Keeping Connected with the Qur'an
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Dawah of the Marginalized | Qur'anic Themes Episode 4
Tune in with Sh. Ibrahim Hindy and Sh. Aarij Anwer from Yaqeen Canada for part 4 of the Qur'anic Themes series.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. This is your brother Ali Janmar coming to you with Shaykh Ibrahim and our weekly series, the last episode of the Qur'anic themes. We were exploring the themes found in the Hawamim or A'lu Haamim, the surahs called Hawamim or the family of Haamim. These surahs are in the Qur'an. We find them in the 24th juz to the 26th juz of the Qur'an. That's where we find them all in, you know, all back to back. Starting with surah number 40, surah Ghafir, ending with surah number 46, surah Ahqaf. These surahs, these seven surahs, all begin with the letters Haamim and thus they are called Hawamim or A'lu Haamim. This is what we discussed in the beginning of the series and as in the previous episodes we were trying to show how there is a constant, there are some themes that run constantly throughout these surahs, themes such as talking about the glory of the Qur'an and how the Qur'an is a revelation from Allah without a shadow of a doubt. How these surahs were in Meccan era Qur'an, in the idea that it is in the time of the Prophet's life and he was in Mecca, calling people to Islam who were not willing listeners and who perhaps wanted to marginalize the Muslims and the da'wah. In fact they were in the process of doing so, so we wanted to highlight how the Hawamim
speaks to that audience, an audience that is perhaps hostile. We also observed themes such as Allah explaining why the Prophet is the true Prophet of Allah and why Allah chose him to be the Prophet and that was his choice. Musa A.S. is referenced in these surahs very frequently because he is one that there is a lot of parallels in his life for us as believers to navigate the difficulties of our life and so on and so forth. So I'm just summarizing the very beginning here of all those different themes. We'll continue with these same themes today in the last three of the Hawamim, the last three surahs of the Hawamim series which is Al-Dukhan, surah 44, Al-Jathiyah, surah number 45 and Al-Ahqaf, surah number 46. And we'll be looking primarily again at what we call the da'wah of the marginalized, the da'wah of the underprivileged or the da'wah of the person who doesn't enjoy leverage in the negotiation of inviting somebody to Islam. How is that done? What are the beautiful aspects, what are the beautiful characteristics of the Prophet's character and the character of the da'eeh that the Qur'an teaches us? We learned that inshaAllah. How do you talk to somebody who isn't a willing listener? We'll learn about that inshaAllah and many other things inshaAllah. I'll turn it over to Shaykh Ibrahim after this long introduction to talk us through Al-Dukhan and Al-Jathiyah, surah 44 and surah 45. Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wasalamu ala rasoolillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. Rabbish rahli sadri wa yasalli amri wa halul aqdata min lisani yafqahu qawli.
So inshaAllah we're going to begin as Shaykh Arij said with the two surahs, surah Al-Dukhan and surah Al-Jathiyah. Surah Al-Dukhan, and of course we're going to talk with the themes in each surah and how they connect hopefully to the broader themes that are mentioned in Al-Hawamim. So surah Al-Dukhan, Al-Dukhan of course means the smoke. And there is some discussion about why this surah is called the surah of Al-Dukhan, of the smoke. There's a couple of incidents, or one incident really that comes into question, which is that the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam, when Quraysh began to boycott the Muslims and Banu Hashim, and they cut them off of selling them food and water and doing business with them and marrying with them. It was a social and economic boycott in order to force either the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam to stop preaching, or to force Banu Hashim to agree that Quraysh could kill or deal with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam as they saw fit. And so during this time, the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam made a dua. He said, Oh Allah, make their years as difficult as the years of Yusuf. Ja'al ha alayhim saniyil ka saniy Yusuf. Oh Allah, make their years as difficult as the years of Yusuf. Now what are the years of Yusuf? It is the years of famine. In surah Yusuf, in the story of Yusuf, he, through interpreting the dream, interprets and predicts a famine, a great famine that will come to the people of Egypt. So the Prophet makes the dua, allow there to be a famine on Quraysh, just as there was a famine in the time of Yusuf alayhi salam. And what happened was that they were stricken with so much difficulty and famine and fatigue, so much so that the people of Quraysh were eating bones out of the fact that they didn't have any food left to eat, the animals had died off, they would even eat the bones. And they said that sometimes the people would look up into the sky, and they would imagine seeing smoke from the extent of their fatigue, from the extent of the pain that they were
feeling out of not having food themselves, that they would see smoke around them in the air. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, they say that Allah azawajal then revealed, far taqib yawma ta'ti al-samaa bi dukhaanil mubeen Then watch for the day where the sky will bring dukhaanil mubeen, a visible great smoke. yaghsh al-naas hatha a'dhabun aleem This smoke will cover the people, and this will be a great punishment. And so this was revealed in this circumstance where these people, out of their fatigue, were imagining smoke. And it was said that Abu Sufyan then came to the Prophet ﷺ, and he asked the Prophet to make dua for Allah to send rain on the people of Mudar, which was a different tribe that was also being struck with famine. So Quraysh, even though the famine began because they rejected the Prophet, they end up going to the Prophet, asking the Prophet to make dua for there to be rain, at least on their neighbors. And so the Prophet said to him, you are a brave man. I.e. you're coming and recognizing that I need to make dua for this famine to be removed. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in this circumstance revealed the verse, inna kashifu al-a'dhabi qaleela innakum a'idun We are going to remove the punishment for a little bit. Indeed, you will return back to your sins. And the Prophet ﷺ made dua, and indeed the famine ended and rain began to pour. And then after this happened, what did Quraysh do? They went back to their oppression against the Muslims. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala revealed, yawma nabtishu al-batushat al-kubara inna muntaqimun That the day where we will strike the greatest assault, this is indeed the day of retribution. And so scholars, they say the smoke that Allah is referring to in this chapter is a smoke that will come later. A smoke that will be one of the great signs before the day of judgment as is mentioned in the hadith of Bukhari.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is making a similarity between the smoke that was experienced by Quraysh and between the greater smoke that will be one of the signs of the day of judgment. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks in the surah about the way that the disbelievers rejected Islam and how Quraysh rejected the Prophet ﷺ in this surah. So one theme that arises is the concept of la'ab, of play, of amusement, of taking this life as an amusement because this was a method by how they rejected Islam. balhum fee shakkin yalAAaboon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about the disbelievers and their state, they are in doubt yalAAaboon, amusing themselves. They are playing, they are taking their life like it is an amusement. They are not taking it seriously, they are not thinking about the consequences of their deeds and of their actions, of them standing in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They're just spending their life heedlessness in entertainment. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says later on, that's verse number 9, balhum fee shakkin yalAAaboon, they are in doubt and in play, in playing, amusing themselves. Then in verse 38 Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa ma khalaqna assamawati wal ard wa ma baynahuma laAAibeen We did not create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them laAAibeen, playing. It is not in jest, it is not out of amusement that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala created the heavens and the earth. We were created for a purpose, for a reason. There's a reason Allah created us and it's not to play and to amuse ourselves and to entertain ourselves. Then later on in the surah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions the punishment on the day of judgment, sorry the punishment of the hellfire. He says khudhoo faAAteeroo ila sawaa aljaheem, seize him and drag him to the hellfire. thumma thubboo fawqa raasihi minAAadabil hameem, then pour upon his head the torment of scalding water. thuq innaka antal azeezul hakeem, it will be said to the person on the day, on the hellfire,
thuq, taste, indeed you are the honored, you are the noble. So the angels of punishment are being sarcastic to the people who are in the hellfire. inn haathaa maa kuntum bihi tamtaroon, this is indeed what you used to doubt. So Allah begins by saying they doubt and they are playing and they spend their lives in playing and then he says we didn't create this world, this heavens and the earth and all that's between it, it's for you to play. We've created it because of truth. innaha wa maa khalaqnaum illa bilhaqq, we created them out of truth. And then he comes and he says and the disbelievers are going to be punished and punished with sarcasm as if the angels of punishment are doing what? Are playing with them. And this is a powerful theme in this surah, the concept of play and entertainment. The angels end up playing with the people of hellfire as they punish them out of, as if they are entertainment and amusement for the angels of punishment. Also a theme in this surah is how Allah can change our circumstances. The Muslims are weak, they are poor, they are oppressed, the disbelievers are wealthy, they have status, they have strength. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says kam taraqu min jannatin wa ayoon wa zuroo'in wa maqamin kareem. He asks rhetorically how much did they leave behind of gardens and springs. wa ni'matin kanu feehaa faaqiheen and comfort in it that they were, and crops and noble sights and comfort wherein they were amused. kathalika awwurafnaaha qawman aakhareen. And then we gave it to another people. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in these verses is talking about something. He's talking about the people of Egypt who disbelieved in Allah, Fir'aun, and how they had jannatin wa ayoon, they had gardens and springs and crops and great sights and they were amused in all that they had. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says kathalika awwurafnaaha qawman aakhareen. But we gave it to other people. Allah destroyed Fir'aun and then Bani Israel ended up becoming the kingdom.
They ended up becoming the ones of riches and power and etc, etc. So Allah is reminding the believers, remember the Muslims in the past, the believers in the past were weak and poor and oppressed and Allah gave them strength. And the disbelievers were wealthy and had status and had strength and Allah caused their destruction. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says fama bakat alayhimus sama'u wal ard wa ma kanu munzareen. That the heavens and the earth did not weep for them, nor were they reprieved. Nobody cried, nobody cared about the demise of Fir'aun. Their authority, their power did not help them. And Allah allowed the believers to inherit the earth. And of course this surah and every surah in Al-Hawamim as we've mentioned, focuses on the greatness of the Quran. This is the theme of all the surahs. And Allah juxtaposes the play, the amusement, the heedlessness that Quraysh has against the great powerful Quran, the honorable Quran that Allah has revealed. And in the surah, verses three to six, Allah says inna anzannahu fee laylatin mubarakah. Allah talks about the night the Quran was revealed. Indeed, we sent it down in a blessed night. Inna kunna munfireen. We were indeed ever warning. We are always warning mankind. Feeha yufraqu kullu amrin hakeem. Through this book, or on this night, every distinct matter is made clear. Everything on the day, so this is an honoring not only of the book, but of the night the book was revealed, meaning Laylatul Qadr. And this is the only other place in the Quran other than Suratul Qadr, in which Laylatul Qadr is mentioned and spoken about. Amru minAAindina inna kunna mursaleen. This is a command from us. Indeed, we are ever sending. Rahmatan min rabbika innahu huwa assamee'u al-'aleem. And it is a mercy from your Lord. He is the hearing and the knowing. So Allah blessed Ramadan because of the Quran and blessed Laylatul Qadr in particular because of the Quran. And He made Laylatul Qadr a special night in which matters are decided, our fate is decided, our prosperity can be decided on that night. And so Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la did all of this out of honoring the Quran.
