138 Passage 2 | Lessons From History

Lesson 9
There is a saying in Arabic, that knowledge will not be acquired by a relaxed body. If you are relaxed,
you are compromising on your ability to acquire knowledge.

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We are on ayah 21. We explained most of it last time. But we will start from that ayah again. This is
the story of Ashab al-Qaryah (the people of the town). The story began when 2 messengers came to
a town and they gave them dawah and the town belied them. Allah sent a 3rd messenger, and the 3
of them tried their best efforts to persuade people to give up their paganistic ways (they were
mushriks), and to worship Allah, and Allah alone.
However, those people were arrogant. They did not want to listen. And so what happens is, when
they reach the end of their efforts, another person enters the scene, one man, a believer listens to
what the prophets have said, and accepts the message. And not only does he become a Muslim, he
decides to risk everything and go to where the messengers are propagating their message and to try
and get the people to listen to them. Even though he knows that the messengers are being treated
badly by the people, being abused and perhaps even their lives are at risk because they have
threatened to stone them if they dont stop. Knowing all of that, he still comes.
And when he comes, the first thing he says is, my people, follow the messengers, follow those that
have been sent. So you can imagine the scene. Al-Qurtubi said that what happened is that the people
gathered around the messengers and they were going to kill them. At that moment, this man enters
the scene.
So if thats the case, you can imagine a huge mob like crowd gathered around the messengers, and
they are becoming more and more aggressive, and it looks like things are going to become even
violent. At that moment, this man enters the scene, and the first thing he says is, oh my people,
follow the messengers.
The first thing to notice is that he addresses them, not as oh disbelievers, but as oh my people. How
many Muslim brothers and sisters who do dawah to non-Muslims think of non-Muslims as their
people?
Now somebody may say, but how are they his people? They were his people because they were from
the same country. And the fact that they were citizens of the same state, he said this made them his
people. So it is fine for me to call you my people. My people, follow the messengers.
It is not that the believing man didnt know that you are not allowed to call the kuffar your people.
Or that he knew but he was negligent of this teaching. Rather, he was teaching us something.
And that is, even though the person is a disbeliever, you still want them to become Muslim. You still
want them to go to jannah. You dont want them to go to the hellfire. In fact, our Prophet ,

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Perhaps, [O Muhammad], you would kill yourself with grief that they will not be believers.
The Prophet felt it very difficult to see his people, his non-Muslim community going where they
were going and refusing to accept Islam. And it weighed heavy on his heart. In fact, we see the ayah
it was as if he was going to kill himself out of grief that they are not going to believe.

Look at this man! What is amazing about the story, is that Allah gave this believing man the same
amount of space in the Quran as He gave the 3 messengers. Look at the page of the mushaf. You
will see half the page is about the 3 messengers. The 2nd half of the page is about this man. One
believing man!
The other interesting thing is that this man is inside a story which is unknown to most people even
though the story is inside a surah which is the most beloved surah to most people. Surat Ya-Seen is
one of the most beloved surahs to most people. And yet, most people dont know about this story.
They dont know about this man. But when we read about him, what we are actually being told is
that in the eyes of Allah, this man is a hero. So much so, that what he did, Allah valued it so much
that He placed it in the Quran so that he would become immortal in the memory of all human beings
until the Day of Judgment. Why? To inspire us. To say, look at this man! You need to learn how he
lived his life and try to be like him. That is the reason why so much detail has been given about this
man and what he did.
Now somebody may ask the question was this man coming as competition to the messengers? He
came to the location where the 3 messengers were, and now he is going to try and advise the same
people who the messengers have tried to advise, and have failed. Is he trying to compete with the
messengers? He is not, is he? What then in his mind is telling him that despite the messengers not
being able to convince them, I should have a go? What do you think? Is he trying to compete with
them? He wasnt, was he? Then why did he come for?
He was carrying on their legacy. The difference between this man and the prophets is not just that
they are messengers and he is not. The second difference is that he is from the people and the
messengers are from another place, another country. So they werent from the people, they were
outsiders, foreigners. So perhaps this man thought to himself, they have have tried, but by being
part of their nation, perhaps they would listen to him when they hadnt listened to them. And that
was enough for him to try.
55

