Passage 2 | Lessons From History

177

Lesson 12
We are now in section 2 of Surat Ya-Seen. We are at the end of Section 2. Section 2 was about the
story of the People of the Town. That story has concluded but there are some remaining comments
in regards to the story almost like the take home message. What is the take home message in the
story of Ashab al-Qaryah? There are so many lessons and so much guidance, but what is the main
purpose of relating that story? It seems that as though the main purpose of telling the story of Asbah
al-Qaryah is to tell or to show the Prophet how obnoxious and arrogant some people can be. So
much that they can reject the truth even if it comes to them from many different prophets. You are
one messenger. There were those that were sent 3 messengers. And one from amongst them also
tried to advise them, and they just would not listen. In fact, they went so far as to kill the one who
tried to advise them from their own people. In that story, appreciate that the problem with the
rejection of those people is not you, it is those people themselves.

(notes for previous ayah included within notes for previous lessons)

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This is one of the main messages of this story the takzeeb of these people. How some people can
be so blind to the truth and so arrogant that it doesnt matter who tells them about it, they will not
listen to advice. This is the final two ayat regarding the conclusion of the story.

178 Passage 3 | Lessons From Nature

Passage 3 | Lessons From Nature

Passage 3 is a change in theme. The change in theme is about the world around us. The Quran is like
this. It takes you on a journey. If you listen to the Quran with your heart and your mind, you will find
yourself being taken on a journey to different places and different times, being exposed to different
things. It is like going on a holiday. A person is listening to the Quran, going wherever Quran takes
him.

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Now the Quran will showcase some of the signs of Allah that are manifest inside nature. This section
will relate to us 10 different signs. Ten different signs in nature. However, one seems to be an odd
one out.
1. The first sign is to do with the barren land. Allah brings it back to life and it produces food.
2. The second signs are fruits, dates, grapes and other produce that emerges from the ground.
3. The third is the sun that moves everyday without fail, rising from the East and setting in the
West.
4. Then it is the moon. It comes in phases. The waxing of the moon.
5. Then comes the night and the day. The night and the day, from one perspective, the night is
spoken about, how the night manifests itself,
6. And the next one is the night and the day as they appear in succession in harmony.
7. The next one is how the sun and the moon operate separately but have a function that is
connected or related.
8. The ark of Nuh .
9. Every other transportation that you can imagine.
10. The variance and diversity in Allahs creation.
One of them seems to be a historical sign. Whereas all the others are present, physical, worldly signs.
The ship of Nuh seems as if it is a historical sign whereas all the other signs are worldly signs.
However, what we can say is in fact, the ayah regarding the ship of Nuh , even though it
refers to the ship of Nuh , it is the blessing of having a vehicle that can transport you on sea,
the first of which was Nuh , inspired to him directly by Allah . So the ship of Nuh
represents all forms of transportation that we can use on water. Therefore, it isnt a historical sign. It
is another physical sign. Allah knows best.

Principles in appreciating the signs in nature

We are going to be speaking about the signs of Allah. It is very easy for us to gloss over them. And in
fact, what you find is, and what many people do when they read about the signs of nature is that
they dont really give them due attention. It is almost like you can see them and move on to the next.
However, the approach needs to be understood. How can we appreciate the signs of Allah in nature?
Here are 4 ways that we can appreciate them:

Passage 3 | Lessons From Nature

1.

179

Know that every physical sign is pointing towards a spiritual truth. It means that there are
many spiritual concepts, beliefs that we have. Those beliefs can be seen through physical
signs. Though they are of a religious, spiritual nature, almost theoretical, they can be linked
to tangible things. What is the proof of this? First of all, it is evident in the Quran, but there is
an explicit proof of this in the Quran as well.

