Surah Balad -2

Transcript
Alhamdulillah.. Assalaatu wasalaamu alaa rasoolillah summa amma
bad..assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu.
We are continuing with the 10th ayah of suratal Balad, wa hadainaahu
najdain..First and foremost inshallah, lets look at a hadith that is quoted in the
tafsir of this surah by al Biqaai rahmahullah, Ya aiyyuhun naas hallimmu ilaa
rabbikum fa innama qalla wa kafaa qairum mimmaah kafaru wa alhaa..ya
aiyyuhun naas innama huma najdaan najdu qairin wa najdu sharr,fa maa jaala
najda sharri habba ilaikum min najdi qair. Beautiful hadith from the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam Rush towards your Lord, people- because certainly,
that which is little and enough, is better than what is in plenty and what deludes
you and deceives you and distracts you. People listen up, no doubt there are
only two paths, the path of good or the high path leading to good and the path
leading to evil..then what has made the evil path more beloved to you, or the
path filled with harm, more beloved to you, than the path leading to good?
Now in that context, inshallahutaala, lets look at the language of the aayah
wa hudainaahu najdain. The word hadaa in Arabic is to guide someone
and by Allah saying that Allah has guided us to two paths, (again the majority
tafseer, not the unanimous) the majority tafseer of the ayah is, this is the path of
good and evil. This has been illustrated in other places in the Quran, for example
when Allah AzzawaJal says Qad tabbaiyanal rushdu minal ghaii the
straight, or the right way, has been clearly identified from the wrong one or for
example we are going to be reading later on in the same juz of the Quran fa
allahamaha fujooraha wa taqwaaha so this is two implications the
implication here is that Allah guided along two paths- or We guided him to two
paths, means We clearly showed him the right and the wrong .. By the way,
Meccan Quran, early Quran talked a lot about universal goods - things that, for
example we are going to read in this surah and the previous one also we read
about taking care of the orphan which society has a problem with that, or sees
that as an evil.. everybody knows that thats a good thing, right - or giving to
the needy, giving to the poor, charity, rights of neighbour etc., etc. - These are
the sorts of things that are talked about in early Meccan Quran - a universal
sense of morality. So before we talk about the finer details of the deen , and the
dawah of the Messenger salallaahu alaihi wa sallam, very few little to nothing
-of shariah as we know it, is mentioned in Meccan Quran - very few things. On
one or two occasions theres mention of foods that are permissible, on one
occasion specifically, theres mention of Riba, right - but outside of that - pretty
much you have these general, moral principles that anybody can relate to that
anybody can relate with even the mushrikoon of the Arabs, who did not have

any exposure to revelation before they are not like the People of the Book, that
know about a Book, and know about law, and divine law and commandments
they have no idea - they have no background in these things but even they
could relate to certain things as being good and evil, and those are the things
that are highlighted in Meccan Quran, this call to universal ethics and goodness,
okay? Now with that in mind, this is actually something Allah pre-programmed
inside the human being this is in our fitrah so killing is wrong is something
thats part of human nature, right? and this actually, is a subject in social
psychology, and in other areas of psychology - the subject matter of morality.
Philosophers tried to deal with the subject of right and wrong, right what is
right and what is wrong by means of rationality. But psychologists, interestingly,
try to study the subject matter of right and wrong- How do humans develop this
not from a philosophical point of view, but from maybe their environment or their
genetics, and things like that, and there are some really interesting findings that
you know, that weve known all along, that these are pre-programmed inside of
us right? there is actually now a good amount of evidence for example, being
averse to lying, for instance, is one evil that every society says lying is bad.
