Zia Sheikh – Tafseer Of Surah Hadeed Session 3 Ayah 16 onwards
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AI: Transcript ©
This is the third session of Surah Al
-Hadeed, and today inshallah we're going to be
starting from ayah number 16.
If you remember last time, we finished off
by talking about the different situations of the
people in the hereafter.
On the Day of Judgement, the people of
Iman, they will have their Noor and their
light which will guide them all the way
into Paradise.
The Munafiqeen, they're not going to have any
light, and they will try to steal the
light of the believers or use the light
of the believers to creep into Paradise, but
Allah SWT is going to prevent them from
doing that.
So today's lesson, Allah SWT, he starts off
by telling the people of Iman that they
should not be like those Munafiqeen, that they
were completely oblivious of their responsibility and they
neglected the commands of Allah SWT, and because
of that, they were deprived of the light
on the Day of Judgement.
So, he tells us the way to do
that.
أَلَمْ يَأْنِنِ الَّذِينَ أَمَنُوا أَن تَخْشَعَ قُلُوبُهُمْ لِذِكْرِ
اللَّهِ Hasn't the time come for the people
of Iman that their hearts should submit themselves
or become humble towards the Zikr and the
remembrance of Allah SWT?
So this ayah, according to the Mufassireen, it
was revealed when the Muslims, they migrated to
Medina, and after the migration to Medina what
happened was that people, they started having a
bit of a comfortable life.
So, in Mecca, difficulties, hardships, perseverance, persecution, there
were so many difficulties and trials and tribulations
that the Muslims had to go through.
Now in Medina, there's none of that.
There is a relaxed lifestyle, there is no
difficulty, and because they are a little bit
more relaxed, their attention gets diverted from Allah
SWT a little bit.
So Allah SWT, He reminds them and tells
them that this is not how it's supposed
to be.
And this is actually the human nature.
What happens is, when the humans are going
through difficulty and they face adversity, trials, tribulations,
they will turn to Allah SWT.
They will make dua to Him.
They will ask Him for assistance.
They will lengthen their Nawafil prayers.
They will get up in the middle of
the night and pray Qiyamul Layl.
But then when ease comes, then the opposite
happens.
They may be fulfilling their obligations, but then
all of these extra things that people do,
making dua to Allah, praying extra Nawafil, that
kind of gets neglected.
So Allah SWT, He reminds the believers that
yes, some ease has opened up for you,
but this doesn't mean that you should forget
Allah SWT and you should not humble yourself,
continue to humble yourself towards Allah SWT, like
the time when you used to have difficulty
in Makkah.
The Sahaba say that this ayah was revealed
approximately 4 years after our migration to Medina.
So 4 years, basically, if you can imagine,
4 years of ease and no real hardship.
So because of that Allah SWT reminded them
of this issue.
So Allah says, I'll go through the translation
again.
Hasn't the time come for the people of
Iman that their hearts should be humbled towards
the remembrance of Allah SWT and towards what
was revealed from the truth?
Meaning the dhikr of Allah SWT and the
recitation of the Quran.
These are the two things that people should
use to gain that khushu in their hearts.
This is the thing through which a person
will get khushu in his or her heart.
وَلَا يَكُونُوا كَالَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلٍ Allah
SWT throughout the Quran, He tells us that
look, take a lesson from the Ahlul Kitab
that came before you.
The people of the book that came before
you, they made so many mistakes.
And one of them was that because there
was a big length that took place between
themselves and their Anbiya A.S. And nobody
came to remind them, their hearts became hardened.
Their hearts, they became hard.
What does the heart becoming hard mean?
It means that somebody reminds you about Allah
SWT and you pay no attention.
Somebody talks to you about Jannah and your
heart is not moved.
Somebody talks to you about Jahannam and you
are not afraid.
Somebody talks to you about death and nothing
happens to you.
So this is the hardening of the heart.
And this is something that we should all
ask Allah SWT to give us refuge from
that kind of attitude.
