Qur'an 30 for 30
8 / 30
Juz' 8 with Dr. Tahir Wyatt
Sh. Omar Suleiman and Sh. Abdullah Oduro, joined by special guest Dr. Tahir Wyatt, explore gems from the 8th Juz' of the Holy Quran.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. Okay. Salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. A'udhu billahi minash shaitanir rajim. Bismillahir rahmanir raheem. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Wa ala adwani illa ala al-dhalimeen. Wa ala aqibatu lilmuttaqeem. Allahumma salli wa sallim wa barak ala abdika wa rasulika Muhammadin salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salam. Tasneeman kathira. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. We are blessed to have with us today Fadhilatul Sheikh Dr. Tahir Wyatt. Alhamdulillah. Who is a blessed brother and friend and scholar. The first Mashallah American to teach in the Masjid of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam. May Allah open it up to us soon. And I believe, were you all two ever in Medina at the same time? Do you all know each other by the way? Just that. I think so, man. I think I know him. Alhamdulillah rabbil alameen. It's almost two decades Sheikh Omar. It's almost two decades. Allah bless you both and allow us to benefit from you. I want to share beautiful news with everyone. SubhanAllah, last night as we were doing the Quran 30 for 30, there was a brother that was commenting and I want to welcome all those guests that are not Muslims, but that have been joining us on a nightly basis. And Alhamdulillah reached out to him and Alhamdulillah another Zoom Shahad. Mashallah, Tabaraka Allah. So brother Caleb, welcome to the deen. May Allah bless you and it's probably best for you that you didn't have a bunch of people hug you in the Masjid right now. But we're virtually welcoming you with open hearts inshallah. And if you're listening tonight, just know that our du'as, our supplications and prayers are with you. May Allah keep you firm and steadfast in these times. Allahumma ameen. It's also the blessed night of Friday. And inshallah ta'ala we're going to go ahead and get into Juz 8. We're starting off with a salat salam ala Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Sending our peace and blessings upon the messenger.
Peace and blessings be upon him and his family and companions on the night of Juma. So inshallah ta'ala now we get into Juz 8. And Juz 8 contains, it starts from verse 111 of Surah Al-An'am and it goes to verse 87 of Surah Al-A'waf. And it's very interesting how it starts off. Because if you realize there's a story that's being told here subhanAllah as these chapters are unfolding. And it's a story of guidance and the ask for guidance. And what causes a person to miss out on guidance and what causes a person to be a worthy recipient of guidance. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala always fulfilling his promise even though we sometimes fall short. So long as we do not intentionally violate the covenant that he has made with us. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala starts off by saying, walaw anna na nazzalna ilayhim al-mala'ika wa kallamuhum al-mawta If we were to send down to them the angels and revive the dead to speak to them of it. Okay, so if we were to send angels to them and revive the dead to speak to them of this reality, they still would turn away from it. And they would still miss out on that guidance because the problem is not in the message. The problem is in the recipient of the message. This is something that Dr. Nazer spoke about last night. This idea of radical skepticism. Someone who doesn't want to believe is not going to believe. Even if Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala was to send down al-mala'ika wa kallamuhum al-mawta and the dead were to speak to them. And we were to bring, gather together every creative thing in front of them. They still would not believe unless Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala should will. But most of them remain in a state of defiance. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala goes on to tell us after stating that this is a fault in the hearts that are not receiving the guidance.
Not a fault in the message itself or in the guidance itself or in the prophets itself. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala starts to give us some of the reasons why people miss out. And this one is verse 116, wa in tutar akhtar man fil ardi yudhuluka an sabeeda laad. That if you were to follow the majority of the inhabitants of the earth, then they would turn you away from the way of God. And essentially what we have here is the notion of complacency. That most people will simply be complacent. They're not going to pursue anything that's outside of what is amongst the majority, what is common and comfortable. And truth requires a level of discomfort on our part. It requires a sacrifice. It requires us being willing to take the necessary steps forward to challenge our intellect, to challenge what we've been told is truth. And that's the case for religion and everything else. And so on one hand, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala condemns radical skepticism. On the other hand, Allah is condemning complacency, just five ayat later. When a person is just complacent and just follows the majority. And what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is saying, if you were to follow the majority on earth, then you would end up astray. Because most people are not going to be sincere in their pursuit of guidance. And this ties to a later verse where Iblis challenges Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and says that you will find the majority of them will not be grateful. SubhanAllah, so it actually ties to that as well. Allah did not command us to follow the majority. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded us to sincerely follow the truth. And the majority of the Muslims will be preserved upon the truth in a holistic sense, in the general sense. The majority of the believers, but the idea of complacency is condemned here. And then a few ayat later, verse 122, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, awwaman kana maytan fa-ahyaynahu wa ja'alna lahum nooran yamshi bihi finnaas And is the one who was dead and we gave him life.