Pretty much. Theres no society that says, Hey youre a liar! We love you! That
doesnt happen, right? So lying is looked at as an almost across the board
universal wrong. And studies have shown basically, that when somebody
engages in a lie ( these are studies done in social psychology ) when somebody
engages in a lie for the first time - not like a professional liar like a politician, or a
professional liar like an actor, but Im talking about a liar like whos not usually
lying. When they lie for the first time you know what happens? Their blood
pressure increases, the hair on their skin rises, the pitch of the voice goes up, out
of their control. But these are physiological things but lying is not a
physiological act youre not putting your hand on a fire or touching ice or
something like that. Its a psychological thing, its all in your head. So why is
something abstract leading to these physical consequences, and basically I
asked my professor this when I was studying social psychology. You know what
he told me? He told me the human being wasnt programmed to lie, is best we
can say! Right, thats what my agnost, non muslim professor tells me about lying
human beings are not programmed to lie. And what do we know about the
fitrah, that it inclines towards the truth, right? So Allah shows the two paths Wa hadainahu najdain. The thing about the language here- there are a couple
of things just like inThe Fatiha there are no prepositions.We find in The Fatiha
Ihdinas siratal mustaqeem We dont find Ihdina ila au ihdina lis siratal
mustaqeem - theres no ila theres no laam ,theres no preposition.Other places
in the Quran, with the verb of guidance hada there is a preposition. Wa
yahdihim ila siratal Azeezil Hameed. yahdi ilaa rushdi, ilaa is used,
alhamdulillahillazi li hadaana- li hadaa, prepositions are used. But here there is
no preposition - Wa hadainahu -There is no illan najdain or lin najdain. But there
is just straight najdain. Now the removal of prepositions does something
linguistically - it actually makes the phrase more comprehensive and carry more
meaning. So one meaning of course is, we guided him to, the word to im using
in translation, two pathways, but actually also at the same time it also means We
guided him along two pathways. And thats very important-The path of good ,

when somebody takes that path you know what Allah does, Allah facilitates that
path for them and guides them along that path and when somebody decides to
take the path of evil what does Allah do for him? Wa ya mudduhum fi
tugyanihim yamahoon, He tells us Himself - We extend for them in their
rebellion so they can go further blind they can keep going further in their
blindness. So Allah will not just guide you to it, but also guide you along it. Youve
chosen your career, Allah will now facilitate it for you and get you further
enhanced in your career whether its good or evil. So firaun, you want to be bad,
lets see how bad you can get. Open that door for him! right? So this is really
the concept thats been illustrated here, wa hadainahu najdain. A little about
the word najd. It means a mountain that has no vegetation or trees its bare
rock, okay, and in it theres a clear path thats leading up. Now najdain is two
paths, right? So the vision, the image thats presented in the ayah is of a person
at the foot of a hill, and in front of him there are these two ranges, these two
paths that are leading right and left- but there are two paths. And Allah has
clearly shown this path leads to this, and this path leads to that. Now the thing to
understand is, these two paths are right in front of you, theyre clear, theyre
heading both climbing upwards... does it involve labour in any way? Whether you
go up the right way or the left way it still involves labour. And thats already been
taught to us in this surah before when Allah said laqad qalaqnal insaana fi
kabad. The human being is created with toil. So that lesson is being reinforced
with a new image. Heres the next thing thats really important to know about
this ayah the word najd is the general word for mountain. And Im going to add
some things to help you understand whats coming one of these ranges is easy
going up, but as you go further up, there is difficulty. And the other range is very
difficult in the beginning, but once you get a certain path it becomes easy. So
one is easy in the beginning and one is hard in the beginning .One is hard at the
end and one is easy at the end. So now youve got these two choices. Right, you
want easy in the beginning, or you want hard in the beginning right and the
human being, what does he love to get immediately? Ease in the beginning
right? We love things that come quickly. We want to as for problems, we say
well deal with it later. Let me just get what I want right now. So Allah says
falaqta hama al aqaba. And aqaba is a really interesting word. It is also a
word used for a path, it is also a word used for a path heading up a mountain
range. So its almost synonymous with the word najd. Except, the word aqaba
also means a path that is very difficult to climb...is very difficult to climb. So first
Allah showed us two paths,but then He told us one of these paths is not just najd,
its also aqaba. Its very difficult and high and you know it takes a lot of struggle to
get through this path. So He says falaqta wa aqaba. He didnt just get involved
right away in aqaba= al aqaba. Now the word iqtihaam lets look at the word
iqtihama. Iqtihaam in Arabic is to jump into something without giving it any
thought and put yourself in a task that will involve a lot - a lot - a lot of work, but
once you jump in you just jumped in right? Have you ever been involved in a task
which you know, you say yeah I can do this, you know putting some furniture
together or something . Im thinking of furniture because i just moved, right? Oh i
could do this! Then you get involved, then it gets difficult, then you realise
maybe this wasnt such a good idea - in the middle of it, right? So you dive right

in without too much thought and then you realise this is actually a lot of work
and its exhausting, right? This is iqtiham. Allah says the human being didnt
jump right away you know, so enthusiastically into this heavy cliff aw I can
handle it! He didnt do that. But now the way he says this in the ayah in the
beginning the first word in the ayah is la - fala. Then, after He showed him these
two paths, then, he did not and the word for not, the negation is la, but for the
past tense in the Arabic language, which the word iqtihaama is, its the past
tense we dont use la we use ma. Maqtahamala aqaba. Thats what we were
expecting -The expected grammatical term here was not la it was ma.. la
yaqtahimu okay. Lam yaqtahim fine. But la iqtahamaa? It doesnt come
together normally..., and so what this illustrates is a linguistic I dont want to
call it a problem, its almost a riddle there are depths and layers of meaning
that are captured by just one change of a word. One implication of this, la is used
for something, that necessitates - that has taddud in it - meaning there are
multiple things that are being negated. But we know, iqtahamaa is just one thing
He didnt jump right in is just one act, but the word aqaba- are there multiple
things involved in al aqaba? We will find later fakku raqabbatin, au itaamin
qiyamin yateeman maqraba miskeenan the entire passage that is coming is all
an explaination of al aqaba is an illustration of au aqaba. So, accordind to some
mufassiroon, because there is taadud, multiple things mentioned here, thats
why la is there. So la will prepare the listener that this path had multiple stops. It
had multiple stops... cause la illustrates something that has multiple components
thats being negated. So la will prepare you for these multiple items that are
coming, its not just one thing. The other thing with la is its called a duaa.
