Sūrah Al-Raḥmān: A Literary
Appreciation - Ustādh Nouman Ali Khan
This is meant to be a family program,
so the technical language will be
minimal. This doesn’t mean
we won’t talk
about
deep
things,
but
it
will be
made
more
understandable.
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Relation to
Previous surah Qamar:
The sūrah before Sūrah Al-Raḥmān is
Sūrah Al-Qamar. Qamar
means moon. The sūrah following this is Sūrah Al-Wāqi‘ah (incident / event).
Sūrah 54 begins with mentioning a miracle that happened
during the life of the Prophet
(ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi
wa sallam). The Prophet
(ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) was asked to show the people a miracle, and he pointed at the moon and Allāh made the moon split.
Allāh talks about this incident in the 54th sūrah:
“The Hour has come near, and the moon has split.” This
means that the moon splitting
is one of the signs of the Day of Judgment.
It is also a great miracle.
Al-Raḥmān means ‘the exceedingly or unimaginably
merciful.’
This sūrah also begins with a sign of the Day of Judgment and a miracle, which is the revelation of the Qur’ān. The Qur’ān being revealed is one of the last signs before the world comes
to an end, and it is one
of the greatest miracles.
In Sūrah Al-Qamar, Allāh says,
“If they saw a miraculous
sign, they would
ignore it and say
it is magic.” “They”
refers to the
disbelievers. In Sūrah Al-Raḥmān, Allāh
talks about the core problem
of these people, which is ingratitude. Allāh keeps questioning their
ingratitude
and keeps asking one question over and over again.
In Sūrah Al-Qamar, Allāh says, “On the
Day of Judgment,
people will come out like locusts.” The people are being compared to lesser creatures, and as we study Sūrah Al- Raḥmān, this comparison is important. The last thing
Allāh mentions in Sūrah 54 is where
believers will be sitting after the
Day of Judgment. Allāh says, “They will be sitting
in a place of truth (Paradise) in the company
of the Ultimate King.” This means
that they
will be in the company
of Allāh. In Sūrah Al-Raḥmān, one of the last things Allāh says is about where people will be sitting:
lounging on couches.
Organized layout of the sūrah:
1.
Al- Raḥmān begins with the greatness of the Qur’ān
2. Some of Allāh’s favors
to humanity
3. Criminals
4.
People
who fear the punishment and because of that fear did good things in this life and deserve Paradise.
5. Another paradise.
Towards the end Sūrah Al-Wāqi‘ah, Allāh mentions the greatness of the Qur’ān. Allāh swears by the stars and
then tells
us about the Qur’ān. Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta’āla) swears by many things in the Qur’ān, and in Sūrah 56, Allāh swears by where the stars are placed. Allāh says, “By where
the stars are placed.
This for sure is an oath that if you had any idea, you would know
that this is an amazing oath.”
Allāh tells us that Him swearing
by the placement of the stars is amazing.
When Allāh swears by things in the Qur’ān, He is giving a prelude
to the subject. In this case, the
Qur’ān is the
subject. What is the connection?
The stars
are way above, and the Qur’ān is way above.
For the Arabs, they lived in the ocean of sand, and they preferred traveling by night because of
the heat
and it was easier
to find directions because they used
the stars.
This
is an
amazing parallel
because Allāh sent us the Qur’ān to find our way.
Just like the stars are so high above
us and beyond us, the greatness of the Qur’ān is described.
The second subject in Sūrah Al-Raḥmān is Allāh’s favors,
and the second to last subject in Sūrah Al-Wāqi‘ah is Allāh’s favors. The third
subject is criminals, and the third to last subject in Sūrah Al-Wāqi‘ah is criminals. The first and second main subjects in Sūrah Al- Wāqi‘ah are
about the people
who deserve Paradise: the people of the right hand and as-sābiqūn.
In Al-Wāqi‘ah, we find Allāh asking:
- Did you create the sperm or was it Us?
- Did
you grow the crop or did We?
- Did
you send water down from the clouds
or did We?
- Did you bring about the firewood
you use or did We? In Sūrah Al-Raḥmān, Allāh repeats
a question.
It is very important
to know your audience
when giving a speech.
For a great speech, you need three things:
1)
Great content
2) Style.
It is not just what you say but how you say it. Sometimes
the way you say something multiplies it by zero or negative.
You should say it in a way that is effective.
3) The content
and style should be right for
your audience. Customize your speech so that it fits the right kind of audience.
The Qur’ān is the perfect
form of speech. It is the perfect content matched with the perfect style for the perfect audience. Every sūrah of the Qur’ān has an audience, and overall the audience is humanity.
The
Qur’ān came down on different
occasions, and it was recited
by the Prophet (ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam). He was in front of a particular audience at a time.
Originally, who was this sūrah talking to? There are some narrations that this
is an early Makki sūrah.
Some say it is a later
Makki sūrah. One of the most compelling arguments
about the placement of this sūrah and its audience
is by Islahi, who said:
When you are dealing with someone
stubborn,
you have to repeat.
When
you are yelling at someone,
there will
be repetition in what you are saying.
This repetition is an indication of anger.
In the first part of this sūrah, the repetition
is indicating Allāh’s anger. It is also an indication that Allāh is talking to a group
of people that have become very stubborn, and for stubborn people, you have to repeat
what
you are saying over and over again.
In Sūrah Al-Qamar, human beings were compared
to locusts
(less than human). Even though Allāh is angry in this sūrah, the anger is only coming because Allāh
is Merciful. You must keep one word in mind the entire
time: Al-Raḥmān. If you don’t keep this in mind, then you won’t understand the entire sūrah.
The difference
between how a human being and an animal make decisions:
A human being would exit the building if there
was a fire alarm. An animal would not until
it sees the smoke or smells the fire.
For an animal to believe something, it has to see it. A human being can be reasoned
with. If the news comes from a reliable
source, they will take the warning.
An animal has to go near the fire and feel its heat and then run.
A human being
will see the smoke
and run away. Human
beings have the ability to reason and not have to see to believe.
What is the major claim of people
who disbelieve in the Qur’ān? They said they have not seen and they will believe
it when they see it. In the previous
sūrah, people said that
they
had
not
seen
anything,
so
why
should
they
believe. Allāh
made
the
argument: “Haven’t you seen the towns that were destroyed? Haven’t you seen what I did with ‘Ād
and Thamūd? Haven’t you heard about the nation of Lūt?” The Qur’ān itself is an even bigger
argument, but it will not benefit
someone who wants to see. You must take advantage of the ability
to speak and communicate to benefit from the Qur’ān. Allāh said in the previous sūrah: “Even if they saw, they would say magic.”
