Insights from Quranic Teachings and Surahs

Indeed, this Qur'an guides to that which is most powerful and gives good tidings to the believers those who do good deeds, that they will have a great reward. بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَلْتَنْظُرْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ لِغَدٍ And fear Allah. Indeed, Allah is Aware of what you do. And do not be like those who forgot Allah, and He forgot them themselves. They are the defiantly wicked. The companions of the Fire and the companions of the Garden are not equal. The companions of the Garden are the defiantly wicked. If we had sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, you would have seen it humbled, shivering with fear of Allah. And those are the examples we give to people, that they may reflect. Allah is the One who knows There is no God but He, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful. It is Allah who has no God but Him, the King, the Holy, the Peace. Al-mu'min, al-muhaimin, al-aziz, al-jabbar, al-mutakabbir He is Allah, to whom there is no god but He, the King, the Holy, the Peace. and exalted in beauty. He praises Him who is in the heavens and the earth, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. I will save you from a painful punishment. You believe in Allah and His Messenger and you strive in the way of Allah with your wealth. But good in the gardens of Adn, that is the great victory. And others you love, victory from Allah and victory near. And give glad tidings to the believers. Those who believe, be supporters of Allah, as Jesus said to Mary, to the Hawariyya, who are supporters of Allah. The Hawariyya said, فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَاسْمَعُوا وَأَطِيعُوا وَأَنفِقُوا خَيْرًا لِأَنفُسِكُمْ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ إِن تُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا يَعْلُونَ As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as per the Quranic command. What humble beginnings he had, born in poverty and a shepherd raised in the sand. Yet even before Iqra, his truth and honesty was testified by all from beforehand. His prophethood was not something that he desired, much less a matter that he planned. Yet the decree came from above the seven heavens and placed on him that noble demand. He is the mercy to all of mankind, our Prophet Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, how we wish that they would all understand. Today, inshallah ta'ala, we'll be doing the 28th juz of the Quran, and we have quite a lot of surahs to do, and all of them are madani, so I'm not gonna say every single time that each surah is madani. We begin with surah Al-Mujadila. And Surat Al-Mujadila, it discusses specific laws related to marriage. And there's also a very clear motif of the knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. It is three and a half pages, 22 verses. And Mujadila translates as the lady who was pleading, the lady who was arguing her case. And that is because a lady by the name of Khawala binti Tha'alaba came to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, complaining about her husband. Aisha radiAllahu anha said, I was in my chambers right next to the mosque and I was straining to listen to what she was saying to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and I could barely make out what she was saying. But Allah from above the seven heavens heard what she was saying and Allah revealed the Quran. And so when those verses were recited, Aisha knew what her complaint was about her husband. And what was the complaint? She was complaining about a pre-Islamic custom in which a man would become angry and he would utter a phrase called dhihaar. You can look this up in the books of tafsir or hadith. That would basically make his wife in limbo. Neither is she fully a wife, nor is she free to go marry another person. And so it's a very awkward situation. And the lady complained to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And up till that point in time, no revelation had come. And so the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was advising her that he couldn't have an answer. There was nothing revealed to him. And then as the lady was pleading her case, our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam received the revelation from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And the Quran was very clear that this statement of the husband was munkara minal qawla was an evil practice. It was something that was zur, that was detestable and false. And then Allah prescribed a heavy, hefty fine on the man, this man and on any man who does this afterwards and considers it to be, the Quran considers this to be a very un-Islamic and pagan practice. The Surah also deals with hypocrites. And at this timeframe, the hypocrites were having secret meetings to destabilize Islam. So when you read the Surah, you're gonna read a lot about Najwa and these Najwa were the secret, top secret meetings where they would come together and they would try to figure out a tactic to attack the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam or to do other things against the community. And they would also address the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with double entendres and the Quran came down to criticize them for doing that. And the Quran exposes their inner feelings. So when you read the Surah, notice that, Allah is telling us how they felt inside of themselves as all of this is going on. And obviously the Quran forbade those practices as well. And Allah said these type of secret meetings where evil things are planned, these are from Shaytaan. Innama al-najwa minash shaytaan The Surah also has a lot of references to Allah's knowledge. And that if there's any small group of people, if there's three, Allah is the fourth, if there's five, Allah. So as Allah is always the other person in the room, as it were, meaning his knowledge is everywhere. Nothing is hidden. from him. Now, it is interesting to note that the surah begins with a marital dispute, and then the rest of the surah is about issues that are very pertinent to the time frame, secret meetings, and that Allah is aware of what is going on. It is as if there is an underlying theme as well, that is also very relevant for us, especially for couples, and especially for husbands, that they're being reminded, no matter how secret, you know, your household might be, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is aware of all that you're doing in your privacy. You might be alone with your wife and you think that you're gonna get away with your attitude or your harshness or whatever you might be doing, but Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is monitoring and you will be responsible for that on the day of judgment. The Surah concludes by stating that it is not possible that those who believe in Allah and the Messenger can have loyalties towards those who are enemies of Allah. Had Allah. And this is an issue that some trends of our Muslim world, they have misinterpreted and mistranslated. And the misunderstanding is that a Muslim cannot be friends with a non-Muslim. And of course, this is something that the basic reading of the seerah and a basic understanding of the life of our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and the early Muslims will clearly disprove. Our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam loved his uncle Abu Talib dearly. And this is a genuine love that he was saddened by. The Quran testifies to this love that Allah says in the Quran, innaka laa tahdee man ahbabta He wasn't just a friend, he was a father figure to our Prophet. Genuine love was in his heart and Allah did not criticize our Prophet for loving a non-Muslim. So this verse doesn't mean that you cannot have non-Muslim friends. Any such verse that is misinterpreted It is very clear Allah is making a category here, those who are enemies of Allah. A person like Abu Jahl, you would not go and just sit and have tea or coffee with him. A person like Abu Jahl, you cannot just ignore what he is doing to Islam. There's no question about that. So yes, indeed, those people who are enemies of Allah and his messenger, those people who have made it their goal to kill just for the sake of a person's Islam, to fight against Islam, there is no question that, our loyalties to Allah and his messenger would mean that we should not, for no reason, just go and sit and socialize whatnot. And that is something that is very explicit in the Quran. The next Surah, Surah Al-Hashr, deals with the expulsion of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir. There were three Jewish tribes in Medina and the second of them, Banu Nadir, was expelled after the battle of Uhud because they hatched a botched assassination attempt against our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. And in this Surah, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la tells the Muslims that he was the one who expelled the Banu al-nadheer, that the Muslims would never have been able to do it. They couldn't even have planned it. And it was a gift that Allah gave to the Muslims because of their treachery. As well in the Surah, Allah very clearly praises the muhajirun and then the ansar. And so we learn there is that hierarchy of the muhajirun and then the ansar. Verse number eight, that Allah praises the poor muhajirun. They are poor, lilfuqara. They left everything behind them. Those who are driven out of their homes and their possessions simply because... they sought the pleasure of Allah and His Messenger. And because they came to the aid of Allah and His Messenger, أُولَٰئِكَهُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ These are the sincere people. And then verse number nine, those who before them, they had settled in the homeland, they had accepted the faith and they prepared for them the land of Medina. Meaning Allah is saying, the muhajirun, they migrated. And then there was a group of people that before they got to that destination, they prepared. wal-ladheena tabawaa ud-daara wal-eemana min qablahim They prepared Medina to welcome them basically. And they loved those who migrated towards them. And they found no hesitation in helping them. In fact, they even preferred their brethren over themselves even if they were needy. And Allah says, whoever is saved from his own greed, that is the person who is successful. That phrase applies to all of us. Whoever is saved from your own greed, that is the successful person. So Allah mentions the Muhajirun, then He praises the Ansar, and then He says, wal-ladheena ja'u min ba'dihim Those that come after them, and that's me and you brothers and sisters, those that come after them, they say, rabbanaghfir lana wali ikhwan inna allatheena sabakuna bil-eeman wala taja'a fi qulubna ghilla lillatheena amanoo rabbanainnaka ra'ufur raheem They say, oh our Lord, forgive us, and forgive our brethren who preceded us in iman, and do not leave in our hearts any evil, any ghil, any ill will, any malice, any jealousy, any evil feelings. Don't leave in our hearts against anyone who believes, oh Allah, you are the Ra'oof, you are the Raheem. Now these series of verses shows us that love of the companions is explicit in the Quran. We are commanded to love them. Allah has praised them. And we also have some hope of being mentioned with them. One of our great scholars of the past said, that you know Allah did not choose me to be of the muhajirun nor did He choose me to be of the Ansar but I have hope that if I make this dua I can be mentioned in them and perhaps be in their gatherings as well. Because Allah is saying the muhajirun, the Ansar and then those who come after them. And we are of those who come after them if we fulfill this criterion. And what is the criterion? We make a sincere dua. And what is that dua? That oh Allah, forgive all of us, those that came before us and all of us now oh Allah, forgive all of us. of all of us and make our hearts pure. Don't have any ill will towards others. And so SubhanAllah, those who have ill will towards the Sahaba, they are not fulfilling this verse and they need to think long and hard. It is not healthy to have ill will against any Muslim. How about an ill will towards those whom Allah himself praises and those who sacrificed everything for the messenger of Allah. Also this ending of the Surah, Surah Al-Hashr, we all know, it is one of the most oft-recited sections of the entire Quran. And it has the highest concentration of divine names on any page in the Quran. In fact, there are over 15 names and attributes in this section. لو أنزلنا هذا القرآن على جبل If we were to reveal this Quran upon a mountain, then you would see the mountain crumble and shake out of fear of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. How much more so then, when our hearts absorb the Quran, should they not at least tremble? Should they not at least get a little bit of sense of awe and majesty? If the hardest of the hard creations, and that is the mountain, if they would have crumbled at the fear of Allah, then where do we stand in opposition to that? And then Allah Azza wa Jal mentions, huwa allahu alladhi la ilaha illa hu And you can read these beautiful names of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. The highest concentration of names in the entire Quran is in this section, What a beautiful passage to memorize. What a beautiful passage to contemplate over. And then Allah Azzawajal says in these very passages, to him belong all of the majestic and beautiful names of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And I have given a number of series online about the concept of Allah's names attributes. I've also explained a few of the names