Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah AnNahl ayah 73 onward 01072016
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I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed
Satan, in the name of Allah, the Beneficent,
the Merciful.
And they worship other than Allah that which
has no power to provide for them from
the heavens and the earth at all, nor
can they.
So set not up to Allah parables.
Verily, Allah knows and you know not.
Allah sets up a parable for a servant
of His own who has no power to
do anything, and for one whom We have
provided a good provision from Us, and he
spends from it secretly and openly.
Are they equal?
All praise is due to Allah, but most
of them know not.
And Allah has set up a parable for
two men, one of whom is dumb, has
no power to do anything, and he is
a burden on his master.
Wherever he directs him, he does not bring
any good.
Are they equal?
And who orders justice?
And he is on a straight path.
We are going through the Tafsir of Surah
An-Nahl.
Inshallah, today we are going to start from
Ayah number 73.
I did briefly translate Ayah 73 last week,
and Inshallah I am going to go through
that in a little bit more detail.
As we know, the criticism of the polytheists,
the people who are committing shirk, was ongoing
in the previous verses.
And that same criticism is continuing in these
verses that I have recited today.
So Allah SWT says about them, those polytheists,
the mushrikeen, they worship other than Allah SWT.
So what does ibadah mean?
Ibadah means basically to fulfil the command of
whoever you are worshipping, and to stay away
from his prohibition.
To fulfil what he is commanding, and to
stay away from the thing that he is
forbidding you from.
And ibadah is basically, when we say ibadah,
the first thing that comes to our mind
is actually ritual worship.
What we do ritually.
You do the ibadah five times daily salat,
fast in the month of Ramadan, perform hajj,
give zakat, and so on.
We regard that as ibadah.
But the word ibadah itself is derived from
the word abd.
Abd meaning the slave.
And people who are familiar with the concept
of slavery, which was pre-Islamic and continued
into Islam, until Islam encouraged people to set
the slaves free, it was that the slave
was the complete possession of the master.
And the slave could not do anything without
the permission of the master.
If the master wanted to sell the slave,
he could sell the slave.
If he wanted to set the slave free,
he could set the slave free.
So abd, abd is from that, ibadah is
from that same word abd.
And ibadah basically means that one submits himself
so completely to Allah SWT that he becomes
his slave completely.
Just like the real life slaves that the
people used to have.
That one becomes, submits oneself in complete submission
to his creator, to his master, so that
he becomes like that slave or even more
humble and more closer to Allah SWT than
the slave to his master.
So these people, they are worshipping other than
Allah SWT.
And really Shaykh Sha'arawi has mentioned a
very beautiful example of how Allah SWT has
made the creation submissive to his slave.
So the slave becomes submissive to Allah SWT,
but the creation becomes submissive to the slave.
How so?
A person who wants to worship Allah SWT,
he wants to do the ibadah of Allah
SWT.
Say for example he wants to pray, one
of the fundamental things that we do which
is one form of ibadah.
So when it comes to the prayer, what
does a person need?
He needs the purity of the body.
So Allah SWT provided for that person water
that becomes obedient to the slave to a
degree that that person, the slave uses it.
Now just imagine how the filtering of water,
the cleansing of water, the purification of water
takes place before it comes to our taps
where we open the tap and it becomes
fresh and ready for us to use without
any dangerous type of bacteria to such a
degree that we can even, in this country
we can even drink the tap water without
any kind of fear of repercussion.
So all of the situations around him have
made it possible for the slave to use
that water that Allah SWT has provided for
him.
So many cogs in that whole system are
submitting themselves to that slave who becomes obedient
to Allah SWT.
This is the water.
Then to worship Allah SWT what else do
we need?
We need physical strength.
So physical strength we derive it from consuming
food.
So just imagine that morsel that is in
front of our plate that we are looking
at it and we basically don't even think
about how much effort took place before that
morsel was put onto our plate so that
we could take it, put it into our
hands and eat it.
And basically put it into our mouth.
The whole system basically submits itself to the
slave so that that morsel can come to
our plate.
The flour basically it's grown by the farmer
and then it grows, it's tended for, it's
cared for, it's watered and then harvested and
then the wheat is taken, it's ground and
then it's sent to the factory where it
is put into packages.
Then those packages are distributed to more factories
which then make bread out of it and
then that bread is put into airtight packages
so that it remains fresh and then it's
distributed to supermarkets and then the person goes
to the supermarket, brings it home, toasts it
and it's on his plate.
But before it got to his plate how
much effort was put into that one piece
of bread for that piece of bread to
get onto his plate?
That's the question.
Basically the creation submits itself to that slave
who wants to then use that strength that
he derives from the food and drink that
he is eating until he gets that strength.
