Zia Sheikh – Tafseer Of Surah AlHadeed Session 1
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed
Satan.
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
All that is in the heavens and the
earth glorifies Allah, and He is the Exalted
in Might, the Wise.
To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens
and the earth.
He gives life and causes death, and He
is Powerful over all things.
He is the First and the Last, the
Outer and the Inner.
And He is Knowing of all things.
He is the One who created the heavens
and the earth in six days.
Then He ascended to the Throne.
He knows what comes into the earth and
what comes out of it, and what comes
down from the sky and what ascends into
it.
And He is with you wherever you are.
And Allah sees what you do.
To Him belongs the dominion of the heavens
and the earth.
And to Allah do all things return.
He causes the night to enter into the
day, and He causes the day to enter
into the night.
And He is Knowing of that which is
in the *.
Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and spend
from that which He has made you dependent
upon.
Those of you who believe and spend, for
them is a great reward.
Today inshallah we are going to be starting
Surah Al-Hadeed.
Al-Hadeed refers to metal or iron, and
it's named Al-Hadeed because of the mention
of metal, which is going to be mentioned
later on in the Surah.
This Surah is a Madani Surah, and it
has a few main subjects which are discussed
through it.
The first subject is that everything in the
creation belongs to Allah.
He is the creator of this creation.
He is the one who fashioned and innovated
this creation.
And He is the one who is controlling
everything within this creation.
So this is the first point of discussion
and the first theme which is mentioned in
this Surah.
The second theme is the importance for the
human being to make sacrifices, so that he
can get closer to Allah.
If he wants any form of reward and
a high place in the hereafter, then for
that he is required to make some sacrifice,
he is required to make some efforts, and
that's the second theme that is found in
this Surah.
And the last theme that is found in
this Surah, is that this Surah specifically talks
about the limited reality of this world.
That this world will finish, everything in this
world is Fani, meaning it will be destroyed
one day, and it will be finished one
day.
Whatever enjoyment we have in this world is
temporary, and one day we have to go
to the real abode of the hereafter, which
is going to be our permanent abode, and
that is what we are supposed to be
thinking about, and that is the thing that
we are supposed to be focusing on.
So these are the three main themes that
we find in this Surah.
In addition to that, Allah SWT in this
Surah mentions specific names that are not found
anywhere else in the Qur'an.
For example, وَالْأَوَّلُ وَالْآخِرُ وَالظَّاهِرُ وَالْبَاطِلُ We'll talk
about those in a minute.
But these are names and qualities of Allah
SWT that are not found elsewhere in the
Qur'an, they are specifically mentioned in this
Surah.
Also, Allah SWT in this Surah, He tells
us to be generous with our wealth and
to spend it for the sake of Allah
SWT, and once we do that, we will
find it with Allah SWT when we meet
Him.
And the word قَرْض is used in this
Surah also, like in Surah Al-Baqarah, that
give a loan to Allah SWT, it's as
if Allah is going to pay you back,
that's why the word قَرْض is used.
Also, this Surah talks about the difference between
the Munafiqeen and the Mu'mineen, and what will
happen to the two parties on the Day
of Judgment.
How the Munafiqeen will be separated from between
the people of Iman and the people of
Nifaat, there will be a separation by a
wall, a wall of punishment, a wall of
fire, which we'll discuss in due course.
So, these are the main themes that we'll
find in this Surah.
Going on to the Surah itself, Allah SWT
says, سَبَّحَ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأُرْضِ وَهُوَ
الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ Whatever is in the heavens and
the earth, praises Allah SWT, and He is
the Almighty, the All-Wise.
There are many Surahs which start with either
سَبَّحَ or they start with يُسَبِّحُ.
سَبَّحَ is past tense, يُسَبِّحُ is present and
future tense, مَاضِي and مُضَارِع.
So, why some Surahs have past tense and
why some Surahs have present and future tense?
Basically, all the times are being covered.