and attributes. And I hope inshaAllah one day to have a detailed series about all of the names and attributes in the Quran and the Sunnah. The next Surah. Surat Al-Mumtahina, it was revealed after the treaty of Hudaybiyyah and this treaty, if you remember the conditions from the seerah, this treaty, it put conditions upon The Quraysh and the Muslims, and of those conditions, the Quraysh said that if any person migrates from Mecca to Medina, they shall be returned to Mecca. And this was one of the biggest things that the Muslims found very problematic. So the treaty was very clear that any person, however, the language used, the Arabic, of course, has male and female nouns. So the language used was obviously male because that is the default language when you write anything. So the question arose when a female migrated, right? The Muslims differed. because obviously the intent of the Quraysh, you can call it the spirit of the law according to the Quraysh, was that nobody should migrate. But technically speaking, the treaty said if any man migrates and it didn't say if a woman migrates. And so if a woman embraced Islam and then she came to Medina, the Sahaba did not feel like turning her back. She would be persecuted. She would have this and that. And so there was a bit of a issue going on. what to be done? Do we honor the spirit of the law or the treaty of the law in this particular instance? And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la revealed that in this case, since they had specified men and not women, because men were returned, there were Muslim men who migrated and our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam did not give them harbor and he did not allow them to remain in Medina as the seerah mentions. And so Allah Azzawajal says that if women migrate to Medina, then quiz them, make sure that they're sincere converts. And if you know them, fain a'alimtumuhunna mu'minatin, once you are assured that they are coming for the sake of Iman and not for the sake of something else, if they're really genuinely coming for the sake of Iman, falaa tarji'uhunna ila al-kuffar, do not return them back to the pagans. And then this surah also says, once the rules of the waiting period are over, their marriage contracts are nullified with their ex-husbands in Mecca and they are free to then marry Muslim men, whoever they want to in Medina. Because obviously a Muslim man or woman is not allowed to be married to a person who worships another God as is well known. We're talking about the pagans over here obviously. Ahlul Kitab is a separate issue as the Quran mentions. Also see the last two verses of the Surah as well with regards to explicit conditions. Now this Surah is also very clear about this issue of friendship versus loyalties. This Surah is one of the most explicit surahs when it comes to the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims. And this is the subject of quite a diverse spectrum of interpretation. And again, these are very important topics. Unfortunately, I do not have time in this series to go into detail. What I do want to emphasize to all of you, dear Muslims, listen to me carefully. The concept of Muslims interacting with non-Muslims, it is a very detailed and nuanced discussion. Please do not be simple-minded. and take excerpts from this Shaykh or that Shaykh and then go with it. Understand, study, it's a very detailed topic. And yet at some level, these verses will give us at least the nutshell. They'll give us the beginning. If you just look at this particular Surah, Surat al-Mumtahina, you will get a very good idea. Contrast verse number one with verse number eight and nine, and you will get a brief summary and the rest is all details. Verse number one, Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo O you who believe, do not take my enemies and your enemies for your allies, offering them affection. When they have disbelieved in what has come to you and they have expelled the messenger and they've kicked you out just because you have believed in Allah your Lord. So this verse is very clear. Anyone who is an enemy to Allah and his messenger, laa tatakhidu aduwi wa aduwakum. Notice Allah did not say any kafir. Allah said, anyone who is an enemy to Allah an enemy and who is an enemy? Allah Himself has defined that person. That they have expelled the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam. They've tried to kill you. They've kicked you out of your lands. They've tortured you and persecuted you simply because you were Muslims. How then could you ignore their hatred of Islam? And then you just pretend that everything is fine and then you become their allies. That is something that it's simply not possible. It's illogical and common sense. Now, verse number eight and nine. tells us very clearly. And again, it is so explicit that it is truly surprising that extremist interpretations become so common in certain segments of our Muslim world when the Quran is so explicit. But such is the nature of extremism. And extremism is prohibited by the Quran and by the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam because what extremism does is it makes a person feel holier than thou. It makes a person feel I am better because I am the more... or harsher or whatnot. And SubhanAllah, harshness in and of itself is not praiseworthy. It's not ungenerically the more strict position is the correct one, not at all. And the Quran is very clear. What does verse number eight and nine say? Listen and listen carefully. La yanhaakumullahu anil-ladheena lam yuqatilukum fiddini wa lam yukhrijukum min dhiyaarikum an tabarruhum wa tuqsitu ilayhim inna allaha yuhibbu almuqsitin As for those who have not fought you for your religion, As for those who have not expelled you from your home simply because you're Muslim, Allah is not stopping you. Allah is not forbidding you from dealing with them with birr or from dealing with them with justice. And Allah loves those who are just. Notice, two words are mentioned, tabarruhum an tuqsitu ilayhim. And tabarru or birr is the highest level of honor. It is used in Islam for parents, birrul walidain. And Allah is saying, if a non-Muslim, does not hate you for your Islam, try to kill you, try to expel you. If they're just living you, living their life and you're living your life and they're not hating you for Islam. Allah is saying, I'm not stopping you. And by the way, our books of Tafseer say when Allah is saying, I'm not stopping you. It is in fact, Allah is saying, I am telling you, go ahead and do this. No problem. The wording here is that don't misinterpret. This is in the Quran. Allah is saying, don't go to extremes. I'm not telling you this. Meaning what? Go ahead and do it. So this is a command from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. That those non-Muslims who are not hating us for our faith. They're not Islamophobes. They're not trying to ban us or kill us or whatnot. We have an entire spectrum we can do. The highest level of spectrum, which is birr, is allowed by the Quran. If a person converts and their parents are non-Muslims, they will show them birr. And lower than this, lower than this, until you get to tuqsitu ilayhim, which is you give them what they given to you. They say hi, you say hi back. They give a gift, you give back. This is the bare minimum. that you do unto them as they do unto you. That is the minimum amount for those that are letting you be and not persecuting you. Then Allah to clarify says in verse number nine, innama yanhakum, what I am forbidding you is that those people who have fought you for your religion, those people that have expelled you from your homes because you were Muslim, those people who want to ban you, those people, Allah says, don't take them as allies. Don't take them. because they are wronged. Notice he says allies. Don't take them as those you will go to for support. And therefore, these verses, they lay the kernel for our Islamic philosophy and it is very logical and very sensible. Allah does not tell us anywhere in the Quran to treat a non-Muslim just because of their un-Islamic or non-Islamic background in a harsher and evil manner. On the contrary, that goes against the entire da'wah of our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in the Makkah. those that are enemies of Allah, Islamophobes, yes indeed. How can you ignore that? And even then, by the way, it's not a matter of treating harshly. It's a matter of, you know that these people are enemies, so you cannot find protection from them. They're gonna try to kill you. They're setting up plots for you. So use your common sense in this regard. And also notice in the same Surah that mentions all of those enemies, verse number seven, Asa Allahu an yaja'ala baynakum wa bayna allatheena aadaytum minhum mawaddah It is, very possible that just in a matter of time, Allah will bring about between you and those whom you consider to be enemies, love and reconciliation. And this is a prediction that the worst enemy can become your best friend. It is a prediction that the people of Mecca will eventually convert to Islam as they did. The next surah, Surah As-Saff. And Surah As-Saff is also one of the Musabbihaat. We said in yesterday's lesson, there are five Musabbihaat and this is one of the, one of the Musabbihaat Surahs. And Surah As-Saff is called Surah As-Saff because it means those that are standing in ranks and rows. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la praises those that are waging a legitimate jihad and they are lined up in ranks and rows. And the main theme of the Surah is to be faithful to the promises of Allah, to live up to the standard of being a Muslim. And some of the key verses here, verse number two, Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo lima taqooluna ma la tafa'loon kaburamaqtan inda Allahi antaqoolu ma la tafa'loon O you who believe, why do you say what you do not do? Why don't you practice what you preach? It is indeed a grave sin in the eyes of Allah that you say something and do something else. And this is a factor here that all of us need to think about that. We need to live up to what we are saying. We need to be careful about not being double-faced or hypocritical. And Musa and Isa are mentioned in the Surah and their followers are mentioned as well. And there is an indication here that the followers of Musa and Isa, many of them did not live up to the commandments of Musa and Isa, that the followers of those prophets, they fell short of the standards their prophets set for them. And that is an indication for us that, oh, Muslims, don't do that. Make sure you live up to the promises that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gave to you. Live up to the words and the commandments of Musa and Isa. our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, as well the disciples of Isa are highly praised in this Surah that Allah says in the Quran that Jesus asked the disciples, who is going to be from my helpers with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la Man ansari ila Allah Qala al-hawariyuna nahnu ansarullah So the disciples said, we are all going to help Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la And this is of course meant for all of us to want to help the messenger And of course, when we say help the messenger and help Allah, they don't need our help. They don't need anything from us. Rather, when we help the religion, we end up helping ourselves. Allah does not need us. We need Allah. And when we give unto Allah, we are in fact giving unto ourselves and really saving ourselves. The Surah as well has that famous verse that He is the one that has sent this religion to prevail over all others and that His light shall indeed be perfect around this world. even if the rejecters try to stop it. And this is a prediction that Islam will indeed spread as it has spread, SubhanAllah, from where to where. Think where this religion was when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was being... persecuted in Mecca. Even think of the Sahaba in Medina and the superpowers of Rome and Persia. And where are those superpowers now? And where is Islam now? And Islam is practiced around the globe. As our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, that my Lord has rolled up this earth to me and spread it out. And I have seen the Eastern most and the Western most. And this religion shall reach both of those East and Western most. And SubhanAllah, there is not a single land, not a single island, not a single Qariya or village anywhere in the world, except that there are people praying and fasting. And this is exactly what our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam predicted and what the Quran itself says, huwa alladhi arsal rasoolahu bilhuda wa deenil haqqi li yuthhirahu ala al-deeni kullihi walaw kariha alkafiroon So we need to then do what we can to help the cause of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, because this Surah promises us a deal. The Surah says, do you want to enter into a transaction with Allah? SubhanAllah, we have the opportunity to have a deal with Allah. We have the opportunity to have a transaction or a bargain. And what is it? Allah says in the Quran, shouldn't I give you a transaction that will protect you from Jahannam? Believe in Allah and his messenger and strive in his cause with your wealth and your persons. If you do so, your sins will be forgiven. You shall be caused to enter Jannah. And one more gift I'll give to you. That. You love this victory from Allah and give glad tidings to the believers. So let us enter into a contract with Allah. And what a blessed contract. There is no bargain better than this bargain. You dedicate whatever meager things you have for the religion