Qur'an 30 for 30
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Juz' 7 with Dr. Nazir Khan
Sh. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro, joined by special guest Dr. Nazir Khan, explore gems from the seventh Juz' of the Holy Quran.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Alright everyone, salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbal alameen. Wa ala alwani ila aladhalameen. Wa ala akhiratun lil mattaqeem. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barak ala abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim wa taslimin kathira. Alhamdulillah, we are now, subhanAllah, how the time flies. You know it when you're going by the abzah, just seven. So, this Ramadan is already moving and we are now almost a week in. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to accept. I hope your Ramadan is going well. And I pray that you've been benefiting from this series along with the Angel series and the From Deed to Habit series that we've been having. Alhamdulillah, we're joined tonight by Dr. Nazir Khan, who's not just a director of research strategy but also president of Yapim Canada. So, it's sort of a US Canada thing going on here, except I don't like to compare myself to Trump and him to Trudeau. It's just not fair. But Alhamdulillah, he's been preparing for tonight. So, he's got some beautiful insights he's going to share with us inshaAllah ta'ala. But we're blessed to have him with us tonight. And of course, Sheikh Abdullah as always, Alhamdulillah, wonderful to have you on this program. So, yesterday we were talking about the ending of Surat An-Nisa, going into Al-Ma'idah. And we really focused on the way that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is speaking to the believers after they've been through the full cycle of being prepared for trial. Okay, so pre-Badr and then post-Badr, where Allah gave them victory when they upheld the covenant. And then post-Uhud, where they fell short and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminded them to come back. Now, post-Hadabiya, and they're in a position of power, and they've been through the full cycle in terms of the lessons that the ummah is to learn.
There's a strong emphasis on unity, a strong emphasis on obeying and following the Messenger of Allah, salallahu alayhi wasalam. And we mentioned that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam the language by which he should call the people of the book to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. As the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam was now writing letters to world leaders, writing letters to religious scholars around the world, inviting them to his call. The way that this surah, that this juz starts is so beautiful. It starts with the mention of good Christians, recognizing the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam as the messenger that was foretold by Isa alayhi wasalam, by Jesus peace be upon him. That is the first ayah. And if you look at the ayah where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa ila sami'u ma unzila ila rasool, tara a'yunuhum tafeequ minad damri When they see the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam and then they hear the words that were revealed to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, these people whose hearts were soft and ready for the truth, their eyes filled with tears. And what does Allah say? mimma a'rafu minal haq Because of what they knew from the truth. They recognized the truth as soon as they saw it, because they were sincere in their pursuit of truth. Remember, if you're asking Allah for guidance, and Allah gives you guidance, right? As long as your heart is sincere and you are looking for it, then you will see the continuation of that guidance and you will recognize the vehicles of Allah's guidance. So as soon as they saw the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, what did they say? yaquluna rabbana aamanna faaktubna ma'a ash-shahideen Oh Allah, we believe, so write us down amongst those who have bore witness. If you look at the story of the great leader of Abyssinia, modern day Ethiopia, Najashi, As-Hama radiAllahu ta'ala anhu, when he heard the message of Islam, when he heard the recitation about Maryam alayhi wasalam, in particular, and Isa alayhi wasalam, about Jesus and Mary, peace be upon them,
what did he say to Ja'fa radiAllahu anhu? And not only did he talk about the similarity of the message that he knew and the message that was being brought from the onset, but when he wrote the letter to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam, he said that I bear witness that you are the messenger that bushira bihi Isa, that Jesus, peace be upon him, gave the glad tidings of. So we were waiting for you and you are the messenger that Isa alayhi wasalam gave the glad tidings of. Some of the mufassaleen say that this ayah was revealed about 12 Ethiopian priests, Abyssinian priests, when they heard the Prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam recite the Quran, they immediately started to cry. They recognized the truth and so they came to it right away. And Allah goes on to mention his reward for them after that. Then we get into some of the new laws. And so ayah 89, verse 89 of Surah Al-Ma'idah, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala introduces the kafara, the expiation for the breaking of oaths. And he introduces it to feed 10 poor people or to clothe 10 poor people, or if a person, of course, can also fast if they're unable to do so. So Allah introduces this. And this is from what the scholars talk about. That Allah wants for you ease, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has not only made for every sin a form of repentance, but for every breaking of an oath, a form of kafara, a form of expiation. And that expiation is a good deed that would bring you back to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, as is highlighted here to either clothe 10 poor people or feed 10 poor people or fast three days to bring you closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Allah then goes on to verse 90 to 93, the prohibition of alcohol and gambling. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in verse 93, talks about how he's not going to hold people accountable for their previous sins, so welcoming them in.