Surat Shuara 26:3

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So what that means is, it is teaching us that when it comes to non-Muslims, our view of them is that
these people are desperately in need of help. And the ones that are going to help them are us. And
the greatest way that we can help them is by trying to guide them to Islam. As opposed to looking at
them, and saying these people, may Allahs curse be upon them, are going to the hellfire. As some
people do, they gloat at non-Muslims thinking yeah, they are going to go to the hellfire, it is good for
them.

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What does he say to them? The first thing he says to them is, follow the messengers. Which is
indicative that he wasnt coming to take over. Rather he came to support. He wasnt coming to tell
them to follow him. He was coming to tell them to follow them (the messengers).

21. Follow those who do not ask of you [any] payment, and they are
[rightly] guided.
He begins a very compassionate and wise call to his people, trying to persuade them. And he will
employ many different skills and tools to try to persuade them. You have to follow this very carefully
to appreciate the nuance in the way he speaks.

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Two reasons given

After telling them follow the messengers, he then says, follow the ones who:
1. They are not asking you for any ajr.
2. They themselves are committed to guidance.
He is going to try and formulate a strong argument. And the argument is based on 2 things:

money/ rank/ leadership

He says follow the ones who are not asking you for any ajr. What does ajr mean? Because sometimes
in the Quran we see Allah mentions to the prophets, tell them:
56

And sometimes Allah mentions, tell them:

57

What is the difference between the 2? Maal means money. As for ajr, it can mean more than money.
Ibn Ashur said it can mean money, it can mean position, and it could also mean leadership. Which
basically means, in a bit more modern sense it could mean power, and it can mean money, fame,
popularity, all of these things, it can mean ajr.
He is saying, all of these things, they dont ask you for any of that. Why is that a strong argument to
start off with? They are refusing to believe the messengers. He comes on the scene and he says,
follow them. And let me explain why.
56
57

Surat Hud 11:29

Surat Ash-Shuara 26:109

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Number one, they are not asking for any ajr. Why is that compelling to hear? If they dont ask you for
any money or wealth or position, then there is nothing in it for them. And if there is nothing in it for
them, it means that they are not out to try and dupe you, they are not out to try and swindle you for
money, they are not out to try and get the better of you. They dont ask you for any ajr. Thats a very
strong reason why you should listen to them.
The fact that they dont ask for any money shows that they are sincere, and they dont have any
ulterior motive. You have to appreciate that, someone comes to you and says, I have a message for
you from god, and your life depends on this message. Give me ten thousand pounds, and I will tell
you. If someone said that, you will find him shady. He says he is going to save your life and he wants
ten thousand pounds. A person would hesitate. But if a person says Ive got something from Allah
and it will save your life and I dont want anything in return. I dont want money, I dont want thanks,
I dont want nothing. You may feel you should listen to this person. It seems as though he is genuine.

committed to guidance

The second reason is, they themselves are committed to guidance. That means that if you look at the
way they behave and conduct themselves, you can tell that they are people of good, upright
character. Why is that important in order for you to accept their message? Why is their character
important? Because if their character wasnt top, then you would think, they dont practice what
they preach.
This is a review of what was said in the the beginning of Surat Ya-Seen. Allah validated the Prophet
, indeed you are of those that have been sent. I swear by the Quran that you are. And you are an
upright person. Your character is flawless. And now, another beliving man once came and said,
people, you need to follow the messengers because (1) they dont ask you for any money which
means their message is genuine, and (2) they themselves take their word, because, look at the way
they live their lives! They are guided people. They live by the guidance that they preach.

