Keeping Connected with the Qur'an
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Introduction | Qur'anic Themes Episode 1
Tune in with Sh. Ibrahim Hindy and Sh. Aarij Anwer (Yaqeen Canada) for an introduction of the Qur'anic Themes series.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Assalamualaikum, bismillah walhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasulullahi wa ala aalihi wa sahbihi man wala. My name is Ibrahim Hindi, and I'm really happy to be here with my good friend, Imam Arij Anwar, on behalf of Yaqeen Canada. Yaqeen Canada is a new effort by Yaqeen Institute to establish its roots in Canada and to start with many different efforts. And so this series on the themes of the Qur'an is part of that effort, alhamdulillah. So Imam Arij and myself have known each other for many, many years, alhamdulillah, and we're really happy. We've collaborated on a few things, but this might be one of the first things that we've gotten to collaborate on, alhamdulillah. And we're here to talk about the themes of the Qur'an. Now, as we discuss the themes of the Qur'an, there's many different ways to look at what is today called thematic tafsir. You can look at the themes of the entire Qur'an, or you can look at the themes of the surahs in the Qur'an, or you can look at the themes of sections of the Qur'an, each juz' of the Qur'an. And so, you know, since this is a four-part series, it was actually the suggestion of Imam Arij to talk about a series of surahs in the Qur'an. And inshallah, over this series, we're going to be discussing the themes of a series of surahs called al-Hawamim, or the surahs that begin with the letter of Hamim, the letters of Hamim. And so we're going to be going through these surahs, not verse by verse, not, you know, each sentence by sentence, obviously, but to go through the themes of these surahs. What are all these surahs trying to tell us?
What are the themes that are similar between them that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is giving us these messages through these surahs, that each of them begin with the same verse and have similar meanings throughout them, alhamdulillah. So I'm going to let, you know, inshallah, Sheikh Arij, you know, talk a little bit about this concept as well, the concept of thematic tafsir and why this is so important for us to learn and to study and to understand more of. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Alhamdulillah as-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. JazakAllah khair, Sheikh Ibrahim, for the beautiful introduction. And this is a real pleasure and honor for me to be here with you today to discuss some of the themes from the Hawamim, the surahs that begin with Hamim. Now this idea of grouping surahs in a way to understand the themes that are common between them, particularly to compare and contrast the messages that are in those surahs that have some similarity to each other, this is a concept that is found in old books of tafsir. It's actually something we can find from the Prophet as well. You know, it's narrated in the Muslim of Imam Ahmad that the Prophet said that وَأُعْطِيْتُ مَكَانَ التَّوْرَاتِ السَّبْعَةِ وَأُعْطِيْتُ مَكَانَ الزَّبُورِ الْمِئِينِ وَأُعْطِيْتُ مَكَانَ الْإِنْجِيلِ الْمَثَانِ وَفُضِّلْتُ بِالْمُفَصَّلِ So this is the Prophet Alayhi Salaam categorizing the surahs of the Qur'an in large categories. You can call them large collections of surahs. The seven long surahs, سَبْعَ الطِوَال And the مِئِين, the second category, مِئِين, the hundreds.
So the surahs that have a hundred ayat or so. المَثَانِ is explained by the scholars of حديث الشراح is the surahs that have ثَنَّ اللَّهُ فِيهَا الْفَرَائِضِ وَالْحُضُودِ وَالْقِصَصِ وَالْأَمْثَالِ قَالَهُ ابْنِ عَبَّاسِ وَابْنِ جَرِيرِ That surahs that have rulings and law and examples and stories to use as evidence or to use as examples of why that law is important. This is the interpretation of ابن عباس And المُفَصَّل, the large category of surahs that are basically shorter surahs like a surah quickly ends and then the next begins and then before it is بِسْمِ اللَّهِ So this is an old classification that we find from the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم The first seven long surahs, then the hundreds and so on and so forth. But that is one way of doing it, one way of understanding it. There's also other ways of understanding the concept of looking at a group of surahs and understanding what are the common themes in them. So you have for example المُصَبِّحَات The surahs that begin with صَبَّحَ لِلَّهِ or يُصَبِّحُ لِلَّهِ Also towards the end of the Qur'an in the 27th and 28th juz' you find these surahs. There is a recent scholar who lived in the 20th century, died late in the 20th century.
