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Juz' 18 with Dr. Nazir Khan | Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 2

In juz 18, we see Surah Al-Nur elaborate on a difficult reality that the Prophet and his family faced: the slander of Aisha (ra). Dr. Nazir Khan joins Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro to examine themes shared by the chapters in this juz–achieving true success as believers by turning back to Allah, acting mindfully, and avoiding heinous deeds like slander.

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Transcript

This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings.
As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. Alhamdulillah Arabul Alameen. We have Sheikh Abdullah as always, and we have Dr. Nazir Khan from Canada. Alhamdulillah, President of Yaqeen Canada, Director of Research Strategy. And Mufti Abdur Rahman was complaining, Dr. Nazir, that we don't have enough daisies on Qur'an 30 for 30. So to really make this diverse, we have a Canadian daisy with us tonight. You know, just to really diversify. How are you, Sheikh? How's everything? I'm good, Alhamdulillah. Jazakumullah khairan. Honestly, it's a pleasure to be with you guys on this. You guys are doing an amazing job doing this every single day. May Allah reward you guys so much. MashaAllah. Allahumma barak to you. Jazakumullah khairan. It's a pleasure to have you. And Alhamdulillah Arabul Alameen. Can you tell us about what you're working on right now for Yaqeen? What's your next paper? Your papers are very popular, MashaAllah. Alhamdulillah. Well, right now the one that I'm working on most closely is related to the Qur'an. And it's related to the history of the preservation of the Qur'an, inshaAllah. So we're going to be doing a lot of that. And SubhanAllah, the more you research about the Qur'an, the more you realize we're all just novices in this ocean of field about the Qur'anic studies. Absolutely. Jazakumullah khairan. And for those who, of course, Dr. Nazir co-authored with Sheikh Omar Khatib the paper on qiraat, Alhamdulillah, on the recitations and the preservation through the recitation of the Qur'an. So inshaAllah, I will look forward to that, biidhnillahi ta'ala. So tonight, inshaAllah, we're going to flip the order. Dr. Nazir and I are talking about the same set of verses. Sheikh Abdullah is going to be talking about the second half of the juz inshaAllah ta'ala. So with that, inshaAllah ta'ala, I'm going to go ahead and begin biidhnillahi ta'ala. And we are now in juz 18, Alhamdulillah, al-Ra'meen, time is flying. We are in Surat al-Mu'minoon, Surat al-Nur, and Surat al-Furqan, the beginning of Surat al-Furqan.
And inshaAllah ta'ala, we're going to start with Surat al-Mu'minoon and Surat al-Nur and really focus on that because we know that especially Surat al-Nur has extremely rich seerah background to it, which we spoke about last year, in fact, with Hadithatul Ifk, with the slander of our mother Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha and what that did to the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam and his household and the community of the Messenger alayhi salatu wasalam. But I want to focus on the connection actually from a seerah perspective between Surat al-Mu'minoon and Surat al-Nur. The Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam said about Surat al-Mu'minoon in particular, he said, unzil alayya aashru aayat man aqama hunna dakhalal jannah. He said that last night, ten verses were revealed to me, whoever establishes these ten verses will enter into Jannah. And the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam then recited qad aflaha al-mu'minoon and he recited the first ten verses of Surat al-Mu'minoon. And so we find in Surat al-Mu'minoon, you know, these lofty qualities that of course, if you've been watching the Meeting Muhammad salAllahu alaihi wa sallam series and when we talk about the akhlaq of the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam, the characteristics of the Messenger salAllahu alaihi wa sallam, you match them up against the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam and subhanAllah, he as always when you have good qualities in the Quran, he is the greatest manifestation of them. But also, subhanAllah, what you find is that the next Surah in Nur is really what happens when you don't act upon the ten verses of Surat al-Mu'minoon. So everything that goes wrong in Surah Nur or that is covered which went wrong in Surah Nur of Hadithatul Ifk is literally connected to what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala lists out in terms of Surat al-Mu'minoon
and the Prophet salAllahu alaihi wa sallam then saying man aqamahunna, whoever recites them, whoever establishes them in their lives will enter into Jannah. So you look at Surat al-Mu'minoon for example, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions alladheenahum fee salatihim khashiroon, those who are humble in their prayer, they are immersed in their prayer and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions alladheenahum AAanil laghwi mu'ridoon, those who restrain themselves from idle speech, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions those who restrain themselves with their wealth, they spend their wealth in the best of ways, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions chastity, right, lifurujihim hafizoon, those who guard their private parts and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions liamanatihim wa ahdihim ra'oon, those who guard their trust. So these are the things Allah mentions within these 10 verses, guard their prayer, they guard their speech, they guard their wealth, they guard their chastity and they guard their trust. And then subhanAllah when you go into Surah An-Nur, the breakdown of a society is when people depart from these things. So first of all, a person loses their prayer or a person who is not immersed in their conversation with the creator is likely to fall into speaking about the creation in a way that's not praiseworthy. So khushur in salah is directly connected to laghu in hadith, which is immersing yourself in humility and silence in prayer and deep meditation, deep contemplation in prayer means that you will likely be more mindful when other type of speech is manifesting itself around you, particularly gossip and slander. So you will sort of shun that because you are still connected to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and maintaining that line of communication with God.