Meaning for example in it says it means fala why didnt he just jump right in..
why didnt he just jump right in -did we not give him enough ability hadnt we
given him eyes, two eyes, a tongue, right, hadnt We guided him clearly to both
paths, what one leads to and what the other one leads to? He had everything he
needed to get on this path, so how come he didnt? So fala is actually in the
meaning of limaaza - limaaza la yaqtahin al aqaba. How come he didnt just
climb up that path? What was missing? So its almost as though Allah azzawajal is
complaining about the human being who didnt jump right in. And by doing so
what is he asking all of us to do? He is asking us to take the challenge and jump
right in to actually engage in the struggle and engage in climbing up the
mount. So falaqta hamalaqaba. Now he has - by the way al riqaai also among
other mufasaroon comment hiyaa tareequn najaat -that this path is the path to
salvation. It is the path to save oneself. This path will be talked about in brief
here, but in full bloom there is some language at the end of this surah there is
some clue about this salvation, some idea about what you will see when you
reach the top of this path, but the full picture will be given in surah al asr. So the
same wording is used. Here You will find wa tawasau bis sabr wa tawaasau
bi marhama,t here you will find the complete picture. Illal lazina amanu wa
amilas sawlihaat, wa tawasau bil haq, wa tawasau bis sabr. Well talk
about that when we get to surah al Asr inshallah. Now ibnu Uyaina writes about
the next ayah - wa ma adraka mal aqaba. In the quran we find two phrases wa
ma adraaka, and also wa ma yudreeka. Ma yudreeka is the present tense form
and ma adraaka would be and what would give you any clue what could you

look around and decipher, or conclude from, or deduce from that would give you
an idea what al aqaba that high cliff- What that really means, what that really
is. Now the way Allah says that is in the past tense. What would have given you
an idea. But sometimes He says what will give you an idea. Now whenever He
uses the present tense which also includes the future tense, He never answers
the question. When He uses what will tell you, He wont tell you. What could
have told you, then Hell give you the answer. So whenever you find adraaka
you find more information. When you find yudreeka , it is a kind of question, the
answer to which, youre not going to know. Allah will not open that door to you.
For example, when is the Hour coming. Allah will say what will give you a clue
when its coming. He wont answer it. Ma yudreeka la allahu yazzakka you
read before. What will give you any clue that perhaps he wants to purify himself the human being wants to purify himself. Can anything give us an idea whats
going on inside of the heart of another human being? Nothing. All we see are
actions. We dont see the intentions of those actions. We assume sincerity, but
we dont know sincerity.Right? You will never know. So yudreeka, we are not
going to know .But adraaka, Allah will teach. Allah will tell you what you could do
what you could do to find out what this mount is. So its a mercy of Allah that
the word adraaka is used. What would give you a clue and now were hoping for
an answer. Because what we did if we know what this cliff is we wouldnt even
jump in and climb- because we dont even know whatthe path is. So lets see
what are the things that Allah talks about that are part of this path. The first
thing fakku raqabatin. Ikrama says and his is the only unique opinion about
the ayah he says - the literal meaning by the way, is rescuing someone from
slavery. Ikramah says, it means to free yourself from the slavery of sins by
making taubah.(radhiallah hum.) Thats what his opinion is, of this ayah. That
actually the first thing to climb is your own nafs, and to conquer yourself by
means of taubah. Well lets look at the majority tafseer of the ayah, inshallahu ta
la. In Arabic there are two words for rescuing there is anqada- anqada with a
daal at the end for example afa tunqidu man fin naar in the quran and then there
is fakka this word that we find in this ayah. This word is used when youre
trying to rescue a slave, or somebody out of prison. But anqada is used when
youre trying to rescue someone from a fire, or from some kind of danger, you
pull them out of the way. So rescuing from bondage or slavery or prison, and
then rescuing from danger. Two different kinds of words are used in the quran.
Here of course we find the word for slavery. So the first act is freeing the slave.
Now the word for slavery is raqaba which literally means the back of the neck.
