Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 2
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Juz' 11 with Sh. Yaser Birjas | Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 2
The stories of the prophets were revealed to Muhammad ﷺ for many reasons, one of which was to comfort him when he faced rejection.
Sh. Yaser Birjas joins Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro to reflect on the stories and themes in Surat Yunus, including the credibility of Allah’s messengers, the oneness of God, and the nature of guidance.
Download our FREE eBook "Qur’an 30for30: The Companion Reader" here.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh everyone. Welcome back to Qur'an 30 for 30. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. Tonight we are the three neighbors. Shaykh Yasser Birjas, the one, the only, the chef, the shaykh, is with us alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. My neighbor, my colleague, alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. And you know, we're all within a 10 minute vicinity, but like Shaykh Yasser is literally like down the street. So Hayakallah Shaykh Yasser. It's good to have you on. Allah barak fiakush. Next time I will do it for my office here. And Shaykh Yasser is not on a green screen. That's like actually the wall. MashaAllah. There's like nothing behind you. Keep it simple. That's Apple style. I know the question is lingering right now. I mean, being that you're all our neighbors. So Shaykh Omar, is that Shaykh Yasser's vest? Because you wore that on the Muhammad series. I know this is a question. We're saying you're all our neighbors. So I know everyone's asking, is that? Whose vest is it, Shaykh? I'll tell you the story about the vest, and then we'll get started inshaAllah. I didn't give it to him actually. That's not Shaykh Yasser's vest. That is Shaykh Yasser's style. It's not his vest. I wasn't going to wear the vest for the meeting Muhammad salallahu alayhi wa sallam recordings, but then I wore it for a nikah. Someone gave it to me for a nikah, and I said, this looks pretty good. And it was the same day as we were starting recording. I said, you know what, I'm going to keep it. And then Shaykh Yasser saw me that day, and he said, you stole my style. So I just put it back on the rack, and I'm like, okay, Shaykh, sorry, I'm not going to do it again. It's all right. I can give you permission inshaAllah. But no one wears it better than Shaykh Yasser, even if they wear it. Astaghfirullah. It looks amazing on you, mashaAllah. Have you seen it? He has the tan on tan one, mashaAllah. The tan vest and the tan thobe. You see that one? Yes. MashaAllah. I would love to gift you one,
but mashaAllah, you probably require maybe XXL. Cut it out. Cut it out. All right. On a double face palm, you got a double face palm. That's the first time in history, Shaykh. InshaAllah on that note, we'll get started. Alhamdulillah, we're in Juz 11. And Ramadan is moving fast. So Juz 11 means we're officially now in the second third of Ramadan. We completed Surah At-Tawbah, or the beginning of Surah At-Tawbah. Of course, in Juz 11, you will notice that you still have some of the continuation, and then you get into Surah Yunus and to Surah Hud. So inshaAllah, I think the majority of what we're going to be spending time with, because it's the bulk of this Juz, is actually Surah Yunus. And it is a powerful Surah, subhanAllah, that takes us back to a Meccan climate. So now you're seeing us transfer from Medina to Mecca in terms of the themes of the Quran that are coming towards us. And, of course, it's almost as if – and I know we elaborated on this last year, and it's in your companion reader of the Quran 30 for 30 e-book. It's like just when you're starting to get complacent, you move on to this. Just when you are settled in the community feel of Medina and some of the context of that community in Medina, you get back to the creed that was being emphasized in Mecca and lived in every way throughout Medina. So this is Meccan Quran once again. And the verses, according to the Mufassirun of Surah Yunus, were revealed over Mecca, so over a span of the period of Mecca. So it's not one particular time period, but you can actually find that there were different verses that were revealed at different times of the Prophet ﷺ in Mecca. Now, of course, I'm going to focus on just some of the relationship to the seerah, inshaAllah, and I'm very excited to hear the insights of Sheikh Abdullah and Sheikh Yasser. But if you go to verse 10 and realize that the stories of the Prophets are being given
to the Prophet ﷺ to affirm him in these moments where he is facing the rejection that those Prophets faced as well. And so you find in verse 16 of Surah Yunus, Allah ﷻ says, ﷺ Tell them that had Allah willed, I would not have been the one to recite the Quran to you, nor would Allah have informed you of it, and I have spent a lifetime among you before this. I've spent a whole, you know, ﷺ means I literally spent a lifetime amongst you. 30 years I lived amongst you and you know who I am. You have praised my akhlaq, you've praised my characteristics. You know me as a sadiq al-ameen, as the honest and truthful one. And now you're acting like you don't know the Prophet ﷺ. Now you're calling him names. Now you're accusing him of sorcery. Now you're accusing him of wanting to divide the community. It's not like the Prophet ﷺ is an unknown person to you. It's not like he's an outsider. By your testimony, he is who he is ﷺ in terms of his character. And this is something that we also can see, by the way, in the story of Salih ﷺ that also comes up in Surah Hud, where Thamud says to Salih ﷺ as they rejected him, ﷺ that, oh Salih, we used to see you as a noble person, we used to see you as a person we had high hopes in. You were an intelligent person, a brilliant person, a person who offered so much to his people. So you see this parallel here with this verse with the Prophet ﷺ that he is mentioning ﷺ or rather he's being told to mention. If it wasn't me, then who would you rather it be? Who would you rather it be amongst the people?
