Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah AnNahl Ayah 91 onward
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In the name of Allah, the most gracious,
the most merciful.
And fulfill the covenant of Allah when you
have made a covenant, and do not break
the oath after it has been confirmed, and
you have made Allah a burden upon you.
Indeed, Allah knows what you do.
And do not be like one who breaks
her oath after it has been confirmed.
You take your oaths as a barrier between
you, that you be a nation that is
four of a nation.
Allah only tests you with it, and He
will certainly make clear to you on the
Day of Resurrection that in which you differed.
Today, inshallah, we are going to be doing
ayah 91 and 92 of Surah An-Nahl.
And last week, we talked about a verse
of the Qur'an which was very, very
deep in its meaning.
A very simple verse, one verse, but it
covered so many things.
Today is also something which is very deep
in terms of the ahkam and the rules
and regulations that we can derive from these
two verses.
So, and this is generally related to the
ahad, the contracts, the agreements that we have.
So there are three types of agreements.
From one perspective, from the perspective that I
want to explain today, and they are that
an agreement between us and Allah subhana wa
ta'ala.
When a person becomes a believer and he
starts believing in Allah subhana wa ta'ala
and he professes iman, he says la ilaha
illallah, then he has an agreement with Allah
subhana wa ta'ala.
And that is why the disbelievers, the kuffar
of Quraysh, they understood that la ilaha illallah
simply wasn't just to say la ilaha illallah
and they would become Muslim and that would
be sufficient.
Rather, the understanding was that there is something
behind these words that we need to implement
and that is something that is not possible
for us.
So, this is the amanah, the ahad that
we have, which Allah subhana wa ta'ala
has termed as an amanah in another place
in the Qur'an.
We presented the amanah to everything, the mountains,
the trees, the skies, but they all refused
to take up this amanah.
This amanah was to be obedient to Allah
subhana wa ta'ala and to fulfill the
command of Allah subhana wa ta'ala with
the hope that they will be saved from
the punishment of the hereafter and be rewarded
in the hereafter.
But all of these creations, the mountains, the
trees, the skies, they refused and they said
we prefer to just live in this world
and then we prefer not to have any
hereafter, we don't want to risk it.
But the human being took up this amanah
and took the risk of this amanah and
this responsibility and this understanding and this agreement
with Allah subhana wa ta'ala and some
fulfill it and some do not fulfill it.
So, the first thing that Allah subhana wa
ta'ala mentions in this verse is to
complete the responsibility and the agreement that a
person has with Allah subhana wa ta'ala.
So, Allah says complete the agreement of Allah
subhana wa ta'ala once you have made
that agreement.
Once you said la ilaha illallah, then complete
that agreement, complete that understanding and don't waver
from it.
This command is specifically for the Muslims because
the non-Muslims are not obligated to do
anything.
Because if they have not accepted iman, then
there is no further responsibility upon them because
simply because of their disbelief and their kufr,
they will have no form of salvation in
the hereafter.
So, the concept of doing good and obeying
Allah subhana wa ta'ala becomes null and
void and irrelevant.
So, this command of fulfilling the command of
Allah subhana wa ta'ala and the contract
with Allah subhana wa ta'ala, the agreement
with Allah subhana wa ta'ala is specifically
for the believers.
And that is why whenever Allah subhana wa
ta'ala commands people to do something in
the Quran, what does he start with?
O people of iman, O people who have
expressed iman, O people who have proclaimed iman,
do this and don't do this.
Now, a person should think to himself that
this command that Allah subhana wa ta'ala
has given me and these rulings that Allah
subhana wa ta'ala has implemented upon me,
these are for my own benefit.
These are for my own benefit and also
for the benefit of the society in general.
For example, when Allah subhana wa ta'ala
has told me to lower my gaze and
when I see a non-mahram female, then
that means that also that command is for
other people for them not to look at
my sister, for them not to look at
my wife, for them not to look at
my daughter, for them not to look at
my mother.
So, this command of Ghadul Basar, it protects
my sisters and my own family too.
It is not just a restriction on me,
it is a restriction on everybody.
Similarly, the command for stealing.
A person thinks that okay, why does Allah
subhana wa ta'ala prevent me from stealing?
If I can steal a whole bunch of
jewels or a whole bunch of money, I
can, you know, enjoy my life for a
little bit.
But the reality is that same command of
not stealing is for everybody else and I
am also protected from that command.
So, this responsibility and the contract that we
have with Allah subhana wa ta'ala, it
is actually for the benefit of society.