Allāh says that
they are asking to see, but even if they did see, they would still be the same.
In Sūrah Al-Jāthiyah, Allāh talks about criminals coming on the Day of Judgment to get their verdicts, and they say, “Our Lord, we see now and are ready
to listen.” It is too late then, and it is time to taste.
It is a play on word with the senses:
seeing, hearing,
and tasting. For the people
who refuse to listen, Allāh will not speak to them on the Day of Judgment.
He spoke to them enough in the dunyah, and they refused
to listen to Allāh’s Speech.
Ayah
1:
الرَّحْمَٰنُ
“The
exceedingly unimaginably, incredibly
and immediately Merciful.”
The first āyah of this sūrah is: Al-Raḥmān. It is not a sentence by itself. An important
thing for all of us to know
is that some āyahs are not sentences
but are just words. Why not stop the āyah where the sentence
ends? Allāh told us elsewhere
in the Qur’ān: “So that they reflect
and think deeply
about the āyāt.” Before you go forward, you should think about this āyah by itself.
Ponder over this āyah
and what it means.
Allāh is engaged in doing an incredible act of Mercy. Allāh is being Merciful right now. When we think about this āyah, it is supposed
to be a very personal experience, and you should think about some
of the mercies you are enjoying
right now.
What
are some of the things
we are enjoying? Eyes,
the masjid, the tongue, your parents
being alive and your children
being healthy, ḥalāl income, homes, health, wealth, faculties, friends, community. How many things
do we have to be grateful for?
We have
to appreciate Allāh’s Mercy in them.
Allāh tells us that
of the things we can make a list of, the first the thing we should be
grateful for before anything else is Allāh teaching
us the Qur’ān.
Ayah
2:
عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ
“It is Al-Raḥmān, He taught the Qur’ān.”
The fact that Allāh decided to give us the Qur’ān
is an act of unimaginable mercy above everything else. The Qur’ān is an act of mercy from Allāh. The intellect
is there, and the covenant
was already taken,
so we were responsible to Allāh, but as an added favor, Allāh taught the Qur’ān.
The second point here is that
Allāh did not say that
He sent the Qur’ān down, but He said He taught
the
Qur’ān. What
is the difference between giving and teaching? Teaching the book takes time. If you have the book, you may not know anything about it. Teaching is an act of effort on two parties. It is not easy
on the teacher or the student.
Allāh says that He taught the Qur’ān.
In other words, He did not just tell us to figure it out for ourselves.
We should
know how to act and live by the Qur’ān. Part of teaching the Qur’ān was sending the Prophet (ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam).
Āyāt 1-2 is a special kind of sentence:
It is Al-Raḥmān who
taught the Qur’ān. It is the Most Merciful
who taught the Qur’ān. What are we saying in between
the lines? The credit
is only given to Al-Raḥmān. In other words, when the Prophet (ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) is teaching the Qur’ān, he himself is a student,
and the actual
teacher is still Allāh (subḥānahu wa ta’āla). This idea is very powerful, and to
this day,
if we are studying the Qur’ān, the teacher
had a teacher
who had a teacher up to the Prophet (ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) whose teacher
was Jibreel who was taught
by Allāh. The chain is unbroken
and goes from Allāh to us.
Parents try to send their children to branded and recognized schools. They take pride in knowing
that they had the honor of studying
under certain people. People like to mention which
school they graduated
from. There
is a desire
to tell people their legitimate credentials.
When we study Qur’ān, we are learning
from Allāh. In this āyah, there is an honor.
‘Allama implies taking time to teach.
There is a difference between
teaching
and
informing. In this there is a lesson:
we should take our time in studying
the Qur’ān. Allāh
told us in Sūrah Al-Isrā’: “This Qur’ān is divided up so that you can read it to the people in the right occasion, and it was send down over time.”
Reading the translation of the Qur’ān from cover to cover is not learning.
Studying Sūrah Al-Fātiḥah properly for 6 months would be more beneficial. You have
to take your time with the Qur’ān and be students. You can’t think about the master’s
program if you are still in high school.
Everybody has
a journey. For everyone
who has knowledge in this world, there
is
somebody who has more. There
are always people who know more than you, so don’t
compare yourself
with anyone else. You
are in it to learn the Qur’ān for yourself.
In Arabic, ‘allama is a category of verbs
that
is explained with two definitions. If
someone says “I taught” in Arabic,
the listener expects two responses: who
did you teach and what did you teach. In this āyah, the question that
is answered is what is taught:
the Qur’ān. There is an unanswered question: who did He teach? This
means that anyone from humanity
and jinn can come and learn the Qur’ān. Not only did Allāh teach the Qur’ān, He taught it to all of the generations before us and those that
will come after us.
A last point
of reflection: the word
Al-Qur’ān. Al-Qur’ān has many meanings.
Al-
Qur’ān is that which is recited over and over again.
Allāh has given us a clue as to how to be successful
students. In the name of the Book is the methodology of how to study it: you
must repeat and review and read it over again. The real student of the Qur’ān is the one who reads it over and over again.
It is an endless treasure
that you never tire of. It keeps peaking
your curiosity.
When somebody studies
the
Qur’ān,
they
have
accepted
Allāh as the
teacher
and themselves as the student. They
can
then
truly
taste
what
it
means
to
have
a
relationship with Al-Raḥmān.
Ayah
3:
خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ
“It is Al-Raḥmān, He created
the human being.”
This āyah is placed in an unusual
order. We would expect the sequence to be Allāh saying that He created
the
human
being and then
taught
the
Qur’ān. What
kind of sequence is this?
There are two things: existence and purpose of existence.
As far as
Allāh is concerned, your
purpose is even more important than your existence. The reason for which you were created
is more important than
your creation itself.
Allāh mentions
the document that
makes sure you have your purpose and then
our existence.
Allāh mentions the
purpose first. The other point
of reflection to note is that if
a person has been created
but did not find the Qur’ān, then they did not have a
purpose and lived a meaningless life. In Sūrah Ya Sin, Allāh talks about the people who benefit from Allāh’s warnings
and people
who take the warning are living, and the others are the walking
dead.
The word insān is
the human being. Linguists argue that it can be traced to a couple of origins. It may come from nasiya, which means forgetting and that insān is a creature that
is forgetful. In other words, we were created
knowing Allāh, but when we came to this earth, we forgot. When
someone is forgetful, the best
thing to do is to remind them.
A reminder
is most needed when a person is forgetful.
