Ramadan Juz 1

Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 67

Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 67:

وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْمُرُكُمْ أَن تَذْبَحُوا بَقَرَةً ۖ قَالُوا أَتَتَّخِذُنَا هُزُوًا ۖ قَالَ أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ ﴿٦٧﴾

Translation: And [recall] when Moses said to his people, “Indeed, Allah commands you to slaughter a cow.” They said, “Do you take us in ridicule?” He said, “I seek refuge in Allah from being among the ignorant.” (67)



رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد الأنبياء والمرسلين وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين



Asalamu alaikum Qur’an Weekly.

In this short reminder I want to share something with you from ayah number 67 from Surah Baqarah in which Allah عز وجل talks about the incident of the cow. Of course Surah Baqarah is called the cow. When Musa عليه السلام (alayhis salaam) said to his nation ‘no doubt it is Allah that in fact commands you that you should slaughter a cow’, their first response was ‘أَتَتَّخِذُنَا هُزُوًا’ (‘Atattakhidhunā Huzūan) – That’s what the ayah says. ‘Do you take us for a joke, are you kidding us? You want us to slaughter a cow? A murder just happened and God’s response is that we should slaughter a cow? This sounds kind of ridiculous.’

I am sharing this as my first reminder because Allah made it a point to mention what their reaction was to Allah’s instructions. A prophet is telling you on Allah’s behalf, slaughter a cow. Whether or not that makes logical sense to you or not, it’s God’s command and it’s validated because it is coming through His messenger Musa عليه السلام (alayhis salaam). But your response is ‘are you kidding’? ‘أَتَتَّخِذُنَا هُزُوً (‘Atattakhidhunā Huzūan)– ‘Are you taking us as a joke?’

This is mentioned because this is a timeless problem. To this day you are going to have people that hear of Muslims who will hear of an instruction that is clearly from Allah’s messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم (salallaho alayhi wasalaam) and they’ll say, ‘Are you kidding me? Are you serious?’ And that is going to be their reaction. ‘You can’t be serious. That’s what Islam wants? That’s what the shari’ah says? That’s what the hadiths say? That’s what the ayah says? No way, that doesn’t make any sense.” Etcetera, etcetera, this kind of reaction.

And this kind of reaction would make Musa عليه السلام (alayhis salaam) extremely upset so within the same ayah ‘قَالَ أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ’ (Qāla ‘A`ūdhu Billāhi) – He said, ‘I seek Allah’s refuge’. From what? ‘أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ’ (‘An ‘Akūna Mina Al-Jāhilīn) – ‘that I should be from those who lose their emotional control.’ ‘جاهِل’ (Jāhil) is the actual opposite of ‘عاقل’ (‘Āqil) ‘عاقل’ (‘Āqil) is someone who controls their emotions ‘جاهِل’ (Jāhil) is someone who loses them.

In this final minute I want to remind you that this ayah isn’t just a warning to those who make a mockery out of Allah’s commandments. On the other hand it is also warning to those who deliver Allah’s message, who try to do the work of the prophets, who when they say something on behalf of Allah and it is mocked and ridiculed that they should not lose their cool. Because Musa عليه السلام (alayhis salaam) immediately says I seek refuge of Allah that I should be from those who are ‘جاهِل’ (Jāhil), who lose their cool. In other words, this would really enrage him and he does not want to lose his temper because then he will not be able to do his job. So, carrying the message of Islam and giving advice for the sake of Allah requires a thick skin and you will need to deal with some very obnoxious people who will say some really ridiculous things and you will have to say ‘أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ أَنْ أَكُونَ مِنَ الْجَاهِلِينَ’ (Qāla ‘A`ūdhu Billāhi ‘An ‘Akūna Mina Al-Jāhilīn). May Allah make us of those who 1) never make fun of Allah’s commandments and 2) when they do give advice to each other and they hear things that are inappropriate in response, are able to control their emotions and control their temper.

بارك الله لي ولكم

والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

BarakAllahu Li Walakum, Wa-Salaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.

- See more at: http://www.quranweekly.com

Ramadan Juz 2

Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 185:


Surah Al-Baqarah, Verse 185:

شَهْرُ رَمَضَانَ الَّذِي أُنزِلَ فِيهِ الْقُرْآنُ هُدًى لِّلنَّاسِ وَبَيِّنَاتٍ مِّنَ الْهُدَىٰ وَالْفُرْقَانِ ۚ فَمَن شَهِدَ مِنكُمُ الشَّهْرَ فَلْيَصُمْهُ ۖ وَمَن كَانَ مَرِيضًا أَوْ عَلَىٰ سَفَرٍ فَعِدَّةٌ مِّنْ أَيَّامٍ أُخَرَ ۗ يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ بِكُمُ الْيُسْرَ وَلَا يُرِيدُ بِكُمُ الْعُسْرَ وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ﴿١٨٥﴾

Translation: ‘The month of Ramadan [is that] in which was revealed the Qur’an, a guidance for the people and clear proofs of guidance and criterion. So whoever sights [the new moon of] the month, let him fast it; and whoever is ill or on a journey – then an equal number of other days. Allah intends for you ease and does not intend for you hardship and [wants] for you to complete the period and to glorify Allah for that [to] which He has guided you; and perhaps you will be grateful. (185).’

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي

الحمد لله رب العالمين والصلاة والسلام على سيد الأنبياء والمرسلين وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين

Asalaamu Alaikum Quran Weekly.

In ayah number 185, we are now in the second juz – day 2 of Ramadan, I want to take one piece of this long ayah, this beautiful ayah about Ramadan that I have talked about extensively on other occasions but just highlight one thing. Towards the end of the ayah Allah says, ‘Why did I give you these 30 days? And what are some of your goals and objectives?’ He says, ‘وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ’ (Shahru Ramađāna Al-Ladhī ’Unzila Fīhi Al-Qur’ānu Hudáan Lilnnāsi Wa Bayyinātin Mina Al-Hudá WaAl-Furqāni Faman Shahida Minkumu Ash-Shahra Falyaşumhu Wa Man Kāna Marīđāan ‘Aw `Alá Safarin Fa`iddatun Min ‘Ayyāmin ‘Ukhara YurīduAllāhu Bikumu Al-Yusra Wa Lā Yurīdu Bikumu Al-`Usra Wa Litukmilū Al-`Iddata Wa LitukabbirūAllāha `Alá Mā Hadākum Wa La`allakumTashkurūna) – ‘So you complete the count.’ So this count is important, it has something to do with your relationship with Allah as a slave and your spiritual development. Finish the count. It is a target, it is a program; and in order for that program to be successful for you, you need to finish this count. So take the fasting everyday seriously. But then He says ‘وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ’ (Wa LitukabbirūAllāha `Alá Mā Hadākum) – ‘So that you declare Allah’s greatness, based on how He guided you’. ‘عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ’ (`Alá Mā Hadākum), which is interpreted literally as you know on Eid when we’re going and we’re declaring Allah’s greatness because as we’re going to the Eid prayer, what is everyone saying? Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar, Allah akbar. We are declaring Allah’s greatness as we are going. But what is really awesome about this is that it is not limited to the act of Eid, when we excel and we do a lot of takbeer, when we say a lot of Allahu akbar, rather it is actually something that is very powerful that you maintain the recognition that Allah is greater and a greater priority than all of the other sins and disobedience that you are up to now that this count of days is over. Thirty days is enough for you to establish a habit of obeying Allah and being conscious of Him and watching your eyes and keeping control of your tongue and all of these things, and if you can even stay away from halal things for thirty days then staying away from haram things which should be a lot easier for you once these thirty days are over, so that at the end of the ayah of Ramadan He says, ‘so you can truly declare My greatness now that this month is done based on how I have guided you.’ says ‘وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ’ (Wa LitukabbirūAllāha `Alá Mā Hadākum), So you can declare Allah’s greatness based on how He guided you.

This is really the fruit of Ramadan, how Allah becomes a big priority in Ramadan. One of its purposes is that He remains a priority after Ramadan. Look at it inside the ayah as well, how many khutbas/sermons do you hear about how Ramadan is over but don’t forget Allah? Allah Himself said it. Allah Himself said that. وَلِتُكَبِّرُوا اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا هَدَاكُمْ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تَشْكُرُونَ ‘And so that you can be grateful.’

You should be grateful you get to make Allah a bigger priority in your life than your own personal whims, your own personals desires, your own temptations. You should be grateful that so much of humanity does not have this honor and you do. May Allah عز وجل make us of the grateful and may Allah make us of those who when these beautiful thirty days are over, that we truly declare Allah greater in everything that we do and we lower ourselves, humble ourselves before His commandments and make Him the priority in our life.

