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2.11

Day 16: Tafsir Part 11

SURAH KAHF AYAH 2 (PART 3)

Description

This video continues with the second ayah of Surah al-Kahf.

Grammarian Commentary

The words
can be related to

or
can
be
a
second
adjective
for

is a prepositional phrase meaning especially from Him.

as opposed to
they are two different expressions.
o When you translate them into English they come out to be the same especially from Him.
o The difference is that when you say then youre talking about proximity. is about
closeness and proximity. It can also be about possession and that what you possess is also close
to you.

then you are talking about something that is much closer to you than to
o When you say

the other and it is also more secure with you. It is much more private and especially yours. They
both have a degree of possession but one adds a much stronger degree of possession and
security.

[ Surah Kahf: 10] is something that is very special and can only come from Him.
The argument that the grammarian Darwish is making is
Two ways to look at it

1. That this is an adjective ( )of the word

o Sometimes a prepositional phrase the book is there, it stands upright to warn of an intense
war especially from Him.
It might seem that the war is especially from Him.
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So the war is of a kind that humanity has never seen before. And this conflict is a special
test from Allah.
This would further articulate the point that the conflict between the believers and the
fitnah of Dajjal that this Surah deals with is a kind of conflict that humanity has never
seen before and the intensity of it is something of divine nature.
Because Allah swt has given for the first time Dajjal the kinds of powers that are not
given to normal creation. So he has made it into a special kind of fitnah and trial that has

.
never been seen before and thus it is

Even the kinds of difficulties the believers will face have never been seen before. This is

the meaning if you associate and war with

2. It is related to
the book is there, it stands upright to warn especially from Him of an intense war

especially from him is associated with the warning.

This kind of warning can only come from Him.

This is known in grammar as . In other words there are 2 implications and they are both possible
in the Quran and because they are possible, then Allah intends both.
You do not deny one of them over the other unless you have a good textual reason to do so. Otherwise
you take both since there is room for both meanings in the language.
Allah intends for you to appreciate that this word is like no other and that no one else will warn of this
war the way the Quran will warn of this war.

If the book is standing up straight no and it fixes other people and sets them straight.

If the world and society is deviating your body will turn in its direction. But if theres something for
you to hold on to, then you wont bend and youll stay straight.
The stronger you hold on to this thing, the straighter you stay. The looser your tie gets, you start
feeling the pressure from your surroundings.
Allah is saying the people that will hold on to the Quran, they will see that there is a problem.
The people who dont hold on to it, they wont feel the pressure and theyll only feel resistance when
they stand their ground.
o You dont feel resistance when you go with the flow. Thats exactly what will happen in society.
The vast majority of people will go with the flow and they wont see a problem. But there will
be people that hold on to the book and it will straighten them out since it is straight in and of
itself.
o Were going to see a problem with stuff that most people will not be able to see. This kind of
warning and red flag can only be raised by this book and no other faith or religion is going to
see a problem like we see a problem.

Al-Shaarawi commented
Allah is saying that you and I are going to be facing a fitnah that has never been faced before and were
only going to see it as a fitnah if we are holding on to this book like nobody else would be able to see it.
Nobody will have the power to rescue themselves from it. The only rescue will be Allahs book.
Ibn Ashoor commented
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emanating from Him.

Allah is offering the book as a refuge in this ayah as a source of protection. And as a source of
protection, when you are facing Dajjal that you recite these ayaat.
Right after this, there will be the story in which the young people sought protection and went into a
cave. And when the story is done Allah will say [Surah Kahf: 27],

Other than the book and other than Allah youre not going to find any refuge or protection.
The entire story is about refuge and refuge is mentioned in the beginning and end of the story. The cave was
their refuge. The Quran for us is our cave and where we will find ourselves immersed in Allahs protection.

is and the on the word means that it is tied to something that came before.

the suggests that one of the goals of revelation is to

o It is tied to the in

congratulate the believers.

Meanings of and giving good news or congratulating

Original Root Words

of something to sprout and to become manifest. When something is no longer

hidden, it is

used for skin of a person because that is what you see of a person
mortal beings because our skin shows as opposed to gorillas or bears whose skin is covered by


fur. Our skin is visible which is why we are called

- It is also the most that something can be in terms of beauty. Something

that comes out and is extremely beautiful. Human skin is considered a symbol of beauty. In and of
itself is a kind of beauty.
The beauty of human beings is also captured inside the word

to congratulate someone actually means to give them a kind

of news, the effects of which show on their face. The color of their skin changes or their face lights up.
Their face becomes beautiful and their smile because of what they hear.

or is used in the Quran for intimacy or pleasure between a man and a woman.
o On a side note, the Quran is incredible because it never talks about sexuality with explicit
language even though it deals with sexuality all the time. It always uses soft language and
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figurative language to talk about rated R stuff without using dirty words. Highlighting the

