Surah Luqman 31: 12-14.

Watch Video - Nouman Ali Khan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDF5EIwvnVs

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Ayah 12:

وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا لُقْمَانَ الْحِكْمَةَ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِلَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ ۖ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ َ


وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا لُقْمَانَ الْحِكْمَةَ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِلَّهِ

"And We gave Luqman the wisdom - that be grateful to Allah"


Allah taught Luqman wisdom, - which is a favour Allah gave to him.

1 - Wisdom & Knowledge are not something which people own, rather - Allah gives it. So the praise is always for Allah.


Allah did not say; Ilm [Knowledge], He said Hikmah [Wisdom].

Difference: Just because you have knowledge, it does not mean you have Wisdom.

Wisdom = Good and Beneficial knowledge which you Act upon to benefit yourself and others.

You might have knowledge but you don't benefit from it, so it is not Wisdom.
i.e. a Child has knowledge that fire burns, but he will only be wise if he acts upon that knowledge (i.e. not touching the fire.)


So Luqman had 2 characteristics; He had knowledge, and he acted upon that knowledge. And because of this introduction, the rest of the ayah makes powerful sense.


Wisdom: The manifestation of this wisdom is that 'Shukr' [thanks] belongs to Allah.

An-iShkur lillah = be Thankful to Allah.

So knowing that thankulness belongs to Allah, and then being Thankful to Allah practically.



Gratitude:

1 - Should be felt in the heart, not just on the Lips.
2 - When you thank someone from deep in your heart - is being spoken about in this ayah.

Thankfulness is always associated with Sabr [patience] in the Qur'an.

i.e. if you wanted Orange Juice, and there were 10 other drinks in your fridge, except Orange Juice. If you got angry, then you are not a Thankful slave.

Allah wants us to be thankful during situations we like and don't like, by being patient.




وَمَن يَشْكُرْ فَإِنَّمَا يَشْكُرُ لِنَفْسِهِ

"And whoever is showing thankfulness [yaShkur - present tense] , he is only seeking to thank [benefit] himself.."

By being grateful - to Allah or even the creation - you are doing good for yourself, because you are making Allah happy. You are being a positive person. [since shaytan calls to the opposite of this.]



وَمَن كَفَرَ

"wa man kafara"  - and whoever kafara

kAfArA [Past tense]
implies = 1) disbelieved 2) was ungrateful 3) denied

So Allah is comparing being Thankful, to being Ungrateful; in denial of favours. (an attribute of shaytaan/satan].


Allah spoke about about being thankful [YAshkur] Present tense - and spoke about disbelieving and being ungrateful in the Past tense = kAfArA.



Beautiful Lesson
:


Present tense is known as 'Present-Continuous', so gratitute is continuous, and the believer always has a chance of being grateful to Allah through everything he faces in life.

Past tense is a one time event. By putting Kufr in the past tense; - by doing it once, all your good deeds have been wiped out in one go.

We also learn that your Kufr should be a thing of the past, you should now be grateful from now onwards [in the - Present-future]

We also learn that you should be grateful to Allah, and that you cannot be thankful enough to Him. So your gratitude should be continuous.



فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ حَمِيدٌ

then surely Allah is Ghaniy [Free of Need/Rich], and Hameed [Constantly Praised.]


1) Allah does not even need to mention the ungrateful one and how he harms himself as a result of his ungratefulness. If you forgot Allah, then Allah does not need to mention you. He is Ghaniy [Free of Need/All Rich.]

2 - Allah did not say that Allah is maShkoor [one who is Thanked]. Rather, He said the stronger version - HamEEd = CONSTANTLY Praised. This shows that the praises and thanks of humans are not required for Him to be constantly praised. He is continuously Praised, and Ghaniy [All Rich/Free of Need].

3 - You need to continuously be thankful for the good you get, because thankfulness will only benefit yourself.





