4th Juz, Surah Ale-Imran, verse no. 92. There was a sahaba, Syeddina Abu Talha (r.

a), and he came to

the Prophet (s.a.w) before this verse and he said that my favorite thing that I own is a particular
orchard that I have which is near this well called Ha-Beereha (beer in Arabic means well) and he said
I want to give in the path of Allah (s.w.t) that which I love the most so he gave this and the Prophet
(s.a.w) told him that you should distribute it amongst your relatives. When he made the niyat to give
sadaqah, he said that it’s better for you to give it between your relatives because you will get more
sawaab, double sawaab – one for sadaqah (charity) and the second for taking care of relatives. So
the occasion of this revelation is mentioned in a hadith in Bukhari. Then Allah (s.w.t) revealed this
verse. This is also the shaan of the sahabah that they would make an amal and Allah (s.w.t) will make
the ikhlas and miyaar of that amal a pattern and model for all of humanity, all the ummah. So Allah
(s.w.t) says that you will never have attained proper, true, deep piety until you spent that fortune
from your wealth that you love. This is part of the adaab of giving in the path of Allah (s.w.t). It
means to give what hurts you to give, what you don’t want to give, what you would rather have
loved to keep for yourself, which you would have loved to enjoy for yourself. And this can mean
money, time, strength, choice of profession, choice of career, and choice of what a person would do.
This is extrapolating the lesson in this ayah to anything since in the ayah it means money (what you
can spend).
Verse 93 is an answer to a question. Some of the Jews came to the Prophet (s.a.w) to ask that ok,
you claim to Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s) but he never ate the meat of a camel nor did he ever drink the milk
of a camel and you do both so you are not really following him. What happened was that it was
lawful for Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s) and even Hazrat Musa (a.s) but the reason the Jews were confused
that it wasn’t lawful was because once Hazrat Yaqub (a.s) was ill and he made an oath to Allah (s.w.t)
that if you cure me of this illness then I will stop eating that which I love the most. And Allah (s.w.t)
did cure him of that illness and he fulfilled his pledge and he stopped eating the meat of a camel and
stopped drinking the milk of a camel. Even then, this was not meant to be a religious injunction for
his community, this was just his zaati amal (personal matter and affair). And here you also get an
ishara from Quran; some Muslim jurists were of the opinion that eating the meat of a camel breaks
your wuzu and there were some suggestions that there was some impurity related to that. That is
the view of Imam Shafi. However, Imam Abu Hanifa is of the opinion that eating camel meat does
not affect your wuzu in any way and one of the daleels is this ayah that not only was this lawful for
Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s), it was also one of the beloved things of Hazrat Yaqub (a.s). Israel (mentioned in
verse) is the name of Hazrat Yaqub (a.s) and everything was made halal on his community and
progeny except that which he made haram on his own nafs, even before the Torah was revealed.
Then Allah (s.w.t) challenges that say my Beloved Prophet (s.a.w) to bring the Torah and see if it’s
written in it that Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s) didn’t eat camel meat and recite those verses which contain it
if you are people of the truth (it won’t be written in the Torah). Every person who attributes a lie to
Allah (s.w.t) after this (these ayat are revealed) are unjust transgressors – this could apply to any
Muslim today too if they deliberately falsify the teachings of the Quran or they attribute a lie to Allah
(s.w.t) or they say sometimes that Allah (s.w.t) or the Prophet (s.a.w) did not say any such thing on
the basis of their nafs instead of after reading the Quran because in reality it is their nafs that cannot
accept such type of behavior so they should say that I cannot accept instead of saying that there is
no such thing in deen. Then He said to the Prophet (s.a.w) and all the sahabah and his ummat (plural
used) that you should follow the true millat of Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s) which was hanif (discussed
before).
Now verse 96 onwards, Allah (s.w.t) is going to talk about Makkah Mukarramah. First of all, this is
part of Millat-e-Ibrahim. Some of the Jews were saying that you left bayt-ul-muqadas for the Ka’abah
whereas the former is the superior qiblah. Allah (s.w.t) is saying, number one, that all of you have
seen Hazrat Ibrahim (a.s) and his son reconstructed the Ka’abah so that is the Ibrahimi way. Then all
of saw that he made a dua to send a prophet and community to make that place a place of aman
and so Allah (s.w.t) sets the rights of worship for the Ka’abah. According to some commentators,
even before Hazrat Adam (a.s) made the Ka’abah, the very first drop of the universe fashioned by
Allah (s.w.t) was that matter or that point in space and time where the Ka’abah exists. So that’s a
new big bang theory that it did not occur billions and billions of light years away but the bang
occurred in the Ka’abah and maybe it expanded matter out and then for eons and eons the matter
coalesced and formed the planet Earth. Second thing that they say is the place above the Ka’abah,
called the bayt-al-mamoor, the place where the angels make dua and on top of that is the arsh of
Allah (s.w.t). These three things are in a column- Ka’abah (the baytullah on earth), bayt-al-mamoor
in the angelic realm and arshullah in Allah (s.w.t)’s realm. A planetarium in Washington D.C shows a
show of stars and then they tell you things about stars and at one point they speed up and show you
how the stars are actually moving, whole galaxies are moving, not just the earth and planets around
the sun but the whole solar system is moving, the galaxy is moving and then when they speed it up,
you could see clearly that there was one white light which wasn’t moving and then they highlighted
that and said that is one star that doesn’t move and all the galaxies were orbiting around that central
point counter-clockwise. So our shaykh said that the whole world is doing tawaaf, the entire
universe is doing tawaaf around this column. The column is baytullah on earth (Ka’abah), that star,
the bayt-al-mamoor and on top the arsh of Allah (s.w.t). That is the column of the tajalliyat of Allah
(s.w.t), means that His relation to His creation is one in which you have divine manifestations. So it
means that the superiority of the Ka’abah is because it is primordial, it’s the very first abode placed
for humanity. About the word Bakkah commentators have written in detail about the possibilities of
its meaning. One thing is that the whole greater valley is known as Makkah Mukarammah and that
particular point where the Ka’abah is was known as bakkah. Some have suggested that in Arabic
language sometimes you can replace a meem with a baa. Others have said that Makkah is being
referred to as Bakkah here because the word literally means where things are broken, where all
other strengths and powers are shattered as this is the center of the tajalliyat and power of Allah
(s.w.t) so all other powers of ghairullah are shattered against this column of power. Then there
comes the very important concept of barakah in our deen. It is unseen and the closest thing to it in
English is blessing. So it’s a place that is blessed and it’s a place of hidayah, guidance for all of the
universe and humanity. Some feel that the tajalliyat of Allah’s rehmat and hidayat come down on
the baytullah and then dispersed from there. The fihi can mean in Bakkah, in baytullah, in Ka’abah
(primarily it means that) or it can mean in that act of making Makkah Mukarramah. There are clear
signs such as the makaam-e-Ibrahim. One way the commentators see it as a sign is that you see the
footprints even today when normally if you step on a stone your footprints aren’t left on it so the
fact that his footprints are on that stone is a clear miracle. But the word used in Quran is plural so
there are many features there such as the well of zamzam, the water of zamzam itself flowing for so
many years, the place called meezab-e-rehmat which is the fountain of the mercy of Allah (s.w.t)
which is rain spout on the top of the Ka’abah (anyone passing underneath it can make a niyat that
they are passing under the ocean of the mercy of Allah (s.w.t)), saffa, marwa, baab-e-Ka’abah. The
next part refers to any person who enters the sacred precincts of Masjid al-Haram (called so because
many things are prohibited inside such as hunting) or it means that when you enter you will have
aman, peace in your heart, your iman will come to life, you will have sukoon and itminaan inside.