But you see when you get into Surah An-Nur, subhanAllah, all of these things are covered. So immediately off the bat Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in Surah An-Nur the punishment for those who commit fornication, the punishment for those who commit adultery. And you can trace that back to where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions, li furujihim hafizoon, those who guard their private parts, those who maintain their chastity. You go into, of course, then hadithatul ifq, the slander of our mother Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha and what that did to society. And this is such a powerful portion of the Quran because in the same set of ayat Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is mentioning the gravity of the crime, still Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is opening up the door for repentance. So Allah is teaching this society through the messenger salAllahu alayhi wa sallam who experienced this pain in his own household. SubhanAllah it wasn't like something happened to a group of people in Medina and then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed a surah to address that. It happened to the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam and his own wife and his own wife is our mother Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anha. And of course who was behind it? The hypocrites because the hypocrites looked for ways to destabilize the community of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam. And it should be mentioned here that this is where they succeeded. So they did not succeed in destabilizing the Muslims in Badr nor did they succeed in Uhud nor did they succeed in the Khandaq. They didn't succeed in the battles but they succeeded with their tongues and paralyzing the community with slander and gossip. Which really shows you subhanAllah the effect of slander on a community, the effect of gossip on a community and how it can paralyze even the best community to ever live. Which was the community of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam.
But wal ladheena hum AAani laghwi mu'ridhoon. Those who guard themselves from idle speech. If you look at Surah An-Nur, the problem was not Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul alone. When he started the slander of Aisha radiAllahu anha and made the suggestion. The problem was those whose tongues met the slander, talaqawnahu. They met the slander with their tongues without thinking about what they were saying. That's who Allah subhanAllah wa ta'ala is focusing this message on. Why? Because the hypocrites are the hypocrites. We know who they are. We know that it's only a matter of time before they're going to be exposed. But how is it that some of the most illustrious people in the community of the Prophet salAllahu alayhi wa sallam fell into repeating the slander of Aisha radiAllahu anha. Because of wal ladheena hum AAani laghwi mu'ridhoon. It's important to cut out idle speech. They could have saved themselves. But many of them did not save themselves because they merely repeated what was said without thinking about it or repeated elements of it without thinking about it. So be mindful with your speech. Be mindful with your chastity. Allah subhanAllah wa ta'ala mentions being mindful with your eyes, lowering your gaze. And particularly not to betray with your eyes. SubhanAllah, the kha'inat al-ayun, the betrayal of the eyes, which we see when Allah subhanAllah talks about the lowering of the gaze, Ibn Abbas radiAllahu ta'ala says that's a form of amanah, that's a form of trust. Why is it called kha'inat al-ayun? Why is it called the deception of the eyes, the betrayal of the eyes? Because he said you see someone in front of you and you lower your gaze, but as soon as that person is walking away, you look at them. So if a person walks by, particularly obviously speaking to young men, if a woman walks by, you lower your gaze until she walks past you and she can't tell anymore that you're staring and then you look. So that's called the betrayal of the eyes.