بارك الله لي ولكم

والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

BarakAllahu Li Walakum, Wa-Salaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.
- See more at: http://www.quranweekly.com/juz-2-quranic-gems/#sthash.d8vlhM8P.dpuf

Ramadan Juz 3

Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 286


Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 286:

لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ ۗ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَا إِن نَّسِينَا أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَا إِصْرًا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِ ۖ وَاعْفُ عَنَّا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا ۚ أَنتَ مَوْلَانَا فَانصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ ﴿٢٨٦﴾

Translation: ‘Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. “Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people.”(286)’


Asalamu alaikum Quran Weekly,

I want to share with you from the third juz, just the last ayah, just some things from the last ayah of Surah Al Baqarah. It is a long ayah that I will be sharing with you, just a few reflections from the first part of this ayah which is ‘لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا’ (Lā Yukallifu Allāhu Nafsāan ‘Illā Wus`ahā) The word ‘تكليف’ (takleef) in Arabic means to be burdened with something and Allah says, “Allah does not burden any individual.” Allah will not burden any single person. ‘إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا’ (‘Illā Wus`ahā) except to that person’s capacity. Which actually means any trials you and I go through in life are actually custom tailored to our capability to manage them. What somebody else is going through may not be something I can handle and what I am going through may not be something they can handle. The gifts we enjoy in life and the difficulties we suffer in life, the hardships and the trials we suffer in life are actually each of them custom tailored to our own individual personalities. So Allah says He does not burden anybody more than they in particular are capable of bearing. ‘لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا’ (Lā Yukallifu Allāhu Nafsāan ‘Illā Wus`ahā).

The other thing that is remarkable about this ayah is that there are some things that all of us are equally responsible for. There are commandments of Islam that you can’t say, “well I know you can do it but I cannot. It’s not in my personality.” The five prayers for example, you can’t say well ‘MashAllah you pray 5 times but I can do it during Ramadan but usually it is impossible for me, I am not able to do that”. You can’t make that excuse because there are a few of the commandments of Allah that Allah put on every nafs. He put it on every individual that you have to be able to do it. And there are very, very, very few exceptions to those that have to be very minute cases and even then there are differences of opinion but pretty much they are universal laws. And the major things that are forbidden and the major things that are obligatory on Muslims you cannot make the excuse for yourself that Allah understands that I am not exactly the prayer type. Or I am not a morning person so I can’t really do fajr. That is not going to be the case.

Allah burdened us with these responsibilities knowing that every single human being is actually capable of praying 5 times. Every human being, every Muslim is capable of staying away from haram. You are capable of doing these things so when you tell yourself you can’t and when you convince yourself that you can’t then you are actually denying something Allah said about you that you actually can, that you are capable and that Allah would have never given these things for you or me to do if we weren’t capable of doing it. So you have to ask yourself, “Am I being true to myself when I say ‘I cannot’ or is Allah being true when He says, ‘yes you can?” That I wouldn’t have given it to you unless you could have handled it’? This is the really honest to yourself question that you and I have to ask ourselves, especially when it comes to the major commandments of Allah عز وجل, . ‘لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا’ (Lā Yukallifu Allāhu Nafsāan ‘Illā Wus`ahā).

And finally, ‘لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ’ (Lahā Mā Kasabat Wa `Alayhā Mā Aktasabat) I will take half a minute just to share one beautiful thing with you. Allah says, a person will benefit from whatever they earn. They will have for themselves whatever they earn and whatever they earned in terms of sin will go against them. So there are some things you earn that will go for you and there are other things you earn that will go against you. But in the Arabic ‘كَسَبَ’ (Kasaba) which is easier, was used for good deeds, what works for you and ‘اكْتَسَبَ’ (Aktasaba) which is actually harder to earn was used for bad deeds, which is weird because we think sins are easier to earn and good deeds are hard to earn but Allah is actually telling us in the ayah a secret.

Sins may be easier to earn in the short term but would you pay for them in the long term? They bring about so many difficulties in what you have earned in terms of problems. The difficulties in your life, so much hardship, because of that disobedience to Allah actually don’t count as something easy. Like stealing may be easy but doing time in jail would be pretty hard, so what you did as an act of stupidity may have been really easy on you at the time but the price you paid for it made it a very difficult and bad thing that you did for yourself. And getting a job and working hard and earning money the right way may be really hard but the hardship you save yourself compared to that which you are doing is pretty easy. The alternative is pretty easy. That is the view Allah wants us to have of good deeds and bad deeds. Good deeds may require a lot more work but Allah will make them easy. And bad deeds may be much, much easier to do but you will pay the price and you will realize how much difficulty they are actually putting on you in in your life. So don’t overestimate the burden that Allah has put on you in terms of responsibilities and don’t underestimate the weight of sin. Do not underestimate or think that it is just something I do, who cares and not think about the burdens and troubles it will bring you tomorrow and especially when you and I stand in front of Allah.

بارك الله لي ولكم

والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

BarakAllahu Li Walakum, Wa-Salaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu.
- See more at: http://www.quranweekly.com/juz-3-quranic-gems/#sthash.ZHW0zxkB.dpuf

Ramadan Juz 4

Surah Al-Imran, verse 92

Surah Al-Imran, verse 92:

لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ ۚ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا مِن شَيْءٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ ﴿٩٢﴾

Translation: ‘Never will you attain the good [reward] until you spend [in the way of Allah ] from that which you love. And whatever you spend – indeed, Allah is Knowing of it.’ (92)

Asalamu alaikum Qur’an Weekly,

Today I want to share with you ayah number 92 of Sūrat ‘Āli `Imrān. In this juz Allah عز وجل says, “You will not reach ‘لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ’ (Lan Tanālū Al-Birra) – you’re not going to reach goodness until you spend ‘حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ’ (Ĥattá Tunfiqū Mimmā Tuĥibbūna) until you spend from which you love. Very famous ayah, people quote it all the time. The nuance I want to share from this ayah is that ‘نَال’ (Nāl) is used when you’re traveling and you can’t wait to reach your destination. That’s what ‘نيل’ (nayl) is, something becoming accessible finally. The Arabs were familiar with this idea because they traveled in the desert and they were desperate to reach their destination. Not being able to reach your destination can be lethal because there is nothing to survive on in the desert.

The same is true of a sea voyage. When you’re traveling in the sea and you’re lost or you can’t find the land that you’re supposed to reach, obviously the supplies you have to get buy, especially drinkable water is very limited so you have to reach in a particular time in order for you to survive. So Allah uses the word that is used for surviving a journey and getting somewhere safely in time. But what He adds is really awesome. He says the word ‘الْبِرَّ’ (Al-Birra) as opposed to ‘الخير’ (Al-Khayr) or other words used for goodness. And ‘الْبِرَّ’ (Al-Birra) in Arabic is closest to the word ‘الْبرَّ’ (Al-Barr). And ‘الْبرَّ’ (Al-Barr) actually means land. So when you hear ‘نَال’ (Nāl) then you immediately think ‘الْبرَّ’ (Al-Barr). You’re not going to reach land, right? But Allah says you’re not going to reach goodness and the idea of words that are similar in phonetics to use them in this kind of wordplay suggests that Allah wants us to think of the imagery.

The idea of – think of yourself as out on sea, unstable waters, storms, and you don’t know when you’re going to reach and you finally reached the island where you are safe. What does that say? Allah called ‘الْبرَّ’ (Al-Barr) and ‘الْبِرَّ’ (Al-Birra) are similar. Reaching land is like reaching goodness. Stability, being in sin and being in a time of your life which is not good is like being out at sea or living in a turbulent lifestyle. So you will not reach that safe land ‘حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ’ (Ĥattá Tunfiqū Mimmā Tuĥibbūna). Can you imagine a boat that is leaking or it is too heavy or it has taken on too much of a load? What do you have to do for this ship to survive? You have to drop the excess, don’t you? In order for you to survive Allah says, ‘You will not reach land’, in this case goodness, ‘until you spend from that which you love’. You might have to drop things off this ship that you love. And Allah says you have to spend things that you love.

It doesn’t just mean giving sadaqah (charity) to the masjid. It means you might have to spend on relatives. You might have to give up some of the luxuries that you have in life and think of your neighbors and think of other people that are in suffering around you. And you might have to give more and more and more of the things that you love; not the leftovers, not the second hand clothes, not the stuff that ‘إلا أن تغمضوا فيه’ (’Ilā ‘an tughmidū fīh) – if somebody handed it to you, you would squint your eyes before you took it. Not that stuff but the stuff you really want for yourself. Eid is going to come soon. You’re going to go shopping. When you go shopping and you buy that shirt and those clothes or that jewelry or whatever you get for yourself or for a cousin, get the same kind of thing that you would have loved for yourself to give in sadaqah. To give that in sadaqah, that is real ‘بِرَّ’ (Birr). That is when you know you have attained some kind of goodness.

What a beautiful ayah and what beautiful imagery to explain to us that we in this journey think that everything we need is on this ship but Allah is telling us in order to survive this journey you better let go of some of these things that you really, really love if you’re going to get all the way to goodness.

