36 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

Lesson 3

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We need to appreciate that every single word in the Quran has been chosen by Allah. And what that
means is, the word that has been chosen by Allah and placed inside an ayah, it is unlimited, it is
mubarak, it is full of blessing, full of meaning. Somebody could never exhaust and find out the depth
of the meaning of the Quran, even if they spent their lifetimes doing it.

The word that has been chosen by Allah

and placed inside an ayah, it is
unlimited, it is mubarak, it is full of
blessing, full of meaning. Somebody
could never exhaust and find out the
depth of the meaning of the Quran, even
if they spent their lifetimes doing it.

Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

37

The ayah that we will be speaking about today is:

5. [This is] a revelation of the Exalted in Might, the Merciful
We have reached the point now in Surat Ya-Seen where Allah has created a question in the mind of
the listener by saying

Indeed you, [O Muhammad], are from among the messengers

The question was, who has sent Muhammad ?He is one of those who has been sent, who has
sent him? This question is answered in this ayah i.e., who is it that has sent him?

The message is coming down from Allah and He is described with 2 names:
1. Al-Aziz, denoting His power and authority and
2. Ar-Raheem, which denotes His care and compassion and love for His creation.
The ayah after this answers another question, and that is: what is the purpose of sending this man
Muhammad ?

In order to warn a people that is his function, that is his role to warn a people.
So this is how the surah is flowing. It began by stating he is one been sent. Then Who has sent him.
That is spoken about. Then what is his role is spoken about thereafter.

means to come down, to send down. It is speaking about the Quran, and the way that it came
down to the Prophet . When someone hears that it came down to the Prophet , immediately
what it negates is that what the Prophet is saying, and the message he came with, is coming
from the East or the West. It is not coming from the Byzantine Empire in the East. Nor is it coming
from the Persians of the West. Rather, it is coming from the heavens.
For a few hundred years, many Orientalists have tried to concoct explanations of the message of the
Prophet by saying that it is merely just taken from previous scriptures from the Romans, from

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This answers the first question. Who sent him?

38 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

the Persians, or especially from the Jews and the Christians, and he has just put it together
and created this Quran.

This is showing that the origin of this Quran is not even from this world, never mind from other
people. It is coming from the heavens.
Usually, the way the word should end is

( with a dhammah, a rafa). This is the original state of a
20
word in the beginning of a sentence. But it is

. Now there is another recitation which is
.

But why is it

? There are 2 opinions as to why it is
:

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Omission of an implied word al-Quran making tanzeela the predicate/khabr

First is that there is something omitted, what they call in Arabic as taqti. Something is omitted.
Something that is so obvious in meaning, that it doesnt need to be there. But to show that it has
been omitted, the word doesnt end with a dhammah, it ends with a fathah. So what has been
omitted is the word Quran, i.e., the Quran has been sent down from Al-Aziz Ar-Raheem. There is
no need to mention the Quran because it is already known. Therefore the word ends with a fathah.
We do this in English as well.
If someone says, I like cookies, for example. What do they mean by I like cookies? They mean, I like
eating cookies. But there is no need to say eating, because it is known what you are saying. It is
known, so the word eating is omitted.
If someone says, I like football. What do you mean I like football? You mean, I like playing football. So
the word playing is omitted.
In the same way, the Arabs do this in their language as well. It happens often in the Quran. There is
taqti, something is omitted because it is very blatant what it means. There is no need to say it
explicitly.

To express madh exalt something like an embedded exclamation mark.

Another reason, however, which is mentioned by Abu Saud in his tafseer, is that it is for madh, it is
to extol. It is like putting an exclamation mark there. Tanzeel! Meaning, it is a great revelation that is
coming down from Al-Aziz Ar-Raheem. And someone who appreciates this, the way he recites will
change. He wouldnt recite in a very timid way. This is full of power. That is how you should recite it.
You should express the meaning.
,

, , , , , , 20
, , ,

Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

vs

39

= hikmah

And the word

is also interesting because it doesnt just mean to come down it means to come
down gradually. Sometimes, when Allah refers to the Quran, He says

As for anzala or inzal, it means it came down to him in what sense? Either it means when it first came
down from al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh (the divine preserved tablet) to the lowest heaven. All of a sudden
it came down and then it started to be revealed slowly. So would refer to that. Or, it means,
when it was ultimately all sent down and completed in its revelation, it was then. i.e., at the
end of the Prophet s life, it had completely come down in its total form. This is the nuance
behind the word tanzeel.
either the start when it came down to lowest heaven or end when its revelation had