So, from the beginning of time until the
end of time, in the past, now and
in the future, the praise of Allah SWT
is going to continue in the heavens and
the earth.
All the creation of Allah SWT is going
to praise Him.
So, this ayah says, whatever is in the
heavens and the earth, praises Allah SWT.
It glorifies Allah SWT.
Whether that thing has a life in it
or whether that thing does not have a
life in it, it praises Allah SWT.
The rocks, the animals, the sun, the sky,
the moon, the birds, the animals, they all
praise Allah SWT.
And of course, the jinn, the angels, the
human being that are regarded as a'atil,
they also praise Allah SWT.
So, the praising of the human being, that
is apparent and self-explanatory.
That a person who is praising Allah SWT
by saying the word Subhanallah or making the
dhikr of Allah SWT, glorifying Him, that is
self-explanatory because he is doing it with
his tongue and also trying to internalize it
and increasing his khushu by doing that.
So, that is very clear cut.
As for the other things that I mentioned,
the animals and the rocks and the mountains,
etc.
What is their tasbih?
That's the question.
Some scholars say that they also make tasbih
just like the human beings.
Allah SWT gives them the ability to make
tasbih just like human beings, just like angels,
just like jinns.
All of these creations also make the tasbih
of Allah SWT.
And another opinion is the fact that Allah
SWT created them.
And they are there for us to see.
And through seeing them, we realize the power
of Allah SWT.
That is tasbih by itself.
When we see a creation of Allah, when
we see the beautiful moon, a full moon
in all of its glory, when we see
the shining stars, when we see the planets,
when we see the sun rising and setting,
when we see trees growing and we see
fruit coming out of those trees, the creation
doing those things by themselves, that is a
reflection of the greatness of Allah SWT and
that is the tasbih of Allah SWT.
That is one interpretation.
And the other interpretation is the fact that
the creation, it obeys Allah SWT.
And it does what it's supposed to do.
The sun does what it's supposed to do.
It rises at the correct time, it sets
at the correct time.
The moon goes through its phases exactly as
it's supposed to.
The lion and the hunting animals, they will
only eat meat.
They will not eat vegetables.
The cow, the grazing animals, they will only
eat vegetables.
And grass, they will not eat meat.
So the fact that these animals do exactly
as Allah SWT told them to do, this
is the tasbih of these things.
So some scholars are persistent on the fact
that no, all of the creation of Allah
SWT does the tasbih just like the human
being and that is why in Surah Al
-Isra, Allah SWT says, وَإِن مِّن شَيْءٍ إِلَّا
يُسَبِّحُ بِحَمْدِهِ وَلَكِن لَا تَفْقَهُونَ تَسْبِيحَهُمْ Every creation
of Allah SWT, it makes the tasbih of
Allah, but you do not understand the tasbih.
You do not understand how they do the
tasbih.
How they glorify Allah, you do not understand.
So there is a form of tasbih that
they do.
It is just like the human being, but
we don't understand that form of tasbih.
But nevertheless, whatever it is, Allah SWT tells
us again and again in the Quran, سَبَّحَ
لِلَّهِ مَا فِى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ Everything in the
heavens and the earth glorifies Allah, makes the
tasbih of Allah SWT.
وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ He is Almighty, He is
All-Wise.
له مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ Only for Him is
the kingdom of the heavens and the earth.
So this له, this laam harful jar, this
laam of possession, it has been brought forward.
It is supposed to be actually المُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ
وَالْأَرْضِ له But when you bring something that
is supposed to be at the back to
the front, it gives emphasis.
In Arabic it says, تَقْدِيمُ شَيْءٍ حَقُّهُ أَلْتَأْخِيرُ
يُفِيدُ الحَصْرُ So when this له has been
brought forward, the translation becomes, Only for Him
is the kingdom of the heavens and the
earth.
Only for Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى Meaning, He
controls it however He wills.
It is in His hands and nobody can
question Him as to how He controls it.