It is for the preservation of society and
it is for the good of society.
So, this is why Allah subhana wa ta
'ala says, Complete the ahad of Allah subhana
wa ta'ala once you have made that
contract.
Complete the agreement with Allah subhana wa ta
'ala once you have made that agreement.
The second category is when we make agreements
with each other and we swear and take
an oath, take a qasam in between while
making that agreement.
This is a very dangerous situation to be
in when a person takes an oath and
then he doesn't purposefully fulfill it.
This is important to keep in mind.
Why?
Because when a person takes an oath, he
is actually making Allah subhana wa ta'ala
a witness for that thing that he is
doing.
When a person says that I swear by
Allah I didn't do it or I swear
by Allah I did it, then he is
saying that Allah is my witness.
Allah saw me that I didn't do it,
Allah saw me that I didn't do it.
I did it, I didn't do it, Allah
was witnessing me.
So, when I am saying that, then this
is actually a false accusation against Allah subhana
wa ta'ala if I am lying.
That's why it is so dangerous to take
an oath.
And especially for the past tense, some scholars
actually go as far as to say when
a person takes an oath about the past
tense, this is something that is, there is
no kafara for it.
This is known as al yaminul ghamus.
Al yaminul ghamus is from the word ghams
in Arabic which means when a person he
dives into water and he is completely submerged
in water.
And a person when he takes al yaminul
ghamus, he is basically submerging himself in sin
from head to toe.
That's how dangerous taking oaths is and a
person taking an oath lying on purpose.
And now for the future if a person
is taking an oath, he needs to try
to fulfill it as much as possible.
And if he cannot, for some reason, if
he is not able to, he took an
oath that is completely impossible.
A person for example says, I swear by
Allah I am going to fly in the
air.
Completely impossible to do.
So, in this situation, he has to pay
a kafara.
The kafara is, ita'amu ashrati masakin, au
kiswatuhum.
Feeding ten poor people or clothing them or
fasting for three days.
Fasting for three days continuously or feeding or
clothing ten people.
So, this is the kafara of the yamin
when a person he needs to break an
oath and he cannot fulfill that oath.
Sometimes a person takes an oath that is
against the command of Allah SWT.
He says to a Muslim brother or he
says to his wife for example, I swear
to God, I swear by Allah, I am
never going to talk to you again.
Now this is something that is haram.
To break relationships with your brother, you have
to break your oath and pay the kafara.
That is the way out of it.
Otherwise, the responsibility upon fulfilling the oath is
very very important and we need to fulfill
that oath.
So, Allah SWT says, Do not break the
ayman.
Ayman is the plural of yamin which means
the qasam, the oaths.
After strengthening them, after fortifying them, after taking
the oath which means.
So, do not break the oath after taking
the oath.
While you have made Allah SWT upon yourself
kafil.
Meaning you have given Allah SWT the responsibility
of vouching for you.
Kafil is the person who takes care of
you.
Your sponsor, this word kafil is used in
the Middle East a lot.
When a kafil, somebody sponsors you to get
you a visa into these Middle Eastern countries
like Saudi Arabia, the Emirates.
Your kafil is basically responsible for paying your
salary and your health care and so on.
So, in this context Allah SWT is saying
that you have made kafil, Allah SWT a
kafil.
You have made Allah SWT responsible for you.
Meaning that you have said that He is
your witness.
So, once you have done that, then this
is a very dangerous situation.
That you have put Allah SWT on the
spot and you have put Him in between
you and the fulfillment of that oath.
Indeed Allah SWT, He knows whatever you are
doing.
And you have this throughout the Quran where
Allah SWT says Allah is aware of what
the disbelievers are doing.
Allah is aware of what the munafiqeen are
doing.
Allah is aware of what you are doing.
Allah is watching what you are doing.
So, it is not that He simply knows.
What it means is He knows and there
will be consequences for it.
There will be punishment for it.
There will be accountability for it on the
Day of Judgment.
After that Allah SWT then goes on to
talk about regular agreements that we have between
us.
And this is important to keep in mind.
The Prophet SAW said There are three signs
of a munafiq.
When the munafiq speaks, he lies.
When he is given a trust, he breaks
the trust.
And when he makes a promise, he breaks
that promise.
These are the three signs of a hypocrite.
And these are the things basically that we
have amongst us.
Agreements, promises and understandings that we have between
us.
These are the things that contribute to the
good and the stability of a society.