And is the one who was dead and we gave him life. And made for him light by which he walks amongst the people. Like the one who is in darkness never to emerge therefrom. Remember the surah starts off with what? Okay, al-dhulmat wal-noor. And we talked about this last night a bit. Darkness and light. And Allah says is the one who emerges into this light and given life, right, through faith and walks amongst the people like the one who continues to drown in darkness never to emerge. Who is this about? The majority of the mufassireen say this is referring to Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu or connected to the incident of the Islam of Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu. If you look at Umar radiyaAllahu anhu, he broke through every shell of misguidance. Strength, position, power, complacency, tribe, everything, right? Which is why he was a staunch opponent to guidance in the first place. But he broke through all the obstacles and then he rose in a way that no one would have expected him to rise. He became who he was. And he was the one that it was said that the himar of his father, the donkey of al-Khattab, would become Muslim before Umar radiyaAllahu anhu. Not only did he become Muslim, but he became a man that was given life through this faith and then walked with a light in the darkness and gave light to everything around him through that sincere and pure heart and that pursuit of truth that Umar bin al-Khattab radiyaAllahu ta'ala anhu had. So you have an example of a man that broke through it all that's being referred to in this ayah. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, faman yuridillahu an yahdiyahu yashrah sadarahu lil-islam. So whoever Allah wants to guide, he expands his heart to be able to contain Islam. SubhanAllah, yashrah sadarahu lil-islam. Think about the image here. The heart is expanded to be able to receive faith, to receive Islam. So Allah prepares it that way.
And on the other hand, waman yurid an yudhillahu yaj'al sadarahu dayiqan harajan ka'anama yassa'idu fissama'a. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, and whoever he wills to misguide, he makes his chest tight and constricted as though he were climbing into the sky. And yesterday I was on another session with Sheikh Yasir Brijasni. He was talking about the statement of Ibn al-Qayyim rahimahullah, where Ibn al-Qayyim said that the one who has a sign of dayiqan harajan, of a constricted chest, is a person who is ignorant or a person who refuses to act upon knowledge, or a person who is privately a hypocrite or a person who is publicly belligerent. So four things, ignorance, the lack of practice, if you have knowledge, that's stage two, the lack of private worship, or a bad way of treating the people in public. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala prepares the hearts. When the heart wants, desires guidance, Allah opens it and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes the heart fertile for guidance. And what does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala say? warabbuka alghaneen dhur rahma And this is verse 133. Your Lord is free of need and the possessor of mercy. in yasha yudhibikum wayastakhlif min ba'dikum mayashaa kama anshakum min dhurriyati qawmin aakhireen That if he wills, he can do away with you and give succession after you to whom he wills, just as he produced you from the descendants of another people. My computer's about to die. It's got 1% so that's the sign that I need to turn it over to Shaykh Abdullah now. And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says at the end of this surah, speaking to the believers and speaking to the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and speaking to those that wish to be upon the truth, to say that innani hadani rabbi ila siratil mustaqeem deena qayyiman millata Ibrahima haneefa wama kana minal mushrikeen
Say indeed, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, a correct religion, the way of Abraham, inclining toward truth, and he was not amongst those who associated others with Allah. And then what comes next? Qul inna salati wa nusuki wa mahyaaya wa mamati lillahi rabbil alameen la sharika lah wa bithalika umirtu wa ana awwalun muslimeen Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala mentions to us, this is now verse 161 to 163 saying indeed, my prayer and my sacrifice, my life and my death are all for Allah, the Lord of the worlds. No partner has he, and thus this is how I have been commanded and I am the first amongst the Muslims. I am first amongst those that submit. Sacrifice here is not sacrifice in the general sense, but literally the act, the ibadah of sacrifice, the worship of sacrifice. Because if you're reading that in translation, it can be lost in that. Because think Mecca, the way that they're presenting these animals to their idols, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanding us to present our prayer and our sacrifice in the Abrahamic way to him alone subhanahu wa ta'ala and to make our life and death for him. Just gonna give you a snapshot of the next surah to one very particular thing, and Sheikh Abdullah and Dr. Tahir inshallah will talk about this in detail for sure. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala goes on to talk about Iblis, the devil, and his refusing to prostrate when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala commanded him to prostrate. So the devil refusing to prostrate. Qala ma manaka alla tasruda id amartuk When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says, what is it that prevented you from doing what I commanded you to do? What did he say? Qala ana khayru min He said, I am better than him, you created me from fire and you created him from dirt. Which means that it was the real reason. And the real reason for people turning away from misguidance, or turning away from guidance and being misguided are worldly reasons.