[ Surah Baqarah: 187]

intimacy is

o When the earth sprouts flowers and herbage and greenery and fruits come out of the trees,
they say the earth sprouted and is full of joy.

this books role is to bring joy, and to bring happiness and to light up the faces of those


who truly believe
? Who is He?
Who is the doer of
o It could be Allah, it could be the Messenger and it could be the Book.
o So in other words when you are reciting the Quran you should feel like Allah Himself is putting a
smile on your face. Allah is bringing you joy Himself.
o Of course He is doing this by means of His book and of course as you are reciting this you
should have such an intimate relationship with the Messenger of Allah and such a closeness to
him, that you should feel it is the messenger himself giving you a pat on the back and making
you feel better.
You should feel a closeness to the Prophet (pbuh) when you read the Quran and its
congratulations. These words are from Allah. So Allah is congratulating, but the words
themselves are the book and the first voice that human beings hear behind those words
was the Messengers voice. Even though we cant hear that voice anymore we should
imagine we can when we hear the Quran.

. It is very powerful. We should feel that closeness to Allahs messenger, the book
o
and Allah Himself. Because in guidance, they are all together. It is inseparable.

those who truly believe. This is the kind of fitnah that if you just claim and barely have

iman/faith you wont survive.

o This optimism and congratulations will only come to those who have iron clad faith and they

are holding on like nothing else. They are . 2ism faa3il.

is believers which is different from those who believed.

o is actually a noun it is timeless - versus which is combination of
( )which is a noun but the operative word is a verb. Verbs by definition are temporary

and caged in time. When your faith is concrete and has become a fixture inside of you, then the

word used in the Quran is .

o When your faith is a work in progress, youve admitted it, youve accepted the faith, youve
claimed it too, but it hasnt settled yet, then you find .

Which is why you dont find in the Quran being criticized. They are never
criticized in the Quran.

However are criticized in the Quran. People whose faith hasnt been settled
yet still have some issues that they have to work out.
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Examples

o
[ Surah As-Saff: 2]

Those of you who claim to have faith, or have just begun to have your faith, how come
you are saying things you dont do? If youre saying things you dont do then it means
your faith is not where its supposed to be.

[ Surah An-Nisa: 136]

o

Those of you who have iman, have iman. It is saying complete your iman. Youre not
there yet. You made the claim but you need to complete it and immerse yourself. Allah
is congratulating those that have the strongest iman.

Going back to the hadith that has to do with the fitnah of Dajjal. A believer will go to sleep a believer
and wake up a disbeliever because his faith is not stable. This congratulation is only for people whose
faith is stable.

[ Surah An-Nisa: 143]
o

Not quite here or there. Caught between 2 sides. These people will not have a smile on
their face. People of iman will. People of real firm iman

If the book is firm, and you want your iman to be firm, you need to hold on to the book to keep it firm.
Holding on to the book is no different than holding on to Allah. Holding on to the Quran is really you
holding on to iman and Allah swt.

When Allah congratulates He has to be congratulating them for something

You congratulate for something there has to be a preposition there. In Arabic the preposition is the
letter

Adjective of the believers


Expected language was

Allah removed the expected preposition

When the is taken away, the meaning is kept intact, but what you are going to get is coming closer
to you and the one thing keeping it far away is the preposition .

What you are being congratulated about is being brought closer to you so you can hear about it
closely. Immediacy of the reward that is captured when the is removed from the equation.

When people are in the time of fitnah of Dajjal, people are going to want immediate pleasures. Time
will pass by quickly.

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The believer is not going to see the results of his labor in this world. Theyre going to see them in the
afterlife but Allah is giving the believer consolation by saying its closer than you think. Its so close
theres not even time for a

The congratulations have been brought so close to him so he doesnt feel like it is something not
attainable. Its right there that there.
This is an ayah about extreme fitna. Allah said His help is near.

Key discussion in this ayah
Contrast: on one hand there was a war and we are being warned of the war and the war is in this

dunya. The congratulations is of great compensation and good news is about the next

world. The bad news is now but the good news is after you die.
Allah is moving every element of materialism from the heart of the believer in this Surah.
o One of the elements of materialism is that you start expecting compensation for your good
deeds here in this dunya.
o This is a form of materialism. Because youre only expecting material results.
o Even for Islam. We want Islam to flourish and victory but even that is material. That is
secondary in the Quran.
Every time Allah talks about the gain of land or spoils of war or victory over even
Khaybar which is huge, or Makkah, the word that keeps coming up is secondary

Comparing to what youre going to get in the next life, anything you gain in this life is
nothing. Why are you so obsessed with worldly acquisition?
When you hear of a war youre immediately terrified. But then you hear
congratulations, your first assumption is, at least were going to win the war.
Thats what youre expecting. But Allah says, congratulations youll get stuff in Jannah.
Meaning you should not have any hopes about winning the war but that
shouldnt be your goal. Youre losing sight.

