Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah AnNahl Ayah 90 02042016
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AI: Transcript ©
Today inshallah we are doing ayah number 90
and this ayah is full of lessons, there
are a lot of things that we can
learn from it, so that's why inshallah we
are going to be talking just specifically about
this ayah.
Ibn Masud radiallahu ta'ala who said about
this ayah, Ibn Masud radiallahu ta'ala
says that the ayah which combines everything, it
is the most jami'a, the most inclusive
ayah in the Qur'an, it is in
Surah Al-Nahl and it is this one
that I have just recited, Ibn
Masud radiallahu ta'ala said, so we are
going to talk about the things that are
mentioned in this ayah.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, indeed Allah
subhana wa ta'ala commands, he commands, he
orders to be just and to do Ihsan
and I am going to go through all
of these points in individual inshallah and all
that is associated with them and to give
to the relatives and he forbids from evil
and open sin and transgression, he advises you
so that you can take heed.
So in this ayah, Allah subhana wa ta
'ala commanded three things and he forbade from
three things, he commanded Adl, he commanded Ihsan
and he commanded to give to the relatives
and he forbade three things which were Fahsha,
Munkar and Baghi which inshallah I am going
to talk about.
So what is Adl first and foremost?
Adl, the literally translation is, that literal translation
is justice.
Okay, so in all forms of life, a
person is supposed to make justice with everything,
whether it comes to relatives, whether it comes
to a person who he is married to,
husband, wife, even his children, the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam, he said that you should
be just between the children.
One person came to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi
wa sallam and said, ya Rasulullah, I want
you to make dua for Barakah because I
gave one of my sons a gift.
So, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
did you give somebody else, the other son,
the same gift?
So he said, no I didn't, ya Rasulullah.
So, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said,
do not make me a witness to zulm,
to oppression.
So, this is a very important lesson that
we learn because the reason that we have
sibling rivalry and kids, brother and sister, brother
and brother, sister and sister, they maybe don't
like each other is because their parents are
giving priority to one over the other.
So, Adl, even in this situation is important.
Adl, as a leader, a person has to
be just amongst his subordinates and a person
who is given any kind of responsible position
like a judge, imam, teacher, principal, justice is
very important.
The word justice, Adl, is also termed as,
in Urdu we use the word Insaf, okay,
and this is an Arabic word and the
person who does Insaf, he is known in
Arabic as Munsif, Munsif in Urdu we use
the same word, Munsif Mizaaj.
So, where is this word derived from?
The word is from Nisf.
What does Nisf mean?
Nisf in Arabic means half and a person
who is doing Insaf, he is basically equally
dividing the two parties that he is doing
justice between.
So, he is making one half 50%
and the other half 50%, meaning he is
not siding one way or the other.
That's why Insaf is called Insaf.
It is derived from this word Nisf, half,
he is basically splitting this justice between the
middle of them and he is being fair
when he is giving his, he is giving
his decision.
So, you have Adl in terms of the
literal translation and then you have Adl when
it comes to one's own Iman, okay, when
a person he is believing in Allah SWT
as he is supposed to believe in, in
him.
This is Adl, okay.
We have previous nations, they did Ifrat and
Tathrit in the belief in Allah SWT.
How?
The Israelites, the Bani Israel, the Jews, they,
they insulted Allah SWT in many ways and
degraded the majesty of Allah SWT by insulting
him in many ways.
So, they went to one extreme and the
Christians, they went to another extreme that they
raised Jesus to a status of God, the
son of God or even equal to God
himself by making him one of three or
part of the Trinity.
So, Adl, our Ummah does Adl in the
sense that it doesn't go to any extreme.
Adl in the belief in Allah SWT is
that we don't go to any extreme and
then there is between Shirk and Tawheed, there
is Adl also.
When a person, he is committing Shirk, this
is a form of Dhulm.
Allah SWT says in the Quran, Indeed, Shirk
is a huge Dhulm.
And the opposite of that, if a person
is not doing Dhulm in his belief, he
is practicing Tawheed, so he is not doing
Dhulm, he is actually doing Adl.
So, this word Adl, it is a very,
very broad word and it can be taken
in so many different connotations, different meanings.