Is it just tribal reasons? And am I really unknown to you to where you don't trust me to deliver you this message as Allah ﷻ has sent it to me? How did all of those characteristics suddenly go out of the window for you when you said As-Sadiq Al-Ameen, the honest and the trustworthy one, before the Prophet ﷺ received the Qur'an? And the same thing with Salih ﷺ when they mocked him and said, you used to be good but then this message has ruined you. So this is a reminder to the Prophet ﷺ that their hatred of you is irrational. It's not founded in any reason. Afala ta'qiloon, they're not thinking properly. And it's about the message and it's not about you. It's not about any deficiency in your character ﷺ. There's some other incidents in the seerah. Just quickly one of them, a beautiful verse in the Qur'an here in Surah Yunus as well where Allah ﷻ mentions, Lilladhina ahsanul husna wa ziyada For those who believe is, al-husna is excellence and more. Excellence and more. And Abu Musa al-Ash'ari radiAllahu ta'ala anhu was once giving a khutbah and he said, I remembered when the Prophet ﷺ told us what this verse means because they asked the Prophet ﷺ, we understand lilladhina ahsanul husna, that for those who excel is excellence in return. We understand that means Jannah. Al-husna is Jannah. But what's more than Jannah? So he said that the Prophet ﷺ said that on the day of judgment Allah ﷻ will have a call or call out to the people of Jannah, Bisultan yasma'u awwalahum wa akhirahum that in a way with a voice that the first and the last of them, the highest and the lowest of them in Jannah will hear, Ya ahlul Jannah, O people of Jannah, innallaha waAAadakumu al-husna wa ziyada O people of paradise, Allah has promised you.
Al-husna, excellence, which is paradise and more. Falhusna, as for al-husna, it is al-jannah. Falhusna, al-jannah. wa ziyada an-nazaru ila wajh al-rahman And ziyada and more is looking at the face of the most merciful. So being able to see Allah ﷻ is more. SubhanAllah, is even more than anything that Jannah has. May Allah ﷻ allow us to be amongst those that gaze upon the face of our Lord day and night in paradise in the companionship of our beloved Prophet ﷺ. Allahuma ameen. Lastly, inshaAllah ta'ala, what I want to do is actually compare something that stuck out to me. The end of Surat al-Tawbah and the end of Surah Yunus. So Surah al-Tawbah is the Prophet ﷺ at the height of his power in a way that he has the ability to exact revenge on those people and the Prophet ﷺ still acts with a high level of character, nobility. And it is a warning to those that have destabilized and disbelieved and plotted from within and without. And it's also an invitation to repentance, right? Surah Yunus is the Prophet ﷺ at his lowest point. Being mocked, being in a place of extreme vulnerability and being put down ﷺ. Look at the way that Allah talks about the Messenger ﷺ at the end of each Surah. Literally at the end of each Surah, Allah has something about the Prophet ﷺ. So in Surah al-Tawbah, Allah ﷻ says, لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ أَنفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتْتُمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ This is such a hard verse to translate. There has come to you a Messenger of Allah from amongst yourselves. عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتْتُمْ The Prophet ﷺ is distressed. He is hurt by that which hurts you, by that which you encounter. حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُمْ
And the Prophet ﷺ is so dedicated to your welfare, to your well-being, right? In this life and in the next. He cares so much about you, your well-being in this life and in the next. It pains him when you are pained. And your well-being gives him well-being ﷺ. It makes him happy. بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَؤُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ And he is tender and merciful and compassionate to those that believe ﷺ. So he has a special place ﷺ with Allah ﷻ. And the people, the believers have a special place with him ﷺ. فَإِن تَوَلَّوا فَقُلْ حَسْبِيَ اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ عَلَيْهِ تُوَكَلْتُ وَهُوَ رَبُّ الْعَرْشِ الْعَظِيمِ If they turn away from you, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, then say to them, Allah is sufficient for me. There is no God but He. In Him I have put my trust and He is the Lord of the mighty throne. The dua that we say day and night, the dua of Ibrahim ﷺ, the dua of the Prophet ﷺ. So that's the tone in Surat At-Tawbah, right? Like, you know, if you haven't recognized it now, recognize how much this man ﷺ is merciful to you and how invested he is in your well-being. And if you turn away, then all he can say is, حَسْبِيَ اللَّهُ, all he can say is Allah is sufficient for me. At the end of Surat Yunus, Allah ﷻ says, Say to them, O Muhammad ﷺ, Say to them, قُلْ يَا أَيُّهَا الْنَّاسِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ Say to them, O Muhammad ﷺ, O people, There has come to you the truth from your Lord. The truth has come to you from your Lord. فَمَا نَحْتَدَ فَإِنَّمَا يَحْتَدِي لِنَفْسِهِ وَمَنْ ضَلَّ فَإِنَّمَا يَضِلُّ عَلَيْهَا وَمَا أَنَا عَلَيْكُمْ بِوَكِيدٍ SubhanAllah, it's the same tone, but it fits the theme of Surat Yunus. That truth has come to you from your Lord. So this is about you at the end of the day. You have to accept this for your own well-being.
