

			about the different understandings that even the Christians
		

			have about the crucifixion.
		

			So, it is not very clear.
		

			So, the question is that something that is
		

			so fundamental to the Christian faith and is
		

			such a central tenet of their beliefs, why
		

			is it that there is still ambiguity about
		

			it?
		

			So, this is what is meant here.
		

			وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اَخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْ They
		

			are still in doubts about it.
		

			مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا اتِّبَعَ عَظَّنٍ
		

			They don't have true knowledge about it except
		

			just following conjecture and just assumptions that they
		

			have.
		

			That this could have happened, this could have
		

			happened.
		

			But nobody is sure, even amongst the Christians,
		

			as to what truly happened.
		

			But Allah SWT declares that one thing is
		

			for sure.
		

			وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا For sure they didn't kill
		

			him.
		

			They didn't kill Isa AS.
		

			بَرَّفَعُهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ But Allah SWT raised him
		

			up.
		

			وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا Allah SWT is Almighty
		

			and Wise.
		

			And our belief is that before the Day
		

			of Judgment, Isa AS is going to return.
		

			He is going to come back.
		

			He is going to descend in Damascus.
		

			And there will be the battle between him
		

			and Dajjal.
		

			He will kill Dajjal in a place called
		

			Lod, which is in modern day Israel, just
		

			outside Tel Aviv.
		

			This place is even marked, if you go
		

			to that area, there is a sign there
		

			which says that the Muslim belief is that
		

			at this place, Jesus will kill the Dajjal.
		

			I went many years ago, the sign was
		

			there.
		

			I don't know if it's still there or
		

			not.
		

			But in any case, this is our belief
		

			that Isa AS will return one day.
		

			After that, later on, we have Surah Al
		

			-Ma'idah.
		

			Surah Al-Ma'idah, it's one of those
		

			surahs which throughout, from beginning to end, it
		

			talks about the mistakes that the people of
		

			the book made.
		

			And basically the understanding is that we should
		

			not follow in the footsteps of those mistakes.
		

			We should try to refrain from making those
		

			same kinds of mistakes.
		

			One particular verse that pops out for us
		

			living amongst Christians is Allah SWT says وَمِنَ
		

			الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّا نَصَارًا أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَهُمْ فَنَسُوا حَظًا
		

			مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ Those people that call themselves
		

			Nasara, the Christians, Allah SWT says we took
		

			a mythab from them.
		

			We took a covenant from them, a promise
		

			from them.
		

			The promise was, as we mentioned before a
		

			couple of days ago, that when Prophet Muhammad
		

			AS comes, then they're supposed to follow, they're
		

			supposed to believe, they're supposed to take him
		

			as a messenger.
		

			But فَنَسُوا حَظًا مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ They forgot
		

			a great portion of what they were reminded
		

			of.
		

			Meaning that they did not accept this message,
		

			they did not accept this command.
		

			So Allah says فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَى
		

			يَوْمِ الْخِيَامَةِ So we put hatred and enmity
		

			amongst them until the day of judgement.
		

			So amongst the Christians, there are so many
		

			different factions.
		

			The Catholics, they believe that the Protestants, they
		

			are not Christians.
		

			The Christians, the Protestants, they believe that the
		

			Catholics are not true Christians.
		

			And then even amongst the Protestants, there are
		

			different kinds.
		

			Episcopalian and the Baptists and Anglicans and so
		

			on and so forth.
		

			So there are hundreds and hundreds of different
		

			factions found amongst the Christians.
		

			And this is what Allah SWT says here.
		

			That until the day of judgement فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ
		

			الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْخِيَامَةِ And even up
		

			until this modern day, the huge difficulties that
		

			were taking place in Ireland, the disputes that
		

			were taking place in Northern Ireland, it was
		

			simply Catholic and Protestant.
		

			They were killing each other, they were, they
		

			call it sectarian violence, but it was on
		

			the basis of Catholic and Protestant.
		

			And even to this day, there are still,
		

			there is still friction between Catholics and Protestants
		

			over there and across the world.
		

			So this is what Allah SWT has referred
		

			to.
		

			Why this surah is called Al-Ma'idah?
		

			InshaAllah we'll discuss that tomorrow.
		

			It refers to a table spread that the
		

			Sahaba of Isa AS had requested and that
		

			will be mentioned towards the end of the
		

			surah tomorrow.
		

			I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
		

			to understand and practice what has been said
		

			and heard.
		

			Al-Fatiha.