He was originally from Pakistan, Amin Islahi, who compounded the notion that pairs and groups of surahs are actually very central to understanding what the surahs are trying to convey and they are complementary. So for example, he gives the example of surah An-Nur and surah Al-Ahzab. Surah An-Nur is surah number 24, surah Al-Ahzab is surah number 33. How these two surahs have a very beautiful symmetry. They are like mirror images of each other in certain ways. For example, surah An-Nur has the ayah of hijab that explains who the Muslim lady is to wear hijab in front of. Or more precisely, who the Muslim lady doesn't have to wear hijab in front of everybody else, she has to wear hijab in front of those people. And then surah Al-Ahzab also has an ayah about that. And then in that surah Al-Ahzab, the ayah talks about يَا أَيُّ النَّبِيُّ قُلْ لِأَسْوَاجِكَ وَمَنَاتِكَ وَالْإِسَاءِ المُؤْمِنِينَ يُدْنِينَ عَلَيْهِنَّ مِنْ جَلَابِي بِهِنَّ They should let their garments flow. So the hijab is something that flows from the top of the head and covers the body. Surah An-Nur talks about who the hijab should be worn in front of. Surah Al-Ahzab speaks about what does that covering look like. So as an example, a brief example of how the complementary nature of surahs explains the concept fully. This is the work of some of the more contemporary scholars. And more and more people, I think, gravitate to that
because this is something that we can observe by studying the Qur'an, pondering over it, and it's an excellent opportunity for those of us who want to think deeply about the Qur'an. This is a great place to start. The themes of the Qur'an, we're not trying to draw ahkam out of the Qur'an. We're not trying to take the verse and derive rulings out of it. But what we're trying to do is trying to understand the beauty of it, how it applies to our lives, and that's a good place for, that's a good reason to engage with thematic tafsir. Absolutely. And I think, as well, the fact that these surahs are all, first of all, obviously they all start with the same ayat, and that they are all in order, grouped together. You know, Imam As-Suyuti wrote a lot about, you know, Asrar Tarteeb Al-Qur'an, the secret of the ordering of the Qur'an, why the surahs were ordered in the way that they were ordered. And so the fact that these are all grouped together and ordered together in the Qur'an is itself an indication that there's something about these surahs in particular, in the order that they're in, that's important for us to study and to understand. And you're right, like this concept of thematic tafsir is a modern concept, like the idea of writing a book or giving a series of talks about only the themes of the Qur'an, but some of the scholars note that this concept of looking for the themes was found amongst earlier Muslims. Yes, they didn't actually sit down and write, you know, these are the themes of this surah, and these are the themes of that surah, but they drew upon the themes, and they referenced the themes many, many times. And, you know, frankly, if you look at Tafsir Al-Qurtubi, you know, an older book of tafsir, obviously by Imam Al-Qurtubi, he does seem to do a lot of thematic discussions,
where he does, in his tafsir, draw upon the themes of the surahs that he is looking towards. And so, you know, absolutely, there's so much benefit that can be taken from this, and particularly, you know, I think for them, because in the past, a lot of the earlier Muslims were so engaged with the Qur'an, recognizing the themes might have been a lot easier for them to do it. And for many of us in today's day and age where we have this distance between us and the Qur'an, it might be a lot more difficult for us to feel that connection to the themes that are being discussed in the Qur'an, that we come in, and it's very foreign to us. You know, the surahs are foreign to us, the groupings of surahs are foreign to us. And so we get, you know, more confused, unfortunately. And so it's just a matter of, you know, breaking it down in a way that it makes it more relatable for people to feel connected to the Qur'an by understanding what the themes are about, why these ayats are in the order that they are in, why the Qur'an is in the order that it is in to begin with. So we're going to be discussing, inshallah, over this series, these seven chapters of the Qur'an. And they are surah al-Ghafir, surah al-Fusillat, surah al-Zukhruf, al-Dukhan, al-Jathiyah, and al-Ahqaf. And these seven surahs, they all begin with Hameem. And so they are called al-Hawameem because of this reason. And just like Shaykh Arij mentioned, you know, there's other groupings of the Qur'an, like al-Musabbihat that begin with Sabbaha yusabbihu, all of these ayats that begin similarly with the derivation of the word Sabbaha, that these are also a grouping of the Qur'an. Also there is, you know, al-Tawaseen, which is all the surahs that begin with Ta and Seen, right? Those two letters. And so those are, you know, a grouping of surahs as well. So we're going to, inshallah, be focusing on these seven chapters. And there's a lot of benefit that we can take from these chapters. There's a lot of similarities between them. There's a lot of benefit that we can take from them. And particularly for those of us who are, you know, non-Muslim,