And of His signs is that you see the earth stilled, but when We send down upon it rain, it quivers
and grows. Indeed, He who has given it life is the Giver of Life to the dead. Indeed, He is over all
things competent.70

That spiritual truth, belief in the akhirah, is being tied to a physical sign which is the changing
of the season and barren land giving life again.
2. Imagine you are experiencing the sign for the first time. For example, the sun runs its course
to a fixed place. That is the determination of the All-Wise, the All-Mighty. You are being told
that the sun rises in the East and sets in the West. You see this every day. Whats the big deal?
Imagine you never saw the sun before, you were blind, and then your sight was returned.
Someone took you to the beach and there is a place where you see the sunrise. How would
you feel? You would be in awe, wouldnt you? Try to imagine you are that person when you
see the signs Allah is mentioning. If you do, you will find an appreciation there.
3. Imagine the disappearance of that sign. How would it impact on human life? Ustadh was
researching, and the moon, We determine its phases. So Ustadh thought, what would
earth be like if there was no moon? If there was no moon how would it impact the earth?
No moon doesnt just mean no tides, which means that certain animals are no longer able to
live and become extinct. But the day would be longer and continually become longer and
longer because of the friction that the moon causes on the rotation of the earth. Therefore,
24 hours would no longer be 24 hours. The day would become into years.
Another thing, the moon and its gravitational pull on the earth keeps it in orbit around the
sun. No moon, and the earth could lose track of its orbit around the sun and either cave in to
the sun or move out away and become a frozen planet.
So one of the ways to imagine the sign is, what would life be without this sign? In fact, Allah
draws our attention to this point in the Quran. In Surah al-Qasas,
70

Surah Fussilat 41:39

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When you see every year, when winter comes, everything dies. The fruits die, vegetables die.
Then after some time, the seasons change and there are green shoots again, then there is
vegetation. Over and over again. Thats being done by the one who brings the dead bodies
back to life on yawm al-qiyamah.

180 Passage 3 | Lessons From Nature

Say, "Have you considered: if Allah should make for you the night continuous until the Day of
Resurrection, what deity other than Allah could bring you light? Then will you not hear?"71
In some countries far north like Greenland, Norway, they experience no light for 6 months.
And daylight for 6 months. One of the amazing things they found in a study by B and C
Psychiatry, in Greenland, the rate of suicide increases in the month of July. And they believe
that is tied to the phenomena of persistent daylight which causes insomnia, which makes
people anxious and increases anxiety, leading to suicide.
This is what we are being told if Allah did not do this for us, how would our lives be
impacted?

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4. Just know that nothing is a coincidence. Absolutely nothing in nature is a coincidence. Every
single thing has been determined to be like that by Allah. It is not a coincidence. It is not
Mother Nature. It is not the Laws of the Cosmos coming together to somehow bring about
this phenomena. It is Allah who made it like this. The proof of this is in the Quran as well.

And the sun runs [on course] toward its stopping point. That is the determination of the Exalted
in Might, the Knowing.72
The sun runs its course everyday. Is that Mother Nature? Is that the Laws of Physics? No.
Taqdeer means to precisely determine something. Who did it? The All-Mighty The AllKnowing. And what is amazing about that is that the sun is a huge entity. To be able to
determine its course requires power al-Aziz. To be able to determine a precise course
requires knowledge al-Aleem.
These 4 principles can help a person appreciate the signs much more than it would without it.

71
72

Surat al-Qasas 28:71

Surat Ya-Seen 36:38

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33. And a sign for them is the dead earth. We have brought it to life and
brought forth from it grain, and from it they eat.
The first of the 10 signs is to do with the barren earth.
Why the barren earth first? Why mention this one first, that this barren earth, Allah brings it back to
life, and then the grain comes out, and you eat that grain. Why mention this one first? Why not the
moon, why not the sun, why not the ark of Nuh first? The previous ayah mentions that everyone will
be brought back and be made to present a case. That is to do with resurrection. Therefore, the next
ayah is also about resurrection through the physical sign of the barren earth coming back to life.

