Qur'an 30 for 30
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Juz' 1 with Justin Parrott
In the opening episode of the series, Sh. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro, joined by special guest Justin Parrott, explore gems from the first Juz' of the Holy Quran.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Okay, I think we're live. All right. As-salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. I will be asking my Imam Shaitanuddin. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa ala adwana illa a'la al-dhalimeen. Wa ala aqibatuhu lilmuttaqeem. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barik ala abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Wa ala anhi wa sahbihi wa sallim tasliman kathira. Ramadan Mubarak to all of you. May Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala accept this Ramadan from us all. Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillah. Allah bless us to be here. As I wrote earlier today, SubhanAllah, how many people passed away in the last few weeks that would have wished for the opportunity to be here, and they would not be complaining about being quarantined. They would just be thanking Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala for the blessing to have another Ramadan to meet him with Subhanahu wa ta'ala. So we ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala, after thanking him for this Ramadan, to allow us to make the most of it, to allow us to attain his mercy and his forgiveness. And he loves to forgive and show mercy, even though we inherently have our shortcomings. We ask Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala to connect us to him this Ramadan in a way that we've never been connected to him before, and to allow that connection to only be enhanced until the moment which we are disconnected from this life, and we return to him Subhanahu wa ta'ala, meeting him bi-idhna Allahi ta'ala with his pleasure and his mercy. It's exciting, SubhanAllah, to be here right now, to be honest with you. It's kind of surreal. The masajids are closed, and I know a lot of people are feeling a certain way, but bi-idhna Allahi ta'ala will make the most of it. And I have to say that probably the most exciting thing about this Ramadan to me is what I think will be a connection to the Quran that people will develop this Ramadan bi-idhna Allahi ta'ala. That's my hope and my optimism for this Ramadan, is people will develop a new connection with the Quran. Remember the complaint of the Messenger SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam on the Day of Judgment is that we did not take the Quran seriously.
And so if we do take the Quran seriously and apply it the way that we should, and absorb it, and construct our hearts with it. The Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam mentioned the one who does not have the Quran in his heart or in her heart is like al-bayt al-kharib, like a destroyed home. The Quran is what grounds us, it's what stabilizes us, it's the spring of our hearts, it's the remover of our distress. It is everything to us and it's our companion, whether we are quarantined or in public or in private. And it is the book of Allah and the word of Allah and that which connects us to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And we seek to be called people of Quran and we seek to be raised with the Quran. And so I pray that Allah Azawajal allow that to be the case. And from the beauty of connecting with the Quran, you see all of these series that popped up about summarizing ajza' of the Quran, chapters of the Quran. Imam Shafi'i rahimahu Allah said that, every time I read the Quran with tadabbur and tafakkur, with contemplation and reflection, every single time he reads it, it's like he's reading it for the first time because of the new reflections that come out of it. And so I'm going to say this with full confidence. If you watch this series every night, and then you go tune into Sheikh Yasir Qadhi's series, and then go tune into Sheikh Mohammed Al-Shinnawi's series, and then go tune into Sheikh Haseeb Noor's series, all of these different wonderful programs that are out there right now, summarizing the Quran, you're going to benefit binna nari ta'ala from every single one because we cannot reflect enough on the Quran. There's enough in there for us to reflect for an entire lifetime, and we still would not be able to capture its full beauty and comprehend it to the fullest. So alhamdulillah, this is Quran 30 for 30. I did this a few years ago in 2016, I believe. And it was just logging on to Facebook Live every once in a while. Now I have, mashallah, Sheikh Abdullah Aduru, Aduru was going to give us a lot more perspective, and we'll also have a guest every night, inshallah ta'ala, to add some perspective and reflection.