of Allah and Allah Azawajal will give you infinity. He will give you a heaven whose width is more vast than the heavens and the earth. He will give you eternal life and bliss. What more do you want? And what bigger... and more important bargain can there be. Therefore, let us stand up for the sake of Allah and let us do what we can so that we can be successful in this transaction with our creator. The next Surah is Surah Al-Jumu'ah. And this Surah was revealed when a large caravan arrived in the marketplace of Medina and they started shouting out their prices and their deals, you know, new goods for sale, things from Damascus, things from Yemen and people, a large group of the hypocrites, they stood up from the masjid and they walked out and they began buying and selling as the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was giving the khutbah on the mimbar. And obviously that is not something that is acceptable. And Allah Azzawajal revealed in the Quran, this surah which deals with some of the etiquettes of khutbah, of the khutbatul jum'ah. And of course in it is the famous verse, Ya ayyawal ladheena aminoo idhaa noodiya li s-salati min yawmil jumu'ati Fasa'u ila dhikrillahi wadharul bay'a Oh you who believe, when the adhan is given for Jumu'ah, then leave your transactions and come to the dhikr of Allah, come to the remembrance of Allah, that is better for you if you only knew. Then once the prayer is concluded, fantashiru fil ardi, go ahead and disperse in the land and go ahead and seek Allah's bounty. Go ahead and buy and sell and do dhikr of Allah so that you may be successful. So much beautiful aspects over here. Of them by the way, Allah is encouraging us to go seek a trade. Allah is telling you, go find a business, do something, get a career, go ahead. It's all Allah's bounty. But he's also saying, when you do that, make sure you're remembering Allah throughout the day. Also notice, really beautiful point. And again, we're doing a very cursory level summary. And if you do a tafsir, you go word by word, bit by bit. So just a nukta, just a bit of a tidbit here. Notice the verbs that Allah uses. Allah says that when the Adhan is called, fasaw. And Fasa'u means you walk with eagerness and with strength. Like you're gonna, not running, that's not Fasa'u, but like we do Sa'i, you know? You're walking with determination. You're serious, you have to do something. And you're walking at a bit of a pace, you need to get there. Then Allah says, once the salah is finished, Fanta shiru, just wander out. Notice when you're coming to Allah, there is seriousness, there is a quick pace, and you have to get there. Once it's something else, Allah is not saying rush to get money. Allah is saying, go ahead and just disperse in the land and get your risk whatever Allah has written for you. The enthusiasm should be for the religion and the dunya, okay, it's there. So let's have that priority in order as well. This verse also praises the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and mentions that, huwa alladhi arsal rasoolahu bilhuda wadeenil haqqa Excuse me, this mentions that, he is the one who has sent the messenger, ba'athafal ummeena, excuse me, rasoola minhum yattu alayhim ayati, He is going to recite to him his signs and give him knowledge and wisdom. Ya'allimuhul kitabul hikmah wa yuzakkihim And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la therefore mentions that reciting the book of Allah, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam teaching us the Quran, it should lead to two things. And this is a very, very important verse that so many trends of the Muslim world, they go to one extreme versus the other. Al-ilm and tazkiyah, two things are mentioned. And this translates to Islamic academics and Islamic spirituality. Both need to come from the Quran and both should be the fruits of listening to the Quran and studying the Quran. Some strands in our Muslim world today, they emphasize the academic side, the knowledge side, the fiqh side, the aqeedah side, the hadith side. So they're really obsessed with Islamic knowledge and that's great. But sometimes those groups, they have almost no emphasis on spirituality. In fact, they might even, you know, make a point of not being that spiritual and that's wrong. And then you have another extreme. And that extreme is all about spirituality and tazkiyah and purification. But there's not that much emphasis on purity of creed and purity of your actions and making sure it's in conformity with the sharia. And both of these extremes are wrong. We need to have the scholastical side. and what is called the mystical side, which is all within the realm of Islam because you have halal scholastics and halal mysticism, then you have scholastics that is not within and mysticism that is not within. We need to have both of these coming from the tradition and from the Quran. Any group or any strand of Islam that does not emphasize both of these has fallen short of the Quranic paradigm. So be careful of this. And especially I warn those whose full-time occupation is Islamic knowledge. and I speak as somebody who has come from that background as well, that be careful that that knowledge also impacts you to be a better person. If your knowledge is not impacting you in your personal rituals, in your personal akhlaaq, in your personal manners, if your knowledge is not impacting you in your tazkiyah, then something is wrong with your knowledge. So be careful about that. This surah also has a beautiful verse that reminds us that no matter where we are, No matter how we try to run away, death is going to catch up to us. And so we need to be very, very careful in this regard. And the Surah also has the verse as well about the point of the children of the book or one group of them, the Jews amongst them, some category amongst them, that they did not live up to the commandments of the Torah. And so Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, that those who took on the Torah but then didn't really understand it and act upon it, Allah gives a very, very explicit example. They are like donkeys that are carrying volumes of books on their backs. And that's a very, very profound analogy of what use is knowledge if it's not going to benefit you. So this goes back to my previous point and it is explicitly mentioned in this surah. The next surah is Surah Al-Munafiqun. And Surat Al-Munafiqun, as the title explains to you, it is a Surah that warns against the hypocrites and the hypocrites are severely criticized because of their lying and because of their scheming and because of their double-faced and because they're not doing anything for the religion. In fact, they're preventing people from helping the religion and SubhanAllah, My point here again, I'm not trying to equate this, but SubhanAllah we have so many people, all they do is criticize, criticize, criticize, and do nothing other than point out the faults of other people, the supposed faults, or even the real faults. And you know, they're not, obviously, they're not all hypocrites, but still there's an element of the person, all he's doing is making fun of the other people and criticizing other people. Something is wrong. You don't build your own reputation. by destroying the reputation of others. That's not the way it works. You don't build your good deeds by poking or stopping the good deeds of other people, even if they are imperfect. You build your own and you do your own. So this surah is criticizing people, the hypocrites obviously, who are trying their best to prevent the Muslims from giving for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And the Muslims are told, and again, this does apply, we seek Allah's refuge, audhu billah, but it does apply to a group of people whose tongues... are very attractive, but they're not really demonstrating that in their calling and in their actions. Muslims are told, be careful, don't be deceived by the outer appearances. Don't be deceived by the sweet tongues. This is in the surah here, that even some of the Muslims, they were convinced by the outer appearance of these hypocrites. Because one of the signs of hypocrisy is you have a great sweet tongue, but it's not inside of you. Your heart doesn't follow up with that. So Allah is saying, don't be deceived by their outer. appearances and this is a very stark warning to anyone who might have an outer layer of deceit but inside they are corrupt, we seek Allah's refuge from ever being in that category the surah has over 15 characteristics of the hypocrites that are mentioned, go over it, try to pick out those characteristics and then analyze your life, make sure you don't have any of those characteristics so that you don't have even a partial aspect of hypocrisy and the last three verses is of the Surah are a very clear warning to all of us. That ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo Oh you who believe, la tulhikum amwalukum wala awlaadukum a'an dhikri Allah Make sure that neither your possessions nor your children end up distracting you from the worship and remembrance of Allah. For whoever does so, indeed they have lost everything. And give from what we have provided you before min qabli an yati ahadakum wal mawtu before death comes fayaqoola rabbi lawla akhartani ila ajalin qareeb Then he will say, Oh Allah, If only you were to give me one other chance, give me some time so that I can be charitable and be of those who are righteous. وَلَن يُؤَخِّرَ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهَا But Allah will not delay the soul when its time of death comes and Allah is well-informed of all that you do. Notice here, every single hypocrite, every single person who wasn't righteous will beg the angel of death. Give me one more time. Just give me another hour. I'm gonna do a lot in that hour. And Allah says, no. walanyuakhirallahu nafsan idha jaa Once the time comes, there is no postponement. And therefore we should do as many good deeds as we can before the inevitable comes. Because it is inevitable, dear Muslims. There will be a time I will not be here and you will not be here as well. No one, no one lives forever. So let's prepare for that day. And also one thing we learned from this surah is that of the greatest of good deeds that will bring comfort to us, is our generosity, giving unto others. Because when death will come, what will the hypocrite say? Give me some time so that I can be charitable. The number one thing on that person's mind, he will realize the one thing that will save me the most will be to be charitable and to be kind and compassionate to other people, to give my wealth, to feed people, to build something that others can benefit from. So let us leave as much of a legacy as we can in that regard. Let us spend upon people and upon projects and whatever we can do so that we can, inshaAllah ta'ala, when we meet Allah, we have so much that we have left behind that we can say, oh Allah, this is what I did with all that you have given me. The next surah, surah At-Taghabun. And it is a continuation of the previous surah, the theme of the previous surah. Because the previous surah, Munafiqun, it dealt with hypocrites versus believers. And surah At-Taghabun deals with the people who reject Islam versus believers. So the kufar versus the... And this Surah as well, it ends with the same warning of the previous one, that our wealth and our children make sure that it does not distract us. Now what does Taghabun mean? And why is the Surah called Taghabun? It goes back to verse number nine. Yawma yajma'akum li-yawmil jam'i dhalika yawmu t-taghabun The day that He will gather you for the day of gathering, the big day of judgment, that is the day of Taghabun. And I went over the names of the of the Day of Judgment when I started my series of the Day of Judgment. If you log onto YouTube, I have multiple series. Sorry for the free plug here, but there are many series inshaAllah that I hope will be a benefit. And one of them is the Day of Judgment series that is still ongoing. And in that series, I went over the names of the Day of Judgment and I went over this one, At-Taghabun. And I went over some of the details of what this means. And At-Taghabun, to be very brief, it means that this is the day of mutual exchange, the mutual loss and gain. People will be trading. It's a stock market, but there are no bonds. There are no shares to sell and to buy and to exchange. What will be the medium of exchange? It will be your good deeds and my good deeds and your sins and my sins. We seek Allah's refuge. People will come and sue you and they're gonna say, so-and-so, he backbited me. So-and-so took my money. So-and-so harmed me. So-and-so did dhulm to me. There is no currency. When the person will win his suh against another person in the court of Allah, Allah Azza wa Jalla will pass the judgment, you must give this many good deeds. So the deeds that you've done, your salah, your zakah, your charity, all that hard earned good deeds you have done, you're gonna be have to pass it over to somebody whom you have wronged. Do you really think it's worth it to wrong somebody when your own good deeds that you have done will be given to him? Whatever sins that we do between us and Allah, Ask Allah's forgiveness, inshaAllah, inshaAllah if you're sincere, inshaAllah you're guaranteed forgiveness. But just be careful when you hurt other people, when you speak bad about other people, beware of your tongue harming other people. Err on the side of caution, be quiet and don't say anything bad. Be careful of your hands, of your eyes, be careful of doing things or hurting people. Be careful of people's wealth and stealing people's wealth, a'udhu billah, be careful of dhulm, because dhulm is dhulmat on the day of judgment. Dhulm will