Verbal vs. Nominal

One of the interesting things Ibn Ashur mentioned is the ayah itself is a two-part ayah. The first part
of the ayah is in a verbal form and the second form is in a nominal form jumla filiyyah and jumla
ismiyyah.
Listen to it carefully. Follow those who are not asking for money this is a verb, meaning, the
present tense. And they are people committed to guidance. That is a noun.
What is the difference between a verb and a noun? One of the main differences is that a verb is
caged by time. As for the noun, it is permanent. It is not caged by time. if someone says kataba, he
wrote. When did he write it? In the past. If someone says kitab, it is a book. Now, in the future, in the
past, always going to be.

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142 Passage 2 | Lessons From History

So when he spoke about them being guided, he didnt say they are people on guidance or being
guided. He said they are muhtad. People committed to guidance. And that is interesting because it is
not like they are sometimes well-behaved. For example, when people come to the masjid they are on
their best behavior, but when they go home things may change. When they are at work, compared
to when they are home. When they are with their friends, compared to when they are with their
family. Things change depending upon the circumstances. When a person is a muhtad, it means
whatever the time, whatever the circumstance, that persons character never changes.

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On of the beautiful things about Surat Yusuf, one person said that when Yusuf was in prison and he
spoke to the 2 prisoners, he gives them dawah. How come he gets the opportunity to give them
dawah? Because they come to him and they tell him, can you interpret a dream for us? We see you as
someone who has excellent character. This is in prison. And he is in prison for no good reason.
Imagine being taken to prison under fabricated charges.
Now when the king has a dream and he asks his men to interpret and they cant interpret it and then
his butler who was one of the prisoners, he says to the king, I know someone who can interpret it, he
is in prison. He goes to Yusuf and says, this is your chance to get out of prison now. Tell me the
interpretation and you can be out. Even though he tells him the interpretation and he says you can
come out now, he says no, I am not going to come out until you tell the king to open the case against
me up again. Because I want justice to be served. I dont want to get out of this with a free pass
because I interpreted the dream of the king. The king is amazed. This man doesnt want to come out
of prison? He becomes impressed by his character and he calls the women of Madinah.
The women that cut their hands. He says, tell me, what was the issue there? Something happened,
didnt it? And they say, Yusuf, we dont know any bad thing about him at all. Those women were
trying to coerce him to commit zina with the wife of Aziz. Their character is less than perfect.
Now, the brothers come back in the scene, after so many years as beggars for food because of a
famine in their country to the Aziz, not knowing he is Yusuf. And what happens? Yusuf helps them.
One year, another year. Then, Binyameen is caught stealing, supposedly. They say to Yusuf, oh Aziz,
please take us instead of him, because he has an old father, so take one of us in this place, because
we see you as one of those people with excellent character. Imagine who they are talking to. The
person whom they threw at the bottom of the well and left for dead. They are saying, your character
is flawless.
The author of this gem said, whatever the circumstances, Yusufs character never changed. And that
is very telling of a person. May Allah give us good character.
So he said they are muhtadoon, meaning their character is always the best.

Lesson: Practice what you Preach

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And there is a lesson here. The lesson is that for us, when we are trying to persuade our non-Muslim
friends or colleagues to accept Islam, one of the best ways of doing this is to say look at the life of
the man who preached this message. Read the seerah. One of the ways you can see the truth in this
message is look at the character of the one who is preaching it. In the same way, we should take this
as a lesson.
If he is using their character as a way to persuade them to accept Islam, it shows us that our
character need to be the best, all the time. And our character being good and of a high level could
become a source of guidance for other people.

Why does he repeat himself? Why does he say follow the messengers, follow the ones who dont ask
for money and they are themselves guided? Whats the need of repeating himself? Emphasis, this is
one of the reasons why. This is one of the things people find most difficult to follow the
messengers. Thats why he uses the word ittiba as opposed to aminu the messengers. Why doesnt
he say, people, believe in the messengers? He says people, follow the messengers. Because he
knows that they understand the truth of the message. The issue is about following.
There is another lesson. And that is that some scholars like Ibn al-Qayyim said that it is not repition. In
fact, he is saying 2 different things. Firstly, he said follow the messengers. And then he gives a
general message, that the kind of people you should follow in life are those who dont ask you
money for advice and secondly, they are themselves practicing what they preach. In life, in general,
these are the types of people you should follow, they dont ask for any money and they themselves
practice what they preach.
Malcolm X, after he passed away, his biographer Alex Haley approached the FBI and said, tell us
about Malcolm X. And he managed to get the 2 officers snooping into his house in the last days
before his assassination. They said, one thing we can tell you about Malcolm X is that whatever he
spoke about outide the home, he practiced inside the home. They are listening to his telephone
conversations, perhaps bugged his rooms where he would speak to his wife, and all they heard is this
man lives by what he preaches outside.
This is perhaps another point. This is not repitition, rather it is a separate point.