Whoever follows the true guidance does so for their own good. And whoever strays, then that straying is to their own detriment. And I cannot be a guardian over you. As much as I love you, I can't be your guardian. SubhanAllah. So then the last two verses of Surah Yunus match the last two verses of Surah Tawbah. The last verse of Surah Yunus then says, وَاتَّبِعْ مَا يُوحَى إِلَيْكَ وَاسْبِرْ حَتَّى يَحْكُمَ اللَّهُ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ الْحَاكِمِينَ And follow, O Messenger of Allah, what has been revealed to you. And remain patient until Allah brings forth His judgment. He is the best of those who judge. So the last two verses of Surah Tawbah, a reminder of who the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is to the people, and then a reminder to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ to seek help in Allah and be patient with Allah ﷻ. Both verses have the same messaging embedded within them, but that fits the theme of the Surah. So SubhanAllah, I just thought that it's a remarkable consistency. Even though they're not revealed chronologically in order, that that's the way Allah addresses us about the Messenger ﷺ, and then addresses the Messenger ﷺ about the people. So inshaAllah ta'ala I'll hand it over to Shaykh Yasser, if you'd like to share any reflections on that. Tafadhal Shaykh. Sure, alhamdulillah wa salatu wa salam wa rasool Allah. As you were speaking about the Prophet ﷺ and the connection really, that you could see in the story of Yunus and building that all the way with the connection with Surah At-Tawbah. As you can see there's a theme over here, which is about the Prophet ﷺ credibility. And that is one of the major things that the Qur'an came with obviously, especially the Makkah Qur'an, since Surah Yunus is Makkah Qur'an. And the Makkah Qur'an, there are three major themes that revolves around. Number one is Tawheed, the oneness of Allah ﷻ, speaking about Tawheed in all its aspects obviously. And number two is Baitul Ma'ad, speaking about the resurrection and the Day of Judgment and people are going to be standing before the Lord ﷻ,
they shall be answering for what they have done and so on. And number three, the credibility of the messenger. Like this is a message, now who is delivering that message to you? He is the messenger that you all know. So to establish the credibility of the message is also dependent on the establishment of the credibility of the messenger. Which is why Allah ﷻ mentioned the Prophet ﷺ in many different formats, like you described earlier. So in the ayah that you quoted when Allah ﷻ spoke to the people of Makkah about who the man is. Who is your man? He said, فَقَدْ لَبِتُ فِيكُمْ عُمْرًا I've been living with you for long enough to recognize me, to know me, right? So eventually Allah is telling them that he is the same man that you all testify for his truthfulness. You called him al-Sadiq al-Amin. So why would he change if this would be the case right now? That's one thing. And then the akhlaq of the man of the Prophet afterwards. Just like you said about the end of surat al-Tawbah. Allah ﷻ speaks about his akhlaq, his manhood, who he was to them. So all of this to establish the credibility of the Prophet ﷺ because once you realize the carrier is trustworthy, the messenger is trustworthy, why would the message be a lie or be false? So that is something extremely important. The establishment of the credibility of the messenger. Which is why a lot of the Arabs, you know, and even today, subhanAllah still, they're going after the messenger, not the message, because they don't dare criticize the message because it's too powerful to them to deny the truthfulness of the message. So they go at the soft target, the man, the human being, and they try to put all the weakness of human beings can be in the carrier, in the messenger. Once you establish that weakness, you realize, you see, so the message must be false. But definitely the Prophet ﷺ is way above what they say about him, as Allah ﷻ mentioned about him. And Allah ﷻ's message will remain, as he says, mahfood,
which is basically it's going to be preserved. And Allah ﷻ preserved the message and preserved the honor and the reputation of the messenger ﷺ. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh. Fadl Shaykh Abdullah. Bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala Rasulallah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa min wala amma ba'a. So SubhanAllah, Shaykh Yasir was mentioning the message of the messenger ﷺ and how the importance of recognizing who you are taking the message from and look at who he was and what he's done. As we know, the Prophet ﷺ was called a sadiq al-ameen, a sadiq. He was a truthworthy person and he was a trustworthy individual. You can leave something with him and you wouldn't have to worry. And the message of Allah ﷺ with this message of Islam was exactly that. As the Shaykh mentioned as well, the portions of the Meccan verses pertaining to the tawhid and the ithbat al-ma'ad, being the oneness of Allah ﷻ, the true monotheistic belief, and the confirmation of the resurrection, that we will return to Allah ﷻ. When we look in the chapter of Yunus, after the Prophet ﷺ mentions the ahwad, the situation of those that associate partners with him unjustly, he then goes on to mention a question or actually instruct all of us, but primarily the Prophet ﷺ in telling him what to say to the people. And some scholars mention that this could be considered a conditional sentence and the sentence is as follows in the verse number 31 of the chapter of Yunus, where it says that Ja'udhu billah minash shaytanir rajim Qul man yarzuqukum minas sama'i wal ardi amman yamliku sam'a wal abasara wa may yurkhiju alhayya minal mayyiti wa yurkhiju almayyita minal hayyi wa may yudabbiru al-amra fasa yaqooruna Allah faqul afala tattaquni The Prophet ﷺ was ordered to say to the people, Allah says,