sorry, Muslim minorities in a non-Muslim country. Because all of these surahs were revealed in Mecca, as we're going to get to, inshallah, a little bit later. And a lot of them have to do with giving da'wah while you're being marginalized. A lot of them have to do with what it's like to call to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala during a time of marginalization. A lot of it has to do with dealing with oppression and tyranny. And how do you navigate that situation? And so for us who are living as Muslims in a non-Muslim country, who sometimes feel marginalization, who sometimes feel Islamophobia, who sometimes feel some of these types of pressures, how are we to be Muslim? How are we to give da'wah during these situations and circumstances that we're in? A lot of that benefit can inshallah be derived through these particular chapters of the Qur'an. And that's one of the reasons that we decided to focus on these chapters. There's also a lot of virtues that have been mentioned in relation to al-Hawamim. So, you know, some of these ahadith are weaker, but they're mentioned in books of tafsir. But for instance, the Prophet ﷺ said al-Hawamim, Dibaaj al-Qur'an. And this has also been narrated from Ibn Mas'ud. And what that means is that the Hawamim are the silk adornments, the adornments, the things that are luxurious of the Qur'an. And likewise, it's also called Rawdat al-Qur'an, which is the gardens of the Qur'an. And some of the scholars, they interpreted this because when the sahaba were calling it the gardens of the Qur'an, they said it's because there's no fiqh, there's no halal and haram, really in these chapters, right? There's nothing about, you know, it's haram to do this, it's halal to do this. There's no rulings that are in these chapters. Instead, a lot of its focus is about iman, about heaven and hellfire, about overcoming tyranny, about belief in Allah, about calling to Allah ﷻ. And so it's this adornment of the Qur'an.
Also, Ibn Abbas r.a is reported to have said, لِكُلِّ شَيْءٍ بَابٍ For everything, there is a door, and the door of the Qur'an is al-Hawamim. The door of the Qur'an is to have, are these chapters of the Hawamim. So he saw it as being these incredibly powerful chapters of the Qur'an. Also, there's a narration, again weaker, but that the Prophet ﷺ said, the example of al-Hawamim in the Qur'an is like the example of the color upon the clothing, or the color upon the garments. So the color in our garments, in our clothing, gives a color, makes it vivid, makes it something that you can recognize, that you can see. Like if everybody's wearing the exact same gray shirt, or monochrome shirts and clothing, you can't even tell what person is from another. But what gives your clothing distinction, and that you can tell what one clothing is from the other, is the dye in it, the dye in our clothing. I'm obviously wearing black and against the black screen, so maybe this is not, well it's a good example I suppose, right? You can't tell where my shirt begins and where the screen is. And so it shows you, when you have color, you can actually see the distinction between things. And so there's a distinction in these surahs, right? These surahs have a distinction for us, and there's something powerful about it. Now obviously these surahs begin with حاميم, right? These two letters. And this is a concept that runs through the Quran. Many different chapters begin with broken letters, right? الأحرف المقطعة, these letters that are broken. So from the very beginning, when you begin with surah, after surah al-Fatiha, surah al-Baqarah, alif la'mim, right? And so you get this throughout the Quran, alif la'mim, alif la'mra, all these different chapters in the Quran that mention broken letters at the start of them, right? And, you know, الحواميم are similar in this state,
obviously that each of these surahs begin with the broken letters of حاميم. And of course scholars have a lot of difference of opinion, what exactly do these disconnected letters mean? What's the purpose behind them? What's the reason behind them? And there's a lot of different opinions on this. The strongest opinion seems to be what Ibn al-Qayyim rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh mentioned, which is his, you know, his reflection of the fact that every time Allah mentions these broken letters, immediately afterwards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will mention the greatness of the Quran. There will be a verse indicating the power and the greatness of the Quran. And this happens throughout the Quran. So for instance, you know, alif la'mim, ذلك الكتاب لا ريب فيه. That alif la'mim, this is the book and there is no doubt about it, right? Taaha, ما أنزلنا عليك القرآن لتشقى. Allah says taaha, you know, broken letters of taa and haa. Then we did not send the Quran upon you to be sorrowed. So again, it's talking about the Quran, the greatness of the Quran. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, you know, صاد والقرآن الدكر. That saad and the Quran of remembrance. That is belonging to remembrance. ياسين والقرآن الحكيم. Right, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says ياسين, then he talks about the Quran of, and the greatness of the Quran. And so you see this happening throughout all of these sur. And when you get to the ha'mims, it's similar, right? Ha'mim, تنزيل الكتاب. Right, ha'mim, and then the revelation of the book from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And this is something that is constant. Ha'mim والكتاب المبين. Ha'mim and the clear scripture, the clear book that has been revealed. So all of this is mentioned throughout the Quran and even in these broken letters. And it's therefore understood from a lot of the scholars is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is mentioning the broken letters almost in a way of challenging those who are disbelieving in the Quran to say that these are the letters that you use, oh Quraysh, right? These are the letters that you Arabs use.