They cling to false prophets and false ideals that end up betraying them. So shaitan lost it all. The devil lost it all. And the people that rejected the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam out of a sense of arrogance, out of a sense of tribalism, out of a sense of not wanting to abandon position or power, and that which they had, they ended up losing all of those things anyway. And so again, their hearts were not expanded for faith because they insisted on clinging to those things. And as a result of that, they lost. The last ayah that I'll share with you is verse 43 in Surat al-A'raf, where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about the people praising Allah for guidance. Alhamdulillah alladhi hadana lihada wama kunna linahtadia lawla an hadana Allah And then they said, Alhamdulillah, all praises be to the one who guided us to this, and we certainly would not have been guided had Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala not guided us. In Surat al-A'raf, the devil, shaitan challenges and says that you'll see that the majority of them are not grateful. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala validates, indeed, the majority of people will not be grateful. But here you have a people that are grateful, and they're grateful for what? They're grateful for guidance, and they're attributing that guidance to the one who gives guidance, who makes the heart ready for guidance, the one who allows us to have a clear path forward. And what does Allah tell us about Ramadan? wa li tukmiru alAAiddata wa li tukambiru Allah a'ala maa hadaakum walaAAalakum tashkuroon That the goal of us at the end of this month is to thank Him particularly, first and foremost, to glorify Him for that which He guided us to of clarity and guidance. InshaAllah ta'ala with that, I'll turn it over to Shaykh Abdullah. Bismillah wa salatu wa salamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallim wa laa In the name of Allah, we send peace and blessings upon the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa sallam and all of the people that follow him in righteousness inshaAllah. As he mentioned, shaitan, and as in the chapter of al-A'raf, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about relaying the story of shaitan
and how he refused to bow down to Adam primarily for the arrogant nature of shaitan that he had. And due to that, you see the influence of shaitan because shaitan even tells him earlier in this chapter when he says in verse number 17 that I will come to them thumma laa aatiyannahum min bayna aydihi wa min khalfihim waAAan aimanihim waAAan shama'ilihim wa laa tajdu akhtharuhum shakireen Verily, I will come to them in front of them and behind them and on their right and on their left and you will not find them of the grotitious people, of the grotitious ones. So as he mentioned, the blessing of guidance is something that we should be so grateful for that we have been given the direction but we still have a choice to make and that is exactly what I want to talk about in verse number 26 and 27. Right after Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala talks about the conversation that took place with Adam and how shaitan convinced Adam and Hawwa and Eve to eat from the tree. But what's interesting that we notice from the sharia, from the body of law of Islam, the blueprint of Islam if you will, is how when Allah prohibits something from us, a lot of times it's not the exact thing or action of the prohibition. He prohibits you from the subul or the dhra'ir or the ways and means to that thing. So when we talk about man being with a woman, alone without a person that is what is called a mahram or someone that is a third person that's allowed to be with them because of the possibility of what it could lead to. When we see this, some of us may not understand it, but this is when we go back to our relationship with God. Who is God? The all-knowing. Who is He? The all-wise. So from here, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is talking about the advice that He gives to us after He relates the story of Adam being told, Adam and Eve, Allah telling them,
laa taqarabaa hadhihish shajara Both of you do not come close to the shajara. Not don't eat from the shajara, don't come close to it. And what happened? Shaitan whispered to them. And when he whispered to them and they answered the call, thaso a'tihuma, their private parts became apparent because they were covered with libas. They were covered with the warq of Jannah, from the trees of Jannah. But when they disobeyed Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, their private parts became apparent and then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la casted them from Jannah, from heaven. But to talk about the advice after that, so one would say, okay, after I read this story, what is the advice? What Allah, what do you want from me? What are you telling me exactly? And this is where Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la goes on and says, A'udhu Billahi Minash Shaitanir Rajim Ya Bani Adam, qada anzalna alaykum libasan yuwari sawatikum warisha wa libasul taqwa thalika khayr, thalika min ayati Allahi la'allakum yadhakkaroon Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, O Bani Adam, O children of Adam, we have bestowed upon you clothing to conceal your private parts as an adornment, but the clothing of righteousness is the best. That is from the signs of Allah, and perhaps they will remember. Verse number 26, here Allah mentions three, and some scholars say two types of libas, two types of clothing. Firstly, the clothing that covers your private part, the minimal amount, what is needed for you to maintain chastity. The second is the kind of what he says, risha, that is of adornment, that which beautifies you. But then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, Allah the Exalted mentions the third type, wa libasul taqwa thalika khayr, and the adornment or clothing or garb of mindfulness, this is the best. And what's interesting in Arabic, when he used the ismul ishara, he used the indefinite article to say, when he said, and the clothing of mindfulness, that is better.