Say, who provides for you from the heavens and the earth or from the sky and the earth and who controls the hearing and sight and who brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living and who arranges every matter? Then say, then they will say Allah. So say to them, do you not fear him? Are you not mindful of him? So this is subhanAllah, dare we say a rhetorical question? Because it was known that the mushrikun or the polytheists of Mecca, they believed that Allah, the creator, the maintainer, Al khaliq al-raziq al-mudabbir, the one that creates, provides and has control of all affairs, the one that does these things that he mentions in this verse, they believed that it was the creator, Allah. So here we're going to go over subhanAllah, these portions of the question. Allah says, may yarruzukukum minas sama'a, who provides for you from the earth or from the sky and from the earth. So when we see the sky, we think the rain. What comes down from the sky is primarily, we would say the rain, because the rain here, the pertinence of it or the relevance of it is with the ardh. Because when the rain comes down, it therefore supplies the vegetation, the crops, everything that is needed to supply ourselves in a form of rizq. Because that rizq can be in financial transactions of a barter system, or it could even be with what we eat as we go to the produce section. That cannot take place except by the will of Allah, subhanAllah, bringing down the rain. And this is very, very important because those of individuals that were farmers and that lived, they had to live on this. They had to rely on the provision of Allah, subhanAllah, sending down the rain from the sky. Then Allah goes on and He says, amma yamlikus sama'a wal abasara, and who controls and has authority over these two most important senses, the sama'a, the hearing, and abasara, the seeing, the vision.
And some scholars mention that these are the primary elements that are used for huda in regards to seeing and hearing, hearing the message and seeing the prophethood of the message of Allah, seeing what he is doing or hearing about him, who has ultimate control over that, meaning that's a subrafat, meaning that how these senses are activated, how they are used, who has ultimate control over that, the one that can easily take it away. Then he asks after that, wa may yukhruju alhayya minal mayyiti wa yukhruju almayyita minal hayy. And he says, and who is the one that brings the living out of the dead and brings the dead out of the living? So many scholars have talked about what exactly is the living out of the dead. Being the living out of the dead, some scholars will say, okay, it is like the egg that comes out of the chicken or comes out of the animal. And some scholars will say, okay, it is the SubhanAllah, the human being when they're in the fetus, in the womb of the mother, before the soul is blown into them, that is considered mayyit. They are not alive yet because the soul hasn't been blown into them. As we know the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, there is a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ where he mentions the stages of gestation, mentions the stages that fayunfakhu feehi alrooh, after a certain amount of days, 40 days, that the rooh will be blown into, the spirit will be blown into that fetus and then the person will be considered alive. Even though they haven't been conceived as of yet or brought into this world as of yet, they will be considered alive. But before that, they are considered mayyit. They are considered, we could say, lack of better words, dead or not living as of that moment. So some scholars would say that that is the living from the dead. And SubhanAllah, when we see this life and death in Islam, particularly there are two stages, or there are four actually. There's two forms of life and two forms of death. The scholars mention, SubhanAllah, it's mentioned in the Quran where Allah ﷻ mentions in the chapter of Ghafir, verse number 11,
where those that, the ones that were punished by Allah ﷻ, they will say, Qaloo Rabbana amattanathnatayni wa ahyaytanathnatayni faa'tarafna bidhunubina fahal ila khorujin min sabeeh They will say, O our Lord, amattanathnatayni, You have caused us to die twice. And the first death is when we were in the womb of our mother before the spirit of life was blown into us. And the second death is the actual death of the human being whereupon they are in the waiting period called al-barzakh before the day of judgment. Ahyaytanathnatayni, and You have given us two forms of life, being the life that we are living now in this physical world, but then the life khayrun wa abaqa, which is the afterlife. InshaAllah may Allah ﷻ bless us in the afterlife, in Jannah, inshaAllah ta'ala. So here we understand this concept of life and death. The Lord ﷻ is instructing the Prophet ﷺ to ask them, who is the one that is able to bring this out of that? Who has the capabilities of doing that? Then after that He said, SubhanAllah, He said, wa mayy udabbirul amr And on top of all of this, bringing the dead out of the living and the living out of the dead, as we see even with the land, the barren land comes from vegetation. Bringing all of this and the human being in all of these forms, which has the senses, who controls the senses, and who is the one that provides everything on this earth, mayy udabbirul amr. Being that He provides all of these things and brings it into existence, but maintains it and brings it in synchrony and harmony, mayy udabbirul amr, they will say Allah. And this is very important in regards to tawhid, and I'll conclude here. In regards to the oneness of Allah ﷻ, in Islam we have, the scholars have extracted what is called tawhid, the model of theism, and they say there's primarily three categories, and some would say two, but most importantly it's to understand what necessitates what. We as human beings have this, what is called a fitrah, the natural inclination and response to the presence of a deity, one deity.