Sometimes this phrase can be used to enter something in deen, for example it could be used for the
masjid that whosoever enters it will have aman or entering sirat-al-mustakeem. Laam is ikhtesaas,
exclusively for the sake of Allah (s.w.t). The ala comes for luzoom so it is mandatory upon humanity
to do Hajj of the bayt. This is obviously true for those who enter Islam but to be human means to
love the Ka’abah, to make a pilgrimage to the Ka’abah. This is Quranic humanity. So it is mandatory
for humanity if they have the means to take a path that will lead them to pilgrimage. This is the
incredible importance of Hajj. Requirements: you must be mature (after puberty), must have
financial aids to make that journey, must have financial means to support yourself for the duration
of the journey, must have financial means to return to your home from the journey, must have the
financial means that your family members or anybody who the shariah has placed under your
responsibility for financial care or anyone that you have taken upon yourself to do their financial
care all can be taken care of during the entirety of your journey, physical ability to either be able to
perform that journey on yourself or if you have the financial means to hire somebody as your
caretaker or wheelchair driver or any level of khidmat that you may need. All this falls under
istedaad. However, the more spiritual commentators have also added not as a condition for making
Hajj obligatory but in a condition for preparation that a person should also make spiritual provisions
for this journey and a person should prepare to understand how to live that journey. Go at least
after reading a basic book or manual or going to a basic talk on Hajj. Another extremely important
thing is that Hajj is farz but you only get one shot. For example, if you mess up a farz fajr namaz you
get a chance again tomorrow. Farz Hajj however is just once, if you go again that is nafl. You can’t
even make niyat that I did this Hajj better so let it replace the first one; you can only hope that you
get enough sawaab for this that it may compensate for the ghaflat in the first one. Another thing
about Hajj is that many people ask that when does it become farz. It becomes farz, irrespective of
whether you have money and you are saving it for children’s wedding, education or building house,
if you have the money, Hajj is farz. It doesn’t matter what you would want to reserve the money for
in your mind. Mere possession is enough to make it farz. Second question asked is if it is farz, is it
compulsory to go immediately. Scholars have written a lot in two ways – pure academic discourse
and communication to the masses because they are trying to incentivize their behavior. Technically
speaking, it is not farz to go that very year or that very moment but it extremely and strongly
recommended that you do indeed go as soon as it is farz on you before you get into all types of
thorny issues. So you should only delay for an extremely strong reason for example pregnancy or
new-born baby or student can’t take leave from university (as is the case in our un-Islamic education
system where debating competition is considered important but Hajj isn’t a good enough reason to
take leave) could be considered as strong reasons but not something that will delay for more than
one or two years. The person who rejects that Hajj is farz or the person who denies to go even
having financial means is no longer a believer. Don’t think Allah (s.w.t) needed your Hajj; He is
completely independent from all of the things in the universe.
Then another series of ayat begins, starting with ‘say My Messenger (s.a.w) to the ahl-e-kitaab’. He
stands witness over each and every thing that you do. The people of the Book would prevent that
person who believes not only from going on Hajj, they would prevent from the way that leads to
Allah (s.w.t), deen of Islam, sirat-al-mustakeem. You wish that that path should have iwaja in it; it
should be disputed, crooked, confused. So there is a true path to Allah (s.w.t) and you want to create
crookedness in it. This happens today too when the people of the Book try to confuse the believers
on the path of Allah (s.w.t) .The shaan-e-nuzool of this is- before the Prophet (s.a.w) migrated to
Madinah, the people who were living there and the two tribes of Aus and Khazraj were constantly
fighting one another and then the course of their battles was generations old. There was a tradition
in the Arabian Peninsula where poets would write about these battles, reminiscing about the heroes
who fought or died in them. After hijrah, the two tribes became brothers and lived in complete
peace with one another. There was a Jew Shasha bin Kais and he was really upset about this. Like
many evil doers, he wasn’t bold enough to go himself, so he hired or maybe told a young man to go
sit in some gathering of sahabah in which there are members from both clans and start reciting
some of that poetry. When he was doing that the people’s passion starting waking up again since
they were people of oral, literary tradition so oral poetry moved them a lot. There were two of them
(names mentioned in tafseer, I won’t mention) who got a bit extra sparked and started scuffling.
Then something must have happened and the others started fighting too. The Prophet (s.a.w) came
to know and then he came and brought with him a group of muhajireen sahabah and told them
what you are doing. The second he came and said so, they started crying and made taubah and
started hugging one another and then Allah (s.w.t) revealed these ayats. (Translation) We should
feel the same way that how come we disbelieve when the verses of Quran are recited from our
masajid, by our teachers, around us, available for us to recite. And we have with us the sunnah and
hadith of the Prophet (s.a.w). Then Allah (s.w.t) explains to them that the person who holds fast to
Allah (s.w.t), such a person has indeed been guided to the straight path. So hold fast to Allah (s.w.t)
to be guided. And fear Allah (s.w.t) as is His right to be feared, as He deserves to be feared, as is His
stature and esteem. Fear, know and love Allah (s.w.t) as He deserves. Be aware and conscious of
Allah (s.w.t) as is His might and majesty and the fact that he is Al-baseer, As-samii, Al-azeem. And be
always in a state of zikr. Your very imaan depends on taqwa, if you leave it you are in danger of going
in a state where death overcomes you and you are not in imaan. There are two levels – direct
(person who holds fast to Allah (s.w.t)) and indirect (person who grabs the rope of Allah (s.w.t)
which is the sabab). Best way to explain by going to Imam Ghazali and he writes in his autobiography
(the deliverance from error) that he had two spiritual crisis – one was about Allah (s.w.t) and he
resolved that directly, he turned to Allah (s.w.t) who cast a noor into his heart and he became
absolute certain that He existed but after this first step (absolute belief in Allah and to accept
siratalmustakeem, to enter upon it), he now had to travel siratalmustakeem. He looked at the
different seekers of truth, the four categories of people who were seeking Allah (s.w.t) and he
concluded in that book that the people of tasawwuf (spirituality and sincerity) of his time were the
