Qur'an 30 for 30 | Season 5
9 / 31
Juz 8: Contentment, Clarity, and Divine Guidance | Ustadha Zaynab Ansari
Why are some people saved while others aren't? What does divine guidance truly mean? Why is contentment and clarity important for da'wah?
Join Ustadha Zaynab Ansari with hosts Dr. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro as they reflect on Juz 8 of the Qur'an, focusing on Surah al-An'am verses 111, 144, and 153. In this session, they discuss concerns about predestination, salvation, what guidance feels like, and finding peace in the fact that God is All-Knowing.
✨Test your Qur'anic IQ✨
How many times is the word Anʿām (livestock) mentioned in Surah Anʿām?
A. 5
B. 6
C. 8
Chapters:
0:00 - Highlights
📌 0:50 - Today's trivia and intro📌 2:36 – Dr. Omar Suleiman reflects on why some people are guided and others aren't
5:32 - The duty of those who give da'wah
📌 7:55 – Sh. Abdullah Oduro reflects on divine guidance and what the straight path is
8:56 - What to do and be aware of if you want guidance
11:39 - The purpose of the last ten days of Ramadan
📌 13:28 – Ustadha Zaynab Ansari reflects on Surah al-An'am, verse 144
15:11 - The contrast between the guided and the misguided
16:23 - Hadith about being released from anxieties on the Day of Judgment
18:06 - Hadith about reflection and clarity
📌 19:19 – Reflections
21:03 - Being content with not knowing is a pure manifestation of worship
23:20 - The believer is a person of clarity
24:31 - What does Allah 'opening the heart' mean and what are its signs?
25:15 - What is true guidance in Islam?
📌 26:41 – Final thoughts
Download the latest Qur'an 30 for 30 eBook: Qur’an 30 for 30: Thematic Tafsir.
Explore the daily juz questions and answers in the Qur'an 30 for 30 Season 5 Trivia.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. So, to demand why this person and not that person is actually teaching us something about being kind of comfortable with the fact that only Allah Ta'ala knows what's in the innermost recesses of the heart, and only Allah Ta'ala knows those subtleties. So, just reminded at that point. The subtleties. InshaAllah Ta'ala with that, JazakumAllahu Khayran Ustaz Zainab for the wonderful input. JazakumAllahu Khayran Sheikh Abdullah as always, and to all of our viewers. I hope InshaAllah Ta'ala you're benefiting, reflecting, talking to each other about the Qur'an. I'm taking a lot of notes, and we'll look forward to seeing you InshaAllah Ta'ala again tomorrow. Please remember to donate to Yaqeen to download the Qur'an 30 for 30 book InshaAllah Ta'ala and follow along. BarakAllahu feekum, wasalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. Al Fatiha. We'll not gain that clarity, no matter what signs are put in front of them. Yeah, and you know, that's hard to swallow at times, because, I mean, let's be honest, some of us have relatives that are Muslim and are not, quote unquote, practicing, they're not making the effort, and Allah knows. Some of us have, you know, friends that are dear to us, and we could swear that they're going to accept, but then they don't. And sometimes it's hard to swallow, like, okay, Allah knows something in their heart that I don't know. I mean, I know this person, right? I've grown up with this person. Yeah, and you accept the fact that Allah knows, wa antum lata'lamun, that Allah knows, and you do not. Again, again, the whole concept of being uncertain, and being content with being uncertain with that reality of something that you do not know.
And in reality, and when you think about it, that is a pure manifestation of Lordship. And when you think about it, it's like you have a direction to go. Shakiranu khafura, you have a direction to go. You know what, I don't know, and I'm okay with that. Rather, ufawwidu amri lAllah, like, I trust that Allah knows, and I don't. And you know what, on top of that, I trust that if I act in accordance to His law that He set, and how to deal with this, and how to deal with that person, I trust that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will keep me content, even psychologically, because it may be someone that you love dearly, and they may have passed away, and you don't know if they've accepted Islam. I mean, as I mentioned before, you know, me mentioning the shahada in my sister's ear upon her taking her last breath, I don't know if she's taken it. Having to be content with that, dying of cancer, nine years younger than me, I have to be content with the fact that maybe Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala knows, but I trust that He is al-adl, that He's going to make the right decision when that time comes. And I'm going to do my best to follow the system that He has given me, internally, and then externally, by when I pray, and things of that nature. So, you know, subhanAllah, the sharh of the sadr, you know, opening the heart, is something, the same sharh that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, when speaking to the Prophet, as scholars mention, the sharh is like the butcher, the one that opens the meat, it's like opening the chest, to where it accepts the message, easily. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us of those that accept His guidance that He puts in front of us, and allow us to follow it in the best of ways. You know, my teacher in Damascus, one of the pieces of advice that I really remember, and this was decades ago, honestly, time has really flown by, but may Allah preserve her. You know, she said, I remember we were sitting in someone's apartment, you know, the girls were sitting on the floor, she's on the sofa, and she's speaking about light, and guidance, and clarity. And I remember this, like it was yesterday, she said, the mu'min, the believer, the mu'mina, is a person of clarity.