The Qur’ān becomes even more relevant because Allāh keeps
describing
the
Qur’ān
as
a
reminder (dhikr).
Reminders are there when you are forgetting.
There is a relevant
connection between
the Qur’ān begin a reminder
and the human being forgetful.
The other meaning comes from anasa
or anisa, which has the meaning of seeing.
From this, some scholars
have derived that humans are called insān because they can be seen as opposed
to the jinn who cannot
be seen.
Finally, insān can also come from uns, which is compassion, love, mercy. Ibn Fāris argues
that the human being is called insān because he/she is capable
of showing mercy and at the same time is in need of mercy. Animals are fine on their
own, but when human beings show love, they also desire
to have it back. A wild animal
is incapable of showing love and mercy. Tie this back to the Qur’ān.
Allāh gave man the means by which he can love other
creations
of Allāh, and through this he can find the perfect
form of love. They
will find Allāh’s Love and the most meaning
in their lives.
When people have no companionship
people
can become
suicidal. The worst torture in prison is solitary confinement. If you have the Qur’ān, you may be by yourself
but you are never by yourself because Allāh and His Words
are with you, so you are never alone.
Ayah
4:
عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ
(It is Al-Raḥmān), He taught him, articulate, clear speech.”
Who
is “him”? The human being. When Allāh
talks about speech,
Allāh says who He
taught. When it comes to the teaching of the Qur’ān, it is open to humans or jinn, but when it came to speech, it is special to human beings.
Allāh is telling us the greatness of the human being. Allāh created many
things: the stars,
the sun, the moon, animals,
worlds we know and don’t know.
Allāh created
this human being and gave him the ability to speak. He taught him speech.
In
other words, speech is a great gift from Allāh that gives
us superiority and honor with Allāh.
At the same time, speech is one of the greatest
acts of Allāh’s Mercy.
In Arabic
grammar, there is one subject (Al-Raḥmān) and multiple predicates in these
āyāt.
What
is the difference between you and a
baby? When a baby tries to communicate, he cries, but we don’t know why he is crying and have to guess.
If a dog barks, we don’t know the reason why. When
a human being needs to communicate, he has the tool of speech and can clarify what he means.
Of course,
not everyone is at the same level.
Allāh used the verb
‘allama for both āyāt. Allāh taught the Qur’ān and taught the human being speech. Just as you have respect
for the Qur’ān, you should have respect
for speech and what comes out of your mouth. We live in a time where filthy language
is almost as common as the oxygen
you breathe. Allāh gave us the ability to speak, and it should be used for the
highest purposes.
If you combine these four āyāt together, one of the greatest acts of Mercy is that Allāh gave you the ability to speak, and even greater
than that is that you were created,
and even greater than
that is that He taught
the Qur’ān. The best use of a human being’s life and speech is the learning and teaching of the Qur’ān.
The Prophet
(ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi
wa sallam) is the perfect fit: Allāh created him and gave him the ability to speak and taught him the Qur’ān.
Allāh says He taught the
human being
the ability to distinguish
(bāna).
Distinguish
between what? Safe and dangerous, truth and lie, smart and not smart.
Allāh gave the human being the ability to make judgments.
In Sūrah Al-Qamar, Allāh
compared
human
beings to insects. In other
places in the Qur’ān, Allāh compares the heedlessness of disbelievers to cattle. Why are humans
being compared to animals?
Animals live on this world to procreate,
eat, make waste, and die. Many human beings have lives like this: eat, sleep, procreate, die.
Human beings were created
for a higher purpose. Allāh gave us a ladder to climb out of the darkness into the light. It is because
of our ability to communicate that we can understand what we say to each other.
This sūrah is about challenging humanity. Allāh is saying that we already
have the things we need to get to the truth.
Ayah 5:
الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ بِحُسْبَانٍ
“The
sun and the moon abide by extremely
precise calculation.”
The moon is very disciplined, and all of our calendars
are based on either the sun or the moon. Allāh made them follow
a schedule. The sun and the moon are of less dignity than human beings.
If they can follow a precise
measure and have discipline, then why can’t we?
The Qur’ān from this point of view is an invitation to discipline. Ṣalāh is
calculated by the position of the sun. Other
fundamental responsibilities are Ramadan and Hajj,
which also follow the calendar. We are an ummah of discipline. If we just reflected
on the sun and the moon, we would respect
our time more.
The next time you look at a sunset,
think about how you use your time.
The word ‘ḥusbān’
also means destruction. In Sūrah Al-Kahf, there is a conversation between two gardeners, and one says to the
other
that
he should change his ways because
if he doesn’t, then Allāh may send upon his garden
destruction from
the sky (meaning a set destruction). Everything, even our life and death, goes by a calendar.
The sun and moon are on a set destruction. The pin of the grenade
has already been
taken
out, and Allāh is giving us the relevance of the message
of the Qur’ān. Come
to your senses now because there is not a lot of time left.
Ayah
6:
وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ يَسْجُدَانِ
“The
star / the shrub and the tree, even they prostrate!”
‘Najm’ means plants that do not have stalks or thick branches, and the other meaning is the star. This
is a figure in speech in Arabic.
The stars and the trees are in complete submission to Allāh. The most humble act of submission in the prayer is the sajdah. There is no honor or pride in front of Allāh, and you are willing to put your head on the ground. In many civilizations and cultures, the head is considered a place of pride and crowns are put on it. The act of sajdah takes your pride and puts it on the ground.
In
psychology, when you are embarrassed and humiliated, your head goes down. When a person
is full of pride, his head goes up.
Some scholars
looked at this as imagery
and said that perhaps Allāh is talking about the leaves
of grass that bend when the wind blows or when the trees bear fruit and the branches
lower and when stars are shooting across the sky, which all look like sajdah. This shows that some
scholars had imaginations inspired by the Qur’ān.
Ayah
7:
وَالسَّمَاءَ رَفَعَهَا وَوَضَعَ الْمِيزَانَ
“Even
the sky! He raised it and placed down the weighing scale!”
How Merciful
is the One who raised even the sky? Have you thought
about the sky and how it has been elevated?
Tangent:
In our times,
people are very impressed with science and try to look at the validity
of religion through science. The problem is the
logic: If the Qur’ān says something that is scientifically
true,
then
it
must
be
a
true
book, and if it
says
something scientifically false, then it cannot be true.
The problem
with this logic: the Qur’ān is not a science textbook
and does not speak to you in scientific terms.
Allāh speaks to us at a level we can appreciate and from our point of view. From our point of view, the sky is above. Allāh is not talking
in scientific terms. Allāh is talking about looking up at the sky. If you stare at the sky, it keeps getting
deeper and deeper.