become darknesses on the day of judgment and be careful, be most careful of shedding people's blood because our prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, a person shall have hope for forgiveness as long as he hasn't shed somebody's blood. Beware of ever being attacked. Tyrant, one of these pharaonic tyrants that we still have on this earth today, beware of being one of them, because when they meet Allah, then no one will be able to save them from all the dhulm that they have done. So this, Yawm At-Taghabun, is the name that is given to the Day of Judgment, because there will be a mutual exchange between you and anyone who has a case against you, and therefore have no cases against other people. Between you and Allah, inshaAllah Allah is Ghafoor and Rahim. And I'm not saying this is an open license to commit sins. I'm saying that if you are repentant, Allah shall forgive, this is in the Quran. But other people, Allah is gonna allow between the two of you, and it will be between the two of you, what you have done. So that's why this is called Yawm At-Taghabun. And that's why Allah says in the same Surah, whoever believes in Allah and does good deeds, that person, his sins will be forgiven and shall cause to enter into Jannah, under which gardens flow to dwell therein. Forever, dhalika al fawz al-azim. that is indeed the supreme achievement. This Surah, Surah At-Taghabun, also has a very beautiful verse about calamities. Please memorize it and take it as a rule. Take it as a motto that you live your life by. Verse number 11, Ma asaba min musibatin illa bi-idhnillah wa man yu'min billahi yahdi qalbah SubhanAllah, how beautiful. No calamity befalls anyone except by the will of Allah. And whoever has iman in Allah, Allah will guide their heart. Notice the correlation here. Because when a calamity happens, your heart is troubled. When a calamity happens, your heart almost stops to beat. When a calamity happens, you feel, you might even feel the physical pressure on your heart. And Allah is saying, first and foremost, realize I know what's happening. I know it. It's not a surprise. This has all been decreed and I know it. And then Allah is giving you encouragement. He is literally putting that light at the end of the tunnel. Waman yu'min billahi yahdi qalba Have iman in me and I will take your heart and guide it. I will take care of it. Look, Allah mentions his qalb because the qalb is the one that is hurt at the time of a calamity. And therefore memorize this verse and next time a calamity befalls you, know there is no way out of that calamity except by turning to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, increasing your iman. And when you do so, you will find your heart comes at ease. you will find a way out of that calamity. And the surah concludes by reminding us that sometimes, sometimes, some members of our families might become impediments in our worship to Allah. They might make demands that we might be tempted by and we will do the haram. And so Allah says, they are some of your wives and some of your children and wives here means spouses because it goes both, anytime the spouse is mentioned, it goes both ways in the Quran, that they are your enemies. And Allah says, some, not all. Fahdharuhum, be careful of them, be aware of them. Then Allah says, after calling some of them enemies, Allah says, Wa in ta'afu wa tasfaahu wa taghfiru If you pardon, if you overlook, if you forgive, then Allah as well is Ghafoor and Raheem. Know, Allah says, that your wealth and your children are a test unto you. And indeed, Allah alone has the ultimate reward. What an amazing, amazing verse. Some spouses and some children their priorities are not the religion. So they will ask you to do something that is haram, earn haram money, or do something haram, or do something that's displeasing to Allah. And because they're asking you to do something haram, they're enemies to you, meaning that if you follow them, they will cause your downfall. It did, by calling them enemies, it doesn't mean they hate you. It means that if you follow that enemy, you will be defeated, your downfall. But in this case, Allah is saying the enemy itself or himself or herself, has to be saved. So it's not a mortal enemy. It is someone that you have to guide with you. And that is why, how do you guide them? By forgiving them and overlooking and taking them with you. You change them through your actions. You don't fall prey to their temptations with you. So Allah Azawajal is reminding us that some spouses and some children, their priorities are not right. You need to maintain your priorities and treat them with the utmost love. And then, for all of us, no exceptions, innama amwalukum wa awlaadukum fitna, for all of us, your wealth and your children, they are a test for you. Yes, they are a test. Whether we fail or pass depends on what we do. The next surah is surah At-Talaq. Surah At-Talaq, as the name will give away, it deals with divorce and it deals with child maintenance. And divorce is a very, very awkward topic. And I have given again some khutbahs and some lessons on divorce. You'll find them online. And again, this is a topic that, frankly, it is a taboo topic, but we should all study it, even as we ask Allah that we never need to use it. You know, it's like the safety drills when you enter the plane. I should say when we used to enter planes. Allah knows when it's going to happen again. into a plane or any type of safety routine, you need to know the exits, but you don't wanna use them. And this surah, it is telling us some of the rulings of divorce, and it commands men in particular to fear Allah Azza wa Jal and to treat their wives, even in the case of divorce, with justice. And this really brings up an awkward reality. And let's be honest here. Yes, it is true that both genders are potentially guilty, and usually when a divorce happens, you know, It's pretty common that there's some blame on both sides, you know, that something just didn't work out and perhaps both of them did something wrong to exacerbate. But let us be honest here, generally speaking, the male gender has the capacity to do more wrong and get away with it. And that is the reality of the world that we live in. Hence the Quran comes and explicitly advises the husbands, explicitly advises the men in this regard. And read this Surah with this point in mind. that Allah Azzawajal is telling husbands, do not force them out of their houses. Allah is saying, this is the limit or the law of Allah and whoever transgresses the law of Allah has wronged himself. Allah says in the Surah that once the waiting period expires either resume the marriage with honor or let the wives go free with honor. Don't be mean and nasty either way. Okay, if it didn't work out, okay. Not all marriages are going to work out. Release them with honor, with dignity. Allah says in the Surah, let the man who is wealthy provide in accordance with his means, meaning gift your wife and take care of her according to your means. And the man who does not have wealth, still let him give from whatever little that he has. SubhanAllah. What a beautiful, beautiful surah here. And I say this very, very frankly, that if we studied the laws of divorce and if we followed the laws of divorce and if men in particular, because in the Sharia, of course, The right of divorce is easier for the man to give, as we know, than the woman. If men fully followed the Sharia and understood the mechanisms of the Sharia, the divorce rate would plummet exponentially in society. And again, I'm not blaming only the men. Sometimes, you know, both genders have an issue here and there. Both genders need to raise the bar and be better, but still, and I say this as a person, not only as a person who is of that gender, but also because as a person who is a sheikh or whatnot, I get cases all the time. And it is well known, and I don't like to say this, but it is true, all too often, husbands and men, they don't act in a manner that is befitting, and they misuse and abuse the privilege that Allah has given them. And that's definitely something that they have to answer for on the Day of Judgment. This surah as well, it has some of the most oft-quoted verses in the entire Qur'an about the blessings of those who trust in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and what Allah will do. that, وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا Whoever has taqwa of Allah, Allah will make a way out for him. And Allah will provide for him from sources he never expected. Whoever relies upon Allah, Allah will suffice him. He doesn't need anything else. Indeed, Allah shall accomplish His purpose and Allah has a measure on all things. Now, I want you to think about, I'm sure you've heard these phrases so many times, وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا However, How many of you actually knew that the context of all of these verses is divorce? It is so profound. Of course, it applies everywhere. But especially in the context of divorce, all of this is in this context. Why? Because when a divorce takes place, the parties and especially, you know, a lady who's divorced, she feels that pain, the sense of helplessness of what's going to happen now? Who's going to take care of me? How will I survive? And for all of this, Allah is saying, don't worry. I will take care of you. Just put your trust in me. وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا وَيَرْزُقُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِفُ You will be fed for and taken care of. And inshallah, another suitor will come from a sources you never expected. You will be taken care of. Just put your trust in me and I will take care of all the rest. Now, of course, it doesn't just apply to the divorced and the divorcee. But it's interesting to note that the context is that. And of course, it applies to everything. And the final surah that we will do, surah At-Tahrim. And surah At-Tahrim, it deals with a... A personal incident in the life of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam which you can listen to my seerah lectures in this regard for more details that basically made two of the wives of our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Aisha and Hafsa they became irritated and jealous and so they hatched a mini small internal plot between the wives to try to persuade the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to abandon something that was permissible for him and so the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to please his wives he made a a promise that he would abandon that. And Allah says that, do not do this, do not change the Sharia, and do not try to appease other people and make something that Allah has made halal, you make it haram for yourself. So our priorities have to be in line with the priorities of Allah and his messenger. And it is also in this context, in this context of this surah, that we are reminded to take care of our families. O you who believe, ya'iwladhin amanoo, qoo anfusakum wa ahleekum naroo Protect yourselves and your families from the fire of hell. Parents, husbands and wives, we have responsibilities beyond just ourselves. We have responsibilities to our children, to our extended family members, each one in accordance with the level that we have over them. But we cannot ignore the rights of the family and we are a family unit. Islam is not a religion of selfishness, nafsi, nafsi. No, in Islam, we are a person who has multiple responsibilities and not just ourselves, not just myself, me and I. We are people who are fathers and sons and brothers. We are people who are uncles, we are people who are nephews and for women as well, all of the relationships, we have to look at all of that and try to have a positive impact. And the last verses of the Surah concludes with negative and positive lady role models, female role models. The wives of Lut and Nuh were negative role models. and the wife of Firaun and Maryam are positive role models. And Allah tells men and women, the both of them, to take the positive role models and to beware of the negative role models. And notice here, and it's a very interesting point, that spouses are not an excuse to decide your fate in the hereafter. You can be married to the best of mankind, Nuh and Luthor, prophets of Allah, and yet end up in the worst of places. and you can be married, you can literally be married to the worst person in human history, that's Firaun. Firaun's wife was, Firaun is the worst person in all of human history, and she ends up being a role model and the highest or one of the highest ladies of Jannah. Your spouse, even your spouse cannot decide your place in Jannah or the opposite. So you are your own, Allah Azawajal has allowed this, that you have this opportunity to create your own place in Jannah or not by the help of Allah and the permission of Allah obviously. So be careful, don't blame other people. Doesn't matter who is around you or what you have. You have the opportunity to earn Jannah or the opposite. We ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la on these blessed nights of Ramadan to accept our duas and to forgive our sins and to exalt our ranks. And InshaAllah Ta'ala we'll continue tomorrow with Juz Tabarak Surat Mulk and the next Surahs. Until then, Salam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh. The month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was revealed as a guidance for the people and as a clear indication of guidance and separation. So whoever of you witnesses the month, let him fast. وَمَنْ كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرٍ يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ وَلِتُكْمِلُ الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُ Surah Al-Fatihah

