I cried my eyes out, I cried my eyes out, I cried my eyes out for my sin, and what I found from my neighbor, O my humiliation. And my shame is when my Lord says to me Have you not dared to disobey me? And do not fear the punishment Bismillah alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala hamma ba'd So today I recited certain verses of Surah Fatir and inshallah we'll just comment on some of the beautiful meanings that are found in these verses. I cited of course first raka'ah beginning with Ya ayyuha annasu antumu alfuqara'u ila Allah O mankind, all of you are faqeer in front of Allah and Allah is al-ghani and al-hameed. And in the second verse, I began from the second section of this, which is Allah mentioning various signs around us and linking those signs to his existence.
And then there's a very interesting phrase that comes. We're gonna talk about that today. So Allah says, Alam tara anna allaha anzal minassama'i ma'an Haven't you seen that Allah has sent down from the heavens rain? Fa akhrajna bihi thamaratin mukhtalifan alwanuha From that one rain, the same rain, Allah has caused many plants to come forth. These plants are all mukhtalif in their alwan.
Their colors are different. So the soil is the same color, the rain is the same color, but the plants that come... are varied in everything, in their species, in their fruits, and in their color.
مُخْتَلِفًا أَلْوَانُهَا So Allah mentions that all of this is different in color. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that the same applies. وَمِنَ الْجِبَالِ جُدَدٌ بِيضٌ وَحُمْرٌ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهَا وَغَرَابِي بُسُودٌ And from the mountains as well.
From the mountains, look around you. The جُدَد here means the peaks and the crevices. So every mountain it has, you know, the unique shape.
Every mountain has rocks sticking out. It has those crevices in it. So Allah says, look at these various mountains.
وَمِنَ الْجِبَالِ جُدَدٌ بِيضٌ Some of them are shining white. So the rock is like almost white. And حُمْرٌ reddish in color. And then also غَرَابِي بُسُود Dark, complete dark. وَمِنَ النَّاسِ وَالدَّوَابِ وَالنَنْعَامِ مُخْتَلِفٌ أَلْوَانُهُ كَذَلِكَ And from mankind, you have all of these colors.
And from... The animals that you rear, cows and sheep, you have different color. And from all types of animals in the earth, you have different color.
Now, what is Allah mentioning in all of this diversity? There is actually a very deep philosophical point that we can find in this. It is mentioned by some of the western scholars when it comes to the proofs for the existence of God.
And it is called the proof of the existence of God from beauty. The proof of the existence of God from beauty. What does this mean? The proof goes as follows, that the fact that we have within us the mechanism to appreciate the beauty of the creation, because beauty is something that doesn't have to be within us. There's no reason for us to appreciate a majestic sunset.
And yet every human being appreciates a majestic sunset. There's no reason to feel awe when we look at the stars around us. Yet every single human, when he's standing or she's standing, looking up to the heavens in the darkness, and they look at those millions of stars, they feel a sense of awe and appreciation. Why? Why do we feel a sense of awe and appreciation?
When we look at those nature documentaries and we find animals and how they hunt and how they communicate with one another and how the ants build their ant hives. No matter what your level of iman, you cannot help but be in awe. Even the non-Muslim, he is in awe.
That's why these nature documentaries are so popular and watched by all. The question, why do you feel awe? And where do you get this beauty from? The response, this is a western notion which is found in the Quran.
The creator wanted his creation to be enjoyed. The Creator wanted His creation to be appreciated and so He implanted within us the mechanism to appreciate the creation. Are you guys following this? Right? There's no reason for us to find something beautiful in the creation.
Think about it. There's absolutely no reason. But every one of us finds it. And the Qur'an has, not one, not five, two dozen verses.
وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ Look at the khalq, look at the stars. Look at all of the signs around you. Haven't you seen the fulqa tajji fil bahar?
Haven't you seen the sky's rain coming down? Haven't you seen that which is in the heavens? Haven't you seen the sun and the moon?
And in those, creation are signs, Allah says. This notion of finding miracles in the creation, of appreciating the creation, of looking at the diversity of the creation, and appreciating the creator. All of this goes back to...
the argument for the existence of God by virtue of the existence of beauty, recognizing beauty. So this passage can go in that vein. Then there's a phrase which at first glance does not make sense. Allah says in this section, إِنَّمَا يَخْشَ اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَى After mentioning the diversity of animals, beasts of prey, mankind, the mountains, the vegetation, Allah then says, it is only the ulama who truly fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. What has this phrase got to do with all that is before it?