So I'm really looking forward to that. There was a suggestion to change the name. You remember what the name was, Sheikh Abdullah? Do I have to say the name? You've got it. It'll sound better coming from you than me. Okay, okay. All right, bismillah. What is it? Quran T. Quran T. Quran Teenan and Deenan. Quran Teenan and Deenan, yes. Yeah, yes. That was a suggested name. That'll just be the nickname for this period. It'll be Quran 30 for 30, bi'lilahi ta'ala. And before we start, inshallah, as we start the month of Ramadan, I'm gonna remind you every night, inshallah ta'ala, that this is a month of sadaqah as well. And alhamdulillah, everything we do at Yaqeen, whether Ramadan or outside, including all of the content that was put out, especially in the COVID era, alhamdulillah, is free and accessible to you, whether it's in the form of an infographic or a paper or a video or curriculum or an app or whatever it is, it's all free and accessible to you. And so I'm gonna ask you, inshallah ta'ala, to consider Yaqeen to be one of those places that you allocate your sadaqah towards with a tax deductible, zakat eligible, bi'lilahi ta'ala, donation. You could click on the link, inshallah ta'ala, wherever you are. And bi'lilahi ta'ala, help us to continue to produce content like this. So jazakumAllah khayran to all of you for tuning in. So the format of this is gonna be the following every night. I'm gonna summarize, inshallah ta'ala, high level from a structural perspective, the structural beauty of the juz and what we can take from the structure itself. Sheikh Abdullah Aduro is gonna come in, inshallah ta'ala, and offer some gems and reflections. Our third guest will also offer some reflections, inshallah ta'ala, on a particular part of the juz. And then we'll all have a conversation, inshallah, and we'll try not to let this go beyond 35 minutes, inshallah ta'ala, 30 to 35 minutes, bi'lilahi ta'ala, every single week. And if you attend my jumar khutbahs, you know that 30 to 35 is always 35.
So it's kind of Quran 30 and 35 type deal, but we'll do our best, inshallah ta'ala, to keep you all engaged, bi'lilahi ta'ala. So to start off with juz one, obviously we have surah al-Baqarah, but what many people forget is surah al-Fatiha is also part of the first juz of the Quran, and it guides the entire structural beauty of the Quran. The Quran begins with what? It begins with a dua. It begins with a supplication, which shows you what the Quran is meant to evoke in you. The Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam said, ad-dua huwa al-ibadah. That supplication is worship. And the ultimate ask of that dua, it's not a dua for wealth, though it's permissible to ask Allah for wealth. It's not a dua for family, though it's good to make dua for your family. It's not a dua for community or ummah. It's a dua for guidance. It's a dua for guidance. The first ask of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is, ihdina al-sirat al-mustaqeem. Guide us to the straight path. The answer is, hudan lil-mutaqeem. dhalika al-kitabu la rayba feeh. hudan lil-mutaqeem. Which I believe Shaykh Abdullah is going to be talking about, that this is a guidance for those who are God conscious, those who are mindful of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And so Allah Azawajal answers the dua right away, which is the relationship of the abd with his rab, with the servant to the master, the worshiper to the Lord. That Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, call upon me and I will answer you. uja'ooni astajib lakum. Call upon me and I will answer you. And so that's what happens. You start off with the dua and it immediately, even as you read it, is the answer from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And then you go into the things that would cause people to misguidance. When I say misguidance, not misguidance with one S,
that would cause people to miss out on guidance, right? Because it's not about Allah Azawajal not giving you the answer. The answer is right there. It's in the first ayah. It's about people's actions that cause them to be amongst those who are astray. And so Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la immediately gives us the disqualifiers. If you are coming to this book with a twisted heart, you're not going to be guided by it. In fact, your deviation will be increased. If you're coming to this book to twist it for worldly benefits and to ignore the pure request of guidance, and you're amongst the hypocrites, and you use it when it's beneficial to you, and then you throw it away when it's not beneficial to you, then this is not going to be a book of guidance for you. This is not going to be a good story for you. And so whether it is our lowly desires or our arrogance and pride, ultimately it is kufr and nifaq that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la immediately condemns. Disbelief, which is rejection of the message altogether, and hypocrisy. And the type of hypocrisy that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la condemns from the start is the type of hypocrisy which entails disbelief. So the first type of nifaq, there are two types of hypocrisy. There's the hypocrisy, which is hypocrisy of action. Nifaq amal, that a person does not practice in the same way in different environments. They practice more in some environments than they do in other environments. They practice for the sight of the people perhaps, or the quality of their deeds is increased when they're in front of the people. When it's only Allah's sight, then they lose that. That's nifaq amal. Nifaq itiqadi, the hypocrisy of creed, are those that use their disbelief, they use their rejection, and they decorate their disbelief with belief when it's beneficial to them in this world.