Let's see you use these same letters to make what I have made. In the same way that, you know, if an engineer, you know, build something that no one else can build and he says, look, I use the same materials. Here are the materials, right? So Allah is saying, these are the materials. The materials of the Quran are the letters. Here are the same letters. What can you do with these letters? This is what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can do with these letters. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala can create, the Quran can cause the Quran, but not create the Quran, but to bring us the Quran. What is it that you can do? You know, like we can use carbon to make objects, you know, to make computers, to make tables, to make chairs. We can use carbon-based materials for this. Can you use carbon-based materials to make a light? Obviously not, right? So in the same way Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying you're using letters to make your poetry. I'm using these letters to make the Quran. Can you do the similar to what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has done? And so it is meant for us to think about what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving us in these messages of the Quran. So inshallah, we're going to talk about, you know, obviously today we can't talk about all of the themes that are mentioned in these surahs. It's not something that, you know, we can really cover in, you know, the half an hour that we have today. But inshallah, it'll be something we'll be doing over time. But what we wanted today is to take maybe an overview. What are the similar themes in all of these surahs? And inshallah, over the next three sessions, we're going to be doing a deeper dive, looking at these themes closer. So we can talk, inshallah, about, you know, the similarities of these surahs. One of them, for instance, Imam Aarij, is that all of them were revealed in Mecca. Correct? Do you want to add, inshallah, like any of the similarities that you see as well? So the, they're all Meccan surahs
is a very important, I think, context behind this. They all begin with... And then immediately after they speak about the greatness of the Qur'an. You have a surah, we can actually take a slightly deeper look at this particular point, how it speaks about the greatness of the Qur'an. The revelation of the book is from Allah, the mighty, the knowledgeable. This is in Ghafir. This is the first of the Hameem. Then the next Hameem, which is Fusilat. Tanzeelun min al-Rahman al-Raheem. Similar expression, revelation from the most merciful. But more importantly, or more information, excuse me, is provided here. Kitabun fusilat ayatuhu Qur'anan Arabiyya li qawmi ya'lamoon basheeran wa nathira. This is a book whose verses are explained. It is an Arabic recital. An Arabic recital, Qur'anan Arabiyya. You find this expression in the Hameem also. Allah calling the Qur'an, Qur'anan Arabiyyan. You find it, for example, in Surah Ash-Shura. Allah says, next of the Hameem, He says, wa kadhalika awhayna ilayka Qur'anan Arabiyya. Even though I have the Qur'an memorized, Alhamdulillah, but my memorization is not as strong, Shaykh Ibrahim. I can't quote them all off the top of my head. And this is where all the Huffadh get stuck. Huh? We're like, the Twitch Hameem everyone, I don't remember. So I have my Musaf to like help me out there, right? Describing again the Qur'an is Qur'anan Arabiyya. In Surah Dukhan, this is the Surah number 44 of the Qur'an. Allah Subhanu wa Ta'ala mentions, inna anzallahu fee laylatin mubarakah. We have sent it down on a blessed night, the night of power, Laylatul Qadr. This is the second place in the Qur'an where the Laylatul Qadr is mentioned.