If everybody was cheating each other, everybody was
breaking contracts, breaking agreements, breaking promises, then obviously
there will be widespread corruption on the earth.
If a person is given a loan, he
doesn't pay it back.
Difficulty for the family, for the person that
gave him the loan.
Business agreements, people make those agreements.
Sometimes verbally, which is actually not a wise
idea, against what Islam teaches.
And then they break the agreement.
One person runs away with the money or
cheats the other.
And so on.
There are so many things that we see
all around us.
The stability of society is based upon this
very small but important principle.
To fulfill the agreements that we have with
each other.
To fulfill the promises that we have with
each other.
So, Allah SWT says, Before that actually, Allah
SWT talks about a woman whose name was
Rayta.
Rayta, and she was a woman who used
to spin cloth.
Or she used to spin cloth as threads
or cotton and make it into cloth.
And after making and spinning the cloth, and
it's basically made into a ball of some
sort.
It's collected.
What did she used to do?
She used to take it and rip it
all apart again.
So, say for example, I don't know many
of you.
In the old days, women used to knit
sweaters, right?
You know, my grandma, she used to do
that.
My aunt used to do that.
So, they used to knit sweaters.
And it's a very hard procedure.
It's a very hard process to do.
To knit a sweater, a scarf, clothing.
And say for example, half way through, the
woman decides, Okay, this work that I've been
doing for the past 3, 4, 5 months,
I'm just going to rip it up.
So, she takes one end of a thread
and she just starts pulling it all apart
again.
So, Allah SWT is giving this example.
Don't be like that woman who broke her
spun cloth.
Don't be like that woman.
This is like, this is basically the example
of those people that make the promises then
they break the promises.
Okay, it's a very hard thing to make
a promise.
It's not easy.
It's not something that should be taken lightly.
But after you break the promise, you basically
broke up everything.
So, this is again, why this is an
example that Allah is giving.
That a person is just breaking up his
good deeds.
Breaking up his deen.
Breaking up society by being like this woman
who put so much effort into making something.
And ultimately, breaking everything up.
And again, this is part of one's character.
That once a person breaks one promise and
word gets around in the community, that this
person, he made a business transaction with me
and he broke that transaction.
He cheated me.
He cheated me of my money.
He borrowed money from me.
He didn't give it back to me.
Once the word gets around, then basically the
person's reputation in society is destroyed in one
instant.
So, this is the example that Allah SWT
gave by telling us that it's just like
that woman who goes to all that effort
to spin the cloth and then ultimately she
breaks everything up.
So, do not be like that one.
Do not be like that woman who broke
her ghazl.
Ghazl means the spun cloth.
After so much strength, after so much effort
has been put into it.
And katha, meaning the fabrics.
Breaking up the fabrics of that particular cloth.
You make your oaths as a dakhal between
yourselves.
So that one nation can be more profitable
than the other one.
What does that mean?
This word dakhal, it has a few meanings.
Firstly, dakhal means, one meaning is disturbance.
That you make your oaths as a disturbance
between yourselves.
So, you take an oath and it's a
lie.
I swear by God, I swear by Allah
that I bought this for $50 and I'm
selling it to you for just a little
bit of a profit.
I'm hardly making a profit on this thing
that I'm selling you.
So, taking an oath, false oath, it creates
a disturbance in society.
So, this is one meaning, that you make
your oaths as a disturbance in society.
The other meaning is that it is an
earning.
So, you make your oaths as a mean
of your earnings.
So, you take oaths and you make it
as a means of making profit.
You take an oath to make the person
believe that you're just making a little bit
of money on top just to get the
sale.
So, dakhal can also mean earnings.
And the third meaning is that you make
your oaths, dakhal means to enter something into
something else.
So, you have some gold and you mix
some fake gold inside that to sell it
or make it heavier.
You have milk and you mix water with
it to make it more.
Prophet A.S. once went by a person
who was selling grain and he dipped his
hand inside the grain and inside it was
wet.
So, Prophet A.S. became very upset.
So, he said that why did you make
this wet?
So, he said that it rained and it
made it wet.
The Prophet A.S. said that this is
not appropriate.
That this grain is wet and you're selling
it with the added weight of the liquid
to make it more heavier.
So, this is a form of dakhal.
You're adding the water to the wheat to
make it heavy.
So, you are making your oaths and putting
dakhal, entering these things into the commodity that
you're selling.
So that one of you can make more
profit than the other.
You can make more money than the other.
So, basically in those days there was a
lot of bartering that used to take place.