greatest and so he grabbed on to them. So that is one way of grabbing the rope but you also need to
have a sabab to hold on to Allah (s.w.t). We need to grab strongly to Allah (s.w.t) and that is as
strongly that we need to hold on to the rope of Allah (s.w.t), the sabab and we should grasp them
together. Then comes that Allah (s.w.t) blessed you, put love in your hearts, made you brotherly
companions and saved you from hellfire so do not go back to being enemies and don’t divide up
(into Aus and Khazraj – fighting tribes) again. The original thing in this ayah is that don’t become the
way you were unbelievers. So the sectarianism being referred to is that which occurs when a person
is unbeliever. Some people use this ayah on one another based on scholarly differences. To keep it
simple, there are 3 types of differences that can take place among people who read and understand
and believe in Quran and acknowledge the Prophet (s.a.w) to be the last and final messenger and
prophet. 1. Theological differences – different views in aqeedah. That would fall under the ruling of
this verse and will be called firqa. Do not fall into it. 2. Political differences – so don’t divide the
ummah in terms of politics. They should be united in how they feel the affairs of this world should be
managed and governed and how relations with non-Muslims should treated, negotiated, enacted
and managed. Not just politics but we should say affairs of this world (muamulaat). This has
questions of economy, society, polity and basically the social sciences. Here also Allah (s.w.t) wants
that there should not be differences in terms of antagonisms but when the ummah spreads so vastly
to cover different cultures and civilizations, they may find different ways to manage their polity,
economy and society according to the teachings of Islam. That’s why when you had the vast Islamic
empire under a khalifah, that khalifah was just a nominal figure head for many centuries. And the
real powers of decisions and governance (questions of polity, economy and society) were with the
local rulers, the ameer within that empire. It was just matters of, perhaps, defense and finance were
under the khalifah but in fact we had, in today’s term, devolution of power. 3. Scholarly differences –
those that are not theological in nature. They are not in any way intended here and they are not
viewed as taffaruq or as sectarianism. For example, we have seen that sometimes scholars of tafseer
have different views regarding the meaning and interpretation of a verse. (An example of Bakkah
mentioned today) There is no intent by Allah (s.w.t) saying that all mufasireen should unite on one
view. Let’s take hadith. Imam Muslim was a student of Imam Bukhari and he writes in the
introduction of his sahih severely critiquing Imam Bukhari in one issue of hadith sciences. It would be
ludicrous to say he is creating tafarruq. This is the realm of education and academic sciences. Just
like that in ijtihad and fiqh. Imam Abu Hanifa and those scholars of ijtihad who have followed him;
Imam Malik and those scholars of ijtihad who have followed him; Imam Shafi and those scholars of
ijtihad who have followed him; Imam Ahlal bin Humbal and those scholars of ijtihad who opted for
his usool and some who developed and applied his usool are not engaging in firqa. It’s very
unfortunate that some people and foundations say that this is firqawariand we are going to follow
just hadith. Every one following these Imams follows hadith. It’s a slander to suggest otherwise. It’s
also a misrepresentation of the hadith and sunnah of the Prophet (s.a.w) that it always leads to one
answer and so ijtihad would be false. At other end of spectrum are reformists and modernists who
take advantage of the plurality of opinion and the way they confuse you is by saying this is not 100%
agreed upon so you don’t have to do it. That way is also not allowed. How do you know whom to
follow in scholastic decisions? Some simple tips – you want to follow the knowledge based approach
to Islamic scholarship and you do not want to follow the ideology based approach. Former says you
must follow ilm, knowledge and those who have it. Latter says you should follow aqal, read and
listen and then think on the basis of your own aqal. This would not work in any system in the world.
For example, in engineering, I cannot read a few books and design a build. We would rather defer to
the ahl-e-ilm, people who have knowledge of the field. Ilm which has aqal should be followed over
that aqal which has no ilm. A lot of people apply aqal to Quran but they do not have ilm of Quran,
tafseer, sunnah and you can’t get that ilm in a one or two year diploma course. It’s a great injustice
to Quran that students of Quran suddenly become teachers of Quran. In every field, the criterion for
student and teachers is different. A second year student is not allowed to teach first year. A diploma
in Quran is not enough to do a daura-e-tafseer next year. Every system has a gap between the
knowledge a person has and the knowledge he is teaching. Just on the basis of this course, none of
you is qualified to teach this course. It is unfortunate if an institution says that on the basis of us
teaching you Quran, you can teach Quran. Quran does not need such khidmat. Its wide-spreading
should be done properly. For example we need more primary education in Pakistan but that doesn’t
mean I would hire 5th graders to teach primary; we will still hire qualified teachers for teaching
primary. Second thing that you have to look at is that the knowledge based approach suggests that
you must read, research, study and discuss with multiple teachers and students and then you can
arrive at your scholarly opinion. The ideology based approach says that first I will establish my
ideology and then I will go and research anything that will support it so I can get some nice footnotes
for my ideological pamphlet and when you see that pamphlet you will get impressed that they are
providing evidence for what they say. So read first, decide later. Third, knowledge based approach
says that there may be other scholarly opinions that may be valid. After going through this process
of ilm, reading and researching, there may be that the vast amount of Islamic learning may result in
different scholarly positions. The ideology based approach says it’s only me, I am right and others are
wrong. Forth difference is that the knowledge based approach says (bit tricky) that do not disagree
with something until you understand it. Ideology based approach says that do not agree with
something until you understand it. Take example of hadith- ideology based approach would say
don’t agree to hadith until you understand it, with its authenticity until you understand the process
by which it was declared authentic. Then all of you would have to instantly stop believing in hadith
because you have not studied the history, compilation and fabrications that took place in hadith or
the sciences of hadith evaluation and criticism. Knowledge based approach would say that if you
want to leave hadith, first study it – know the muhaditeen and their work and methods and
accomplishments. If you disagree after knowing it then you can leave it. The same is true of fiqh.
