Zia Sheikh – Tafseer of Surah Nahal Ayah 56 onward
AI: Summary ©
The conversation between Allah and the Moqid Q is a confusing and difficult to follow discussion. The "bringing" meaning "any thing" and "bringing on" meaning "any thing" is discussed, as well as the "med strict" concept of leaders controlling others and behavior. The "med strict" attitude is also discussed, where leaders control others and fear consequences. The speaker concludes that women should not be punished and that disrespecting and burying them alive is a negative attitude.
AI: Summary ©
I seek refuge with Allah from Satan, the
accursed.
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the
Merciful.
And they assign to that which they do
not know, a portion of that which We
have provided for them.
By Allah, you will be asked about that
which you used to invent.
And they assign to Allah daughters, glory be
to Him, and to them whatever they desire.
And when one of them is given good
tidings of a girl, his face turns black,
and he is like light.
We are going through the Tafsir of Surah
An-Nahl, and today we are starting from
Ayah number 56.
The preceding Ayah, they were talking about the
mistakes that the Mushrikeen had made in their
ideology, in their thinking.
And the same theme is continuing for the
next few verses.
First of all, about their polytheism, and then
after that, their attitude towards having daughters instead
of sons, and the ignorance surrounding that whole
issue, that will be, inshallah, mentioned in today's
lesson.
So, Allah says, وَيَجَعَلُونَ لِمَا لَا يَعَلَمُونَ نَصِيبًا
مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ And they make, meaning the Mushrikeen,
the polytheists, they make for those that they
do not know.
For that, they do not know.
Meaning, what is something that you know?
What is something that is ilm?
What is knowledge?
Knowledge is something that is certain.
Something that is factual.
Something that is true.
If something is not true, then that's not
knowledge.
That's falsehood.
It is against the concept of knowledge.
When you say that you know something, it
is because you know something true.
Something that happens.
Something that is factual in your life.
So, Allah is saying, لِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ They
make for those that they do not know.
Meaning, the statues, the idols that they associate
partners with Allah with.
What do they make?
For those that they don't know, those idols,
They make naseeban.
They give them a share.
مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ From what we have given them.
From what Allah has given them.
So, what was the habit of the Mushrikeen?
They used to say that part of this
animal, for example, they slaughter a camel.
And they say that part of this camel
is going to be for our gods.
Or they say that this camel, after it
is given birth to so many young, What
we are going to do is, we are
going to just make it for our gods.
We are not going to take from its
milk.
And we are not going to consume it.
That is free to go.
And we are not going to do anything
with it.
So, this was the attitude of those people
at the time.
This was obviously an ignorance on their part.
So, Allah said that they are making a
share for those that they don't know, Meaning
the idols that they don't know, meaning they
are not true.
They are making a share.
And on top of that, مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ It
is not something that they produced or they
made.
This is the sustenance that Allah SWT has
given them.
And on top of that, they are disobeying
Allah SWT in the issue of the rizq
and the sustenance that was given to them
by Allah SWT.
They are associating partners with that Allah who
gave them that rizq in the first place.
So, مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ That is why Allah SWT
used this wording.
Again, وَيَجْعَلُونَ لِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُونَ نَصِيبًا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ
They are making for those that they do
not know, for that which they do not
know, meaning the idols, a share, مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ
from that which we gave to them, which
Allah SWT gave to them.
Allah SWT declares about this issue.
What does He say?
دَلَّهِ دَلَّهِ means I swear by Allah.
Allah is swearing by Himself here.
It is very rare that Allah SWT uses
His own name to take an oath in
the Quran.
So, it means that this is a very
powerful oath.
There are three words of Qasam in Arabic.
بِاللَّهِ بَا بِاللَّهِ وَاللَّهِ If you have ever
had a discussion with some African people, they
actually, when they want to really emphasize something,
they use all three.
وَاللَّهِ بِاللَّهِ وَاللَّهِ Especially Nigerian Muslim brothers, they
use all three.
Usually, you probably heard the word وَاللَّهِ when
somebody is taking an oath, right?
But all three are actually used.
وَاللَّهِ بِاللَّهِ وَاللَّهِ And here, Allah is using
the word وَاللَّهِ وَاللَّهِ I swear by Allah.
Allah is swearing by Himself.
لَتُسْأَلُنَّ عَمَّا كُنْتُمْ تَفْتَرُونَ Most certainly, you are
going to be questioned about these accusations, these
false accusations that you made.
So, you invented these things.
You invented this shirk.
And you invented idols.
And you invented their share.
This share for this idol.
And this share for this idol.
And, you know, you basically reject Allah SWT
in place of these idols.
And there is another verse in the Qur
'an in Surah Al-An'am.