May Allah عز وجل help all of us reach goodness and make us of the people that are called ‘الأبرار’ (‘Al-‘abrār). ‘وَمَا تُنفِقُوا مِن شَيْءٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ’ (Wa Mā Tunfiqū Min Shay’in Fa’innaAllāha Bihi `Alīmun) – Anything you spend, Allah knows really well about it. You never have to announce it. Allah knows what you spent. So keep it as a secret between you and Allah and don’t post on Facebook – “After listening to this lecture I donated my favorite shirt” or whatever. Don’t do that. Keep it between you and Allah because Allah says, whatever you spend Allah knows about it ‘فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ’ (Fa’innaAllāha Bihi `Alīmun).

May Allah make us of those who reach that goodness and reach that safety.

بارك الله لي ولكم

Wasalamu alaikum Quran Weekly.
- See more at: http://www.quranweekly.com/juz-4-quranic-gems/#sthash.3vAYNIXg.dpuf

Ramadan Juz 5

Nouman Ali Khan

Surah Al-Nisaa’, verse 29:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِالْبَاطِلِ إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ ۚ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَنفُسَكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ بِكُمْ رَحِيمًا ﴿٢٩﴾

Translation: ‘O you who have believed, do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent. And do not kill yourselves [or one another]. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful.’

Asalamu alaikum Qur’an Weekly,

I picked an ayah from juz number 5, from Surah Al-Nisaa’ today and this is ayah number 29. It has very powerful phrasing and it really captures one of the main ethical principles of Islam. Those of you who claim to believe, ‘يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَأْكُلُوا أَمْوَالَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِالْبَاطِلِ’ (Yā ’Ayyuhā Al-Ladhīna ‘Āmanū Lā Ta’kulū ‘Amwālakum Baynakum Bil-Bāţili) – don’t consume each others money using falsehood. Don’t lie about your hours at your job when you have to punch in; don’t lie about it. When you’re a consultant and you get paid a certain amount to fill a job or by the hour and you’re just sitting having coffee and chilling or whatever and you’re getting paid for that, unless your employer knows that that’s what you’re doing. ‘إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ’ (‘Illā ’An Takūna Tijāratan `An Tarāđin Minkum)– unless it’s a trade that’s happening – a business that is happening with mutual agreement among you. In other words, nobody can be one hundred percent productive all the time, its not humanly possible. So, you might feel like ‘Ok. I’m going to work 9 to 5 but I take a 40 min break. Sometimes I just sit there and talk. Is that ok?’ Well, if your employer knows that’s what you do and it is acceptable to him then it is ok because it is mutually agreed upon.

‘إِلَّا أَن تَكُونَ تِجَارَةً عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ’ (‘Illā ’An Takūna Tijāratan `An Tarāđin Minkum) Unless it is a trade, it’s a business that is mutually agreed upon. Other than that, don’t scam people out of money. Don’t overprice things. Don’t over charge for your services. If you are a mechanic don’t inflate your price because you’re the only mechanic in like 10 miles and you know this guy has got a transmission problem, might as well tell him his timing belt and his engine fluid and all this other stuff is messed up too because, what’s he gonna do? All he can do is use you, right? Don’t over bill people if you are a physician, and charge them more and more and more because you know they are desperate and they are coming to you. Don’t manipulate people like that. So don’t eat peoples’ money using falsehood. Also, ‘تَرَاضٍ’ (Tarāđin) means that both parties are agreeing to the service or the product that is being exchanged so if you know something about what you’re selling or something about the service that you are providing, fine print if you will, that you know that your customer or your employer is not aware of they need to be aware of it. They need to know, because if they don’t know and you are scamming money out of them, this is unacceptable to Allah. Most of our cell phone contracts, the fine print – this is the ‘تِجَارَةً بِالْبَاطِلِ’ (Tijāratan Bil-Bāţili) because you get all of these fees and inconvenience fee or whatever and you don’t even know what these fees are for. You never agreed to them but they are all tacked on there and they have a 40 page fine print that you have to sign at the end and they know you’re not going to read that if you’re a normal human being so then that is how they get away with these kinds of false agreements.

We, Muslims, when we go into business or professional agreements or employment, we cannot consume money based on falsehood. We cannot eat people’s money and it’s not just about employees with employers, it is employers with employees too. That’s what I’ll end with.

Employers decide to pay a certain amount. When you know your employees are working harder and they are doing more and you’re not paying them more as a result, or you are paying some employees more than you are paying other employees for the same exact work because you’re giving preferential treatment, this is also falsehood. This isn’t right. You can’t do that. These are unethical standards: that you pay some the same amount or you pay someone else a different amount even though they are doing the same work. You are eating their money because it is no longer your money. The person you underpaid, you just ate their money. And the only way you can get away with that is that they both ‘عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ’ (`An Tarāđin Minkum). And finally if they both agree to it and they are both happy with it that is the amazing thing in the ayah. You don’t just agree with your consumer because you can get them to agree even if they are not happy. You know how car salespeople get you to agree even if you are not happy and you sign the thing and you regret it later? You have to be happy; both sides have to be happy and completely content with the agreement ‘عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُمْ’ (`An Tarāđin Minkum).

That is the beauty of this ayah. If both parties are not content and this is not a fair agreement and once the fair agreement is in place, you have no right to complain because you are the only one who consciously and clearly agreed to this sort of thing. If we abide by this principle wAllahi (by Allah) our business practices and our organizations and our companies that we run and us as employees we are going to have much better lives.

May Allah عز وجل help us be fair in our business dealings and implement the wonderful ethics that are in this beautiful ayah of Surah al-Nisaa’.

بارك الله لي ولكم

Wasalamu alaikum warahmatu Allahi wabarakatuhu Quran Weekly.
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Ramadan Juz 6

Surah al-Nisaa’ Ayah’s 145-147

Surah al-Nisaa’ Ayah’s 145-147

إِنَّ الْمُنَافِقِينَ فِي الدَّرْكِ الْأَسْفَلِ مِنَ النَّارِ وَلَن تَجِدَ لَهُمْ نَصِيرًا ﴿١٤٥﴾ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ تَابُوا وَأَصْلَحُوا وَاعْتَصَمُوا بِاللَّهِ وَأَخْلَصُوا دِينَهُمْ لِلَّهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَعَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ ۖ وَسَوْفَ يُؤْتِ اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا ﴿١٤٦﴾ مَّا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ إِن شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنتُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا ﴿١٤٧﴾

Translation: “Indeed, the hypocrites will be in the lowest depths of the Fire – and never will you find for them a helper –(145) Except for those who repent, correct themselves, hold fast to Allah , and are sincere in their religion for Allah , for those will be with the believers. And Allah is going to give the believers a great reward. (146) What would Allah do with your punishment if you are grateful and believe? And ever is Allah Appreciative and Knowing (147).”

Asalamu alaikum Quran Weekly,

I actually wanted to share with you ayah number 147 of Surah al-Nisaa’. I read three ayat; two ayat before that in which Allah says the hypocrites will be in the lowest pit of the Hellfire. Then He says, ‘The only ones who won’t be in the Hellfire are the people who repented among the hypocrites’, meaning there are people who suffered from hypocrisy and came back. Therefore, hypocrisy is not a terminal state – you can come back from it. You can suffer from this disease and come back to believing also because the doors of ‘توبة’ ‘tawbah’ are still open – beautiful thing to know.

‘وَأَصْلَحُوا وَاعْتَصَمُوا بِاللَّهِ’ (Wa ‘Aşlaĥū Wa A`taşamū Billāhi) And they corrected themselves. They reconciled. They fixed themselves up and they held onto Allah. ‘وَأَخْلَصُوا دِينَهُمْ لِلَّهِ’ (Wa ‘Akhlaşū Dīnahum Lillāhi). And they made the religion sincere to Allah because obviously, what’s the problem of a hypocrite? It’s insincerity. They made their religion sincere to Allah. Then those are among the ‘مُؤْمِنِينَ’ (Mu’uminīna), ‘فَأُولَٰئِكَ مَعَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ’ (Fa’ūlā’ika Ma`a Al-Mu’uminīna), now they are counted among the believers. They are no longer considered hypocrites. So they came right back in and that old label that they had on them has been shed.

‘وَسَوْفَ يُؤْتِ اللَّهُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا’ (Wa Sawfa Yu’uti Allāhu Al-Mu’uminīna ‘Ajrāan `Ažīmāan) And soon Allah will give the true believers a great compensation. Now, the ayah began with ‘hypocrites will be in the lowest pit of the Hellfire’. When you worry about hypocrisy, this is Surah al-Nisaa’, 60 or so ayat are dedicated just to hypocrisy, so serious a subject, it can be pretty depressing as you start wondering ‘Am I a hypocrite?’ Allah عز وجل at the end of it says, and this is the reason I chose this particular passage – Allah tells people who are so buried in sin and so deeply engrossed in sin they think there is no way Allah will forgive me and then Shaytaan says ‘Yea Allah is going to punish you. You’re gonna go to hell.’ And then they hear one of those khutbahs where everyone is going to Hell. And then after the end of it all and you start thinking, ‘Why did Allah make a Hell anyway? What does Allah get out of punishing me? Why does He want to throw me into hellfire? Why are there such intense punishments there?’