Rahmatan min rabbika, this is a mercy from your Lord. Indeed, He is the hearing and the seeing. And so that is Suratul Dukhaan. Then we'll move on inshaAllah to Suratul Jathiyah. Suratul Dukhaan, sorry Suratul Zuhruf, which we mentioned last week, talked a lot about materialism. You know, materialism causing people to go astray. They want gold, they want silver. And Allah mentions this in the themes and they reject the prophets because they don't have wealth and they don't have, you know, more money as much as other people. So this materialism is causing them to go astray. And Suratul Dukhaan talks about, you know, power and authority causing people to go astray. And Suratul Jathiyah is about arrogance and pride leading people astray. And so the Surah is called Al-Jathiyah. What does Al-Jathiyah mean? It means kneeling down or crouching down. Because there is a verse in the Surah which talks about what humanity will endure on the Day of Judgment. Allah ﷻ says, you will see on that day, on the Day of Judgment, you will see every nation Jathiyah. Every nation will be kneeling out of fear of Allah ﷻ. All of them will be fear, will be crouching in fear. Every nation will be called to its own record, to what they did. And then they will be told, اليوم تجزون ما كنتم تعملون. Today you will be repaid for what you used to do. On that day we are all going to be kneeling. It's going to be a place of deep humility, submission before Allah ﷻ, waiting for the judgment of Allah ﷻ. Not only a physical humility, a physical kneeling, but a moral humility, right? Because we have to speak to our record. Allah says every ummah, every nation will speak to their records. What we did as individuals, what we did as an ummah, as a community, as a nation. And you know, a person in this world could be physically humiliated. You know, they're physically humiliated, they're treated badly, they're put in prison, and yet they have the moral high ground. You know, they're physically humiliated, but they have the moral high ground.
Allah ﷻ mentions we're going to be kneeling and we're going to be answering for our sins. So it's going to be a physical and a moral kneeling and feeling small and humility before Allah ﷻ. And Allah ﷻ also speaks about His favors for mankind in this surah. What He did for us. Inna fissamawati wal-ardi la-ayatin lil-mu'mineen And the heavens and the earth are signs for the believers. Wafee khalqikum wama yabathu min daabatin ayatun liqawmin yuqinoon And in His signs and what He disperses of moving creatures are signs for people who have certainty, yaqeen, certainty in their faith. Wa khtilafu al-layli wal-nahari He talks about the alternation of night and day. Fahya bihi al-arda ba'da mawtiha He revives the earth after it has gone dead. Watafsrifu al-riyaah And He allows the wind to spread. Allah alladhi sakhara lakum al-bahri li-tajriya fil-fulki bi-amri Allah is the one who allowed the ships to sail along the sea by His command. He allowed us. Basically Allah ﷻ is saying I created all of this creation. Heavens and the earth, animals, night and day, travel by sea, you know, the wind, all these things for what reason? For the usage of mankind, for the betterment of mankind, to help us, to be things that we can use, that we can enjoy, that we can learn and understand and benefit from. And despite all that Allah has done for us, there are those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah and they reject them largely out of arrogance and out of stubbornness. Allah ﷻ in this chapter, He speaks directly to those who are acting in arrogance and rejecting due to arrogance. Wa'idun li kulli athakin athim, woe to every sinful liar Allah says. Yasm'u ayaat Allahi tutlaa AAalayhi thumma yusirru mustakbiran ka'al lam yasmaaAAaha fabashshirhu biAAadhaabin AAaleem He says every sinful liar, the one who hears the verses of Allah recited to them. And then they persist arrogantly as if they never heard them. So give them glad tidings of a painful punishment.
Wa idhaAAalima min aayaatina shay'in attakhidhaAAa huzuwa And if he hears anything of our verses, he takes it with ridicule. He laughs about it. Olaaika lahum AAadhaabun muheen These are the people who have a humiliating punishment. These are verses 7 till 9. And Allah ﷻ says in verse 31, Wa amma allatheena kafaru afalam takun aayaati tutlaa AAalaykum fastakbarutum wakuntum qawman mujrimeen Allah says as for those who disbelieved, were not our verses recited to you but you were arrogant and you became a people who were criminals. And this is verse 31. And so these verses mention arrogance. Arrogance is mentioned more than actually these verses. I don't have time to go through each and every one of them. Of course our Prophet ﷺ said, La yudkhimun jannata man kana fee qalbihi mithqalu dharratin min kibr They will not enter paradise the one who has even the weight of a seed in arrogance. Alaa ukhbirukum bi aahlin naar The Prophet ﷺ said to the companions, Shall I not inform you of the inhabitants of the hellfire? KulluAAudhlin jawadhin mutakaddir Everyone who is cruel and proud and arrogant. And many many hadith of our Prophet ﷺ reminding us of how important it is not to be arrogant. But just a mustard seed, a seed of arrogance is enough for the person to never enter into paradise and this is important for us to realize. And Allah ﷻ mentions the story of Bani Israel. He references Bani Israel. Walqad aatayna Bani Israel al-kitab walhukma walnubuwa warazaqnahu min al-tayyibati wafaddannahum AAala al-'alameen He says we certainly gave the children of Israel, Bani Israel, the scripture. And we gave them judgment or wisdom. And we gave them prophethood. And we provided them with good things and we preferred them over all the worlds. Wa aataynahum bayyinati minal amr And we gave them clear proofs of matters of religion. Famaa khtalafu illa min ba'di maa jaa'ahumulAAilmu baaghyam baynahum They did not disunite and differ except after the knowledge came to them. Why did they disunite and differ?