What is the scale? Some
talk about how Allāh placed the earth,
the sun, the moon, the stars, and planets and balanced
them all evenly throughout the universe. In other words,
this massive universe is part of the
mīzān because mīzān also means balance. Allāh balanced the sky with galaxies and stars.
The second meaning of al-mīzān is that Allāh created harmony in the universe.
It is a hint to the human
being. Look at how harmonious the sky is and whether
there is chaos in the earth or not.
The
sun will rise and set at its time, and the harmony of the universe
remains even if human beings may
be in chaos. The universe
around us is a constant
reminder of balance
in life.
Mīzān is a symbol of justice. As the āyāt continue, we will learn more about justice.
Ayah 8:
أَلَّا تَطْغَوْا فِي الْمِيزَانِ
“That
none of you rebel in the matter of the weighing scale.”
One kind of criminal
Allāh talks about has no concern
for justice
and is completely rebellious. This
kind has no moral gauge. Allāh is saying that He set a scale in the universe so that you
can think about
that. Some
scholars said that whenever you engage in an activity to harm someone
else, whether the harm is for your own benefit or if your intent is to harm someone else, then you are violating
the scale and engaged in injustice.
The only kind of person who doesn’t care about what he does in this world is the one who doesn’t
think about what is around
him.
There is another kind of criminal
in the next āyah.
Ayah
9:
وَأَقِيمُوا الْوَزْنَ بِالْقِسْطِ وَلَا تُخْسِرُوا الْمِيزَانَ
“Establish and maintain weighing with fairness and don’t shortchange the weighing
scale.”
We are not the only community
that talks about justice. Some societies claim to uphold justice but then play games with the justice
system. This
isn’t just a conversation about courts and the justice
system. There
is also justice in your personal life. Many
times children are not giving fair rights
to parents,
and often times parents
are oppressive and not giving
their children their rights.
Many times there is oppression between the husband
and the wife. There
is
oppression between
siblings over matters of inheritance.
Men are caught
in the middle
of many things.
Men
have a wife and children and parents and community and job and themselves, and they have to learn
to balance
them all without
doing injustice to any of them to establish
the
scale in their
lives. Your love of parents
does not justify you oppressing your children. Because you love your wife so much, it doesn’t
mean that you don’t take care of your mother. You will be pulled in different
directions
and told that
you are unfair by all of them. You
can’t make everyone
happy, but you have to try.
The simple formula:
Nobody gets to hurt anyone
else. Many
times family life is too much so men stay at work. These
kinds of injustice
will come back to haunt
you later on in life. There
can be oppressive parents who feel like they own their children and want
to interfere in their married lives.
When the scales are messed up, there is chaos in
the family.
Think about the larger societal scales,
justice in business,
justice within the family, and justice to Allāh.
Are we really doing what Allāh wants us to do?
Ayah
10:
وَالْأَرْضَ وَضَعَهَا لِلْأَنَامِ
“Not
to mention the earth!
He set it down for
all kinds of creatures.”
Allāh laid down the earth for all kinds of creatures.
This
implies that Allāh created
different habitats for different
creatures. It is amazing
how Allāh laid out this earth and customized it for creatures in the land and the sea.
Ayah
11:
وَالْأَرْضَ وَضَعَهَا لِلْأَنَامِ
“Only
in it is there fruit and date palms comprising crafty packaging.”
Nakhlu are palm trees. How does the owner of the farm feed the cows?
He lets them graze or puts hay on the floor. Allāh is our Master. How does He feed us? He didn’t just throw food on the ground, but He gave us beautiful
palm trees. Expensive homes have palm trees in the front. Allāh decorated the fruit and packaged
it. The wrapping itself is beneficial.
There is a huge conversation
in the food industry about
food packing. Most of the packaging of food is plastic, which poisons the earth
when thrown away. Sometimes the toxins seep into the food.
People are now going back to organic food, which is the way Allāh packaged
the food. If you throw
away the packaging of the food Allāh makes,
it feeds the earth and is beneficial and produces more vegetation.
Another thing to reflect
upon: In the
story
of Yūsuf (‘alayhi al-salām), what saved generations of people from starving was food packaging. The food was stored for seven years in the stalks themselves. There was no expiration date.
In the previous sūrah: “Why don’t you look at the destroyed nations
and change your ways?” Now Allāh is saying, “Why don’t you look at how I gave you food?”
Ayah
12:
وَالْحَبُّ ذُو
الْعَصْفِ وَالرَّيْحَانُ
“Along with grain that has stalk and flowers
of wonderful fragrance.”
Al-ḥabb includes
all kinds of plant life. They are beautiful to the eye and have a beautiful smell.
Allāh beautified it for
us.
Ayah 13:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles,
wonders, powers, feats,
gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
14:
خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ مِن
صَلْصَالٍ كَالْفَخَّارِ
“He created the human being
from pure soil like dried
up mounds to be used for pottery.”
Ṣalṣāl is a terrain that is useless.
You cannot farm in this land because it is dried up. For the Arabs, one of the worst insults was for them to be compared to dirt. One
of the worst insults / curses to do until today is to kick the ground
and have the dirt go onto another
person.
Allāh is putting us in our place because we came from dirt. In the previous
āyah, Allāh said “both of you” which refers to the human beings and jinn.
This sūrah is talking to the very stubborn.
Who helps you become stubborn?
Shaytan.
Human beings can see other human
beings but cannot
see the shayāṭīn, but Allāh knew what they were up to.
Allāh is letting them know
that the deniers are not alone. The deniers are human beings who are pushed more into denial by the shayāṭīn. They are
the deniers of truth, the ungrateful, and their comrades
(the shayāṭīn).
Ayah
15:
وَخَلَقَ الْجَانَّ مِن مَّارِجٍ مِّن نَّارٍ
“And He created the jinn
from a spark of fire.”
In a gas stove, there is a blue flame
and then an invisible part near the bottom, which is
mārij.
Ayah
16:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ālā’ are: favors,
miracles, wonders, powers, feats, gifts, blessings.
Who is ‘both of you’? Allāh has not
mentioned
jinn in this
sūrah yet.
What does tukadhibān mean?
The basic translation is to lie against.
A contemporary meaning: A person lives
a life of luxury and yet this person
isn’t
appreciative of anything. They have everything but appreciate nothing. All they think about is what they don’t have.
For such a person,
this is a proof of denial of what has been given to them. They have a sense
of entitlement. Isn’t this the height of ingratitude? The more we have, the more obsessed
we are with getting more. Instead of looking at people who have less than us, our eyes are always focused on those who have more.