Allah says ‘مَّا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ’ (Mā Yaf`alu Allāhu Bi`adhābikum) This is the ayah I wanted to share with you. What is Allah going to get out of punishing you? Why do you think He wants to punish you? What is Allah going to do while punishing you? You think that is what He wants? ‘إِن شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنتُمْ’ (‘In Shakartum Wa ‘Āmantum) – if you can just be grateful a little bit, if you can just have a little faith. ‘وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا’ (Wa Kāna Allāhu Shākirāan `Alīmāan) – And Allah Himself is appreciative. ‘شَاكِر’ (Shākir) is mostly used for the slave but Allah uses it for Himself. Allah will be appreciative. I am not going to translate it as grateful because that’s not what it means here. He will appreciate the fact that you could think of the good things Allah has done for you. Like a great scholar Hasan al-Basri, whose child was injured and because he loved his daughter, he ran after her, picked her up. You know what happened? He said, ‘Is your hand ok?’ It was bleeding and she says ‘Alhamdulillah. Thank Allah the One who only allowed me to be hurt here and kept the rest of my body safe.’ If you can just look at what to be grateful for ‘إِن شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنتُمْ’ (‘In Shakartum Wa ‘Āmantum) and you truly, really have faith then Allah Himself is truly appreciative and He knows what you are going through. Whatever problems you are going through. He is not interested in punishing you. Even in another place in the Quran He says ‘إِلَّا مَن رَّحِمَ رَبُّكَ ۚ وَلِذَٰلِكَ خَلَقَهُمْ ۗ’ (‘Illā Man Raĥima Rabbuka Wa LidhalikaKhalaqahum)– except for the people who Allah shows mercy to and that is why He created them. He created them so that He could show love and mercy.

May Allah make us qualified for his love and mercy and not let any of us lose faith in His love and in His mercy and in the fact that the doors of jannah are open, waiting for us to enter through them.

بارك الله لي ولكم

Wasalamu alaikum Quran Weekly.
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Ramadan Juz 7

Surah Al-Mā’idah, verse 100

Surah Al-Mā’idah, verse 100:

قُل لَّا يَسْتَوِي الْخَبِيثُ وَالطَّيِّبُ وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ كَثْرَةُ الْخَبِيثِ ۚ فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ﴿١٠٠﴾

Translation: “Say, “Not equal are the evil and the good, although the abundance of evil might impress you.” So fear Allah , O you of understanding, that you may be successful.(100)”

Asalamu alaikum Quran Weekly

In this ayah, this is the hundredth ayah of Surah Al-Mā’idah. This is the 7th juz, alhamudlillah, in which Allah commands His prophet to say, ‘قُل لَّا يَسْتَوِي الْخَبِيثُ وَالطَّيِّبُ’ (Qul Lā Yastawī Al-Khabīthu Wa Aţ-Ţayyibu), – the filthy and the good and pure are not equal. They are not equal. The first thing to know is that Allah didn’t just say the filthy and the good are not equal, He told His prophet to say it. Because the prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) will be the representative of Allah determining what is good and what is filthy and what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. So the Muslims have to stay on point and understand that the standard will be the Prophet himself, عليه الصلاة والسلام (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam). A lot of times in this discussion we say society will decide. Society will decide what is normal and what is not, what is filthy and what is good, what is acceptable and what is unacceptable. The line keeps changing, right? So every few years what used to be unacceptable before is totally acceptable. So you know in the entertainment industry what used to be rated R became PG13 and then became PG and it’s like fine now and it was completely unacceptable maybe 50 years ago. But standards change. So how far do you take the standards? Where do you draw the line? The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wasallam) has been authorized by Allah to draw that line. That is one of the purposes he is there. And so tell them the filthy and the good are not the same.

‘وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ كَثْرَةُ الْخَبِيثِ’ (Wa Law ‘A`jabaka Kathratu Al-Khabīthi) – check this out; even if the multitude of filth impresses you. Even if it’s got you dazzled. Meaning, filth will be plenty and it is going to be everywhere and you’re going to say everybody’s doing it, everybody talks like that. What are you talking about, chill out man, why do you have to be weird? Because weird is that which is rare, strange. Unacceptable is that which is uncommon. And what is common is acceptable. So Allah says filth will become acceptable but no matter how acceptable it becomes and how common it becomes in society you can’t forget that filth and good and pure things will never be equal. What is wrong will remain wrong even if all of your friends are up to it. Even if it is everywhere you turn you see it. It wont make it right. ‘وَلَوْ أَعْجَبَكَ كَثْرَةُ الْخَبِيثِ’ (Wa Law ‘A`jabaka Kathratu Al-Khabīthi)

What kind of people would recognize that though? ‘فَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ’ (Fa AttaqūAllāha), – then watch out for Allah, ‘يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ’ (Yā ’Ūlī Al-’Albābi La`allakum Tufliĥūna), – people of sound minds clear thought, people whose thoughts are not contaminated by culture. They are not contaminated by the overwhelming onslaught of propaganda, of the blind sheep mentality. Everybody is doing the same thing, so that must be the right thing to do. That cannot be the way you think. There are people who celebrate certain things and they don’t even know why they celebrate them. They have no clue why they celebrate them. There are certain holidays that people die to celebrate but they have no idea why they are celebrating them. Mostly because other people are celebrating them. Don’t become a sheep. You have to be people of clear open deep thought.

‘يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ’ (Yā ’Ūlī Al-’Albābi La`allakum Tufliĥūna) – So that you can attain success. And that is the final thing. You see everybody doing something and you might think they must be doing it because it leads to success. And Allah says no, no matter how many people are doing it and no matter how much you think they are leading themselves to success, you better watch out for Allah and use your thought and stick to the good and pure if you are the people that want to be successful.

The final comment from this ayah that I want to share with you is the word ‘افلاح’ (‘Iflāĥ) Allah didn’t say ‘تفوزون’ (Tafūzūn)– so that you can be successful, there is another word in Arabic for success. Yes, He says ‘تُفْلِحُونَ’ (Tufliĥūn). ‘افلاح’ (‘Iflāĥ) is used when you farm, when you plant a seed, when you make the soil soft, when you water it, when you make sure it gets enough sun, when you make sure the weeds don’t come, make sure the bugs don’t come, you work the entire year on this farm and you eventually see success. ‘تُفْلِحُونَ’ (Tufliĥūn) is used when you put a lot of work into something. Allah is indicating that fighting against the filth and looking for the good and pure in a world that is surrounded by filth and only rarely do you find glimpses of good and pure is going to be a lot of hard work and that success will come at a price. It is not just going to happen. You’re going to have to put a lot of work into it, finding good and pure friends, finding good and pure entertainment, finding good and pure things to read, finding a good and pure career, source of income, all of these things are going to be a lot of effort even finding good and pure food to eat. All of these things are going to take a lot, a lot, a lot of effort on your part but it is worth it in the end. Because you did all of it because you were cautious of Allah and you wanted to attain success and you never let your thoughts be cluttered, you remain from ‘يَا أُولِي الْأَلْبَابِ’ (Yā ’Ūlī Al-’Albābi) – you remain from people of clear and concise thought.

بارك الله لي ولكم

Wasalamu alaikum Quran Weekly.
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Ramadan Juz 8

Surah Al-’An`ām, verse 151

Surah Al-’An`ām, verse 151:

قُلْ تَعَالَوْا أَتْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ ۖ أَلَّا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا ۖ وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا ۖ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُم مِّنْ إِمْلَاقٍ ۖ نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُكُمْ وَإِيَّاهُمْ ۖ وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ ۖ وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ ﴿١٥١﴾

Translation: ‘Say, “Come, I will recite what your Lord has prohibited to you. [He commands] that you not associate anything with Him, and to parents, good treatment, and do not kill your children out of poverty; We will provide for you and them. And do not approach immoralities – what is apparent of them and what is concealed. And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden [to be killed] except by [legal] right. This has He instructed you that you may use reason.”’ (151)

Asalamu alaikum Qur’an Weekly,

Today in the 8th juz I want to share with you one small reflection from ayah 151 that has to do with our parents. And I know Sūrat Al-’Isrā’, surah number 17 has just beautiful advice about parents, probably one of the most comprehensive passages in the Quran dealing with the rights of parents. But there is something about this ayah that really gets me. The ayah begins ‘قُلْ تَعَالَوْا أَتْلُ مَا حَرَّمَ رَبُّكُمْ عَلَيْكُمْ’ (Qul Ta`ālaw ‘Atlu Mā Ĥarrama Rabbukum`Alaykum) – tell them, the Messenger is told, come on, let me read on to you, recite on to you what your Master has made impermissible for you. Let me tell you what is made impermissible by your Master, by your Rabb. So the ayah is supposed to be including things that are impermissible, that is what you are expecting because the ayah begins, “let me read to you what is impermissible. Make a list of these things.”

‘أَلَّا تُشْرِكُوا بِهِ شَيْئًا’ (‘Allā Tushrikū Bihi Shay’āan) – and that you won’t do shirk with Allah – number one.