So Allah subhanAllah mentions the sense of amanah, the sense of being trustworthy, being trustworthy and not being deceptive with even your eyes. SubhanAllah. And then finally, even when it comes to your wealth, Allah azawajal mentions of course the highest manifestation of that, wa la ya'tari uloo alfadli minkum wassaAAa, do not let the people of virtue and affluence amongst you, to forbid, to suspend the donations that they were giving to ulil qurba, that they were giving to their close relatives, wa almasakeen, wa almuhajireen fee sabeedillah, and those that migrated in the cause of Allah subhanAllah and those who were needy. And of course Allah subhanAllah says, wa liya'fu wa liya'sfahu ala tuhibboona an yakhfirallahu lakum, so let them forgive and pardon, do you not want Allah subhanAllah to forgive and pardon you? And this of course was with Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, who, zakatifaAAiloon, when you think about those who acted with their charity, Abu Bakr radiAllahu anhu is the opposite of the hypocrites, he's the opposite of the people that betray with their tongues, opposite of the people that betray with their private parts, opposite of all of them, and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was giving charity on a regular basis to Mislah, who was one of his relatives, his poor relatives, who was partly responsible for the slander of Aisha radiAllahu ta'ala anhu. And Allah subhanAllah reveals to Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu to continue his charity, to Mislah, but he encourages it, not that it is sinful if he does not, but don't you want Allah subhanAllah to forgive you and pardon you? And of course Allah subhanAllah, we seek his forgiveness and his pardon, and Abu Bakr radiAllahu ta'ala anhu rises to the occasion. I'll end with one thing, which is one verse in Surah An-Nur that just brings it all back together. What is the purpose of this Surah and how does it connect to the previous Surah? Allah subhanAllah says, YaAAidukumAllahu an taAAoodoo bimithlihi abada in kuntum mu'mineen.
SubhanAllah, Allah forbids you from ever doing something like this again if you are to be believers. If you want to be considered amongst the believers, Allah forbids you from ever doing something like this again. So Surah Al-Mu'minoon precedes Surah An-Nur where Allah subhanAllah says, don't ever do this again in kuntum mu'mineen if you want to be considered amongst those mu'minoon, amongst those believers. So hold tight to the ten prescriptions or else you'll end up with the tribulations that are highlighted in the seerah and Surah An-Nur right afterwards. InshaAllah ta'ala with that I'll pass it on to Dr. Nazir to continue to reflect on these ayat inshaAllah ta'ala in Surah An-Nur and then we'll move on to Shaykh Abdullah bin Nadir. JazakAllah khair Shaykh. You know subhanAllah as you're mentioning these connections between Surah An-Nur and Surah An-Nur it gives us such a deeper appreciation for the message of the surah. And we see also those connections throughout Surah An-Nur and the connection also with the previous surah. So Surah An-Nur picks up right where Surah Al-Hajj leaves off. So the very last verse in Surah Al-Hajj is laa ayyuhalladheena aamanu waqa'u waasjudu wa abudu rabbakum O you who believe, bow and prostrate and worship your Lord wa faAAalil khairah laAAalakum tuflihoon and engage in good deeds so that you may attain success. And that's the opening verse of Surah Al-Mu'minoon. fad aflahal mu'minoon Verily the believers are successful. And at the end of Surah Al-Mu'minoon we're told innahu laa yuflihal kafiroon that God does not grant success to those who reject Him. So the concept of success links these different surahs. Now even the way it's phrased, fad aflahal mu'minoon is very interesting because technically that's in past tense. The believers have been successful. Yet Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is talking about something in the future when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says that they're going to enter into paradise. wa laa yukahumul waarithoon alladhina yarithoom alfirdawsu hum feeha khaalidoon So why does Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la refer to it in past tense
when He's talking about their success in the future? There's a few things we can learn from that. The first is that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la transcends time. He's the creator of time. And so Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is not bounded by past, present, future in the same way that we mortal human beings are. The second thing that we can learn from that is that referring to this in past tense shows us the certainty, the assuredness, the definitive reality of the success that is being granted to the believers. And that the success that's being granted to the believers is one that is a success in this life and in the next life. That's another interesting point about this verse because Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la uses the word falah which means success but there's another word that means success as well in Arabic which is najah. So what's the difference between these two? You could say that somebody was successful on their test. You say najah fil imtihar, where they passed their exam. But maybe they're not going to pass the next exam. They're not going to pass the next test that they have. So najah is transient, it's temporary, and it's only in terms of this worldly life. Whereas falah, it implies baqa, it implies permanent, enduring, continuous, everlasting success. And that is what Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is telling the believers that they will receive when they uphold those virtues at the beginning of the surah. So falah is a comprehensive concept of success and the surah elaborates on that concept of success. One of the very interesting things about the surah is that it connects that concept of success to our purpose in life. At the end of the surah Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says afahasibitum annama khalafanakum abatha wa annakum ilayna la tuwaj'oon Do you think that we have created you without any purpose and that you will not return back to us? Do you think your existence is pointless?