Now, the scholars say that there's something called tawhid ar-rabbiya, that is the lordness, oneness of His Lordship, that He is the one that has control and authority over all of these characteristics of creation, of provision, of preservation, of forgiveness. He is the ultimate authority in all of these. With that knowledge of these characteristics of Allah, of God the Creator, that demands and requests something from you, or it contains the fact that you knowing this, it requests for you to worship Him alone. When you know that He is the one that brought you into this earth, why go to someone or something else that does not have that authority or power? And that's what the Prophet ﷺ was instructed, to bring that back to them, to show them that, look, you believe that Allah is the Creator and the Sustainer of all of these things. Afalat taqoon? Are you not then mindful and fearful of the One that will take you away from this earth and ask you, with His knowledge, subhana, why did you turn and divert your thankfulness, your ultimate gratitude, your worship to other than Him? And this technique, subhanAllah, in conclusion, you know, Tauhid bin Ashur, he mentions in his beautiful tafsir of tawhid wa tanweer, he mentions that this sentence could be even considered a conditional sentence, basically saying, you know, ask them, ask them the question, if the One you know that was to do all these things, to provide you with all of these things, what would you say? What would you say? They would say Allah, faqul afalat taqoon, then when understanding this, they will surely say Allah. The result of all of these things that they know, they will respond, it is Allah ﷻ. That will be their response. And this is even from a dawah technique of telling people about Islam. You come with the universal aspects of what they all agree upon, that Allah is a creator, a sustainer, the maintainer.
With that reality, it necessitates from us that we understand and contains the fact that we should turn to Him alone. And that's why he asked the rhetorical question, do you not then fear Allah ﷻ, be mindful of Him? And the verb is at-taqwa afalat taqoon. Just a reminder for all of us in this beautiful chapter, as we know that it is a chapter of taqreerat-tawheed, of reminding us of the importance of the oneness and the monotheistic belief of Allah ﷻ, that He has control and authority over all things, which by default, inshallah, necessitates that we should divert or we should put all of our worship to Him alone. May Allah ﷻ make us of those that worship Him to the best of our ability with excellence, inshallah. JazakAllah khair. Shaykh Yasir, tifadhal. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen, salallahu wa sallam wa baraka to our Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and to his family and companions. I notice in my reflection in surah Yunus, there are so many ayat and the story itself is just so profound. However, when Allah ﷻ, or at least when the surah was named Yunus, it's for a reason, because although Musa ﷺ was mentioned there, Nuh was mentioned in the surah as well too, but it's because Allah ﷻ brought something unique about Qawm Yunus, the people of Yunus, who were mentioned specifically here as the people of Yunus. That wasn't for any other nation before Yunus ﷺ. And what is that? That is because the Qawm of Yunus, the people of Yunus, are the only people, the only people that Allah ﷻ sent them a prophet, whom after He left them, they believed. And that is what Allah ﷻ mentioned about them as something very unique. In the ayah number 9, Allah ﷻ says, falaw la qariatun aamarat fanafa'aha imanuha. He says, subhanAllah, if only there had been a society or a people which believed before seeing the torment, the adhab, and therefore benefited from its belief, like the people of Yunus. Qala illa qawma Yunus aamanu, they believed.