Don’t disagree with any school of fiqh unitl you have understood it. And understanding is not one
line, hadith or pamphlet; it requires years and years of study. The knowledge based approach
creates a person of aitemaad, who has trust and dependence called ahl-al-sunnah wal jama’at; the
people who accept their tafseer from the mufasireen, accept hadith and its interpretations from the
muhaditeen and accept legal rulings from the fuqaha and mujtahideen without discrediting any
single one of them. Even if they follow Imam Muslim, they still love Imam Shafi and consider his
interpretation valid. Last thing is that the knowledge based approach takes a long while the other is
really quick. I can make an ideological person in one hour; to make an alim would take years. So
unfortunately, in the upper elite class of this country,( who come to Islam later) in their academic
years because of their sincerity and enthusiasm they go to the quick approach, it appeals to them
more (quick understanding – it is not the realm of proper classical islamic learning). So follow
scholars who are following the knowledge based approach. In terms of theological differences, I
have no qualms that Sunni Islam is the correct Islam. As far as political differences go, the Muslim
ummah is not in a position yet to manage their polity, economy and society so you need to first
engage in capacity building. This was important because the issue of why there are differences
perplexes many. Be what Allah (s.w.t) wants you to be instead of analysing; and what is that? Invite
people to khair; enjoin and command the good, proper and virtuous and instil, install and establish
it; discourage people (and is possible prevent/ design system to prevent) from falsehood, evil, lies
and abomination. Don’t split into sects; dispute and disagree with one another (this applies to
unbelievers - DO NOT confuse). Proof: azaab-un-azeem comes in Quran only for disbelievers. This is
talking about ahl-e-kitaab who split into Jews and Christians and they disagree with one another
even after these clear ayat have come to them and the Quran can settle the disagreement. It is a
grave sin to use this ayah on people of scholarly difference. This ayah also has indication that Allah
(s.w.t) realizes that not everyone from this ummah will be able to carry the prophetic mission. Here
Allah (s.w.t) is guiding that when the Prophet (s.a.w) passes away, there is going to be a group that
will do dawah. This is no particular, discernible group mentioned and a general ummah/group
mentioned so no single group can say that they alone are this group mentioned in Quran. There are
always multiple ways of doing dawah – ilm, teaching Quran and hadith, giving lectures on
spirituality, travelling and meeting communities for the sake of Allah (s.w.t). There should be a whole
community of people doing dawah. The interesting thing is that the first thing mentioned is that they
have to invite to khair. Only after they have been given the invitation can they be commanded to do
well. This is another mistake people make – directly commanding to do well. The tarteeb is
important. In other words, you must work on their hearts and when their heart is connected to Allah
(s.w.t), which is khair. Then you can enjoin them on action. Certain people ask that how should I
work on my family or friend. You have to try to bring them to those feelings that cause a person to
pray instead of commanding to pray. You have to bring those emotions that lead to action. None of
us came directly to action without emotion. That emotion is khair. So first thing is to bring them to
feelings if Islam, make them feel that imaan, that love for Allah (s.w.t). It’s very easy to tell a lover of
Allah (s.w.t) to pray but if they are not a lover, you can exceed permissible bounds and still you
won’t able to make them pray, not from the heart. Second, a very important aspect of deen and part
of dawah (cannot leave it out from dawah) is also mentioned in hadith: The Prophet (s.a.w) said an
individual of a group does sin and other members of that group could have prevented them from
doing that sin and they didn’t do so then Allah Ta’ala will send a punishment on those members of
the group in this world (Abu Dawood). This hadith is for believers. First meaning could be that when
the two sahabah were fighting, the other ansar were just watching whereas they should have
helped/interceded. This applies to family also, if a child falls into sin and the other siblings or parents
have the ability at least to prevent that child from sin (maybe not bring to taqwa) and they don’t do
so, they will be inflicted with a punishment in this world. Many people don’t realize that their illness
at 50 is because they didn’t raise their child on deen (a possibility – Allah (s.w.t) sends illness for
many reasons so the converse in not necessarily true). One cause of this punishment could be that
you don’t eradicate and erase evil from your society and that in itself is a punishment – a society
with crime, injustice, poverty, unfair class manipulation. You could have eradicated these things with
your own hands according to teachings of Quran and sunnah but you didn’t. There are many types of
punishment. Means that Allah (s.w.t) wants us to realize, attain and make that khair permanent on
us. Many of you have heard the hadith that if you can change something with your hand, change it
with your hand means if you can actually enact change, enact it. If you are the head of an
organization and can actually change things done wrong then do it or you are liable. If you can’t
enact to change it then change it with your tongue means speak against it, cry out against it, protest
against it. And if you can’t even do that then at least in your qalb feel love for the maaruf, feel dislike
(karahat) to the vices in you or around you (never desensitize yourself). For example, every time you
see the Citibank bill board, feel sad. That’s the least of the vices in this society. And in your heart also
means that make dua to Allah (s.w.t). Islam doesn’t teach the religious person to sit and pass
comments; it teaches you to feel sad and make dua and to think of any ways you can help change
things. And do it first by showing them the khair, beauty and wonder in deen and invite them to
that. The qalb will come on the wajh – if there is imaan in the heart then the person’s face will be
white (not skin color- Islam not racial), it means whiteness, brightness of noor and darkness of zulm.
Some faces will be made char-grilled, not skin colour, because of the zulm and oppression of their
disbelief. Taste that very azaab that you disbelieved - said there is no hellfire, face it. Look at the
kalaam of Allah (s.w.t), His address to that person-you mocked me, you were sarcastic, you mocked
the believers, you spoke like that on this Earth. The disbelief is sabab for the azab or by means of
that which you continually disbelieved. Allah (s.w.t) could have said jannah directly as reward for
people with noor on their faces but even if He says jannah as a mercy from Him, it’s a feeling that He
wants to put that they will be existing and drowning in the mercy of Allah (s.w.t) which is even better
than being in a physical abode called jannah. Allah (s.w.t) wants all of the alameen to operate justly.
This is also mentions to the ahl-e-kitaab that Islam is not itself a new firqal; this is continuity to the
single path called siratulmustameen; the single path of all the anbiya, wahi and scriptures. For us,
you should be and can be (for sahabah, you are) the best ummah brought forth for humanity.
Obviously, the Prophet (s.a.w) is the best nabi so his ummah the potential and at least in his life was
the best ummah. This verse is again showing that the sahabah were the best ummha for all of
humanity. And they were best because you enjoined virtue upon humanity; saved and protected
them from deprivation and you did all of this in a state of belief in Allah (s.w.t). So the west thinks
that they have the greatest system for humanity with democracy and a single power can spread it
all; Quran says the exact same thing that this is the best way and this needs to be the super power
and needs to spread a form of justice for humanity. The imaan would have been better for them
which has been revealed to the Prophet (s.a.w) and amongst them there will be people. So here
Allah (s.w.t) is telling first to the Prophet (s.a.w) that there will be people who will accept imaan and
second to ahl-e-kitaab that there will be people from you who will come this way; telling the priests
and rabbis who prevent people from accepting Islam that there will be people from you. However,
the vast majority of them will be rebellious and there are such even to this day the majority of Jews
and Christians have not accepted Islam. Allah (s.w.t) is telling the Prophet (s.a.w) and sahabah that
they will not be able to harm you except a slight, small harm. (The word comes for nakra or takleel).