Fata'ala Allahu al-Malik al-Haq, exalted is Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, the only true king. La ilaha illa huwa rabbul arsh al-karim There is no worthy of worship except Him, the Lord of the noble throne. In this passage Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is rejecting the concept of nihilism. This idea that life has no purpose or meaning to it. This idea that our entire existence is nothing more than the unintended consequence of different processes in the universe. And there's nothing, you know, no higher meaning or significance to what we're trying to achieve in life. This concept of nihilism is what led the atheist existentialist philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer to say that because life is just inherently human suffering it would be better if we did not exist at all. So the Qur'an rescues us from that kind of nihilism and it grounds us in the reality that yes, Allah created you for a purpose. Your existence is on this earth for a reason. There's a reason for which you were created. You have a mission and objective in life. And when you fulfill that mission and objective that is how you attain success in this life. This concept of success is one that, it's fascinating how we're constantly bombarded with different ideas of what success is in society. If you look at popular culture, you look at the self-help industry, you look at, you know, the entertainment industry, we're constantly being bombarded with different ideas about this is what it means to be a successful person, right? This is a successful entrepreneur. This is a successful business person. And often success, the metrics of success are materialistic gain, right? It's personal profit. It's materialistic measures of success. And when things don't work out for a person, maybe in terms of their career or during the pandemic as it's, you know, had a devastating impact on people, they're left questioning, you know, am I a successful person or am I a failure? You know, things aren't working out for me. What's the point of my existence?
What makes my life worth living? For many of our youth growing up today, their understanding of success is tied to the success of their social media account, the amount of likes and shares that they get on social media. And that's what they tie their sense of self-worth to. That's where they get their self-image from. But the Quran is directing us to a concept of success that is much deeper than that. The concept of success that can never be taken away from us. It's everlasting. It's tied to our relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. It's tied to fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. And that's a beautiful thing that's elaborated on throughout this surah. Now, Sheikh Omar mentioned the virtues that are listed at the beginning of the surah, and those are the foundations for us. But many of us forget that there's another set of qualities that are mentioned in the middle of the surah. And those are extremely important for our concept of success as well. The Quran is providing us a recalibration of our notion of what constitutes success. And if we look at the qualities of the believers in the middle of the surah, and we compare them to the qualities of the believers at the beginning of the surah, we'll notice something very profound. You notice that the qualities of the believers at the beginning of the surah, they included being attentive in our prayers, avoiding vain speech, avoiding sinful acts, purity in our wealth, purity in our body, guarding one's chastity, upholding our commitments, and being observant about all of our prayers. These are all things that other people can readily observe about us. These relate to our outer actions. But now pay attention to what the qualities in the middle of the surah are. When you get to the inner center of the surah, what are the qualities that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions in the surah? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, إِنَّ الَّذِينَ هُمْ مِنْ خَشْيَةِ رَبِّهِمْ مُشْفِقُونَ Verily, those who are in reverence and fear of their Lord. وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ بِآيَاتِ رَبِّهِمْ يُؤْمِنُونَ Those who have iman, faith in the signs of their Lord.
Notice how the phrase رَبِّهِمْ, their Lord, repeats in every verse, telling us that for the believers, everything revolves around their relationship with their Lord. That is what constitutes success for them. Everything revolves around their relationship with their Creator. وَالَّذِينَ هُمْ بِرَبِّهِمْ لَا يُشِرِكُونَ Those who do not associate others with their Lord. And that association of others with our Lord, it can be even in terms of one's intention. Doing actions not truly for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but having the intention to try to show off in front of others, or so that other people see us and believe in us. And say, oh, that's a person who gave in sadaqah, that's a person who donated in wealth. So that's another aspect of that. And then the next verse, subhanAllah, what's really profound, and it's mentioned in the tafsir of Abu Hayr al-Andalusi, this next verse combines the previous three. وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْتُونَ مَا آتَوَ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَجِلَةٌ أَنَّهُمْ يِلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ رَاجِعُونَ Those who do their good deeds, those who give what they have, and their hearts are in a state of fear and reverence. Why? Because they're worried that maybe Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will not accept this from them. And they have iman that they will return back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So we see in that verse purity of intention, we see in that verse the faith that they will return back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, and we see in that verse the emotional state, the fear and the reverence. So these verses, they draw our intention to our internal state. Just as we focus on the outer actions at the beginning of the surah, as we get to the inner center of the surah, we focus on our internal state. Am I really doing these actions for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? What is the true motivation that I have when I'm engaging in good? Is it truly for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala? Do I feel a sense of fear that maybe I'm not doing my actions with true sincerity? That emotional state, that internal state is critical in order to achieve success.