Now you know unook is the neck. And there are other words to illustrate the
neck in the quran but specifically raqaba is used for the back of the neck
illustrating that there is a chain around the neck of the person and the link to it is
where? In the back. Now if the link was in the front and the master pulls it you go
forward. But if the link is in the back and the master pulls it what happens? They
get choked. They dont get choked when they get pulled forward but when they
get pulled back. So its actually illustrating the pain of being a slave. Slavery is
mentioned in two ways in Islamic literature. One is literal slavery and the other is
the slavery of a debt. That your necks are tied in the slavery of debt that your
necks are tied in debt. Thats also a its a choke-hold on you. So fakku

raqabatin Subhanallah! Other words used in the quran for neck are wateen,
waqqabajeet and unook .These words inshallah we will discuss when we get to
them. The other thing to know here is , the first word is not used in verbal form.
The word Fakku in Arabic, fa kaf kaf , the root origin, this word being used in
the nominal masdar form implies you are committed to it. Meaning the first
mount to climb was not one time you freed a slave, one time you did this good
thing, youre committed to this as a cause. So even in Meccan quran, we find the
cause of freeing of slaves, You know how people talk about why does Islam
endorse slavery? And the discussion is taken in every direction? The Meccan
Quran from the very beginning is saying, you want to climb that right path,
whats the first act? Become committed to freeing a slave. Become committed to
it.. Fakku raqqabatin. In surah Noor, inshallah one day when we get to that
surah, we will talk about how Islam systematically, and the quran
systematically, abolished the institution of slavery. Now, au itaamun or, in
addition, feeding. By the way, in the previous surah we read something very
interesting. We read about a person, kalla balla tuqriboon al yateem wa laa
tahaabuna ala taamil miskeen. Wa taakulan tauraat. Theyre very selfish
people, right and what is the first act of climbing the mountain ? you have to
become what? Selfless! So the previous surah illustrated why isnt it that you
climbed up. And iqtahama past tense- you havent done so. Whats the proof
that you havent already done so? Has the proof been given? Its given in the
previous surah .And now youre being told the exact opposite. Freeing the slaves
and au itaamun. Not just itaam, not just giving and by the way, they dont
even give. They eat themselves. Wa taakuloona turaasa akla lamma. You eat
the wealth that comes to you from the inherited from monies you didnt earn
yourself. You love to eat it, but if you love to eat it you should have more of a
love for giving to others to eat. Au itaam. Giving to eat. But giving to eat when?
Not just giving to eat. Even thats not enough. Fi yaumin li masghaba.In a day
that is quantified with , the term maghaba. In Arabic , in the quran specifically,
for hunger there are four terms used. Masqaba, jooa,maqrasa and qasasa. These
are four words that are used in the quran for hunger. Specifically the one that is
used here for is masghaba. Asghabal qoumu means when a nation is hungry
because of famine. So masghaba means widespread hunger. Hunger that isnt
just limited to the one you are trying to feed, but everyone is hungry. Meaning in
our expression we would say, bad economic times. So Allah says, this mountain
to climb, why is it so tough in the beginning? You have to feed, and be
committed to feeding because again, this is not a verbal form au yuteemuna fi
yaumin, no, au atamu fi yaumin, no. Au itaamun fi - itaam is the masdar, the
infinitive form that implies its a timeless commitment. You are committed to the
act of feeding, especially in bad economic times. Fi youmi zi masghaba, in a day
that is known, is possessed by, this overwhelming hunger that is coming to
everybody. Meaning when you are reluctant to give, because you yourself are so
hungry. But Allah is saying if you want to climb this mountain, you have to
become a true humanitarian. In the sense that you are even giving preference
over yourself in giving to the other. Subhanallah! Allah has not talked in the
surah yet about iman! Hes not talked about iman, hes not talked about Aqirah
so much, he hasnt talked about that stuff. What has he talked about? These

ethics and these morals, about becoming selfless as a person. You are concerned
about the slave, and by the way. some of the good people of Meccah even before
Islam were they not concerned about some of these things? This is a historical
fact. These are universal ethical humanitarian concerns that are being given
precedence in this context. You know why? One of the benefits of that - the
previous surah told us what did kufr lead to = what did the tughyan lead to? Fa
aksaruhu fiha al fasaad. In the cities, they cause corruption. Fiha referring to the
cities.They cause corruption in the cities. What is corruption in the cities? It is
slavery. It is the oppression of the weak It is not giving to the poor . This is
oppression! So now, in this surah it is a response that is already understood they didnt rebel against Allah. Because had they rebelled against Allah there
would have been fasad - whats the counter to that fasad? What is being
mentioned in this surah . so yateem and za maqraba. Previous surah said,
kalla balla tukrimoonal yateem. Yateem came up again. Its like a review of the
previous lesson. So He said yateeman za maqraba, Feeding of an orphan that
possesses closeness. And the word Maqraba is interesting because it is from waf
makaan. Now zal qurba or zal qurb even, of closeness meaning the orphan that
is a close relative to you. But za maqraba doesnt just mean the relative that is
close to you it also means the one who is in close proximity to you. There are
orphans all around your neighbourhood. What about them too? So it captures
two things- the orphan in your family thats needy and the orphan in your
community. What this calls for from the believer is first of all, you know what
happens, you have close relations with your brother, because you grew up
together and you know, youre very close. But then your brother lives in a
different city and you live in a different city. Right? You get a little bit further
apart. and he has children and he sends you pictures of those children. You know
youre attached to them, you love them, but not like you love your brother. You
actually had a meaningful connection. You see those kids once in a while etc
Right? So now what happens is ma azallah when that brother passes away and
those children are orphans. You think about them but not so much because
youre more concerned about your brother than about those children, so theres
a little bit of a distance between you and them right? And even actually in our
families what happens is that your niece and nephew come up to you to your
home and theyre fighting with your kids and you go oh my God, theyre coming
again next week?