In the eyes of Allah (s.w.t), they can’t take your imaan. They cannot take any of our countries and
make us unbelievers so the real harm they can’t cause. They can give us a particular harm localized
in time, maybe conquest, aggression, occupational or invasion. This means that if you, the khair-e-
ummah (if you are part of it or trying to do those things), then if they fight you, they will spurn, they
will turn on their backs. This is when they fight true momineen. Many Jews and Christians accept
Islam by blessings of Allah (s.w.t) – through some group of dawah or under the zimmi status. This
doesn’t mean that they are going to be the poorest countries or financial poverty, it means
wretchedness. The reason for this is because they denied the verses of revelation sent by Allah
(s.w.t) and they killed the prophets without justice and because of each and every matter in which
they disobeyed and transgressed the limits. However, after all this, Allah (s.w.t) mentions because
He doesn’t want to close the door on them and says that they are not all the same and from
amongst them, there will be a group that is steadfast on truth and they recite the verses of
revelation from Allah (s.w.t) throughout the night and they are making prostration to Allah (s.w.t)
and they believe in Allah (s.w.t) and akhira and they also enjoin what is virtuous and prevent from
what is evil and do good deeds - these are the people who converted to Islam. Some commentators
have also said that Allah (s.w.t) is describing the qualities that the ahl-e-kitaab have before accepting
Islam. In reality, there were some Jews and Christians who had all these qualities and they were then
guided by Allah (s.w.t). Allah (s.w.t) is telling them that don’t think that if you accept Islam, all the
good deeds that you did as Jew or Christian will be void; no, whatever you did of khair, because you
accept Islam, all will count. So if you thought Christianity was correct and you went to church every
Sunday and then you accept Islam, Allah (s.w.t) will reward you for all those Sunday churches. Allah
(s.w.t) knows who really fear Him in his heart and have taqwa so the God-fearing Jews and Christians
will be given hidayah and taufeeq to accept Islam. There are many stories of certain sahabah who
were formerly Jews and Christians and you will find a common theme in them that they were good
people, feared Allah (s.w.t), wanted to do good and stay away from evil and when they discovered
that Prophet (s.a.w) was a prophet, they realized the right thing to do was accept him and they
condemned there other Jews and Christians who were preventing them from accepting. Now the
example of those unbelievers who die at unbelief, what will happen to their deeds that they did in
this world and specifically Allah (s.w.t) is mentioning, using contemporary English term, the
philanthropy and charity of disbelievers will be rewarded in this world? So maybe they gave million
dollars in poverty, Allah (s.w.t) gave them a happy married life or no heart attack or other blessings
in this world. And that makes sense because they did it for this world as they don’t believe in Allah
(s.w.t) or after-life. An atheist doing charity is not doing so for anything in the hereafter. The deeds
are like, literal meaning, wind which has ice in it- a cold blizzard or a wind chill, cold currents of wind
which reaches the crops or fields of a particular nation or community who were wronging their own
selves by adopting kufr. The wind completely destroys their crop or the kaum. So they had vast fields
of good deeds but when they die, it’s like the cold wind which eradicates their crops and they stand
in front of Allah (s.w.t) alone, having done nothing for His sake, nothing in His name and having no
belief in Him. Allah (s.w.t) says and don’t think He is being unjust to them – He is anticipating what
the secular mind will think. They themselves lost the reward in the akhirah by choosing to adopt kufr
and disbelieve in the akhirah. Addressing the believers says don’t take as intimate (nijji) confidants
or friends other than your fellow believers because they will not fail to ruin you. Having intimate
confidants from outside the believers will certainly result in some type of ruin. The hatred they
harbour for you in their hearts is greater than what they say – this is a general ayah too, this is
human nature. If somebody says one sentence bad for you, it means what they harbour for you in
their heart is much more intense and even now more generally that what is in the sadr is what is
more than in the tongue because expressions are connected to emotions and the expression that is
born of an emotion is less intense than the emotion itself. So if they said one kalma of hasd, their
shar (as comes later in Quran) is the extreme evil they have. You should see, you are those people
who love them and they don’t love you. Clearly Allah (s.w.t) is saying that they will be disloyal to you.
And you love them is such a way that you actually believe in the book- you can relate this to two
things. First relation, ahl-e-kitaab should have actually loved because you believe in the entire
scriptures but they still don’t love you. Second, you love them even though you believe in the whole
book. This can mean that you read these warnings that you shouldn’t love them or if you really know
and believe the book, you will be so overwhelmed by the Quran that you will love those people who
also believed in this book. (Say about Quran, jo tera nahin woh mera nahin). How could you love
them when they denied the whole Quran? Allah (s.w.t) shows more of their deception- when they
show you they say we believe and when they go into seclusion, become alone they, literally, bite
their fingertips in spite and due to their anger and rage and they worry that how can we get rid of
these people. That’s hasd. Allah (s.w.t) says that if any good thing should happen to you, it vexes
them, gets them really angry and if hardship and evil befalls you, they rejoice. You should have sabr,
endure and have patience and fear Allah (s.w.t). So this is a general lesson for all of us, anybody who
feels at any point that the Muslims are threatened or inflicted, Allah (s.w.t) is saying here that
forming love and bonds with them is not going to work, what’s going to work is sabr and taqwa and
Allah (s.w.t) is going to handle them. Now Allah (s.w.t) is saying to the Prophet (s.a.w) when you set
forth in the morning from your family to brief the believers on the position that they should take up
and battler, Allah (s.w.t) is all-listening. Here it’s ijma of all muhadiseen and muhariqeen that the
house that the Prophet (s.a.w) exited from was the house of Syeddina Ayiesha (ra) and this also an
establishment in Quran that she is the ahl of the Prophet (s.a.w) and ahl acutally refers to all of the
ummahat-ul-momineen, all the azwajeh mutaharaat, all the noble wives of the Prophet (s.a.w) and
his progeny as well. Now battle of badr and uhud are mentioned. First of all, they ayah is going to
remind the sahabah of battle of badr but then it’s going to have more mention of battle of uhud. Just
so you remember, the Prophet (s.a.w) and sahabah lived in Makkah Mukarramah for 13 years, last
two years they were faced with boycott and encircled in a particular valley, then they migrated to
Madinah Munawarah and there, in the second year of hijrah, battle of badr took place in which the
mushriqeen sent their armed forces to kill, slay the Prophet (s.a.w) and eradicate Islam from the face
of this earth, the sahabah karaam were victorious and the story of that victory is coming next. 70
disbelievers were killed in this battle and 70 taken captive and then ransomed and the money
earned was used to make the Muslims stronger in case they need to defend themselves again. In 3 rd
hijri, month of Shawwal, the unbelievers again marched to try to battle Islam and they came
extremely equipped and armed and 3000 in number. When the Prophet (s.a.w) heard, to be
accurate in history, he himself felt that we don’t need to march out like we did in battle of badr and
meet them; we will defend from right here in Madinah and he had seen some dream (some of the
books of tafseer mention) that suggested as well that this was better.. Many other sahabah also had
the same opinion. It so happened that Abdullah bin Obay, the leader of the munafiqon, also gave the
same opinion but for the wrong reasons. However, some sahabah who had not been sahabah at
badr wanted to go out and they were upset that how dare these people think they can march out
against us and they felt that we should march out to display our strength, to show that we are
strong, let them not be emboldened; we may think that we are staying here to fortify our defences
at home but they may think we are scared and part of military strategy is emotions, confidence (any
of you who has played competitive sports should also know) and part is how you view your
competitor (if you think you are going to win, sometimes those emotions turn the tide of the battle);
so this was their military strategy. The Prophet (s.a.w) listened to their views and told his own and
eventually decided that we will march forth. He went home and put on his, not really armour, libas
of jihad, whatever armour or things he had, maybe a belt to hold cover for sword, maybe a shield
and came out closed in it. It wasn’t like the all metal armour they had later in medieval Europe.