When we think about the discrepancy between us and the sahaba, the companions of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, that discrepancy is not just in terms of deeds, but it's also in terms of thoughts and emotions. We need to have the thoughts that Abu Bakr as-Siddiq radiyallahu anhu had. We need to have the thoughts that Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu had. Before Khalid ibn al-Walid radiyallahu anhu was successful on the battlefield, before those feats of triumph on the battlefield, there were the successes and victories within the heart. And that's where we need to focus our attention to develop that correct understanding of success. And the outcome of that is then seen at the end of the surah, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us, Innahu kana fareequn min AAibadi Verily there was a party from amongst My servants. Yaqoonuna Rabbana aamanna faqfir lana wa abhamna wa anta khayru al-aqimin They would say, My Lord, we believe, have mercy on us, forgive us. Verily You are the best of those who show mercy. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells the Quraysh, Fattakhattumuhum sikhriya You took them as objects of ridicule. You didn't see these to be successful people. You saw them to be losers in society. You made fun of them. Hatta ansawkum dhikri Which caused you to forget our message. Wakuntum minhum tadhakhoon And you laughed and mocked at them. Innee jazaytuhum alyaum bimaa sabaru On this day I will reward them for their patience and perseverance. Annahum humul fa'izun Verily they are the ones who are truly successful. And then at the end of the surah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds us to make the same dua as those believers. To emulate them in our character and make the same dua to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala Wa qul rabbil firwar hamwa anta khayru al-raahimin And say, My Lord, forgive me and have mercy upon me. Verily You are the best of those who show mercy.
When we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his forgiveness, it removes any internal obstacles to success. Our own sins and shortcomings. And when we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for his mercy, it removes any external obstacles to success. Any difficult circumstances that may befall us, that may divert us from the path of success. One of the biggest obstacles to success is our own self-sabotaging. And in this surah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala instructs the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to say, To seek refuge from the evil whisperings of the Shaytan. Wa qul rabbi a'udhu bika min hamzaati al-shayateen wa a'udhu bika rabbi an yahduroon To seek refuge from those impossible inclinations that will divert us from the path of success. So may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us amongst those who are truly successful and enable us to fulfill that vision of success. Jazakumullahu khayran. Mayakum. Amin. BarakAllahu fiqh. Absolutely beautiful. SubhanAllah. It's so interesting, subhanAllah, that what you're talking about here, the observable and the internal and how those things are connected. The amount of people with al-ifq, like the slander, that actually refuted it or rejected it were an extreme minority. Right? Like that's a small group of people. Most people were just quiet about it all. Then you had the group of people that were actively, you know, putting it out there, the hypocrites. Then you had those that were kind of, you know, buttering it up a little extravagant with it. Then you had those that, the abu Ayyub al-ansari of the world. And subhanAllah, as you were talking about these different things, Abu Ayyub radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was known for his zuhid, he was known for his asceticism. And when his wife brought up the ifq, he said like, I wouldn't believe it about Aisha radiAllahu anha as much as I believe it about you. She's our mother. Like he rejected it altogether. And there are connections between those attributes, right, that you're talking about, the observable, the parts that are deeply spiritual that then generate in a strong response, right, in a strong response to these things when they come out in that way.