What favors are you going to be in denial of? Ask
yourself: What
makes me deserve
this life of luxury and that person
to deserve those trials?
It is nothing but the Mercy of Allāh. You are being tested with luxury,
and others are being
tested with
something else. You don’t
deserve it, but Allāh decided it.
If there is one thing we can focus on in this seminar
is Allāh’s Mercy is not for those who deny His Favors. Allāh is angry with the people
who are in denial that there are favors being done to them.
Teenagers and the young youth are becoming increasingly arrogant and self-absorbed and hot-tempered and apathetic. They’ve become the “whatever” generation. The
more you can act like nothing affects you and that you are above the comments and advice of others, it is a show of weakness. It is becoming
difficult for our youth
to
be humble to Allāh and to cry in prayer.
The
culture is encouraging people to become so self-absorbed that they are having a hard time being humble to Allāh. This is a very serious
problem.
When someone denies favors,
they are full of pride.
Ayah
17:
رَبُّ الْمَشْرِقَيْنِ وَرَبُّ الْمَغْرِبَيْنِ
The
Master of both easts and the master of both wests.”
There are three instances in the Qur’ān: ‘the master of the east and the west.’ This
āyah says two easts and two wests.
There is another
āyah: “The Master
of all of the easts and all of the wests.”
When Allāh talks about the east and the west, He made them
one, two, and plural. The easiest one to understand is the one: east and west.
The pair and the plural take more reflection to understand.
In the horizon, there is the southeast and the northeast, so when Allāh is saying ‘two easts’ it is as if He is talking
about the ends of
the east, meaning the entire
span of the east and the west.
Another way to understand two easts and two wests:
Allāh is talking about seasons. People who farm know that as the season goes on, the sun shifts, so over the course
of the year, there are two easts.
Therefore, there are also two wests.
The conversation before included
plant life,
which is a function
of the seasons, and Allāh is the Master of all seasons.
This sūrah is trying to make us grateful.
This is the agenda
of the sūrah. Why is it trying to make us grateful?
So that we are qualified for Allāh’s Mercy.
According to this sūrah, we should appreciate the Qur’ān the most. After that, we should appreciate, the rising of the sun, the changing
of the seasons, and when we
see these things, we should be grateful.
These āyāt are supposed to become a part of how you think about your world.
There is not a time when you should not be thinking about your Master.
Ayah
18:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
19:
مَرَجَ الْبَحْرَيْنِ يَلْتَقِيَانِ
“He
combined two bodies of water that crash together forcefully”
Allāh is talking about two different
bodies of water slamming into each other.
Ayah
20:
بَيْنَهُمَا بَرْزَخٌ لَّا يَبْغِيَانِ
“Between them lies a barrier that they don’t transgress.”
Allāh is talking about
the creation that obeys Allāh no matter how hard the force is. They don’t cross the line, so why do we? Why are we in denial of favors from Allāh?
The two bodies of water are completely different, and there is a clear line between
them. The Prophet (ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) never went out to sea to see this, but Allāh is telling him this.
Ayah
21:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
22:
يَخْرُجُ مِنْهُمَا اللُّؤْلُؤُ وَالْمَرْجَانُ
“Pearls and coral come out of them both!”
‘Minhumā’ means both
waters. A Christian missionary wrote against
the
Qur’ān and said that the Qur’ān is wrong because
pearls only come out of salt water, but he was wrong because pearls are
found in sweet water all over
the world. At
the depths of the ocean,
a pearl is a tiny, light object.
Ayah 23:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you
both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah 24:
وَلَهُ الْجَوَارِ الْمُنشَآتُ فِي الْبَحْرِ كَالْأَعْلَامِ
“He
alone owns rapidly flowing, elevated
vessels in the oceans resembling
mountains / light towers (from a distance).”
Ships are sailing at the top of the ocean, and at the bottom of the ocean is
a tiny pearl. What you expect
to float will sink, and what you expect to sink
Allāh can make float.
Al-a‘lām can
mean ships or mountains. When
you look at the huge carriers on the sea, you should think about Allāh.
Ayah 25:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers, feats,
gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
26:
كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ
“All of those upon it will cease to
exist!”
Fān is something that is meant
to die. ‘Ulama compare the things that
human beings design to what Allāh
designed. Allāh designed the human
body, and humans
designed cars, computers, and other things, but they
need
repairs
and
to
be
rebooted
or formatted.
Even the buildings we build have a life span.
When the human body starts breaking
apart and becomes
weaker, it is a reminder that
this is not a flaw in creation
but we were designed to experience these things.
Everyone is meant to die.
Firawn thought that
he would live forever and that his kingdom would never end, and now the pyramid
is a tourist spot.
This applies
to individuals and civilizations and nations. A time will come for the rise and a time will come
for the fall. The world around us has become so complicated that we cannot
keep up with world events
because there is too much going on.
Ayah
27:
وَيَبْقَىٰ وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ
“And the Face on your Master, possessor
of glory and nobility will remain!”
The
Arabic word ‘face’ is used many times in the Qur’ān to refer to our Lord.
The
Dignity of your Master will remain. What is the
connection? When
people
are
powerful on the earth, they get their respect because other people show them respect. When they
lose
their
power, they lose
their respect. In our world,
respect is not something that comes from you, but it is what others give
you. If everyone
is dead, who is there to show Allāh respect? Nobody. Allāh says, “The Nobility
of your Master will remain. He is the Possessor of Glory and Respect.”
Allāh does not need anyone to give it to Him, and He already owns them.
This is an important āyah to
understand from a philosophy point of view. Some ask, “Why does Allāh
need me to praise Him?” Our relationship with Him is not because He needs anything from
us but because He is so Merciful. Praying to Allāh benefits
only you.
Ayah
28:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah 29:
يَسْأَلُهُ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۚ كُلَّ يَوْمٍ هُوَ فِي شَأْنٍ
“Whoever’s in the heavens
and the earth asks of Him.
He is involved in something
all of the time.”
There are two kinds of people: the
grateful and the oblivious. Allāh is saying that all of us, whether grateful or oblivious, need Allāh.
Allāh doesn’t need us, but we need Him. Everyone in the skies and the earth
is constantly asking from Him.
Everyday, Allāh
is engaged in an activity.
You may not ask Allāh for water, but do you need it? Yes.
A disbeliever doesn’t
ask Allāh for water, but he needs it.
Whether
he believes
it or not, he still
needs Allāh. When he is asking for water, he is actually
asking from the source.