Nobody can question Him when He brings rain,
when He brings the sun, when He brings
hurricanes, when He brings tornadoes, when He brings
earthquakes.
Nobody can question Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى for
that.
Only for Him is the kingdom of the
heavens and the earth.
يُحْنِي وَيُمِيت He gives life and He gives
death.
This can be taken from many perspectives.
He gives life and death to all of
us.
He brings a life from the womb and
the person becomes alive.
And before that, He was simply that this
human being that was just born was a
dead thing, a drop of *.
And from that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى created
something which was alive.
And then that same alive thing becomes dead
again.
One day, everybody is going to leave this
world.
Similarly, we see year in and year out.
You see the spring.
We have spring going on right now.
And the trees basically start to blossom.
And the leaves start to emerge on the
trees.
Everything starts to become lush and green.
And the plants start growing.
The flowers are blooming in the gardens.
And then when winter comes again, everything becomes
dead.
The grass becomes dead.
The trees become dead.
They shed their leaves.
There are no flowers.
There are no fruits on the trees.
Everything becomes dead.
So يُحِي وَيُمِيت He gives life and He
gives death.
So every year, this should be a reminder
for us.
Similar to how Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى is
giving life and death to these things.
One day, we will be given death.
And then after that, we will be made
to come alive again.
This is what Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى is
telling us here.
يُحِي وَيُمِيت He gives life and He gives
death.
وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٍ And He has
the power over everything.
قَدِير It is سِيغَةُ المُضَالَغَ فَقَادِر He is
قادِر.
He has the power over everything.
قَدِير He is all-powerful.
He is very powerful indeed.
هو الأول والآخر والظاهر والباطل وهو بكل شيء
عليم He is the first and He is
the last.
And usually when you have the first and
the last, that means that there was a
beginning point for that thing.
When a person comes in first to the
masjid, the beginning point of his coming first
is the time that he enters the masjid.
And the person who leaves the masjid the
last, the point that he left the masjid
is the point where he became the last
person to leave.
Alright?
So there's a point to that.
There is a time that is associated with
being first and last.
But in the case of Allah SWT هو
الأول لا بداية له وهو الآخر لا نهاية
له He is the first, but there was
no beginning for him.
There was no beginning point because he's always
been there.
This is the meaning of أول here.
We should not confuse it with the أول
of the worldly terms.
He is the أول that had no beginning.
He was always there.
And الآخر, he was the last and he
will never end.
Meaning when you say the last in the
case of Allah SWT, his existence will not
end.
It will continue.
When we say the last in worldly terms,
it means his existence finishes.
The last person to leave the masjid, his
existence in the masjid finished.
That's why he was the last person to
leave.
But in the case of Allah SWT, هو
الآخر لا نهاية له He is the last
and he is never ending.
That's what الأول and الآخر means in the
case of Allah SWT.
And then هو الظاهر والباطل He is the
apparent and he is the hidden.
He is apparent.
How is Allah SWT apparent?
How is he visible?
الظاهر means something that is visible to the
eyes.
He is apparent by us looking at his
creation and marveling at the creation of Allah
SWT and understanding through pondering into the creation
that this creation has a creator.
That is what الظاهر means.
Through looking at his creation, through looking at
what Allah SWT created, through looking at the
beautiful flowers, through looking at the beautiful birds
with their plumage, through looking at the wonderful
animals with their different color skins, through looking
at the planets and the stars and the
galaxies and everything that Allah created, Allah SWT
is الظاهر.
His existence is clear.
There is no doubt about it.
It's as if he is in front of
us.
والباطل, he is باطل, he is hidden because
we don't know how Allah SWT is.
We don't know his...
There is nothing similar to Allah SWT.
You cannot compare him with anything else.
So when he is incomparable, we don't know
what he looks like.
We don't know how he is.
So he is باطل from that sense.
He is hidden from that sense.