So JazakAllah khair for the beautiful connection with those things. BarakAllahu feekum. Shaykh Abdullah, bismillah, take this away. Bismillah wa salatu wa salam ala rasool Allah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala amma ba'd. This surah has a special place in my heart. And it reminds me of subhanAllah, when I was a student in Madinah and I was sitting with an elder gentleman who was a convert to Islam, mashallah, but he was from, as you say, from the old school, you know, mashallah, back in the Darul Islam movement, mashallah, in America. And he looked at me and he looked, he was asking about my studies, how studies, and then he looked me in my eyes and he said, you need to read surahs. You go back to America in the West, you need to read surah Kanur. He said, make sure that you read that surah. Very, very important. And I can tell when he looked at me like that, when I got back to Madinah, he lived in Jeddah, Mr. Siddiq, mashallah. When I went back to Madinah, I read that surah and I said, subhanAllah, subhanAllah. But just reading it in the Arabic language and further asking questions and dissecting it, you know, every time you read it over and over again, you learn something new. And you know, just the way he looked at me when he said, when you're going back to this place, you need to read this surah. I already had a framework when reading this surah for whatever time I was reading it. And subhanAllah, as was mentioned earlier, the story of ifq, the story of the slander of Aisha radhiAllahu anha, surah Nur is, you know, the word that comes to my mind with surah Nur is chastity. And you know, subhanAllah, you know, the word chastity can be something that is generalized and it can have a cultural nuance to it, but there is a universal construct to the word chastity. And I mean, that ultimately goes back to the natural inclination that we have called the fitrah. SubhanAllah, when we see the things that happen in this chapter and the instructions, the instructions that Allah ﷻ gives to us on how to act. I mean, even when looking through the peephole at someone's house, there is certain adab,
how you seek permission to knock on someone's door. There is, you know, this is mentioned here, the verse about hijab, chapter 24, verse 31. Allah ﷻ goes in depth about the hijab. Allah ﷻ talks about, subhanAllah, the story of the ifq of Aisha, which is roughly verse number 11 to verse number 21. And they call this the 10 verses of the ifq. Now ifq linguistically can mean kadhib or it means really qalbushay, as Tahir bin Ashur mentions it is qalbushay ala haqiqatihi. When you flip something that's opposite from its reality, you're not telling the reality, you're telling the total opposite of what it is. And that's exactly what a lie is. And that's why subhanAllah when last month I talked about Musa and the hayya and his staff, fa-itha hiyalqafu ma ya'fikoon, that the staff will eat what they ya'fikoon, from afaka ifq, which is what the magicians are proposing or what they're trying to bring forth which is a deception, which is a lie, which is not reality. And that's why subhanAllah when we use this word it's important to remember that it is exactly that. It is a slander of ummuna, our mother Aisha radiAllahu anha. I want to touch on one beautiful verse in this chapter within these 10 verses. It's the last two, roughly it's 19 and 20, from the last three. 19 and 20 where Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala says, afta'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim, inna allatheena yuhibboona an tashia'alfahisha fi allatheena aamanu lahum a'adhabun aleemun fi al-dunya wal-akhira waAllahu ya'lamu wa antum la ta'lamu. Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala is mentioning a certain characteristic of people. And whenever Allah mentions a certain characteristic of people or an attribute of a characteristic of, you know, or an attribute of a certain group of people, it's important to immediately look at ourselves and say okay, am I from this? What have I done within the past, within the last, within this day or the past week or
whatever the case may be? Self-accountability when reading these verses is paramount for being one that has chusna tadabur, that ponders over these verses in a beneficial fashion that is pleasing to Allah. So Allah says, verily those that love for the lewd or love for the indecency to spread amongst or about the believers have a painful punishment waiting for them in this life and the next, this life and the next, and Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala knows and you don't. So we want to really split this up into three parts. The first part is that Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala is talking about those that love for the indecency to spread. Now what's important here is that Allah uses the word yuhibboon. He didn't say the ones that speak with fahisha. He didn't mention the amal. He mentioned the feeling. That is very important because within Ramadan, inshaAllah not in Ramadan, not even outside of Ramadan, online, when we spread these memes, we share these things of somebody may have recorded themselves doing something that is not befitting for a human being nor a Muslim and then we spread it around and it's something that that person may or may not want to be known but is it fahisha? This is the question. Is it that which is indecent, that which does not lead to having good thoughts about one another, that which leads to, that which is different from, that goes against the beautification of the fitrah of the human being and their honor and their respect. Does it do that or not? Especially online when it's just a press of a button. We have to be very very cognizant of that. But even this, Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala says those that love for that to happen. You didn't even press the button but if you had the opportunity would you do it? When you see that come on your phone or you see someone text you something, do you spread it to other people or in your mind you say, and erase it.