And then, you know, as you get into these laws, and again, this is the formation of a community. And so you start to see the laws really develop in this time. Allah goes back to the people, the people of Musa, the people of Isa, the people of Ibrahim, and then us. And that's going to continue throughout the Jews. So how does this, how does this flow go? It's really beautiful. Verse 101 to 104, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala warns us to not, la tas'aluu AAan asya'an min tubda lakum tas'ulkum, not to persist in questioning like the people of Moses, like the people of Musa alayhi salam. So that's the 101 to 104. And then, after that, 109 to 115, you have the last moments of Isa alayhi salam, of Jesus peace be upon him, with the ma'idah, with the table spread. And what is the story of the ma'idah, of the table spread? The hawariyun, the disciples of Isa alayhi salam, asking Isa alayhi salam, if he could ask Allah to reveal or to send down a table spread with food from the heavens. And Isa alayhi salam says, ittaqollaha in kuntum mu'mineen, to be mindful of Allah if you are truly believers. And what did they say? They said, no, look, we just want to satisfy our hearts and to eat from it. This is not a questioning of God. And this is a gem, by the way, right here, because Allah answers the request of Isa alayhi salam, of Jesus peace be upon him, when he calls upon Allah and requests that food. The disciples of Christ eat from that food, and they're grateful to Allah. And this is a moment that's celebrated in the Quran, which shows you there are two types of questioning. There's the questioning with the aim of truth and gratitude, and a questioning with the aim of falsehood and mockery. Right, so the parable, or the distinction is made in a very subtle way between those two types of questioning. The questioning of sincere truth, which was found amongst the followers of all the prophets in some capacity,
and here, a very specific group of followers, which are the followers of Isa alayhi salam, the disciples of Isa alayhi salam, who are looked at very favorably. Right, they're a righteous group of people that are being praised in the Quran. Then you go on to the end of Surah Al-Ma'idah, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rebukes the association of Isa alayhi salam, of Jesus with God. So it's a refutation of the trinity, and Isa alayhi salam testifying on the day of judgment, which I believe Sheikh Abdullah is going to talk about insha'Allah ta'ala, that he came to deliver that message of the oneness of God. So there's a refutation of trinity that's given at the end of this Surah. And subhanAllah, what's the first verse of Surah Al-An'am? Alhamdulillahi allathee khalaqa al-samawati wal-ard wa ja'ala al-dhurumati wal-nur Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, all praise is due to Allah, to God, who created the heavens and the earth, and made the darkness and the light. So a complete affirmation of Allah's oneness, and that's the first six verses of Surah Al-An'am. It's this beautiful affirmation of Allah's oneness, and praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, glorifying himself as the creator, as the God who brings it all back together. Now I want to, insha'Allah ta'ala, as we move on to Sheikh Abdullah, how does Allah bring it all back? With Ibrahim al-Islam, with Abraham peace be upon him. So Surah Al-An'am, chronologically, is the first introduction of Meccan Quran in the way that you're reading the Quran. So it's the first introduction of Meccan Quran. The Quran thus far as you're reading it is Madani Quran, is Quran that was revealed in Medina. So I shouldn't say chronologically, but as you're reading the Quran from cover to cover, you come across the first verses of Mecca. And it's the purest arguments for the existence of God, and the signs of Allah.