Because when that happens, then basically the khair,
no khair enters the heart.
And nothing affects a person, nothing moves a
person.
And a person is not motivated to do
any good anymore.
So Allah SWT is warning the believers that
people should not become like the Ahlul Kitab
before them.
That what happened to them, the time became
long for them.
Meaning the time between Anbiya A.S. it
became long for them.
And their hearts became hard.
And many of them, they became Fasiqoon.
People who disobeyed Allah SWT because of their
hard heartedness.
So the next ayah, it tells us the
solution to hard heartedness.
And also it reminds us of something that
may soften our hearts.
And that is the reminder of death.
So Allah says in the next ayah, اعلموا
ان الله يحيي الارض بعد موتها Be aware
that Allah SWT makes the earth alive after
its death.
So we see the most seemingly infertile land.
That through the complete season of dry weather,
it is completely dry and it doesn't seem
like any kind of crop or any kind
of plant is going to grow on it.
But suddenly the rainy season starts, rain starts
falling, and that same dry land, that same
seemingly infertile land, it becomes lush and green
and things start growing on it.
So Allah is saying that indeed He is
the one who makes that dry land become
lush.
So similarly, your hard hearts, the hearts that
have become hardened through the ages because of
neglect and because of lack of concentration, because
of lack of devotion, because of lack of
remembrance of death, there is a way to
soften them and make them open up to
the commands of Allah SWT again and to
have them become lush and green again and
to have them soft again.
And what is that?
It is the remembrance of Allah SWT and
the recitation of the Quran.
If a person does these two things, of
course not just recitation, but recitation with the
understanding of what Allah SWT is saying, so
the heart will become soft again.
Just like Allah SWT makes that seemingly infertile
land soft and lush, He can make your
hearts lush and green and productive again.
So nobody should lose hope.
We should turn towards Allah SWT at the
earliest opportunity and focus on making our hearts
soft again.
قَدْ بَيَّنَّا لَكُمْ الْآيَاتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ Indeed we
have explained for you the signs so that
you understand.
And the sign is this, comparisons Allah SWT
gives again and again throughout the Quran to
make us understand.
إِنَّ الْمُصَدِّقِينَ وَالْمُصَدِّقَاتِ وَأَقْرَضُوا اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا
يُضَاعَفُ لَهُمْ وَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ كَرِيمٌ Another way to
get our hearts softened and to prepare ourselves
for the hereafter is to give in charity.
The Prophet SAW was approached by a person
who said, Ya Rasool Allah, I don't wish
to die, I don't want to die.
Prophet SAW said that a person, he is
in love with his wealth.
And wherever his wealth is, he will want
to go to that place.
So send your wealth forward, send it and
spend it in charity, give it in charity.
You will be inclined towards and interested in
and invigorated in heading towards the hereafter.
So this is what this ayah also tells
us.
Indeed those people that give in charity, whether
male or female, مُصَدِّقِينَ وَالْمُصَدِّقَاتِ So what happens
is the sisters, they expect their husbands to
give in charity.
Allah SWT says no.
The sisters also, the ladies also need to
make sure that they are giving from their
portion too.
They should be inclined towards giving something in
charity too.
So that they get a feel of what
it feels like to give from their own
wealth.
And not just rely upon the husband.
And in fact the obligatory zakat, if a
woman has jewelry, she is actually responsible for
her zakat.
Not her husband.
But if the husband gives the zakat, you
know, out of goodwill, so that's his choice.
But he doesn't need to, he doesn't have
to.
But here Allah SWT is telling us both
the men that give sadaqa and the women
that give sadaqa.
And those that give Allah SWT a good
loan.
وَأَقْرَضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا We talked about qard
hasan last week.
The definition of qard hasan really in the
Quran is something that you give in charity.
And that's it.
And you forget about it.
That's what real qard hasan is.
And Allah SWT refers to it as qard
hasan.
Because Allah will pay you back.
When you give somebody a qard, it is
with the intention that you get that loan
back.