The first and more famous one is Surah Al-Qadr. This is the other place where the Qur'an talks about Laylatul Qadr in the context of the revelation of the Qur'an. And here, you know, the aspect of the greatness of the Qur'an here is the Qur'an was sent on the best night, Laylatul Qadr. You see? So it adds, you know, a layer of that greatness. Each Surah is contributing to that, whether it is mentioning the great names of Allah that show that this book is coming from the one who has all the might and all the power, all the knowledge, and also the one who has all the mercy. Or it speaks about how this book explains things. It will explain things that are not clear to you. And then the explanation of the book itself, the nature of it, is Qur'anan Arabiyya. It is an Arabic recital. Or it talks about how amazing the night was when the book was revealed. All of those are the themes you observe as you look at the Hawamim, the greatness of the Qur'an is spoken about. And it ties back to the idea of the Makkan Surahs, because the people of Makka were trying to understand what is this revelation business. Because this was unprecedented for them. For the people of Bani Israel, there was precedent. They had prophets, and they had prophets from many generations. But for the people of Makka, this was an unprecedented matter. لِتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَا أُنذِرَ آبَاؤُهُمْ فَهُمْ غَافِلُونَ Like the Qur'an mentions, Surah Yasin, so that you can warn people whose forefathers were not warned. Like they hadn't had messengers that they could relate to. So the idea of revelation, that this is truly from Allah,
this is not man-made, this is definitely, definitively from Allah ﷻ, the Hawamim make that point and emphasize that point, because the audience there is still grappling with that issue. So this is one thing we can observe. I think this is one lesson we can draw, inshallah, which is the way we communicate Islam has to be in accordance to the people that we're speaking with. More specifically, or in other words, we should be mindful of the audience that is listening to us. And be mindful of the concerns of the audience. So what we convey of the message should be addressing their concerns, should be addressing the things that they're grappling with. It shouldn't be things that they have either no concern of, or things that, frankly, they don't, you know, they don't even, it's not even on their radar, right? It should be specifically matters and topics that answers the questions that they have, removes the barriers that might be between them and accepting Islam, or being more devoted to Islam. And this is one of the beautiful lessons from the Ta'beer al-Qur'ani, the Qur'ani expression that we can learn, that you speak to your audience in a manner that answers the concerns and the questions of the audience. Absolutely. And you know, some of the scholars, they mentioned, like one of the themes of all of the surah is the methodology of da'wah, and the methodology of the prophets in da'wah. And actually, one scholar was talking about the Surah al-Zumar, which is the surah before the Hawwa Mim, which, you know, there's a bit of controversy whether Surah al-Zumar is part of the Hawwa Mim or not, but we won't get into that right now. But Surah al-Zumar is all about ikhlas, it's all about sincerity.
And the rest of the Hawwa Mim are all about giving da'wah and the methodology of giving da'wah. And so it's almost like you need sincerity to give da'wah. So we begin with al-Zumar, which is about ikhlas, and then the rest of the surah about giving da'wah. So like we mentioned, all of these surahs are Makkan surahs, and all of these surahs begin with the praise and the honoring of the Qur'an. All of the surahs also mention Prophet Musa alayhi as-salam. He's mentioned in all of the surahs, and Bani Israel as well. And so you see this in many different ayat. You know, for instance, وَلَقَدْ أَتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابِ Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentioned in Surah al-Fusillat that we gave Musa the book, we sent him with the scripture, with the book. Also in Surah al-Zukhruf, وَلَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا مُوسَى بِآيَاتِنَا إِلَىٰ فِرْعُونِ وَمَلَئِيِّ that we sent Musa with our verses, with our signs, to Fir'aun and to his elite company. In Surah al-Dukhaan, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says وَلَقَدْ فَتَنَّا قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ فِرْعُونِ وَجَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ كَرِيمٌ that indeed we tried and tested the nation of Fir'aun from before them. And we sent them an honorable messenger. And so this is mentioned in all of the surah. Surah al-Jafia وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ الْكِتَابِ Indeed we sent and we revealed to Bani Israel, to the children of Israel, the book, the scripture, and the prophethood and wisdom as well. So all of this has been mentioned over and over. Some of the scholars, they remarked, you know, Musa alayhi salam is mentioned so much in the Qur'an, almost a third of the Qur'an went with Musa alayhi salam. And the reason why there's so much discussion about Musa is because his story deals with tyranny and oppression. So the oppression of Fir'aun and how Fir'aun was oppressive to Bani Israel and him dealing with that situation, him giving da'wah in very difficult circumstances against the worst of all the tyrants. And also his dealing with his own people
and the disunity amongst his own people and the dynamics within the group of followers, the dynamics within the groups of those who are following him and those who are believers. And these are the two major, you know, situations the Prophet ﷺ himself goes through. Because he's in Mecca, dealing with the dynamics of being persecuted and oppression, and facing oppression. And then he also goes to Medina and he has to deal with the dynamics of the believers and what's happening within the believers. And even in Mecca, both situations, and in Medina, both situations are occurring simultaneously as well. Another major theme that we see throughout these surahs is the theme of unity, the theme of the dangers of disuniting. These are things that are constantly repeated in these surahs as well. وَلَقَدْ أَتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ فَاخْتُلِفَ فِيهِ Allah ﷻ says, We gave Musa the scripture, surah al-Fusillat, He says, We gave Musa the scripture, but it came to disagreement. It became an issue of disagreement between them. So Allah mentions how they disagreed about the scripture. In surah al-Shura, وَمَا اخْتَلَفْتُمْ فِيهِ مِنْ شَيْءٍ فِي حُكْمُهُ إِلَىٰ اللَّهِ ذَلِكُمُ اللَّهُ رَبِّي عَلَيْهِ تَوَكَلْتُ وَإِلَيْهِ وَنِيبٌ Then Allah ﷻ says that anything that you disagree, its ruling should be referred to Allah. So Allah talks about the disagreement that happens between the believers. And surah al-Shura, you know, shura is consultation. The fact that these disagreements happen, these differences happen. You know, even if you're a group of believers, even if we all believe, there's gonna be differences between them. We need to consult each other. We need to return back to Allah ﷻ and the word of Allah ﷻ. We need to have some principles in how we deal with our disagreements. You know, these are things that are mentioned in these chapters. In surah al-Zukhruf, Allah ﷻ mentions, وَلَمَّا جَاءَ عِيسَى بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ قَالَ قَدْ جِئْتُكُمْ بِالْحِكْمَةِ وَلِيُبَيِّنَ لَكُمْ بَعْضَ الَّذِي تَخْتَرِفُونَ فِيهِ Right? So, Isa's coming,
part of his mission is that the people have differed over the scripture. They've differed over their beliefs. They've differed over so many matters. And he's saying, I'm coming to make this clear. So this concept of the believers differing and people having these different ideas and beliefs is something that comes up over and over. And in Surah Al-Jafia, he says, وَآتَيْنَاهُمْ بَيِّنَاتٍ مِّنَ الْأَمْرِ فَمَخْتُرِفُوا فُوِّي إِلَّا مِنْ بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بِيْنَهُمْ That he says, we gave them the clear proofs of the religion and they did not differ except after the knowledge had come to them. And so Allah ﷻ mentions how the people differed. And he mentions as well, you know, that this differing comes out of بَغْيًا بِيْنَهُمْ that it comes out of this animosity between them, hatred, bitterness, jealousy, that causes a lot of this differing to occur between one another. So that's another theme as well, this concepts of unity and disunity, the dangers of disuniting improperly is something that comes up over and over. Also, the focus of the continuation of the message from the Prophets of Bani Israel to Muhammad ﷺ and the Ummah of Muhammad ﷺ, right? That this is a continuous message. So this is Mutha and this is Bani Israel and this is the stories related to them. And now it's been passed over to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. And the continuation of this revelation is continuing with our Prophet ﷺ. And this also shows itself in many verses in these chapters. So Allah ﷻ says, وَلَا تَتَّبِعَ أَخْوَاءَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْنَمُونَ Allah ﷻ says, we made you on an ordained way, O Prophet, concerning this religion. So follow it and do not follow the inclinations of those who do not know. Allah ﷻ says, شَرَعَ لَكُمْ مِنَ الدِّينِ مَا وَصَّى بِهِ نُوحًا
