Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah BaniIsrael Session 23 Final
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the use of " bossy," which refers to the Prophet and is associated with shrouds of the shrouds of the people. They stress the importance of not suppressing one's voice and not raising one's voice to make it loud. The speakers also discuss the confusion surrounding the surah about Islam, which is not related to the Prophet servicing the Bible, and the importance of acceptance of Islam as a source of pride and belief. They stress the need for people to acknowledge their beliefs and recognize the reality of Islam, as it is a combination of multiple gods and is a sign of weakness. The speakers emphasize the importance of acceptance of Islam as a source of pride and belief, but note that it doesn't work because submitting to god is a sign of weakness.
AI: Summary ©
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious,
the Most Merciful.
We're on the last
two ayahs of Surah Bani Israel and basically
it's going to be a brief lesson today.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala addresses the Prophet
ﷺ and you've probably noticed the theme as
the surah has progressed that the majority of
the surah is addressing the disbelievers and their
objections against the Prophet ﷺ.
Here also the same thing is happening.
Allah subhana wa ta'ala is telling the
Prophet ﷺ, قُلِ دُعُوا أَوِدْعُوا رَحْمَانَ.
Tell them, O Prophet of Allah, make dua
to Allah subhana wa ta'ala or make
dua to Ar-Rahman.
اَيَّمَّا تَدْعُوا فَلَهُ الْأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَةُ Whichever name you
use or whichever name you call, then for
him are beautiful names.
So there are a couple of riwayat which
are associated with this ayah.
One of the riwayat is that the Prophet
ﷺ, one day he was praying salat and
while he was in sajdah, he was making
dua to Allah subhana wa ta'ala using
the words, Ya Allah, Ya Rahman.
One of the mushrikeen heard this and in
the morning he started propagating amongst the people
saying that look at this man.
He tells us to only worship Allah and
he insults our gods and tells us not
to worship them and he tells us only
one god but yet you hear him making
dua saying Ya Allah, Ya Rahman.
He's calling out to two gods.
So according to this riwayat, this ayah was
revealed because of that.
To tell the people that Allah subhana wa
ta'ala has many beautiful names that he
can be called and you can call out
using those names including Allah, Ar-Rahman, Ar
-Raheem and so on.
So this is one riwayah.
Another riwayah suggests that there was a person
who used to be in Yemen who used
to be a mushrikeen and he used to
be known as Rahman.
And when people heard the Prophet a.s.
saying Ya Allah, Ya Rahman, they said who
is it that you're calling out to?
Are you calling out to your god or
are you calling out to that person Rahman
who lives in Yemen?
So Allah subhana wa ta'ala revealed this
that Rahman is not the name.
It may be the name of a person
by coincidence but it is the name of
Allah subhana wa ta'ala and when you
call to Rahman you are actually calling out
to Allah subhana wa ta'ala himself.
So Allah says here, Tell them O Prophet
of Allah, call out to or make dua
to Allah or make dua to Rahman.
Whichever one you call to then indeed for
him, for Allah subhana wa ta'ala are
beautiful names.
And do not raise your voice with the
salat and do not suppress it and seek
a middle way between the two.
And there are a few riwayat about this
also.
One understanding is that it refers to all
of the five times daily salat.
That do not make jahar in all five
salat.
Jahar means to read the qirat loudly.
Don't make jahar in all of the salat,
all five of the salat.
And also don't make khaft in all of
the salat, meaning don't make them all sirri,
meaning quiet.
But in maghrib, isha, fajr, do jahar, meaning
read it loudly.
And in zuhr and asr, read it slowly.
Okay, so this is one meaning of this
ayah.
So the Prophet ﷺ used to read loudly
in those salats, in fajr, isha and maghrib.
And he used to suppress in zuhr and
asr.
Also, there's a riwayat that suggests that Abu
Bakr, whenever he used to pray, he used
to suppress his voice low.
And when he was asked, and Umar, he
used to raise his voice up loudly.
Abu Bakr was asked, why do you do
this?
Why do you suppress your voice so low?
He said, I am whispering to my lord
and he is more knowing of my needs.
So I don't need to raise my voice
so loud.