When he put that after the actual noun in Arabic, that shows the importance and the greatness of what was just mentioned. wa libasul taqwa thalika, thalika means the clothing of mindfulness. And also, some scholars mention here that when he says that, instead of this, shows how it's much more preferred than the other two forms of clothing, showing that that is most important, because someone may have the adornment of clothing. Someone may look nice, yamul juma'ah, mashAllah, mashAllah, he wears his best clothes when he wants to get married, mashAllah, he comes to ask for the proposal in marriage. But then he's a different person at home. He's a different person when the doors are closed, and only Allah knows, and his wife and children may know. Where's the libas of taqwa? The heart, the aqeedah, the belief that one has with Allah. When we say aqeedah, it's the uqtat al-qalb bi rabbihi. What is the connection that the person has with Allah? How is it manifested on a daily basis that comes with the mindfulness of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la? And then he says, that is best for the people if they were to remember, and remember the blessings of Allah by giving them clothing, by giving them these blessings. When they remember these blessings, they are gratituous. Then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la goes on in verse number 27, and he makes the same call. He says, Ya Bani Adam, O sons of Adam, the scholars say he says this to show the importance. He's repeating here to show you the importance to pay attention. Now that you are on the earth, what are the guidelines that I am giving you to survive from shaitan? Here he says, Ya Bani Adam, la yafteenanakum shaitanu kama akharaja abawaykum minal jannah Do not let Satan tempt you as he removed your parents from paradise. Why? Because he qasamahuma inni lakum anna minal nasihin
And he swore that he is from the advisors. He's the one that's advising them. So he goes on and he says, kama akharaja abawaykum minal jannah yanzi'u anhuma libasahuma liyuriyahuma sawatihima And he says that stripping them of their clothing to show them their private parts. innuhu yaraakum huwa wa qabeeluhu minhaythu la taraunahum That verily he sees you and his own eyes. And the army sees you from that which you cannot. So here we understand that they are on earth and they have been given this advice. And in times of bliss, we should understand in times of bliss, shaitan, Satan will come to you and make you be negligence of actions of worship because of that time of bliss. And he will convince you to do something that initially you know is not right, but he is persistent. And that's what's beautiful when you look at the story in the past, when he talks about the advice, he was using the present tense verb, which implies that it was a continuous waswasah, whispering consistently to them. You know, that bad friend that you're on social media with, that person that you're talking to, that's not a good influence. They're consistently calling you, but you have a choice. And that's why Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, innuhu yaraakum huwa wa qabeeluhu Verily, he sees you from where you cannot see him minhaythu la taraunahum And then Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la concludes with giving us a fact because he is al-alim, he's the all-knowing, that verily we have made shaytaan inna ja'alna al-shayateena awliyaa lil-ladheena la yu'minoon We have made the shayateen as a guardian for those that do not believe. So in conclusion, looking at these two verses, how Allah is reminding us after the story of Adam, what has he given us and what is the advice in regards to shaytaan. May Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la protect us from any of the plans of shaytaan and make us, give us knowledge and be aware of that. For verily, that is the libas of taqwa. That is the clothing of mindfulness. SubhanAllah, the second verse of the juz actually after Allah talks about guidance,
Allah mentions that every nabi, every prophet has enemies from shayateen, from insul-jin, right? From the humans and the devils, the jin, enemies from the devils. And so it almost gives us a sense of if even the prophets, right, have their shayateen attacking them, what about us, right? And we can certainly rise if we are mindful of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and Allah is most merciful. Dr. Tahir, do you want to take it away? Tell them. Alhamdulillah, wasalatu wasalamu ala rasulullah wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa man wala amma ba'd, the consistent message of the Quran or the consistencies that are found in the Quran are one of the greatest miracles of the Quran for those who ponder its meanings. Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says in the Quran, falaya tadabbaruna al-quran, do they not ponder over the Quran? walaw kana min indi ghayri Allah lawajadu feehi ikhtilafan katheera If it had been from other than Allah, if revelation, if this Quran, the speech of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la, if it had come from other than Allah, then you would have found in it many contradictions. That's important for us to look at the broad framework of what we're covering in this juice, the eighth part, if you will, of the Quran. That's because this part of the Quran is split evenly, in fact, between two surahs, right? Half of this juice is in surah al-An'am and the other half of the juice is in surah al-A'raf. So the sixth and seventh chapters of the Quran. However, there are some consistent themes throughout the juice, even though it's split between these two surahs.