My Reflections
Ayah 20 and 21 of Surat Ya-Seen also remind me of Ayah 26 in Surah al-Qasas...

... the man says follow the messenger (specific), follow those who don't ask for ajr
and are muhtadoon (qualifications). And the lady says, hire this man (specific), Indeed, the best one

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Nazm link: Validating message and

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you can hire is the strong and the trustworthy (qualifications). I think it is beautiful how Qur'an is a
book of timeliness guidance. We were not present, and if we don't know why these specific people
were being selected for their respective positions in these ayaat, then we are informed about the
exact characteristics that made them suitable for those positions!

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22. And why should I not worship He who created me and to whom you
will be returned?
And then he says, why should I not worship the One Who created me, it is to Him that you will be
returning.

Why is he being indirect?

If he was direct, people would become defensive. But inverting it, saying what would have to be
wrong with me that I shouldnt worship the One Who created me?

and fitrah

Now look at the way he spoke about Allah. He didnt say, why should I not worship Allah. He said,
why should I not worship the One who fatarani.
In the Quran, there are about 4 words for creating:

Badaa (badeeus samaawaati wa al-ardh)

Khalaqa
Fatara
Baari

There are differences between them. As for the difference between khalaqa and fatara, they said the
difference means to open and to take out. To open up something and then to take something out.
Ibn `Abbas, , said, "I did not know what Fatir As-Samawati wal-Ard meant until two
bedouins came to me disputing over a well. One of them said to his companion, `Ana Fatartuha,'
meaning, `I started it.''' Ibn `Abbas, , also said,

means, "The Originator of the heavens and the earth.''

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Pay attention to how he speaks here. Instead of speaking to the crowd, he speaks to himelf. He
doesnt say, why should you not worship the One Who created you. he says, why should I not
worship the One Who created me. Why does he do that?

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No one should think that Ibn Abbas didnt know what the word meant at all, as if it was like another
language for him. It means that he didnt know precisely what he meant. He didnt know the precise
meaning of the word. It is impossible that he wouldnt know the meaning of the word, and he was
from among the most elite of Arabs.
The Bedouin says I fatartuha, meaning I dug it up and the water began to gush out because of me,
not because of you. And so said, at that moment, I realized what faatir meant.
So here, that man is employing that word. He is saying, why shouldnt I worship the One Who
brought me into existence. Why is that better than saying why shouldnt I worship Allah? How is it
different? Doesnt it mean the same thing?

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By saying fatarani, he makes it applicable to all. He is not talking about his god, or it could be
misinterpreted to saying oh, youre talking about your god. Rather, the One who created me is
obviously the One who created you as well. He makes it specific or relatable to everyone.
When you speak about the fact that Allah brought you into existence, it makes you look at Allah and
appreciate Him as One who gave you everything in your life, which makes you want to reciprocate
the blessing by showing some gratitude. So by saying it like this, it is more compelling.
People love to take selfies. What is it about the selfies that people love? It is capturing the moment.
That moment of happiness. The One fatarani, Who gave me every single moment in my life! When
you say fatarani it becomes more compelling. It makes total sense to worship Him and no one else.