So هو الأول والآخر والظاهر والباطل These qualities
of Allah SWT, you don't find them anywhere
else in the Quran.
وهو بكل شيء عليم And he has the
complete knowledge over everything.
هو الذي خلق السماوات والأرض في ستة أيام
It is he who created the heavens and
the earth in six days.
So why six days?
When Allah SWT, إذا أراد الله شيئا أن
يقول له كن فيكون Whenever Allah SWT wants
something to come into existence, He says to
it كن, be, and it becomes.
So why Allah SWT created the heavens and
the earth in six days?
The scholars say that Allah is emphasizing to
the human being that when something important is
done, take your time.
Something important is being done, don't rush it.
Take your time.
Allah SWT could have created everything in just
the blink of an eyelid.
But he didn't.
He created it in six days.
So six days, what does it exactly mean?
Allah knows best.
In other verses of the Quran, Allah SWT
says, وَإِنَّ يَوْمًا عِنْدَ رَبِّكَ كَأَلْفِ سَنَةٍ مِّمَّا
تَعُدُّونَ One day according to your Lord is
like one thousand of your years.
So six days, does it mean six thousand
years?
Allah knows best.
Or does it mean the six days of
this earth?
Six days of 24 hours?
Again, Allah SWT knows best.
But whatever it is, He created the heavens
and the earth in six days.
ثُمَّ اسْتَوَعَ عَلَىٰ الْأَرْشِ And then He made
istiwa on the Arsh.
Istiwa on the Arsh, generally if you look
at it from a literal perspective, it means
He sat on the Arsh.
But we don't know, again, just like we
don't know how Allah SWT is, we don't
know how His istiwa is, how His sitting
on the Arsh is, how His Arsh is,
we don't know.
So however it is, we believe in it,
whatever, as we say in Arabic, كَمَا يَلِيقُ
بِشَأْنِ We believe in it as He has
the right to be believed in.
So this is what we believe about istiwa
on the Arsh.
يَعْلَمُ مَا يَلِجُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَمَا يَخْرُجُ مِنْهَا
He knows what goes into the ground and
whatever comes out from it.
So He knows the seeds and everything that
go into the ground, and the water that
goes into the ground, the rainfall that goes
into the ground, and He knows what grows
from it.
He is aware of every single thing that
is going on in the world.
He is not unaware of a single bud
that is coming out.
Any leaf that falls from the tree, He
knows about it, and it doesn't fall without
the permission of Allah SWT.
He knows what goes into the ground, and
He knows what comes out of the ground.
وَمَا يَنزِلُ مِنَ السَّمَاءِ وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا Whatever
falls from the sky in terms of rainfall,
and whatever goes up into the sky.
Traditionally the scholars have interpreted as يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا
as the angels going up, the a'mal going
up, because they were not aware of the
water cycle that comes, the water vapor going
up into the sky, and then turning into
clouds.
So traditional scholars have interpreted this as going
up, meaning the a'mal going up, the angels
going up, and so on and so forth.
In this day and age we are aware
that if Allah SWT is talking about the
rainfall coming down, وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا probably refers
to the water vapor that is going up
to form clouds again, so that the cycle
continues, the rainfall comes back again.
So وَمَا يَعْرُجُ فِيهَا He knows whatever is
falling from the sky, and whatever is going
up into the sky.
وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنْتُمْ وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
بَصِيرٌ He is with you wherever you are.
He is with you wherever you are.
This concept of استحضار of Allah SWT, realizing
that Allah SWT is with us at all
times, that is what every mu'min is supposed
to put inside him and know and internalize.
That this is what I believe, that Allah
SWT is with me at all times.
Then when a person has that concept in
his mind, it's very difficult for him to
commit sins and disobey Allah SWT.
Allah is watching me right now.
Allah SWT is with me right now.
So how can I commit any sins?
There may not be anybody else watching me,
but Allah is watching me.
So I should not be committing any sin,
I should not be disobeying Allah SWT.