So the system submits itself to the slave.
Then to stand in front of Allah SWT
a person needs clean clothes and pure clothes.
So again that whole system of how that
cloth got to us, the fabric is taken
either it's a natural fabric or synthetic fabric
and then it's woven in factories then the
factory is distributed to tailors.
Either you get a factory fitted, a factory
sewn clothing or you can have it tailor
made.
In both cases what happened again a whole
system is in place so that the slave
can take advantage of this blessing of covering
his aura so that he can stand in
front of Allah SWT.
So the summary is that Allah SWT has
made the whole creation submit itself to the
slave who wants to worship Allah SWT.
But the slave himself needs to keep this
under consideration and understand and be grateful for
the blessings that Allah SWT has given him.
So but unfortunately Allah SWT is describing those
people that don't realize the blessing that Allah
SWT is giving them and instead of worshipping
Allah SWT they worship other than Allah SWT.
So when you keep all of this thing
in mind that how Allah blesses them and
yet they want to instead of worshipping that
Allah that gave them everything they want to
worship something else.
That really doesn't make sense.
It is completely, it defies logic.
It is against a person's psyche.
It is something that if we think about
it we cannot understand that one gives us
and one takes care of us and yet
we give another priority.
It doesn't make sense.
So Allah says, they worship other than Allah
SWT that does not have any control for
them for the risk that comes from the
skies and the earth.
Why does Allah SWT use the word skies
and the earth here?
Because really the beneficial risk that we need
on a daily basis three times a day
it is from the skies and the earth.
The water comes from the sky and it
feeds the earth and then the crops grow,
the fruit grows and the animals eat from
the same crops.
So the risk is from the skies and
the earth.
If a person he had mountains of gold
and mountains of silver and mountains of diamonds
and yet there is no rainfall and there
is no crops growing because there is no
rainfall.
Is he going to eat the gold and
silver?
Is he going to eat the diamonds?
So from this Allah SWT used the word
skies and the earth to denote the very
fundamental sustenance that we get which is the
most important sustenance is the water that Allah
SWT gives us and the crops that grow
from it and then through the crops we
get food and our animals get food.
They get nutrition, they get fat and then
we slaughter the animals.
So really the fundamental risk is from the
heavens and the earth.
So that is why Allah SWT used this
example.
So again they worship other than Allah SWT
that thing meaning those idols that do not
have control over the risk from the heavens
and the earth.
Not even a little bit, not even a
tiny bit they have the ability to do
that and in the future they will never
have the ability to do the same thing.
So why are you worshiping those idols that
have never had the capability in the past,
they will never have the capability in the
future and why do you worship those idols?
Do not make examples for Allah SWT.
Allah SWT knows and you do not know.
So Allah is telling us in this verse
that do not make up examples for Allah
SWT.
Do not give examples that are inappropriate for
Allah SWT.
Allah is the one who gives you examples
for you to understand.
Allah SWT says for Allah is the best
example, the highest example.
So throughout the Quran Allah gives us various
examples for us to understand His greatness and
for us to ponder and there are two
examples given straight after this particular verse.
What is the first example?
Allah SWT gives an example of a slave
who is Mamluk.
Mamluk again I gave the example of what
a slave actually is.
He is in complete possession of his master,
he is Mamluk.
Malik means the owner, Mamluk means the owned.
He is owned by his master.
He has no capability to do anything, meaning
without the permission of his master he cannot
do anything.
Whatever he owns belongs to his master and
even there was a special type of slave
called a Mukatab.
In those days Allah SWT mentioned this in
Surah An-Nur, the ruling of Mukatab and
that is that if a slave says to
his master that if I earn X amount
of money for you, will you set me
free?
So the master agrees and so the person
goes and sets out to make a living
and earn an X amount of money and
then he gives that money to the master
and then the master sets him free.
So even in that case the person is
still earning for his master.
So there is no situation for a slave
that he is in control of any of
his wealth.
As opposed to that, the free man, a
man who is not a slave of anybody,
he earns his own living and he has
a business or he works, he has a
job but he doesn't answer to anybody in
the sense that he is owned by somebody,
he is not the slave of anybody.
He is basically, he has the money and
he can spend it wherever he wants.
He can give to his relatives, he can
give in charity or he can keep, he
can spend on his family, whatever he wants
he can do it.
So first is, Allah SWT gives the example
of a slave who is Mamluk, who doesn't
have the capability of anything and an example
of whom we have given a good Rizq,
meaning he is not a slave of anybody
and he spends from it in secret and
openly, meaning Allah gives him wealth, he can
spend it because he owns it.
Can these people be equal?
Meaning the two that have been described, can
they be equal?
They cannot be equal.
So what example is Allah SWT giving us
from these two people that have been described?