It's Ibrahim al-Islam, Abraham peace be upon him, coming to the conclusion of the creator God, of the one God, using revelation obviously, the stars, the moon, the sun, all of these signs of the creation of Allah. And Ibrahim al-Islam, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says about him that these are the conclusive arguments, wa tilka hujjatuna, these are the conclusive arguments we gave to Ibrahim al-Islam, to Abraham peace be upon him, against his people. So this is verses 80 to 82. And then you have the long, you know, you have between verse 83 and 87, you have over 18 prophets listed by name. Okay, so Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, Zachariah, Yahya, John, all of them are listed by name here. And there's something beautiful that the scholars point to in this regard, which is Ibrahim al-Islam, Abraham peace be upon him, Allah always brings it back to him. Because he is the root, right? We go back to him. How did Ibrahim al-Islam conceive of God, of the creator? And how do we unite around that vision of Ibrahim al-Islam, of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, of God? And at the same time, the scholars say that what made Ibrahim al-Islam such a perfect model to point to is that both the pagans, the Arab pagans, respected him and the people of the book respected him. So he was honored by the pagan Arabs in Mecca, and he was honored by the people of the book, the Jews and the Christians and others as well, for his obvious, you know, it's called the Abrahamic faiths for a reason, right? Abraham holds a special place in everyone. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, let's go back to Ibrahim al-Islam. And how does this just end? It started off with a verse about sincere people of the book, sincere Christians from Abyssinia, who recognize the truth and who were brought to tears.
And they immediately asked to be counted amongst those who bear witness. The last verse is, wa la tasubu allatheena yaj'oona min doonillah, fayasubu Allah. So verses 108 to 110 of Surah Al-An'am, do not insult the deities whom people offer their worship to besides God. Because if you insult those that they invoke other than God, then they will turn back and insult God, and no one's going to win. Okay, so even though, and this is beautiful, the languaging of, you know, there's a refutation of Trinity, you can't get around that, right? That's in the Quran, Allah refuting the Trinity, Allah calling people to the way of Abraham, calling people to the way of the prophets. And it's a strong rebuke as well as a languaging that's given to the prophets of Islam on how to call the people of the book to Allah. But the last verse is, don't be insulting to those that people call besides Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Even the idols, don't be insulting in a way that would just cause them to insult in return. Because if you use the right uslub of da'wah, the right manners of da'wah, then you might get the result that's in the first part of this, which is the beautiful da'wah of Ja'fa radiAllahu anhu to the Christians in Abyssinia. Whereas if you get the other side of this, where it's insulting, then all you're going to do is provoke an insulting response, encounter, and it's not going to bring any type of good. And so that's how the juz ends, to not insult those that are called on besides Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, lest they insult Allah in turn in enmity without knowledge. And inshallah ta'ala I'll hand it off to Sheikh Abdullah. JazakumAllahu khayran. Bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulillahi wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala amma ba'du. As he mentioned, this chapter of Al-Ma'idah is a chapter that subhanAllah is very important for us as Muslims, as every chapter of the Quran, but particularly in a land where there is pluralism,
we can say healthy pluralism, being that you will find Muslim, Christians and Jews coexisting amongst each other. And it's paramount that the Muslim has a general understanding of the vibe, or let's say what this chapter is primarily geared towards, and the method of dialogue with the other people, people of faith, the other faiths. And we see here, as he mentioned earlier, how the dialogue with Isa alayhi salam was with the people and Musa alayhi salam. And as he mentioned, what I want to capitalize on, brothers and sisters, is the last page. So primarily verse 116 to the very end, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asks Isa a question. And it is not, as they say, isti'lam, it is not for Allah, obviously, that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does not know. But him asking a question to the Prophet is to teach you something, and also to rebuke the people that were given the message, as you will see here. And subhanAllah, this reminds me, when I was a Muslim and I was asking about Islam, I remember my first question, my first question in a room full of guys from Brooklyn, New York, I was really into hip hop. I don't know if you all know what hip hop is. It's not gymnastics. You go Google it, you'll find out what it is. But my first question was, what do you believe about Jesus? And as soon as they answered that question, subhanAllah, I got really confused. I said, well, this may be what I was looking for my whole life. Now let's look at this verse, and it puts it all in the context. And it answered my question directly, or directly, actually. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, wa thqalallahu yaAAeesa bna maryam aantaqoota linnaseet takhidhooni wa oomiya ilahayni mindooni Allah Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asked Isa the question. And when Allah said, O Isa, the son of Maryam,
did you tell the people, take me and my mother as gods besides Allah? qala subhanak Let's stop here for a minute in the middle of this verse. Firstly, Allah asked the question, and he already knows. He knows that Isa is obedient. He knows that Isa fulfilled the message, fulfilled the obligation. But he's asking to teach you and me a lesson, and to show that people did not respond to him. So when he says, aantaqoota linnaseet, did you say to people to take me and my mother as gods? And Isa says subhanak. Now let's stop with this word subhan. Subhan is mazdar, meaning that it has no zaman. That subhan means to, as they say, tanzee, fima la yaleek min kulli shariq So it's really that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is far from any conceivable creation, because he is the creator. So by default, he is perfect. He has no defect. He is endless. And everything other than him is totally opposite by default. So when we look at that reality, that is what subhan means. Subhan is Allah is far from any form of his creation. So elimination of any creation makes you to majeed Allah. It means that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is great and he is unlike any of his creation. And subhanAllah, you see in the Quran, when the word subhanahu or subhan, subhanak is mentioned around 20 times in the Quran, it's always a response to Allah being like his creation or the accusation that Allah has a son. Wa qalu taqadallahu waladn, subhanak You know, when Allah has a son, subhanak, glory to him. You know, it's always glory to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. When it's always in reference or in context to him being like his creation. Then Isa alayhi salam continues to say qala subhanak and noticing that that was his immediate response. It wasn't la ya la, la la la la, it was subhanak.