Transition: you is in place of I shall return. (iltifaat)

And why should I not worship He who created me and to whom you will be returned?
He doesnt say the one who created ME and whom I will go back to. He says, the One who created
ME and whom You will go back to. This is called iltifaat in the Arabic language. It is a shift in the
pronoun. He started speaking about me and ended up speaking about you in the same sentence. In
English, we dont do that. It is foreign to the English language. But in the Arabic language, it comes in
the Quran many times.
And some of the scholars said that iltifaat is shajaatul Arabiyyah (the daringness 0f Arabic). What
does that mean? It means that they have such mastery of the language, they could switch the
pronoun in the middle of a sentence and it would still come out compelling.
And if that is the case, then what shows us is that this man was so confident, speaking in a hostile
environment about his religion, that he could do something like this. He could say, first of all, what is
the matter with me that I shouldnt worship the One Who gave me life and to Whom you are all
going back? What does that mean? Are you talking to us or are you talking to yourself? Ah, so you

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were talking to us all along! And what you are telling us now is that we are going to go back to Him
as well. That is the reference to the hereafter.
Why is he speaking about the hereafter? The reason he is speaking about the hereafter is because
the remembrance of the hereafter has the power to destroy arrogance. When a person thinks about
the day he has to stand before Allah, even if he is the best of people, he will be terrified. And the
arrogance that is ruining his life could possibly be removed. So in this way, remembrance of the
akhirah is very important, not just on a theological level, but on a tarbiyyah level as well.
Another benefit of mentioning that you are all going to go back to him is that when you think about
the day you will have to go back to Allah, you start to reflect about how you are living today.

Surat al-Maun. Have you not seen the one who belies the deen (Day of Judgment). Fa of sababiyyah.
And that is why this person harshly pushes away the orphan. What is the connection between
mistreating the most vulnerable people in society and disbelieving in the Day of Judgment? When a
person thinks they are not going to be brought back to Allah, their morality becomes corrupt
because there is no accountability. Who is going to take him to task?
The Quran connects the ethical behavior of the human beings to their belief in the hereafter. It
shows us that one of the ways to improve your character is to reflect about the Day of Judgment,
about your standing on the Day of Judgment. This will help a person to reform his character.

Lesson: Dawah Requires Confidence

Ends with threat
The man ended that sentence with a warning, a threat.

My Reflections

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If anyone read the Quran, you will realize that the way the Quran approaches the idea of the
hereafter is to say that peoples morality and ethics become corrupted the less they believe in the
hereafter. People who dont believe in the hereafter, Quran says they are the least ethical and moral
people. There are so many examples of this.

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23. Should I take other than Him [false] deities [while], if the Most Merciful
intends for me some adversity, their intercession will not avail me at all,
nor can they save me?
Again, he speaks in the first person. Am I going to take besides Allah other deities if the All-Merciful
One wanted to touch me with some harm, then these other idols would not be able to intercede on
my behalf and they would not be able to save me.

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He is saying that idol worship, or worshipping anyone other than Allah doesnt make sense. And why
doesnt it make sense? Why do you bow down to these idols? Why did Quraysh worship idols? Why
did they worship Laat and Uzza? They would say, we dont worship them except we believe we can
get closer to god, because they are closer to god.
This man says, that doesnt make sense because if I think about it, if Allah wanted some harm to
come to someone, He decreed it, could those idols come and intercede (meaning, they could
intervene on your behalf and decide nothing would happen), and save you (meaning, if the danger
did happen, then they would be able to come and rescue you.
If they cant save me and they cant intercede for me, there is no reason for me to worship them.
And again he says it in the first person. It is to make the message more compelling. It is not because
he doesnt want to hurt their feelings, or is being indirect because he doesnt want to say it to their
face. He is being indirect because he wants to be more persuasive and influential.
This is more like a personal recommendation.
Ustadh was reading that 23 billion of UK consumerism is directly impacted by reviews. The review
culture (Trip Advisor, etc.) has a big away on the way people spend their money. What is so strange
is that this industry is so big that it has given rise to another industry of fake reviews. Companies
employ hundreds of people to write fake reviews, not just in their favour, but against their
competitors as well. And then Trip Advisor released guidance for people to spot fake reviews. The
point of this is that the review culture is so big because people always trust a personal
recommendation. The company is always going to say that it is good. But if the customer says is
good, this means something.
In the same way, this man is making a personal recommendation. I wouldnt worship these idols, I
wouldnt do this, it doesnt make sense to me. What does make sense to me is to worship the One
Who created me, and thats what makes complete sense to me and I think thats the best thing.
So the other people could think, he seems to like that, it seems to make sense to him, it seems to
work for him, we should take that recommendation.