So that's why Allah says that it's a
qard, it's a loan.
Meaning Allah has promised that he'll pay you
back.
So in this day and age we use
the term qard hasan to mean an interest
free loan.
But really the terminology of the Quran, it
says that qard hasan is something that you
give in charity and you forget about it.
So those that give qard hasan, Allah says,
يُضَاعَفُ لَهُمْ وَلَهُمْ أَجْرٌ كَرِيمٌ This qard is
multiplied for them many times over.
It's an investment that continues to mushroom and
grow.
And Allah will give them on top of
that, أَجْرٌ كَرِيمٌ A very generous reward.
So the reward of the charity, it will
multiply.
But in addition to that, Allah will give
them a generous reward which is Jannah and
Paradise.
So the Jannah that we get, the reward
that we get, it's going to be eternal,
right?
It's going to be everlasting.
So that is a price that whatever you
give for eternal bliss and eternal happiness, you
cannot pay for it.
It's not available to buy.
You cannot have enough money, enough wealth to
pay for eternal happiness and eternal bliss and
eternal paradise.
It's just not buyable, it's priceless.
So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala promising that
to you and to me, for the effort
that we make by giving a little bit
in charity, a small percentage in charity, a
few a'mal that we do, praying five times
daily, trying to just stay away from the
sins that we commit.
Really, it's a very good bargain that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving us.
Even though, according to Hadith, the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa sallam said, Be aware that the
merchandise of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is
expensive.
It's not cheap.
What is the merchandise of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala?
It is that Jannah that He has promised
us.
So of course it's not cheap.
Like I've just mentioned, it's not buyable.
Eternal bliss is not something that you can
purchase.
It's not something that you can buy.
Anything that you buy in this world, to
get yourself some temporary happiness, if you have
the money, you can buy it.
But eternal bliss is something that is not
buyable.
The fact is that it is with the
generosity of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that
we will get it.
So this is what is meant by, وَلَهُمْ
أَجْرٌ كَرِيمٌ Yes, their deeds, their a'mal, their
charity is going to be multiplied, but on
top of that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
will give them a generous reward.
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ أُولَٰئِكَهُمُ السِّدِّيقُونَ Those
people that have iman in Allah and His
Prophets, they are truly the Siddiqeen.
Siddiqeen, you've probably heard of Abu Bakr Siddiq,
right?
The word Siddiq, the literal translation means, one
who is extremely truthful.
But another meaning is, and this is more
appropriate to the definition of Abu Bakr Siddiq,
is the person who, by his actions, proves
what he claims.
By his actions, he proves what he claims,
this is what the definition of Siddiq is.
And that is, okay, he says that I
am generous, so he gives in charity to
prove that he is generous.
I believe in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
so he does a'mal that indicates that he
believes in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
He is afraid of the wrath of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, so he stays away
from those sins, practically, to show that he
is afraid of the wrath of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala and the anger of Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So the word Siddiq basically means, a person
who puts into practice whatever he claims.
Okay, so this is what the definition of
Siddiq is.
So Allah says, those people that have iman
in Allah and His Prophets, they are the
extremely truthful ones, or those that put into
practice what they claim.
وَالشُّهَدَاءُ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَالشُّهَدَاءُ عِنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ And they
are also shuhadaa.
They are regarded as shuhadaa and martyrs according
to their Lord.
There is another verse in the Quran, وَمَنْ
يُطْعِ اللَّهُ وَالرَّسُولُ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَعَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمَ اللَّهُ
عَلَيْهِمْ مِنَ النَّبِيِّينَ وَالسِّدِّيقِينَ وَالشُّهَدَاءِ وَالصَّالِحِينَ
Whoever obeys Allah and His Prophet, then those
people are going to be resurrected with the
anbiya, with the saliheen, with the shuhadaa, with
the pious people.
So, what is the criteria?