I’m going to skip one and say ‘وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلَادَكُم مِّنْ إِمْلَاقٍ’ (Wa Lā Taqtulū ’Awlādakum Min ‘Imlāqin) – That you’re not going to kill your children because of bankruptcy

‘نَّحْنُ نَرْزُقُكُمْ وَإِيَّاهُمْ’ (Naĥnu Narzuqukum Wa ‘Īyāhum) – we provide you and we provide them, don’t kill children because of bankruptcy. That’s number two.

‘وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا الْفَوَاحِشَ مَا ظَهَرَ مِنْهَا وَمَا بَطَنَ’ (Wa Lā Taqrabū Al-Fawāĥisha Mā Žahara Minhā Wa Mā Baţana) – stay away from all forms of shamelessness, whatever is obvious of it and whatever is hidden of it, any form of shamelessness and lewdness and indecency, stay away from it. That’s number three.

Just to review: don’t do shirk with Allah, don’t kill children out of bankruptcy and don’t engage in any form of shamelessness.

‘وَلَا تَقْتُلُوا النَّفْسَ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ’ (Wa Lā Taqtulū An-Nafsa Allatī ĤarramaAllāhu ‘Illā Bil-Ĥaqqi) – don’t kill a person without justification, don’t engage in murder. You have no right to engage in murder without ‘الْحَقِّ’ (Ĥaqqi)- without the right and the right is executor by the court of law. So there are major, major things that we are stopped from in this ayah and at the end of it ‘ذَٰلِكُمْ وَصَّاكُم بِهِ’ (Dhālikum Waşşākum Bihi) – that is what He counsels you with, ‘لَعَلَّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ’ (La`allakum Ta`qilūna) – so you can apply your intellect.

Allah is applying this, giving us this counsel but in the middle of it all He said, ‘وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا’ (Wa Bil-Wālidayni ‘Iĥsānāan) – and I am literally scratching my head because it says ‘وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا’ (Wa Bil-Wālidayni ‘Iĥsānāan) – be the best you can possibly be to both parents. I thought the ayah is not able commands its about prohibitions. Everything in the ayah was a prohibition. Everything was don’t do shirk, don’t kill a person, don’t kill your children, don’t go near shamelessness, don’t kill a person without having justification, everything is a ‘don’t’. The only do in the ayah is goodness to parents. You know why that is rhetorically so powerful? Because Allah is now saying, anything short of the best to your parents you better not do. There is no other commandment in Islam where we have to do our best for it to be acceptable and that if we don’t do our very best then we are actually in sin. There is no commandment in Islam except parents. Except parents. Allah doesn’t say you have to have ‘إِحْسَان’ (‘Iĥsān) with Allah. That if you don’t have it then you’re in the haram. The ayah is what is haram. The ayah is what is impermissible. And Allah says ‘وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا’ (Wa Bil-Wālidayni ‘Iĥsānāan) – both parents, you better absolutely be the best you can be. You better be good to them under any circumstance and the other awesome thing in this ayah, and by the way anything short of your best you’re in the haram – you’re in what Allah forbade. If I don’t have the perfection in my prayer I am still not sinful technically, I should work towards perfection but I am not sinful, I’m not in the haram at least. If I don’t have perfection in how I speak to people I could be better but I’m not sinful at least. But with my parents, what about my parents should be perfect? What verb is it? Speak to them in the best way. Deal with them in the best way. Give them the best kinds of gifts. Be the most patient with them. You show patience with them in the best way. Which action is it? Allah did not specific a verb, He just said when it comes to your parents the best. ‘إِحْسَان’ (‘Iĥsān). The best what? You know what that means? Don’t think of a single thing that shouldn’t be the best. There is not a thing you can think of that has to do with the relationship between you and your parents that shouldn’t be the best. Your speech, your thoughts, your patience, your attitude, your body language, your gifts, your time, they should get the very best. And this is the form that is used in every language virtually when someone is really giving you instructions and they are like, ‘I don’t want any discussions OK?’. So if I tell my children “silence”. One word. Done.

Then I don’t want any discussion. End of discussion there is no exception. I don’t want to hear, “I’m a special case” or this doesn’t apply to me because I hate my dad or I can’t stand my mom” it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter ‘وَبِالْوَالِدَيْنِ إِحْسَانًا’ (Wa Bil-Wālidayni ‘Iĥsānāan) – when it comes to both parents ‘إِحْسَان’ (‘Iĥsān). That’s it. There is nothing else and it is made ‘نصب على التوكيد’ (Nasb ‘ala al-tawkeed) – I am telling you it better be the best. It is like Allah is saying, “I’m telling you it better be the best. Nothing short of it.” And that is in this remarkable ayah. In which everything else was forbidden. And by implication what is forbidden with our parents is anything short of the very best.

May Allah help us live up to this incredible standard and really give us the strength and the patience, really the patience, to deal with our parents when they become hard to deal with, when they become angry, unnecessarily, when they make inappropriate demands from us and be sometimes even un-Islamic demands from us, how are we going to navigate that? We’re going to navigate that with ‘إِحْسَان’ (‘Iĥsān) – in the very best way we possibly can. May Allah give us the courage and wisdom and patience to be able to deal with those difficult situations with our parents and may Allah forgive our parents for the mistakes they make.

بارك الله لي ولكم

Wasalamu alaikum Quran Weekly.
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Ramadan Juz 9

Surah al-Ar’af, Verse 164

Surah al-Ar’af, Verse 164:

وَإِذْ قَالَتْ أُمَّةٌ مِّنْهُمْ لِمَ تَعِظُونَ قَوْمًا ۙ اللَّهُ مُهْلِكُهُمْ أَوْ مُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا ۖ قَالُوا مَعْذِرَةً إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ

Translation: And when a community among them said, “Why do you advise [or warn] a people whom Allah is [about] to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?” they [the advisors] said, “To be absolved before your Lord and perhaps they may fear Him.”

Asalaamu alaikum Quran Weekly.

I wanted to share with you ayah number 164 of Surah al- A’raf. Now we’re in the 9th juz of the Quran. And it has to do with the story of the people who violated the law of the Sabbath. That they used to go on Saturday Allah tempted or tested them by allowing the fish to actually jump out of the water and they could come out and make noise, so the fishermen who were not allowed to fish on the Saturday were tempted by it and they violated the law of the Saturday. And there were some among the Muslims who tried to warn them, tried to give them advice. So there were two camps – people who didn’t care about what was halal or haram and they were just outright violating the Saturday, these are Muslims of that time, keep that in mind, and there was the people on the religious side who didn’t violate the law but even they were broken up into two further groups. One group of people said they are still our brothers so what if they are not that religious? We should still go talk to them and say, “look you shouldn’t be doing this, it’s not right.” And the other group said, no those people are liberal, those people are progressive, whatever they are, forget them Allah is going to destroy them anyway, they are just a bunch of hypocrites, why do you even bother talking to them? Don’t even bother with them.

So this ayah deals with that conversation between these two groups – the religious, the abiding, those who were actually obeying the law of Allah and not violating the Sabbath, about whether or not they should even bother talking to the corrupt Muslims. Again, Muslims I say Muslims because these were the Muslims of that time. وَإِذْقَالَتْ أُمَّةٌ مِّنْهُمْ (wa-ith qalat ommatun minhum) – when a group among them said لِمَ تَعِظُونَ قَوْمًااللَّهُ مُهْلِكُهُمْ (lima taAAithoona qawman Allahu muhlikuhum) – why do you want to bother, why are you counseling a group of people that Allah is going to destroy? أَوْمُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًاشَدِيدًا (awmuAAaththibuhum AAathaban shadeedan) – or He is going to torture them some really intense torture, look how hypocritical these people are. They are condemned to hellfire. There is going to be a group of Muslims who look at the sinful among the Muslims and just they just want to condemn them to hell. That’s what they want to do. These people Allah has written them off, they were just made for the hellfire. That’s what they’re going to go to. Don’t even bother giving them dawah. These are not really truly members of our ummah.

And so they even come after the people who try to go talk to them and now even the people who go talk to them they don’t go tell them by the way what you’re doing is haram, you’re going to burn in hell. The words used تَعِظُونَ (tAAithoona) – actually means advice and counsel that is soft enough that it penetrates the inside of the heart. In other words the people that weren’t talking to the corrupt Muslims were talking in a way that was actually appealing to those who were engaged in corruption, they were trying to reach their hearts before they would slap their head and say don’t do this. They were trying to appeal to their senses and the reminder about Allah that was soft in the heart which is really important to note that dawah isn’t you tell someone what not to do, dawah sometimes may be that you are trying to get them to know that Allah made you, don’t you know you have to answer to Allah? You have to be grateful to Allah just thinking about Allah sometimes you didn’t even bring up that someone is doing haram you just reminded them of Allah a lot and they came to the conclusion that they were doing the wrong thing all on their own. Sometimes all people need is a reminder of Allah, not of what they are doing in front of you. So they just get defensive about their behavior.