The response our scholars say, Allah is alluding to the fact that there is diversity not just in how you look but also in how you are inside of you. So in how you look it is your skin colors. Then there's also a diversity on the inside.
And then within that diversity, that is one group that is the best of the best. And that group are those who have knowledge of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So by talking about the diversity of the creation, Allah hints to the diversity of iman and taqwa as well.
Not all of mankind is the same in their skin colors. Not all of mankind is the same in their iman. And out of all of those who have iman, it is one group that is the highest.
إِنَّمَا يَخْشَ اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزِيزٌ غَفُورٌ So this indicates that that which is beyond your control, your skin color, does not give you benefit. This is a verse against racism. Because Allah says of his signs, اختلاف ألوانكم You have different skin colors. Then Allah says, the one who has the most iman and the most fear is the one who is the alim. Not the one whose skin color is brown or white or black.
So, The one who is the most beloved to Allah has nothing to do with your skin colors. Your skin colors are irrelevant. It's a miracle.
Appreciate it. Look at the diversity of the creation, but realize that has nothing to do with the khashya of Allah, with the nobility of Allah. What has that got to do with?
Ilm. And ilm is that which is linked to the sharia. Whenever Allah praises ilm in the Quran, He is talking about the knowledge of himself and the knowledge of the sharia.
As for ilm, that is generic knowledge, in and of itself it is only praiseworthy when it brings you closer to Allah. In and of itself, knowledge of physics, of astronomy or what not, if you don't have iman and taqwa, it's not going to bring you any nobility. And if you have iman and taqwa and you use this knowledge, to come closer to Allah then it will be blessed. Ask for knowledge of the Quran and knowledge of Allah and knowledge of the Prophet's, it is intrinsically blessed and if a person knows this and acts upon it, innama yakhshallaha min ibadihi al ulamaa. This verse also shows that the highest level can only be achieved via knowledge.
The worshiper is good but ta'alim is far better than the worshipper. And this is why our Prophet ﷺ said that the superiority of the aalim over the worshipper is like that of the moon over the stars. It's a very powerful metaphor. Hadith al-Tirmidhi. One moon eclipses all the stars.
When there's a full moon, you don't see a single star except maybe the North Star and Sirius and whatnot. That's it. Everything else is blocked out.
When the moon is not there, you see... Billions of stars, but all of those stars don't give you enough light to help you on earth. Whereas one moon gives you all the light that you need at night.
In the middle of the night, a full moon, you can actually see with it and it casts a shadow. One scholar can revive an entire ummah. One scholar can be a mover and shaker.
A thousand worshippers, they benefit themselves, they don't benefit other people. They're stars, but they're not movers and shakers. So, إِنَّمَا يَخْشَ اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءَ It is the ulama who truly fear Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
Who are the ulama? Allah Azza wa Jal says in the next verse, الَّذِينَ يَتْلُونَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَأَقَامُوا الصَّلَاةِ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةِ Those are the ones who recite the book of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And they pray, and they give charity, and they're constantly giving, سِرًّا وَعَلَانِيَةً They're giving in secret and in hiding, in public and in secret. Those are the ones who are going to be passing the test.
And then Allah mentions one of the most amazing verses. And with this verse, we'll conclude. Allah mentions the categories of the believers, the categories of those who have ilm. They are not all the same. ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابَ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا Then we allowed a group of people whom we have chosen to take the book.
The believers of the book, we allowed a group of people to inherit the book. So these are the Muslims. Allah mentions three categories.
فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ وَمِنْهُمْ مُقْتَصِدٌ وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ بِإِذْنِ اللَّهِ ذَلِكَ هُوَ الْفَضْلُ الْكَبِيرُ This is the most explicit verse in the Qur'an about the different categories of believers. And this verse summarizes in three main categories. The first category. These are all believers. How do we know this?
Because Allah says, ثُمَّ أَوْرَثْنَا الْكِتَابُ الَّذِينَ اصْطَفَيْنَا مِنْ عِبَادِنَا We chose some of our servants and we allowed them to take the book. Who takes the book? The believers.
The believers believe in the book. These believers, فَمِنْهُمْ ظَالِمٌ لِّنَفْسِهِ One group, even though they took the book, they wronged themselves. They wronged themselves. They didn't do justice. وَمِنْهُمْ Muqtasid and some of them were average.