Ayah 13:

وَإِذْ قَالَ لُقْمَانُ لِابْنِهِ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ يَا بُنَيَّ لَا تُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ



وَإِذْ قَالَ لُقْمَانُ لِابْنِهِ وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ

And when Luqman said to his son, whilst he was advising him.. 



1) We learn that many parents say their parents dont respect them. But maybe it's because they never followed the ayah before in which Allah told us to be grateful to Him. What if these Parents are themselves not grateful to Allah?

2) Luqman never advised his son to give him his own rights, but to give Allah's rights to Him.

3) Luqman never said - don't disbelieve in Allah. He said don't Associate others [Shirk] with Allah.

4) Luqman was advising his son about the rights of Allah (in ayah 13). So because the parent took care of the rights of Allah, Allah advises the sons/daughters in regard to the rights of the Parents (in ayah 14).



وَهُوَ يَعِظُهُ

"wa huwwa ya iDhuhu" - and he was advising him.

1) Allah tells us the means by which Luqman advised his son. I.e. Luqman never shouted at his teenage son, he never put pressure on him (like some parents do nowadays). He was giving him sincere advice in a soft tone.



يَا بُنَيَّ

"Ya bunaYYa " = O my YOUNG son.




لَا تُشْرِكْ بِاللَّهِ ۖ إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ

Laa tuShrik billah  - Don't Associate anything with Allah - surely Associating others with Allah is a Great Wrongdoing.

If you fix your relationship with Allah, then ALL your relationships with others will be fixed.
So that is your main priority.
If you find alot of problems with others, it may be because your relationship with Allah is lacking.




Ayah 14:


وَوَصَّيْنَا الْإِنسَانَ بِوَالِدَيْهِ حَمَلَتْهُ أُمُّهُ وَهْنًا عَلَىٰ وَهْنٍ وَفِصَالُهُ فِي عَامَيْنِ أَنِ اشْكُرْ لِي وَلِوَالِدَيْكَ إِلَيَّ الْمَصِيرُ

And We have enjoined upon man [care] for his Parents [waalidayhi]. His mother carried him, [increasing her] in weakness upon weakness, and his weaning is in two years. Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the [final] destination.


1 - The first relationship after Allah which Allah mentions is the relationship between children and their Parents.

2 - The word 'waliday' is used in this ayah, which refers to both your parents.

The word 'lid' = to produce something.

The 'wa' as a prefix = to make the following word/verb occur.


In this case, the walid = the one who produced and made - the child - existant.


Walid [male] = the man who fathered you [i.e. biological father].

Walida [female]  = the woman who gave birth to you.


Waliday(n) as a suffix signifies 'two' i.e. Both parents; Mum and Dad.



In arabic, Um and Abu is also used for Mother and Father.

So why is Walid, and Walida [=Walidayn] used in the aayah/verse instead of Abu and Um?



In arabic, the Walid is the one fathered you.

However, the Abu is the one who fathered you, and he also lookaftered you, provided for you and gave you an upbringing.


This means that the Abu [Providing father] is of a higher rank than a Walid [biological father].

However, Allah is ordering the Muslim son/daughter to honour their parents, even if they just gave birth to them! Because without them, we would never be born.


So when we see people disrespecting their biological father and saying that "you weren't there for me!", they still need to realise that he is their Walid, and they are still required to respect their parents [walidayn].




3 - The ayah starts with both biological parents, then discusses the mother in the middle part of the ayah, then discusses both parents again by the end of the ayah.

This enhances the importance of the mother - which alot of people forget - because they were babies when the mother did alot of the caring. And when they get older - they just get money off the father. So they forget her favours, and Allah reminds us of them.




Conclusion


Allah told us the favour He gave - Wisdom.

What is Wisdom? That you discover Knowledge, and you Act upon it.


Allah then told us that whoever is thankful [present-future tense] - then he is grateful only for his own self. [when he will see its rewards on Judgment Day] So He is hinting at us to be grateful to our parents (i.e. apologise, give presents, do jobs for them like they did for us.)

It will only be best for us...



We ask Allah to recieve Wisdom from Him, and to be grateful slaves. Ameen.

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