- Seminars and Lectures abroad / ٠01 Masjid At-Taqwa- Morning lectures 1
- /
- Masjid At-Taqwa- part 1
The strong and the trustworthy:
Dear brother, one of the Ayat, which were reauthord in Salah by the Imam, may Allah reward him with abundant goodness, is the following one:﴾ And said one of them (the two women): "O my father! Hire him! Verily, the best of men for you to hire is the strong, the trustworthy."﴿
Whenever our Master Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, intended to appoint someone as a governor, he used to draw up in writing a certificate of investiture, and once he said to one of his governors, "Take your certificate and go to your work. Keep in mind that you will be appointed for a year after which you will be one of four, so choose whatever you like: Either we find you weak but trustworthy, and thus you will be dismissed and will be replaced for your weakness. However, your trustworthiness will save you from our punishment, we find you untrustworthy but powerful, and thus we will undermine your power and will discipline and punish you for your untrustworthiness, we find you having both flaws (untrustworthiness and weakness), and thus you will receive both punishments, or we find you powerful and trustworthy, and thus we will extend the period of your appointment, we will raise high your fame and we will honor you."
The word "powerful" indicates experience, and the word "trustworthy" indicates loyalty. If the boss appoints an employee who is well qualified, loyal and powerful, he makes the right decision in choosing his employees.. Favoring who have such traits over the rest is applicable to appointment on earth in general.
﴾ And said one of them (the two women): "O my father! Hire him! Verily, the best of men for you to hire is the strong, the trustworthy."﴿
A man might be strong but not trustworthy, or might be trustworthy but weak. However, having both traits makes man the best among sh3er, and this is deduced from the previous Ayah.
Allah says, "Indeed, We have sent down for you a Book, (the Qur'an) in which there is Dhikrukum, (your Reminder)…:
Once, Al-Ahnaf bin Qais came across the following Ayah:﴾ Indeed, We have sent down for you (O mankind) a Book, (the Qur'an) in which there is Dhikrukum, (your Reminder or an honour for you i.e. honour for the one who follows the teaching of the Qur'an and acts on its orders). ﴿
Then, he pondered over this phrase, "(the Quran) in which there is Dhikrukum", as it caught his attention, and he said, "Our Dhirk? Give me the Quran and let me read my Dhikr for today."
Pay attention to the following Ayah:
﴾ O you who believe! Stand out firmly for Allah and be just witnesses﴿
The delicate question about it is, "Are you one of those?" Allah the Almighty describes the believers as those who reauthor the Quran as it should be:
﴾ as it should be reauthord (i.e. followed)﴿
Scholars asked, "How would someone read the Quran as it should be reauthord"?
﴾ as it should be reauthord (i.e. followed)﴿
They answered the question by saying, this phrase, "as it should be reauthord" means to read it rightly and according to Arabic language grammar." Consider the following Ayah, and see how changing the vowel of the last letter of the subject makes it an object:
﴾ It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allah. ﴿
In this Ayah the men who have knowledge are the subject, and they fear Allah Who is the Object, but reading it in a wrong way will invert the meaning and will indicate that Allah, exalted is He from such claim, is the One who fears the men with knowledge), so the meaning of the Ayah will totally be changed (i.e. by making the subject as an object and the object as a subject). Such a wrong reading of the Quran will nullifies one's Salah.
﴾It is only those who have knowledge among His slaves that fear Allah.﴿
Accordingly, the first condition for reading the Quran is to read it correctly and according to the Arabic language grammar. Regarding this important issue, our master Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said, "Learn the Arabic (language), for the Arabic language itself is part from the religion". Mastering the Arabic language is part of comprehending your religion, so you must learn Arabic language. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ Indeed, We have sent down for you (O mankind) a Book, (the Qur'an) in which there is Dhikrukum, (your Reminder or an honour for you i.e. honour for the one who follows the teaching of the Qur'an and acts on its orders). ﴿
Al-Ahnaf said, "Give me the Quran, and let me read my Dhikr for today, so that I would be reminded of who I am, and the group of people I am similar to." Al-Ahnaf said so, because he knew that in the Noble Quran the descriptions of all kinds of people and their different ranks and levels, so he wanted to know to whom he belonged, at what level he was and what rank did he reach. Therefore, he opened the Quran and read it till he reached the Ayah:
﴾They used to sleep but little by night [invoking their Lord (Allah) and praying, with fear and hope]* And in the hours before dawn, they were (found) asking (Allah) for forgiveness* And in their properties there was the right of the beggar, and the Mahrum (the poor who does not ask the sh3er),﴿
He read the description of those people:
﴾They used to sleep but little by night [invoking their Lord (Allah) and praying, with fear and hope]* And in the hours before dawn, they were (found) asking (Allah) for forgiveness* And in their properties there was the right of the beggar, and the Mahrum (the poor who does not ask the sh3er),﴿
Then he read the description of those people:
﴾ Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend (charity in Allah's Cause) out of what We have bestowed on them.﴿
There is a delicate point here: man's materialistic tendencies oppose the Divine Assignment. In other words, your nature inclines to keep you in your warm bed in winter, whereas the Divine Assignment asks you to wake up, to remove your covers, to offer Wudu and to perform al-Fajr Salah. This is how the Divine Assignment opposes the physical nature of man. The same goes for feasting your eyes on women's beauty which is something endeared to your nature. However, the Divine Assignment asks you to lower your gaze.
Also tracking down people's flaws is something for which man longs. For instance, he is eager to know the reason behind the divorce between two people, so he keeps asking till he finds that the wife cheated on her husband. Then, he tries to find out with whom she cheated him and so forth. This is out of man's nature which contradicts the Divine Assignment since the latter asks man to abstain from tracking down people's flaws and sins. Hence, man's natural tendencies contradict the Divine Assignment, and because of this contradiction man will be able to pay the price of Paradise (by going against his tendencies and fulfilling the Divine Assignment).
﴾But as for him who feared standing before his Lord, and restrained himself from impure evil desires, and lusts* Verily, Paradise will be his abode.﴿
The price of Paradise is paid because of the contradiction between man's tendencies and the Divine Assignment.
﴾ Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend (charity in Allah's Cause) out of what We have bestowed on them.﴿
Then Al-Ahnaf read about other group of people who spend the night before their Lord, prostrate and standing:﴾ And those who spend the night before their Lord, prostrate and standing.﴿
After that, Al-Ahnaf read about another group of people who spend their money for charity in prosperity and in adversity:
﴾Those who spend [in Allah's Cause - deeds of charity, alms, etc.] in prosperity and in adversity, who repress anger, and who pardon men; verily, Allah loves Al-Muhsinun (the good-doers).﴿
Then he read about another group of people who are unselfish:
﴾And give them (emigrants) preference over themselves, even though they were in need of that. ﴿
Does not Allay the Almighty say the following Ayah?
﴾ Indeed, We have sent down for you (O mankind) a Book, (the Qur'an) in which there is Dhikrukum, (your Reminder or an honour for you i.e. honour for the one who follows the teaching of the Qur'an and acts on its orders). ﴿
I, for one, believe that this notable scholar (Al-Ahnaf) was humble when he said after reading all these Ayat, "O Allah, I do not know myself". He meant that he did not meet those descriptions, and I think he said that out of humbleness. Then Al-Ahnaf read about a group of people who were addressed in the following Ayah:
﴾ "What has caused you to enter Hell?"* They will say: "We were not of those who used to offer their Salat (prayers)* "Nor we used to feed Al-Miskin (the poor);* "And we used to talk falsehood (all that which Allah hated) with vain talkers "And we used to belie the Day of Recompense* "Until there came to us (the death) that is certain."* So no intercession of intercessors will be of any use to them.﴿
Upon reading this Ayah Al-Ahnaf stopped at it and said, "O Allah, I renounce this kind of people". Al-Ahnaf kept reading Ayat in the Quran in order to know at what level he is, till he read this Ayah:
﴾ And (there are) sh3er who have acknowledged their sins, they have mixed a deed that was righteous with another that was evil. Perhaps Allah will turn unto them in forgiveness. Surely, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.﴿
The Quran should be reauthord attentively:
Upon reading this Ayah, Al-Ahanaf said, "I belong to those". I am mentioning this incident, so that every one of us will ask himself upon reading the Quran, "Does these descriptions applied to me?"﴾ O you who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families﴿
Have you ever reminded your wife of the Hereafter? Have you ever asked her to put on Hijab so that strangers will not see her beauty? Have you ever ordered her not to be with any man with whom she is not allowed to be alone?
﴾ O you who believe! Ward off from yourselves and your families a Fire (Hell) whose fuel is men and stones﴿
To make this point clear, consider the following example. If a patient goes to a very good physician, and the latter gives him a prescription, will this patient be cured by mere reading the prescription? Will it be enough for him to know the indications of every medication mentioned in the prescription? Will this patient be recovered from his illness by hanging this prescription on the wall after putting it in a very exquisite frame? Much in the same line, man will not make use of the Quran by hanging it on the wall of the guestroom or by hanging it in the mirror of his car, but rather he will make use of the Quran by applying it. One should think about these questions: Do you earn your money from lawful ways according to Islamic teachings? Do you spend your money in lawful ways according to Islamic teachings? Do you follow the Islamic rulings in all your celebrations and grieves?
In some wedding ceremonies, there is Ikhtilat, and women are half naked mingling with strange men, and they justify that by saying, "Well it is a wedding ceremony". Actually, such an Ikhtilat is a serious violation to Islamic teachings. Your success lies in belonging to Islam for real and in having an Islamic appearance. I swear by Allah that the formal belonging to Islam is worthless.
Belonging to Islam formally is like owning a store where there is none of the goods that are mentioned in the signboard of it. In this case, is the signboard valuable? No, it is not. The goods which are mentioned in the signboard should match the ones in the store. Similarly, the Muslim's appearance should be in harmony with his manners and behavior. Thus, as a Muslim, you should not attend a meeting where women and men mingle together, and you should not accept a suspicious bargain that contains unlawful commodities. In fact, when Muslims separate the religion from their daily life, corruption and religious violations have prevailed.
Dear brother, Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas, may Allah be pleased with him, said, " I consider myself a real man in three situations….))
The word "man" in the Quran does not indicate the gender, but rather it indicates heroism, so not every male is a man.
﴾Men whom neither trade nor sale diverts them from the Remembrance of Allah (with heart and tongue)﴿
The amazing words of Sa'd Ibn Abi Waqqas, go as follows, "I consider myself a real man in three situations, and in the otherwise I am just one of the common people. The first situation: Whenever I pray, I forget about any worldly matters till I finish my prayer. The second situation: Whenever I hear something from the Prophet PBUH, I knew for sure that it is the truth that is revealed to Him from Allah the Almighty, and the third situation: Whenever I attended a funeral, I never talk about anything else other than it till it is over." Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ Allah will destroy Riba (usury) and will give increase for Sadaqat (deeds of charity, alms, etc.) ﴿
Destruction here might sound against what is known in business, because according to the latter, when you lend someone 100.000 Liras in a usury loan, you will receive them 110.000, which means that you will take back larger amount of money, so where is the destruction then? However, Allah mentions that He will destroy the usurious money:
﴾ Allah will destroy Riba (usury) and will give increase for Sadaqat (deeds of charity, alms, etc.) ﴿
According to the common sense, the Sadaqah, which is paid to the poor will decrease your money, so if you own 100.000 and you pay 10.000 as Sadaqah, your money will become 90.000. The worldly oriented perceptive makes man see usury as a gain, and Sadaqah as a loss, but according to Allah's Rulings it is the other way round:
﴾ Allah will destroy Riba (usury) and will give increase for Sadaqat (deeds of charity, alms, etc.) ﴿
Let me clarify to you how the Divine Rulings work. In Lebanon and during the civil war, an entire building was burnt. The war was over, and after one year and a half of burning that building, one of the stores was burnt from outside, but when its owner opened it, it was intact and he found it exactly as he left it two years before the burning. Also, all his goods were found safe and sound. This man paid the Zakat of his goods which were 40.000 before war. This is how Allah's Rulings work. It was reported in the Prophetic Sunnah:
((Fortify your wealth by (paying) zakah))
This store was saved, because its owner paid his Zakat. This man is a relative of my friend in Lebanon, and he told me that the store from outside seemed to be burnt, but when he opened it, it was exactly as its owner left it.
((Whenever any amount of wealth is destroyed in the land or in the sea it could be because its Zakat was not paid.))
I know a very rich man who owns a factory of refrigerators, and once the shipment of his refrigerators was drowned in the Red Sea. However, two or three years later, the shipment was found, and all his goods, though they were made of metal, were intact, and he sold them more than ten folds of their original price.
((Whenever any amount of wealth is destroyed in the land or in the sea it could be because its Zakat was not paid.))
((Fortify your wealth by (paying) zakah))
Dear brother, I would like to repeat what Al-Ahnaf said when he read the following Ayah:﴾And (there are) sh3er who have acknowledged their sins, they have mixed a deed that was righteous with another that was evil. Perhaps Allah will turn unto them in forgiveness. Surely, Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful ﴿
He said, "I belong to those." I hope that each one of you will ask himself this question upon reading Quran, "Am I addressed in this Ayah?" By asking this question, you will make a self-criticism and an accurate self-assessment, instead of reading the Quran as if it has nothing to do with us. Allah says:
﴾ Reauthor it (i.e. obey its orders and follow its teachings) as it should be reauthord (i.e. followed)﴿
The right way of reading the Quran is to read it according to Arabic language grammar, to read it according to Tajweed rules, to apply it and to ponder over its Ayat by asking yourself, "Am I addressed in this or that Ayah?" I ask Allah to make us among those who read the Quran and benefit from it. Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings peace be upon our Master Muhammad, his family and his good companions, the trustees of his mission and the leaders of his brigades, and may You be pleased with them and us, O Lord of the Worlds. O Allah, lead us out from the depths of darkness and illusion unto the lights of erudition and knowledge, and from the muddy shallows of lusts unto the heavens of Your Vicinity.