That's why Ibn Mas'ud RA said that
this Ayah, it combines a lot of things.
Those people, they used to know the Arabic
and they were poets and they used to
engage in poetry and that is why they
recognized the power of this verse.
So, Adl itself, it has so many meanings.
Then, the next word is Ihsan.
Allah SWT wants us to do Ihsan and
this can be taken from many perspectives also.
Ihsan, when it comes to dealings with people,
so there is one level which is called
Adl and Ihsan is the next level.
So, a person, he has been wronged by
somebody, so he is allowed to take revenge
from that person through the court of law,
not by taking the law into his own
hands but another level is that a person
is forgiving to the person and he does
Ihsan to him.
So, he is allowed to take revenge but
he forgives.
Even in the case of murder, he is
allowed to take revenge, he is allowed to
get the murderer killed as revenge for killing
his relative, his brother, his son or whoever
that person killed but the next level up
is to do Ihsan.
If somebody does bad to you and you
return good to them, this is Ihsan.
Otherwise, if somebody does good to you, then
you do good back to them, this is
basically, this would be a form of Adl,
this would be justice but Ihsan is when
somebody doesn't do good to you, you do
good to them.
When somebody doesn't give you gifts and you
give them a gift.
We have this attitude amongst many cultures that
when we give gifts, especially at wedding times,
we see what that person gave to our
relatives or our children or our brother or
our sister when we had the wedding.
So, according to that gift that they gave,
we give the gift.
This is very common in our culture, right?
So, this is not an Islamic attitude.
We have to and we should give a
gift above and beyond what people give to
us.
So, this comes under the level of Ihsan.
Another perspective of Ihsan is Ihsan in Ibadah.
Ihsan in Ibadah means that you perfect your
Ibadah and this is mentioned in a very
famous Hadith called Hadith Jibreel.
When Jibreel A.S. came in the shape
of a human, he asked the Prophet A
.S. some questions.
One of the questions was, Mal Ihsan?
What is Ihsan?
So, the Prophet A.S. responded by saying,
that you should worship Allah S.W.T.
as if you are seeing him.
From a worldly perspective, just imagine that you
are working in your office and the boss
is standing right over your shoulder.
Is your level of work going to be
completely focused or not?
Are you going to fool around and check
your Facebook or check your email when you
are supposed to be working or not?
No, you are not.
We are not going to do that.
Our focus is going to be completely on
our work because the boss is standing right
on our shoulder.
But when it comes to worship, we completely
lose sight of the fact that Allah S
.W.T. is watching us and he is
in front of us.
And we should be worshipping Allah as if
we are actually seeing him right in front
of us.
And if we cannot do that, at least
imagine that he is watching us.
When we do that, then our Ibadah will
get to the level of Ihsan, the level
of perfection.
Another meaning of Ihsan is Ikhlas, sincerity.
That a person has purity of intention, that
he does things solely for the sake of
Allah S.W.T. So, this is also
another meaning of Ihsan.
So, two things so far.
Indeed, Allah S.W.T. commands Adl, justice,
and Ihsan, doing good, and to the giving
of the relatives.
So, many people, they don't understand that the
giving to the relatives is actually to be
given priority over non-relatives.
We have to start with our own family
before we give to other people.
As the saying goes, charity begins at home.
So, giving to your own relatives who are
poor and needy, so much so that you
can even give them your Zakat.
The only prohibition is that we cannot give
Zakat to our parents, our grandparents, great grandparents,
children, grandchildren, and so on.
Usul and Furur.
Otherwise, any other relative, we are even allowed
to give them Zakat if they are needy
and if they are deserving recipients of Zakat.
And if not Zakat, then of course, even
in the form of gifts, Hidayah, you should
give, Tahadhu, Tahabbu, as the Prophet S.A
.W. said, give gifts, your love will increase.
You will love each other by giving gifts.
Simple acts of giving, they increase a person's
love.
Another thing is about relatives, is that a
person, because of his interaction with the relatives,
there is always, as we say in Urdu,
we have always some kind of dispute with
an aunt or an uncle or a brother
or a cousin.
