Makki Surah
لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ مُنفَكِّينَ حَتَّىٰ تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ
مُنفَكِ - something attached to the bone and very painful to separate from it.
Cut it out, stop doing it. They wouldn't refrain until the clearest proof came to them.
The people who separate themselves, and the people who quit what they were continuously until this revelation came.
مِنْ - not all the people of the Book disbelieved, some disbelieved and many became Muslims. They were very committed for millenniums to their kufar beliefs and traditions until the revelation came. The revelation caused them to leave their kuffar and legacy for good.
The Qur'an was revealed in the nigth of Power and the power of the Qur'an is such that it people separated from their nations in a way that they never went back. Their lives changed forever.
كَفَرُ- To bury a seed deep in the dark. Every seed is in the darknesses of kuffar until the revelation come to them. No society (person) is entirely good or bad. There is an element of either or that exists everywhere and in everyone. All lines disappeared, no tribal lines, races. It either became Imaan or kuffar - either u were on this side or the other.
Theory is not good enough. The proofs of Islam are not enough when the practice is not there. This is the greatest obstacle in Da'wah. So Islam is based on laws.
فِيهَا كُتُبٌ قَيِّمَةٌ - There are laws in the revelation, قَيِّمَ means that which is firm, upright, stand on their own. These laws set straight what is crocked. This is the benefit of the laws of Allah. It removes the crockedness in society and sets it straight.
كُتُبٌ - The judge threw the book at him / I am driving by the book = the judge used the full extent of the law against him, I am following the rules of driving. So even in English jargon, book means binding.
وَمَا تَفَرَّقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ
No result happened except that they fell into division. This is alluding the Esa (a.s), when he came, the people who were of one religion, they became separated. There was no division of Jews and Christians, they used to be one group of believers until Esa (a.s) came with the clearest proofs came. They fell into darkness after knowledge came to them.
وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَذَٰلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ
Allah is telling us a social religion. Religious knowledge is a weapon, people who possess it has a status and respect. They are listened to. Knowledge is not a safeguard against corruption. So you can be a scholar and a person of bad character. So all the attention can get to your heard. From the outside there may be a facade of nobility but inside there could be malice. So if someone else come, with more knowledge, it wounds their ego. Especially if the new guy is saying that the past scholars were wrong. When the crowds direct their praise to someone else, the previous scholar starts calling the new one deviant and issues fatwa against them to protect their popularity. The agenda is not to hold on to the truth, it is not to find the right guidance, it is ego. They simply wanted domination and monopoly.
So they were called to humble themselves before Allah and the new Messenger (Muhammad s.a.w). This is hard to do when the messenger when he is just a man like that. We have natural tendency to not like the person who has authority over us. Our nafs wants to be wild and free. So unless we are truly sincere to Allah, we will take Qur'an AND Sunnah! Rejecting the Sunnah is ego! Bayyinah is both the messenger and the message.
لِيَعْبُدُوا - ibadaah = particular acts of worship offered at particular times. Every religion has specific modes of worship. The images that pop in their mind is being in a holy place, kneeling or bowing down etc.
What is slavery? It has no time associated with it. Slave is a slave always. It demands total obedience, it can demand anything from you and you are bound to comply. Slavery is involuntary. It conjures negative images in the mind. Service is a give and take ( you get wages), it is specified (if you are an accountant, you cannot be asked to wash the window unless the economy is bad). You apply for a service. This seems very convenient. So for the sake of our own connotation. We have to remain true to the Islam.
Slavery in Islam is according to Ibn Taimia rahimaAllah (1) obedience to Allah, His obedience comes first (2) Love and love of His creation is subservient to His love (3) Sincerity - everything is for Allah. Your entire life is for Allah. Worship suggests that only your prayer belongs to Allah and the rest of your life, you can do as you life. So when you make career goals, marriage goals - your agenda is to being close to Allah. Allah asks for slavery but we limit it to only worship. (5) Absolute trust in Master, whatever He gave us is good for us and whatever He did not give us is also good for us. If we got something it is from Allah. Your don't trust your car because it comes from a reliable company or you don't trust your family. You place your expectations in Allah. Whenever you depend on His creation, you will be disappointed.
The terms of slavery are not dictated by us. We cannot assume it or define it by ourselves. This standard is dictated by Allah. So we cannot place our own conditions on our relationship with Allah.
The essence of Qur'an is to become Allah's slaves. This is why Allah sent bayyinah.
The people who were given to the Book and the musrikheen were not commanded except that they fall into Allah's slavery and worship.
This also includes to make the Deen sincere to Him - to be just the slave of Allah ALONE! No ego, no shirk to Esa (a.s) or idol. Look at the story of Iblees, he worshiped Allah for a long long long time! Then he fought for religious recognition when attention was shifted from him to Adam (a.s). So our Ikhlaas is challenged. The people of knowledge from ranks are the worst to argue with each other in terms of religion, not for the sake of guidance or truth but for religious recognition, they want the spot light.