Baaghyam baynahum Because of jealousy and animosity and envy that happened between them. And so Allah ﷻ says inna rabbaka yaqdi baynahum yawmal qiyamati fee maa kaanoo feehi yaqtaleefoon Your Lord will judge between them on the Day of Judgment. Now we mentioned this is an overarching theme of all the Hawwaameen talking about unity. And this is one of the messages here. And it's a warning for Muslims. Don't fall into the same problem. But the important issue here is why is Allah criticizing Bani Israel, the children of Israel, children of Israel, for disuniting. He is criticizing them because they disunited due to arrogance. Baaghyam baynahum, jealousy and envy. Where does jealousy and envy come from? It comes from arrogance. And so because of their arrogance, they had the proof, they have the religion, they had the evidences from God, they had the revelation, and yet they churned away and they fought each other out of petty reasons and out of arrogance primarily. And this is a, you know, a point for all of us who are Muslims, a warning for us not to fall into the same problems. Waqalo, he says, waqalo maa heeya illa hayatuna al-dunya So Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la here is mentioning, you know, Allah is criticizing them for being arrogant. What are their arguments as they are being arrogant? They said waqalo maa heeya illa hayatuna al-dunya namoot wa nahya wa maa yuhlikuna illa dahr That they say this is just the world. This is just the dunya. We'll die in it. We live in it and nothing destroys us other than time. And then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la criticizes them. He says, wa maa lahum bi thalika minAAilm They don't have any knowledge. Inhum illa yadhunnoon They are only assuming. And SubhanAllah, you have these people who say we're atheists and we are the rational people and we are the ones who think rationally and you religious people can't think and you don't have, you know, the rational abilities that we have, etc, etc. They branded themselves as being rational. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, wa maa lahum bi thalika minAAilm They have no knowledge of this. And this really brings into question, you know, concepts of where do we get knowledge from? And what is truth? And how do we know something? Right? What is the nature of knowledge to begin with?
Because Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la criticizes them on this basis. They have no evidence whatsoever. At least we have an intellectual, we have a far greater intellectual argument when we say we base our faith on revelation. That the only way we can know is based on revelation. That is far more certain than what they are saying, which is assumptions. We live, we die, nothing happens, we die because of time. Right? Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la criticizes the fact that they actually don't have a rational argument that they make themselves. And Allah says later on in the surah, وَإِذَا قِيلَ أَنَّ وَعْدَ اللَّهِ حَقٌّ وَالسَّاعَةُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهَا If it is said to them, the promise of Allah is true and the hour is coming with no doubt. قُلْتُمْ مَا نَدْرِي مَا السَّاعَةُ إِنَّ ظُنُّوا إِلَّا ظُنَّا وَمَا نَحْنُ بِمُسْتَيقِنِينَ They will say, we don't know what the hour is, we only assume our assumptions, and we are not مُسْتَيقِنِينَ We are not those who have يَقِينَ Literally, we are not those who have conviction, we are not those who have certainty. And this is the reality. The only ones who have certainty are the ones who have the revelation from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. Everyone else is assuming. And particularly those who reject Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and the existence of God to begin with, they are only assuming assumptions based on assumptions as Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, مَا نَدْرِي مَا السَّاعَةُ إِنَّ ظُنُّوا إِلَّا ظُنَّا We only assume only assumptions. i.e. we are just people of assumptions and we do not have truth. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, وَإِذَا تُتْلَعَ عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتُنَا بَيِّنَاتٍ مَا كَانَ حُجَّتُهُمْ إِلَّا أَنْ قَالُوا أَتِنَا بِآبَائِنَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ صَادِقِينَ That when the verses are recited to them as clear proofs, their argument is only bring back our ancestors, bring back our forefathers. i.e. they were so arrogant to the Prophet ﷺ, when even when they knew what he was saying was true, they would tell him things like make a miracle, produce a miracle, bring back our forefathers. Right? And so this was their arrogance towards Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
and the Prophet ﷺ tells us pride, you know, kibriya is the cloak of Allah. Al-'Aẓlamah, greatness is the robe of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says فَمَنَّ زَعْنِي وَاحِدًا مِّنْهُمَا قَدَفْتَهُ فِي النَّارِ Whoever competes with God in arrogance and pride and lifting them up, because only Allah is worthy of having pride and arrogance, because he's, you know, not arrogance but pride. He's the only one who has the right to have pride and greatness. Why? Because he's the one worthy of it. He's the one who created the heavens and the earth. He's the one in whom the creation is in his hands, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. He's the one who has the right to be prideful. And whoever competes with Allah in respect to pride and greatness, قَدَفْتَهُ فِي النَّارِ The Prophet ﷺ says that Allah will throw him into the hellfire. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la ends this surah, وَلَهُ الْكِبْرِيَا To him belongs all the grandeur, all the pride, all the greatness. وَلَهُ الْكِبْرِيَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ Within the heavens and the earth. وَهُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ And He is the Exalted in Might and Wise. And this is the themes within surahs Al-Jathiyah and surahs Dukhan. InshaAllah I'll turn over to our brother, our Shaykh Arij inshaAllah to continue. JazakAllah khair. BarakAllah khair. I just wanted to make a comment on what you were saying, if you don't mind. Which is the idea of kibriya, Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, as you were saying it, I was thinking about it. That Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, وَلَهُ الْكِبْرِيَا And how the Prophet ﷺ said that whoever has it's the cloak of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, and whoever has it even a small amount of it, a smallest conceivable amount of it, that person will not be able to enter Paradise. The Prophet ﷺ defined kibriya as بَطْرُ الْحَقِّ وَغَمْطُ النَّاسِ It is to reject the truth and to look down upon the people. And if you think of this definition, that means that as human beings, we actually, besides the Prophets of Allah who we know