He says, subhanAllah, lamma aamanu kashafna aanhum aadhabal khazi, when they believed, we lifted from them the torment of disgrace, fil hayat al-dunya, in this life, wa matta'nahum ila heen, and they also enjoyed for a while. Why is this so important? Because this message was given to the Prophet ﷺ to deliver to the people of Mecca. And telling them that, listen, you're always going to have a chance. You're always going to have a chance. You're always going to have a chance. As long as I'm still around, you can still have a chance. And that is because Allah ﷻ is telling us it's all about believing in that message. And that message is what brings you that sense of relief and that sense of comfort. So with that being said, my main reflection on this is coming also from an ayah that was before. And this ayah of surah, the story of Yunus ﷺ was made as an example of the meaning of this ayah. So I would like to reflect on this ayah number 57 in surah Yunus where Allah ﷻ speaks about the message of the Qur'an. He says, Ya ayyuhan nas. He's speaking to mankind, subhanahu wa ta'ala. Ya ayyuhan nas, qad ja'atkum maw'idatun min rabbikum, wa shifa'un lima fi al-sudur, wa hudan wa rahmatun lilmu'mineen. Allah ﷻ counts for us in this ayah four elements about the Qur'an, about the message itself. Like what benefits do I get from the Qur'an? And what benefit do I get from this message? So He says, subhanahu wa ta'ala, Ya ayyuhan nas, O mankind, O people, qad ja'atkum maw'idatun. Ja'atkum, I mean al-maji' in the Arabic language, when something comes to you. But this message doesn't really come to you in that fashion. So it's basically it was delivered to you. This was given to you. And it has what? When it was given to you, it's like a gift you got right now. You did not solicit that, you didn't ask for it. So we are gifting you with this.
And that is the gift that is coming your way has these four major elements that we all need in this life. What are they? Number one, He says, qala maw'idat. Maw'idat, in the English translation really of the book, they say a warning. Well, I'd like to give it another meaning, but just let's go over the words first and then we talk about insha'Allah ta'ala the meaning of these words. So the first thing was maw'idat. And you could say a reminder. Min rabbikum, min rabbikum, from your Lord. Wa shifa'un lima fassudur, healing or cure for that which is in the heart. Wa huda, guidance. Wa rahmatul mu'mineen, and mercy for the believers. What are these four things? Number one, He said maw'idat. Maw'idat usually is translated as warning. When you do maw'idat, it's like admonition. And when you admonish somebody, it's just like a form of punishment in one way or another, or chastisement and so on. Like a discipline in them. However, here maw'idat comes also in the meaning of tadkirah. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala referred to the Quran and the message as tadkirah in many different ayat. Kalla innahu tadkirah, kalla innaha tadkirah, indeed it is tadkirah, it's a reminder for you. And reminder is a cure for what? The reminder is a cure for forgetfulness. The reminder is a cure for forgetfulness. Also, if you look at it as a warning, you say it's actually more like a wake-up call. And a wake-up call comes as a cure for what? For heedlessness. When we have ghafla, we're not paying attention. You need someone to remind you. You need someone to give you maw'idat, someone to hit you with a wake-up call. You may not like to wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning. You may not want to wake up at 5 o'clock in the morning. But you know what? If there's something that you have to do, you're going to have to do. Yes, you may be resentful, but you accept it. You know when your alarm starts, you know, kind of like blasting in the darkness of the night because you have to wake up,
whether it's for suhoor, or you want to wake up for fajr salah, if you care. Or if it's somebody because I have to go to work. You hate it in that sense, but you know what? You just accept it and you take it. So Allah ﷻ is saying that this is like a wake-up call. We send you a wake-up call. Because as human beings, we're called in the Arabic language insaan because we forget a lot. So it's like a lot of forgetfulness happens over here. And because there is so much forgetfulness, obviously, then we need to always have that kind of reminder to keep us awake all the time. So Qur'an is more like a maw'idah. It's a reminder. It's a wake-up call. So you always stay alert. That's the point of it. To stay alert. Number one. Number two, He said min rabbikum. Before that, He said min rabbikum. So it's coming from your Lord. And when Allah ﷻ used the word Rabb, just like Shaykh Abdullah was talking about earlier, about Allah's ﷻ Lordship and He's providing for everything, because He is your Lord, so He cares. Because He's your Lord, He sustains what is best, what is beneficial to you. And if He knows that this is most beneficial to you, He will give it to you, subhanahu wa ta'ala. And that's exactly what happens over here. He is giving that wake-up call. He wakes you up because He cares about you. He is sending you this message because He cares about you. You might not like some of these elements of this message, but you know what? It's for your own good. Because Allah ﷻ says in another ayah, as He mentioned in surah Tabarak, qal ala ya'la man khalaq wa huwa latifu al-khabir? Who knows better than the One who created? He knows best what is best for you because He created you, He made you, so He knows what is best for you, subhanahu wa ta'ala. So this is a reminder for you and I that from your Lord, who really cares about you, that you need to do the right thing for yourself, inshaAllah. Number one. Number two, He says wa shifa'un lima fissudur. The word shifa' means cure. And when we say cure, that's an answer to what? Illness and sickness. He says lima fissudur, specifically, this is a healing and a cure for what's in the heart, in the chest, basically.