Ita'a of Allah and ita'a of
the Prophet, it will land you in the
status of the most highest of people, those
people that God matters, those people that are
known as siddiqeen, like Abu Bakr Siddiq, the
saliheen.
وَحَسُنَ أُولَٰئِكَ رَفِيقًا What good companionship this is,
that a person, wouldn't he want to be
with such people on the Day of Judgment?
Of course, we would want to be with
those people, right?
So, Allah is telling us here again, that
those people that give in charity, those people
that have iman in Allah and His Prophets,
those people that are generous, they are going
to be with the siddiqeen and the shuhadaa,
the martyrs.
هَيْنْدَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ مَنُورُهُمْ They're going to
get their reward, and they're going to get
their noor.
And again, their noor refers to that noor
that they're going to get on the Day
of Judgment, through which they're going to guide
themselves into Paradise, that was mentioned earlier in
the surah.
وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا وَكَذَّبُوا بِآيَاتِنَا أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَحِيمِ
Those people that disbelieved and rejected our signs,
they are the companions of the Hellfire.
So, the word ashab is used.
Ashab, sahib, musahaba.
Musahaba means companionship, right?
So you have a companion in your wife.
You have a companion in your brothers, your
sisters.
The companionship, the relationship is there.
That companionship is going to be everlasting.
So Allah SWT uses the word ashab to
denote the everlasting punishment that the disbelievers are
going to get in the Hellfire.
They are the partners of the Hellfire.
They are the companions of the Hellfire.
أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ الْجَحِيمِ This ashab is used.
اِعْلَمُوا أَنَّمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا لَعِبٌ وَلَهٌ وَزِينَةٌ وَتَفَاخُرٌ
بَيْنَكُمْ وَتَكَاتُرٌ فِي الْأَمْوَالِ وَالْأَوْلَادِ This is a
beautiful ayah that basically denotes the limited time
that we have in this world.
And it's just summed up, and I've mentioned
this in khatiras from time to time, that
you can sum up the sentence in one
sentence, a person's whole life.
Allah says, be aware that the worldly life
is لعب and لهو.
This is the first stage of a person's
life, childhood, when he's just playing around.
All a person wants to do is play.
You tell the kid to do homework, he
wants to play.
You tell him to go to school, he'd
rather stay home and play.
So the main thing that is always in
a child's mind is لعب and لهو.
And the scholars have basically said that this
interpretation that is given is a very appropriate
one, that when a child starts to play,
he doesn't look at anything.
He doesn't look at how tired he is,
how thirsty he is, how dehydrated he is.
If he's with his friends, or she's with
her friends, and she wants to play, they
will play and play and play and play
until they collapse.
This is the reality of the playing of
a child.
And you see it sometimes on a hot
summer's day when they're playing outside, they don't
care about thirst, they don't care about hunger,
they don't care that they haven't had their
breakfast, or that the mother is calling them
in for lunch, or calling them in for
dinner.
No, they still want to focus on their
play.
And at the end of the day, when
they've played so much, then their legs are
hurting, and their whole body is hurting, and
they're dehydrated, and their head's hurting, then they
realize that, wow, the parents tell them, I
told you you shouldn't have been playing outside
in that hot sun all day, now look
at you, you're so tired.
The next day, if it's a school day,
they complain, oh, I'm too tired, my whole
body is hurting.
So the reality is that when we get
so absorbed with the worldly life, we just
tire ourselves behind it.
We just exhaust ourselves behind getting these worldly
goods, and gathering them, and accumulating them.
And we don't realize that what we're doing
to ourselves.
So this is what happens to us as
we get older, and we just focus on
attaining this worldly life, blood pressure, diabetes, obesity,
and all kinds of illnesses creep up on
us, heart problems, and we don't even realize.
But we're just focusing ourselves on the worldly
life.
So, laibun wa lahw.
The first stage of a person's life is
laib and lahw, and this is what the
kids do, this is the stage of the
child.
And then after that, the next stage is
zina, beautification.