And inshallah, I'm going to go over just one of those themes. And it is in fact, the reason why the surah, the first one that we're covering, which is the sixth chapter of the Quran, surah al-An'am, is the reason why it is named al-An'am. And so I want to look at that, inshallah, and look at how it kind of relates to a broader theme, bi-idhnillah. So first of all, it's important to note that surah al-An'am is a Meccan surah, which Sheikh Omar talked about yesterday. And the Meccan surahs are quite different from the Medinan surahs, or those surahs that were revealed after the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, migrated to Medina. And that's because the Meccan surahs don't focus a lot on rules and regulations and legal technicalities, if you will. They don't focus a lot on the do's and the don'ts of what we would call our jurisprudence or our fiqh. So when we look at the first part of surah al-An'am, in fact, the first 73 ayahs, they're all dealing with the relationship between Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la and his creation, establishing his oneness, his uniqueness, and his names and his attributes, and his right to be worshiped alone. There are also many proofs that are established against the idolaters and those who reject the messengers in general. And so we get to al-An'am. And al-An'am literally means livestock. A lot of times the chapter itself is translated as cattle, but it's broader than that. So an'am refers to livestock as a whole. And during the time that the Prophet,
salallahu alayhi wa sallam, was receiving revelation, this was primarily camels, cattle, and sheep and goats. So what does an'am have to do with tawheed? Like if this whole surah is dealing with the oneness of Allah, his right to be worshiped alone, dealing with his names and his attributes, and then we have that beautiful story of Ibrahim, or Abraham, alayhi salam, and his argument with his people to establish the oneness of Allah. Then what does the fact that, what I eat or how I deal with my camels and my cattle, what does that have to do with the broader picture? Well, the reality is, is that though many people may read this and see, for example, the ayat that say, and eat from what the name of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has been mentioned on and so forth, and may think that this is actually coming to establish some fiqh rulings or some legal technicalities in terms of how we eat or don't eat, the reality is, is that these verses that talk about al-an'am, okay, which is what the surah is named after, the first one of them comes in the 136th ayah, and then you find it again in 138 and 139 and 142. So anyway, that string of five or six ayahs, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is talking about livestock, but it's not because of fiqh. It's actually to establish a very major and important point of our creed. And that is that Allah alone is the one who has the right to determine what is permissible and what is not permissible. And so he's arguing or bringing these proofs against the mushrikeen, the idolaters,
who decided that certain animals are not going to be permissible for certain people, and other animals were not going to allow anyone to ride on them, and these ones were not going to allow to carry anything. And then they said, for example, wa qalu ma fee butooni hadhihi al-an'am khalisatu li dhukurina wa muharramun ala azwajina. They would say that the offspring of these an'am, or what are in the wombs of these animals, are purely for our men, and the women don't have any share in that. And so they're making something impermissible for women that Allah actually made permissible for them. And so Allah is saying to us, to the believers, conditioning us to say, listen, when you are a Muslim, meaning that you submit fully to the commands of Allah, then you have to accept the commands of Allah as they are and don't change them. Don't you come and make something permissible that God has made impermissible, and don't make something impermissible that God has made permissible, because in fact, this is a form of worship. How is that? When the verse was revealed in Surah Tawbah, which is the ninth chapter of the Quran, Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la says, attakhadu ahbarahum warahbanahum ardaabin min duni Allah wal-masihah bina maryam. They took their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah, and also al-masihah bina maryam, the Messiah, the son of Mary, Jesus alayhi salam. Adiyah bin Hatim, who was a companion of the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, he said to the Prophet, we didn't use to worship them. We didn't use to worship the rabbis, the monks. And the Prophet, salallahu alayhi wa sallam, said to him,