So وَهُوَ مَعَكُمْ أَيْنَ مَا كُنتُمْ He is
with you wherever you are.
وَاللَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ And Allah SWT is
ever watchful of what you are doing.
So He is ever watchful, which means that
there will be accountability for it.
It's not that He is just watching you
and that's it.
Watchful, He is watching you, and on the
Day of Judgment He is going to take
you into account for whatever you did, good
or bad.
لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأُرْضِ وَإِلَىٰ اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الْأُمُورِ
Again Allah SWT repeats the word, only for
Him is the Kingdom of Heavens and the
Earth.
To reiterate, to emphasize, to stress, the Kingdom
of the Heavens and the Earth belongs only
to Allah SWT.
وَإِلَىٰ اللَّهِ تُرْجَعُ الْأُمُورِ And only to Allah
SWT return all affairs.
Everything goes back to Allah SWT.
Everything He is doing, everything is under His
control.
All affairs are returned back to Allah SWT.
يُولِجُ اللَّيْلَ فِي النَّهَارِ وَيُولِجُ النَّهَارَ فِي اللَّيْلِ
وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ صُدُورٍ He enters the night
into the day, and He enters the day
into the night.
This is a very strange thing.
I just traveled to Australia, and the most
strangest thing that ever happened to me while
I traveled is that I left here on
Tuesday night, and I reached in Australia on
Thursday morning at 5 AM on Thursday.
Left Tuesday night, and I reached on Thursday
morning.
Wednesday disappeared.
Where is Wednesday gone?
Okay, so basically something to do with going
across the international date line.
So, I'm in the plane thinking, I've seen
the schedule that I'm going to be leaving
on Tuesday night and reaching Thursday morning.
So, I'm thinking that during the flight, I'm
going to see night and day, and the
daylight is going to change, and I'm going
to have to pray quickly five salats by
seeing the daylight change.
But all the way through, it's dusk.
It's night all the way through until we
reach Australia.
So, basically the whole day of Wednesday disappeared.
On the way back, I prayed Dhuhr, and
I combined Dhuhr and Asr at the airport
in Sydney because Dhuhr time started.
And then I got here, and Dhuhr time
starts over here after 15 hours of flight.
So, in flight, the day basically turned into
night.
So, dusk fell again.
So, technically, Fajr time came again for me.
And then when I got here, Dhuhr time
comes again, and Asr time comes again.
So, by the time Asr time came, I'm
at home relaxing.
So, very, very strange things that happen if
a person is traveling.
So, he sees these things happening.
The night turning into day, day turning into
night.
Especially if you're going eastward, what happens is
that the night basically finishes very, very quickly.
You see that the plane is heading towards
the east.
Usually, flights take off at night.
And then, within two or three hours, it's
daylight again.
So, that's basically where the sunlight is, the
point where the sun is rising, where the
plane is crossing.
So, this is what is happening to us
night and day.
Allah SWT makes the night going to day,
and the day going to night.
And we need to, even if a person
is not flying, the fact that it's happening
every single day, it is the glory of
Allah SWT, the might of Allah SWT, that
everything is happening in sync, and the sun
is rising at exactly the correct time, and
it's setting at exactly the correct time.
And this is, again, one of the wonders
of Allah SWT.
وَهُوَ عَلِيمٌ بِذَاتِ السُّدُورِ And He is ever
aware of what is in the hearts.
So, the fact that what we are thinking,
what we are considering, the level of our
faith, the wasawis that are in our hearts,
all of that Allah SWT is fully aware
of.
So, these were the qualities of Allah SWT
that He mentioned, that I said at the
beginning of the surah, this surah goes into
great depth in talking about the qualities and
the greatness of Allah SWT.
And as you've just heard, these are very,
very wondrous ayat, making us reflect upon the
power and the greatness of Allah SWT.
So, with that inshallah we'll stop, and we'll
continue with the rest of it inshallah next
week.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what has been said
and heard.