So, to overlook these difficulties that a person
has with his relatives, it can become a
little bit difficult.
Well, you said this to me five years
ago, and I have not been able to
take it out of my chest.
I have not been able to stop thinking
about it, and I still feel something in
my heart.
So, this happens usually with relatives.
A stranger who comes to you and asks
you for help, asks you for assistance, sometimes
it is more easier to give to him
because he is coming with a clean slate.
You have never met the person before.
He has never done anything bad to you
before.
So, it is easier to give to him
than that relative who gave you a hard
time.
So, Allah SWT specifically mentions the relatives because
of this issue that a person has to
overlook all the hardships and the difficulty that
a person goes through with his relatives and
still do good to them.
And the Prophet A.S. also said that
a person who gives in Sadaqah, you know,
he gives to the poor person, or he
sets a slave free, or he donates to
a Masjid.
Different examples that the Prophet A.S. gave.
And he then said, and this is, I
am paraphrasing the Hadith, that the best form
of Sadaqah is to spend on your own
family.
The best form of Sadaqah is to spend
on your own family.
After spending on the family, after caring for
their needs, then outside the house and giving
to others should be then looked at.
So, three things.
Adl, Ihsan, giving to the relatives.
And Allah SWT prevents from Fahsha.
Fahsha, according to the Mufassireen, is that type
of sin that you try to keep secret.
That type of sin that you try to
keep secret.
And some scholars, they limit the word Fahsha
to adultery and fornication.
And why Allah SWT specifically mentioned Fahsha, and
why the scholars specifically said Zina and adultery
and fornication?
Because when a person commits a sin, that
the ill effect of that sin is limited
to him for the most part.
But when a person commits Zina, this ill
effect of that sin, it transgresses to other
people.
It transgresses to the person whose family, the
woman that a person is committing Zina with,
her family is involved, they get hurt.
Her father, her brothers, they get hurt.
Okay?
And now if she is married, then her
husband, breaking up the marriage.
And if a person makes a woman pregnant
out of wedlock and she has a child,
that child is coming into a society fatherless.
And it's basically, if this thing spreads and
becomes common as it is in the West,
we know it is common in the West,
where the children do not even know who
their parents are, then it becomes detrimental to
the welfare of society.
Society itself becomes corrupted because of this one
sin.
That's why the scholars have regarded the word
Fahsha as Zina itself.
And other scholars have said Fahsha refers to
that type of sin that a person keeps
secret and he doesn't expose it to others.
That's what Fahsha is.
And again, some scholars, they limit it to
the sin of Zina.
Wal Munkar, Allah SWT also forbids people from
Munkar.
And Munkar is that type of sin that
people do openly.
That sin that people do openly.
Fahsha, secretly.
And Munkar, that type of sin which is
done openly.
And that's why when we say, Amr ibn
Aroof an Nahyan an Munkar, ordering people to
do good and forbidding them from open sin.
When sin becomes open, this is much more
detrimental to society than sins which are done
in secret.
So, why is that?
Because when a person does a sin openly,
he is actually encouraging others to follow me.
A person dares others, I did it, now
you do it too.
So, that's why Munkar, evil that is done
openly, it is such a bad thing.
And that is why the issue of Zina
itself, going back to the last thing, when
does it become punishable as an offense in
the eyes of the law when there are
witnesses that see it happening.
When a person, he falls so low and
he stoops so low that he doesn't care
that people are watching me and witnesses see
that act happening, in that situation, the punishment,
the law of Rejim, if the person is
married and a hundred lashes if a person
is unmarried, is implemented at that time.
Otherwise, a person who does it behind closed
doors, yes, it's still a major sin.
But the Shari'a punishment is not applied
until it's done openly with forewitnesses seeing it.
So, while Munkar, Munkar refers to that evil
that is done openly and we are responsible
as the Ummah of the Prophet, peace be
upon him, to make Amr bin Maroof and
Nahyan al Munkar, ordering people to do good
and forbidding them from open evil.
Well, Baghi.
Baghi refers to any type of Dhulm.
Any type of transgression is a form of
Dhulm.
And again, this can have different levels too.
Dhulm with Allah SWT, meaning having the wrong
type of belief in Allah SWT.
