Zia Sheikh – Tafseer Of Surah BaniIsrael Session 12
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AI: Transcript ©
And today inshallah we're going to be starting
from ayah number 53.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the first
ayah, He addresses all of the servants of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and says, waqul,
telling the Prophet a.s.w. Tell them
or say to them, O Prophet of Allah,
O my slaves, yaqulu allatihi ahsan, they should
say the things that are good.
Meaning, whenever any kind of dialogue, any kind
of talk, any kind of conversation takes place
between people, it should always be done in
a cordial, in a friendly way and without
any kind of abuse, without any kind of
cursing, without any kind of swearing, without any
kind of bad conversation between the people.
So this basically prevents problems happening in society,
within communities, within brothers, if only people are
courteous and polite with each other.
So there's two ways of doing things in
a conversation when you want to get your
point across.
Either you can say it in a rude
way and get your point across that way
and run the risk of having an argument
with somebody and hurting somebody's feelings or you
could say the same thing in a polite
and respectful way and get your point across
in a way that doesn't hurt anybody's feelings.
So this is what this ayah is about.
We see this from the sunnah of the
Prophet a.s.w. that even when people
were very harsh with him and gave him
a very hard time, he would still be
very respectful and very polite to them.
Many instances that you can see in the
sunnah of the Prophet a.s.w., once
the Prophet a.s.w. was coming back
from an expedition, a Bedouin came to him
and grabbed him by his shirt or his
sheet that he was covering himself with and
he pulled him so violently that the side
of the sheet actually left a red mark
on the side of his neck.
And he told him that give me from
some of the ghanaim, some of the spoils
of war that you have got in this
war, give me a share of that.
Now just imagine if we were in that
kind of a situation, somebody out of the
blue just comes and grabs you by the
shirt and pulls you and hurts you to
a degree that it leaves a bruise or
a mark.
How would we react to that?
Just think for a minute, the Prophet a
.s.w., he smiled and he ordered the
Sahaba to give him what he wanted.
Another incident was actually a Jewish person who
had seen from the things that he had
read in the scriptures that all of the
indications of the Prophet a.s.w. were
in the Prophet a.s.w. and he
said there was one thing that I had
not seen in the Prophet yet and I
had not evaluated him for that, I had
not tested him for that, so I thought
that I would test him.
I had given him a loan of some
dates and I had got the promise from
him that those loans, those dates would be
returned at such and such a date but
I went earlier than the due time and
I demanded that he give me the dates
at that particular time and I accused him
of trying to wriggle himself out of not
paying that debt back right in front of
everybody.
I basically used such words that would have
been embarrassing for anyone.
So the Prophet a.s.w. and Umar
a.s.w who was sitting there and
when he heard this Jewish person being rude
to the Prophet a.s.w. he got
up and he took his sword out and
he said just give me permission O Prophet
of Allah and I'll finish him right here
and now.
The Prophet a.s.w. told him put
your sword away and he said give him
back his loan and for using these harsh
words against him O Umar make sure you
give him extra so that his feelings are
not hurt.
And this was enough for the Jewish person.
He realized that all of the qualities that
he had seen in his scriptures were found
in the Prophet a.s.w. and he
became Muslim there and then.
So these are incidents of the Prophet a
.s.w. life that we should take a
lesson from and in our discussions, in our
dealings, even in our disagreements our disagreements should
be in such a way that we don't
hurt anybody's feelings and we disagree in such
a way that our respect for each other
and our love for each other is not
diminished.
Everybody disagrees from time to time.
There's nothing wrong with disagreeing but the way
to disagree is something that we need to
learn.
As they say agree to disagree.
So Allah a.s.w. says وَقُلْ لِعِبَادِي
يَقُولُ الَّتِيهِ أَحْسَنُ Tell them O Prophet of
Allah, or tell My slaves that they should
say words that are good.
إِنَّ شَيْطَانَ يَنزَغُ بَيْنَهُمْ Because the Shaytan, he
tries to intervene between them and he tries
to make people fight.
He tries to make people argue.
It's mentioned in a hadith لا يُشِيرَنَّ أَحَدُكُمْ
إِلَىٰ أَخِيهِ بِالصَّلَاحِ فَإِنَّهُ لَا يَدْرِي أَحَدُكُمْ لَعَلَّ
شَيْطَانَ أَن يَنزِغَ فِي يَدِهِ فَيَقَوْا فِي حُفْرَةٍ
مِّنَ النَّارِ Nobody should point a knife, any
weapon towards his fellow Muslim brother.
So a knife, nowadays a gun, anything should
not be pointed at your Muslim brother.
The hadith says because a person doesn't know
when the Shaytan might try to intervene and
push the person and provoke the person into
doing something that is inappropriate and land himself
into the hellfire by doing that.
So Islam is a preventative religion.
It makes us stop short of doing things
way before they become a problem.