This is what Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala is talking about, the feeling. This is very important, not the action, the feeling. And we talk about fahisha, you know fahisha, you know the one that loves to do this is as they say, an'ayb, and it's you know from exposing an awrah of someone because when it is something that is indecent you are getting involved as the scholars you know categorize awrah into two types, the awrah hissiyah and awrah ma'nawiyah. The awrah hissiyah is that which we know of the private parts, that which is the awrah, that is the private parts. And the awrah ma'nawiyah is su'ul khuluq, wa kalam al-khabeef, the bad actions and bad manners. This is what Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala is talking about when he talks about the fahisha. So the ones that want this fahisha to spread, fil-ladheena aamanu. Now you'll see some translations that say amongst the believers. It can also be about the believers. And then you know if it's amongst meaning about then this is fine but it's important to capitalize on that because this is in the context of about a believer Aisha that was ghafila, that subhanAllah she didn't even know what was being said about her until she was with someone and the individual, the woman, she tripped over her dress and she cursed her relative that was one of the people that was speaking about Aisha and lying upon her. That's how she found out. She had no idea. By the time she found out this news was all around. SubhanAllah, totally oblivious of that. And that's from the chastity of Aisha radiAllahu anha. So Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala is saying the ones that love for this to spread, fil-ladheena aamanu, scholars have mentioned that this could be of two types. The ones that love this indecency to spread amongst the believers or about the believers. Whether it's indecency to spread about Muslims or the indecency about one Muslim. It's important that we make the effort to cover the faults of our brothers or our sisters.
If someone does a sinful act, you know, if you may be at a conference, you know, and you may be somewhere and you see, you know, the young man look at women, everything he looks he's looking left and right, left, right, he can't control himself. If you see that you're an older man, older gentleman, older woman, pull him or her to the side and say, look, I see you, I see what you're doing. Just, you know, you need to relax, calm down. You know, saying Allah subhanaHu wa ta'ala is watching you, you know, and imagine if that was your daughter, your sister, and someone was looking in that fashion. You pull them to the side, min wara'il hijab, you give them naseeh, you give them advice. But if that advice, the person doesn't take it continuously over a long period of time, it could reach to the level where it's your responsibility to expose them for what they're doing, especially if someone is trying to get married. And then, you know, this brother, since he was young and he's getting involved in lewd practices and something that is not permissible, it may be your responsibility to disclose that. But initially, when you see that, hear that, read that, et cetera, it's important to give advice. And I really want to capitalize on this. We should not be complacent or lazy when giving advice. And the scapegoat that we always use is, I don't want to cause fitna. I don't want to ruin the relationship. Wallahi, we have to give advice to one another, but what's most important for the naseeh, for the one that is advising, is to want that believer to win. We want them to win to get to jannah. We want them to be a better individual. We want them to leave that lewd practice or that certain thing that they were doing consistently or that you've seen the first time, we really sincerely want better for them. Because don't want to say that cliche, they are our brother, they are our sister. We really want good for them. So Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is mentioning that, and that's the second part, fil-ladheena aaminoo, that we should, you know, really want good for them and give the advice and cover them.
Because as the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said in an authentic hadith, in Sahih Muslim on Abi Huraira radhiyallahu anhu, where the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said that there will not be a servant that covers the faults of his or her brother except that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la will cover their faults on the day of judgment. But as we mentioned, the guidelines is very, very important. You don't cover their faults for so many years where they oppress other people because you're afraid to expose them because no, there is those guidelines that was mentioned earlier. Then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, lahum a'adhaabun fi-d-dunya, lahum a'adhaabun alimun fi-d-dunya wal-aakhira, wallahu ya'lamu wa antum la ta'lamoon. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says here that there will be a painful torment in this life and in the next. Not only this life, but this life and in the next. This is very important for the one that is a believer, for the one that voluntarily believes in Allah or is trying to do better in the community and within themselves. Because you remember, this could be something that spreads and causes havoc amongst communities. And remember when something is said about someone and that person may Tawbah, everyone is going to remember what was mentioned in the beginning. The news of them making Tawbah, becoming a better person, you may be the person that sees them improve, but everyone else is remembering what you said because you were hasty, you didn't give advice. You didn't call them, you didn't text them. hum hayyun yunzakoon. They're alive and able to receive the advice. Give the advice, min wara'il hijab, and that is the best way inshaAllah Ta'ala. Then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la concludes and He says, wallahu ya'lamu wa antum la ta'lamoon. Allah knows and you don't know. Allah ends it with this because the knowledge is with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la of the reality of those people. When we watch all of these shows that are built on conjecture, when we hear rumor reports and we watch all of these rumors, people having positions and jobs based off of telling rumors, it is not fact. It is conjecture. And then we send it and text it and send it to other people talking about how much money this person made, ish fa'idah hadi?