So the group of dismissive Muslims, religiously but they are dismissive of others, said why do you bother fiving these people advice, Allah is going to destroy them or punish them with some intense kind of punishment, see how confident they are about what Allah is going to do with them? Isn’t that amazing? Like Allah told them this is what He is going to do with these people? How do you know they are not going to make tawbah? How do you know that they are not going to come back? In one of these previous sessions for Ramadan I told you, you could be suffering from hypocrisy and you can still come back. So who were they to just pass judgment on people like that? Now the people who did want to make dawah to them go and talk to the people who are in sin even if they are Muslim but they are in sin. They said a one word response. Its so beautiful قَالُواْمَعْذِرَةً إِلَى رَبِّكُمْ (qaloo maAAthiratan ila rabbikum) – we’re going back, we’re going to go talk to them, and here is our rationale مَعْذِرَةً إِلَى رَبِّكُم (maAAthiratan ila rabbikum) – it will be an excuse before your Master. Ya Allah I couldn’t stop them from doing this. I couldn’t forbid them, I didn’t have power over them, but they were my Muslim brothers at least I tried to counsel them. At least I was sincere to them and spoke to them softly. At least I tried to connect You back to them. At least I have an excuse in front of Allah that I did something. That I didn’t just sit back and condemn them to Hell. That I wrote them off. This is the attitude you and I are supposed to have towards the people engrossed in sin among the Muslims. We can’t write them off. And we can’t condemn them to Hell and say forget these guys. And the only time we talk to them is to let them know how sinful and evil they are. No no no. You have to do وعظ (wAAth) to them and the logic you have, the motivation you have to do وعظ (wAAth) to them is because Allah will ask you, ‘Why did you abandon your brother? Why did you abandon your sister? Were they not Muslims?’ So what if they were corrupt? They were violating one of the most important laws given to the Jews, the Muslims of that time, the Sabbath. Its not a small haram, it’s a big haram, something Allah mentions several times that they violated the Sabbath because He is offended by that but still you don’t give up on them and you give them counsel and this will be an excuse before Allah, Ya Allah at least I did my part. You call us an ummah and that means we don’t leave anybody behind. مَعْذِرَةً إِلَى رَبِّكُم وَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ (maAAthiratan ila rabbikum walaAAallahum yattaqoon) – and here is my second motivation, maybe they are going to be people of taqwah in the future. Maybe they are going to become good people. How am I supposed to know? How can I judge? So there were two motivations

That this is what I leave you with – this is real food for thought. I hope I am able to clarify what I am trying to get across here. The first motivation to remind people who are far away from the religion and to try to counsel them in a soft, sensitive way, the first motivation is that you, the one who is reminding them, has to be able to justify their concern to Allah. They have to be able to say to Allah, Ya Allah I was a concerned citizen of this ummah. I was concerned about my brother or my sister. Because Allah will ask you why didn’t you care. That’s the first motivation. The second motivation is who knows, they might turn around. So the first motivation isn’t even about them, it’s about yourself. Think about that. معذرةً إلى ربكم، لنا يعني (maAAthiratan ila rabbikum, lana yAAni) – we will have the excuse. وَ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ (walaAAallahum yattaqoon) – and maybe they will become good people. Maybe they will become people of taqwah.

May Allah help us understand the courtesy and the love and the patience we have to have with those among our own that have fallen into sin and may Allah help all of us come back to His way of taqwah.

BarakAllahu Walikum, Wa-Salaamu Alaikum Qur’an Weekly
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Ramadan Juz 10

Surah Al-Tawbah, verse 41

Surah Al-Tawbah, verse 41:

انفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ ﴿٤١﴾

Translation: ‘Go forth, whether light or heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the cause of Allah. That is better for you, if you only knew.’ (41)


Asalamu Alaikum Qur’an Weekly,

We’re on the 10th juz now, and this is Surah al-Tawbah and ayah number 41. This is a call of Allah to the Muslims who were actually heading out for the battle of Tabūk. This is after Mecca was conquered and Islam had become a dominant force in Arabia and there was a threat of attack from the Roman Empire. That the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم (salallahu alayhi wasalaam) basically issued what you can call a military draft of all the Muslims to be ready for battle because the Roman armies were going to be one hundred thousand strong or even thirty thousand to one hundred thousand strong and the Muslims, whatever resources they had had to be put into defending Islam and moving forward and meeting the enemy. And in this case there were some who felt, “Am I really even strong enough to fight because I’ve never been in battle before? Am I good enough? Am I even going to be an asset on the battlefield?”

Allah gave universal words that aren’t just beneficial for that context but they are beneficial for anyone who wants to serve Allah’s religion and protect Allah’s religion and serve in any good cause under the shade of Islam forever and ever. And that is ‘انفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا’ (Anfirū Khifāfāan Wa Thiqālāan) – march forward, light or heavy. Light or heavy. Whether you have a lot of money or you don’t have a lot of money. You have some heavy assets to offer, you have no assets to offer. Whether you have a lot of talent or you don’t think you have any talent. Whether you are strong or you think you’re weak. Whether you’re knowledgeable or you think you’re not that knowledgeable.

Every one of you needs to march forward because you have something to offer Allah. Every one of us has to do an assessment of ourselves and in another place in the Quran, Allah says, ‘قُلْ كُلٌّ يَعْمَلُ عَلَىٰ شَاكِلَتِهِ’ (Qul Kullun Ya`malu `Alá Shākilatihi) – tell them everyone should work in accordance with their predisposition. Allah created us with certain talents, certain abilities, certain powers and we have to put those powers to work for the sake of Allah in some good way. And you have to do a real assessment of yourself. Our religion isn’t just about our own spirituality and our own concern, our own prayers and our own staying away from forbidden things and that’s the end of it. No, no, no. Actually, our religion is about taking care of yourself and then doing something more, something that serves a cause beyond your own needs. Something that you’re doing to build your Jannah (paradise) by helping other people. By spreading this deen, by doing good to other people, by spreading charity, by giving good advice, by being a source you’re the reason the world is a better place. You did something that made the world a little better than what it is. You have to do that. How you can do that? You have to really figure out and that is Allah’s call. ‘انفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا’ (Anfirū Khifāfāan Wa Thiqālāan) – march forward, light or heavy.

It doesn’t matter what you think you have, you have something to offer and you come forward and Allah will put you to use. I sincerely pray that Allah puts me and all of you to use for His deen. That He puts us to use for His deen because to be used for Allah’s deen is the greatest honor we can have in this life.

بارك الله لي ولكم

Wasalamu alaikum Quran Weekly.
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Ramadan Juz 11

Surah Yūnus, verses 65-66

Surah Yūnus, verses 65-66:

وَلَا يَحْزُنكَ قَوْلُهُمْ ۘ إِنَّ الْعِزَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا ۚ هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ ﴿٦٥﴾ أَلَا إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَن فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ ۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَخْرُصُونَ ﴿٦٦﴾

Translation: ‘And let not their speech grieve you. Indeed, honor [due to power] belongs to Allah entirely. He is the Hearing, the Knowing. (65) Unquestionably, to Allah belongs whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth. And those who invoke other than Allah do not [actually] follow [His] “partners.” They follow not except assumption, and they are not but falsifying (66).’

Asalamu alaikum Qur’an Weekly,

This is ayah number 65 and 66. I really wanted to mostly talk about ayah 65 from Surah Yūnus, the 10th surah. Allah tells His Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم ‘وَلَا يَحْزُنكَ قَوْلُهُمْ (salallaho alayhi wasalaam) (Wa Lā Yaĥzunka Qawluhum) – what they have to say to you shouldn’t grieve you. The thing they say should not grieve you. And what Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم (salallaho alayhi wasalaam) is being told in these words is that the Prophet will hear things that really hurt him. And Allah says don’t let those things hurt you; you have to become stronger than that because if you let those things hurt you they will demoralize you and you will not be able to do your job. You have to deliver the message of Islam to people – the message of hope, the message of optimism, the message of letting human beings find their purpose again. If you get demoralized how will humanity find their morale? How will they find their motivation? So you cannot be taken back by the words that they say. And if you think it is insulting to you or to Islam or to Allah the things they say ‘إِنَّ الْعِزَّةَ لِلَّهِ جَمِيعًا’ (‘Inna Al-`Izzata Lillāhi Jamī`āan) – no doubt, authority and respect and honor and dignity belong to Allah, all of it. All dignity, all authority, all respect belongs to Allah. Don’t ever think Allah can be disrespected. That’s not possible because Allah owns it. Allah owns it, so don’t you worry about it ‘هُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ’ (Huwa As-Samī`u Al-`Alīmu). And it’s not like Allah didn’t hear what they said. And it’s not like Allah doesn’t know what they’re saying, that you didn’t even hear. Allah is All Hearing, All Knowing. Allah gave His messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم (salallaho alayhi wasalaam) clear advice on how to keep moving despite hearing ugly speech.

You guys that are online a lot, some of you are exposed to videos, blogs, and comments under YouTube videos that are very hurtful to Islam. Reading them will just make you feel disgusted inside, ‘how can people say things like that about Allah? About His messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم (salallaho alayhi wasalaam)?’ It is one thing to not believe in them but the kind of hate and the kind of aggressive animosity that is just spewing out of peoples’ mouth, makes you just go, “What kind of people are these? Why would somebody say something like that?” It is disgusting and it bothers you. But Allah is telling His messenger Himself, if you are bothered because you have faith, our faith can’t compare to the faith of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم (salallaho alayhi wasalaam). He is bothered by it too and he is told, ‘Don’t let it get to you. It is not taking away from the dignity of Allah. He owns all of it anyway. So you shouldn’t worry about it. And on top of that, He heard what they said. So they will pay. And it is not like Allah doesn’t own them.’ Just like He is your Master, whether they recognize it or not, He is their Master too. ‘أَلَا إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَن فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَن فِي الْأَرْضِ’ (‘Alā ’Inna Lillāhi Man Fī As-Samāwāti Wa Man FīAl-’Arđi) – You had better know Allah owns whoever is in the skies and whoever is in the earth. Allah owns all of them. And they will not get away with what they say. This is something that is not supposed to interfere with the work that you have to do.

When we get influenced by these negative words and this hateful speech then we become reactionary and all we do is respond to that hate which means that we’ve already not understood what we are supposed to be doing. This kind of talk is distraction. All it is, is a distraction. You learning your religion properly and you sharing the truth of that religion with others in a decent way, that is the mission that you and I are on and we have to maintain going on that mission. We cannot let the aggressive and hateful and distracting tactics of those who will hate us no matter what we do, no matter what we do, we cannot let them distract us from our actual mission. Just like the Prophet is told that he should not be distracted from his mission.

May Allah عز وجل keep us on purpose and keep us strong on the message of Islam and not allow us to be taken in by so much hateful speech that is all around us today in regards to our beautiful religion.

بارك الله لي ولكم

Wasalamu alaikum Quran Weekly.
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Ramadan Juz 12

Surah Yusuf, Ayah 23

Surah Yusuf, Ayah 23

وَرَوَدَتْهُ الَّتِى هُوَفِى بَيْتِهَاعَن نَّفْسِهِ وَغَلَّقَتِ الْأَبْوَبَ وَقَالَتْ هَيْتَ لَكَ قَال مَعَاذَاللَّهُ إِنَّهُ رَبِّى أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَاىَ إِنَّهُ لَايُفْلِحُ الظَّلِمُونَ

Translation: And she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him. She closed the doors and said, “Come, you.” He said “[I seek] the refuge of Allah. Indeed, He is my master, who has made good my residence. Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed.”

As-Salaamu Alaikum Qur’an Weekly,

Such a difficult juz to pick something from, I actually had to go back to the twelfth juz again and pick an ayah from Surah Yusuf. This is Surah Yusuf, in the 12th juz, and it’s ayah number 23.

In this particular ayah, Allah is talking about temptation. I know I’m talking to people on YouTube and on Facebook in particular, so I figured I’d talk about something that young people face, temptation. So Allah says the wife of the minister, Allah says she tried to seduce him. The word رَوَدَ (rawada) is used which comes from a word that means slowly. So the suggestion is that she tried to reel him in and she tried to seduce him, not just one time, but she kept at it. She kept trying to get him. She was dropping a line or two, and he can’t get away because Allah says الَّتِى هُوَ فِى بَيْتِهَا(allatee huwa fee baytiha), the one in who’s house he was. Rhetorically, by saying her house, meaning she has access to the entire house, he can’t get away from her, everywhere he goes, she’s there. She’s slowly, little by little, making her advances. He’s a young guy. He just became a teenager. In the previous ayah, Allah describes him coming into manhood. What’s also interesting to note is, when the man of the house first brought him in, he actually recognized the intelligence of this kid. On the road trip, that isn’t even mentioned in the Qur’an, on the road trip to the house where the minister stayed, he realized this kid is special and that he should be treated with respect. The kid that’s sold as a slave, how does a slave get respect? The first thing he says to his wife is that she better honor his long term, permanent room. Don’t just give him a room and a bed, no, honor his permanent room. He wanted it made to be a place to stay for generations. Meaning he wants this kid to be here, to be settled, and he doesn’t want him to go anywhere because he’s a real asset. He recognized that, but he also recognized that his wife has a problem with dignity. He didn’t just say to her to give him a room, he told her to honor her room, meaning don’t just walk into his room, give him his space. I don’t want you to feel like you can just go mess with him anytime you want, or go talk to him and give him instructions. Even as a kid, he wanted her to keep a distance from him.

Was he right on the money? Yes, he was. When the time comes, she starting to seduce him little by little, she’s throwing hints at him as he’s becoming a man. The other thing that’s happening is that رَوَدَ (rawada) also comes from a word that means intention. They say رَوَدَ (rawada) is when you try to make someone have the same intention that you have. So she’s trying to get him to think like her. “It’s okay, there’s nothing wrong with it, don’t you feel anything?” She’ll say these things like she wants him to think like she thinks. A young man, with the temptations that he has, he’s a regular human being, he doesn’t say that he puts himself above temptation, the Qur’an says she desired him, and he would’ve desired her too had he not seen the evidence of his master. But, the point I wanted to make is, when she really desired him, she wanted him to slip from his own intentions. His intentions were to stay pure, he wasn’t going indulge in this sort of thing. How many young people can we say that with? A beautiful woman is after you, she says there’s nothing wrong with it, she says it’s fine, she’s the one coming for you. Usually men are pursuing women, but the woman is pursuing you, and it’s in the privacy of your house. She’s your boss, and she’s saying it’s okay. Of all the rationalizations that are possible, even all the doors are locked, she didn’t just lock one door, she locked multiple doors that had multiple latches on it, so it’s totally private, nobody is going to find out. Then she says هَيْتَ لَكَ (haytalaka) which means “come here.” هَيْتَ لَكَ(haytalaka) is used as a seductive word, it’s not used normally. “Hurry up and get over here.” Allah doesn’t even describe how she was, we don’t even want to know, but she’s throwing herself at him, literally. At that moment, we learn the awesome character of Yusuf (alayhi salaam). All the guys that are on campus, all the guys that are in high school, all the guys at the workplace, all the guys that are just walking by at the mall, all of you guys that look and some girl texts you, and she says “you’re kind of cute, you want to talk, here’s my number…” Young people fantasize about this situation. Yusuf (alayhi salaam) is in this situation, and he can remember that Allah is watching in this situation, that’s the thing we’re being taught here.

He turns and says قَالَ مَعَاذَاللَّهِ (qala maAAatha Allahi), I seek the refuge of Allah. I seek a place where I can find Allah’s refuge because مَعَاذَ (maAAatha) is considered a place. I seek a place where I can find Allah’s refuge. Then he says إِنَّهُ رَبِّى أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَاىَ (innahu rabbee ahsanamathwaya), my Master has taken good care of me. Which is really provided me good housing ,which he’s referring to Allah has his Master, and if she doesn’t believe in the Master, because when she hears the same words, she might believe that raab refers to the owner of the house, so if she clearly does not fear God, at least she’ll fear her husband. So it’s the wisdom of Yusuf (alayhi salaam) that the words he used could be referring to Allah, which in his case. He’s saying that Allah took care of me, how can I be disloyal to Allah? She hears “my Master,” she might not even think Allah, she might think he means her husband who’s been good to me. If you can’t be fearful of God, at least think that you have a husband before you do something like this.

إِنَّهُ لَايُفْلِحُ لظَّلِمُونَ (innahu la yuflihu aththalimoon) – wrongdoers don’t prosper. He’s not going to prolong the conversation, it’s so awesome. When the story continues, he’s not like “no, no lady, you need to calm down and think about this, I’m sorry…” he knows she’s not into the talk. He ran for it. Don’t sit there and talk to the girl and tell her “it’s haraam sister, you really should think about what you’re saying…” Don’t give her advice. You’re not giving her advice, you’re just spending more time with her. Be honest with yourself. Get away from there. Get away from that conversation, don’t pursue it further, don’t respond back to her. You’re in Ramadan, don’t respond to her text messages. Don’t do it, make tawbah from it. Don’t even say “I won’t text you anymore.” Don’t say it. When she asks “why aren’t you responding to my e-mails,” don’t respond by saying “because it’s Ramadan,” just don’t even respond. Do not engage.

The same thing goes for the girls. If you guys want to really take advice from the Qur’an, this is real stuff. This is not just a story. This is your story, this is what you’re up to right now. If you’re involved in this, and you’ve heard these ayat of Qur’an, Allah will ask you and me on Judgement Day, “these ayat you heard, did you think they were just stories?” It’s talking about you, He says. It is your mention, it is your story, it is advice for you. Don’t just read this story and think it has nothing to do with your dating life. Or that it has nothing to do with your personal exploits that your parents don’t know about, or that your friends don’t know about. It does, it very much so does. It’s not accident that his is mentioned in the Qur’an. This is a timeless problem, and if you’re suffering from it, I pray that learning from the story of Yusuf (alayhi salaam) makes you really think about what you’re doing with your life. You’re praying, fasting, and you’re trying to read Qur’an, and you there’s a girlfriend. There shouldn’t be. You really need to think that this is not a small sin. This is not something small you’re doing. You’re playing with your own faith.