ma yakoonoo li an aqoola ma laisa li bihaq It is not for me to say that which I don't have a right to say. How in the world could I say this? Notice the adab, the etiquette, the manners that Isa has with his Lord. When we make dua, what is the etiquette? How fatiha, you're praising Allah, mentioning five of his names before you even ask anything. Then here, he says subhanak, it is not for me to say that which I have no right. He didn't say, I didn't say that. No, he said, it is inconceivable for me to say anything that is even close that possibly implies anything of that nature. It is not, I have no right to say that. ma yakoonoo li an aqoola ma laisa li bihaq in kuntu qultuhu faqada alimta And if I was to say that, you would know. Always bringing it back to Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala that he has full knowledge of everything. If I was to say that, you would know. in kuntu qultuhu faqada alimta Why? ta'lamu ma fee nafsi wa laa a'lamu ma fee nafsi You know what is inside of me, what my heart conceals me, if I'm telling the truth or not, whatever the case may be. And I do not know what you possess. Why is that? What is the reason for that? innaka anta'allamu alghuyub But verily, you are the knowledgeable of the unseen. You have knowledge of the unseen. You know what really happened. And what's interesting here is, you see how Allah asks a rebuking question. It's to rebuke the people that the message of Isa was given to. And you look earlier in the chap, verse number 109, when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says yawma yajma'u allahu arrusula fayaqooloo maada ujibtum The day that Allah will gather the messengers and they will be asked, what was the response that you were given?
And that is yawma is the dharf, it is the time, it is the place of the yawm al qiyamah. So he asked them that question. They said, qalu laa ilm lana innaka anta'allamu alghuyub They responded with the same answer. Verily, you have knowledge of the unseen. Because we do not fully know what was in their hearts when we gave them the message. We do not fully know because after we left them, did they continue on obeying us or not? You know. And that is the same answer of Isa alayhi salam. Then Isa alayhi salam continues on to say ma qultu luhum illa maa'a ma qultu luhum illa maa'a ma qultu luhum illa maa'a maa'a I have not, I have not, I said not to them except what you commanded me, was to worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. So I was only a vessel used to proclaim the message. And that message is what you ordered me to do. I am not the repository of truth. I am not the source of this message. You are the source and you have used me as a messenger. So when it comes to that, when it comes to that Isa saying that again, is the epitome of respect, is the epitome of servitude. Because if you notice in what everything that his reply is an indirect refutation or it's an indirect reply to those that may say that God is like Isa, that God has any human characteristics. So he says here, my Lord and your Lord and also rabbi wa rabbakum, that look, we have the same Lord. Wa kuntu shaheedan ma doomtu feehim And you were a witness as long as I was with them. And you were a witness as long as I was with them. You were the shaheed ma doomtu feehim. kuntu shaheedan ma doomtu feehim That you were the ultimate monitor over all of this. There is nothing that would be hidden from you, ya Allah. As long as I was with them, you were the ultimate monitor. And even after that.