The
air is being supplied by Allāh, and you need Him whether
you realize it or not.
In Sūrah Al Mursalāt, this is explained
in far more detail. If there is a dog
that is barking at you and rebellious, you put it in a cage
and do not give it food. After a few days,
you take some water in your hand and put it inside the cage, and the dog will quietly drink the water because it is on the verge of death.
Compare this to the human being. The human being ‘barks’ at Allāh and says,
“I don’t need Him” / “It is all about me.” A master who would
starve his dog and then give him water is not merciful. Allāh keeps giving us more and more chances. Human
beings don’t show any regard,
and Allāh keeps giving and giving.
Sha’n
is inappropriately translated as a ‘preoccupation’. This means that you are busy
and cannot handle anything else.
It is not appropriate to say this about Allāh. Sha’n
means that He is doing something
that only He can do.
Ayah
30:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
31:
سَنَفْرُغُ لَكُمْ أَيُّهَ الثَّقَلَانِ
“We
will soon free Ourselves up for
you, you two heavy ones!”
In the previous
āyah, Allāh says He is engaged in an activity. Allāh is saying that the
activities He is engaged in to provide for
us will end. This is a way of threatening.
When a teacher is yelling and says, “I can’t believe
you guys didn’t do your homework!” then you don’t feel that bad because he is yelling
at everyone. If a person is picked out individually, the student feels
nervous even before talking with the teacher.
Allāh is issuing a direct
threat. “Thaqalān” means that the populations are huge of both humanity
and jinn. The other meaning of “thaqalān” is when people do sins, the earth is
witness to it and bearing
the burden of the sins of humanity and
holding inside its belly the sinful dead. On the Day of Judgment, the earth cannot
hold these people any more. You are making the load of the earth heavy with sins. This
is talking about the Day of Judgment.
Ayah 32:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
So far, this question was asked about this world.
Now, this question
is asked
in the akhirah. The
tone of the question changes.
Ayah
33:
يَا مَعْشَرَ الْجِنِّ وَالْإِنسِ إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتُمْ أَن تَنفُذُوا مِنْ أَقْطَارِ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ فَانفُذُوا ۚ لَا تَنفُذُونَ إِلَّا بِسُلْطَانٍ
“Jinn and mankind, if you can pass beyond the region of heaven and earth, then do so: you will not pass without
granted authority.”
People are trying to find a place to escape on the Day of Judgment. Humans are trying
to dig in the earth.
Jinn are
trying to cross the sky.
Allāh
says ‘skies’. Allāh says the lowest sky is decorated with stars. As far as we can see in the universe as long as there
are stars,
it is still the first sky.
The conversation is about the Day of Judgment.
Ayah
34:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
35:
يُرْسَلُ عَلَيْكُمَا شُوَاظٌ مِّن نَّارٍ وَنُحَاسٌ فَلَا تَنتَصِرَانِ
“A flash of fire and smoke will be released
upon you and you won’t be able to help or avenge yourselves.”
When the jinn try
to escape through
the sky, there will be flames sent upon them. The source of the attack is from the sky.
They won’t be able to help themselves, and there is no retaliation.
Ayah
36:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
37:
فَإِذَا انشَقَّتِ السَّمَاءُ فَكَانَتْ وَرْدَةً كَالدِّهَانِ
“When
the sky is split and turns crimson,
like red hide”
Dihān is two things:
1) when the skin is peeled of an animal, it is called dihān. 2) When you cook on a pot and frying
something, splatters of oil in a dark maroon texture
fly out, and this is also dihān. The sky will look blood red and will be peeled and torn.
Ayah
38:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
39:
فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لَّا يُسْأَلُ عَن ذَنبِهِ إِنسٌ وَلَا جَانٌّ
“On that day neither mankind
nor jinn will be asked about their sin.”
In other places
in the Qur’ān, Allāh says that people
will be asked questions about the
Day of Judgment.
This āyah is saying that on that Day, no one will be asked. This
is the first part of the Day of Judgment. You won’t have to ask who a criminal is because it will show on their faces.
In a class, people
who know that they
failed the exam show it on their
faces. The students who did really well are also nervous.
Ayah
40:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
41:
يُعْرَفُ الْمُجْرِمُونَ بِسِيمَاهُمْ فَيُؤْخَذُ بِالنَّوَاصِي وَالْأَقْدَامِ
“The guilty will be known by their mark and will be seized by their foreheads and their feet.”
The criminals will be grabbed
by their heads and feet.
In this world,
meat when slaughtered is held by the head and feet.
If you decide to live like an animal,
then on the Day of Judgment you will be treated like an animal.
Some scholars
went further and looked
at foreheads and feet. Some mentioned
that
Allāh says the forehead is the place where you made bad decisions like lying.
When a person lies, he makes the bad decisions and goes to them by his
feet.
Ayah
42:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
43:
هَٰذِهِ جَهَنَّمُ الَّتِي يُكَذِّبُ بِهَا الْمُجْرِمُونَ
“This
is the hell the guilty deny.”
Jahannam is a Persian word that came into Arabic,
and it means torture chamber.
It is the torture chamber that criminals were lying against.
Allāh says that denying His Favors is the
same as denying the existence of where he will end up. The
criminals never thought
that this would come.
In
our times, this is worse and it has become part of entertainment.
What is the difference between
hādhihī and tilka? Hādhihī is near and tilka
is far. Allāh is saying ‘hādhihī’ so that we know that it is very close and not far.
Ayah
44:
يَطُوفُونَ بَيْنَهَا وَبَيْنَ حَمِيمٍ آنٍ
“But they will go round between
its flames and scalding water.”
Allāh is describing the scene.
The people
in Jahannam will
see water. Ṭawāf is going back and forth. They will find that the water has reached its highest point of boiling.
‘Ān means
that the water is scorching. Then they run back to the fire hoping it is cooler, and then they
run back and forth and are engaged in a constant
ṭawāf between fire and burning
water.
Ayah
45:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
This could be an
added
insult
to
those
in
Jahannam. If you can picture this and
understand the consequences, then how can you remain
in denial?
Ayah
46:
وَلِمَنْ خَافَ مَقَامَ رَبِّهِ جَنَّتَانِ
“Especially for those who fear [the time when they will] stand before
their Lord there are two gardens.”
If someone
is afraid, then they get two gardens. Before, the agenda of the sūrah is being grateful.
This āyah mentions the quality
of fear. What is the difference?
The first thing that will drive a decent
human being to Allāh is gratitude, but the stubborn
criminal will turn to Allāh from fear.