Like, this idea of cousins being a nuisance, right? So what happens is even in the
family if there is some yateem , then people tend to overlook- theres a
possibility of them overlooking so Allah calls for that first. Not just yateeman, za
maqraba, the ones in close proximity , meaning not only in your family but also
in your neighbourhood. You have to know the yateem or yatama in your
community. So this is actually a very important task of the muslim and this is
something that allah is saying that even the moral kafir should be aware of even
he can relate to this because the discussion, the appeal is to al insaan not to al
lazeena amanu. Allah is talking to human beings in general here subhanallah!
they should be concerned. Au miskeenan za maqraba. The word miskeen
comes from maskana, its used in many different places in the quran, it is

described in many different ways, for example Imam Raghib al Isfahani says,
someone who barely has enough life essentials to survive. Meaning they have
no assets, they have no savings meaning perhaps they dont even have a home,
some linguists argue, but they are somehow surviving anyway, like If you saw
them you would say how are you surviving? Thats a miskeen, okay? So Allah says
miskeenan but then He adds za matraba this needy person, this barely
surviving person, that is associated possessing dust,turaab not even za
turaab, za matraba the meem here is the meem masdariya. What it does is, it
means hes completely covered in dust. It captures a few things for us. Number
one, hes homeless because if he had a home, he wouldnt be covered in dust.
Number two hes going around in search of food. So when you go around what
happens to you? You get covered in dust. Number three his bed is dust. When
you sleep on dust and you get up you are now covered with dust. And hes dirty
and hes bankrupt.. all of these implications are captured when we see au
miskeen za matraba. The previous surah told us how bad those people are
they dont climb the mount.And how did He say it wa la tahaabuna ala taamil
miskeen. Forget feeding them you dont even encourage anybody else to feed
them. So that was actually illustrated in the previous surah and it is being
responded to again here. Then Allah says summa kaana minnal lazeena
amanu- thereafter he became from those who had believed. Iman is mentioned
all the way at the end here. What was mentioned before, the freeing of a slave,
fakku raqabatin. the giving to the orphan and the needy covered in dust,
humanitarian causes.. so Allah is saying, those of you who see something in
society its a very profound lesson of , I dont want to say philosophy , its the
wisdom of the Quran. Profound lesson. Those that solve problems in society
before them and they can relate to these problems and were looking for solution
to these problems. There is only one real solution, everything else is patchwork.
You know there are organisations may Allah reward them that are trying to
feed the needy and the poor and the hungry etc. right? And they say this year
we fed 10,000 orphans. And the next year they say we increased our activities.
This year we got to feed 20,000. Or we got to put these many more children. So
they show you these charts where their progress has gone up right? But if you
compare that progress with the level of hunger..did hunger increase in the
world? What will you see? Your progress is this way , but the progress of the
problem is this way right? So you made a little progress in helping but the
problem is exponentially faster in its growth. So the people who work in
humanitarian causes very quickly realise that its a hopeless cause. They become
very very you know, disheartened...theyre just workingworkingworking but they
become hopeless man theres no hope human beings are just- theres no
helping this its just endless. Its just endless, right? So what happens is, a lot of
these charities they dont want to tell you how big the problem is, they say
support one orphan, one dollar a day.. They dont want you to see the bigger
picture because if you see it the bigger picture whats going to happen to you ?