وَالَّذِي أَوْحَيْنَا إِلَيْكَ وَمَا وَصَّيْنَا بِهِ إِبْرَهِيمَا وَمُوسَى وَعِيسَى أَنْ أَقِيمُوا الدِّينَ وَلَا تَتْفَرَّقُوا فِيهِ Over and over, and this is related to I think something we're gonna be discussing a lot, particularly next week, and Shaykh Aarij will be really focusing on this a lot, is because the Muslims are being persecuted, because these chapters are being revealed in Mecca, there is a large emphasis on forgiveness, and forgiving others, and turning away from ignorance, and pardoning others. Because especially when you're in a place of weakness, you know, it's not the time to fight back, it's the time to avoid these types of situations. And Allah ﷻ says, أَصْفَحْ عَنْهُمْ Turn away from them. وَقُلْ سَلَامًا And say peace to them. وَارْتَقِبْ إِنَّهُمْ مُرْتَقِبُونَ Surah al-Dukhan, He says, So watch, for indeed they are watching as well. قُلْ لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَغْفِرُوا لِلَّذِينَ لَا يَرْجُونَ أَيَّامُ اللَّهِ Allah says, say to those who have believed that they should forgive those who do not expect the days of Allah. This is mentioned in a lot of these verses as well. A real emphasis on being patient, a real emphasis on forgiveness, and being tolerant and overlooking. وَصْبِرْ كَمَا صَبْرَ أُولِي الْعَزْمِ مِنَ الرُّسُولِ This is a very powerful verse in Surah al-Haqqai. Be patient just as the messengers of strong will were patient. وَلَا تَسْتَعْجِلْ لَهُمْ And do not be impatient for them. So Allah ﷻ mentions the hardships,
the difficulties of all the messengers of the past, and tells the Prophet ﷺ be patient like them and do not be impatient. And so these are messages that go from Surah to Surah that is really through all of these Surahs, a thread through all of them in terms of the methodology of the Muslims and how we're supposed to be giving da'wah in really difficult times, how we're supposed to have unity between each other within our community that we don't disunite, that we don't divide each other. And these are really powerful lessons, really powerful themes, particularly in our context, in our day and age, in our circumstances that we live in. Are there any other themes, inshallah, that you want to mention, Sheikh Arij, as well? The themes that Masha'Allah, Barak Allah Fikir, very beautifully summarized. I wanted to add one, I guess, sprinkle to one of the themes you mentioned, which is the focus on the unity of the believers sticking together and not differing and how Allah mentions those examples of previous nations who differed and then broke apart, disunited and became divided. So in that, he mentions in Surah Ash-Shura, beautifully named and a nice link there between this concept and the name of Shura and the passage that speaks of Shura, mutual consultation, the importance of working together even when we don't always see eye to eye, is the following topic. When Allah mentions, وَمَا تَفَرَّقُوا إِلَّا مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَهُمُ الْعِلْمُ بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ Surah number 42, ayah number 14, that the only reason why people became disunited and divided was after knowledge due to بَغْيًا بَيْنَهُمْ because of some animosity, some grief, some beef that they had amongst each other.
That was really the underlying reason why this division and disunity came about. What he says afterwards is fascinating. The next ayah, or excuse me, what he says at the end of the ayah is fascinating. He says, مَنْ ذِينَ أُورِثُوا الْكِتَابَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِنْهُ مُرِيبٌ That those who were, they inherited the book, أُورِثُوا الْكِتَابَ They inherited the book after these people, لَفِي شَكٍّ مِنْهُ مُرِيبٌ They were in a severe doubt about the book. منه, i.e. from it, referring, the it referring to the book. This is talking about something that's very scary, which is the religious establishment, the leadership, differed, disunited, not, they didn't remain together, and disunited over petty reasons, not legitimate differences of opinion, which is in our religion, a beautiful aspect of our academic legacy. No, but they became disunited and divided based on pettiness. بَغْيًّا بَيْنَهُمْ What was the consequence of that? The consequence of that was that the next generation of the followers of that religion, when they came about, they weren't convinced of the truthfulness of the book. They didn't have the conviction in the message because they saw their elders and leaders bickering about stuff. أُورِثُوا الْكِتَابَ Because the expression is very precise, وَلِيْثَا الْيُورَثُ means to inherit something. وَلِيثَا الْيُورَثُ is to be given something in inheritance. So the implication here is that they were born into the faith, you know, they inherited the mess that their elders had left behind.