Muqtasid here means average. Wa minhum sabiqun bilkhairati biiznillah. Thalika huwa alfadlu alkabeer. And some of them beat the race and they were at the forefront. And that is the fadl of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
What are these three categories? Our scholars mention. The Muslim who inherits the book but does not act upon it, does not do the wajibat and falls into the haram, this is ظالم لنفسه.
He's still a Muslim. He's inherited the book but he is doing wrong to himself. He doesn't harm Allah.
The مقتصد is somebody who does the minimum, not falling into the major sins but he also falls short. He might do minor sins constantly. He will not take advantage of getting a higher pass up. Just doing the bare minimum and getting by. That's mukhtasid.
On the middle. He's okay. See.
Does the job. وَمِنْهُمْ سَابِقٌ بِالْخَيْرَاتِ And some of them have won the race because of their good deeds. Khairat.
How do you win the race? Extra. What is the extra?
What is the bonus? Khairat. You have to have good deeds. And Allah says, ذَٰلِكَ هُوَ الْفَضْلِ That is the fadl of Allah. That is the clear fadl.
Now, these are the three categories. ظَالِم, مُقْتَصِد, and سَابِق بِالْخَيْرَاتِ What will happen to all of these categories? In the end, جَنَّاتُ عَدْنِي يَدْخُلُونَهَا Subhanallah.
All three of them will get to Jannah. But the hadith tells us that it's not all the same. The hadith informs us. The ظَالِمٌ لِنَفْسِهِ might go through Jahannam for a period of time.
وَالْعِيَادُ بِاللَّهِ We seek Allah's refuge. We don't want to be amongst that category. But there's going to be a large group of Muslims. This we learned from the hadith. The Qur'an alludes to it but not explicit.
hadith there's going to be a large group of muslims who fell short and our prophet said they shall be punished for as long as allah wills them to be punished but their iman will save them and that's what allah is saying they shall enter the khulud is not going to be for even the volume if he enters jahannam it will not be khulud khulud means what Eternity. That's why when it comes to khulud, Allah says, even the ظالم جنات عدن يدخلونها. The khalud will be there because iman and the kalima, even an atom's weight, will eventually save you. This is the dhalim.
As for the muqtasid, they shall be ashab al-yameen. They're good. They've done their job and they shall enter Jannah and they shall be saved from the worst punishment. Allah mentions this explicitly in the Qur'an.
It is a promise from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. It is a promise from Allah that Allah says in the Qur'an, إِن تَجْتَنِبُوا كَبَائِرَ مَا تُنْهَوْنَ عَنْ نُكَفِّرْ عَنْكُمْ سَيِّئَاتِكُمْ وَنُدْخِلْكُمْ مُدْخَلًا كَرِيمًا This is Allah's promise. If you avoid the major sins, which means you're not murdering, you're not stealing, you're not raping, plundering, you're praying and doing the regular good deeds. If you avoid the major sins, we shall forgive your minor ones on the day of judgment and you shall enter Jannah. You might be punished but not in Jahannam.
The punishment will be in this world, in the grave, on the day of judgment, but not in Jahannam. This is a promise of Allah. So this is mukhtasid.
You shall enter and you will be in the broad peripheries of Jannah. But then there is the highest level. There is the higher maqam.
There is the ghuraf. There is the firdaws, right? Allah Azza wa Jal mentions in the Quran, وَلِكُلِّن دَرَجَاتٌ مِمَّا عَمِلُوا And all of them shall have their daraja based upon their amal. Very clear, very simple.
This is Allah's fairness, right? The one who has the right to do good who studied shall not get the same grade as the one who was lazy the one who put in the effort will not be in the same level as the one who was average so allah says some of them are at the very beginning and winning the race by the good deeds and that is from the father of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and all three of them shall eventually enter jannah but each one in accordance with what they have done the volume might not enter immediately. Wal-ayyadu billah. The Muqtasid will be in the lower levels and in the peripheral regions.
And the Sabiqun bil Khairat will be in the highest levels of the Ghuraf, that is called the VIP suites, the Jannatul Firdaus. And all of them will be there because they believed in the book and they did what they could. So the question now to you is very simple. These are the three groups.
Which one do you consider yourself in now? And which one do you want to be in when you die? Simple as that.
So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to save us from the ظالم لنفسه. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to bless us to be of the سابق بالخيرات. And we ask Allah عز و جل to raise our ranks in Jannah and to make us of the people of Iman and of Amal and of the people of knowledge. إِنَّمَا يَخْشَ اللَّهَ مِنْ عِبَادِهِ الْعُلَمَاءِ Jazakumullah khair. Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.