Zia Sheikh – Respect and Sanctity of Quran 02252016
AI: Summary ©
The importance of respect for the Qurtek and Shaytan is emphasized, along with the need for shaping behavior to be informed before reciting. The importance of "verbal" and "any negative" in shaping behavior is emphasized, along with the importance of giving credit to individuals for their accomplishments and controlling behavior through giving credit to individuals. The concept of "nafs" is also discussed, including the potential for nafs to affect individuals. Additionally, the importance of giving credit to individuals for their accomplishments and the potential for nafs to affect individuals is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Many people just want to hold the Qur
'an without wudu, although there is a fiqhi
difference of opinion about this issue, but still
the respect dictates that we should hold the
Qur'an with wudu.
Many people just leave the Qur'an on
the floor, and they say, well, there's no
hadith or anything like that that says that
you're not supposed to put the Qur'an
on the floor.
Well, the floor is where we put our
feet.
What if somebody puts his foot on your
face?
Is that going to be respectful?
It's not going to be respectful, right?
Nobody, even in all cultures, it's a universal
thing that if you're sitting, you don't point
your feet at somebody.
It's regarded as disrespectful in all cultures.
So how can we put the Qur'an
in the same place that we put our
feet?
So this is something that we need to
understand the respect and the sanctity of the
Qur'an that these are truly the words
of Allah SWT that have been given to
us.
We should respect them, and we should appreciate
them.
And the fact that the Prophet SAW brought
these words to us, and he gave these
words to us intact, without any kind of
contamination.
So we need to respect.
We need to have adab.
This is very, very important.
And the first adab is that when we're
about to recite the Qur'an, we say,
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم And the other
opinion is that after reciting the Qur'an,
why would we say, أعوذ بالله من الشيطان
الرجيم That now we've read the Qur'an.
We've internalized the meanings.
We've heard what Allah SWT wants to say
to us.
And now when we want to put it
into practice, we do not want the Shaytan
to intervene and infiltrate in between us and
our deeds and our intentions.
And therefore, we ask the refuge of Allah
SWT from the Shaytan to protect us from
his evil after we've recited and after we
put into practice or try to put into
practice what we've read.
So Allah says, فَإِذَا قَرَأْتَ الْقُرْآنَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ
Seek the refuge of Allah من الشيطان الرجيم
From the outcast Shaytan.
And now, is this obligatory or not?
Is this an obligation to say, أعوذ بالله
من الشيطان الرجيم or not?
The majority of the scholars say that this
is not an obligation, rather this is an
أمر للنضب.
نضب means that it's recommended that we say
أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم before we recite.
And in the majority of cultures, especially in
Indo-Pak culture, the idea is that we
should say بسم الله is more important than
أعوذ بالله.
The reality is that Allah didn't tell us
to say بسم الله before reading, but he
told us, he commanded us to make استعاذة,
meaning say أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم.
So that is more important than بسم الله.
Now, on the same token, to say بسم
الله الرحمن الرحيم at the beginning of the
surahs is essential because some scholars say that
بسم الله at the beginning of the surah
is actually part of the surah.
So, when the surah is beginning, it is
essential.
At the middle of the surah, it's not
essential.
It is again recommended, it is good to
do that, but it's not as important as
استعاذة, meaning saying أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم.
So after that Allah says إنه ليس له
سلطان على الذين آمنوا وعلى ربهم يتوكلون Indeed,
he doesn't have any control over those people
that have Iman and they have توكل on
their Lord.
So what does سلطان mean?
سلطان, there are two opinions, two meanings of
سلطان.
سلطان is derived from سليط and سليط is
basically when the oil that you use to
light a fire, you light it and it
becomes lit.
So this whole procedure is called سليط and
the light that emerges, it enlightens the way.
So that's why the word سلطان, it means
حجة, proof, because it guides you and it
tells you the right way.
It is a proof.
That's one meaning of سلطان.
And the other meaning of سلطان is control.
The king, he has control, he influences, he
makes the judgments, he makes decisions.
This is also سلطان.
And in both ways, the Shaytan has no
influence whatsoever.
إنه ليس له سلطان.
He has no حجة, he has no proof
to guide you because his proofs are simply
وساويس.
His guidance is simply whisperings.
So he has no proof.
And secondly, he has no power also to
take your hand and make you do something.
All he can do is whisper.
And that is why it's important for us
to, there's something that we need to understand,
is that we give Shaytan too much credit.
We give Shaytan too much credit, whereas he
has no control over us whatsoever.
He said to Allah SWT, when he was
asking permission to try to misguide us until
the Day of Judgment, he said that فَبِعِزَّتِكَ
لَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ إِلَّا عِبَادَكَ مِنْهُمُ الْمُخْلَصِينَ I swear
by your honor, I'm going to misguide every
single one of them, except your chosen slaves.
So, meaning that there are some people that
he doesn't, he cannot influence at all.
So the Shaytan, all he does is whisper.
He cannot prove to us that what he's
telling us to do is correct.
And the other thing is, he cannot force
us to do anything that is beyond our
will, that is simply our own doing.
So this is where the nafs comes in.
Our nafs, our desire, our inclination.
And I often give this example for people
to understand this, that there are people, for
example, who drink alcohol.
They drink alcohol, but yet when you put
pork in front of them, they cannot imagine
eating pork.
So you can say, well, the Shaytan influenced
you to drink the alcohol, why can't he
influence you to drink pork, eat pork?
There's a fair question, right?
That's a very fair question.
Both equally haram.
Alcohol is haram, pork is haram.
So why is it that you cannot eat
pork, and yet you can drink alcohol?
That means that it is actually one's own
desire that pushes him to do something that
he's inclined towards, and keeps him away from
the thing that he's not inclined towards.
So this is what nafs is.
So the Shaytan can just whisper in a
person's ear and try to misguide him, but
ultimately it's the person that does the actual
action.
And that's why on the Day of Judgment,
Allah SWT describes the Shaytan what does he
say?
وَقَالَ الشَّيْطَانُ لَمَّا قُضِيَ الْأَمْرُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَعَدَكُمْ
وَعَذَا الْحَقِّ وَوَعَدْتُكُمْ فَأَخْلَفْتُكُمْ وَمَا كَانَ لِيَ عَلَيْكُمْ
مِن سُلْطَانٍ إِلَّا يَعْلَمُونَ