It was given to them versus they taking it. I'm sorry? Like it was almost like it was given to them versus them taking it. Exactly, it was given to them instead of them, you know, like accepting it, taking it. And they inheriting that situation caused them to be in a severe state of doubt. And subhanAllah, this is something we see today. You know, simple examples between how we have such, sometimes such bitterness in how as a community we make decisions. And that bitterness is not subtle, it's pretty obvious. And what it does is the kids who are born into the faith, who are born in Canada, in North America, into this faith, they see that bitterness, they see that pettiness, and it just pushes them further and further away. It doesn't give them conviction of their faith and causes more doubts about the faith in their minds. And this is something the Qur'an mentions of the dangers of doing so. That don't think this is only about you and your opinion and your say getting accepted and being final, but think of the consequences that happen or the consequences of your choices for your future generations. Because you probably will push them out of Islam or push them to the edges of their commitment because of this kind of differing and disunity. Absolutely, I mean that's a really powerful point, mashaAllah. And one that I think is really related to a lot of the work that Yaqeen does. And one of the scholars, he was mentioning that you notice in these verses that sometimes Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is expecting the differences to happen. Because we're human beings, there's going to be differences. وَمَا اخْتَرَفْتُمْ فِي شَيْءٍ فَحُكْمُهُ إِلَىٰهُ Whenever you differ over something, return it back to Allah. But then other times Allah is very strict. So even just a few verses later,
the verses that you were referring to, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says النَّقِيمُ الدِّينُ وَلَا تَتْفَرَّقُوا Establish the religion and do not disunite. Because some differences are permissible and some types of differences really aren't. And like you said, when these differences are coming, البخيم بينهم It's just because of petty personal reasons that people are attacking each other and turning against each other. Just because of these petty differences, what ends up happening subhanAllah, that what you mentioned is so powerful. You end up getting these next generations who are taking the religion from their forefathers. And they don't even have certainty. They're filled with doubt themselves, right? And the في شك منهم مريض They themselves have this doubt. Why? Because they saw these personal bitterness and attacking each other and these differences and disunity, not over actual principle, reason, thought, not over having principles that one person has and still having love between each other even if we differ, but no petty reasons that causes people to attack each other. It causes lack of يقين, lack of certainty in our religion, instead of having a lot of doubt that is left over to our children. And it's something that really, like you said, you said it best, that the petty differences and arguments that we're having between Muslims today, you know, who knows what it's going to result down the road to our children and to their children. And that's something that's really powerful for us to think about. We have in our possession from our Prophet ﷺ a great inheritance. And it's something that we have to protect and we have to make sure that when we're giving it to the next generation, we're doing a good job in terms of making sure that they're receiving it properly. And they're not turned off by our behavior because of it. SubhanAllah, it's a really powerful point. So I think inshAllah this is a good note for us maybe to end today. And inshAllah moving forward, we're going to go and deep dive into a lot of these different themes, talking about how to give da'wah, how to deal with, you know, states of being marginalized,
and how we can take so many lessons from the story of Musa and his situation with Firawn, and particularly related to our own context when we see oppression and injustice, how is it that we're supposed to deal with those injustices and difficulties, and we see from Musa ﷺ how he's able to navigate in his conversations with Firawn. And conversations is actually one of the themes that I kind of wanted to discuss at some point as well, because we see the conversation between, you know, Musa and Firawn, and the conversation between the believer and the family of Musa, and the conversations later on that happened between the people in the hellfire amongst each other, and the conversations between the people in the hellfire with the angels, and so there's so many different dialogues and conversations that happen between these surahs, and something that the scholars mentioned as well that is really important for us to take note from inshaAllah. But we don't want to spill everything today, you know, today was just the introduction. We want to make sure people come back inshaAllah next week, and get more and benefit inshaAllah from your knowledge on these topics inshaAllah. So jazakAllah khair for joining us, and jazakAllah khair to everyone who has come and listened to us today. InshaAllah join us next week as well as we continue through the themes of the Qur'an, particularly the themes of al-Hawamim, of all the surahs that begin with the letters Hawamim. JazakAllah khair, salamualikoum wa rahmatollahi wa barakatohu.
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