حُنَفَا - When you incline away from deviation and fix yourself to the straight path.
وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ - Ibadaat and Mu'aamlaat. This is the established religion since all times. To become the slave of Allah, to worship Allah, establish salah and give zakah.
وَذَٰلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ - This Deen will have victory, those who do this will be on top. They have something firm.
The summary of this aayaah is the cleansing of ikhlaas inside (the understanding of slaver) and outside (establishing salah and zakah).
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أُولَـٰئِكَ هُمْ شَرُّ الْبَرِيَّةِ
إِنَّ - for sure, get the doubts out of your mind. This WILL happen.
خَالِدِ - To remain permanently in it.
شَرُّ - The most vicious, nastiest. الْبَرِيَّةِ Something that exists
They are the worst of all all existence because after the clearest light and proofs came to them, they still remained on kuffar.
جَزَاؤُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا رَّضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَشِيَ رَبَّهُ
Garden and beach front is an obsession in the human mind. These are the most expensive property. We think that the Qur'an is speaking primitive Arabs who had no gardens and water so the Qur'an is not for us because we are sophisticated and we would want something better. Then why are we obsessed with the same. As people get older, they really get into gardening. We vacation in a place where there is a lot of nature, a river flowing etc. When you buy a house, what is the thing that you want to install in the backyard? You want to deck out the lawn with vegetables and flowers. To have a pool or a hot tub. So Allah knows what He created.
We want permanent residence. We don't want to rent, we want to own, to have stability. To become resident, have citizenship. Parents always telling you to get married and settled down. But everything in dunya falls apart. It gets boring, there are financial troubles. In Jannah, Allah is giving us a house. There are no bills, no maintenance, no plumbing.
رَّضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ - Allah is completely happy with them and you are completely happy with Allah. No one on earth is completely happy with us even if we buy them stuff.
خَشِيَ - The fear of something that is greater than yourself.
This Surah began with how the world was fragmented. This revelation that came in the night of power, it joined the world on Laa illaha ilAllah. Now from many religions, there became just two primary divisions, imaan and kuffar.
لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ مُنفَكِّينَ حَتَّىٰ تَأْتِيَهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ
مُنفَكِ - something attached to the bone and very painful to separate from it.
Cut it out, stop doing it. They wouldn't refrain until the clearest proof came to them.
The people who separate themselves, and the people who quit what they were continuously until this revelation came.
مِنْ - not all the people of the Book disbelieved, some disbelieved and many became Muslims. They were very committed for millenniums to their kufar beliefs and traditions until the revelation came. The revelation caused them to leave their kuffar and legacy for good.
The Qur'an was revealed in the nigth of Power and the power of the Qur'an is such that it people separated from their nations in a way that they never went back. Their lives changed forever.
كَفَرُ- To bury a seed deep in the dark. Every seed is in the darknesses of kuffar until the revelation come to them. No society (person) is entirely good or bad. There is an element of either or that exists everywhere and in everyone. All lines disappeared, no tribal lines, races. It either became Imaan or kuffar - either u were on this side or the other.
Theory is not good enough. The proofs of Islam are not enough when the practice is not there. This is the greatest obstacle in Da'wah. So Islam is based on laws.
فِيهَا كُتُبٌ قَيِّمَةٌ - There are laws in the revelation, قَيِّمَ means that which is firm, upright, stand on their own. These laws set straight what is crocked. This is the benefit of the laws of Allah. It removes the crockedness in society and sets it straight.
كُتُبٌ - The judge threw the book at him / I am driving by the book = the judge used the full extent of the law against him, I am following the rules of driving. So even in English jargon, book means binding.
وَمَا تَفَرَّقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِن بَعْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةُ
No result happened except that they fell into division. This is alluding the Esa (a.s), when he came, the people who were of one religion, they became separated. There was no division of Jews and Christians, they used to be one group of believers until Esa (a.s) came with the clearest proofs came. They fell into darkness after knowledge came to them.
وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ وَذَٰلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ
Allah is telling us a social religion. Religious knowledge is a weapon, people who possess it has a status and respect. They are listened to. Knowledge is not a safeguard against corruption. So you can be a scholar and a person of bad character. So all the attention can get to your heard. From the outside there may be a facade of nobility but inside there could be malice. So if someone else come, with more knowledge, it wounds their ego. Especially if the new guy is saying that the past scholars were wrong. When the crowds direct their praise to someone else, the previous scholar starts calling the new one deviant and issues fatwa against them to protect their popularity. The agenda is not to hold on to the truth, it is not to find the right guidance, it is ego. They simply wanted domination and monopoly.