And this is one of those hadith that
indicate that.
That we should not even point a weapon
at somebody let alone take the weapon out.
Okay, so this is one thing.
And another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said المُسْلِمُ
أَخَلْ مُسْلِم لَا يَظْلِمُهُ وَلَا يَخْضِلُهُ التَّقْوَى هَا
هُنَا And the hadith goes on to say
وَقَالَ بِيَدِهِ إِلَى صَدْرِهِ And he pointed to
his chest.
A Muslim is the brother of a Muslim.
He doesn't oppress him and he doesn't disgrace
him.
The taqwa is here.
Taqwa is in the heart.
The Prophet ﷺ mentioned that.
But the point is that a Muslim should
never disgrace any other Muslim.
He should not insult him in any way,
shape or form.
And then the ayah goes on to say
إِنَّ شَيْطَانَ كَانَ لِلْإِنسَانِ عَدُومًا مُّبِينًا Indeed the
shaitan, for the human being, is an open
and clear enemy.
So, obviously the shaitan is going to try
to work his tricks into relationships between a
husband and wife, between brothers in a community
and create rifts and create difficulties, create arguments.
Remember that whenever arguments and disputes take place
in any society or in any family, the
khair and goodness is removed from that society.
Remember the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ that
he was actually seeking Laylatul Qadr and he
was making i'tikaf for Laylatul Qadr to find
out when Laylatul Qadr is.
And he emerged from his tent in which
he was making i'tikaf and he saw two
people arguing, two people fighting with each other
and the information that he had for Laylatul
Qadr was removed from him because of that.
So just imagine, because of two people arguing
we've been deprived of the knowledge of Laylatul
Qadr until the Day of Judgment.
Just imagine that.
So this is the result of a disagreement
taking place between two people, people arguing and
insulting.
We have lost the knowledge.
So just imagine the fights that take place
in communities, lawsuits that take place and disagreements
that take place and the police are called
in and so many problems that occur within
communities.
How much khair and goodness is that community
being deprived of?
That is something that we should think about.
The next ayah Allah SWT says رَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ
بِكُمْ إِنْ يَشَاءَ يَرْحَمُكُمْ أَوْ إِنْ يَشَاءَ يُعَذِّبُكُمْ
Your Lord is more knowledgeable about you.
This ayah is actually connected with an ayah
that came before.
In last week's lesson we learnt Allah SWT
says نَحْنُ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا يَسْتَمِعُونَ بِهِ إِذْ يَسْتَمِعُونَ
إِلَيْكَ We are more knowledgeable about what they
are listening to when they are listening to
you.
Remember in the last week's lesson we heard
that some disbelievers they used to come and
secretly listen to the Prophet SAW while he
is reciting Quran in Qiyamul Layl So connected
to that Allah SWT says رَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ
Your Lord has more knowledge about you.
And here Allah is saying that Allah SWT
has the knowledge as to who deserves His
guidance more and who doesn't deserve the guidance.
Meaning those people that want guidance Allah SWT
will give them guidance.
Those people that don't want guidance they don't
seek guidance Allah SWT is not going to
give them guidance.
This is what it's referring to.
So Allah says رَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ And here
Allah is through the wording He is indicating
His closeness to us.
رَبُّكُمْ He is your Lord.
So whenever in any relationship say a father
-son relationship the father he has knowledge about
the son and what kind of habits he
has what kind of attitude he has and
what he likes, what he dislikes what he
eats, what he doesn't eat so the father
for the child.
So here Allah is using the word رَبُّكُمْ
to indicate His closeness to us.
That your Lord He has more knowledge about
you.
After all He is your creator.
He is your sustainer.
He is your provider.
He knows every single thing about you.
He knows everything that you like and you
dislike and what is in your heart and
what you are thinking and you know whatever
you basically will probably know less about yourself
than Allah SWT.
So رَبُّكُمْ أَعْلَمُ بِكُمْ Your Lord He has
more knowledge about you.
إِن يَشَٓى يَرْحَمُكُمْ If He wanted He would
have mercy upon you by giving you hidayah.
And if He wanted He could punish you
by not giving you hidayah by not giving
you guidance.
So this giving guidance and not giving guidance
is not in the wording but the Mufassereen
have said that this is what is meant.
The wording is if Allah SWT wanted He
would give you mercy and if He wanted
He would punish you.
So giving mercy by giving guidance and depriving
you of guidance is a punishment.
وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ عَلَيْهِمْ وَكِيلًا O Prophet of Allah
You've not been sent as a wakil over
them.
Wakil in Arabic is somebody that you give
responsibility to and you give power of attorney
to.
And basically a person who's been given responsibility.
So the Prophet SAW was simply sent as
a person to warn and to give good
tidings.
Just give the message.
But the Prophet he used to sometimes he
used to take things very very seriously and
he used to become upset when people didn't
used to accept Islam.