And do not be like those who forgot Allah, and He forgot them themselves. They are the defiantly wicked. The companions of the Fire and the companions of the Garden are not equal. The companions of the Garden are the defiantly wicked.

If we had sent down this Qur'an on a mountain, you would have seen it humbled, shivering with fear of Allah. And those are the examples we give to people, that they may reflect. Allah is the One who knows There is no God but He, Knower of the unseen and the witnessed. He is the Most Merciful, the Most Merciful.

It is Allah who has no God but Him, the King, the Holy, the Peace. Al-mu'min, al-muhaimin, al-aziz, al-jabbar, al-mutakabbir He is Allah, to whom there is no god but He, the King, the Holy, the Peace. and exalted in beauty. He praises Him who is in the heavens and the earth, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

I will save you from a painful punishment. You believe in Allah and His Messenger and you strive in the way of Allah with your wealth. But good in the gardens of Adn, that is the great victory.

And others you love, victory from Allah and victory near. And give glad tidings to the believers. Those who believe, be supporters of Allah, as Jesus said to Mary, to the Hawariyya, who are supporters of Allah. The Hawariyya said, فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ مَا اسْتَطَعْتُمْ وَاسْمَعُوا وَأَطِيعُوا وَأَنفِقُوا خَيْرًا لِأَنفُسِكُمْ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ إِن تُقْرِضُ اللَّهَ قَرْضًا حَسَنًا يَعْلُونَ As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam as per the Quranic command.

What humble beginnings he had, born in poverty and a shepherd raised in the sand. Yet even before Iqra, his truth and honesty was testified by all from beforehand. His prophethood was not something that he desired, much less a matter that he planned. Yet the decree came from above the seven heavens and placed on him that noble demand. He is the mercy to all of mankind, our Prophet Muhammad SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, how we wish that they would all understand.

Today, inshallah ta'ala, we'll be doing the 28th juz of the Quran, and we have quite a lot of surahs to do, and all of them are madani, so I'm not gonna say every single time that each surah is madani. We begin with surah Al-Mujadila. And Surat Al-Mujadila, it discusses specific laws related to marriage. And there's also a very clear motif of the knowledge of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

It is three and a half pages, 22 verses. And Mujadila translates as the lady who was pleading, the lady who was arguing her case. And that is because a lady by the name of Khawala binti Tha'alaba came to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, complaining about her husband. Aisha radiAllahu anha said, I was in my chambers right next to the mosque and I was straining to listen to what she was saying to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and I could barely make out what she was saying. But Allah from above the seven heavens heard what she was saying and Allah revealed the Quran.

And so when those verses were recited, Aisha knew what her complaint was about her husband. And what was the complaint? She was complaining about a pre-Islamic custom in which a man would become angry and he would utter a phrase called dhihaar.

You can look this up in the books of tafsir or hadith. That would basically make his wife in limbo. Neither is she fully a wife, nor is she free to go marry another person. And so it's a very awkward situation. And the lady complained to the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.

And up till that point in time, no revelation had come. And so the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was advising her that he couldn't have an answer. There was nothing revealed to him.

And then as the lady was pleading her case, our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam received the revelation from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And the Quran was very clear that this statement of the husband was munkara minal qawla was an evil practice. It was something that was zur, that was detestable and false. And then Allah prescribed a heavy, hefty fine on the man, this man and on any man who does this afterwards and considers it to be, the Quran considers this to be a very un-Islamic and pagan practice. The Surah also deals with hypocrites.

And at this timeframe, the hypocrites were having secret meetings to destabilize Islam. So when you read the Surah, you're gonna read a lot about Najwa and these Najwa were the secret, top secret meetings where they would come together and they would try to figure out a tactic to attack the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam or to do other things against the community. And they would also address the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam with double entendres and the Quran came down to criticize them for doing that. And the Quran exposes their inner feelings. So when you read the Surah, notice that, Allah is telling us how they felt inside of themselves as all of this is going on.

And obviously the Quran forbade those practices as well. And Allah said these type of secret meetings where evil things are planned, these are from Shaytaan. Innama al-najwa minash shaytaan The Surah also has a lot of references to Allah's knowledge. And that if there's any small group of people, if there's three, Allah is the fourth, if there's five, Allah.

So as Allah is always the other person in the room, as it were, meaning his knowledge is everywhere. Nothing is hidden. from him. Now, it is interesting to note that the surah begins with a marital dispute, and then the rest of the surah is about issues that are very pertinent to the time frame, secret meetings, and that Allah is aware of what is going on. It is as if there is an underlying theme as well, that is also very relevant for us, especially for couples, and especially for husbands, that they're being reminded, no matter how secret, you know, your household might be, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is aware of all that you're doing in your privacy.

You might be alone with your wife and you think that you're gonna get away with your attitude or your harshness or whatever you might be doing, but Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is monitoring and you will be responsible for that on the day of judgment. The Surah concludes by stating that it is not possible that those who believe in Allah and the Messenger can have loyalties towards those who are enemies of Allah. Had Allah.

And this is an issue that some trends of our Muslim world, they have misinterpreted and mistranslated. And the misunderstanding is that a Muslim cannot be friends with a non-Muslim. And of course, this is something that the basic reading of the seerah and a basic understanding of the life of our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and the early Muslims will clearly disprove. Our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam loved his uncle Abu Talib dearly. And this is a genuine love that he was saddened by.

The Quran testifies to this love that Allah says in the Quran, innaka laa tahdee man ahbabta He wasn't just a friend, he was a father figure to our Prophet. Genuine love was in his heart and Allah did not criticize our Prophet for loving a non-Muslim. So this verse doesn't mean that you cannot have non-Muslim friends.

Any such verse that is misinterpreted It is very clear Allah is making a category here, those who are enemies of Allah. A person like Abu Jahl, you would not go and just sit and have tea or coffee with him. A person like Abu Jahl, you cannot just ignore what he is doing to Islam. There's no question about that.

So yes, indeed, those people who are enemies of Allah and his messenger, those people who have made it their goal to kill just for the sake of a person's Islam, to fight against Islam, there is no question that, our loyalties to Allah and his messenger would mean that we should not, for no reason, just go and sit and socialize whatnot. And that is something that is very explicit in the Quran. The next Surah, Surah Al-Hashr, deals with the expulsion of the Jewish tribe of Banu Nadir. There were three Jewish tribes in Medina and the second of them, Banu Nadir, was expelled after the battle of Uhud because they hatched a botched assassination attempt against our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.

And in this Surah, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la tells the Muslims that he was the one who expelled the Banu al-nadheer, that the Muslims would never have been able to do it. They couldn't even have planned it. And it was a gift that Allah gave to the Muslims because of their treachery.

As well in the Surah, Allah very clearly praises the muhajirun and then the ansar. And so we learn there is that hierarchy of the muhajirun and then the ansar. Verse number eight, that Allah praises the poor muhajirun. They are poor, lilfuqara.

They left everything behind them. Those who are driven out of their homes and their possessions simply because... they sought the pleasure of Allah and His Messenger.

And because they came to the aid of Allah and His Messenger, أُولَٰئِكَهُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ These are the sincere people. And then verse number nine, those who before them, they had settled in the homeland, they had accepted the faith and they prepared for them the land of Medina. Meaning Allah is saying, the muhajirun, they migrated.

And then there was a group of people that before they got to that destination, they prepared. wal-ladheena tabawaa ud-daara wal-eemana min qablahim They prepared Medina to welcome them basically. And they loved those who migrated towards them. And they found no hesitation in helping them.

In fact, they even preferred their brethren over themselves even if they were needy. And Allah says, whoever is saved from his own greed, that is the person who is successful. That phrase applies to all of us.

Whoever is saved from your own greed, that is the successful person. So Allah mentions the Muhajirun, then He praises the Ansar, and then He says, wal-ladheena ja'u min ba'dihim Those that come after them, and that's me and you brothers and sisters, those that come after them, they say, rabbanaghfir lana wali ikhwan inna allatheena sabakuna bil-eeman wala taja'a fi qulubna ghilla lillatheena amanoo rabbanainnaka ra'ufur raheem They say, oh our Lord, forgive us, and forgive our brethren who preceded us in iman, and do not leave in our hearts any evil, any ghil, any ill will, any malice, any jealousy, any evil feelings. Don't leave in our hearts against anyone who believes, oh Allah, you are the Ra'oof, you are the Raheem. Now these series of verses shows us that love of the companions is explicit in the Quran.

We are commanded to love them. Allah has praised them. And we also have some hope of being mentioned with them. One of our great scholars of the past said, that you know Allah did not choose me to be of the muhajirun nor did He choose me to be of the Ansar but I have hope that if I make this dua I can be mentioned in them and perhaps be in their gatherings as well.

Because Allah is saying the muhajirun, the Ansar and then those who come after them. And we are of those who come after them if we fulfill this criterion. And what is the criterion?

We make a sincere dua. And what is that dua? That oh Allah, forgive all of us, those that came before us and all of us now oh Allah, forgive all of us.

of all of us and make our hearts pure. Don't have any ill will towards others. And so SubhanAllah, those who have ill will towards the Sahaba, they are not fulfilling this verse and they need to think long and hard.

It is not healthy to have ill will against any Muslim. How about an ill will towards those whom Allah himself praises and those who sacrificed everything for the messenger of Allah. Also this ending of the Surah, Surah Al-Hashr, we all know, it is one of the most oft-recited sections of the entire Quran.

And it has the highest concentration of divine names on any page in the Quran. In fact, there are over 15 names and attributes in this section. لو أنزلنا هذا القرآن على جبل If we were to reveal this Quran upon a mountain, then you would see the mountain crumble and shake out of fear of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. How much more so then, when our hearts absorb the Quran, should they not at least tremble? Should they not at least get a little bit of sense of awe and majesty?

If the hardest of the hard creations, and that is the mountain, if they would have crumbled at the fear of Allah, then where do we stand in opposition to that? And then Allah Azza wa Jal mentions, huwa allahu alladhi la ilaha illa hu And you can read these beautiful names of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. The highest concentration of names in the entire Quran is in this section, What a beautiful passage to memorize.

What a beautiful passage to contemplate over. And then Allah Azzawajal says in these very passages, to him belong all of the majestic and beautiful names of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. And I have given a number of series online about the concept of Allah's names attributes. I've also explained a few of the names and attributes. And I hope inshaAllah one day to have a detailed series about all of the names and attributes in the Quran and the Sunnah.

The next Surah. Surat Al-Mumtahina, it was revealed after the treaty of Hudaybiyyah and this treaty, if you remember the conditions from the seerah, this treaty, it put conditions upon The Quraysh and the Muslims, and of those conditions, the Quraysh said that if any person migrates from Mecca to Medina, they shall be returned to Mecca. And this was one of the biggest things that the Muslims found very problematic.