What is the benefit of all of this? How does this increase our iman? We have to stop and ask ourselves, how is this increasing my iman as a person that voluntarily loves Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and is trying to be a better person when all of these distractions are bombarding me and taking me away from the remembrance of Allah. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la concludes and I'll end here. Where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says in the next verse when He talks about if there was no fadlullahi alaykum wa rahmatuh, and I want to just mention this, Allah mentions fadlullahi alaykum wa rahmatuh, if it wasn't for the bounty of Allah and His mercy. He mentions this four times in the chapter of Nuh, three times within these ten verses. And when He mentions it, half of the time He's talking about if it wasn't for His fadl and His bounty upon you and His mercy, you would have fallen into the sin yourself. So those that don't fall into the sin, let's not think for a shadow of a doubt that it's never possible. Always remember that there is shaitan that has the huwaat that is trying to call you to that. And because of the fadlullahi of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and His mercy upon you, you did not fall into that slander. You didn't fall into getting into those groups that are non-beneficial at two or three in the morning in Ramadan. You didn't fall into that. You exited certain groups. You fasted from your electronics. You did those things that allowed you to remember Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and that kept you away from those things. So let's remember this beautiful verse in regards to our social engagements, social media, online, and even offline in the masjid when we involve ourselves with people and watch what we say when we're in certain gatherings and making sure that we don't violate a right of a Muslim which is hifb ul-ibn, which is one of the maqasid of the shariah, preservation of the honor. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la preserve us all. Jazakumullahu khair, Sheikh Abdullah.
Dr. Nazer, do you have any final words you'd like to share with us? Yes, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, just hearing Sheikh Abdullah make that connection with our attitudes on social media and the verses in Surah Al-Nur made me reflect about how we live in an age today where we have almost an unlimited amount of information at our disposal about other people's personal lives and yet our spiritual development has not kept up with our technological development. And so we're witnessing the ramifications of that, right? When people don't have the spiritual and moral technologies but they have the social media technologies, you know, something can go viral in just seconds. And Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, I always say like WhatsApp forwards, they don't have any snad to them. They don't have a chain in there, right? So these things just go viral and we really have to be conscious and... observant about how we use these technologies. Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, as they say, and I think it was in the Muqaddimah of Suhih Muslim, of Al-Minhaji, Suhih Muslim, Al-Minnawi, Summu Rijalakum. Yeah. They say, you know, tell us your Isnat, tell us who, you know, who said... I think I said this last year in 30 for 30, but it was a real good friend of mine, Mr. Mustafa Murtaza, MashaAllah, when we were first starting in university and, you know, somebody came up to us in the little convenience store. We were like young miskeen, you know, just getting tuned every day, eating, MashaAllah. And somebody comes to, you know, the word on the street is that this took place and that they said about this. He was like, oh, yeah. What street is that? What's the name of that street? No, that's just the word on the street. He's like, man, I don't take the word on the street. You have to name the street, name the person. That's just an exception. Some great, great wisdom, man. Sage wisdom there, MashaAllah. Jazakum Allah khair. Jazakum Allah khair, MashaAllah. I appreciate you both for the interest of the audience. Again, yaqeeninstitute.org.
It's last Ramadan, InshAllah. You can download the Quran 30 for 30 companion guide as well as the dua a day. And reminding you all to please support Yaqeen as well as please join us for the webathon this Sunday, InshAllah. We're very excited about it to just see the diversity, InshAllah, of faces and beneficial advices. And obviously we count on your support. Alhamdulillah. I mean, so we appreciate your support throughout the month of Ramadan. But as we will be heading into the 21st night, InshAllah, that Sunday night, bidna naya ta'ala, we hope to have you there with us, InshAllah, after the webathon. So please do join us and spread the word. Jazakum Allah khair. Wa salamu alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh. Al-Fatiha.
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