This needs to be internalized otherwise the rest of this ayah wont make sense.

are being congratulated.

The believers that do good deeds

shouldnt it be theres intense war so Allah should congratulate the
believers who pick up their swords and participate in the war. But Allah doesnt say that.

Allah wants to congratulate people of serious conviction who do a few good deeds

What are the

that the Quran emphasizes?

o - prayer

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o being good to parents

o Brotherhood

o truthfulness

o These are the

that have always been there. But in times of fitnah, when the Muslim

becomes materialistic in his mindset, what he thinks is an Islamic view, but is actually
materialistic; he sees these things as little.
o When your picture of Islam is built by a particular narrative, and a skewed view of the history of
Islam, then youre going to see some things as insignificant.

Allah says some things are timeless in value. And people who do good deeds even the small ones

they are valuable to Allah and they are

It is a plural but it is an adjective and the thing being described is the noun
is a non human

broken plural.
o The adjective should be singular feminine.

was the expected plural.

But Allah purposefully makes it a feminine plural.

That does 2 things:
1. it reduces the quantity of the thing that you are describing and
2. it increases the value of the thing you are describing.
o The few things you are doing are far more valuable. And they are fewer in
number because this is a lesser plural.

o
is lesser than .
means you dont have an


endless list of good deeds you have to take care of; there are some
fundamentals and basics you have to take care of and never
underestimate their value.

In a time of war, who in the world would think there is value in planting a seed?
The Prophet (pbuh) says in the worst conflict that humanity has ever seen, if youre in the middle of
planting a seed, you should finish planting the seed.
One seed does not produce all fruits. It produces one kind of fruit. Some seeds produce other
vegetables and some produce different kinds of trees.
Not everybody plants the same kinds of seeds. People are doing different kinds of good things.
There are constantly going to be efforts that undermine the good that you are doing and to let you
know what you are doing is not really valuable.

Example

[ Surah Baqarah: 158]
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Safa and marwa are from the

Symbol, gives you realization, it is the source of feelings, they are symbols that remind you of Allah and
they are supposed to make you realize certain realities. As you are engaged in Safa and Marwa you are
supposed to have certain feelings.
When we do Safa and Marwa we are replicating Hajars movements.
At the time, this Safa and Marwa were not sacred. Makkah was not sacred. It was a valley with no
cultivation.
Haajar was running up and down two hills with her baby Ismail looking for water. But she doesnt lose
her trust in Allah. That is her fitnah. Her test is being a desert and having to run up and down. Her
holding on to the hope in Allah is powerful that that valley became sacred for no other reason than
that woman trying to save her baby.
Millions of people run up and down between Safa and Marwa celebrating a woman trying to save her
baby. You would think of that as such a small thing. But how big is it to Allah that He says, Safa and
Marwa are from the rituals and symbols of Allah. Allah gave it such value.

Those people are congratulated. The people will have a smile on their face.
In other words, in the middle of a horrible war, where so many reasons to be sad and depressed exist,
theres going to be a bunch of people that are constantly going to be happy. And theyre going to be
happy because theyre holding on to the Quran and the Quran is giving value to whatever little they
are doing.
Allah is appreciating the work they are doing. The world is falling apart but they are not. Theyre
standing up straight, . Theyre aware of the war and theyre watching out and taking precaution but

they also know that what they are doing is worth something huge.
Maybe they wont see the huge returns of it here but theyre going to see returns of it in the hereafter.
They are overjoyed in the opportunity to serve.

Light is the most valuable in dark times. Thats when you need the light the most.
People that are small sources of light, and people that are trying to do a little bit you can compare to a
small little candle. In dark times you can do what you can until Allah brings His light. That is the attitude
we need to internalize and that is being given to us here.
Think of the frustrations of the Muslim Ummah today and the complaints that we have about what is
happening to our Ummah today.
There are people that are screaming at the top of their lungs and what they are calling for and
encouraging the believers to have. Does it sound like they are calling for something in the akhirah or
something in this dunya?
o They are constantly reminding you of the glory days and when the Muslims were in power and
the disbelievers were in the bottom and how we need to be the leaders of the world and we
need to have the power.
o Is this about Islam being dominant or you? If you dont give this book its due, if you dont give it
its value then you will get terrible misguidance out of it as a punishment from Allah. Because
Allah guides with this book and misguides with this book many.
o If you mistreat the book it will react and give you what you came for. You come to it with a
problem or a bias and you will only further in your own bias. You come to it with hate and it will

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only fill you with more hate. If you come to it seeking validation for what you think is right it will
only further you in that.
o But If you come to it saying I dont know what is right, Oh Allah teach me then it will guide you.
o This is the fitnah of our time within ourselves. This is a kind of materialism that we are infected
with. This surahs job is to undo all forms of materialism, both internal and external.

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