So the treaty was very clear that any person, however, the language used, the Arabic, of course, has male and female nouns. So the language used was obviously male because that is the default language when you write anything. So the question arose when a female migrated, right? The Muslims differed.

because obviously the intent of the Quraysh, you can call it the spirit of the law according to the Quraysh, was that nobody should migrate. But technically speaking, the treaty said if any man migrates and it didn't say if a woman migrates. And so if a woman embraced Islam and then she came to Medina, the Sahaba did not feel like turning her back.

She would be persecuted. She would have this and that. And so there was a bit of a issue going on.

what to be done? Do we honor the spirit of the law or the treaty of the law in this particular instance? And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la revealed that in this case, since they had specified men and not women, because men were returned, there were Muslim men who migrated and our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam did not give them harbor and he did not allow them to remain in Medina as the seerah mentions. And so Allah Azzawajal says that if women migrate to Medina, then quiz them, make sure that they're sincere converts. And if you know them, fain a'alimtumuhunna mu'minatin, once you are assured that they are coming for the sake of Iman and not for the sake of something else, if they're really genuinely coming for the sake of Iman, falaa tarji'uhunna ila al-kuffar, do not return them back to the pagans.

And then this surah also says, once the rules of the waiting period are over, their marriage contracts are nullified with their ex-husbands in Mecca and they are free to then marry Muslim men, whoever they want to in Medina. Because obviously a Muslim man or woman is not allowed to be married to a person who worships another God as is well known. We're talking about the pagans over here obviously. Ahlul Kitab is a separate issue as the Quran mentions.

Also see the last two verses of the Surah as well with regards to explicit conditions. Now this Surah is also very clear about this issue of friendship versus loyalties. This Surah is one of the most explicit surahs when it comes to the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims. And this is the subject of quite a diverse spectrum of interpretation. And again, these are very important topics.

Unfortunately, I do not have time in this series to go into detail. What I do want to emphasize to all of you, dear Muslims, listen to me carefully. The concept of Muslims interacting with non-Muslims, it is a very detailed and nuanced discussion.

Please do not be simple-minded. and take excerpts from this Shaykh or that Shaykh and then go with it. Understand, study, it's a very detailed topic. And yet at some level, these verses will give us at least the nutshell.

They'll give us the beginning. If you just look at this particular Surah, Surat al-Mumtahina, you will get a very good idea. Contrast verse number one with verse number eight and nine, and you will get a brief summary and the rest is all details. Verse number one, Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo O you who believe, do not take my enemies and your enemies for your allies, offering them affection.

When they have disbelieved in what has come to you and they have expelled the messenger and they've kicked you out just because you have believed in Allah your Lord. So this verse is very clear. Anyone who is an enemy to Allah and his messenger, laa tatakhidu aduwi wa aduwakum.

Notice Allah did not say any kafir. Allah said, anyone who is an enemy to Allah an enemy and who is an enemy? Allah Himself has defined that person. That they have expelled the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam.

They've tried to kill you. They've kicked you out of your lands. They've tortured you and persecuted you simply because you were Muslims. How then could you ignore their hatred of Islam? And then you just pretend that everything is fine and then you become their allies.

That is something that it's simply not possible. It's illogical and common sense. Now, verse number eight and nine. tells us very clearly.

And again, it is so explicit that it is truly surprising that extremist interpretations become so common in certain segments of our Muslim world when the Quran is so explicit. But such is the nature of extremism. And extremism is prohibited by the Quran and by the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam because what extremism does is it makes a person feel holier than thou.

It makes a person feel I am better because I am the more... or harsher or whatnot. And SubhanAllah, harshness in and of itself is not praiseworthy. It's not ungenerically the more strict position is the correct one, not at all.

And the Quran is very clear. What does verse number eight and nine say? Listen and listen carefully. La yanhaakumullahu anil-ladheena lam yuqatilukum fiddini wa lam yukhrijukum min dhiyaarikum an tabarruhum wa tuqsitu ilayhim inna allaha yuhibbu almuqsitin As for those who have not fought you for your religion, As for those who have not expelled you from your home simply because you're Muslim, Allah is not stopping you. Allah is not forbidding you from dealing with them with birr or from dealing with them with justice.

And Allah loves those who are just. Notice, two words are mentioned, tabarruhum an tuqsitu ilayhim. And tabarru or birr is the highest level of honor.

It is used in Islam for parents, birrul walidain. And Allah is saying, if a non-Muslim, does not hate you for your Islam, try to kill you, try to expel you. If they're just living you, living their life and you're living your life and they're not hating you for Islam. Allah is saying, I'm not stopping you. And by the way, our books of Tafseer say when Allah is saying, I'm not stopping you.

It is in fact, Allah is saying, I am telling you, go ahead and do this. No problem. The wording here is that don't misinterpret. This is in the Quran.

Allah is saying, don't go to extremes. I'm not telling you this. Meaning what? Go ahead and do it. So this is a command from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.

That those non-Muslims who are not hating us for our faith. They're not Islamophobes. They're not trying to ban us or kill us or whatnot.

We have an entire spectrum we can do. The highest level of spectrum, which is birr, is allowed by the Quran. If a person converts and their parents are non-Muslims, they will show them birr.

And lower than this, lower than this, until you get to tuqsitu ilayhim, which is you give them what they given to you. They say hi, you say hi back. They give a gift, you give back. This is the bare minimum. that you do unto them as they do unto you.

That is the minimum amount for those that are letting you be and not persecuting you. Then Allah to clarify says in verse number nine, innama yanhakum, what I am forbidding you is that those people who have fought you for your religion, those people that have expelled you from your homes because you were Muslim, those people who want to ban you, those people, Allah says, don't take them as allies. Don't take them.

because they are wronged. Notice he says allies. Don't take them as those you will go to for support.

And therefore, these verses, they lay the kernel for our Islamic philosophy and it is very logical and very sensible. Allah does not tell us anywhere in the Quran to treat a non-Muslim just because of their un-Islamic or non-Islamic background in a harsher and evil manner. On the contrary, that goes against the entire da'wah of our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam in the Makkah.

those that are enemies of Allah, Islamophobes, yes indeed. How can you ignore that? And even then, by the way, it's not a matter of treating harshly.

It's a matter of, you know that these people are enemies, so you cannot find protection from them. They're gonna try to kill you. They're setting up plots for you.

So use your common sense in this regard. And also notice in the same Surah that mentions all of those enemies, verse number seven, Asa Allahu an yaja'ala baynakum wa bayna allatheena aadaytum minhum mawaddah It is, very possible that just in a matter of time, Allah will bring about between you and those whom you consider to be enemies, love and reconciliation. And this is a prediction that the worst enemy can become your best friend. It is a prediction that the people of Mecca will eventually convert to Islam as they did. The next surah, Surah As-Saff.

And Surah As-Saff is also one of the Musabbihaat. We said in yesterday's lesson, there are five Musabbihaat and this is one of the, one of the Musabbihaat Surahs. And Surah As-Saff is called Surah As-Saff because it means those that are standing in ranks and rows.

And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la praises those that are waging a legitimate jihad and they are lined up in ranks and rows. And the main theme of the Surah is to be faithful to the promises of Allah, to live up to the standard of being a Muslim. And some of the key verses here, verse number two, Ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo lima taqooluna ma la tafa'loon kaburamaqtan inda Allahi antaqoolu ma la tafa'loon O you who believe, why do you say what you do not do?

Why don't you practice what you preach? It is indeed a grave sin in the eyes of Allah that you say something and do something else. And this is a factor here that all of us need to think about that.

We need to live up to what we are saying. We need to be careful about not being double-faced or hypocritical. And Musa and Isa are mentioned in the Surah and their followers are mentioned as well.

And there is an indication here that the followers of Musa and Isa, many of them did not live up to the commandments of Musa and Isa, that the followers of those prophets, they fell short of the standards their prophets set for them. And that is an indication for us that, oh, Muslims, don't do that. Make sure you live up to the promises that the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam gave to you. Live up to the words and the commandments of Musa and Isa.

our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, as well the disciples of Isa are highly praised in this Surah that Allah says in the Quran that Jesus asked the disciples, who is going to be from my helpers with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la Man ansari ila Allah Qala al-hawariyuna nahnu ansarullah So the disciples said, we are all going to help Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la And this is of course meant for all of us to want to help the messenger And of course, when we say help the messenger and help Allah, they don't need our help. They don't need anything from us. Rather, when we help the religion, we end up helping ourselves.

Allah does not need us. We need Allah. And when we give unto Allah, we are in fact giving unto ourselves and really saving ourselves.

The Surah as well has that famous verse that He is the one that has sent this religion to prevail over all others and that His light shall indeed be perfect around this world. even if the rejecters try to stop it. And this is a prediction that Islam will indeed spread as it has spread, SubhanAllah, from where to where.

Think where this religion was when the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was being... persecuted in Mecca. Even think of the Sahaba in Medina and the superpowers of Rome and Persia.

And where are those superpowers now? And where is Islam now? And Islam is practiced around the globe.

As our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, that my Lord has rolled up this earth to me and spread it out. And I have seen the Eastern most and the Western most. And this religion shall reach both of those East and Western most.

And SubhanAllah, there is not a single land, not a single island, not a single Qariya or village anywhere in the world, except that there are people praying and fasting. And this is exactly what our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam predicted and what the Quran itself says, huwa alladhi arsal rasoolahu bilhuda wa deenil haqqi li yuthhirahu ala al-deeni kullihi walaw kariha alkafiroon So we need to then do what we can to help the cause of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, because this Surah promises us a deal. The Surah says, do you want to enter into a transaction with Allah?

SubhanAllah, we have the opportunity to have a deal with Allah. We have the opportunity to have a transaction or a bargain. And what is it? Allah says in the Quran, shouldn't I give you a transaction that will protect you from Jahannam?

Believe in Allah and his messenger and strive in his cause with your wealth and your persons. If you do so, your sins will be forgiven. You shall be caused to enter Jannah. And one more gift I'll give to you.

That. You love this victory from Allah and give glad tidings to the believers. So let us enter into a contract with Allah.

And what a blessed contract. There is no bargain better than this bargain. You dedicate whatever meager things you have for the religion of Allah and Allah Azawajal will give you infinity.

He will give you a heaven whose width is more vast than the heavens and the earth. He will give you eternal life and bliss. What more do you want?

And what bigger... and more important bargain can there be. Therefore, let us stand up for the sake of Allah and let us do what we can so that we can be successful in this transaction with our creator. The next Surah is Surah Al-Jumu'ah. And this Surah was revealed when a large caravan arrived in the marketplace of Medina and they started shouting out their prices and their deals, you know, new goods for sale, things from Damascus, things from Yemen and people, a large group of the hypocrites, they stood up from the masjid and they walked out and they began buying and selling as the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam was giving the khutbah on the mimbar.