are certified to be at the level that they are because they received revelation, and the Sahaba who Allah's Messenger has told us about their ranks, everybody else, the reality of our salvation is unknown. It will only be known on the Day of Judgment. So we cannot actually think yourself to be better than another person because you have no idea what your end is going to be, I have no idea what my end is going to be. Thus kibriya for human beings is completely, like it goes completely against the fabric of what Ibadah is. Whereas to Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la we worship Him alone because He is Allahu Ahad, As-Samad, the One and Only One, the One who everybody depends on, the One who is the necessary One that we all need. So He has the right, it is His Haqq to claim kibriya. Whereas we don't because we are all dependent on Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and in our dependence we are all equal. What do you think of that Shaykh Ibrahim? Yeah, absolutely. I mean that's exactly the point, right? And too many people have led themselves astray through kibriya, through arrogance, and we're in need of constantly reminding ourselves of how small we are and how much we're in need of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And that's why this surah talks to all the things Allah gave us. He gave us ability to travel the sea, gave us wind, how plants can grow without the wind blowing the seeds to where they need to go. All these things Allah Azawajal gave us to remind us we're in need of Him. So why are we feeling this type of arrogance? May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la save us from it. Ameen Ya Rabb, Ameen. JazakAllah Khayran. Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Surah Al-Ahqaf here at the last part of the Hawamim, the last of the Hawamim, begins in the 26th juz', in the very beginning of the 26th juz',
and continues on into the 26th juz'. The surah begins with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la saying, and I'll recite those few ayat inshaAllah. A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajim. Hawamim. Tanzilul Kitabi Minallahi Al-Azizil Hakim Ma Khalaqna As-Samawati Wal-Arda Wa Ma Bainahuma Illa Bil-Haqqi Wa Ajalin Musamma Wal-Ladhina Kafaru Amma Unziru Mu'alidun Hawamim, the book is sent down from God, the Almighty, the Wise. Al-Aziz Al-Hakim. Ma Khalaqna As-Samawati Wal-Arda We created the heavens and the earth and all the lies between them purely in truth. Illa Bil-Haqqi. It is in truth, 100% Allah created it. It is in truth in the sense that it has a purpose. And it is for a limited time. It is not eternal. Wa Ajalin Musamma, for a specific term. It has a beginning and it has an end. And everything in Allah's creation that Allah points out to us in the Qur'an repeatedly, creation and resurrection, that has a beginning and has an end, and will be brought back to life. So don't think the life of this world is only about this life. Inna Illa Hayatuna Ad-Dunya, Na Muto Wa Nahya Like Shaykh Ibrahim was mentioning in the surah before, Allah's Prophet constantly references resurrection with creation. So we don't forget that resurrection is actually the purpose of the creation. Or is what leads to, that's what the creation leads to. Wal-Ladhina Kafaru, but for those who have rejected the faith.
They reject and they turn away from what they have been warned. Amma Unziru Mu'aridhun It highlights the attitude of the rejection. It is the attitude of the person who turns his face away. A'arada Aan Something It's like right now I'm facing you. If I was to turn my back at you all the way, that would be A'aradtu Aankum I have turned away from you and I have become Mu'arid. That is how Allah describes the ones who have rejected belief in Allah. It's as if they have turned their backs on the ideas that the faith is preaching. Now that is the attitude of this person. What are the reasons the Quran provides many of them? Like a desire for the material life and being happy. Wa Tuma'annu Biha Being content with the life of the world. Like the desire to follow the culture of the forefathers. Inna Wajadna Aaba'ana Ala Ummah We found our forefathers worshipping God this way and that is what we would like to do. This was mentioned in Surah Zuhruf. All of these reasonings and more Allah constantly highlights. So He's doing both in the Quran. The attitude of the one who rejects and the reasons why they reject. So we don't fall into either. We know the reason so we don't justify that to ourselves and the attitude so we can stay away from that. Now in the very beginning of the Surah Allah makes a very beautiful statement here. He says to the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam say the following things. Qul, ayah number 4 Ara'aytumma tada'una min doonillah Have you thought about those you call besides Allah? Here the primary audience is Quraysh who would worship idols.
Idols that they thought were their means to Allah. So they would make dua to the idol hoping that the idol would take the dua to Allah. Not directly to Allah but they would say that we will go through these idols because we are not that righteous, we are not so good. And these idols Ma na'buduhum illa liyukarribuna ila Allahi zulfa We are going through them because they got like a shortcut to God that we don't. So now this is completely contrary to the monotheism, the tawheed that Allah wants us to practice. So he wants to break down this idea. He says Aruni maada khalaqu minal ard Show me what they have created on the earth. Show me what they have created on the earth to warrant the place where they are supplicated to. Am lahum shirkum fis samawat Or do they have a share in the sky, in the heavens? Do they have a share in the cosmos? No they don't. These are rhetorical questions. What Allah is saying is how can you put an object in the place of God who cannot do, absolutely has no way of doing what God does. How could you do that? So that's a logical evidence that Allah provides. Then he provides a textual evidence. Eetooni bikithabim min qabli hadha Aw atharatim minal ilmi in kuntum sadiqeen Bring me a book revealed before this or some other vestige of knowledge if you are telling the truth. So either, this is speaking a little bit about epistemology like what Shaykh Ibrahim was referencing before about how do we know, what are the sources of revelation or sources of knowing the truth. Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala presents a beautiful example of how he first says logically what you are doing makes no sense and then textually what you are doing makes no sense. Ibn Kathir says la dalila lakum naqliyan wala aqliyan ala thalik
You have no evidence of either type. These are two ways that we know the truth. Logically, through logical deduction. Scripturally, through revelation that we know is from God. And through observation as well, that's another way. The Qur'an encourages us to look for the truth and look for Allah Subhanu wa ta'ala. So this is an introduction that's very powerful because it goes to the core of the matter. It addresses Quraysh's attitude and then addresses Quraysh's religious preferences right away and breaks them down as if to say now you have no excuse to stick to that. Quraysh will make up excuses. What excuses will they make? They will say as ayah number 7 mentions wa idha tutla AAalayhim aayatuna bayyinatin qawla allatheena kafroo lilhaqqi lamma ja'ahum haadha sihrun mubeen When the revelation is recited to them, it's clear, they say this is plain magic. These are nice words, you know, but it doesn't change our minds. It doesn't change who we are. Sihrun mubeen, also an aspect of this, like the scholars mentioned is a sahir's job was to divide families or divide friends. So they would say, look what this message is doing. It's dividing us. It's now my cousin thinks I'm this and my other cousin thinks I'm that and my uncle is this and I am that. This message is dividing us. It's like sihr. That's what they would say. So this is a classic smokescreen, a classic misdirection. You can't address the message. So let's misdirect the frustration at the outcome that you see and let's misdirect it at something else so you can continue remaining how you are. Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala is not going to have any of that.