Dhulm with the leadership, Ameer, disobeying the Ameer.
Dhulm with one's own community, one's own family,
one's own wife, one's own kids.
So, Baghi transgression, it covers all of these
types of things.
So, Allah SWT forbade us from this Baghi
transgression.
Allah SWT advises you so that you could
take heed and you could take a lesson.
So, this ayah, beautiful ayah, covers many, many
things.
And it's one of those ayahs that if
you were just to implement that one ayah
in your life, it would be sufficient for
you to practice all of Islam.
I'll just cover one more riwayah that is
mentioned in a hadith, a very beautiful riwayah.
It's mentioned that Ali ibn Abdul Malik ibn
Umair, narrates from his father who said that
Akhtam ibn Saifi, who was a person from
the leadership, that was not from the tribe
of the Prophet, he found out about the
Prophet.
So, he wanted to come to the Prophet
and see what this Prophet was all about
and the message that he was preaching.
So, people told him that you shouldn't go,
you're the leader, send a couple of us
and we will see what the situation is.
So, he sent two or three people, they
came to him and they came to the
Prophet SAW and they said we are the
messengers and the ambassadors of Akhtam ibn Saifi
and he is asking you, man ant wa
ma ant?
Who are you?
What are you?
The Prophet SAW said, amma man ana fa
ana Muhammad ibn Abdullah.
As for who I am, I am Muhammad
ibn Abdullah.
Wa amma ma ana, as for what I
am, fa ana Abdullahi wa Rasuluh.
I am the slave of Allah and His
Prophet.
So, then he recited to them this ayah
that I have just done the tafsir of.
Inna Allah ya'muru bil adli wal ihsan, wa
ita'idhi al qurba, wa yanahani al fahsha
'i wal munkari wal baghi.
They said, raddida alayna hadhal qawl, repeat that
please, repeat this ayah please, repeat what you
just said.
Fa raddada alayhim hatta haqidu.
And he repeated it until they memorized it.
Then they came to Akhtam, this leader of
the tribe, they came to him.
He didn't talk about his nasab.
When we came to the Prophet Muhammad, he
didn't talk about his nasab.
People in those days, they used to say,
I am the son of this and the
son of that.
He is the son of this and my
tribe goes all the way back to fulan
ibn fulan.
So, he just said, I am Muhammad ibn
Abdullah.
I am the son, I am Muhammad, I
am the son of Abdullah.
Fa sa'alna an nasabihi, fa wajadnahu zaki
al nasab.
I asked, we asked them, asked him about
his nasab, about his family tree.
And we found that he has the most
purest of family trees.
Wastan fee mudhar, and he is from the
tribe of Mudhar, originally.
Wa qad rama ilayna bi kalimatin qad sami
'naha.
He presented some words to us, and we
heard those words.
Falamma sami'ahunna aktham, obviously they recited that
ayah to Aktham.
And when Aktham heard this ayah, he said,
inni arahu ya'muru bimakarimil akhlaq, wa yanha
'an malathimiha, fakunu fee hadhal amru'usan, wala
takunu feehi aznaban.
He said that in this ayah, I am
seeing makarimal akhlaq, meaning the best of akhlaq
I am seeing in this one verse.
So one verse was enough to move people's
hearts in those days.
And this ayah, it prevents people from the
most evil acts.
It is ordering people to do, to have
the best akhlaq, and it is preventing people
from having the worst of akhlaq.
So, in this situation, he told his subordinates,
that in this situation, kunu ru'usan, be
the leadership in following this person, wala takunu
aznaban.
Aznab, it refers to dhamb, means the tail
of an animal.
Don't be tails, meaning be at the forefront
in following this person.
Do not be tails, like the back of
an animal, that you just follow along afterwards.
Be at the forefront of following him.
And this, again, I'd like to reiterate, how
people used to just get moved by one
ayah.
We hear the whole Quran recited, we hear
tafsir upon tafsir, and it doesn't move us.
Disbelievers, they hear one verse, and it is
enough for them to accept Islam, subhanallah.
So with this, inshallah, we finish.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
to understand and practice what has been said
and heard.