And then when it's not, they just shut it and they mock the message. And so obviously they're disqualifying themselves from that ask of guidance. And that's very beautiful, SubhanAllah, that Allah is saying from the start, if you're asking me sincerely for guidance, the answer is here. But if you're coming with a malicious intention, then it's your fault and no one else's fault. And then what does Allah give us? Allah Azawajal gives us the first story of Adam alayhis salam. And Adam alayhis salam, he slips. His slip is from shahwa. His slip is from desire. It's not from hypocrisy. It's not from disbelief. His slip comes out of a moment of weakness with his desire, okay? As a result of that, what happens? He turns back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala elevates him further. After Adam alayhis salam, who slipped due to his moment of desire, a moment of weakness, comes the story of who? Fir'aun, right? A man who insisted on pride, who has the qualities of the one who tried to make Adam slip, which is Iblis, right? Of pride. Fir'aun with his pride. The people of Musa alayhis salam with their pride, with their arrogance, right? Those that rejected and showed pride. And there's a powerful lesson. Sufyan ibn Uyayna rahimahullah, he says that Adam alayhis salam sins out of desire. Shaytan sins out of pride. The one who sins out of desire will find it easier to return back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala than the one who sins out of pride. And you automatically see that dichotomy right in the very beginning, right? You see it right there, okay? So you have Adam alayhis salam who sins out of shahwa, out of desire and came back to Allah. You have Fir'aun who manifests the pride of the devil
and insists on that pride until his death and is humiliated. And then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us, and I'm gonna inshallah ta'ala transition here. Allah azawajal gives us who? A man who is rich and has access to his desires, but he still doesn't have pride. Who is that? Wama kafara Sulaiman walakinna shayateena kafaru Right? Sulaiman alayhis salam did not disbelieve, but it was the devils who disbelieved. So don't say it was too tempting. Don't say that the pride was too tempting. Don't say that the kingdom was too tempting. No, Sulaiman pursued guidance alayhis salam. And so everything that was given to him of this world that could make one lustful and make one arrogant did not distract him because he maintained the sincerity of that ask, that palab of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then Allah azawajal brings in the story of Ibrahim alayhis salam. Abraham, peace be upon him. And Ibrahim alayhis salam is mentioned in a way that his character is praised. So his character is mentioned and then what he wished to see from his ummah. So if you think about it like this, Adam alayhis salam's descendants include everyone from prophets to pharaohs. Right? They're all the descendants of Adam alayhis salam. And you have Ibrahim alayhis salam mentioned and in Surah Maryam Allah azawajal also goes from Adam to those that were on the ship of Nuh alayhis salam to those that were the descendants of Ibrahim alayhis salam. And Allah particularly speaks about the ummah that Ibrahim alayhis salam wished to see. The people that would be able to carry out the purpose of Adam alayhis salam as Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala created them. And so you have an introduction of Ibrahim alayhis salam, but it's not the introduction of Ibrahim with his father. It's not the introduction of Ibrahim alayhis salam and his own trauma. It's the introduction of Ibrahim alayhis salam wanting to see the potential of the descendants of Adam alayhis salam. The potential of mankind and turning back
to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala. And then who does it go to? Qulu aamanna billahi wama unzila ilayna wama unzila ila Ibrahima wa Isma'ila wa Ishaqa wa Ya'quba wa al-Asba'at wama ootia Musa wa Isa wama ootia nabiyuna min rabbihim la nufarriqoo bayna ahad minhum wa nahnu lahoo muslimoon That you say we believe in Allah. We believe in what Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed to us, revealed to Abraham, revealed to Ishmael, revealed to Jacob, revealed to Isaac, revealed to Jacob, revealed to the tribes, revealed to Musa, to Moses and Jesus, and revealed to all of the prophets. We do not distinguish between any of them and we are amongst those who submit ourselves. And SubhanAllah, the crystallization and the end of Juz'ah one, of the first Juz'ah, so beautiful, is the changing of the Qibla to Makkah. So SubhanAllah, Allah appoints the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and appoints the Ummah of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Here you have the last revelation and you have a chance to live up to that, ask for guidance. And you have the honor of guidance if you do so. And we have made you Ummatan Wasalta. We've made you a balanced Ummah. That you would be witnesses on the people and the Prophet would be a witness upon you. And Allah mentions changing the Qibla back to the original home of Ibrahim Al-Islam, the direction of prayer, face back to that place where Ibrahim Al-Islam expressed that desire with his son Ismail as they were constructing the Ka'bah and raising its foundations. So with that inshaAllah ta'ala, tafadhal shaykh Abdullah. BarakAllahu feekum, jazakumullahu khayran, bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi man wala iman al-baqarah Firstly I want to thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that he's allowed all of us to reach this blessed month. As of Maghrib today, mashallah, we've entered into the month of Ramadan. And this is a transition from not fasting probably the majority of the year to fasting all of a sudden every day of the month.