Some sahabad tried again and not in a bad way as they kept going around as to what is the best
strategy. So that group who genuinely felt that it was better to stay back tried again and then he told
them that it doesn’t befit a prophet that once he has strapped on his armour with the niyat to go
forth in the path of Allah (s.w.t) to turn back. Imagine that. Sahabah then went forth in 1000
number. When they started going a little bit away, Abdullah bin Obay said we should stay back, this
is a mistake and 300 stayed back, all munafiqon. This happened during the very small journey from
Madinah Munawwarah to uhud. Think about it, when you stay back, you are trying to say that this
strategy is going to unsuccessful. This establishes nifaq (two-faced, sometimes so much that you
cannot make a single, manifest decision) since if you love the Prophet (s.a.w) you would say that I
should better be there to defend him because he is leading an army in a way that according to my
military strategy is not successful. Second, if you think that it’s unsuccessful, then you are saying that
the sahabah will be shaheed and the Prophet (s.a.w) may be shaheed then how could you turn back.
I am trying to illustrate for you how enormously horrible a feeling a munafiq has- only he can make
such a decision. Some people try to make ilzam on sahabah that those whose military strategy was
different, they stayed back. The sahabah would never do that even if they genuinely thought it was a
better strategy. Try to separate the two groups here. The sahabah went with the Prophet (s.a.w) and
the munafiqon stayed back. Now they were 700 and there were two groups form these who were
worried and intended to leave or fly, maybe dessert. These were two tribes of the Ansar, the Banu
Salama and Banu Harisa. These were not munafiqon, they just grew a bit hesitant, and they just got
a bit scared that now we are only 700 against 3000. So there resolve was weakened. But Allah (s.w.t)
protected them and put in there heart and firmness and resolve so they remained in that 700 and
they continued the march with the Prophet (s.a.w). When they went to the battle field of uhud, they
set up their battle lines such that the mountain of uhud was on their back but there was a pass of
the mountain and there was a little hill that guards the path. So the Prophet (s.a.w) made Syeddina
Abdullah bin Jubair (ra) in charge of that pass and gave him a contingent of 50 archers and there job
was to protect anyone from encircling around and attacking the Muslims from that pass. The
Prophet (s.a.w) gave them clear instructions that you should not come down from this pass. Then
battle happens, sahabah karaam come prepared, they engage in battle, they are winning and
defeating and tide of the battle turns and unbelievers start retreating in defeat. Not when the tide of
the battle turned, only when those sahabah on the pass saw them retreating in defeat, they thought
this signals the closure of the war. Now what’s written in books and people misunderstand that they
came down of the pass to help in the collection of the booty. Some people suggest that the sahabah
karaam had some love of the wealth; this is ludicrous because the spoils of battle go into the bayt-ul-
maal as a collective and then is distributed later by the Prophet (s.a.w) amongst the sahabah. What
did happen was that those fighting in the battle were chasing them since some retreated in defeat,
others were still fighting. So the sahabah karaam kept fighting those still there and they started
chasing the ones who were retreating. The sahabah karaam were so financially threatened that they
needed to get the weapons. It wasn’t a personal thing since a soldier doesn’t carry a personal thing
that you can put in your house, it was for the weapons because they thought they came a second
time so they might come a third time, which they do. There are so many war battles that go on. So
they were poor and they needed the weapons because if you are poor and you cannot arm yourself
and there is a group that attacks you again and again then you can take their weapons when they
come to you- that’s a perfectly wise thing to do. So that’s why these sahabah said that we should
now go because when we do so, they will drop all their weapons so they can run from us. This was a
feature of battles in those days. When that happened, a great military strategist saw this, who
probably regrets this day the most in his life because later he became a sahabi, Syeddina Khalid ibn
Waleed (ra) but he was an unbeliever at this battle. When he saw this and he probably saw the
whole thing coming (because a great warrior knows the heart of other great warriors) and took a
group of his people and waited for it to happen. And then they circled around to the rear of the
camp. Then they were able also, not Syeddina Khalid ibn Waleed (ra) himself (Allah (s.w.t) protected
him from this), but one of his people who had been in that encirclement was able to reach the
Prophet (s.a.w) himself for he was in battle and they were able to strike a blow upon him such that
he lost some of his teeth and he received many injuries to his face and he bled. Now one of those
group were so excited, as a warrior would be, that they had reached the leader so they started
yelling out prematurely that we have killed the prophet and in their excitement, they looked. And
this is a great lesson, Allah (s.w.t) showed that if you don’t follow the sunnah of the Prophet (s.a.w)
exactly, perfectly, completely, right down to the last drop, the letter of it, the spirit of it, the love of
it, the murad of it, what he intends from it then you will have less of success, victory, falah in this
world and the next. Allah (s.w.t) was extremely aware about the preparations and strategies and
what was in the mind of the Prophet (s.a.w) concerning this battle of uhud. Only Allah (s.w.t), not on
numbers, weapons or strategy but only on Allah (s.w.t) do the true believers really trust, rely and
depend upon. The Arabic word zaleel does not mean terrible and lowly, it can also mean weak, in a
neutral way. So Allah (s.w.t) is saying that We helped you in the battle of badr when you were weak,
militarily. This also teaches us that shukr means taqwa. So if a person says I am grateful to Allah
(s.w.t) but if they don’t have taqwa then they are not doing shukr, they are just moving tongue.
Shukr is not just saying the sentence; Allah (s.w.t) is saying that taqwa is the way to be grateful. A
grateful son is an obedient son. Be abd to Allah (s.w.t). In our deen, Allah (s.w.t) relationship with us
is not father and son relationship but I use that relationship or other relationships as an analogy to
make you understand emotional feelings. The same way you emotionally feel that being grateful to
someone means being obedient to them, the same way you should emotionally feel towards Allah
(s.w.t). This He is saying actually to badri sahabah, initially. So if badri sahabah are commanded with
taqwa and they can’t just do shukr other than taqwa then there is no way any one of us should think
that we have some way of doing shukr which doesn’t consist of taqwa. You see for the first time that
the Prophet (s.a.w) not saying that Allah (s.w.t) or our Rabb will help you, here he says that your
Rabb, not like the conversation between Hazrat Musa (a.s) and Banu Israel, saying that Allah (s.w.t)
is your Rabb. It was not in a scolding, threatening or castigating way, here the Prophet (s.a.w) said
your Rabb to make the sahabah feel it more personal that Allah (s.w.t) is your wali, caretaker; you
are going out in the path of Allah in this battle of badr and He is going to help you with 3000 angels,
munzaleen who are sent specially for this purpose. Next, surely, if you were to patiently endure and
have fortitude in that and have taqwa and if they were to attack you immediately, Allah (s.w.t)
would help you with 5000 angels who are marked in battle, you would know that they are yours. A
lesson here is that Allah (s.w.t)’s special help comes on those true believers when they are engaged
in this ultimate act of jihab fi sabililah, purely and exclusively for the sake of the deen of Islam.
Second thing you realize is that Allah (s.w.t)’s help comes through sabab. Allah (s.w.t) could have
helped through some other type of miraculous way but He used the sabab of the angels and the
commentators mention that in badr the angels came in a type of human form, in a human likeness
and physically engaged in battle. There are many things commentators have written and the
statement of one of them, Syeddina Abdullah ibn Abbas (ra), who is known among sahabah as Imam
Mufsireen, that sahabah who was known to have the greatest knowledge of tafseer, said that the
way that angels were marked for sahabah to know that they are on our side was that they wore
white turbans with tails in the back. Allah (s.w.t) did not make this help, did not do all of this, except
as a glad tiding for you. You weren’t waiting for the help but Allah (s.w.t) wanted you to be happy
that His help did come. Verse 126, very important, help can be found only from Allah (s.w.t).