He goes immediately and responds to this claim. He says, قُلْ مَا كُنتُ بِدْعَمٍ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ Number one, he says, this message, are you saying the Prophet is fabricating it? قُلْ أَمْ يَقُولُنَ فِطَرًا The Prophet says, قُلْ مَا كُنتُ بِدْعَمٍ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ The Prophet is told to say, excuse me, I am not the first of God's messengers and I do not know what will be done with me or with you. The Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam explains, I am giving you the message as I have received it in revelation from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and I'm not the first one to do so. I am not like the first one who's brought this, messengers before had brought the same message. The idea of receiving revelation and that being a source of truth is an established idea. I am not the one who invented this. قُلْ مَا كُنتُ بِدْعَمٍ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ Also, I don't know the future. وَمَا أَدْرِي مَا يُفْعَلُ بِهِ وَلَا بِكُمْ I don't expect me to know that either because that is not my role. إِنَا التَّبِعُ إِلَّا مَا يُوحَى إِلَيْ I only follow what has been revealed to me. وَمَا أَنَا إِلَّا نَذِيرٌ مُبِينٌ I am only a clear warner. The Prophet shallallahu alaihi wasallam is told to respond to that claim. The claim is misdirection. Oh, look at what this message is doing. The response brings it right back to the message. This is the message. This is who I am. This is the topic at hand. Don't get distracted and don't distract others. It's a very beautiful, very powerful, sophisticated style of reasoning that we find in the Qur'an. Not just in this surah but throughout the surahs. The reason why I'm bringing this up is because this is, again, an audience that is unwilling. They don't want to listen. They are not like the audience in Medina who are willing listeners.
Who will hang on to every single word that comes out of the Prophet's mouth. Who want to know more, who want to practice, who want to devote themselves to Allah. This is the opposite situation. So you see how forceful and powerful and how direct the reasoning and the discourse is in this Makkan surah. It tells us that when we are speaking and we are talking about Islam, calling to Islam, defending Islam, there will be misdirections. People will try to say, oh, what about slavery? Just throw something completely out of left field and then the conversation goes in a hundred different directions. What the Qur'an is teaching us is how do you keep the conversation on track. And that is how you deal with an unwilling or a slightly hostile audience. SubhanAllah. Now, this is a beautiful message. Also, the Qur'an mentions in this surah two very interesting passages after this. Passage number one is dealing with family. Because da'wah and defending Islam is not just only done in a public setting or to strangers. It is quite often, quite frequently a matter of inside the house. So example number, there's two things that are remaining in the surah. One is the, let's call da'wah in the family. And number two, da'wah through the example of A'ad, okay? And Prophet Hud and things that are related to that. Okay, let's talk about the da'wah in the family first.
Da'wah in the family is very interesting here. Allah gives an example in ayah number 15 of a person. The example of da'wah in the family gone right. Okay, what is the example? A person who has, who was raised by his parents. And now when he is at a point in his life when Allah says وَبَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ حَتَّى إِذَا بَلَغَ أَشُدَّهُ وَبَلَغَ أَرْبَعِينَ سَنَةً He is now in the age of full maturity, 40 years old. He turns around and he's making dua to Allah for his parents. رَبِّ أَوْزِعْنِي أَنْ أَشْكُرَ نِعْمَتَكَ الَّتِي أَنْهَمْتَ عَلَيَّ وَعَلَى وَالِدَيَّ Oh Allah, my Lord, help me to be grateful for the favors which you have bestowed upon me and upon my parents. And allow me to do good deeds that will please you. He makes dua for his parents and himself and then he makes dua for his kids. وَأَصْلِحْ لِي فِي ذُرِّيَتِي إِنِّي تُبْتُوَ إِلَيْكَ وَإِنِّي مِنَ الْمُسْلِمِينَ Grant me righteousness in my offspring. He's worried about his kids. And that he is making dua for. Allah says about these people, وَلَيْكَ الَّذِينَ نَتَقَبَّلُوا عَنْهُمْ أَحْسَنَ مَا عَمِلُوا وَنَتَجَوَزُوا عَنْ سَيِّئَاتِهِمْ فِي أَصْحَابِ الْجَنَّةِ We accept from such people the best of what they do and overlook their bad deeds. They will be people of paradise. A true promise. وَاعْدَ الصِّدْقِ الَّذِي كَانُوا يُعْعَدُونَ A true promise that they have been promised. That will come true 100%. So this is da'wah in the family. The case where da'wah in the family has gone right. Parents raise their kids well. And now this child has grown up to be a man. Allah doesn't mention how he got there in the sense of the mistakes he made. But now he's looking back at his life. And now he's being really thankful to Allah for his parents, his upbringing, his family.
