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Day 46: Tafsir – Part 41

SURAH AL-KAHF – AYAH 28

Description

This video discusses the tafsir of ayah 28 of Surah Al-Kahf.

Ayah 28

ب

اص

كو

سنف

عم

ين ال

ون

عدمي

بغداةر

بال

شي

عالو

ريدون

ي

ههجل و

دو

اكتع

ينمع

نةتريدع

اةزين

يحاال

يل الن

و

تطع

نام

نفلأغ

هبنقل

رناع

ذك

عاتب و

اههو

كان

و

هراأم

طفر

Translation: Hold yourself back along with those who call on their Master in times of morning and times of evening (or at the end of the day) wanting His face (want nothing other than Allah’s contentment and pleasure). Your eyes should not pass over them or overlook them wanting (or as the eyes would want) the beauty of worldly life. And don’t pay attention to or obey the one who We made heedless and whose heart We’ve made unaware of Our remembrance and as a result he followed his empty vanity or whim and his entire matter, lifestyle or decision is a violation in one form or another

ب

اص

كو

سنف

عم

ين ال

ون

عدمي

بر

ب

عىل is normally a verb that is not transitive unless it comes with ص

o Here it has an object – sabr here has the meaning of holding something tight or imprisoning it o So here the Prophet is told to hold himself back

Ibn Ashoor’s Commentary

The leaders of Quraish had the assumption that when they go meet with the Prophet (pbuh) there are people sitting around him that are not from elite settings or business class people. They weren’t big deal people in terms of social, economic standing. So the leaders felt like they (the lower class people) shouldn’t be sitting in their presence.

o So they suggested to the Prophet (pbuh) let these people go when the leaders of QUraish will be around him. So basically make special provisions for them and let the more average people and sahaba go. So Allah responded and refuted against them when he said in Surah al-An’aam “And don’t you dare abandon and leave off those who call on their Master in the morning time and the evening time wanting His face.”

What is here in this ayah is more emphatic because Allah swt commanded the Prophet (pbuh) to hold himself back with these people. You have to stay with them too Oh Prophet. Imprison your nafs back with them and stick yourself with them permanently

ب

.means to tie something or hold on to something whereby you won’t ever part ways from it ص

مصبورا – the kind of animal that Arabs called when they tied it up and used it as target practice

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To reinforce the meaning of holding on and not letting go, the preposition that was associated with ب

is ص

ع - م

ب

.عىل usually comes with اص

ع is out of the oridinary م

Al-Shinqeeti’s Commentary

The idea that the sahaba are important no matter what has been brought up before in the Quran o Surah ‘Abasa when the Prophet (pbuh) turned away from ‘Abdullah ibn Umm Maktoom o Surah Hud ayah 27 o Surah Ash-Shu’ara verse 114 and Surah Hud verses 29-31 - Talking about Nuh ‘alayhi alsalam and

prohibiting him from letting the believers from around him go Contemporary Commentary In this ayah Allah says don’t let your eyes pass over these people – that means that your standard for relationships you make in life should not be about who you personally are inclined towards alone or the people who you find being around them makes you relaxed. There are relationships that may not be relaxing at all that might get you into Jannah. There are relationships that you might not be comfortable with but they are worth it.

عم

ين ال

ون

عدمي

بغداةر

بال

عشي

الو

غداة is the beginning of the day and ال

عشي

is the end of the day – some opnions are that it is referring to Fajr and ‘Asr ال

(last prayer of the day) Al-Razi’s Commentary

There are multiple ways of looking at غداة and ال

عشي

ال

1. Allah is saying that they are committed all the time to this act of calling on their Rabb, when He says early and evening or early part of day and late part of day.

a. It’s an expression that basically all they do all day is remember Allah.

غداة .2 is the time when a human being transfers fully from a state of sleep to a state of being awake and this ال

transition is similar to the transition we will have coming out of death coming back into life

a. شي

is the time where the transition from ebing awake happens to the state of being asleep and from ع

life to death b. So these people are at the time that are closest to remembering life and death are the times where they

call upon Allah the most. And at these 2 times in particular, a slave of Allah would become extra vigilient in remember Him because these are times that remind him of his mortality and humbling beginnings.

3. The Arabic language has 24 words for the 24 times of the day and night (Ustadh lists them)

ريدون

ي

ههج و

Allah is praising them with their sincerity and how far they are from wanting to show off because the only One they want to please is Allah.