Only he hears it, only Allah hears it
and that is sufficient for me.
And he was told, the Prophet ﷺ told
him, you're doing good.
Umar was asked, why do you do this?
Why do you raise your voice so loud?
He said, that I want to scare off
the shayateen and I want to wake up
the people who are sleeping.
That's what I read loudly and he was
also told, Ahsan, you are doing a good
job.
So both ways were approved by the Prophet
ﷺ.
And then this ayah was revealed.
وَلَا تَجْهَرْ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِذْ بِهَا وَابْتَغِي بَيْنَ
ذَلِكَ سَبِيلًۭا Meaning, don't go to either extreme.
Don't raise your voice so loud that it
becomes uncomfortable for people and don't suppress it
to a degree that nobody can hear it.
It should be done in a way that
when you're reading Quran or when you're leading
the Salat, it should be comfortable for people
to hear.
So this is what it's meant by وَلَا
تَجْهَرْ بِصَلَاتِكَ وَلَا تُخَافِذْ بِهَا وَابْتَغِي بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ
سَبِيلًۭا Ibn Abbas says that this ayah was
revealed not about Salat itself, but it was
revealed about dua.
When a person makes dua to Allah SWT,
then he should do it in such a
way that he is conversing with Allah SWT,
not completely in his heart and not out
loud that he is disturbing other people, but
basically in a way that he is saying
something but also not disturbing others.
So this is one understanding.
There are other riwayats about this issue also.
It's a riwayat in Bukhari, Ibn Abbas RA
who says that this ayah was revealed while
the Prophet SAW was in Mecca.
And whenever he used to pray with his
companions, he used to raise his voice with
the Quran.
And the Mushrikun, when they used to hear
the Quran, they used to start cursing him
and also cursing Allah SWT, cursing Ibrahim AS
and so on.
So this ayah was revealed that you don't
have to read it so loud that the
Mushrikun can hear it.
You can do it in such a way
that only the immediate people around you are
hearing it.
So this is according to a riwayat of
Bukhari.
Aisha RA also says that it was revealed
about du'a, making du'a to Allah
SWT.
And Ibn Jalil also says the same thing.
Now how can you combine between those two
riwayat?
One says it was about Salat and the
recitation of the Quran in Salat.
And another says that it was about du
'a.
Aisha RA and also Ibn Abbas RA who
says it was about du'a.
So the scholars have combined the two and
said that maybe the Prophet SAW was praying
and in the course of praying the Salat,
he was making du'a at the same
time.
Like Qunoot or in Sajda and so on.
So this is the understanding that we have.
So Allah SWT says that Do not raise
your voice in Salat or du'a and
do not suppress it too much.
Seek between the two a way, meaning a
middle path between the two.
This ayah basically summarizes the whole surah and
whatever was mentioned in the surah about the
tawheed of Allah SWT, the oneness of Allah
SWT, the fact that he doesn't have any
helper, he doesn't have any child, and the
belief that we are supposed to have in
Allah SWT as related to his tawheed.
So basically all of the ayat that we've
read, you know, arguing against the mushrikeen and
the arguments of the mushrikeen and their beliefs
and their claims and their demands and so
on.
This basically sums up the answer that you
have to give to the disbelievers about Allah
SWT that this is what your belief is
supposed to be.
And if your belief is not according to
this, then your belief is not intact.
It is not complete.
Allah SWT says and tell them, O Prophet
of Allah, All praise is due to Allah
SWT who did not take any child.
So alhamdu, this alif-laam, it is actually,
there are different forms of alif-laam if
you study Arabic.
And one form is known as istighraaq, that
all praise is due.
All praise is due to Allah SWT who
did not take any son.
So this goes against the belief of any
person that believes that Allah SWT had a
child.
We've mentioned before that some of the mushrikeen
of Mecca, they used to say that Allah
SWT has daughters and the angels of Allah
SWT are in fact his daughters.
So this was one belief that this counters.
The other belief it counters is the belief
of Isa AS, the Christians who believe that
Isa AS was the son of God.
The second thing.
The third thing, some Jews, not all Jews,
but a faction of Jews, they used to
believe that Uzair AS was the son of
Allah SWT.