did not they make permissible what Allah made impermissible? And so you also made it permissible, and didn't they make impermissible what Allah made permissible, and so therefore you made it permissible? So in other words, you were following them in the way that they legislated things, and Allah is saying, this is the right of God alone to decide what is permissible and what is not, what is lawful and what is not, what is moral and what is not. This theme carries over throughout the Quran, because, and this is the point that is very important, because those who don't follow that are basically saying that we actually have the same right as the messengers of God. And you look at what was talked about yesterday, and also mentioned again today, about that radical skepticism. And so you find it here again, they say, we will not believe until we are given. Hatta nu'ta mitla ma'ootia usulullah. We're not gonna believe until we're given what the messengers were given. In other words, until revelation comes to us. Allahu a'lamu haythu yaj'alu risalata. Allah knows best where to put his message. He knows best who to give his revelation to. And so it's not for us to determine what is lawful or unlawful, moral or immoral. And so you travel over now, let's look at, for example, the beginning of Surah Al-A'raf, and we look at with the mushrikeen, the idolaters again, they're saying, wa jadna fa'alu fahishatan qalu wajadna alaiha aba'ana wallahu amrana biha. When they do some act of immorality, they say, this is what we found our fathers doing. This is what we found our ancestors doing. And Allah commanded us to do this.
Qul inna Allaha la ya'muru bil fahsha. Allah does not command with immorality. You go even further, you just a couple more pages. Qul man harwa mazeenat Allahi latee akhraj li ibadih. Who is it? Say, who is it that makes impermissible the adornment that Allah has made permissible for his servants? This was a reveal about the Arabs who would go around the Kaaba. They would circumambulate the Kaaba naked. That they wouldn't wear any clothes because they were saying that it's impermissible to wear the clothes. And so Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la is saying, who is it that has made impermissible what I have made? What I have made permissible. And so it's very important that we recognize this point here. Now, does that mean that we're not going to sin? That we're not going to fall into disobedience to Allah? No, it doesn't mean that. And in fact, we get this at the very beginning of the chapter, the seventh chapter, Surah Al-A'raf. When we look at the story of Adam, alaihi salam, he disobeyed Allah. He ate from the tree. Okay, but he also repented. Now, here's an important point. I hope that we really pay attention to this. There's a takeaway for every Muslim and for non-Muslims as well. If we recognize that what we are doing is wrong, then we have a chance for repentance. We have a chance to turn back to Allah because we know that what we have done is wrong. And we're all going to be those people who do things that are wrong from time to time. And we're going to need God to forgive us for those things. And we're going to turn to Him in repentance. But if we don't believe that what we are doing is wrong and we actually believe that we have the right now. Yeah, I know that this is what it says in the Quran. I know that the Prophet, salallahu alaihi wasalam, said this, but I'm going to rationalize my way out of it. I'm going to actually figure out a way
to make this seem halal for me. Then I'm never going to repent from that. And this is exactly what happened in the story of Iblis. When he says, when Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la commanded him to bow to Adam, he said, what, ana khayru min khalaqtani min naar wa khalaqtahu min qeen. I am better than him. I'm not prostrating to him because I am better. I know that this is what you commanded me to do, ya Allah, but it doesn't make sense to me. And see, so what happens is when we know that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la has commanded us to do something, we can't follow the way of those who rejected the messengers. We should not be like those who denied the messengers and rejected faith. Allah is telling us in Surah Al-An'am, beware of that path because that is a path that will take you down a very slippery slope, and you may not be able to come back from it. So if there's something that comes to you from guidance, meaning it comes to you from the Quran, it comes to you from the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, and maybe you don't really understand it, that's okay. It really is because a lot of us, I mean, it doesn't matter how long you study, you're gonna learn new things every day. There are things that you didn't understand yesterday that you'll understand today. And SubhanAllah, if you're tuning into this right now, you're watching it live or you watch it later, and you're trying to understand the Quran, know that this is the path that Allah wants for you. And Allah Azza wa Jal, if He wants guidance for somebody, yashra sadrahu lil-Islam, He will open his heart up to full submission, which is what Islam is, right? To full submission. And when you submit fully, you will find that inner peace and you'll get salvation in the next life. And if you don't and you fight it, you're not going to find any inner peace because your fitrah, your natural disposition wants to obey the commands of God, okay?