They don’t try to get close to Allah by obeying Him because they want something worldly to acquire and they don’t do so because they want to make people happy

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لدو

اكتع

ينمع

نةتريدع

اةزين

يحاال

ي الن

Then Allah swt mentioned just an overview of their state – this gave the Prophet a clear view of the state of the people

Your eyes better not go beyond to other than them – they are enough for you o Your eyes better not turn away from them o Your view better not turn away from them towards those who have more assets and more power and

glitz and glamour

The use of نم in ع

ن is to actually distance them from this idea of superiority and arrogance (which is unusual) ع

The other meaning of it is that don’t let your eyes look down on them. Meaning you can be condescending towards someone by the way you look at them. Don’t even make them feel like that with your looks.

The sentence ةتريداةزين

يحاال

يالن is a حال – which means it is saying don’t do this while wanting the beauty of

this life o So basically don’t be in a state where you might be wanting that. This would be the case if the doer of

tureed is the Prophet (pbuh) himself. But if the pronoun is going back to the eyes, then the 7aal would be as the eyes would want to see the beauty of worldly life.

The Prophet has also been told in other places in the Quran to be patient with whatever they say and to remember Allah day and night.

In another ayah, the Prophet (pbuh) is told, don’t extend both of your eyes beyond them to partnering groups of them as part of the decoration and beauty of worldly life

In another ayah, We have given you great Quran so don’t look anywhere else Qortobi’s Commentary

The Prophet (pbuh) didn’t want to look for the beauty of life but Allah prohibited him from doing that anyway. And we shouldn’t think of this more than we would any other ayahs such as, “If you do shirk then I’ll take away all ofyour good deeds.” The Prophet (pbuh) is not going to do shirk but Allah says it anyway.

So Allah speaks to the Prophet in harsh tones sometimes just to establish his Lordship and Mastership over the Prophet (pbuh)

لو

نتطع

ام

نفلأغ

هبنقل

رناع

ذك

عاتب و

اههو

The Word اه هو

Emptiness – and everything that is empty is اه هو

It also means a coward because he has no heart as though he is empty on the inside

So the phrase عاتب و

اههو would be that he didn’t just follow his empty desires but he also followed his cowardice

اه is also used for falling هو

o One of the names of Jahannam is هاوية because the disbeliever falls in it and it keeps getting deeper

and it just keeps falling

اه is also the love of a human being of something that takes over his heart هو

One of the implications of the word is also love

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He follows his own fall. He follows emptiness. He follows his cowardice. He follows what he loves.

كان

و

هراأم

طفر

His matter is one for of transgression or violation in one form or another

فارط - The guy who gets ahead of everyone and wins the race

ط is to do wrong and go beyond limit فر

o It is a derivation from the word فروط or to be ahead in something because the first step to evil is doing

something wrong

A matter that is اط is a matter in which a limit has been crossed or passed فر

Everything he does is in excess and is impulsive. It is not thought out.

Musa and Haroun both said, Oh Allah we are afraid that he may do طفر upon us – i.e. that he, the Pharoah, may

jump into punishing us the moment he sees us without thinking of its consequences

Expressions in Arabic

o كالم منهفرط - When he speaks he doesn’t think about it. He just says it

o المرأةأفرطتأولدا – this woman preceded her children, i.e. the woman outlived her children when she

was supposed to die sooner than them. And the children died before their time

طرف – the other meaning is to fall short in doing something and kept putting it to waste until it died all together

So it means to hurry into something or to fall short into something

The 2 kinds of violation in this word is going beyong what you’re supposed to or the other kind is falling short of what you’re supposed to

لو

نتطع

ام

نفلأغ

هبنقل

رناع

ذك

عاتب و

اههو

كان

و

هراأم

طفر

He followed his desire and empty whim and his decision was a violation in one form or another. And don’t follow the one whose heart we’ve made unaware.

Allah said we made his heart unaware not his tongue unaware. Dhikr can be constantly done on the tongue but if it has no effect or impact on his deen, manners, character, etc that means it hasn’t reach his heart.

كان

و

هراأم

طفر some mufassiroon say that he falls short and some say it means he does too much and goes

beyong. But the language allows for both meetings o Allah says his heart has no remembrance and lacks iman first and so everything he does amount to

stupid decisions, things that go to waste and are short of what they should have been in every case

The other meaning, which is to go beyond, is also accommodated just like the things the disbelievers from Quraish said to the believers who were poor. They went beyond what they should have said

o The leaders of Quraish thinking that they can’t sit in the company of the poorer people is اط on their فر

part. Them saying remove these people then we’ll sit with you is إفراط on their part. It has both إفراط

and تفريط and is perfectly captured in the wording of this ayah

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This state of affairs can only be true of someone who doesn’t look to fix his religion but only does things for worldly benefit (i.e. that he is at extremes always)

Allah is saying openly that these people who follow their worldly desires are constantly falling short and ignore what is mandated on them.

o i.e. these people pay attention to the wrong things. They have their priorities set wrong