And ayah for whom? It refers to the Quraysh but any person who doubts the ability of Allah to
resurrect the dead bodies back to life. And even the Muslims, it is for them a sign as well. Though
they do believe in the resurrection, how strong is their conviction in the belief of the rersurrection?
Even Ibraheem wanted to increase his conviction in the resurrection, did he not?

And [mention] when Abraham said, "My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead."73
He wants to increase his conviction. And another thing we learn is that when a person has a stronger
eeman, he becomes a happier person, his happiness in his life is tied to his eeman. When his eeman
increases, so does his happiness.
A sign for everyone is the barren land. Allah did not mention it comes back to life. Rather, He said We
bring it back to life. He is attributing the emergence of growth from the ground to Him as opposed
to Mother Nature, the rain, as opposed to anything. Allah is attributing it to Himself.

grain like i.e., barley, , wheat, corn, rice.

refers to grain of many types. Wheat, barley, maize, rice, oats. All of these things, Allah mentions,

We bring it out from the ground.

From it do they eat. Who is they? It refers to the Quraysh primarily but then to everyone else.

73

Surat al-Baqarah 2:260

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What is an Ayah Exactly?

182 Passage 3 | Lessons From Nature

Allah did not mention they eat from it, He said from it they eat. It is a strange way of saying it. in
Arabic it doesnt sound strange. It sounds like you are making a point. It is to attribute the food and
the blessing of your food to Allah. Dont think of your food as your food. Think of it as a blessing
from Allah.

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It is something to be contemplated; it is a blessing upon human beings; or it

is a warning to human beings
The other possible implication is, look at the irony here. You people, who are being addressed deny
resurrection. Yet the sign of
resurrection is in the very food that
you eat though you dont realize it. The
clear sign of resurrection is that the
earth comes to life and what it gives
This really changes our perception of even the
you, food grain, you eat it. it is as if you
have eaten the proof of resurrection.
most mundane things. What it does is it
This really changes our perception of
even the most mundane things such as
grain coming out of the ground. The
grain that you see coming out of the
ground reminds you of yawm alqiyamah. What it does is it brings
together seemingly distant things such
that you see everything from the lens
of the religion. This is what it does. This
is why a person who studies the Quran
becomes a religious person. Because
he doesnt look at anything except
that he sees Allah and His religion
through it. Everything is an ayah.
Because it is pointing the person
towards the Creator Allah .

brings together seemingly distant things, such

that you see everything from the lens of the
religion. This is why a person who studies the
Quran becomes a religious person. Because he
doesnt look at anything except that he sees
Allah and His religion through it. Everything
is an ayah because it is pointing the person
towards the Creator, Allah .

Allah is expressing the care He has shown humanity

Lesson
One of the lessons from this ayah is that a person should use rational proofs in order to explain
spiritual concepts. This is a rational proof, is it not? If a person doesnt believe in resurrection because
they dont believe that it is possible that a dead person can come back to life, look outside. If you
look at a ground which is barren and some months later it is completely green, isnt that the case of

Passage 3 | Lessons From Nature

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the dead coming back to life? So why would it be impossible for a dead man to come back to life?
Isnt that a rational proof?
Not only is that a rational proof, but it is intuitive as well. The difference is that someone could
present a rational proof that makes sense to an academic or a teacher but not to a student or to a
Bedouin. If the rational proof is intuitive it means that it makes sense to anyone. This is the beauty of
Quranic arguments, that they are intuitive. They make sense to anyone - the educated, the
uneducated, the person who lives in the desert, the person who lives in the city.
Another lesson it teaches us is Allah is taking care of us. A token of Allahs mercy is the
very grain that comes out of the ground. You eat these things. So this ayah illustrates the mercy and
ruboobiyyah of Allah .

My Reflections

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The next ayah will talk about other things that we eat. Of them are dates and grapes. Why did this
one come first? Why did grains come first, then dates, then grapes? Some scholars said that is
because this is the food that you need to survive. As for grapes and dates, they are luxury items. So
they complete the picture of the diet. Basic necessities and then other things which we can enjoy.