This is when the adolescence starts, the teen
life starts, that the boy, he starts to
basically want to wear the nicest clothes, designer
clothes, the clothes that his friends are all
wearing, and the clothes that are in nowadays,
even though those same clothes, when they go
out of fashion, you can get them for
maybe a quarter of the price that they're
available today, but because they're in fashion, you
know, you want them now.
So, this zina is that thing, and the
girls, they start becoming interested in make-up
and dabbling in nicer clothes, so this is
the stage of zina and beautification that people
start indulging in, and this is the next
stage of life.
The next stage of life after that is
tafakhurum baynakum.
This is mutual pride amongst each other, and
this is the stage when people start earning
some money, then they will start, basically, they
want to get the nicest cars, they want
to get the nicest house, they want to
get the biggest house, they want to have
the most beautiful wife, they want to have
the most beautiful children, they want to have
the most money.
So, tafakhurum baynakum, this mutual pride between the
people, this is the next stage of a
person's life.
And then after that, takathurum fil-amwali wal
-awlaat.
The next stage is the stage when a
person, he is now approaching retirement, maybe he
is in his forties, and approaching the fifties,
now he thinks, I need to have wealth,
and I need to have children, so that
I can support myself in my old age,
so that I can have a nest egg,
and I can have children that can look
after me when I'm old.
So, this is the next stage.
And then, funnily enough, Allah SWT doesn't mention
anything after that.
It's as if, after this stage, there's no
life.
Everything is downhill after that.
Alright?
Everything is just, you know, illnesses, and blood
pressure, diabetes, heart problems, it's basically a life
where a person is just heading towards his
grave at that time.
And then Allah compares it with crops.
He says, look, when you see these crops,
they are growing in front of you.
And there's a stage where you are looking
at this crop, you are looking at this
plant, it is growing in front of you,
and you are proud of the fact that
you've raised it, and it's grown in front
of you, and all of a sudden, after
you've harvested it, or if you don't harvest
it, it's just going to become completely wasted,
it's going to dry up and wither and
die, right in front of your eyes.
This is a person's life.
There's another comparison that Allah SWT gives in
the next portion of the verse.
Allah says, كَمَثَ لِغَيْثٍ أَعَاجَبَ الْكُفَّارَ نَبَاتًۭا Just
like the rain when it falls, it makes
the farmers happy that my crops are growing.
ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ Then those crops, they basically start
billowing in the winds.
يَهِيج, you see them, they basically blow in
the wind, and if you've ever stood in
front of a huge field which has corn
or wheat, you know what happens is, when
the wind blows in one direction, you see
all the wheat blowing in one direction.
And then it blows in the other direction,
so it changes and it faces the other
direction.
So, it looks very majestic and beautiful to
look at, when you look at it.
So, ثُمَّ يَهِيجُ It becomes majestic, and it
blows in the wind.
فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًا And you see it very golden,
you see it golden, ready to be harvested,
ready to be picked.
This is basically the golden stage of a
person's life, that he is at his peak,
at his strength, at his most beautiful.
You know, if you're older, and you look
at older pictures of yourself, you think to
yourself, oh man, I used to be quite
good looking.
Alright?
And when you get older, alright, now you've
put on a little bit of weight, now
you've got a bit of grey hair, and
you look back and you think, you know,
that was my peak, that was my prime,
that was when I was the best looking,
just around the time I got married, after
I got married, basically, I got stressed out,
and after that, I started to become old.
So, the prime is what is mentioned here,
فَتَرَاهُ مُصْفَرًا So, you see this crop, it
becomes golden, and you see it, it looks
very majestic.
ثُمَّ يَكُونَ حُطَامًا And all of a sudden,
before you know it, it just becomes dried
up, dried up, fluff blowing in the wind.
حطام means something that the wind is basically
blowing from left to right.
Meaning after it's been harvested, or after it
becomes dried and withered, it's just basically scraps
of grass and hay, which is just blowing
around in the wind.