So if you fight that, there's gonna be inner turmoil and you're subjecting yourself to losing out on Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la's mercy in the hereafter. So again, if you're watching this right now, this is a good sign. Keep learning, keep studying revelation. And as the dua, our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam used to make a very important prayer. He would say, wahdili, yani, oh Allah, guide me, wa yassiril hudali, and make guidance easy for me. Because sometimes we know what we're supposed to do, but it's not easy for us. Sometimes it's not easy because we don't really understand fully, well, why am I supposed to do this? And why am I not supposed to do that? The point is that we know what we're supposed to do and what we're not supposed to do. And as we continue in knowledge, then hopefully Allah will give us that light so that we understand the rationale behind his commands and his prohibitions. The point here, and I'll close here, Sheikh Omar, I'm sorry for going over my time. But the point that I'd like to close with is that we have to do our best. And as we begin to forge our American Muslim identity, if you will, we have to do our best to make sure that what we are doing is totally in line to the best of our ability with the commands of God. It is he, Subhanahu wa ta'ala, who has the right to determine that which he wants us to do and that which he wants us to do, that which is moral and that which is immoral, and it is our job, it is our duty as Muslims to submit to that and then to seek that knowledge that will help us to better understand his commands and his prohibitions. Wallahu alaikum wa salam wa barak wa ala ameena Muhammad. Wallahu alaikum wa barak wa ala ameena Muhammad. SubhanAllah, just one reflection as you were speaking, I can't help but share. You know, the Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam described pride as two. He said pride is ghams al-nas al-batr al-haqq, which is to either belittle people or to reject the truth.
Rarely do you see that a person who rejects the truth does not belittle others because there's a sign of arrogance that's gonna be there. But at the same time with Shaytan, with the devil, in that one moment, he actually did both, right? He belittled the creation of man in Adam alayhi salam and his descendants, and he rejected the truth through his rationale and things of that sort. And we might escape one form of pride, might not be condescending to people, but we wanna unlock things for ourselves. And so, as you said, always try to find the loopholes and find our way up. That's inherent in man, that when their desires become too prominent and unrestricted, that they're gonna start finding a way to make those desires in accordance with, or to make truth in accordance with the pursuit of those desires so that they don't have to commit to anything that's uncomfortable. And so, alhamdulillah, I was not uncomfortable with either one of you tonight. Zakumullah khayran for not making us uncomfortable. Beautiful reflections as always. And it's the night of Friday, and Sheikh Tha'ir will be having you again, inshaAllah ta'ala, on at least one more night in the night, ta'ala. I believe, so may Allah bless you for being with us. Apologize to everyone, we went a little bit over tonight, but zakumullah khayran. It's the night of Friday, inshaAllah ta'ala, to remind you to do salawat. And if you'd be inclined to give sadaqa, to use this night also to put forth sadaqa, inshaAllah ta'ala. You'll find some organizations I listed that combat hunger today. And of course, Yaqeen Institute as well. May Allah subhana wa ta'ala bless you all. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Salam wa salam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh.
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