Man forget it! Its too overwhelming!But then you know, these are the problems
of humanity - this is fasaad, basically, In humanity its always been there. The
previous surah told us what was the root of that fasad - It was Allazeena tahau fil
bilaad. They rebelled rebelled against who ? against Allah. And thereby caused

corruption. So how do you get rid of the corruption - You could try to help the
corruption whats the root that will get rid of the corruption altogether? That is
returning back to Iman in Allah. So the person has these concerns, whats that
final concern that will lead them away You see this is why Allah azza wa jal says,
about the believers - He says wa yaqtaqlifunna fil ardh wa yaqtaqlifannahum fil
ardh wa la yumakkianna hum mim baadi khaufihim, amna . That He will establish
them in the earth And He will replace for them and this is Allahs promise to
those who believe - He will replace for them after the time of fear, a time of
peace and safety. What does Iman bring? It brings Amn. What is Amn? Safety.
And you know the surah began by swearing by the city. Whats the other
attribute of this city? Wa haazal baladil ameen! Iman and amn are directly
connected to each other. So you turn to Allah, and Allah will send Barakaat from
the sky. And Allah will by means of His revealed justice and His revelation create
a society in which these problems are properly dealt with. Now look, historically
speaking When the society of iman was established, was it not the case that
the hungry and the poor and the yateeman za maqraba and the miskeenan
za matraba were taken care of? Think about the rule of Omer (r.a.) Where did
that solution come from? What political theory or constitution brought that out..
What was the root source of that entire situation? That was iman that was
iman. So at the end of this summa thereafter, what did he become what was
the conclusion- kaana minalazeena amanu- he became from those who had
actually believed. He came to iman.. and then wa tawasau bis sabr. And then
after they became from those who believed, he became from those who
believed- then they- see, kaana was singular kaana was singular. Its not kaanu
- Kaanu would have been they became from those who believed. But it says
kaana minallazeena amanu. He became. He was now the one who believed.
But then immediately theres a switch to the plural wa tawasau bis sabr Its not
wa taqwasa bis sabr- tawasa would have been singular- tawasau- they enjoined
each other- meaning when you become a person of iman necessarily you join in
the ranks of other believers. You are not in the struggle to help humanity alone,
now you are part of a larger struggle, a communal struggle of believers. This is
whats happened to you. By the way the previous surah hinted towards it Even in
jannah, fad quli fi ibaadi enter in the company of my slaves- even the work of
this deen is in the company of slaves tawasau they encouraged each other.
The word wassiya is to leave a will or legacy, right? Tawasi is to advise and
motivate and encourage and counsel one another. So now whats happening is
they become believers but the situation still looks hopeless. So what do they
have to do? They have to counsel each other they have to advise each other.
They have to keep each other motivated. Motivated to be what? Bis sabr. Bis
sabr. The sabr is understood in two ways here- what does sabr mean? It means
patience, commitment . consistency and constancy.Four things at least, okay ?
that are in English are not captured in one word but in Arabic as sabr but in
English you have to have to understand 4 distinct attributes of sabr those are
patience, right, thats the most common translation, consistency, meaning youre
doing something, but you are doing it consistently- thats sabr, then constancy,
meaning no matter if its hard or difficult you are constant in your commitment,
and commitment finally- so youre constant and youre committed to whatever

that cause is. So they enjoined on each other and they did whatever they could
to encourage and counsel each other to remain constant. The other thing is bis
sabr could be haal al fael in other words what it could be - it is with
commitment that they keep counselling each other. So once again in simple
language ill say two things they counsel each other to patience and
perseverance and commitment, and it is with commitment and consistency that
they continuously counsel each other. These are the two implications of wa
tawasau bis sabr. Why as sabr ? Because this task of climbing this hill is
difficult isnt it? Thats already captured in the word al aqaba, so you might start
losing hope. So there has to be someone else who says, Come on come on, you
can do this. Little more to go, cmon you can handle it, well help each other. This
is tawasi bis sabr. Now in the passage thats the context of the aayaat, lets look
at one more thing the things that we are told that are the uphill climb among
the humanitarian causes why is it that the kuffaar were not inclined to do so?
because they were greedy they didnt have the patience, they did not have the
self-restraint to not take the wealth for themselves. taakuluna turaa ,la
tuhaabuna ala taamil miskeen. These were their problems so whats the
first thing they had to be told, patience. You have to be patient. And part of what
patience is, youve got to restrain the desires of yourself for the sake of another.
It takes sabr. So he becomes one of sabr really after he has iman. Then what
wa tawaasau bil marhama. Beautiful word. The word marhama does not just
mean mercy - that is the word Rahma. Rahma means mercy. They enjoined
each other, encouraged each other and counselled each other for the sake of,
you know, universal mercy. Marhama means mercy that goes in every
direction , meem masdari makes it powerful. Mercy for everyone and everything.