The motivations for being good:
The āyah of goodness (āyat al-birr): Allāh gave us the sequence of the motives
of our deeds. The highest reason you should do good deeds is because you are grateful to Allāh and owe it to Allāh.
Not everyone
is at this high level and not everyone has this iḥsān. Allāh says that there are other legitimate
motivations such as the Last Day.
The two motivations are Paradise and not in Hellfire. They are legitimate motivations.
The sūrah began with the motivation of gratitude. You should
appreciate Allāh and that should
be enough for you.
Later on when criminals
were talked about,
the better thing
may be feeling scared. Allāh knows that there are different
kinds of people.
Why are there
two jannahs? The most common answer is that
one is for the human beings and the other
is for the
jinn who have their
own wants, desires, and temptations. Others
said that this may be talking about two kinds
of jannahs because
there are two things that got you success.
Some
people will do good and some stay away from bad.
Some people are able to do
good things and can pray, but they cannot
get away from the bad things.
On the other
hand, there are people who do not do a lot of bad things, but they are lazy in doing good things.
If you truly fear Allāh, you will take care of two fronts: doing
good things and staying away from bad things. Some
people think that their
good deeds compensate
for the bad things, but this is a delusion.
This is not the way to Paradise.
On the other hand, some people say that
they don’t do a lot of bad things but don’t have time to do good things.
You must work and do good things, and you were given that capability. You have to not be a criminal, and you have to be a good citizen (i.e. engage in what he commanded).
Ayah
47:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Who is this āyah talking to? The last few were talking to people in Hell.
This āyah is talking about a different
nature of āyah. The person who made it to Jannah may have appreciated the dīn,
but after they get to Jannah,
they realize that they didn’t appreciate it nearly enough. The opportunities to serve Allāh and do good deeds and make tawbah were
Allāh’s favors. The more they are in Paradise, the more grateful
they are for what they had
in dunyah. What got them
there? Their
dīn, teachers, and Muslims who helped them along the way who were gifts from Allāh to them.
Ayah
48:
ذَوَاتَا أَفْنَانٍ
“With
shading branches.”
The gardens are full of
trees with huge branches. In residential real estate, a property with mature trees is a symbol of wealth, status,
and beauty. Trees also create mystery
because they also block the view.
Ayah
49:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah 50:
فِيهِمَا عَيْنَانِ تَجْرِيَانِ
“With
a pair of flowing springs.”
Before you reach a waterfall, you hear it. Human beings have an obsession with flowing
water and waterfalls.
When
you go to a beautiful
place for a vacation, you would rather go with people you love. Part
of the joy of Paradise
is company. What
makes the gardens
truly enjoyable is the people with us.
Ayah
51:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
52:
فِيهِمَا مِن كُلِّ فَاكِهَةٍ زَوْجَانِ
“With
every kind of fruit in pairs.”
In each garden there are two waterfalls, and in each gardens there are all kinds
of fruit in two flavors. Society is obsessed with variations.
Ayah
53:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
In Sūrah Al Baqarah, Allāh tells us that we enjoy the fruit of Paradise
and eat it and say that this is what we had before, but the taste is completely different.
Ayah
54:
مُتَّكِئِينَ عَلَىٰ فُرُشٍ بَطَائِنُهَا مِنْ إِسْتَبْرَقٍ ۚ وَجَنَى الْجَنَّتَيْنِ دَانٍ
“They will sit on couches upholstered with brocade,
the fruit of both gardens
within easy reach.”
Rugs are placed inside and not outdoors because
they will be ruined by the elements. In Jannah, the rugs and cushions will be laid out outside.
For cushions
in the dunyah, the part that people see is expensive, but the part on the inside will be cheap. Allāh (subḥānahu
wa ta’āla) is talking about the inner linings of the cushions
and how they are expensive
and made of fine silk.
The fruits are on the trees that have been described
as high. The
branches lower down as you are sitting
on the couch. The other meaning is that they are hanging low, so you do not have to reach for
them.
Ayah 55:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you
both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
56:
فِيهِنَّ قَاصِرَاتُ الطَّرْفِ لَمْ يَطْمِثْهُنَّ إِنسٌ قَبْلَهُمْ وَلَا جَانٌّ
“There will be maidens restraining
their glances,
untouched before by man or jinn.”
The word ‘spouse’ is a noun, and in the āyah, there are only adjectives: those who lower their eyes / restrict their eyes. When Allāh talks about spouses in Paradise,
He is giving us clues and hints about the perfect marriage
in this world. When you learn about the perfect
scenario, you are learning about
what it should look like in this world.
In other words, they keep their eyes on their husbands
and don’t stare at anyone else.
The second meaning is also very beautiful. If you think of the first week you were married, you feel butterflies in your stomach,
and
there
is
shyness
between
the husband
and wife. In Paradise, the love and excitement and curiosity do not go away.
This āyah is a further illustration that one jannah is for human beings and another
for
jinn.
Also, we learn about marriage
in this world and how it is becoming
a crisis for world societies
in general. Maintaining the purity
of young men and women is becoming increasingly difficult. If there is no clean slate before,
then there is no guarantee that
you will have a clean slate later. Marriage is not a magical solution that turns a person into a righteous
person.
A climax is being built: the trees,
the waterfalls, the fruit, and a beautiful spouse whose shyness is highlighted.
Often times, we are asked:
men are described with beautiful spouses
in Paradise, but women are not described
with husbands. Why?
Scholars have come at this question
from different points of view. Ustādh Nouman’s disclaimer:
you don’t
have to agree with him. Allāh talks in the Qur’ān about men and what they want and is extremely explicit in Sūrah Al-‘Imrān. When women are talked about in the Qur’ān, the language is open but not
explicit, suggesting that what they want is far more complicated than what men want.
For a woman, her greatest desire may or may not be the
company of a handsome
husband. Believers should all take comfort because
Allāh says in Sūrah 41,
“You will have whatever you please.”
This is not restricted
to men or women.
The idea of temptation and want of the opposite
gender seems like a low idea. It seems that this
would be the fulfilling of animal urges. Dr. Israr Ahmed gave a dars on this sūrah and said, “For a believing
young man and believing young women who are in a
society where these
things are dangling in front
of them and they are able to keep
themselves away from these temptations for no other reason than they are doing this for the
sake of Allāh, they only deserve to unleash all of their frustrations if not more.”
Ayah
57:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
58:
كَأَنَّهُنَّ الْيَاقُوتُ وَالْمَرْجَانُ
“Like
rubies and brilliant
pearls.”
The spouses will not
only be extremely
shy but of value. Now, people take their spouses for granted, but they should think that they are valuable.