Allah SWT says that they say هَذَا لِلَّهِ
بِزَعْمِهِمْ وَهَذَا لِشُرَكَئِنَا When they are making a
Sadaqah, They say, this portion is for Allah.
And this is for our other idols, for
our other gods.
And then on top of that, they said
فَمَا كَانَ لِلَّهِ فَهُوَ يَصِلُ إِلَىٰ شُرَكَئِهِمْ Whatever
they allocated for Allah SWT, that went to
their shuraka, to their idols.
وَمَا كَانَ لِشُرَكَئِهِمْ فَلَا يَصِلُوا إِلَىٰ اللَّهِ And
whatever they allocated for their partners, for the
partners, for the shirk that they were committing,
it did not go to Allah SWT.
Very confused thinking on their part.
But Inshallah, we will continue with the verses
here.
What was the next thing?
What was the next Jahalat that the people
were involved in?
The issue of the daughters.
So, they didn't want daughters for themselves, but
on the other hand, they said about Allah
SWT that the angels are the daughters of
Allah SWT.
So again, Allah SWT has no sons, no
daughters, no children, no partner, nothing.
But the Mushrikeen, they said that the angels
are the daughters of Allah SWT.
So, this is the next verse.
وَيَجْعَلُونَ لِلَّهِ الْبَنَاتِ And they are making for
Allah SWT daughters.
سُبْحَانَهُ Allah SWT is pure from this.
Meaning, He doesn't have any partners, doesn't have
any children.
He is pure from this.
وَلَهُمَّا يَشْتَهُونَ And for them is what they
want.
This يَشْتَهُونَ This word يَشْتَهُونَ is from the
word شَهْوَة شَهْوَة, something that you desire.
Something that you really want.
So, for them is what they want.
What is what they want?
Boys.
They wanted boys for themselves.
So, for Allah, they said He has daughters
and they don't want daughters themselves.
And for them, for themselves, they want boys
for themselves.
وَلَهُمَّا يَشْتَهُونَ And then it goes on to
say, وَإِذَا بُشِّرَ أَحَدُهُمْ بِالْأُنثَىٰ ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدًا
وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ And when any of them is
given the good news, good news, Allah SWT
describes it as good news.
بُشِّرَ is from the word بَشَارَ بَشَارَ means
good news.
When any of them is given the good
news, بِالْأُنثَىٰ that they've been blessed with a
girl, ظَلَّ وَجْهُهُ مُسْوَدًا His face becomes dark,
meaning sullen, gloomy, sad, upset.
وَلَّ وَجْهُ مُسْوَدًا وَهُوَ كَظِيمٌ And he is
also كظيم at the same time.
What is the word كظيم?
كظيم means to swallow something, to swallow anger.
وَالْكَوْظِمِينَ الْغَيْظِ And it's actually, this word is
derived from the كظم كظم means that when
you fill this leather bottle, you know the,
what do you call, in Urdu you call
it مشكيزة and in Arabic it's called قربة.
So if you fill it up, it basically,
it's very flexible, right?
If you have a soft bottle for example,
if you try to fill a plastic bag
up, this would be something that we would
understand.
But in the old days they had leather
pouches or leather water bottles.
So if you fill it up, it kind
of moves all around and if you kind
of squeeze it, then the water, it flows
off the top.
So كظم means to tie the top of
this water bottle up.
And when you tie this water bottle up
tightly, what happens is the remainder of it,
it becomes very, it expands.
And expands to such a degree that it
looks like it's almost about to burst.
You squeeze it and then you tie it
up, it becomes very filled up.
So that's why the word كظم الغيظ means
to basically swallow the anger even though it's
really bursting inside of you.
This is what كظم الغيظ means, to swallow
the anger.
So he goes around and he has this
sad face, he's upset و هو كظيم and
he is trying to hide his frustration as
much as possible.
So he is upset that he has been
given the news that he just had a
baby girl in his house.
Almost to explode.
So there's another verse in the Quran, Allah
SWT says about this issue of having children.
Allah SWT, His is the kingdoms of the
heavens and the earth.
Allah says that he gives females to whom
he wants.
So the first mention is for females.
And he gives males to whom he wants.
So the first females, then ذُكُور, males.
Or he gives them pairs, males and females,
either in the form of twins.
Sometimes you have twins, male and female twins,
or one male, one female, one after the
other.
Allah SWT blesses people with both of them.
And there's a wisdom behind this from Allah
SWT.
There's a balance that Allah SWT has made
in this world that sometimes he gives boys,
sometimes he gives girls and that whole balance
and reproduction, marrying and having children, having future
generations, all of that is associated with this
balance that Allah SWT has created.
So not everybody can have boys.