And the reference in the Quran, when the Quran references the chest, basically, the sudur, usually, it means what's behind there, which means it's the heart itself. And when we talk about the heart, we're not talking necessarily about that piece of flesh itself as much as the functionality that comes from the heart itself. Which is what? Your heart is where your intentions, you know, when you intend something, when you have a resolution on something, when you're determined to do something, yes, you think about it, but you have to also, of course, you have to have the conviction. That conviction is something that's in the heart for yourself. So Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is telling us here, saying, I'm sending you also a cure for all the illnesses that you might have in your heart. The weakness, the uncertainty, the anxiety, the fear, all these things. I'm giving you a cure to this. All of this in the Quran. Shifa'un lima fissudur. So it could be those ill feelings and also the shubuhat. If you have any doubts, any doubts, any wrong perception, any wrong conviction that you have your heart hold on to these things, you have, because they're not benefiting you anyway. Yes, you believe in these things, but they're not making you any good in your life. You're still feeling weak and anxious and not certain about it. We have sent you a shifa'un lima fissudur, a cure to that which is in the heart. So whether it's something as ill feelings, hasad, ghibah, something as envy and so on, it will heal that because you believe in Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, in a higher purpose right now. So all these things will just go away. Lima fissudur, number three. Qal wa huda, and guidance. Now when it comes to guidance, guidance is a cure for what? Or in response to what? Misguidance. As Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, said about the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, wajidaka dhallan fa hada, so he found you astray and he guided you. You were going the wrong direction, so he brought you to the right direction. And why we need guidance for anyway? Because this life is a journey. We're born for a purpose, and if we don't serve that purpose, we are going to go astray.
And if we go astray, we are not going to reach our destination, and obviously that means resentment, it's going to be depression, it's going to be a lot of things that happen in your life, unpleasant events will happen in your life. So I need that divine GPS, and that's what guidance comes over here. Ibn Qayyim, rahimahullah wa ta'ala, beautifully he describes the meaning of guidance since he was talking about surat al-Fatiha, which is what we always ask in salah, every single day, multiple times, ihdi nas sirat al-mustaqeem, ihdi nas sirat al-mustaqeem, guide us to a straight path, guide us to a straight path. We ask Allah more often, frequently, because we don't want to get lost on this journey. And that's why the Qur'an is that divine GPS that gives you direction where to go, where not to go. Do this, don't do this, stay here, don't approach this. Gives you the path, the straight path that leads you inshaAllah to success bi'l-illahi ta'ala in this world and in the hereafter. Ibn Qayyim, he speaks about guidance, he has three kinds of guidance. There is hidayatun ila al-sirat, guidance to bring you to the straight path. And then guidance ala al-sirat, when you are on the sirat itself, you need to have guidance to remain on the sirat, not fluctuating and not dropping out. Because just because you're walking on this path doesn't mean you're going to stay there forever, unless alhamdulillah you have confirmation from Allah subhana wa ta'ala for this and that constant guidance to stay on the sirat. And also I need hidayatun fis sirat, I need guidance through the path as well. Why? Because I need to keep going, I need to keep going forward, so I need constant reminders and constant directions to keep going into the right path inshaAllah wa tabaraka wa ta'ala. So the Qur'an is also guidance that brings you to the right path, to stay on it and to go through it inshaAllah, through its success bi'l-illahi azza wa jall. And the last point here, Allah subhana wa ta'ala is speaking about the Qur'an, He says, qala wa rahmatun lil mu'mineen, and it's a mercy for the believers. What does that exactly mean? When we look for mercy, what is the opposite of mercy? Torture, torment, really.