Falamma tawafaytani, and he goes on to say here, falamma tawafaytani kunta anta al-raqeeba alayhim wa anta ala kulli shayin shaheed And then when you took me, when you took me back, you were the ultimate raqeeb, the ultimate monitor over them, as you are ala kulli shayin shaheed, as you are normally and every time the shaheed upon every single thing. So again, it is showing the etiquette of Isa alayhi salam, just mentioning the characteristics of Allah. Mentioning his characteristics, which is showing that, look, you have total authority over all of this. Then he goes on to say, intu a'dhibuhum fa innuhum ibaduk wa intu akfir lahum fa innaka anta al-azizu al-hakim If you were to punish them, if you were to punish them, then indeed they are your servants. But if you were to forgive them, then indeed you are the exalted, the mighty. You know Abu Dharr radiAllahu anhu, he said I was with the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam Layla and he was reciting this verse. And he kept reciting this verse, fi kulli ma yarka wa yasjud, when he was prostrating and bowing. And then SubhanAllah, he said I left and I came back in the morning and the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam was reciting this verse. And he was praying, he was prostrating and bowing. Intu a'dhibuhum fa innuhum ibaduk If you were to punish them, then verily they are your slaves. And if you were to forgive them, for verily you are al-azizu al-hakim And then SubhanAllah, seeing that Allah is al-aziz, he is the almighty, his might is appropriated when needed. It's appropriated, meaning that Allah applies his might, whether it's punishing, when needed. Why? Because it's based off of hikmah. When we see two names, always look at the context. He is the almighty and his might is applied and that application is based on ultimate wisdom. And we have to remember that when we see things happen nowadays, in the past, present, and even in the future, that it is done with an ultimate wisdom. And Isa alayhi salam continues on to say Allah Subhana wa ta'ala says
Qala hatha yawmu yunfa'u s-sadiqina sidquhum This is the day that all the truthful people will benefit from their truthfulness. For them are gardens beneath in which rivers flow wherein they will abide forever, Allah being pleased with them and they pleased with him. And then Allah Subhana wa ta'ala continues on, he says And to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and he is whatever is in the earth, an authority over all things. wahuwa ala kulli shay'in qadeer So the beauty of this dialogue between Isa and Allah Subhana wa ta'ala, first we notice that Isa is always termed as Isa bin Maryam, which is a proof that Isa is the son of someone and her name is Maryam alayhi salam and this dialogue with Isa, the response of Isa is the epitome of servitude. And taking that as an example when we want to call on Allah Subhana wa ta'ala and we want to tell people about this message. And lastly, I had the opportunity, SubhanAllah, whenever I read this, it reminds me of how I was given, there was a Catholic one time, and they were Catholic, and SubhanAllah, they wanted the message had to be translated in Spanish. And when this message was translated in Spanish, later, they eventually became Muslim because they saw that Islam was a religion that regarded Maryam in a high degree to the degree that there's a chapter named after her, and that Isa alayhi salam was a worshiper of God. So may Allah Subhana wa ta'ala bless us to be that of Isa and show reverence to him as the other. Wa alaikum salam. Wa alaikum salam. Dr. Nazer, tifadhal. Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wa salatu wassalamu ala rasulullah, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala. So what we've kind of been doing in this series is we've been going through each surah by focusing on the overall message in the surah. And there's actually a discipline called maqas of the surah, the objectives of each chapter in the Quran. So you may be familiar with tafsir going verse by verse, where you explain one verse, then you move on to the next verse.