Liyakhta literally means to cut, tarfan means a fringe. To cut off a fringe from those who disbelieve
means those particular 70 unbelievers of badr who were killed in that battle were some of the real
leaders of the Quraish who were the biggest instigators and protagonists of the unbelievers against
the Muslims. So this means the help was to destroy a part of them or it was to disgrace them or
crush them. They returned to Makkah Mukarramah losers, thwarted. The Urdu tafseers will make
the next part sound like badd but there was no baddua. What happened was that when the Prophet
(s.a.w) was injured and his teeth broke and he bled, he made this statement and when you listen to
it you can decide whether you would call this baddua or not. His statement was simply this that he
turned to Allah (s.w.t) and said that how can that nation, community ever be successful (get
guidance) when they draw blood from the face of the very nabi that was sent to them to call them to
Allah (s.w.t). He asked a question, he turned to Allah (s.w.t) in a sadness and exasperation and asked
Him this question. That’s not baddua. Don’t make that mistake in Urdu. Then Allah (s.w.t)
responded, know that you have no share in this. In other words, what Allah (s.w.t) meant is that they
can be guided (and they were, after that fatah-e-Makkah, some of the unbelievers who were on that
wrong side in battle of uhud, such as Ikramah bin Abi Jahl, Abu Sufyan, Hinda, major people, they
became momineen). So it means that Allah (s.w.t)’s hidayah is so vast that even those people who
spurned, physically attacked the Prophet (s.a.w) and attacked his sahabh initially, it’s even possible
for them to get guidance. You have to think that the Prophet (s.a.w) was feeling this emotion as well
because he viewed the people of Makkah as his community and as the ones that he was most
initially asked to call to Allah (s.w.t) and he was already so sad that they didn’t accept and he had to
come to Madinah Munawwarah; then he was sad that now they attacked him in badr and again in
uhud and now they are going so far to physically injure him so how will he get them to believe when
this is how they view him. It was an emotional statement, it wasn’t any type of baddua; far be it that
the Prophet (s.a.w) will make a baddua. All of you know, after Taif what happened; he didn’t make
any baddua, he made dua that maybe one day one of them will have hidayah. But here he was so
emotionally hurt by the fact that they attacked him with such viciousness that he even lost, you can
say, hope he had with the people of Taif that maybe it’s over for Makkah Mukarramah. So Allah
(s.w.t) is saying that you don’t have any share, no control over this matter, whether Allah (s.w.t)
accepts their taubah or whether He punishes them for indeed they are unjust transgressors. Allah
(s.w.t) gives ishara here as to which is more likely to happen (Him granting forgiveness or punishing)-
He says GhafoorurRaheem where He could have said after this ShadeedulIqaab alaz zalimeen; or He
could have said both of them again. He could have mentioned both set of attributes- the set that
deals with the ones that He forgives and the set that deals with the ones He punishes. Allah (s.w.t) is
showing what ghalib in Him is; if it was up to Him entirely, if only these people wouldn’t do their
zulm, He is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful.
Now we begin something about interest, I have spoken in detail earlier when it came. Most of the
things ahead have been discussed in detail before. Do not consume, engage in interest;
compounding it many times over. Here Allah (s.w.t) is saying that what a tragedy it would be that
you would enter that which is prepared for the disbelievers by way of interest. Let’s say you are a
student and I am putting you in this school for (just to show you the emotion, not to be mean) those
who are mentally disabled. You would say it’s not for me, that it is for the mentally disabled. But I
say you misbehaved so much in class you are like them. You would feel so embarrassed. So that’s
what Allah (s.w.t) is saying that why do you want to go do the sin of interest when you are a believer
that’s going to put you in a place that’s not even supposed to be for you but for the kafireen. You
need to do both-obey Allah (s.w.t) and Prophet (s.a.w) so that you may be among those who drown
in the mercy of Allah (s.w.t). The match for whom jannah is prepared would have been the
momineen but Allah (s.w.t) uses the word muttaqeen because those who get jannah initially without
having to through jahannum are muttaqeen, they never have to set foot in jahannum and there will
be some category of momineen (the sinning, non-practicing believers who don’t make taubah for
their sins or malpractice) will have to first go to jahannum and then to jannah. The Prophet (s.a.w)
mentioned in a hadith this process that on the Day of Judgment there will some shifayah, some
people will enter into jannah and some will enter into jahannum then after a long period passes
(doesn’t mention exactly how many years, maybe million, billion trillions of years, Allah knows best)
Allah (s.w.t) will as all of the ahl-e-jannah that I want all of you to look inside jahannum and see is
there anyone in there that you recognize that they even had the slightest drop of imaan, I will take
the out from jahannum and put them in jannah now because they have been punished for their sins
and failures to maybe follow up on their imaan so all of the people in jannah that I know that one
and he had imaan, he taught me at LUMS, he was a maulvi, everyone will be done and when all of
them come out then Allah (s.w.t) will ask them is there anyone else you recognize then all of ahl-e-
jannah will say no, that there is no one with even the slightest trace of imaan which we haven’t
pointed out; then Allah (s.w.t) will take out two entire additional groups from jahannum, so the
people of jannah will ask who are these people then Allah (s.w.t) will say that they had such a small
atom of imaan and they so completely failed (not literal translation) to act on it, live it in any way
whatsoever that no one around them even viewed them as a momin and therefore none of you
viewed them as a momin but I know what is in the hearts of people and I knew that deep deep deep
down they did believe in me, even if they pretended to philosophically atheist and agnostic; Allah
(s.w.t) will take them out. However, now getting back to the more literal text of the hadith, when
they are taken out, they are blackened and charred beyond recognition as humans because their
long stay in jahannum then Allah (s.w.t) will dip in the water of hauz-e-kausar, this is the water that
the muttaqeen get to drink by the hand of the Prophet (s.a.w) straight on the way to jannah; Allah
(s.w.t) will dip them and then they will come out, their bodies will come out again reformed and
pure and intact and sahi salim. However, they will have one stamp on their forehead which is called
uttaka-ur-rehman, those who were freed specially by Allah (s.w.t), Ar-Rehman and All-Merciful from
jahannum. So when they enter into jannah then they will ask Allah (s.w.t), we are so happy and after
some time, which could be a long period of time, but there is just one thing that all of our time in
jannah has erased all of our memories from that time we were in jahannum but there is one thing
that reminds us and that is the stamp on our forehead so can you remove that as well and Allah
(s.w.t) will say yes I remove that also and then they will live for all of eternity as the people of
jannah. So jahhanum is made for kafireen and its eternality is made exclusively for kafireen but non-
muttaqeen momineen will have to go through there first. So this is the ishara here. Now very
important ayah since we want to know that how can we become muttaqeen and enter that jannah
directly. Allah (s.w.t) is going to mention some of the siffat of the muttaqeen. These are those people
who spent for the sake of Allah (s.w.t) when it’s easy for them in matters of financial ease, even in
hardship they will still give away a few rupees no matter how hardship they will be and you will find
people who are like that who give to charity and then the slightest decrease in their income comes
and they stop all charitable activities right there and then. And they are people who swallow,
supress their anger, this is literally what it means. This means that being a muttaqee, you may still
sometimes feel angry but you have so much control that you supress it, you never let yourself act on
it; swallow it means you don’t let it come above your neck, means you don’t speak, your face
doesn’t change because of that anger, you don’t mind or think thoughts or make plots or planning
on the basis of that anger, you don’t make decisions on the basis of that anger; they have such level
of taqwa because they fear Allah (s.w.t) the second the anger was up they realize that Allah (s.w.t)
has every right to be angry at me so even if I am just angry at this person, even if the person has
done something wrong to me and I fully deserve to be angry at them, what if Allah (s.w.t) treats me
the same way because I have done things that would make Him justifiably angry with me because I
want Allah (s.w.t) to waive His justifiable anger on me, out of my fear for Allah (s.w.t), my taqwa, I
will waive my justifiable anger for this person. And third attribute Allah (s.w.t) mentions in this ayah
so far, they forgive people-not just fellow muttaqeen, fellow momineen but over all of humanity,
whether muttaqee or not, whether momin or not; they have this darguzarri, this ability to forgive.