And subhanAllah, that is the essence of the Qur'an, it's rahma. If you don't have the Qur'an, as Allah subhana wa ta'ala described, if you don't have the Qur'an, wa man a'rada an dhikri, which is the Qur'an over here, fa inna lahoo ma'isatan dhanka, if someone turns away from my dhikr, my reminders, my Qur'an, my message, fa inna lahoo ma'isatan dhanka, this person shall live a life of constraint, a life of hardship. Maybe not physically, they might be wealthy and rich, but subhanAllah, they can't even enjoy it. Because it's not benefiting at all. But the Qur'an brings that rahma. As Allah subhana wa ta'ala says, alladhina amanoo watatma'innoo quloobuhum bi dhikri Allah, ala bi dhikri Allahi tatma'innoon quloob, those who have faith and their hearts find peace and tranquility through the dhikr of Allah, which is the Qur'an here and the remembrance of Allah azza wa jill, ala bi dhikri Allahi tatma'innoon quloob, through the remembrance of Allah, these hearts will find peace and tranquility. That rahma comes in place of that a'adhaab. And that rahma, that mercy, that comes in the place of this hardship, and also it brings that peace and tranquility in your hearts and in your life. After all of this, these four elements that Allah spoke about in the Qur'an, He says, subhanAllah, it's a reminder, a wake-up call, against heedlessness and being, you know, always asleep. Number two, having healing in the heart from the illness of ignorance, of desires and also of the shubuhat and doubtful matters. Number three, guidance against going astray. And number four, having rahma and mercy against all the torture that might go through our life, the hardship we go through into our lives. All of this, Allah concluded in the following ayah, He says, subhanAllah wa ta'ala, Qul bifadlillahi wa birahmatihi. Say to them, ya Muhammad, in Allah's grace and His mercy, let them rejoice. Qul bifadlillahi wa birahmatihi, fa bi dhalika fal yafrahu huwa khayrun mim yajma'oon. They should rejoice in the mercy of Allah, subhanAllah, and the blessings of Allah that He bestowed upon them,
not what they hoard, what they collect in this dunya. So, subhanAllah, if you look at this ayah, it's a summary really for all what you need to know about the Qur'an and how the Qur'an can be truly so beneficial to you in this dunya, before you even think about the akhira. Why do I need the Qur'an for? Why do I need this guidance for? This is it. It's a wake-up call to always keep you alert and always attentive. It gives you, alhamdulillah, healing to what bothers you in your heart. It gives you guidance when you feel astray on that journey. You need guidance, so you have the guidance, alhamdulillah. And it gives you that sense of peace and tranquility, even if you go through hardship, you still can find that peace and tranquility, inshaAllah, wa Allahu ta'ala. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh. BarakAllahu feekum. Very, very apt tie-in of all the different aspects of the Qur'an. SubhanAllah, it just made me think, ma anzalna alaykul Qur'ana li tashqa. This Qur'an was not revealed to you to be a Qur'an. It's not a Qur'an that is revealed to you to cause you distress. And by extension, the Ummah of Muhammad Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, where would we be without this book? SubhanAllah, where would we be? Truly, I just got shivers thinking about where would we be if we didn't have the guidance of this book? And the way Allah gave it to us through the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, it's not full of technical legal details in a way that it could get lost. There's very little legal detail in the Qur'an, most of it is elaborated on in the Sunnah of the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. It's just a constant reflection and reminder that comes through the Qur'an. May Allah SubhanAllah bless you and reward you. Shaykh Abdullah, do you have any reflection? No, mashAllah, mashAllah, very, very nice. You said it, mashAllah. SubhanAllah, I mean, honestly, those who would like to receive the powerful advice, for those who would like to see, especially in Ramadan, more powerful reminders from the Qur'an, focus on the Makki Surahs.
The Madani Surahs give you details about the Akhira, about reward, and about the a'mal and the deeds, and also gives you a sense of history of what was going on in the Medinan society. Speaking about Surah Al-Anfal, for example, has the story of the Battle of Badr, and Surah Al-Imran you have the story of Uhud, for example, also talks about the relationship with the people of the Book, and so on. But those who would like to have a strong wake-up call, like you need a strong shot of wake-up call, just like an espresso, right? You want a double shot of it. You need to recite and read the Makki Surahs because they're indeed so powerful, and that's why I always give advice to people whenever they want to ask some of their friends or non-Muslims to read the Qur'an, I say, hey, let them read some of the Makki Qur'an. That really is a strong wake-up call, and it shakes people to the core. SubhanAllah. Allah Allah. JazakAllah khair, Shaykh. Allah ibarak fikum. Before I let you go, Shaykh, I have to ask you this question. It's been bugging me. Allah yusak. When COVID broke out, who did you miss more, me or Shaykh Abdullah? Oh, man. That's not fair. That's not fair. I missed you both, man. I missed you both, Allah. But here's the thing. Let's be honest. First of all, when this hit me, really, I was closer to Shaykh Abdullah in terms of neighborhood, right? Now I'm close to you. So back then, I missed him more. Now probably I miss him more. Political answer, right? If you look at SubhanAllah, we all did a fundraiser for my masjid, Islamic Center of Kopel. That was right when it hit you. If you remember, you were coughing, like, excuse me, excuse me. That's right when it hit you.
I didn't know what was going on, but I thought it was happening. COVID, he did a fundraiser for your masjid while he had COVID. If that's not love, I don't know what love is. I'm not going to your fundraiser even with COVID. So that answers your question. There you go. InshaAllah khair. I'll accept it. But I get to see Shaykh Abdullah every night. That was a pleasure to have you. And a reminder to everyone, inshaAllah ta'ala, to please download the e-books, the Quran 30 for 30 companion guide, the e-book on a dua day by Shaykh Taha Ruwayat, and also to please consider donating to Yaqeen bidhnahi ta'ala so that we can continue to embark on this prophetic mission together, bidhnah, and continue to produce free resources. JazakumAllahu khayran. Wassalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Waalaikumussalam. We want to really concentrate on the new Muslim experience, the convert experience. How would we explain it to someone that just newly converted to Islam?
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