But there's a whole discipline that looks at how these different verses are connected together to relate to the overall message that the surah is giving us, to relate to the overall theme of the surah. And that allows you to understand what's the connection between why Allah mentions this story and that passage and this example. How do these all come together? So you've gotten a taste of that through some of the summaries that you've heard so far in the series. And really, that's what tadabur is, right? The reflection on the Quran, Imam Ash-Shatibi, he said, فَالتَّدَبُّرِ إِنَّمَا يَكُونُ لِمَنِ اِلْتَفَتَ إِلَىٰ الْمَقَاصِدِ What tadabur really is, contemplate on the Quran, really is about considering what's the overall message, what's the overall point of what's being conveyed to us. And Imam al-Biqayi is one of the classical scholars, the student of Ibn Hajar, who wrote a work focusing on the maqas of the surahs of the Quran, the objectives of each surah, what is the overall message. So in the surahs that we've talked about previously, just to recap, you have surah al-Fatiha, giving us the prayer for guidance from Allah SWT. Then surah al-Baqarah responds to that and tells you guidance is going to come by developing taqwa in every aspect of your lives. Then you have surah al-Imran, which is showing us the reality of faith and how faith is developed in times of trial and tribulation. Then you have surah al-Nisa, which shows us that the society of faith is constructed upon justice, and justice is the most fundamental building block regarding the rights of others and the rights of Allah SWT upon us. And then we come to surah al-Ma'idah and surah al-An'am. So what can we learn about the maqasid for surah al-Ma'idah and surah al-An'am? So first of all, surah al-Ma'idah, the overall objective is right at the beginning. Ya ayyuha alladheena aamanu awfoo bilAAuqood. O you who believe, fulfill your agreements. And surah al-Ma'idah is the surah in the Quran that has most of the verses directed at believers,
mentioning Ya ayyuha alladheena aamanu. They come in surah al-Ma'idah. And just to focus on one of the verses in surah al-Ma'idah, one of the profound lessons that we can take from this passage, if you go to verse 90 and 91 in surah al-Ma'idah, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is talking about the prohibition of alcohol and gambling. And you know that alcohol was prohibited in stages. And the final verse of the prohibition came in surah al-Ma'idah, where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, fajtaniboo, abstain from it completely. Now the next verse, verse 91 is very interesting. Verse 91 tells us that shaytan's overall goal behind alcohol and gambling is two things. innama yureedu shaytanu an yuq'aa baynakumu al-adawata wal-bawdaa fi al-khamri wal-maysir That goal number one for shaytan is he wants to spread amongst you animosity and hatred. He wants you to be enemies with one another and to develop hatred. And number two is, wayasaddukum AAan zikri Allahi wa AAani as-salaa And to prevent you from the remembrance of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and from the salah. fahal antum muntahoon So will you not desist? Is that not enough for you to avoid? So think about this. There's so many harms associated with alcohol, right? But shaytan's primary goal with alcohol is to make you hate one another, to make you enemies of one another. So if you're doing that without the alcohol, then shaytan gets to say, mission accomplished, right? You're doing his job anyways. He doesn't even need the alcohol. You're already spreading hatred and animosity. So there's so many things we can do to counteract shaytan, but if you just focus on these two things, the commitment this Ramadan, that what I really want to develop is I want to make sure that I never allow shaytan to put in my heart seeds of hatred or animosity for another brother or sister. And I never want to allow shaytan to make me negligent with regards to my prayers or to divert me away from the remembrance of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la.
If you can focus on those goals, you'll have thwarted the primary goals of shaytan. Now, when it comes to Surah Al-An'am, as Sh. Omar mentioned, this is the first Makki surah after a sequence of Madani surahs, and it reminds us of Surah Al-Fatihah even in how it begins. And Surah Al-An'am gives us this full elaboration of Tawheed, and it begins by mentioning that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is the one who made light and darkness. And the word darkness, dhulmat, comes in this surah more than anywhere else in the Quran. And Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la gives us an analysis of the psychology of disbelief. What is going on in the mindset of one who rejects the truth? What is going on in the mindset of one who wants to insist upon idolatry and setting up partners with Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la? So, Surah Al-An'am takes us back to the fundamental question of existence, which is, what is the purpose of my life? The question every single human being has to encounter. And what Surah Al-An'am shows us is it actually illustrates the different objections that the Quraysh had towards the message of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Surah Al-An'am is the surah in the Quran that has more often than any other surah, the verses beginning with qul, right? Qul, say to them, and responding to the objections. It has more often than any other surah, the root words related to shirk and to takdheed, idolatry and denial of the message. So, one of the things that we see in Surah Al-An'am is there are so many verses related to the concept of radical skepticism. The idea that no matter how much proof is presented to a person, they'll never accept it. You see this throughout the surah, and you can go through and look at the different verses right from the beginning in verse 4 of the surah, and perhaps one of the most explicit references in the surah, verse 25 where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, وَإِن يَرَوْا كُلَّ آيَتٍ لَا يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَا If even if they were to see every single sign, they still wouldn't believe. This mindset of radical skepticism is something that, you know,