Bartering meaning not money for goods, rather goods
for goods.
So, the person who sold his goods for
more profit margin and he kind of cheated
the other one out of his money.
Basically, he made more profit.
So, this is what is meant here.
So that one of you can be more
profitable than the other.
Allah A.S. warns us, Allah A.S.
is testing you with this.
So, this is actually a very powerful statement
from Allah A.S. that Allah is testing
you with this.
Many people think that bala is just in
difficulty.
When a person is going through hardship, illness,
loss of job, you know, his house gets
destroyed in a tornado or a hurricane or
something like that.
People think that this is bala.
But Allah A.S. says, وَنَبْلُوكُم بِالْخَيْرِ وَالشَّرِّ
فِتْنًا Khair and sharf, both are a test
for you.
They are both a test for you.
So, a person, he opens a haram business,
for example, selling alcohol, selling lottery tickets, whatever
that he is doing.
And he sees the profits coming in.
He sees money and his bank account getting
filled up and him buying a bigger house
and a nice car.
And he thinks that this is a blessing
from Allah A.S. The reality is that
Allah is testing you with it.
And really, when a person is faced with
that kind of test and examination from Allah
A.S., very few of us would pass
it.
Very few of us would pass it because
of the fact that they see that money
visually with their eyes coming in.
And to let go of that becomes very,
very difficult.
So, this is what is meant by, إِنَّمَا
يَبْلُوكُمُ اللَّهُ بِهِ Allah is testing you through
this wealth, through this profit, through this money.
And really, the people that make a sacrifice
and get rid of the haram and suffice
on the little which is halal, they will
see more khair and more barakah in their
lives than they ever imagined.
But this is, again, it requires strong iman
to be able to give that up.
إِنَّمَا يَبْلُوكُمُ اللَّهُ بِهِ Indeed, Allah A.S.
is testing you with this.
And not only testing you on the Day
of Judgment, there is always going to be
accountability.
It's not just that Allah is just testing
you in this world.
وَلَيُبَيِّنَنَّ لَكُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مَا كُنْتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ
Most certainly, Allah A.S. will open for
you on the Day of Judgment that thing
in which you are disputing, meaning that everything
that you did, this is halal, person, Imam
Sahib tells you, the Sheikh tells you it's
haram, and you're saying, no, no, it's okay.
It is a non-Muslim environment.
I'm allowed to sell alcohol to non-Muslims.
It's okay.
There's no problem with it.
So, Allah A.S. will clarify for you
on the Day of Judgment that thing in
which you are disputing and fighting over.
So, better to be prepared for that day
by only engaging in halal, fulfilling our contracts,
fulfilling our promises, not breaking agreements, giving and
paying back our loans, keeping accountability with other
people clean, so that we will have no
accountability about this on the Day of Judgment.
I'll finish by saying this, that the accountability
that we have amongst ourselves, this is not
something that Allah A.S. forgives.
The rights of the fellow human being, this
is not something that Allah A.S. forgives.
Allah A.S. will hold us accountable for
it, and people will take away our hasanat
on the Day of Judgment.
The Prophet S.A.W. asked the Sahaba,
Do you know who is a muflis?
Meaning, a poor person.
The Sahaba said, The muflis amongst us is
the person who doesn't have dinars or dirhams.
The Prophet S.A.W. said, No, that's
not what I mean.
The muflis is the person who will come
with mountains and mountains of good deeds on
the Day of Judgment, and then people will
come to him for accountability.
This person, he borrowed money from me, he
didn't return it.
This person, he stole from me.
This person, he slandered me.
This person, he accused me.
This person, he backbited about me.
So, all of that, all of these people
will come and complain to Allah A.S.
and his good deeds will be distributed, because
that's the currency of the hereafter, right?
There's no money there, so his good deeds
are going to be distributed amongst those people
that are going to be asking him, so
his good deeds are going to finish.
Mountains of good deeds.
And still there are people in line.
And then after that, the bad deeds of
those people are going to be put on
his head.
So he came with mountains of good deeds,
and he ends up with mountains of bad
deeds.
This is when we do not keep our
account clean, our dealings clean with our fellow
human beings, our fellow brothers.
It's always important to make sure that if
we wrong anybody, we ask them for forgiveness
in this world, prior to meeting Allah A
.S. on the Day of Judgment, after which
we cannot seek any forgiveness from anybody.
So I pray that Allah A.S. gives
us tawfiq to understand and practice what is
being said in here.