And as the transition came with the COVID-19 and where we are staying and primarily during the day, how we are using our day and using our time. And it's important for us to remember that this transition is something that can serve as a litmus test for us this Ramadan. This is going to be the first Ramadan that we will be spending like this. So just as he mentioned the tahweel al-Qibla, that they had to change the Qibla, there was an adjustment. Just as the hijrah, there was an adjustment. The Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, all of the prophets coming with the message was an adjustment. It was calling to change. So change is something that we have to accept that will take place and how it will be will be unexpected. But what's the most important is that we have certainty in the one who allows or makes that change happen. And that's so important. That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala when starting off this beautiful chapter of al-Baqarah, the chapter of the cow, the second chapter of the Quran, that he mentions in the second verse after he mentions the beautiful verses, the beautiful verse after A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim Bismillahir rahmanir rahim Alif la amin And these are words that many scholars have given the meanings of them, but they are still generally unknown as what the particular meanings of them are. And it's to show the greatness of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and his ability. But moving on forward when he says, Thalikal kitabu la raiba fee He goes on to say that is a book, no doubt in it. So many of us know the statement of when someone embraces Islam, they say ash-hadu alla ilaha inlallah So if you notice phonetically, we say la ilaha And that ha, the a sound at the end of the noun represents that you're negating the genus. You're negating any kind of understandable or anything in your perception of that noun or that object. So if I say la rajula fee albayt No man is in the house, meaning no male figure or la dhakara fee albayt
There's no male figure in the physical location. So when we say la ilaha, it means there is no conceivable God that can be taken as an object of worship except the creator of the heavens and the earth, whose name is Allah. This is the belief that we have when it comes to our recognition of the creator. So Allah uses that same form here. When he says that is the book, la rayba feehi meaning that there is no shadow of a doubt in it. And this is how Allah starts the message, showing that there's no doubt in this book, meaning that it's important for you as a human being that wants to look into this book for a means of guidance. Check your heart. Check your heart and see what is my position in regards to the message of God. Is this Quran that I'm about to embark upon and read and look into for whatever niya and intention you have, do I believe that it is a means of guidance? Or am I certain or am I someone that is looking for guidance sincerely? So when he says la rayba, it is a message for all of us. And the grammatical makeup of that fatah at the end shows that it's a negation of any kind of doubt. This book brings full certainty, brings full yaqeen. But it's important for you, as I always ask myself and others, we believe in Allah, but do we believe Allah? We believe in him. We believe that there's a God and he doesn't have any partners and he's not like his creation. But when he says something to you that does not sit well in your heart, guess what? That is natural. That is natural. But what do you do at that point, the breaking point, when you realize, okay, the way that I'm feeling about this,
I know it's natural, but am I trying to rectify that feeling? Am I trying to, you know, what I know is right in regards to the feeling that I have, am I trying to be the best that I can be? And that's what's very important when we look at laa raeeba fee, is to automatically look in yourself and see, do I have doubt in the Quran? Do I have doubt in God? Do I have doubt in what he has put forth? And then he says, hudal lil muqtaqeen, that it is guidance for the muqtaqeen. And this is very important. When Allah mentions that it's guidance, he always mentions a particular type of person, that this guidance will be for the one that is mindful, for the one that ponders over Allah and what he has placed on this earth. So when we look at the COVID virus right now, initially, some of us were scared. Some of us panicked, social anxiety. You know, we may know people that have passed away. Some of those that are positive, may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la protect them and make any pain or ailment that is faced an expiation for any shortcomings that have happened. But automatically, after that feeling, do we try to rectify if we know that it was something that was detrimental to our certainty in Allah's predestination or God's actions? Do we realize that God did that for a certain wisdom? You know, what's so beautiful about the names and attributes of God, which is so beautiful about any of his names and attributes, the first thing is that, you know, that they are complete. They are shamil kamil, that they are complete and comprehensive, and they do not carry any deficiency naturally by default. But we, on the other hand, naturally have deficiencies. And Allah made it that way from his wisdom. So when we look at wisdom, for instance, and Hakeem, everything Allah does is rooted in certainty, so in wisdom.