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Which is another reason perhaps why he is speaking in the first person.

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My Reflections

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24. Indeed, I would then be in manifest error.
What is he saying in between the lines here? If I did that I would clearly be misguided, wrong,
confused, messed up. If I did take these idols as beings that should be worshipped besides Allah, I
would be messed up. What is he saying in between the lines? You are doing this. If I did this I would
be a fool. You are doing this and you are being foolish. This shows us the man was being wise.
And there is another parallel to this as well, in Surah Kahf. When the youngsters are gathered
together in front of the king, and the king interrogates them for their beliefs, they also put together
an argument.

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And We made firm their hearts when they stood up and said, "Our Lord is the Lord of the heavens and
the earth. Never will we invoke besides Him any deity. We would have certainly spoken, then, an
excessive transgression.
They say, Our Master (being indirect again), is the master of the skies and the earth, and we would
never take deities other than Him. If we did say that, we would be saying an exaggerated lie. That
woud be over the top. Meaning, you people are doing that and you people are going over the top.
This is indirect.
Why? Because there is wisdom in that.

My Reflections

58

Surat al-Kahf 18:14

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25. Indeed, I have believed in your Lord, so listen to me."
The last thing he says is this. Then he comes out clearly and says that I am in fact a Muslim. He says,
indeed I (emphasis) have believed in YOUR master. He switches again. In order to show them
something different this time. By saying I have believed in your master, he is saying, me and you
together should all be believers. It is not about me vs. you. It is about me and you. All of us together
should worship Allah.

Whom does he say this to?

Furnish proof before decision

Iltifaaf
LISTEN TO ME. Loving speech
My Reflections

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Fasmaoon, al-Qurtubi said, it could be you people listen to me, or it could be that he is addressing
the messengers who were still there present, and he is saying listen to me, meaning bear witness
that I have believed. Bear witness before Allah.

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26. It was said, "Enter Paradise." He said, "I wish my people could know
It is then said, enter paradise. Where did we go in this story? Where did we go in this story? What was
said before were words coming out of this mans mouth to his people, lovingly trying to advise them.
All we see now is he is being told to enter paradise. What has happened in between? They killed him.
But the question is, why isnt the killing of the man spoken of or mentioned? Even in passing? Why is
it glossed over? Why is it concealed?

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Maybe it is not relevant. And another possible reason is that he got what we all want to get, and that
is paradise.
Some said it means Allah said to him, enter paradise. And if he was being told to enter paradise just
after he died, it means he died as a shaheed. As the Prophet that their souls would be in the
bodies of the green birds, perching on the arsh of ar-Rahmaan.
So why would the Quran not even mention that he was killed?
Ar-Raazi says that the reason is to show us that even though he was killed, what he experienced was
in this life, there was a moment where he was being seized, but the only thing he remembers is being
told to enter paradise. It is to show the immediacy of the reward of Allah. He got it instantaneously.
What happened in the middle doesnt even make a difference, it wasnt even mentioned because it
was so fast.
Another reason perhaps is because the target audience of this story is the Quraysh. They are the
primary audience of this story. If the Quran mentioned his killing, it could put dangerous ideas in
their head. Those people who are enemies to Allah shouldnt be made to hear things that could put
dangerous ideas in their minds as well. So this is a possible reason.
If only my people knew. Ibn Abbas said, he advised his people whilst he was living, and he advised
them even in his death.
He cared for them not only when he was living, but even after he died he still had compassion for
them. Because the words if only they knew mean, if only they knew what I have been given of
reward now, they would not have behaved the way they did, they would have accepted Islam.

My Reflections