This part of the ayah has 3 stages that all lead to each other o Allah makes his heart empty of Alah’s remembrance. o It cannot remain empty so it gets filled with his hawa o Hawa is not a guide it is a whim and changes all the time so you’ll end up doing something wrong in one

way or another تفريط or إفراط

Ustadh Nouman’s Commentary

The previous ayah before this was, Quran is enough. If you want to go beyond Quran, then the people you have who want to hear and learn Quran and are around you are enough.

o They call Him with His word, with the refuge He gave them o The ayah before was that you have to concern yourself with the Book and as a consequence only

concern yourself with those that are concerned with the book. Don’t concern yourself with other people. These people are to the Prophet (pbuh) as heroes just like the people of the cave who went against an entire society but are empowered with Allah. The Prophet’s (pbuh) sahaba are like that and are favored and empowered by Allah.

The training that is being given to the Prophet (pbuh) then when it comes to representing Islam and this message, social standings of people play no role. There is no make way for them.

o As a matter of fact, the least of your assets are more beloved to Allah than the greatest of the enemies of Islam that may just want to bless you with their presence. They mean absolutely nothing

o It’s a complete shifiting of how we think of hierarchy in society. The only function of these people was to represent this deen. The only hierarchy was commitment, piety and dedication.

o The sahaba were immigrants and they are first and first in line and they are the ones that have been brought super near

o When we are talking about Islam we cannot give special consideration to certain people at the expense of other Muslims especially.

They are calling on their rabb night and day. o In our life, someone is polictically, socially or economically important because of their connections and

their network of people they know o In this ayah, Allah says you don’t need to go past these people because they have a connection that is

higher than any other connection because they call on their rabb night and day. They are constantly connected to Allah swt so the Prophet doesn’t need to worry about anyone

else and their connections This gives the sahaba an elite standing Now these people are so connected to Allah that upsetting them for anyone else would like be

the most dangerous thing you can do o So be patient along with them. You are with them and they are with you. They are not someone you are

being patient with. You are being patient along with them. Side by side. They are your support and you are their support

The Prophet (pbuh) is being told you have a team that will give you support and the book will give you support

o The activities begin during the day and end at night. These people are busy with Allah the whole day so this is their business

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ي

ريدون

ههج و – this isn’t just about their sincerity. It is artistic depiction. You are calling on someone and

remembering all the time o They call on Allah so much and are so in love with Him that they cannot wait for the day where they can

actually see Him o Their faces will be lit up looking towards their rabb and they can’t wait o Allah is telling the Prophet how intense their love for Allah and His deen is. o So now that Allah has established their position and importance, Allah reiterates the meaning and

emphasizes that nothing should go beyond them. They are enough!

The Word د تع

Don’t look above them – don’t look your eyes look above them – i.e. you shouldn’t think anyone else has a higher status or is more important than these people

Don’t let your eyes go in any inappropriate place

Don’t let your eyes go beyong them

When he passed over the truth or overlooked them

When Allah highlights a limb or body part as doing something wrong, as here where Allah says don’t let your eyes look above them or beyond them, then the matter becomes angry or aggressive. Especially when it comes to prohibitions

o This is stern language to the Prophet (pbuh)

The Prophet (pbuh) used to make duaa to the Prophet to make one of the 2 Umar’s to become Muslim. He knew that people in power and influence have an impact. And so he know that if powerful people come to Islam they will have an impact on other people and more will become Muslim

o The Prophet of Allah is not just the best in one thing. He is the best in everything and the best strategist and is equipped to finish his impossible mission to carry it out in 23 years. Part of strategy was to go after elite people because they have a larger circle of influence.

o So the Prophet sees that reaching out to the leaders of Quraish would result in the spread of Islam and its growth.

o For the Prophet (pbuh) the beauty of worldly life is for him to see his mission accomplished. So when

Allah tells him ةتريداةزين

يحاال

يالن – He isn’t telling him about power and money and children which is

the beauty that we see in this world. He is telling him about the victory of Islam. So even in this, Allah says to the Prophet, don’t let your eyes go past them (your companions) because I know you want victory for Islam, even that is not better than them. If it comes at the expense as one of your companions feeling over looked then that is not enough.

So now Allah tells the Prophet, if you do engage with the Quraish, don’t end up obeying or taking influence from anyone who’s heart we’ve made empty of our remembrance.

o Allah has punished these people and misguided these people and they are only following their whim o Why would Allah punish them in this way? In previous ayahs Allah says that nobody can change the

words of the Quran. That suggests that there are people who want to edit the Quran. And so instead of benefiting

from it they want to edit it. So when they demonstrate that level of heedlessness, Allah decides that He will allow their hearts to remain heedless and He will lock them up in that state

And that’s why the rest of the ayah is a done deal of sorts that whatever decision he makes his decision will always be a violation in one way or another