And obviously that is not something that is acceptable. And Allah Azzawajal revealed in the Quran, this surah which deals with some of the etiquettes of khutbah, of the khutbatul jum'ah. And of course in it is the famous verse, Ya ayyawal ladheena aminoo idhaa noodiya li s-salati min yawmil jumu'ati Fasa'u ila dhikrillahi wadharul bay'a Oh you who believe, when the adhan is given for Jumu'ah, then leave your transactions and come to the dhikr of Allah, come to the remembrance of Allah, that is better for you if you only knew.

Then once the prayer is concluded, fantashiru fil ardi, go ahead and disperse in the land and go ahead and seek Allah's bounty. Go ahead and buy and sell and do dhikr of Allah so that you may be successful. So much beautiful aspects over here. Of them by the way, Allah is encouraging us to go seek a trade. Allah is telling you, go find a business, do something, get a career, go ahead.

It's all Allah's bounty. But he's also saying, when you do that, make sure you're remembering Allah throughout the day. Also notice, really beautiful point.

And again, we're doing a very cursory level summary. And if you do a tafsir, you go word by word, bit by bit. So just a nukta, just a bit of a tidbit here.

Notice the verbs that Allah uses. Allah says that when the Adhan is called, fasaw. And Fasa'u means you walk with eagerness and with strength.

Like you're gonna, not running, that's not Fasa'u, but like we do Sa'i, you know? You're walking with determination. You're serious, you have to do something. And you're walking at a bit of a pace, you need to get there. Then Allah says, once the salah is finished, Fanta shiru, just wander out.

Notice when you're coming to Allah, there is seriousness, there is a quick pace, and you have to get there. Once it's something else, Allah is not saying rush to get money. Allah is saying, go ahead and just disperse in the land and get your risk whatever Allah has written for you.

The enthusiasm should be for the religion and the dunya, okay, it's there. So let's have that priority in order as well. This verse also praises the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam and mentions that, huwa alladhi arsal rasoolahu bilhuda wadeenil haqqa Excuse me, this mentions that, he is the one who has sent the messenger, ba'athafal ummeena, excuse me, rasoola minhum yattu alayhim ayati, He is going to recite to him his signs and give him knowledge and wisdom. Ya'allimuhul kitabul hikmah wa yuzakkihim And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la therefore mentions that reciting the book of Allah, the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam teaching us the Quran, it should lead to two things.

And this is a very, very important verse that so many trends of the Muslim world, they go to one extreme versus the other. Al-ilm and tazkiyah, two things are mentioned. And this translates to Islamic academics and Islamic spirituality. Both need to come from the Quran and both should be the fruits of listening to the Quran and studying the Quran. Some strands in our Muslim world today, they emphasize the academic side, the knowledge side, the fiqh side, the aqeedah side, the hadith side.

So they're really obsessed with Islamic knowledge and that's great. But sometimes those groups, they have almost no emphasis on spirituality. In fact, they might even, you know, make a point of not being that spiritual and that's wrong.

And then you have another extreme. And that extreme is all about spirituality and tazkiyah and purification. But there's not that much emphasis on purity of creed and purity of your actions and making sure it's in conformity with the sharia. And both of these extremes are wrong. We need to have the scholastical side.

and what is called the mystical side, which is all within the realm of Islam because you have halal scholastics and halal mysticism, then you have scholastics that is not within and mysticism that is not within. We need to have both of these coming from the tradition and from the Quran. Any group or any strand of Islam that does not emphasize both of these has fallen short of the Quranic paradigm. So be careful of this.

And especially I warn those whose full-time occupation is Islamic knowledge. and I speak as somebody who has come from that background as well, that be careful that that knowledge also impacts you to be a better person. If your knowledge is not impacting you in your personal rituals, in your personal akhlaaq, in your personal manners, if your knowledge is not impacting you in your tazkiyah, then something is wrong with your knowledge.

So be careful about that. This surah also has a beautiful verse that reminds us that no matter where we are, No matter how we try to run away, death is going to catch up to us. And so we need to be very, very careful in this regard.

And the Surah also has the verse as well about the point of the children of the book or one group of them, the Jews amongst them, some category amongst them, that they did not live up to the commandments of the Torah. And so Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, that those who took on the Torah but then didn't really understand it and act upon it, Allah gives a very, very explicit example. They are like donkeys that are carrying volumes of books on their backs. And that's a very, very profound analogy of what use is knowledge if it's not going to benefit you. So this goes back to my previous point and it is explicitly mentioned in this surah.

The next surah is Surah Al-Munafiqun. And Surat Al-Munafiqun, as the title explains to you, it is a Surah that warns against the hypocrites and the hypocrites are severely criticized because of their lying and because of their scheming and because of their double-faced and because they're not doing anything for the religion. In fact, they're preventing people from helping the religion and SubhanAllah, My point here again, I'm not trying to equate this, but SubhanAllah we have so many people, all they do is criticize, criticize, criticize, and do nothing other than point out the faults of other people, the supposed faults, or even the real faults. And you know, they're not, obviously, they're not all hypocrites, but still there's an element of the person, all he's doing is making fun of the other people and criticizing other people.

Something is wrong. You don't build your own reputation. by destroying the reputation of others.

That's not the way it works. You don't build your good deeds by poking or stopping the good deeds of other people, even if they are imperfect. You build your own and you do your own. So this surah is criticizing people, the hypocrites obviously, who are trying their best to prevent the Muslims from giving for the sake of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.

And the Muslims are told, and again, this does apply, we seek Allah's refuge, audhu billah, but it does apply to a group of people whose tongues... are very attractive, but they're not really demonstrating that in their calling and in their actions. Muslims are told, be careful, don't be deceived by the outer appearances.

Don't be deceived by the sweet tongues. This is in the surah here, that even some of the Muslims, they were convinced by the outer appearance of these hypocrites. Because one of the signs of hypocrisy is you have a great sweet tongue, but it's not inside of you. Your heart doesn't follow up with that. So Allah is saying, don't be deceived by their outer.

appearances and this is a very stark warning to anyone who might have an outer layer of deceit but inside they are corrupt, we seek Allah's refuge from ever being in that category the surah has over 15 characteristics of the hypocrites that are mentioned, go over it, try to pick out those characteristics and then analyze your life, make sure you don't have any of those characteristics so that you don't have even a partial aspect of hypocrisy and the last three verses is of the Surah are a very clear warning to all of us. That ya ayyuha allatheena amanoo Oh you who believe, la tulhikum amwalukum wala awlaadukum a'an dhikri Allah Make sure that neither your possessions nor your children end up distracting you from the worship and remembrance of Allah. For whoever does so, indeed they have lost everything.

And give from what we have provided you before min qabli an yati ahadakum wal mawtu before death comes fayaqoola rabbi lawla akhartani ila ajalin qareeb Then he will say, Oh Allah, If only you were to give me one other chance, give me some time so that I can be charitable and be of those who are righteous. وَلَن يُؤَخِّرَ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِذَا جَاءَ أَجَلُهَا But Allah will not delay the soul when its time of death comes and Allah is well-informed of all that you do. Notice here, every single hypocrite, every single person who wasn't righteous will beg the angel of death.

Give me one more time. Just give me another hour. I'm gonna do a lot in that hour. And Allah says, no. walanyuakhirallahu nafsan idha jaa Once the time comes, there is no postponement. And therefore we should do as many good deeds as we can before the inevitable comes.

Because it is inevitable, dear Muslims. There will be a time I will not be here and you will not be here as well. No one, no one lives forever.

So let's prepare for that day. And also one thing we learned from this surah is that of the greatest of good deeds that will bring comfort to us, is our generosity, giving unto others. Because when death will come, what will the hypocrite say?

Give me some time so that I can be charitable. The number one thing on that person's mind, he will realize the one thing that will save me the most will be to be charitable and to be kind and compassionate to other people, to give my wealth, to feed people, to build something that others can benefit from. So let us leave as much of a legacy as we can in that regard. Let us spend upon people and upon projects and whatever we can do so that we can, inshaAllah ta'ala, when we meet Allah, we have so much that we have left behind that we can say, oh Allah, this is what I did with all that you have given me.

The next surah, surah At-Taghabun. And it is a continuation of the previous surah, the theme of the previous surah. Because the previous surah, Munafiqun, it dealt with hypocrites versus believers.

And surah At-Taghabun deals with the people who reject Islam versus believers. So the kufar versus the... And this Surah as well, it ends with the same warning of the previous one, that our wealth and our children make sure that it does not distract us. Now what does Taghabun mean?

And why is the Surah called Taghabun? It goes back to verse number nine. Yawma yajma'akum li-yawmil jam'i dhalika yawmu t-taghabun The day that He will gather you for the day of gathering, the big day of judgment, that is the day of Taghabun. And I went over the names of the of the Day of Judgment when I started my series of the Day of Judgment. If you log onto YouTube, I have multiple series.

Sorry for the free plug here, but there are many series inshaAllah that I hope will be a benefit. And one of them is the Day of Judgment series that is still ongoing. And in that series, I went over the names of the Day of Judgment and I went over this one, At-Taghabun.

And I went over some of the details of what this means. And At-Taghabun, to be very brief, it means that this is the day of mutual exchange, the mutual loss and gain. People will be trading. It's a stock market, but there are no bonds.

There are no shares to sell and to buy and to exchange. What will be the medium of exchange? It will be your good deeds and my good deeds and your sins and my sins.

We seek Allah's refuge. People will come and sue you and they're gonna say, so-and-so, he backbited me. So-and-so took my money.

So-and-so harmed me. So-and-so did dhulm to me. There is no currency.

When the person will win his suh against another person in the court of Allah, Allah Azza wa Jalla will pass the judgment, you must give this many good deeds. So the deeds that you've done, your salah, your zakah, your charity, all that hard earned good deeds you have done, you're gonna be have to pass it over to somebody whom you have wronged. Do you really think it's worth it to wrong somebody when your own good deeds that you have done will be given to him?

Whatever sins that we do between us and Allah, Ask Allah's forgiveness, inshaAllah, inshaAllah if you're sincere, inshaAllah you're guaranteed forgiveness. But just be careful when you hurt other people, when you speak bad about other people, beware of your tongue harming other people. Err on the side of caution, be quiet and don't say anything bad.

Be careful of your hands, of your eyes, be careful of doing things or hurting people. Be careful of people's wealth and stealing people's wealth, a'udhu billah, be careful of dhulm, because dhulm is dhulmat on the day of judgment. Dhulm will become darknesses on the day of judgment and be careful, be most careful of shedding people's blood because our prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam said, a person shall have hope for forgiveness as long as he hasn't shed somebody's blood. Beware of ever being attacked.