Verse 135 is very important, I know I say that many times but I would really say for our younger
generation, they should really know this verse. Those who commit an evil deed, an indecency,
immodesty, unchastely, impurity (it can also mean any sin) or wrong themselves in any way
whatsoever, commit any sins; they should make zikr, they should remember Allah (s.w.t), they
shouldn’t think that now I have done sin I should forget Him, I leave Him, I did sin at night, I don’t
wake up fajr, they shouldn’t think that, Allah (s.w.t) wants that when you do sin remember me
because I am at-Tawwaab, al-Ghafoor, al-Rahim, remember Allah (s.w.t). And then you should ask
Allah (s.w.t)’s forgiveness for your sins. So first zikr and then istighfar. And who is there who can
forgive sins except for Allah (s.w.t). When you fall into sin, there is no other place for you to turn,
there is no one else to turn to, it befits you to turn to Allah (s.w.t) and it befits Allah (s.w.t) to forgive
you. What more could a young man or woman want? They don’t persist, this is important, that after
they turn to Allah (s.w.t), after they make the zikr, after they seek Allah (s.w.t)’s forgiveness they
don’t persist; if they fall into it again (slip into it, different from persist-persist means israr, to do
something with no intention of leaving it but this person, when they made istighfar, they had some
level of intention to leave that sin) they should just make that same zikr and istighfar again. What
will happen for such people? Such people will have recompense forgiveness from their Rabb and
they will have gardens underneath which rivers flow and wonderful, excellent indeed is the reward
that Allah (s.w.t) has given for the aamileen. Aamileen is a new word-the workers. So it means that
Allah (s.w.t) is trying to show you that when you sin and make istighfar, yeh aik amal, kaam, mehnat,
mujahida hai. When you are tempted by your desires to do sin and then you force yourself to do zikr
and istighfar and then again you fall into sin and then again you do zikr and istighfar, Allah (s.w.t)’s
attesting to the fact that that itself is an amal. If you think i don’t have any good deeds, all I have is
sins and taubah over them-so there are two ways; first that this is an amal, an arduous task and you
are going to get reward from Allah (s.w.t) for doing it and second that don’t think that I don’t have
any amal, just my sins and my taubah over them, that taubah itself is an amal over those sins. Many
many customary practices have existed before you and have passed in communities before you
(sunnan here means sunnah of all prophets) you should travel the world with the niyat to look and
reflect and engage and learn what was the outcome of those who caste lies upon Allah (s.w.t). You
can do this, you can think of this as some type of Islamic tourism. You can go to the ruins of past
communities, you can actually go to Yemen (I think) and certain places they have such tours where
they take you to the ruins of those communities who were brought to ruin by Allah (s.w.t)’s
punishment due to their disbelieve and when a person stand there amidst such vast ruins, they think
that look at the might and power of Allah (s.w.t), this was such a mighty city, civilization and they
were brought to ruins because they disobeyed Allah (s.w.t) so I am just s ingle soul human being,
how much can Allah (s.w.t) bring me to ruin and destruction if I disobey Him. So this is a bayan, clear
open discourse, statement for humanity and it’s a hidayah for them or more clearly, the Quran is a
clear exposition for humanity and it is a source of guidance, source from which you obtain nasiha,
advice for the muttaqqeen, the people of taqwa. So it means that the more taqwa a person has, the
more hidayah they will get, the more nasiha they will get from the Quran. The first part where Allah
(s.w.t) is describing jannah as expanding all that lies above the Earth, the case of this revelation is
that Syeddina Anas (ra) was asked about this question once, about this ayah that how can the skies
and the Earth recompense jannah if jannah is expanding them so Syeddina Anas (ra) said that no by
expanding them it means that jannah lies above and beyond, it doesn’t mean that jannah equals the
samawaat and Earth, it means that jannah expands it so wide that it encompasses and transcends all
that lies above. You can imagine, if you studied a little bit of astronomy and astrophysics, even I
think the next big star away from the Sun is don’t know how many millions of light years and the
furthest star away that they think of is probably billions and trillions and trillions to the power of
billions and trillions light years away. So jannah is even bigger than all of that, that’s how wide the
expanse of jannah is. That’s what Allah (s.w.t) has prepared for the people of taqwa. I have
mentioned earlier that one way that ehsan has been defined is the Prophet (s.a.w) in a very famous
hadith in Bukhari, Muslim is that he was asked by the angel Jibrael what is ehsan and the Prophet
(s.a.w) that ehsan is to worship Allah (s.w.t) as if you see him, to have such a level of focus,
awareness, concentration, zikr, khushoo, khuzoo in your ibadah as if you are seeing Allah (s.w.t)
(that is called mushahida) and if you are not able to do that then second that you are intensely
aware that Allah (s.w.t) is watching you, you are aware that you are under surveillance, this is called
muraqabbah because Allah (s.w.t) mentions in the Quran that He is intensely watchful over you. This
part of taking heed from previous nations isn’t just necessarily about travelling and looking at their
ruins; it can also be extended, if you want to, to reading their histories, learn from the histories of
past communities. But study history in that sense, to all of the liberal arts, humanities, social
sciences, with a purpose that how to understand and inculcate and implement your deen. Wa la
tahino means that don’t lose courage, it can also mean don’t be lazy and wa la tahzano, don’t be
sad, depressed and this is what happens to people when the halaat are bad. The first thing that
happens is that either they lose courage, they get powerless or they lose their strength, dynamism,
they become lazy and they just sit around in a state of apathy. Second thing that happens is huzn,
they get sad and depressed over the situation. Allah (s.w.t) said don’t do these two things and you
are people who are supposed to be elevated, triumphant ones if indeed you are true believers. So as
long as you are momineen, there is no need to have this state.