So when Allah brings forth this coronavirus, for instance, we have to have certainty that Allah did that for a particular wisdom, which we are not totally sure about why he did what he did. But if we look throughout history, SubhanAllah, the word, a lesson that is learned may have been something at the time, it was something you weren't pleased with, or you thought everyone would be doomed, and some people, their lives were taken as a result of that. But throughout history, we see lessons were learned where people won't fall into those same mistakes. So this Quran, this book, is a form of guidance. When we look at guidance, it is something that gets you out of darkness. It is something that when you are in a state of confusion, in a state of ignorance, that this book will take you out of that confusion, and will take you out of that ignorance, but you have to be sure that it will, or sincere in trying to find the message of getting out of that. So when he says, Hudan lil mutaqeen, it is for the ones that are mindful. That are mindful of what? That are mindful of God and his actions. That are mindful of those names and those attributes. So when you think of the names of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, for instance, when you think of the COVID-19 now, and what has happened, what name of Allah comes to your mind? This is what you want to do. What is the name of Allah that has come to my mind when this took place? Is it mercy, that he withheld harm from someone? What is the harm that we may perceive now, but may not be later? So looking at these names, merciful, you know that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is Al-Aziz at the same time. He has ultimate might, and that might does not exemplify or show any deficiency. This is what is important for the one that wants to obtain certainty or that has certainty. This is the process of servitude. Then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la mentions after that,
and we'll conclude here, he gives an example. Alladheena yu'minuna bilghaybi wa yuqeemuna as-salata wa mimma razaqanahum yunfiqoon. The ones that believe in the unseen. Alladheena yu'minuna bilghaybi wa yuqeemuna as-salata wa mimma razaqanahum yunfiqoon. The ones that believe in the unseen. Let's stop here for a minute. The unseen is predestination. The fact that we are uncertain in what will take place five minutes from now, five years from now, and being content with that uncertainty should drive and push you to rely on the one that you are certain about. And that is the process. The uncertainty should drive you to more iftiqar, should drive you to more deprivation in need of your creator. And that is what the mindful one believes in, the unseen. What Allah tells you about the unseen. Even though you don't know what exactly it is, whatever Allah tells you about it, you believe it because you are certain in the message. And also, from the actions of the muttaqeen, the mindful ones, is that they will establish the salat, they will pray, they will pray to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and they will spend out of what they have been given. mimma razaqanahum What we have provided for them, what do they do? They spend in the path of the one that they are certain in. So it's very important when we start this beautiful message of the Quran, as Shaykh Omar mentioned, that this first juice, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la establishing a precedent. Look, when you start with this book, check your heart. See where your heart lies in message, in regards to me, and the message that is about to be revealed to you or the message that you are about to read or to listen to or to hear about. So particularly in this time now, now that we are starting in this blessed month of Ramadan, let's make sure that we are mindful of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
and that mindfulness will increase us in consciousness of His names and attributes and the exemplification of those names and attributes, how they are acted out and how they are, how they take place in our life and being conscious of that to serve as a catalyst for actions of good, such as prayer, such as zakat, such as giving a smile to your neighbor, such as calling up a person that you may have had bad blood with and realizing that Islam, that life, that Allah is bigger than the both of us and what bad things we may have amongst each other. So let's just remember this beautiful verse at the beginning of Baqarah and remember that certainty is important for us. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la bless us with certainty and use that as a means to increase us in our mindfulness to do actions of Iman. JazakAllah khair. JazakAllah khair, Barakah shukran. One, you know, the beautiful statement, the connection that you just made, unseen, you know, the thing that we fear most of the unseen is predestination, right? That's the thing that people really get paranoid about. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la ends that with mimma razaknahum yunfiqoon to spend, as the Prophet SallAllahu Alaihi Wasallam you know, talks at wa la yakhshar faqh to not even be afraid of poverty because you know that Allah is the provider and so you still spend because people hold back because of that fear of the unknown and the uncertainty that will come. And there's a tie between those two that you just mentioned. It's very beautiful, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Like when you think about the unseen, it's not Allah, the angels, the books, the one that scares people in terms of worldly consequences is divine decree. And then the one that scares people in terms of the hereafter is the day of judgment, right? And so mimma razaknahum yunfiqoon they spend out of that which they love, seeking what? Elevation in the hereafter. JazakumAllah khair. So we're gonna bring in, and I can tell you from now, we're not going 35 minutes. I'm sorry, I already take it back. Just we'll be, this is meant to be a little more flexible inshAllah, but we won't take too long,
but we have with us, alhamdulillah, Brother Justin Parrott inshAllah ta'ala, who's gonna offer another reflection inshAllah, then we'll have a brief conversation about it as well. And then we hope everyone will start their tarawih inshAllah ta'ala, and try to finish the first juz tonight inshAllah. So go ahead, Brother Justin. Okay, salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen wa salatu wa salamu ala Muhammadin wa ala ahlihi wa sahbihi ajma'een. So it was actually quite difficult to pick like what is the one thing I wanted to share about Surah Baqarah, because it's such a great surah, it's so deep and there's so much in it. But I picked one verse, and I wanna share my reflection upon that. So this verse comes near the beginning, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about faith and hypocrisy and unbelief, and Allah says, Itha qeela lahum la tufsidu fil ardi qalu innama nahnu muslihoon, ala innahum hummu almufsiduna walakin la yash'uroon. Allah says, and when it is said to them, do not commit corruption on the earth, they say, indeed, we are only setting things right, or we are only peacemakers. No doubt they are committing corruption, but they do not perceive it. So this verse is about hypocrisy, and then I was reading the tafasir before I was, as I was preparing my notes for this little talk, and there's a specific context to this verse. So as we know, Surah Baqarah was revealed shortly after the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, arrived in Medina, and the Muslims were driven out of their homes, and they were facing this great oppression from the Quraysh. And so in this context, there was a group of hypocrites, and hypocrites here meaning they were pretending to be Muslims,
they were against the Muslims, and they were making a show of allying with these unbelievers who had been oppressing the Muslims so far, right? And so when people said to them, what are you doing? Why are you allying with these unbelievers? And they would say, no, no, no, we're peacemakers, we're just peacemakers, right? So one of the lessons that we get from that is that ihsan ila thalim isa'atun ila al-maddum. This is stated by Imam Ghazali, right? That a good deed to an oppressor is an evil deed to the oppressed, right? So we are peacemakers, and we are reasonable people, we're peaceful people, our religion is peaceful, but it can't come at the expense of somebody else's justice that they are entitled to, right? So I believe that's something we can derive from the specific context of this verse. But then there's another take I have on it that I wanna share, and I believe it says something more general about human nature, and that human beings have the capacity to be delusional in self-righteousness, right? So these people, they were committing corruption, and corruption here is a very serious word. It means committing bloodshed and other serious crimes like that. And then they said, no, no, no, we're peacemakers, we're reformers, and we're the ones that are setting things right, right? So the human being has a tendency to rationalize their misbehavior and to rationalize their evil deeds. I mean, it's just not wired in the human being to have a negative self-image. Nobody believes, oh, I'm an evil person. Even when they're committing evil deeds, they rationalize it. Well, I deserve to steal that, or I oppress those people and they deserve it, and so on. And so when we're reading verses like this,
I think it's important for us to take them as warnings to ourselves, right? Because a lot of the times people will cite a verse like this against somebody else, right? We recognize the hypocrisy in somebody else, and then we cite this verse against them. But I think when we're reading verses like this, it's really a warning to us, right? Because that potential for hypocrisy exists within us, and that potential for its deluded self-righteousness exists within us, right? And we need to be wary of that, right? And so the companions of the messenger of Allah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, they feared hypocrisy for themselves. Even though they had this great level of faith that we can't approach, they feared hypocrisy for themselves. So this is in Sahih al-Bukhari. Ibn Abi Mulaika says, Adraqtu thalathina min ashabin