And that really stayed with me, all these years, that the idea that someone that is a believer, the idea that someone that belongs to this faith community of the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam, in other words, that we don't really have license to kind of be like wandering around aimlessly, like we have to have purpose, we have to have this direction. That, and this is one of the things I tell my students, that there's so much that you have to offer to your friends, to the entire world. When you see that there are countless people out there who have really no sense of where they're going, why they were created, what they want out of life. And to be a community that's the recipient of this guidance that is unaltered, right, from the time that was given to the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam. And you know, there's actually a commentary, by the way, on this ayah, the Sahaba themselves asked the Prophet, alayhi salatu wasalam, about the ayah. And what is this idea of the sharh, of the sadr, of the opening the heart to Islam, what does it mean? So the Prophet said, alayhi salatu wasalam, that it's Allah ta'ala putting a light in the heart of the believer, through which the believer, that the heart opens up for perception, for understanding and acceptance of truth. And the Sahaba then went on to say, is there a sign of this that we can perceive in a person? And the Prophet said, yes, alayhi salatu wasalam, the sign of that is that the akhira and its blessings become the object of all that person's desires. Isn't that amazing? SubhanAllah. So there's a difference, you know, subhanAllah, it's profound, because everyone wants to know, but what do you want to know? And being guided to, I don't know, is actually one of the greatest forms of guidance. And I'm content with not knowing, you know, so like guidance is not knowing all the answers. Guidance is knowing the one who knows all the answers and being so content with that, that all of these primary causes of doubt for people become secondary issues of iman, you know, yaqeen, khalas, it's faith and certainty.
I trust Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and I'm happy with that. Like I trust Allah with that person. I'm not going to be arham, more merciful or more just or more discerning or more knowledgeable or more aware than Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And I'm going to focus on myself and making sure that I'm doing the best that I can to strive, to properly ponder, to gain clarity and through clarity, to gain contentment and through contentment, to gain a path forward and just keep on going and depositing in that over and over and over again until Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala takes me. And hopefully at that point, we're in the best of our states, you know, so that's true guidance. And that's what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is talking about in commenting on the sharh, on that opening of the heart. Like I'm, I'm content to that. It's not that I've learned a new piece of information, it's that my heart has become at ease now with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, al-'alim al-khabir. Any last thoughts? I appreciate the point about sort of ambiguity in the sense of, you know, the ayah in Al-e-Imran where Allah ta'ala says, وَأَمَّلَ الَّذِينَ فِي قُلْبِهِمْ زَيْغُوا فِيَتَّبِعُونَ مَا تَشَبَهَا مِنْهِ You know, that those in whose heart is kind of a deviation, they go after sort of, they want the interpretation of that part of the Quran that maybe might be a little bit more ambiguous or metaphorical. So, but you know, I remember that ayah in the sense of, there are questions that we're just not supposed to be, that we're not, that we cannot answer inherently as human beings. And that's the beautiful thing about hidayah, because it's telling us that this is the domain of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. You cannot impose your timeline upon a person's guidance. This is up to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, right? He guides whom he wills and he lets others to go astray. And this is from his knowledge, from his justice subhanahu wa ta'ala. So, to demand why this person and not that person is actually teaching us something about being kind of comfortable with the fact that only Allah ta'ala knows what's in the innermost recesses of the heart. And only Allah ta'ala knows those subtleties.
So, just reminded at that point. The subtleties. Insha'Allah ta'ala with that, Jazakum Allah khayran, As-salamu alaykum Zainab for the wonderful input and Jazakum Allah khayran Sheikh Abdullah as always. And to all of our viewers, I hope insha'Allah ta'ala you're benefiting, reflecting, talking to each other about the Quran, taking a lot of notes. And we'll look forward to seeing you insha'Allah ta'ala again tomorrow. Please remember to donate to Yaqeen to download the Quran 30 for 30 book insha'Allah ta'ala and follow along. BarakAllahu feekum, As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Welcome back!
Bookmark content
Download resources easily
Manage your donations
Track your spiritual growth
1 items
1 items
1 items
25 items
50 items
9 items