a person's never going to find enough proof to come to belief. And it's so interesting, I remember seeing a debate between an atheist and a psychologist, and the atheist said, prove to me God exists. And the psychologist turned it around and said, what would you need to see in order to convince you that God exists? And he said, you know, I would need to see God directly. And he said, okay, if you saw him directly, would you actually believe that God exists? And he said, no, actually, I would probably think I'm having a bad hangover. Right? So no amount of proof is sufficient to convince the one who is hell-bent on denying the message. And there's a, you know, a forthcoming article that I've written for Yaqeen that focuses on the connection between radical skepticism and atheism in the writings of Sheikh Osama bin Taymiyya, which goes into more detail on that. But I just want to conclude with the parable that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la mentions in Surah Al-An'am, which is so powerful, which is the parable of somebody going on a path with their companions. And they're going on a path and then they get lost. And if you ever, you know, when this whole COVID-19 thing is over and you want to go traveling somewhere, if you ever travel to Banff National Park and you see all the thousands of beautiful trails there, and that's a little plug for Canadian tourism there. If you ever go to Banff National Park and you see thousands of trails, you know how easy it is to get lost on those trails and to start wandering around in the forest and wondering, where on earth am I? So Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, you know, it's like the example of one who, in verse 71, the person who gets lost and the shayateen are calling him away from the path. And he has people on the path saying to him, la huwa as-habu wa yad'aunahu ilal huda'atina. They're telling him to come back, come back to the guidance. And the person is just getting lost.
And there's that theme of darkness repeated again and again in the Surah, because ultimately the choice between truth and falsehood is like the choice between, do you want to stand in the light or do you want to remain in the dark? Do you want to see meaning in life? Do you want to pursue a paradigm of life that allows you to actualize spiritual, moral, intellectual growth in your journey towards Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la? And that's what Islam calls us towards. And later in the Surah, we also see the example of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la mentioning Iman as something that gives a person life. So these examples that are mentioned in the Surah, they really allow us to reflect on how the Tawheed paradigm, that paradigm of seeing Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la as your ultimate purpose in life and seeing all of life as a journey towards Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, how it radically transforms everything in the way that we live our lives. So may Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la enable us to actualize that message in our lives. Wa sallalahu wa sallam wa baraka ala nabiyyinna Muhammad wa ala alihi wa sallam. JazakAllah khair. Absolutely beautiful. So what I understood from your message is if you want to be lost, then go to Canada, right? Then you'll go to Banff and that's what I got from everything you just said. GPS doesn't work in the US, so Americans, if you rely on GPS, what are you going to do? May Allah bless you. SubhanAllah. One thing that as you know, my sheikh, who's also my father-in-law, did a whole course on Aqeedah just from Surah Al-An'am, meaning the entire course of Aqeedah, he's a teacher of creed, and we're just going to use Surah Al-An'am. So Tafsir Surah Al-An'am was our Muqaddimah for Aqeedah. It was beautiful, just an introduction to creed, because it's Meccan, but it's also like Medinian style. It's long and it's elaborate, and it just draws those concepts out of monotheism, both in a way that allows us to properly contextualize idolatry and also, you know, the people of the book and how we deal with previous scripture and really try to get to the Abrahamic way,
try to get to the way of Ibrahim alayhi salam. And as we said, you know, SubhanAllah, Allah azawajal calls us with such pristine concepts and then gives us the rhetoric to where we can call other people to that without being insulting, but instead inviting them back to that way of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bi-l-hikmah wa ma'ridat al-hasana, with wisdom and beautiful preaching, so that they could be like those people that start off that juz that they just hear and they go, wait a minute, like Shaykh Abdullah, mimma a'rafu man anhaqta, subhanAllah, you know, you knew it was the truth when you just heard it. A lot of people have that sentiment. First time they hear it, it's like, this makes sense, right? All the prophets sent by one God connecting to the God of Abraham, it encompasses all of the prophets and messengers. And so when we take people back to that and not become insulting, but instead highlight the beauty of that, then bi-idhnanahi ta'ala, we can also experience it at a deeper level. Jazakumullah khayran. I really enjoyed your presence, Dr. Nauder. And may Allah bless you, Shaykh Abdullah as well. And inshallah, we'll see you all tomorrow night. Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Alaykum as-salamu alaikum.
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