So they were called to humble themselves before Allah and the new Messenger (Muhammad s.a.w). This is hard to do when the messenger when he is just a man like that. We have natural tendency to not like the person who has authority over us. Our nafs wants to be wild and free. So unless we are truly sincere to Allah, we will take Qur'an AND Sunnah! Rejecting the Sunnah is ego! Bayyinah is both the messenger and the message.
لِيَعْبُدُوا - ibadaah = particular acts of worship offered at particular times. Every religion has specific modes of worship. The images that pop in their mind is being in a holy place, kneeling or bowing down etc.
What is slavery? It has no time associated with it. Slave is a slave always. It demands total obedience, it can demand anything from you and you are bound to comply. Slavery is involuntary. It conjures negative images in the mind. Service is a give and take ( you get wages), it is specified (if you are an accountant, you cannot be asked to wash the window unless the economy is bad). You apply for a service. This seems very convenient. So for the sake of our own connotation. We have to remain true to the Islam.
Slavery in Islam is according to Ibn Taimia rahimaAllah (1) obedience to Allah, His obedience comes first (2) Love and love of His creation is subservient to His love (3) Sincerity - everything is for Allah. Your entire life is for Allah. Worship suggests that only your prayer belongs to Allah and the rest of your life, you can do as you life. So when you make career goals, marriage goals - your agenda is to being close to Allah. Allah asks for slavery but we limit it to only worship. (5) Absolute trust in Master, whatever He gave us is good for us and whatever He did not give us is also good for us. If we got something it is from Allah. Your don't trust your car because it comes from a reliable company or you don't trust your family. You place your expectations in Allah. Whenever you depend on His creation, you will be disappointed.
The terms of slavery are not dictated by us. We cannot assume it or define it by ourselves. This standard is dictated by Allah. So we cannot place our own conditions on our relationship with Allah.
The essence of Qur'an is to become Allah's slaves. This is why Allah sent bayyinah.
The people who were given to the Book and the musrikheen were not commanded except that they fall into Allah's slavery and worship.
This also includes to make the Deen sincere to Him - to be just the slave of Allah ALONE! No ego, no shirk to Esa (a.s) or idol. Look at the story of Iblees, he worshiped Allah for a long long long time! Then he fought for religious recognition when attention was shifted from him to Adam (a.s). So our Ikhlaas is challenged. The people of knowledge from ranks are the worst to argue with each other in terms of religion, not for the sake of guidance or truth but for religious recognition, they want the spot light.
حُنَفَا - When you incline away from deviation and fix yourself to the straight path.
وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ - Ibadaat and Mu'aamlaat. This is the established religion since all times. To become the slave of Allah, to worship Allah, establish salah and give zakah.
وَذَٰلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ - This Deen will have victory, those who do this will be on top. They have something firm.
The summary of this aayaah is the cleansing of ikhlaas inside (the understanding of slaver) and outside (establishing salah and zakah).
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أُولَـٰئِكَ هُمْ شَرُّ الْبَرِيَّةِ
إِنَّ - for sure, get the doubts out of your mind. This WILL happen.
خَالِدِ - To remain permanently in it.
شَرُّ - The most vicious, nastiest. الْبَرِيَّةِ Something that exists
They are the worst of all all existence because after the clearest light and proofs came to them, they still remained on kuffar.
جَزَاؤُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ جَنَّاتُ عَدْنٍ تَجْرِي مِن تَحْتِهَا الْأَنْهَارُ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أَبَدًا رَّضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَنْ خَشِيَ رَبَّهُ
Garden and beach front is an obsession in the human mind. These are the most expensive property. We think that the Qur'an is speaking primitive Arabs who had no gardens and water so the Qur'an is not for us because we are sophisticated and we would want something better. Then why are we obsessed with the same. As people get older, they really get into gardening. We vacation in a place where there is a lot of nature, a river flowing etc. When you buy a house, what is the thing that you want to install in the backyard? You want to deck out the lawn with vegetables and flowers. To have a pool or a hot tub. So Allah knows what He created.
We want permanent residence. We don't want to rent, we want to own, to have stability. To become resident, have citizenship. Parents always telling you to get married and settled down. But everything in dunya falls apart. It gets boring, there are financial troubles. In Jannah, Allah is giving us a house. There are no bills, no maintenance, no plumbing.
رَّضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ - Allah is completely happy with them and you are completely happy with Allah. No one on earth is completely happy with us even if we buy them stuff.
خَشِيَ - The fear of something that is greater than yourself.
This Surah began with how the world was fragmented. This revelation that came in the night of power, it joined the world on Laa illaha ilAllah. Now from many religions, there became just two primary divisions, imaan and kuffar.
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