Ayah
59:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah 60:
هَلْ جَزَاءُ الْإِحْسَانِ إِلَّا الْإِحْسَانُ
“Shall the reward for good
be anything but good?”
Why would you be paid for anything short
of the best? This
is a call for doing your very best.
Appreciate the transition
here. Allāh said, “Whoever fears standing
in front of their Lord…” Now, Allāh is giving us a higher
drive, which is wanting to excel at doing good deeds.
From this point of iḥsān, we start talking
about another kind of Jannah. Keep in mind a comparison between the two paradises.
Ayah
61:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah 62:
وَمِن دُونِهِمَا جَنَّتَانِ
“There are two other gardens besides
these two.”
The
first group mentioned in Sūrah Al-Wāqi‘ah is the sābiqūn (the
first and foremost),
and the second group mentioned
is the people of the right hand.
The people of the right hand passed,
and the sābiqūn got the A+.
There are two
Ayah 63:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
64:
مُدْهَامَّتَانِ
“Both
of deepest green.”
The greenery is so lush that
barely any light comes through. In the other jannah, the description also begins with greenery,
but this is greener.
Ayah
65:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
66:
فِيهِمَا عَيْنَانِ نَضَّاخَتَانِ
“With
a pair of gushing springs.”
The verb used in the previous
passage was ‘flowing’, and the verb here is ‘gushing.’
It is a far more intense
scene.
Ayah
67:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
68:
فِيهِمَا فَاكِهَةٌ وَنَخْلٌ وَرُمَّانٌ
“With
fruits – date palms and pomegranate trees.”
In the previous passage,
all kinds of fruits are mentioned.
Here, Allāh mentioned fruits, which is a generic phrase meaning all kinds of fruits. Allāh highlights two specific kinds of fruits:
date
palms and pomegranate. This is a special form of speech where first the whole thing is described and then two special items are highlighted.
Ayah 69:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you
both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
70:
فِيهِنَّ خَيْرَاتٌ حِسَانٌ
“There are good-natured and beautiful maidens.”
The word khayr in Arabic is used for inwardly good and not outwardly
good.
These
spouses will be inwardly good, and the conversation
is about their
character. In the
previous passage, shyness
was highlighted. Shyness is one part of goodness. This āyah is more comprehensive
and describes
all kinds of goodness. ‘Ḥisān’ is good on the inside and the outside. Beauty
is relative, and your spouse will be perfect for you in every way, which is impossible
in this world.
Ayah 71:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
72:
حُورٌ مَّقْصُورَاتٌ فِي
الْخِيَامِ
“Dark-eyed, sheltered in pavilions”
This is the first time the noun is used, which refers to women who have very brilliant,
attractive eyes.
In the next sūrah, Allāh talks about two groups
of people: the first and the foremost
and the people
of the right hand.
When
Allāh talked about the sābiqūn, He used the word hūr.
Islahi said: It seems from the language
that the second Jannah is very peculiar
to Arab tastes. Dates and pomegranates
are two of their favorite fruits,
and this āyah mentions tents.
The first and the foremost will be the
closest,
and
the
majority
of them are the
companions of the Prophet (ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam).
These spouses
are very beautiful and like being home.
Now,
the value
of home is dropping, and this is something we have to rekindle for our
families.
Ayah 73:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you
both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
74:
لَمْ يَطْمِثْهُنَّ إِنسٌ قَبْلَهُمْ وَلَا جَانٌّ
“Untouched beforehand by man or jinn”
This same purity
offered to the first level of paradise
is offered
here. Chastity and purity is a standard.
Ayah
75:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
Ayah
76:
مُتَّكِئِينَ عَلَىٰ رَفْرَفٍ خُضْرٍ وَعَبْقَرِيٍّ حِسَانٍ
“They
will all sit on green cushions and fine carpets”
They are leaning back with green cushions.
In the CEO’s office
of a major corporation, you see hand-woven rugs and fancy décor.
Even at good restaurants, cups are placed before you. The idea of furnishings and decorations is one of the things human beings love having. Allāh is giving us exactly what we want.
‘Abqar was the Arab way of saying:
you brought this from the land of the jinn, meaning it came from so far away.
Exotic items are called ‘abqariyy.
When someone has exotic furniture or items, it is from far away.
Ayah
77:
فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ
“Then
which of the favors, miracles, wonders, powers,
feats, gifts, and blessings will you both deny and deliberately lie against?”
One of the
main lessons of the repetition
of this āyah: when
we are engaged in the struggle for Paradise and trying to hold onto our religion,
it comes at some pain. You have to let go of some luxuries and comforts to hold onto the dīn. What you are getting in return
is far greater, so you
shouldn’t be complaining about anything. You only feel
like you are missing out if you are losing something, but by holding
onto the dīn, you are only gaining.
If you think you are missing
out, then you are ungrateful. When you walk away from this dīn, you are ungrateful for the dīn itself. Are you truly convinced
that you are the
house in Jannah is
coming? If you are, then you have nothing to complain about.
The Prophet (ṣall Allāhu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “No eye has ever seen, no ear has ever heard, and nothing has fallen upon the imagination or heart of the
human
being – paradise is just a description.” These are just some of the things we love in this world. Imagine
their perfect versions in Jannah. Everything in this world has a flaw.
Everything we have has some flaw.
Allāh is saying that what
He has waiting for us is better
and lasts longer. The things in this world do not last.
Ayah
78:
تَبَارَكَ اسْمُ رَبِّكَ ذِي
الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ
“Blessed is the Name of your Lord, full of Majesty,
bestowing Honor.”
The question
is, which Name? Allāh described
a Name as possessing glory and nobility. Allāh began the sūrah with Al-Raḥmān. Allāh is reminding us not to forget
where the sūrah started.
In the end of Sūrah Al-Qamar, Allāh talks about people who go to Jannah and
are sitting in Allāh’s company. Allāh mentions His Kingdom and Power when mentioning
those
who sit next to Him in Paradise. When
you sit next to Allāh’s company,
that is the ultimate
point of Allāh showing us His Mercy,
but He mentions His true mercy in Sūrah Al-Raḥmān: teaching the Qur’ān.
What do we take away from this?
- Promote a study of the Qur’ān for your family.
An easy thing to do now is to sit
and study Sūrah Al-Raḥmān as
a family. Get curious about the Qur’ān as a family.
-
What did this sūrah ask us to do?
Be grateful. Don’t
be ungrateful. Why should you not be ungrateful? Because you want to take advantage
of Allāh’s Name Al- Raḥmān.
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