So what is the ultimate Mercy in this surah? It is Iman. Number one, that is the
ultimate mercy and if you have that mercy, now you have concern for humanity
and I want to tie these two things together inshallah hu taala. The decent human
being that is listening to this call for human concern is concerned about the
welfare of other people. Isnt that the case? Whats the ultimate welfare of
another human being? You fed him today and tomorrow and took care of him, but
what if he still ended up in the hell fire? What if he became from ashaabul
mashamma that is being mentioned at the end of this surah? That is not mercy
enough! What is real mercy? You take care of their needs today and you take
care of their needs for tomorrow. That day when some of them will be saying ya
laitani qaddamtu li hayyati, you give them for that day too- give them the food
they will need to survive then also. So that is marhama. Real mercy- its not just
immediate mercy it is also profound universal mercy that you encourage each
other to.
Ulaaika ashaabul maimana. Those are in fact the people on the far, well off to
the right ashaabal yameen? To the right. Ashaabul maimana? Far to the
right.Meaning they are safe from the center and tipping the other way. They
really are, and Safe, on the right path, Subhanallah! May Allah make us from
ashaabal Maimana. A beautiful contrast between this and the previous surahIn the previous surah we found wa jia youmaizzinnbi jahannamyouma izzin
yatazakkarul insaan wa anna lahu zikra yaqoolu ya laitani qaddamtu li hayaati fa

yauma izzila yuazzibu azaabahu ahad wa laa yuthiku wa thaakahu ahad and then
ya aiyatuhan nafsul mutmainna. Meaning the people of hell fire were mentioned
first and people of paradise were mentioned second. In this surah what
happens ? the reverse. The people of hell fire are mentioned second, but the
people of paradise are mentioned first theres a reversal. Similarly in the
previous surah we found in this surah rather we found the yateem first and the
miskeen second. In the previous surah its the opposite the miskeen first and
the yateem second. So theres this flipping of sequences between this surah and
the next. Also the end of that surah was jannah. And the end of this surah is
naar the hell fire. As we will see. Okay? So wallazeena kaffaru bi aayaatina
hum ashaabul mashamaa those who disbelieved in our miraculous signs,
disbelieved in our revelations there was no discussion of revelation in the whole
surah! Most of the surah was talking about al aqaba which was humanitarian
work, and then just little mention of iman, but then the problem, the root
problem of all of this is what? Kufr bi aayaatillah. Disbelief in the miraculous
signs of Allah. What are the aayaat of Allah? The Quraan. Kufr in the Quran
means kufr in the messenger of Allah(sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam) so actually
now we are getting the definition of iman in the previous surah. You know when
you think of iman, the first thing that comes to mind is iman in Allah. Iman in
Allah. But this surah is highlighting another iman- Iman in the revelations of
Allah. Iman in the revelations of Allah. Because the revelations of Allah is real
guidance to solving the problems of humanity- najdain. That guidance. So those
who disbelieve in the guidance, they are in kufr. They will fall,they will continue
to have fasaad in the land. So wallazeena kaffaru bi aayaatina, those who
disbelieved in our miraculous signs I commonly dont translate aayah as
verse. I dont translate it as verse because it has nothing to do with verse. The
word verse in English literature is either used for poetry, or its used in the
biblical context. Verses of the bible, or verses of poetry or verses of a song. The
Quraan emphatically declares that it has nothing to do with poetry. Its very
strong in saying wa ma alamnahu shaera wa ma huwa bi qauli shair Its very
strong in saying that. So I dont want an English listener to have even the
slightest, most subtle hint in their mind that it has something to do with verse.
As in poetry. The second thing the quran claims against -is - you know the claim
made against the quran was that it is plagiarised from the bible- so the last thing
you want people to think about when you talk about the quran is - the bible. The
bible always comes to mind when you think about verse... You know, verses of
the bible. A biblical connotation comes to mind! So when were translating, not
only do we have to be careful about the words, but the messages those words
send to the audience ,and what connotations they have. The word ayah in the
quran is two things, its a sign, and its a miracle. Two things. So I like the
translation miraculous sign wallahu aalam. Its used n the sense of the
miraculous birth of Isaa alaihis salam or the staff turning into a python, etc.
Aayah. Thats an aayah, okay? Revelation is called aayah. Something that points
to the oneness of Allah is also called an aayah so the creations of Allah are also
called aayaath, because they point to the oneness of Allah when you reflect on
them. So those who disbelieved in our miraculous signs bi aayaathina, hum
ashabul mashamma those are the people associated with the curse al

mashama, the overwhelming curse. Ashuoom in Arabic is to be vile to be

disgusting. You know, other people are disgusted with you and you are a source
of curse, people stay away from you. Also the word mashama means the left
side. Because the Arabs considered the left side the cursed side and thats
something that continued in the tradition of Islam for example in Tahara we use
the left and for good things we use the right and this is from the sunnah of the
messenger sallahu alaihi wa sallam. One last comment on wa kaffaru bi
aayaathina before we go further. What are the aayaath of Allah? There are two
kinds, essentially, There are two kinds. There is revelation and there is creation.