So, this is, these are two examples that
have been given about the shortness of this
worldly life.
So then after that, Allah says, look, there's
only going to be two things that are
going to happen to you in the hereafter.
One of two things.
And this is the thing that you need
to keep in mind.
وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ شَدِيدٌ وَمَغْفِرَةٌ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانٍ
In the hereafter, either you're going to get
a very severe punishment, or a maghfirah, a
forgiveness from Allah SWT and a pleasure of
Allah SWT.
Which one do you want?
What is it that you want to strive
for?
وَمَا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا إِلَّا مَتَعُ الْغُرُورِ The worldly
life is only the goods of deception.
It's just deceiving you.
What we think is that we're going to
accumulate, we're going to gather, and everything that
we gather is going to make us happy.
The reality is, whatever we accumulate, if we
don't use it in this world, it's going
to go to our inheritors.
We're not even going to use it.
So, this is just a deception that we
have.
The real happiness is in pleasing Allah SWT
and making sure that we are obeying Allah
SWT and putting His commands into our lives.
And that is the thing that will benefit
us.
There's a saying of a Sahabi about the
issue of the worldly life.
That Saeed ibn Jubayr, he says, الدُّنْيَا مَتَعُ
الْغُرُورِ إِنْ أَلْهَدْكَ عَنْ طَلَبِ الْآخِرَةِ فَأَمَّا إِذَا
دَعَتْكَ إِلَى طَلَبِ رِضْوَانِ اللَّهِ وَطَلِبِ الْآخِرَةِ فَنِعْمَ
الْمَتَعُ وَنِعْمَ الْوَسِيلَةِ Saeed ibn Jubayr, he says,
that the worldly life, it is the goods
of deception if it keeps you from striving
for the hereafter.
The worldly things, if they keep you from
striving for the hereafter, then they are deceiving
you.
But, if they call you towards seeking the
pleasure of Allah SWT and the seeking of
the hereafter, then those goods are the best
goods and the best thing that you could
wish for.
That Allah gave you worldly life, He gave
you wealth, He gave you money, and at
the same time, you did not forget your
responsibilities towards Allah SWT.
You use that in a good way to
earn your hereafter, then this worldly thing is
also good for you.
So, don't think that having money is something
bad.
If you use it in the right way,
then that is also a good thing.
There is nothing to be worried about.
I'm just going to finish off with a
beautiful couplet, which is talking about the rich
people and their method of arrogance when compared
to the poor people.
The poet, he says, أَرَى أَهْلَ الْقُصُورِ إِذَا
أُمِيتُ I see the dwellers of the castles
when they are put to death, when they
die, what happens to them?
بَنَوْ فَوْقَ الْمَقَابِرِ بِالسُّخُورِ Above their graves, they
make huge rocks, many huge gravestones and memorials
and things of that nature to show that
the person who died here was a very
rich person.
The poet goes on to say, أَبَوْ إِلَّا
مُبَاهَاتًا وَفَخْرًا عَلَى الْفُقْرَاءِ حَتَّى فِي الْقُبُورِ They
only wanted to indulge in مُبَاهَات مُبَاهَات means
arrogance and فَخْر also means pride.
They always wanted to indulge in arrogance and
pride over the poor people even when they
got into the graves that didn't stop them
from doing that.
سُبْحَانَ الله So this is what happens that
when a rich person dies then huge memorial,
everything while a poor person, you know, a
small hole, put him inside, there's a memorial
stone or not, a headstone or not, nobody
knows.
After a few weeks, everybody forgets about him.
So the poet, he says, that the فَخْر
that people have amongst each other, people don't
leave it even after they pass away.
They think that I need to have this
arrogance and this pride even after I die
above the poor people who don't have any
money.
I should show people that I was rich.
I should show people that I had money
so that I'm not counted amongst the poor
people.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq
to understand what has been said and heard
and gives us tawfiq to prepare for our
real abode which is the abode of the
hereafter.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم ولسائر
المسلمين فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرحيم