سَبِّحِ اسْمَ رَبِّكَ الْأَعْلَى
When something floats we say that it refuses to go down. It raises up and stays above/beyond all imperfection.
And we have to retain this level, i.e. not say anything that would be less than perfect for Allah. This is the essence of Tasbeeh, say that Allah is perfect, free from faults.
there is no "bismi bi rabbi" Without "bi" it means - Declare the perfection of the Name of your Lord - to acknowledge the perfection your Lord. Not just do dikr of Allah but also no allow yourself to be part of any conversation or entertain any thought that would not befit Allah's Great and Exalted Status. In entertainment culture, more and more comedians poke fun of God. This discourse exists in cartoons, novels, comic books. They are utterly blasphemous. This is rebellion against God. The underline theme is questioning God Himself, i.e. entire movie dedicated to fighting and overcoming natural disasters. So human beings have super abilities and they are free and the something from "up above" is evil and it wants to impose itself and establish an order. We are subconsciously affected by it without even realizing it. So maintain the perfection of the Name of Your Lord. In every one of Allah's Name, be consciousness so as not to undermine it. Be that sensitive with Tawheed. On one hand is the perfection of Allah and other is deep thought.
Cleanse the Name of Your Lord and have clean thoughts about Your Lord. Some Names that apply to Allah also apply to us, like seeing, hearing, to know. There are some words that are shared. What is the difference? Because of the limitation of language we have to use the same word. The attributes that are given to Allah has no beginning or ending, no limits (infinite in its capacity). Allah's attributes and characteristics are owned by Him. They are not given to Him by anyone or taken away by anyone. While our attributes are finite an limited, granted us to us by Allah Himself.
رَبِّكَ - Mastery over you, gives you gifts, take care of you. Creator. It brings the Master-slave relationship to mind. This is a bonding relationship that is constant. When this attitude is missing, then blasphemy happens. When we acknowledge that we are little and Allah owns us, then come true acknowledgment of His perfection. Every time you remember Allah or mention His Name, remember that He is the Master you are His slave. This should incur a sense of humility on your part, a feeling of smallness and awe of the Master, fear and respect of the Master. This tasbeeh is done first by Prophet (s.a.w).
الْأَعْلَى- Allah is High above the sky, the stars that He talks about. His grandeur is Exalted. In the previous surah the kuffar were making a plan and undermine the Prophet (s.a.w) which is really the mission that Allah intents. Allah is above and beyond and above their plan. In the previous Surah, their allegation against the Qur'an (casual speech). This is an insult and defamation to Allah Himself. So this is a refutation to their claim. Allah is absolutely supreme.
Surah Hadeed, Hashr, Saff, Jumu'ah, Taghabun also begin with the glorification of Allah in past, present and future tense.
الَّذِي خَلَقَ فَسَوَّىٰ
سَوَّىٰ - Every last nut and bolt is in its place. Its intricate and its place.
The first thing that you should know about the Rabb is that He ha right over us and that He created us. No Master has the power to create, the world leaders just govern the world but they do not own the world. Allah created, perfected and fashioned and even-out what He made.
وَالَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَىٰ
to calculate something, plan for something. Think of architecture when they have exact measurements. There is no estimation or guess. It has to be spot on accurate. All of the planning of the universe, preceeds 50,000 years. When something is planned ahead of time, it comes out good (human experience). We only see the final product, the earth but we don't know the thought, intelligence and planning that goes behind it. All matter, and activities around the matter, all its implications and consequences are already declared. The sun, the moon, the stars are designed by Allah, programed in a manner that is why they perform as they do - Allah guided them. Ants, bees.
وَالَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الْمَرْعَىٰ
Place which is green, pasture suited for animal grazing. Allah has prepared for them food that they can digest and nourish themselves with. Humans didn't plan this.
فَجَعَلَهُ غُثَاءً أَحْوَىٰ
to be noxious, to vomit.
غُثَاءً- When the valley is filled with animal waste. When lots of water comes and grass torn off from the ground and piled in one place. Its muck (rotten wet leaves stuck in gutter).
أَحْوَىٰ - to bring two things together, for something to become red and black (very dark). Two implications (1) when vegetation is full mature, its red or green but overwhelmed by a darkness (2) it rots, goes bad.
The scholars says that the vegetation goes from life to trash, to contrast how Allah creates and how He destroys. This illustrates how this life soon withers away and the Hereafter will come. It is inevitable. If the former implications are to be taken, it means that the Prophet (s.a.w) will reach full maturity in revelation.
سَنُقْرِئُكَ فَلَا تَنسَىٰ
Allah has taken responsibility to ensure that the Prophet (s.a.w) remember the recitation and does not forget. Just as Allah planned and prepared the earth then perfected the creation after making them, Allah planned and led Muhammad (s.a.w) to become a Prophet and guided him to the message of the Qur'an and Allah will for sure perfect the completion of this Deen.
But some parts of the Qur'an will be abrogated إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ the parts which Allah will and that is too part of His plan. Allah doesn't change His mind, He always intended this change. If the Prophet makes a mistake, Allah corrects him. And the Prophet (s.a.w) has been taught which ayah goes in which surah which surah goes in which order.
إِنَّهُ يَعْلَمُ الْجَهْرَ وَمَا يَخْفَىٰ
Allah knows everything. We cannot see this process of revelation from heavens to the earth and internally within the prophet (s.a.w) but He sees it and He is vouching for it.
يَخْفَىٰ - To hide something so well that you don't even know it exists.
Sirr is just secret information which is classified but you know that it exists and you don't have access to it.
So some ayaat were abrogated by Allah so well, that we don't even feel that they are gone. It is like they were never there.
وَمَا يَخْفَى - nothing remains hidden forever. It will be exposed eventually. Very few verses were abrogated.
وَنُيَسِّرُكَ لِلْيُسْرَىٰ - I will make easy for you the ultimate ease. The struggles of the Messenger (s.a.w) will be made miraculously easy for him by the intervention of Allah. It is a tough thing to memorize, to give da'wah to be a leader and role model in all aspects of his life and more duties were added to him, but Allah made easy for him. This ayah is his (s.a.w) anchor and refugee. That he should continue his efforts relentlessly.
Life according to the shariaah gets easier (not harder). Allah intends to ease our burden. Mortgage is hard on you, you'lll pay for 25 years and still no guarantee that you will own what you have been paying for. You will may 100x more for its price and still not get it. Haram relations cause disease, financial loss, social humiliation.
First we are told about what attitude we should have with respect to Allah. The Prophet's concerns are mentioned about his task and role.
فَذَكِّرْ إِن نَّفَعَتِ الذِّكْرَىٰ
Dhakara is the mission of the Prophet (s.a.w). No matter where you are, and what situation you find yourself in, just engage in and continue the act of reminding people.
This is a conditional statement - jumla shartiyya. Its a rhetorical statement - remind if reminder will have any benefit = for sure remind / perhaps the reminder will have benefit (some will listen and some will not, Allah Knows who and when. You can't see inside anyone's heart. Thi reminder can benefit anyone. Even Pharaoh was sent a reminder - he was a genocidal maniac.
Dha ka ra - just mentioning itself has benefit. Whether others benefit or not, just because you mention it will have benefit.
Ta dhakara - no matter how far the results prove fruitful, u still get benefit (they are 70% convinced, still they benefited from the clarification of Islam and warnings)
Tadhkeer - whether you see the result of the reminder, there is still benefit. (that one person u convert, converts 100 other ppl. but u have no idea, u still get the reward for you).
سَيَذَّكَّرُ مَن يَخْشَىٰ
fear of something that has the power to overcome you.
The one who is scared will make a point to remember themselves and be heedful of what they are reminded about.
Anyone who has any fear can still make it back to Allah and benefit from the remembrance.
وَيَتَجَنَّبُهَا الْأَشْقَى
shaqee- does not have anything good in his life, nothing positive.
ashqaa - the most unlucky, has nothing good in his life, surrounds his life in evil company, discourse, evil cousnel
To distance yourself from something to keep far away.
يَتَجَنَّبُ - He runs away from the reminder of the Qur'an, he is trying hard to avoid it and forget it. He is the most unfortunate.
الَّذِي يَصْلَى النَّارَ الْكُبْرَىٰ
He will cast himself into the fire.
The punishment of the fire is highlighted here.
ثُمَّ لَا يَمُوتُ فِيهَا وَلَا يَحْيَىٰ
If someone is caught in a fire, or someone on fire - the only thing on their mind is that they want it off from them or they want to die. The burns cause you to beg for death.
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ
Someone has already attained success. The arabs were really obsessed with farming because most of their land was desert. So farming and gardening was very important to them.
أَفْلَحَ- End part of harvesting, the happiest time, he gets the fruit of his labour. When he puts the seed in, he doesn't know if there will be enough rain, or too much heat. When everything goes through and he gets his crop, he knows his labour payed off. There was a lot of sweat and pain that went behind it.
قَدْ - There is no doubt about it, and it is already the case. They have already attained success. مَن تَزَكَّىٰ - Whoever has the time and to look inside of him and nourish the good inside of him. Anyone who has this concern and attitude to clean themselves and bring out the good, then they are already successful.
وَذَكَرَ اسْمَ رَبِّهِ فَصَلَّىٰ
The attitude of a person who cleans himself is someone who remembers Allah, remembers that He is the slave of Allah. He prays Salah (connected with Allah, left the world around them). What keeps humanity from finding this right priority in life? Every person is running after success then how come when Allah has explained this, why are people are distracted?
بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا
On the contrary, all of you. You have compared two things and you have decided you will give one more time and energy than the other.
The worldly life is that you get want right away - they are available right to you but it is lowly.
وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰ
The Hereafter is better and more lasting.
If you are given a home forever even if it not impressive versus a really nice hotel for 2 days.
So we think of Jannah somewhere in the distant and we dont' really know what sort of furniture be like, if there will be ikea, if they could exchange the mattress. But for this dunya we are sure what we wnat, we have so many options. We think we can have whatever we want, even if we dont have money to pay for it. We have this innate nature to get things right away and not wait. But this life is not forever. You can own a car but you don't even own yourself. You can get a green card and become a resident of US but you will not live in the US forever, u have to die one day.
Allah is asking us to remember Him, follow His reminder and offer Salah but really He is asking for our entire life. He is only offering us His word. Would you believe it? Would you pay for a house that you will get in 20 years, a house that you have never seen, don't even know its address. Won't your family call you nuts? You bought into a scam! But this is why the Prophet (s.a.w) called this Deen strange - you cannot see it but you invest your entire life into it. All your preferences are headed in the direction of the unseen. Allah knows our insides, He knows if we are cleaning ourself and ridding the love of dunya and filling it with yearing for the Hereafter.
إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَفِي الصُّحُفِ الْأُولَىٰ
Truly this has been in the earlier scripture - the next life is more lasting. And everything else this surah says like declaration of Allah's perfection.
صُحُفِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمُوسَىٰ
The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) is not saying something new, this is the same exact message. Think about it. The pagans followed Ibrahim (a.s) and the Jews and Christians believed in Musa (his 10 commandments). The idea of revelation begins from Him.
This Surah covers the three imaniyaat, all of imaan is summarized, the oneness of Allah, the prophethood of muhammad (s.a.w) and hereafter.
When something floats we say that it refuses to go down. It raises up and stays above/beyond all imperfection.
And we have to retain this level, i.e. not say anything that would be less than perfect for Allah. This is the essence of Tasbeeh, say that Allah is perfect, free from faults.
there is no "bismi bi rabbi" Without "bi" it means - Declare the perfection of the Name of your Lord - to acknowledge the perfection your Lord. Not just do dikr of Allah but also no allow yourself to be part of any conversation or entertain any thought that would not befit Allah's Great and Exalted Status. In entertainment culture, more and more comedians poke fun of God. This discourse exists in cartoons, novels, comic books. They are utterly blasphemous. This is rebellion against God. The underline theme is questioning God Himself, i.e. entire movie dedicated to fighting and overcoming natural disasters. So human beings have super abilities and they are free and the something from "up above" is evil and it wants to impose itself and establish an order. We are subconsciously affected by it without even realizing it. So maintain the perfection of the Name of Your Lord. In every one of Allah's Name, be consciousness so as not to undermine it. Be that sensitive with Tawheed. On one hand is the perfection of Allah and other is deep thought.
Cleanse the Name of Your Lord and have clean thoughts about Your Lord. Some Names that apply to Allah also apply to us, like seeing, hearing, to know. There are some words that are shared. What is the difference? Because of the limitation of language we have to use the same word. The attributes that are given to Allah has no beginning or ending, no limits (infinite in its capacity). Allah's attributes and characteristics are owned by Him. They are not given to Him by anyone or taken away by anyone. While our attributes are finite an limited, granted us to us by Allah Himself.
رَبِّكَ - Mastery over you, gives you gifts, take care of you. Creator. It brings the Master-slave relationship to mind. This is a bonding relationship that is constant. When this attitude is missing, then blasphemy happens. When we acknowledge that we are little and Allah owns us, then come true acknowledgment of His perfection. Every time you remember Allah or mention His Name, remember that He is the Master you are His slave. This should incur a sense of humility on your part, a feeling of smallness and awe of the Master, fear and respect of the Master. This tasbeeh is done first by Prophet (s.a.w).
الْأَعْلَى- Allah is High above the sky, the stars that He talks about. His grandeur is Exalted. In the previous surah the kuffar were making a plan and undermine the Prophet (s.a.w) which is really the mission that Allah intents. Allah is above and beyond and above their plan. In the previous Surah, their allegation against the Qur'an (casual speech). This is an insult and defamation to Allah Himself. So this is a refutation to their claim. Allah is absolutely supreme.
Surah Hadeed, Hashr, Saff, Jumu'ah, Taghabun also begin with the glorification of Allah in past, present and future tense.
الَّذِي خَلَقَ فَسَوَّىٰ
سَوَّىٰ - Every last nut and bolt is in its place. Its intricate and its place.
The first thing that you should know about the Rabb is that He ha right over us and that He created us. No Master has the power to create, the world leaders just govern the world but they do not own the world. Allah created, perfected and fashioned and even-out what He made.
وَالَّذِي قَدَّرَ فَهَدَىٰ
to calculate something, plan for something. Think of architecture when they have exact measurements. There is no estimation or guess. It has to be spot on accurate. All of the planning of the universe, preceeds 50,000 years. When something is planned ahead of time, it comes out good (human experience). We only see the final product, the earth but we don't know the thought, intelligence and planning that goes behind it. All matter, and activities around the matter, all its implications and consequences are already declared. The sun, the moon, the stars are designed by Allah, programed in a manner that is why they perform as they do - Allah guided them. Ants, bees.
وَالَّذِي أَخْرَجَ الْمَرْعَىٰ
Place which is green, pasture suited for animal grazing. Allah has prepared for them food that they can digest and nourish themselves with. Humans didn't plan this.
فَجَعَلَهُ غُثَاءً أَحْوَىٰ
to be noxious, to vomit.
غُثَاءً- When the valley is filled with animal waste. When lots of water comes and grass torn off from the ground and piled in one place. Its muck (rotten wet leaves stuck in gutter).
أَحْوَىٰ - to bring two things together, for something to become red and black (very dark). Two implications (1) when vegetation is full mature, its red or green but overwhelmed by a darkness (2) it rots, goes bad.
The scholars says that the vegetation goes from life to trash, to contrast how Allah creates and how He destroys. This illustrates how this life soon withers away and the Hereafter will come. It is inevitable. If the former implications are to be taken, it means that the Prophet (s.a.w) will reach full maturity in revelation.
سَنُقْرِئُكَ فَلَا تَنسَىٰ
Allah has taken responsibility to ensure that the Prophet (s.a.w) remember the recitation and does not forget. Just as Allah planned and prepared the earth then perfected the creation after making them, Allah planned and led Muhammad (s.a.w) to become a Prophet and guided him to the message of the Qur'an and Allah will for sure perfect the completion of this Deen.
But some parts of the Qur'an will be abrogated إِلَّا مَا شَاءَ اللَّهُ the parts which Allah will and that is too part of His plan. Allah doesn't change His mind, He always intended this change. If the Prophet makes a mistake, Allah corrects him. And the Prophet (s.a.w) has been taught which ayah goes in which surah which surah goes in which order.
إِنَّهُ يَعْلَمُ الْجَهْرَ وَمَا يَخْفَىٰ
Allah knows everything. We cannot see this process of revelation from heavens to the earth and internally within the prophet (s.a.w) but He sees it and He is vouching for it.
يَخْفَىٰ - To hide something so well that you don't even know it exists.
Sirr is just secret information which is classified but you know that it exists and you don't have access to it.
So some ayaat were abrogated by Allah so well, that we don't even feel that they are gone. It is like they were never there.
وَمَا يَخْفَى - nothing remains hidden forever. It will be exposed eventually. Very few verses were abrogated.
وَنُيَسِّرُكَ لِلْيُسْرَىٰ - I will make easy for you the ultimate ease. The struggles of the Messenger (s.a.w) will be made miraculously easy for him by the intervention of Allah. It is a tough thing to memorize, to give da'wah to be a leader and role model in all aspects of his life and more duties were added to him, but Allah made easy for him. This ayah is his (s.a.w) anchor and refugee. That he should continue his efforts relentlessly.
Life according to the shariaah gets easier (not harder). Allah intends to ease our burden. Mortgage is hard on you, you'lll pay for 25 years and still no guarantee that you will own what you have been paying for. You will may 100x more for its price and still not get it. Haram relations cause disease, financial loss, social humiliation.
First we are told about what attitude we should have with respect to Allah. The Prophet's concerns are mentioned about his task and role.
فَذَكِّرْ إِن نَّفَعَتِ الذِّكْرَىٰ
Dhakara is the mission of the Prophet (s.a.w). No matter where you are, and what situation you find yourself in, just engage in and continue the act of reminding people.
This is a conditional statement - jumla shartiyya. Its a rhetorical statement - remind if reminder will have any benefit = for sure remind / perhaps the reminder will have benefit (some will listen and some will not, Allah Knows who and when. You can't see inside anyone's heart. Thi reminder can benefit anyone. Even Pharaoh was sent a reminder - he was a genocidal maniac.
Dha ka ra - just mentioning itself has benefit. Whether others benefit or not, just because you mention it will have benefit.
Ta dhakara - no matter how far the results prove fruitful, u still get benefit (they are 70% convinced, still they benefited from the clarification of Islam and warnings)
Tadhkeer - whether you see the result of the reminder, there is still benefit. (that one person u convert, converts 100 other ppl. but u have no idea, u still get the reward for you).
سَيَذَّكَّرُ مَن يَخْشَىٰ
fear of something that has the power to overcome you.
The one who is scared will make a point to remember themselves and be heedful of what they are reminded about.
Anyone who has any fear can still make it back to Allah and benefit from the remembrance.
وَيَتَجَنَّبُهَا الْأَشْقَى
shaqee- does not have anything good in his life, nothing positive.
ashqaa - the most unlucky, has nothing good in his life, surrounds his life in evil company, discourse, evil cousnel
To distance yourself from something to keep far away.
يَتَجَنَّبُ - He runs away from the reminder of the Qur'an, he is trying hard to avoid it and forget it. He is the most unfortunate.
الَّذِي يَصْلَى النَّارَ الْكُبْرَىٰ
He will cast himself into the fire.
The punishment of the fire is highlighted here.
ثُمَّ لَا يَمُوتُ فِيهَا وَلَا يَحْيَىٰ
If someone is caught in a fire, or someone on fire - the only thing on their mind is that they want it off from them or they want to die. The burns cause you to beg for death.
قَدْ أَفْلَحَ مَن تَزَكَّىٰ
Someone has already attained success. The arabs were really obsessed with farming because most of their land was desert. So farming and gardening was very important to them.
أَفْلَحَ- End part of harvesting, the happiest time, he gets the fruit of his labour. When he puts the seed in, he doesn't know if there will be enough rain, or too much heat. When everything goes through and he gets his crop, he knows his labour payed off. There was a lot of sweat and pain that went behind it.
قَدْ - There is no doubt about it, and it is already the case. They have already attained success. مَن تَزَكَّىٰ - Whoever has the time and to look inside of him and nourish the good inside of him. Anyone who has this concern and attitude to clean themselves and bring out the good, then they are already successful.
وَذَكَرَ اسْمَ رَبِّهِ فَصَلَّىٰ
The attitude of a person who cleans himself is someone who remembers Allah, remembers that He is the slave of Allah. He prays Salah (connected with Allah, left the world around them). What keeps humanity from finding this right priority in life? Every person is running after success then how come when Allah has explained this, why are people are distracted?
بَلْ تُؤْثِرُونَ الْحَيَاةَ الدُّنْيَا
On the contrary, all of you. You have compared two things and you have decided you will give one more time and energy than the other.
The worldly life is that you get want right away - they are available right to you but it is lowly.
وَالْآخِرَةُ خَيْرٌ وَأَبْقَىٰ
The Hereafter is better and more lasting.
If you are given a home forever even if it not impressive versus a really nice hotel for 2 days.
So we think of Jannah somewhere in the distant and we dont' really know what sort of furniture be like, if there will be ikea, if they could exchange the mattress. But for this dunya we are sure what we wnat, we have so many options. We think we can have whatever we want, even if we dont have money to pay for it. We have this innate nature to get things right away and not wait. But this life is not forever. You can own a car but you don't even own yourself. You can get a green card and become a resident of US but you will not live in the US forever, u have to die one day.
Allah is asking us to remember Him, follow His reminder and offer Salah but really He is asking for our entire life. He is only offering us His word. Would you believe it? Would you pay for a house that you will get in 20 years, a house that you have never seen, don't even know its address. Won't your family call you nuts? You bought into a scam! But this is why the Prophet (s.a.w) called this Deen strange - you cannot see it but you invest your entire life into it. All your preferences are headed in the direction of the unseen. Allah knows our insides, He knows if we are cleaning ourself and ridding the love of dunya and filling it with yearing for the Hereafter.
إِنَّ هَـٰذَا لَفِي الصُّحُفِ الْأُولَىٰ
Truly this has been in the earlier scripture - the next life is more lasting. And everything else this surah says like declaration of Allah's perfection.
صُحُفِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَمُوسَىٰ
The Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) is not saying something new, this is the same exact message. Think about it. The pagans followed Ibrahim (a.s) and the Jews and Christians believed in Musa (his 10 commandments). The idea of revelation begins from Him.
This Surah covers the three imaniyaat, all of imaan is summarized, the oneness of Allah, the prophethood of muhammad (s.a.w) and hereafter.
No comments:
Post a Comment