Revelation is Quran, and creation is all of creation. Now we talked about the
disbelief being in the revelation of Allah, Quran. But theres also kufr in the other
aayaath of Allah. Whats the other aayaath of Allah? The human being, and all
the other creation. Speaking of these aayaath Allah says sanureehim aayaathina
fil aafaaqi wa fi anfusihim hatta yatabayyana lahum anamul haq. We will show
them our miraculous signs in the horizons and even inside of themselves until it
is absolutely clear to them that this is the truth. So there are miraculous signs
inside of us if we reflect. And there are miraculous signs outside of us if we
reflect and then there are miraculous signs inside the revelation of Allah itself.
Are there miraculous signs of how Allah looks inside the psyche of a human being
in the beginning of the surah? And He tells the human being even what he is
thinking without even saying it? You know, it is one thing for the messenger of
Allah (s.a.w) to know what the person said. How is he going to know what the
person thinks? Ayahsabu ain yaqdaru alaihi ahad? Ayahsabu allam yaraaoo
ahad?..... Does he think no one will have control? Does he think no one saw him?
Now the person is thinking, nobodys going to control me - nobody saw me .
Allah tells him what hes even thinking! So theres a miraculous sign even inside
of his thought. Allah captured it inside of His revelation Subhanallah! Even that
they deny. So they are the ultimately cursed, they are refusing to reflect, theyre
refusing to think. Theyre refusing concern. So really thats the bottom line of this
surah from the previous one. The people who will have the easiest transition to
iman are people who are decent human beings, that are not engulfed in selfpleasure, have concern for humanity and that concern will lead them to the
ultimate concern, and thats iman. Thats the logic that is being presented here
in this surah beautifully. Finally, alaihim naarul musada and this is an
amazing balance of the quran- when Allah spoke of the people of the right hand,
He did not mention Jannah. Right? But when He spoke about the cursed people
He mentioned hell fire He added something for the people of the hell fire- Why?
The entire surah is essentially a surah of shiddah and tough words are used like
Asaabooni r.a. would say every surah has a jau- a climate. Every surah has a
climate. And the climate of this surah is very tough . It begins with la a tough
word. Then thers aqaba. Najdain. Iqtahama. The climate of this surah has a
lot of Shidddah in it. So even the people of paradise, a little is mentioned in it but
more is mentioned of the people of the hell fire. If you look at the previous surah,
what is given more emphasis? The ending emphasised more so the people of
paradise. So the balance between these two surahs has been reached. So Allah
says alaihim, it is exclusively and especially upon them, naarun musada- a fire
that has been sealed up- al waslu qatmu shai ila shai- Ibnil khaarij says. Wasl is

to seal something on top of it with another thing..au sadu qidr for example you
will say I placed the lid on the stew. You know when the stew starts boiling and
the steam starts coming out and you put a lid on it so the steam doesnt escape,
that is eesad. Allah says alaihim naarun mussada- Only upon them there will
be a fire completely covered. Meaning the heat doesnt escape. The heat of the
fire doesnt escape it goes and further intensifies what is inside. Subhanallah.
Similarly, an Arabic expression when you say awsad albaab, it means he locked
the door when there were no other escapes either- like if a room had windows
you could get out of, then you wont say ausad albaab. Youll just say armaq
alabbab or galaq albaab, right? But you wont say ausad. Ausad is when there is
no other escape, right, so Allah says alaihim naarun musada- upon them
exclusively is the fire from which there is no escape, Subhanallah. Now I would
like to Inshallah taala conclude with some commentary from , some glimpses of
commentary from fatheh salehas son Irahi rahimallah who consistently connects
the beginnings and conclusions of surahs and talks about the intricate
relationship between them. He argues - in the beginning of the surah we found
laqad qalaqnal insaana fi kabad - No doubt we created the human being in
toil. But that toil is for this duniya and if he doesnt do the right thing theres a
far worse toil coming at the end, so the surah ends alaihim naarun musada.
It ties the toil of this world, if you dont do the right kind of toil, youll end up with
much worse toil in the end which is closed off and will only get worse and worse
and worse. May Allah azzawajal protect us from the flame of the fire may Allah
azzawa jal enter us directly into jannah and not even have to see a whiff or draft
of the hell fire. Barakallahu li wa lakum fi quran alhakeem wa nafaani wa
iyyakum bil aayaathi wa zikril hakeem. Asslam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa
barakaatuhu.