So to counter this, Allah SWT clearly says,
He didn't take any child.
There is nobody associated with him in the
kingdom.
Meaning nobody is equal to him in the
kingdom.
Nobody can be equivalent to him in the
kingdom.
If there were more gods than Allah SWT,
then there would be corruption in the earth.
Meaning there will be a disagreement between these
gods that how do we run the affairs?
Should it rain?
Should it shine?
Should we have a hurricane?
Should we have a storm?
Should we reward?
Should we punish?
Should we wait?
So there would be a corruption between the
two.
So if there were more than one god.
Now somebody might object to this and say,
that okay, just imagine there is more than
one god.
And they both agree with each other in
something.
All right, they both agree to do whatever
it is that they want to do.
So surely it's still a possibility, right?
So because Allah says that if there were
more than one god, then there would be
corruption on the earth and the skies.
So what if instead of arguing with each
other, they agreed with each other?
So the answer to that is this.
And keep this point in mind, it's very
important.
That if, say for example, one god says
rain, the other says sun.
Okay, then one of them basically submits and
says, okay, it's your choice.
You do it.
You do what you want to do.
So this other one, other god submitting to
the other one, is actually showing a sign
of weakness.
Okay, so showing a sign of weakness for
a god is not worthy for a god.
Okay, because god cannot be weak, cannot be
suppressed, cannot be commanded to do anything.
So again, this principle of agreement doesn't work
either.
Because one agreeing with the other and submitting
to the other is actually a sign of
his weakness and a weak god cannot be
a god.
So keep that point in mind.
So there cannot be any shariq, any partner
in his kingdom.
And there can be no ally for him
in the time of assistance, meaning nobody, Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is never in need
for an ally, somebody to help him, somebody
to assist him.
Nobody that is not worthy of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is commanding the
Prophet ﷺ, glorify Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Proclaim his greatness.
Meaning when you say that Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala is the greatest, then he is
greater than all of his creation.
He is greater than anything that you think
is great, Allah is greater.
When we say allahu akbar, we are proclaiming
his greatness, that he is greater than everything
and anything.
He is greater than everything and anything.
Some scholars say, why do we say allahu
akbar four times at the beginning of the
adhan?
Allahu akbar, allahu akbar, allahu akbar, allahu akbar.
There are basically four components of the world
according to the old understanding, that the earth
is made up of wind, fire and water
and earth.
Okay, so the combination of these four, basically
people are believing that this is what everything
is made up of.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is bigger than
all of these components.
Allah is greater than all of these components.
This is one theory, but nevertheless, Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala is commanding the Prophet alayhi
salatu wa salam, continue to glorify Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, do not suppress yourself, do
not submit yourself to the claims of the
other people who glorify anything other than Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
If people have anything other than the greatness
of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in their
hearts, this is a weakness of Iman, and
they will not be able to practice the
religion as they should be.
The reason that we cannot practice the religion
as we should is because we have the
greatness of the world in our hearts.
We have the greatness of our job in
our hearts.
We have the greatness of the business in
our hearts.
We have the greatness of the work in
our hearts, our money in our hearts.
And that is why when it comes to
prioritizing between the religion, between the deen and
the worldly things, it becomes easy for us,
because we have not attained that greatness of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in our hearts.
So this is the thing that we need
to be striving for, that the Iman in
our heart becomes so strong that nothing else
is important to us when it comes to
the command of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And that is what that ayah says, right?
Arabic Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala counted every single thing
that you could have love for.
Your parents, your children, your brothers, your sisters,
your wives, your houses, your wealth, your business,
everything and anything that you could have love
for, you know, it should not that love
for those things should not be more than
the love for Allah and his Prophet and
striving in the path of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala.
And if it is, Allah says, Arabic until
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sends his command
down for his punishment.
Okay, so this is what is meant by
Arabic that we should glorify Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and understand his greatness to such
a degree that everything else basically shades in
comparison to the command and the will of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
With that, inshallah, we finish.
We had a very short lesson today, because
these were the two remaining ayat.
The surah has now been completed.
Inshallah, next week, we'll start a new surah.
I pray that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
gives us to understand and practice what has
been said and heard.
Ameen.