nabihi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam kulluhum yakhaafu an-nifaqa ala nafsi He said, I met 30 companions of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and all of them feared hypocrisy for themselves. All of them feared hypocrisy for themselves. In al-Hasan al-Basri, he said, wa maa khafuhu illa al-mu'minun wa laa aaminahu illa al-munafiq And he said that nobody fears hypocrisy except the believer, and nobody feels safe from hypocrisy except the hypocrite, right? So to me, I think we need to have a kind of a different perspective on verses like these, that we're not just being able to identify hypocrisy in other people, but these are warnings to us to find the hypocrisy within ourselves, to protect ourselves from that potential of human nature to fall into this hypocrisy, to fall into this delusion of self-righteousness,
to fall into this committing acts of corruption and then rationalizing it away and justifying it to ourselves, right? We really need to be introspective, right? And this last point here is that this perspective that I'm talking about where we look at these texts that are talking about sinners and instead of thinking about other people's sins, we need to be thinking about our own sins and protecting ourselves from those sins. I got this from a lecture I was listening to a long time ago, and I don't remember where it was or who was saying it, but there was a sheikh and he was going over the nullifiers of Islam. So, you know, there's the deeds of Kufr that take you out of Islam, right? And he said at the very beginning of that lecture that this bullet point list of nullifiers of Islam, they're not bullets that you use against people, right? He said, these are points that we wanna make sure our own faith is correct. We don't want to fall into these acts of Kufr. We don't want to fall into these acts of Nafaf. And that is why we study the nullifiers of Islam. That's why we study hypocrisy and these verses about hypocrisy because we don't wanna be a part of that. We don't wanna fall into that. It's not about us going around and pointing the finger at people. And there is a place for identifying the hypocrisy in people and sometimes calling it out. But the most important thing that we have control over is our own actions and what enters into our own hearts. And so when we're reading these verses, we need to take them to our own hearts. We need to take them to heart and to ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to protect us from those evil characteristics and to really be introspective and to be humble and to never think that we are safe from this kind of horrible hypocrisy and this horrible Kufr that people fall into. You know, everybody can fall into that.
And the companions, they were the best Muslims that we have as examples. And they feared that for themselves, right? And we don't have the faith that they do, but they feared that for themselves. So that was a verse that stuck out to me and it was a point that stuck out to me and I wanted to share that. And that's the kind of perspective that I have. You know, I share a lot of Hadith and verses and things like that. And those are reminders to myself, you know, that I don't wanna fall into the evil deeds that are mentioned by the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam and mentioned in the Quran. And I don't want anyone to think that by quoting these Hadith, they're talking about sinners that should make you feel like you're better than other people, right? Those things should humble us, right? And even when we see hypocrisy and sin in other people, that should still humble us because we could fall into that just like they have, right? And so being humble is something that is extremely important. And we ask Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la to forgive us and to guide us and to protect us from the evils of hypocrisy and the evils of kufr and the evils of bad character traits that he and his Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam have considered blameworthy. Ameen, JazakAllah. Allahi Barak Feekum. So for the sake of time, InshaAllah Ta'ala, we don't actually, we wanna give people a chance, InshaAllah, to pray their own Tarawih. So JazakAllah Khayran to everyone for tuning in for the first night. So tomorrow night, tomorrow InshaAllah Ta'ala, we'll have the first episode of the Angels series coming out InshaAllah at 11 a.m. Eastern. From Deed to Habits will be coming out at 12 p.m. Eastern, InshaAllah Ta'ala. And we'll be continuing with our Quran 30 for 30 tomorrow, going into just two. Tomorrow we'll have soon to be the Dr. Tasneem Al-Khiq
and then the day after we'll have Dr. Abdullah Al-Uwda InshaAllah to be our third guest. So JazakAllah Khayran. And I wanna remind everyone to go ahead and subscribe, follow along, tune in every night InshaAllah Ta'ala. We'll be reflecting on the next chapter of the Quran. And to remind everyone to consider InshaAllah Ta'ala making a donation to Yaqeen InshaAllah Ta'ala to start their Ramadan with Sadaqah and of course to keep us all in your du'a. JazakAllah Khayran. As-Salaamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuhu
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