I pray for you, and I pray that you’re strong enough to do the right thing, and cut off haram relationships, and if you cannot cut it off, then you make it halal. That you man up and you make it into a halal relationship.

BarakAllahu Walikum, Wa-Salaamu Alaikum Qur’an Weekly
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Juz 13

Surah Ibrahim, Verse 7

Surah Ibrahim, Verse 7:

وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَءِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأََزِيدَ نَّكُمْ وَلَءِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌ

Translation: And [remember] when your Lord proclaimed, ‘If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]; but if you deny, indeed, My punishment is severe.’”

As-Salaamu Alaikum Qur’an Weekly,

I want to share with you the seventh ayah of Surah Ibrahim, this is the thirteenth juz of the Qur’an. I’m just going to get straight into what Allah says Himself. When your Master declared that even if you are the least bit grateful. Allah is saying even if you show a little bit of gratitude, He’s not asking for a lot. He then says, I will increase you, increase you, increase you, and increase you, I swear to it. The strongest language possible is used. If you could show the least bit of gratitude.

The question is grateful to who? You would think grateful to Allah, but Allah didn’t mention Himself. So it could be grateful to Allah, grateful to your parents, grateful to your teachers, grateful for your health, grateful to friends. Grateful to anyone who’s done anything for you. Grateful to your employer for giving you a job. Appreciative. If you could just become appreciative, if you could just be grateful. Grateful is not just an act of saying Alhamdulilah. Grateful is an attitude, it’s a lifestyle, it’s a way of thinking. You’re constantly grateful. But if you could show that attitude in even the least bit, what does Allah say? لَأزِيدَنَّكُمْ(laazeedannakum), I swear to it, I will increase you. There’s no doubt about it, I swear to it, I will increase you. Allah doesn’t use “I” normally in Qur’an, He usually uses “We.” It is only in the most intense cases in the Qur’an that Allah uses I. He used I here.

The question comes up, increase you in what? Because you can say Allah increase me in knowledge, increase me in wisdom, increase me in patience. We don’t just say “Allah increase me…” In a different ayah, Allah says He’d increase them in faith. He doesn’t just say He’ll increase them. In this ayah He says, you show gratitude even in the least bit, I will increase you. Increase you in what? Allah did not limit what He will increase you in. That’s the beauty of this ayah. The motivation to be grateful in this ayah, is I will keep giving you more, and more, and more of everything. You think of it I will give it to you, if it’s beneficial I will give it to you, I’ll take care of it, I promise. You just show Me gratitude.

You know this ayah was actually part of a speech given by Musa (alayhi salam)? You know he was giving this speech to the Israelites, and he was giving this speech to the Israelites after they had crossed the water. When they crossed the water, they had memories of their children being slaughtered every other year. These are scarred parents that have traveled, that have seen torture and suffered through so many things. Instead of giving them a khutbah (sermon) about patience, because they’re in the desert, you would think Musa (alayhi salam) would get up and give them a sermon about patience. He gives them a sermon about gratitude because you will never be able to have patience if you don’t have gratitude. Gratitude comes first. If you could be grateful, Allah will take care of all your needs, and He’ll keep adding more, and more, and more.

And if you are ungrateful, unappreciative, you can’t see the good in life, Allah could have said “And if you are ungrateful, I will take away from you, I will punish you.” He would use I like he did before. He doesn’t mention it. He says إِنَّعَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌ(inna AAathabeelashadeed), no doubt My punishment is intense. It sounds like a really harsh ayah, right? If you’re grateful I’ll increase you, and if you’re ungrateful, My punishment is intense. But actually, it’s not an “if and then statement.” It’s a nuance of the arabic language that Allah did not use the letter فَ if there was a فَ then it would mean if you are ungrateful, then my punishment is intense, for sure. There is no then, you know what that means? That means it is not an if and then statement. That means Allah did not make it where if you are ungrateful, I will punish you. Allah said if you are ungrateful. . . He’s not even finishing that sentence, He just went to a new sentence, He says, My punishment happens to be really intense. He did not connect the two grammatically. That itself is something we should be grateful for. Just the fact that Allah didn’t put a فَ there, because if He put a فَ there, it would’ve said “if you’re ungrateful, then you better know My punishment is intense.” It’s not like that, “If you’re ungrateful. . . “ nothing, there is nothing. And then He says, My punishment is really intense, and He didn’t put a فَ there, just Him not doing that is actually something we should be eternally grateful for, that itself.

What a beautiful, beautiful ayah. And what a motivation that Musa (alayhi salam) gave. It was such a powerful khutba (sermon) that he declared to the Bani Israel that He made it part of the Qur’an.

May Allah help us learn from the beautiful wisdom of the Qur’an, and make us a grateful people, and see the brighter side in things. Stop being so gloomy and pessimistic all the time. Stop looking at the down side of everything. Stop complaining all the time, stop criticizing everything, stop cynical. Be appreciative of the people around you, of your friends, your parents, your teachers, your school, your health, your physique. Stop complaining that you’re too fat, too short, too skinny. Stop complaining, start being grateful. Stop complaining that you’ve been sick for a week, and start being happy that you are not sicker than so many others. Start being grateful, and Allah will increase, and increase, and increase because that is His promise.

May Allah help us all recognize that promise of Allah and qualify us for it.

BarakAllahu Walikum, Wa-Salaamu Alaikum Qur’an Weekly.
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Ramadan Juz 14

Surah Nahl, Verses 98-99

Surah Nahl, Verse 98:

فَإِذَاقَرأْتَالْقُرْءَانَ فَاسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَنِ الرَّجِيمِ

Surah Nahl, Verse 99:

إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ لَهُ سُلْطَنٌ عَلَى الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُو وَ عَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ

Translation: So when you recite the Qur’an, [first] seek refuge in Allah from Satan, the expelled [from His mercy]. Indeed, there is for him no authority over those who have believed and rely upon their Lord.

As-Salaamu Alaikum Qur’an Weekly,

We are now on the 14th juz, and I’m reading to you from Surah an-Nahl, the sixteenth surah. This is the 98th ayah of the surah in which Allah says: فَإِذَاقَرَأتَ الْقُرْءَانَ, (fa-itha qarata al qur-ana) whenever you recite the Qur’an. It doesn’t say if you recite the Qur’an, it’s when you recite the Qur’an. Allah expects you to read the Qur’an, if the expectation was not there, it would’ve said if. Allah says when you recite it then, فَسْتَعِذْ بِاللَّهِ, (fastaAAithbillahi) then seek Allah’s refuge.

مِنَ الشَّيْطَنِ الرَّجِيمِ (mina ashshaytani arrajeem), from the accursed satan. When you recite the Qur’an, shaytaan will come and try to put you to sleep. When you recite the Qur’an, shaytaan will put thoughts in your head. When you recite the Qur’an, you will remember the other twenty things you had to do and finish it off quickly. This is going to happen when you’re praying, this is going to happen when you’re sitting there just reading Qur’an, when you’re trying to memorize, or when you’re just in the plane and you have some time so you pull out your Mushaf and you start reading. It is going to happen every single time. And so every single time, seek Allah’s refuge from the accursed shatyaan. Say I seek refuge in Allah from satan before you start reading the Qur’an, it’s a commandment of Allah. This is a really important part of your relationship with the Qur’an, and the one thing shaytaan wants is a distance between you and Allah. Qur’an will bring you close to Allah, he (shaytaan) hates that, so he wants to corrupt your experience with the Qur’an.He will do everything he can to corrupt that experience.

إِنَّهُ لَيْسَ لَهُ سُلْطَنٌ عَلَى الَّذِينَ ءَامَنُو (innahu laysa lahu sultanun AAalaallatheena amanoo), no doubt about it, he has no authority over those who truly have iman, who truly have faith. وَعَلَى رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ (waAAala rabbihim yatawakkaloon), and those who place their trust in Allah. In other words, Allah didn’t overwhelm us with fear, like “oh, the devil is here, he’s going to mess me up.” Actually, if you trust Allah and say “I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed satan,” then you believe Allah is enough to guard you, Allah is enough to protect you.

So when you recite Qur’an, make sure that you seek Allah’s refuge. Also, the isti’ada is not just because he will distract you, or not let you finish your recitation, or make you lazy. It’s also because he will make you misunderstand and misinterpret. He’ll make you think something is there that isn’t there. So seeking Allah’s refuge shouldn’t just be a recitation, you should genuinely seek Allah’s protection and say Ya Allah protect me, I’m about to enter in Your book, I’m about to engage in Your book, I genuinely need your protection from the accursed shaytaan who can take guidance and turn it into misguidance for me if I’m not careful.

May Allah protect all of us, and our recitation of the Noble Qur’an, and may Allah keep shaytaan away from our recitation of the Qur’an.

بارك الله لي ولكم (BarakAllahu Li Walakum), Wa-Salaamu Alaikum Qur’an Weekly
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