The example is this, that the slave who
has no control over anything is the idol.
It's the idol, cannot do anything and the
person who has all the wealth and he
is controlling his wealth, he is giving each
and everyone around him, that is the example
of the creator, Allah SWT himself.
That is giving, he is the one in
charge, he is the one controlling, he is
giving to everybody, so who is the one
who is better?
The one who has no control or the
one who has control?
Obviously the one who has control, so Allah
is giving the example of the slave of
the idol versus the creator himself.
So Allah is saying, can they be equal?
They cannot be equal.
Alhamdulillah, all praise is due to Allah SWT,
but most of them do not know.
Then Allah SWT gives another example, Allah
SWT gives the example of two men, one
of them is dumb, dumb meaning in the
sense he cannot talk, and the other one
is not able to talk.
And when a person cannot talk, usually it's
paired with the ability or inability to hear,
because when a person hears, that is the,
then translates into the ability for him to
speak.
So that is why Allah SWT uses the
word, in the Quran, deaf and dumb, together.
But here Allah says, the person who is
dumb, he cannot speak.
So Allah SWT gives the example of two
men, one of them is dumb, meaning he
cannot speak, and he has no capability to
do anything.
He cannot do anything.
So just imagine you have, for example, an
employee who is so disabled that he cannot
talk.
So instead of bringing you profit, he may
bring you even losses.
And he is burdensome upon his master.
This dumb person, okay, he is burdensome upon
his master.
Why?
Because instead of bringing him profits and bringing
him good, he is bringing him bad, and
he is a burden upon his master.
So, what example is being given here?
This is the example again, of an idol.
Another example for an idol.
Why?
The idols that the people have created, they
carve them out of rock or out of
metal, brass, gold, silver, whatever it is, but
those same idols, they just sit there.
And instead of benefiting the master, or the
ones that worship them, the slave of those
idols has to clean the idols, has to
put food in front of the idols, has
to, you know, move the idols from left
to right, and when underneath it there is
dust, you know, it needs to be picked
up and cleaned.
So, who is the one benefiting who?
This dumb idol is sitting there, and he
is burdensome upon the slave of the idol,
the one who is worshipping the idol.
So again, Allah is giving the example of
this dumb slave as the idol.
And then Allah says, whichever direction the master
puts the slave, he doesn't bring any khayr
for the master.
So similarly, the idol is put in different
places, but there is no good that comes
out of that idol for the master, for
the one that worships him.
Can this dumb slave be equal to the
one who orders to do justice, meaning Allah
SWT?
So, the dumb slave is the idol, and
the one who is ordering, he is telling,
he is sending prophets to us, he is
giving us sustenance, he has the ability to
communicate with us through the angels and through
the Prophets, and he shows us his power
and he gives us his sustenance.
So, can the dumb idol be equal to
that creator?
It cannot be, they cannot be equal.
And he is on the straight path.
There are two other opinions as to what
this ayah was revealed about.
According to one opinion, Uthman ibn Affan is
the one who is meant by the one
who is ordering people to do justice.
And the one who is upcome, he was
a slave of Uthman ibn Affan, who basically
could not do anything.
So, it is a real life example according
to one opinion.
According to another opinion, the dumb person who
is being referred to here was Abu Jahl,
and the person who was ordering him to
do good was his own slave, Ammar ibn
Yasir, who Abu Jahl tortured and tortured so
much, and his mother, Sumayya, who Abu Jahl
actually killed in a very shameless way, in
a very torturous way, he killed Sumayya, who
became the first shaheed in Islam, the first
martyr in Islam.
So, according to some scholars, al-abkam, the
dumb person here, is referring to Abu Jahl,
and the one who is ordering to do
good, and the one on the right path,
was Ammar ibn Yasir, the slave of Abu
Jahl.
Again, the roles are flipped.
That, in fact, Abu Jahl, who is the
master, becomes, in the example, he becomes the
slave, and Ammar ibn Yasir, who was the
slave, in reality, is referred to as the
free person, who is ordering to do good.
So, again, it is a perception, that the
perception is that he is the master, and
Ammar ibn Yasir is the slave, but Allah
SWT is saying, no, it is the opposite
way around.
The free person is Ammar ibn Yasir, because
he has freed himself from the shackles of
slavery, of being slaves to the idols, and
the one who is in captivity, the true
slave, and the dumb person, is Abu Jahl.
So, again, these examples are there too, but
the majority of the scholars, they go with
the tafseer that I mentioned earlier, that is,
again, referring to the idol worship, and worshipping
Allah SWT, the difference between the two.
InshaAllah, we will stop there, and we will
continue next week.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us sufficient
time to understand and practice what has been
said and heard.