Now making dua that Allah give me the ability to thank you for these favors that you have blessed me with. Allah now help me with my kids. So it's a very beautiful example of how da'wah goes right. By the way, in this ayah there's a subtlety. I'll point this out to you. Ayah number 15. You can read the translation yourself. Allah's mother begins the ayah by mentioning the parents. وَصَّيْنَا الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَهِ إِحْسَانًا Wassayna al-insana biwalidahi ihsana We've enjoyed kindness to human beings with regards to their parents. Parents, right? Plural. Father and mother, right? وَالِدَيْهِ is both the parents. But then when Allah talks about parents and their difficulties, who does He mention? حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ كُرْهًا وَوَضَعَتْهُ كُرْهًا وَحَمْلُهُ وَفِصَالُهُ ثَلَاثُونَ شَهْرًا Hamalathu ummuhu kurhan wa wadathu kurhan wa hamluhu wa fisaluhu thalathuna shahran His mother bore him in pain. And in pain she gave birth to him. And his bearing and weaning, like the pregnancy and the weaning and the nursing afterwards, takes 30 months. SubhanAllah. So He begins by talking about both parents, but then when He talks about sacrifices, Allah only speaks about the sacrifices of the mother, as if to say the mother's sacrifices are so great that, you know, the father's sacrifice pales in comparison. That doesn't mean the father doesn't have like a rank or maqam or nothing. No, no. But just a subtlety here that when Allah is highlighting the struggles of parents in the Qur'an, you will notice He begins by mentioning both, but then He focuses and describes what the moms go through because they go through such incredible difficulties. May Allah ﷻ grant the best to our mothers. May Allah have mercy on them like they had mercy upon us, upon our mothers, and of course also upon our fathers. Ameen.
So this is that family da'wah that's gone well. Then the other side of the coin, da'wah in the family that doesn't go well. وَالَّذِي قَالَ لِوَالِدَيْهِ أُفِّلْ لَكُمَا Ayah number 17. The one who says to his parents, Shame upon you. You threatened me with being taken out of the grave after death, while many a generation has passed before me, and none has risen from among them. And they are crying for God's help. وَيِّلَكَ آمِنٍ وَهُمَّا يَسْتَغِيثَانِ اللَّهَ وَيِّلَكَ آمِنٍ Believe, alas, for you. God's promise is true. But this boy or this man says, ما هذا إلا أساطير الأولين These are nothing but ancient fables. This is da'wah gone wrong. This is an example where a child grows up in a Muslim household and then leaves Islam. Leaves Islam. And the reason why he leaves Islam, you know, is this, one of those reasons is mentioned here. That he doesn't understand the concept of resurrection. Because they have falsified a tenant of the core tenant of the faith. Thus they have said, they falsified the whole faith itself. Now, this is a very stark conversation. A family that is in a crisis situation. The parents are unable to explain logically to this man, to their child. Unable to convince their child logically. Unfortunately, they're not able to do that. And this child, their child now drifts away out of Islam. It's a very difficult scene. We ask Allah to protect our kids, our offspring, and all of our, all the believers around the world. Amin, arab, al-amin. But this is a reality where people will get influenced by the negativity,
by the counter or the anti-theistic narrative that is very, very popular, very common. It has attained a celebrity level that is shocking, in fact. And easily, these people are able to exert influence over youth and young people. The vehicle for their ability to exert their influence is often academics, the sciences. So this is a real situation. Now, as Muslims, we have to be prepared for this. Our religion provides us with the best of answers for all sorts of, all sorts of problems and all sorts of dialogues and discourses. Okay, but the answers have to be found in the Quran, the Sunnah, using the methods that Allah and his Messenger have taught us. This is an example where the parents are unable to do so. They're just unable. SubhanAllah. And because of their inability, the child who's leaving Islam looks like he is rational, and the parents who are staying Muslim look like they're irrational. That is not the way it's supposed to be. We have to, like I mentioned, in the very beginning of Ahqaf, Allah SubhanAllah provides logical reasons why shirk is wrong. i.e. we have to be smart and well-educated in reasonings and proofs that are logical to counter such narratives. Because our religion does not teach us to become irrational. It teaches us to be rational while also being supremely devoted spiritually to our Lord. The marriage of these two is what our religion is. Okay, and that's what we're taught to be like. So here we see this unfortunate example,
Dawah in the family gone wrong. We saw the example of Dawah in the family gone right, Dawah in the family gone wrong. Next up in the Surah is, the name of the Surah comes from the word Ahqaf, which is وَاذْكُرْ أَخَىٰ عَادٍ إِذْ أَنذَرَ قَوْمَهُ بِالْأَحْقَافِ Tell of the brother of Aad when he warned his people in the sand dunes. The brother of Aad is Prophet Hud Alayhi Salaam. This is now Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala inviting the people of Quraysh through their ancient ancestors, the ancient Arab ancestors. The story of Prophet Hud is mentioned in many places in Qur'an, but here it's mentioned as well. And the mention of Hud Alayhi Salaam inviting the people to worship Allah alone, and then them rejecting by saying that you are not a true prophet and bring us the punishment. And then finally when the punishment came, وَلَفَلَمَّ رَعُوهُ عَارِضًا مُسْتَقْبِلَ أَوْدِيَتِهِمْ قَالُوا هَذَا عَارِضٌ مُمْطِرُنَا When they saw a heavy cloud approaching, they were like, yes, this is the cloud that's gonna bring us rain, but that is the punishment, the cloud was bringing the punishment, and the punishment was in the form of a severe wind that had a painful punishment. تُدَمِّرُ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ بِأَمْرِ رَبِّهَا Everything, it got destroyed, it destroyed everything. فَأَصْوَهُ لَا يُرَىٰ إِلَّا مَسَاكِنُهُمْ The only thing that was left standing was their empty dwellings. Allah left those empty dwellings to show the people that this is where these people lived, this is what they did, these were the consequences of their choices, so beware. And Allah concludes this part by saying, وَلَقَدْ مَكَّنَّاهُمْ فِي مَا إِمَّا مَكَّنَّاكُمْ فِيهِ We gave them power like we haven't given you power, O people of Quraysh. You are not as strong and as powerful as Aad. And look at how devastated they were.