And there are many instances in the Quran
in which Allah SWT consoles him.
In Surah Al-Kahf for example Allah SWT
says that if you know you would destroy
yourself you would destroy yourself in pursuing them
because of the fact that they are not
becoming Muslim.
And this has been mentioned in a few
places in the Quran.
So here Allah says again وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَاكَ عَلِيهِمْ
وَكِيلًا O Prophet of Allah You've not been
sent to become a wakil and to basically
be upon them and on their heads until
they become Muslim.
Your responsibility is only to give the message
whether they accept or don't accept that is
in the hands of Allah SWT.
إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِي مَنْ أَحْبَبْتْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ يَهْدِي
مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَرَبُّكَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ
And your Lord He has more knowledge of
who is in the heavens and the earth
and again this is related to that again
who is deserving of Hidayah and who is
not deserving of Hidayah.
وَلَقَدْ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَ النَّبِيِّينَ عَلَى بَعْضٍ وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ
زَبُورًا Indeed we gave some Prophets a status
over the others and we gave Dawud AS
the Zaboor we gave him the Zams Okay
so here Allah SWT is describing the different
statuses of the Prophets Okay now there is
one Ayah in the Quran in which Allah
SWT says لا نفرق بين أحد منهم We
don't differentiate between the Prophets Okay and in
a Hadith the Prophet AS he says that
do not differentiate between the Prophets the Hadith
is I'm trying to look for it I
came across it earlier لا تفضل بين الأنبياء
Do not give Fadl between the Prophets صلى
الله عليه وسلم So what does that mean?
Firstly the Ayah لا نفرق بين أحد منهم
means that we don't differentiate between them in
Iman We have Iman in all of them
equally and without any difference Just like we
have Iman in our beloved Prophet صلى الله
عليه وسلم We have Iman in Isa AS
Nusa AS Nuh AS Adam AS and so
on All Prophets We have Iman in them
equally لا نفرق بين أحد منهم But as
for their status Allah SWT says تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ
فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ The Prophets We have
given one status over the other They have
different statuses Okay Now who are the best
of the Prophets?
The best of the Prophets are أُولُو الْعَزْمِ
مِنَ الرُّسُلِ أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ which Allah
SWT has described in Surah Al-Ahzab وَإِذْ
أَخَذْنَا مِنَ النَّبِيِّينَ مِثَاقَهُمْ وَمِنكَ وَمِن نُوحٍ وَإِبْرَاهِيمَ
وَمُوسَى وَعِيسَ بْنِ مَرْيَمٍ Beloved Prophets Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam First and foremost
Nuh AS Ibrahim AS Nusa AS and Isa
AS These were all أُولُو الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ
These were the highest of the Prophets These
were the ones that had the biggest conviction
The best of intentions They had the best
of convictions in terms of their status and
also in Surah Shura Allah SWT mentions the
same Prophets Now, amongst those Prophets أُولُو الْعَزْمِ
مِنَ الرُّسُلِ There is no dispute amongst the
scholars that our beloved Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
is the best of the Prophets in his
status and now the question is what does
the Hadith mean in which the Prophet Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam said that do not لَا تُفَضِّلُ
بَيْنَ الْأَنْبِيَاءِ What that means is that do
not give priority or status to the Prophets
based simply on the fact that you like
one Prophet over the other meaning without any
proof So for example, a Christian says No,
Isa AS is the best Prophet simply because
of the fact that he is the one
that he follows or a Jewish person, he
says simply that Musa AS is the best
Prophet based simply upon the fact that it's
his Prophet that he is following So this
giving priority or giving a status is based
upon what's known in Arabic as عصبية simply
for the fact that you dislike any other
Prophet so you give that Prophet a status
Obviously, we love our Prophet Muhammad SAW the
most but all the proofs indicate that the
Prophet SAW was the highest because he led
all the Anbiya Alim on Laylatul Mi'raj
and many many other proofs that indicate that
he was the best of the Prophets So
Allah says وَلَقَدْ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَ النَّبِيِّينَ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ
وَآتَيْنَا دَاوُودَ زَبُورًا specifically Dawood AS is mentioned
for the fact that he was given Zaboor,
Dawood AS was famous for his recitation and
the fact that it is mentioned that he
was, his voice was so sweet that the
birds they used to come and listen to
his recitation of the Zaboor and some of
the Sahaba that had the best of the
voices when they recited Quran the Prophet SAW
used to say to them وَطِيتَ مَزَامِيرَ Dawood,
you've been given from the instruments of Dawood
AS in the beauty of your voice so
Dawood AS was famous for that, so he's
mentioned specifically in this Ayah InshaAllah we're going
to stop over here and we'll carry on
next week the couple of Ayahs that I
did recite, they're quite lengthy and they require
a lot of detail, InshaAllah we'll go into
them next week, I pray that Allah SWT
gives us tawfiq to understand Peace
be upon you