And unfortunately in some countries where this issue
of abortion and scanning is prevalent and some
people find out that they're about to have
a girl, they abort the fetus.
It is creating an imbalance in the society.
In China, for example, it's creating an imbalance.
In India, it's very prevalent also that if
a girl is about to be born, they
abort the fetus.
And when they are about to have a
boy, they let the boy become born.
So it's creating an imbalance.
So the fact that Allah SWT has made
this system in place, it is for a
reason.
So nobody should feel upset if he has
a girl.
And in fact, there are many hadiths which
talk about a person who is, if he
is blessed with a girl, this is actually
a blessing from Allah SWT.
The Prophet SAW said, the person who has
three daughters and Allah SWT blesses him with
three daughters and he teaches them, he gives
them a good tarbiyah, and then he marries
them off into a good household, he will
get Jannah.
So for three, the Prophet SAW mentioned.
So the Sahaba said, what about if a
person has two?
So the Prophet SAW said, even if a
person has two daughters.
And then the Sahaba said, we didn't ask
him about one daughter.
But the point was that the Prophet SAW
was trying to emphasize to the people that
having a daughter is a blessing in your
house.
You should not feel that it's a bad
thing.
And unfortunately, in many cultures, in many societies,
even Muslim societies, we have this attitude of,
if it's a boy, you will distribute sweets
and become happy.
And if it's a girl, you don't distribute
sweets.
And this is prevalent in Pakistan and India,
even to this day, unfortunately.
So there's another hadith in which the Prophet
SAW said, that I love women and I
love perfume.
So the Prophet SAW loving women is not
in a perverted way.
Okay, that somebody might, who has a bad
and a polluted mind, might think that that's
what the Prophet SAW was trying to say
in a bad way.
No, he said it because in those days,
the women were downtrodden and oppressed and people
hated them, didn't like them.
So he being the leader of the community
was emphasizing that I love the women, those
women that you hate, those women that you
despise, those daughters that you bury alive, I
love those women.
So basically he's setting an example for everybody
to follow that nobody should oppress women and
nobody should look down upon women.
So again, our attitude towards having daughters should
not be negative, we should always regard it
in a positive way, Inshallah.
So the ayat goes on to say, Again
Allah SWT used the word, He hides from
the people because of what he perceives to
be bad, because of the badness of what
he has been given the good news of.
So he hides because he's so ashamed to
show his face in public that he has
a daughter in his house.
He goes around hiding and he doesn't want
to show his face in public.
This was the attitude that they had.
Should he hold, keep this child, This hun
means disgrace and from this word we get
the word ihana, ihana in Urdu we use
this word.
So a person, he thinks to himself, should
he just keep this child despite the disgrace
associated with it or should he just bury
it alive in the dirt.
So this was the attitude that they had.
Both situations they used to consider.
Disgrace, shame, and keep the child, that's bad
and also burying is bad, but both options
were open to them and both options were
considered, Subhanallah.
Allah SWT says, be aware that what a
bad judgment that they have and what a
bad judgment they are following.
This is again the jahala that they had
in those days.
Allah SWT describes in Surah Qawirat And when
the girl that was buried alive she will
be questioned on the day of judgment.
For what sin was she killed?
So the question is, why does Allah SWT
say that the girl, she will be questioned
by Allah SWT.
She was innocent.
She wasn't the one that got herself buried
alive.
She was innocent.
So why she will be questioned?
To embarrass the person who is standing next
to her on the day of judgment who
buried her alive.
To embarrass him.
For what sin was she killed?
She will say, I didn't commit any sins.
I was innocent.
I was a newborn child.
I could have committed any sins.
So the person who actually buried her alive
he is going to be even more embarrassed
about what he did in this world.
So in any case, this is again the
ignorance that those people were guilty of in
those days.
Allah SWT goes on to say So those
people that don't have Iman in the hereafter
they have a very bad example.
Meaning that obviously if a person doesn't have
Iman in the hereafter then there is no
fear of consequence.
There is no fear of repercussions.
There is no fear of punishment.
So when there is no fear of being
questioned by Allah SWT in the hereafter that
means the person can do whatever he likes
in this world because he is not going
to be punished according to his belief.
So they will lead the worst lifestyle.
This is what is meant by They are
the worst example.
And for Allah is the best example.
Meaning that whatever Allah SWT teaches, whatever he
orders, whatever he commands all his teachings in
the Quran, in the sunnah of the Prophet
SAW, if we follow them This is the
best of examples.
So this is the attitude that we are
supposed to have in completing the commands of
Allah SWT and staying away from his disobedience
He is the almighty and always wise.
With that inshallah we finish today's lesson.
I pray that Allah SWT gives us the
tawfiq to understand and practice what has been
said and heard.