Tyrant, one of these pharaonic tyrants that we still have on this earth today, beware of being one of them, because when they meet Allah, then no one will be able to save them from all the dhulm that they have done. So this, Yawm At-Taghabun, is the name that is given to the Day of Judgment, because there will be a mutual exchange between you and anyone who has a case against you, and therefore have no cases against other people. Between you and Allah, inshaAllah Allah is Ghafoor and Rahim.

And I'm not saying this is an open license to commit sins. I'm saying that if you are repentant, Allah shall forgive, this is in the Quran. But other people, Allah is gonna allow between the two of you, and it will be between the two of you, what you have done. So that's why this is called Yawm At-Taghabun.

And that's why Allah says in the same Surah, whoever believes in Allah and does good deeds, that person, his sins will be forgiven and shall cause to enter into Jannah, under which gardens flow to dwell therein. Forever, dhalika al fawz al-azim. that is indeed the supreme achievement. This Surah, Surah At-Taghabun, also has a very beautiful verse about calamities.

Please memorize it and take it as a rule. Take it as a motto that you live your life by. Verse number 11, Ma asaba min musibatin illa bi-idhnillah wa man yu'min billahi yahdi qalbah SubhanAllah, how beautiful.

No calamity befalls anyone except by the will of Allah. And whoever has iman in Allah, Allah will guide their heart. Notice the correlation here.

Because when a calamity happens, your heart is troubled. When a calamity happens, your heart almost stops to beat. When a calamity happens, you feel, you might even feel the physical pressure on your heart. And Allah is saying, first and foremost, realize I know what's happening. I know it.

It's not a surprise. This has all been decreed and I know it. And then Allah is giving you encouragement. He is literally putting that light at the end of the tunnel.

Waman yu'min billahi yahdi qalba Have iman in me and I will take your heart and guide it. I will take care of it. Look, Allah mentions his qalb because the qalb is the one that is hurt at the time of a calamity.

And therefore memorize this verse and next time a calamity befalls you, know there is no way out of that calamity except by turning to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, increasing your iman. And when you do so, you will find your heart comes at ease. you will find a way out of that calamity.

And the surah concludes by reminding us that sometimes, sometimes, some members of our families might become impediments in our worship to Allah. They might make demands that we might be tempted by and we will do the haram. And so Allah says, they are some of your wives and some of your children and wives here means spouses because it goes both, anytime the spouse is mentioned, it goes both ways in the Quran, that they are your enemies.

And Allah says, some, not all. Fahdharuhum, be careful of them, be aware of them. Then Allah says, after calling some of them enemies, Allah says, Wa in ta'afu wa tasfaahu wa taghfiru If you pardon, if you overlook, if you forgive, then Allah as well is Ghafoor and Raheem.

Know, Allah says, that your wealth and your children are a test unto you. And indeed, Allah alone has the ultimate reward. What an amazing, amazing verse. Some spouses and some children their priorities are not the religion.

So they will ask you to do something that is haram, earn haram money, or do something haram, or do something that's displeasing to Allah. And because they're asking you to do something haram, they're enemies to you, meaning that if you follow them, they will cause your downfall. It did, by calling them enemies, it doesn't mean they hate you.

It means that if you follow that enemy, you will be defeated, your downfall. But in this case, Allah is saying the enemy itself or himself or herself, has to be saved. So it's not a mortal enemy. It is someone that you have to guide with you.

And that is why, how do you guide them? By forgiving them and overlooking and taking them with you. You change them through your actions. You don't fall prey to their temptations with you. So Allah Azawajal is reminding us that some spouses and some children, their priorities are not right.

You need to maintain your priorities and treat them with the utmost love. And then, for all of us, no exceptions, innama amwalukum wa awlaadukum fitna, for all of us, your wealth and your children, they are a test for you. Yes, they are a test. Whether we fail or pass depends on what we do.

The next surah is surah At-Talaq. Surah At-Talaq, as the name will give away, it deals with divorce and it deals with child maintenance. And divorce is a very, very awkward topic. And I have given again some khutbahs and some lessons on divorce. You'll find them online.

And again, this is a topic that, frankly, it is a taboo topic, but we should all study it, even as we ask Allah that we never need to use it. You know, it's like the safety drills when you enter the plane. I should say when we used to enter planes.

Allah knows when it's going to happen again. into a plane or any type of safety routine, you need to know the exits, but you don't wanna use them. And this surah, it is telling us some of the rulings of divorce, and it commands men in particular to fear Allah Azza wa Jal and to treat their wives, even in the case of divorce, with justice. And this really brings up an awkward reality.

And let's be honest here. Yes, it is true that both genders are potentially guilty, and usually when a divorce happens, you know, It's pretty common that there's some blame on both sides, you know, that something just didn't work out and perhaps both of them did something wrong to exacerbate. But let us be honest here, generally speaking, the male gender has the capacity to do more wrong and get away with it. And that is the reality of the world that we live in. Hence the Quran comes and explicitly advises the husbands, explicitly advises the men in this regard.

And read this Surah with this point in mind. that Allah Azzawajal is telling husbands, do not force them out of their houses. Allah is saying, this is the limit or the law of Allah and whoever transgresses the law of Allah has wronged himself. Allah says in the Surah that once the waiting period expires either resume the marriage with honor or let the wives go free with honor.

Don't be mean and nasty either way. Okay, if it didn't work out, okay. Not all marriages are going to work out. Release them with honor, with dignity. Allah says in the Surah, let the man who is wealthy provide in accordance with his means, meaning gift your wife and take care of her according to your means.

And the man who does not have wealth, still let him give from whatever little that he has. SubhanAllah. What a beautiful, beautiful surah here.

And I say this very, very frankly, that if we studied the laws of divorce and if we followed the laws of divorce and if men in particular, because in the Sharia, of course, The right of divorce is easier for the man to give, as we know, than the woman. If men fully followed the Sharia and understood the mechanisms of the Sharia, the divorce rate would plummet exponentially in society. And again, I'm not blaming only the men. Sometimes, you know, both genders have an issue here and there.

Both genders need to raise the bar and be better, but still, and I say this as a person, not only as a person who is of that gender, but also because as a person who is a sheikh or whatnot, I get cases all the time. And it is well known, and I don't like to say this, but it is true, all too often, husbands and men, they don't act in a manner that is befitting, and they misuse and abuse the privilege that Allah has given them. And that's definitely something that they have to answer for on the Day of Judgment.

This surah as well, it has some of the most oft-quoted verses in the entire Qur'an about the blessings of those who trust in Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and what Allah will do. that, وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا Whoever has taqwa of Allah, Allah will make a way out for him. And Allah will provide for him from sources he never expected.

Whoever relies upon Allah, Allah will suffice him. He doesn't need anything else. Indeed, Allah shall accomplish His purpose and Allah has a measure on all things. Now, I want you to think about, I'm sure you've heard these phrases so many times, وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا However, How many of you actually knew that the context of all of these verses is divorce? It is so profound.

Of course, it applies everywhere. But especially in the context of divorce, all of this is in this context. Why?

Because when a divorce takes place, the parties and especially, you know, a lady who's divorced, she feels that pain, the sense of helplessness of what's going to happen now? Who's going to take care of me? How will I survive?

And for all of this, Allah is saying, don't worry. I will take care of you. Just put your trust in me. وَمَنْ يَتَّقِ اللَّهَ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ مَخْرَجًا وَيَرْزُقُ مِنْ حَيْثُ لَا يَحْتَسِفُ You will be fed for and taken care of.

And inshallah, another suitor will come from a sources you never expected. You will be taken care of. Just put your trust in me and I will take care of all the rest. Now, of course, it doesn't just apply to the divorced and the divorcee. But it's interesting to note that the context is that.

And of course, it applies to everything. And the final surah that we will do, surah At-Tahrim. And surah At-Tahrim, it deals with a... A personal incident in the life of the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam which you can listen to my seerah lectures in this regard for more details that basically made two of the wives of our Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam, Aisha and Hafsa they became irritated and jealous and so they hatched a mini small internal plot between the wives to try to persuade the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to abandon something that was permissible for him and so the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam to please his wives he made a a promise that he would abandon that.

And Allah says that, do not do this, do not change the Sharia, and do not try to appease other people and make something that Allah has made halal, you make it haram for yourself. So our priorities have to be in line with the priorities of Allah and his messenger. And it is also in this context, in this context of this surah, that we are reminded to take care of our families. O you who believe, ya'iwladhin amanoo, qoo anfusakum wa ahleekum naroo Protect yourselves and your families from the fire of hell. Parents, husbands and wives, we have responsibilities beyond just ourselves.

We have responsibilities to our children, to our extended family members, each one in accordance with the level that we have over them. But we cannot ignore the rights of the family and we are a family unit. Islam is not a religion of selfishness, nafsi, nafsi. No, in Islam, we are a person who has multiple responsibilities and not just ourselves, not just myself, me and I.

We are people who are fathers and sons and brothers. We are people who are uncles, we are people who are nephews and for women as well, all of the relationships, we have to look at all of that and try to have a positive impact. And the last verses of the Surah concludes with negative and positive lady role models, female role models. The wives of Lut and Nuh were negative role models. and the wife of Firaun and Maryam are positive role models.

And Allah tells men and women, the both of them, to take the positive role models and to beware of the negative role models. And notice here, and it's a very interesting point, that spouses are not an excuse to decide your fate in the hereafter. You can be married to the best of mankind, Nuh and Luthor, prophets of Allah, and yet end up in the worst of places.

and you can be married, you can literally be married to the worst person in human history, that's Firaun. Firaun's wife was, Firaun is the worst person in all of human history, and she ends up being a role model and the highest or one of the highest ladies of Jannah. Your spouse, even your spouse cannot decide your place in Jannah or the opposite. So you are your own, Allah Azawajal has allowed this, that you have this opportunity to create your own place in Jannah or not by the help of Allah and the permission of Allah obviously.

So be careful, don't blame other people. Doesn't matter who is around you or what you have. You have the opportunity to earn Jannah or the opposite. We ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la on these blessed nights of Ramadan to accept our duas and to forgive our sins and to exalt our ranks.

And InshaAllah Ta'ala we'll continue tomorrow with Juz Tabarak Surat Mulk and the next Surahs. Until then, Salam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh. The month of Ramadan in which the Qur'an was revealed as a guidance for the people and as a clear indication of guidance and separation.

So whoever of you witnesses the month, let him fast. وَمَنْ كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَى سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرٍ يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ وَلِتُكْمِلُ الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُ Surah Al-Fatihah

Transcript for:Insights from Quranic Teachings and Surahs

Transcript for:
Insights from Quranic Teachings and Surahs