So be warned, you are not safe from the punishment of Allah ﷻ. So this is why Allah brings the story of the Prophet that's brought in the Surah, links beautifully to the theme of the Surah. And this is one of the reasons why, this is one of the reasons we find here. One other thing to notice about Aad, Prophet Hud, excuse me, is Allah mentions who he is, he's Hud, who he was sent to, Aad, and the place he was sent to, Ahqaf. This is an observation, this is not like from tafsir, but the observation is that Allah provides extra details about Prophet Hud that He doesn't provide about say, Prophet Lut. Allah does not mention in the Qur'an where Prophet Lut ﷺ lived. Because where he lived was well known from the Bible. Okay? But Hud ﷺ is not mentioned in the Bible. And as he is unknown to the Jews and Christians, even though he's known to the Arabs, Allah ﷻ is providing extra details about who this Prophet is, so that when the da'wah reaches the others, outside of Makkah and outside of Quraysh, they're not confused about who is Hud and who is Salih. For example, the extra details are provided, so they understand who is being spoken of. And this is a beautiful Qur'anic way that the details that Allah provides are in accordance to the situation. Allah ﷻ knows who is not mentioned in that much detail, or not at all, for example, in the Bible, so more details are provided there versus someone who is well known in the Bible like Lut ﷺ and others. Okay? So that is that. The surah concludes with a beautiful passage, one of my personal favorite passages of the Qur'an, which is a passage of the jinn. وَإِذْ صَرَفْنَا إِلَيْكَ نَفْرًا مِّنَ الْجِنِّ اِسْتَمِعُونَ الْقُرْآنِ Remember how we sent to you a band of a jinn who wished to hear the Qur'an. And as they listened to it, they said,
أَنْصِتُوا Be silent and listen. فَلَمَّا قُضِيَ And when it was finished, وَلَّوْ إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِمْ مُنذِرِينَ They went back to the people to give the warnings. So this is... The story of this is the Prophet Ali S. There are two actually... There's two instances that I mentioned in the books of the Tafsir. The one that I'm going to mention here to share with you for the sake of brevity is the instance mentioned by Ibn Kathir and Baghawi that is the jinn, the Prophet S. The jinn who heard the Prophet recite the Qur'an after what happened to him in Ta'if. After the death of Abu Talib, the Prophet went to Ta'if, invited them to Islam. The people of Ta'if rejected him and abused him, physically hurt him S. And as he was retreating and seeking shelter from their onslaught, he found a place to shelter. As he sheltered and recovered, he S. got up to pray. And when he prayed and recite Qur'an, a group of passing jinn stopped and heard him recite the Qur'an. And that instance is mentioned here at the end of Ahqaf and in Surah Jinn, Surah number 72. This shows us, brothers and sisters, that the da'wah of the marginalized is you do da'wah, you may not get the result you expected. In fact, it may come back in a really negative way. The result may actually be something that is extremely detrimental. The Prophet S. took on a heavy punishment from the people of Ta'if. And this was what he called later on in his life, the worst day of his life, the hardest day of his life. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Allahumma salli wa sallim ala Nabiyyina Muhammad. Yet, look at that. Fa inna ma'a al'usri yusra.
With difficulty there is ease. Allah provided unwilling or Allah S. provided unexpected helpers to the da'wah. Unexpected helpers to his cause. The people who rejected him, that was difficulty. With that difficulty, Allah brought ease in the form of these jinn. Who the Prophet did not even know were listening. Who the Prophet S. did not even know had accepted Islam. Who the Prophet did not even know went and started giving da'wah on his behalf. All of this happened without the Prophet S. not even realizing it. And that was the ease after the difficulty the Apostle S. faced. The lesson for us, brothers and sisters, here is when we are giving da'wah, when we are defending Islam, don't ever think your words are meaningless, that they had no effect. Don't ever think that because you don't know who is in the audience. You don't know whose heart you touched. You don't know whose doubt you addressed. You don't know whose Islam you helped save. You just don't know. Allah S. knows. And this is the way we should approach our work, which is we do our best and the results are in the hands of Allah. Allah will bring unexpected helpers, unexpected supporters. And that is his sunnah. He did that with his Prophet S. And we hope that he does that with us as well. The surah concludes with the Prophet S. Allah telling the Prophet, Fasbir, be patient. And this is the theme of the Hawameen. Be patient. Just like the Prophet before. Kama sabara ulu al-azli minal rusul Just as the five mighty prophets were steadfast, you also remain steadfast. Wala tasta'ajal lahum Don't make du'a against them. Don't be hasty to see the end here.
The responsibility of da'wah is severe, but the patience that's required for it is great. And that is what Allah S.W.T. concludes this surah and the Hawameen with. And it's a beautiful message for all of us. Jazakumullah khair for being with us in this series, Qur'anic Reflections, themes from the Qur'an, and study of the Hawameen. We learn from these how to gain strength, to hold on to our faith, to have conviction in our faith, how to convey the message to those around us, our family, our community, and how to defend our faith from those who are perhaps unwilling listeners, perhaps hostile, how we approach that matter. And in all of this, we remain patient, and we make du'a for the well-being of people, all the people around us. Jazakumullah khairan Wasalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu
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