been completed - Ibn Uthaymeen

All previous scriptures came down all at once

There is an interesting story here, just to appreciate the wisdom of sending down the Quran in parts.
They said about the previous scriptures, about the Tawrah and about the Injeel, and about the Suhuf
of Ibrahim , that it came down all in one go, not in stages. As for the Quran, it came down in
stages.
And there are so many benefits, so many wisdoms behind that. And one of the wisdoms behind that
is in order to develop the people slowly but surely. And this is one of the beauties in which the
Quran educates people, especially the primary audience. Because if you think about it, if all of the
knowledge of the Quran came down all of a sudden, including all of the laws, all of the traditions, it
would have been too much for people to embrace it all straight away. Especially those people they
were steeped in idol worship. And imagine the whole Quran and all of its message came down
straight away, it would be too difficult to implement. Rather, it came down piecemeal.
Umar al-Khattab, his conversion story really does help us to appreciate this, because before he
accepted Islam, there were a few moments in his life where his heart became softened towards
Islam. Umar ibn al-Khattab was an archenemy of Islam. He would torture the Muslims for embracing

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which is which means to come down. But then you have nazzala and
Indeed We
,
which means to come down as well. What is the difference? They said the difference is
means to
come down gradually, part by part, and this is how it came to the Prophet . Over the course of 23
years, the Quran was revealed to him slowly but surely.

40 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

Islam. And what happened is one day, he approached the Prophet . And he approached him in
order to criticize and abuse him. However, when he approached him, the Prophet was having
Surat al-Haaqqah being revealed to him21. And as he listened to the Prophet , and imagine
listening to the Prophet !We all love to listen to the beautiful qurra, the qaari comes from far
away and we like to listen to him, we are amazed by him. But imagine listening to the Prophet .
How his qiraah must have been!
So Umar al-Khattab, not yet a Muslim, he listens to the recitation of Surat al-Haaqqah, and you know
what he starts to think? He starts to think, this is the statement of a poem. And at that moment,
Allah revealed



These are not the words of a poet. How little faith do you have?

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Umar al-Khattab is taken aback. It was as if someone read his mind. And do you know what he
thought next? Maybe it is the saying of a fortune-teller.



And it is not the statement of a fortune-teller. How little do you think and contemplate.
This was the very next statement that was revealed. And that struck his heart like an arrow. And he
started to think, what is this? If this is not the statement of a poet or a fortune-teller, what is it?


[It is] a revelation from the Lord of the worlds.
This is one of the few things that happened before his conversion that made his heart soften.
What this teaches us is that there is amazing wisdom in the Quran coming down in parts. And of
them, is to develop the community slowly but surely. We will speak about this in regards to lessons.
Allah mentioned in this ayah that it is gradually coming down to him. And the fathah at the end adds
an exclamation, so it is gradually coming down, this Quran!
Who is it coming down from? 2 names are mentioned here:

power, irresistible, ultimate respect/authority.

The first name, Al-Aziz, comes from the root izzah. Izzah has a meaning of power, and of being
overpowering. So they say about Allah, that la yujizuhu shay (nothing can resist Allah). If Allah
wants something to happen, there is nothing in this universe that could resist Him . That is
one of the meanings of izzah. The second meaning is about having authority and respect. Allah is Al21

Or he was reciting in salah.

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41

Aziz, meaning He has the ultimate authority and respect. That is very beautiful, because what we
know from human behaviour, and human experience, is that sometimes a person may have a lot of
authority, but they have no respect. Sometimes a person may have respect, but they have no
authority. Sometimes, someone has neither.
Imam Asim thought about the police in America. They are going through a lot of turbulent times.
They have authority, but no respect. They have no respect at the moment. Some people have
authority and they have no respect.

Allah is Al-Aziz. He has ultimate authority and ultimate respect. This is the first name Allah chose to
describe the origin of the Quran. It is coming down from the one Who has the ultimate authority,
power and respect.
The second name is very different to this name. Which seems to be almost like the opposite end of
the spectrum. Because the first name, when you hear it, it is referring to Allah in a way that scares
you. It strikes fear in your heart. And that is why At-Tabari said, Al-Aziz, meaning the One who will
punish the disbelievers. This is the meaning, at-Tabari said, of Al-Aziz here the One who will punish
the disbelievers.

care, love, compassion

As for ar-Raheem, it comes from the root word of rahmah. And rahmah means mercy. This is what
they say it means. However, this may not be an accurate translation. Because the word rahmah, alAsfahani said it comes from the root word of rahm (the womb of the mother). That is where it is
derived from.
And when you think of this, it is the place where the baby is surrounded in love, mercy and care. And
that is why, even the Prophet said himself in a hadith22, that the word rahm (womb) is taken
from the name of Allah ar-Rahman. At-Tirmidhi said this hadith is hasan sahih. It is authentic. The
word the Arabs use for womb is taken from Allahs name ar-Rahman.

22

Jami at-Tirmidhi, Sahih al-Bukhari, Jami at-Tirmidhi

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Some people have respect, but no authority. Like sometimes teachers, they have got a lot of respect.
But, because of the way society is at the moment, if a teacher wanted to show his authority, he could
get into trouble. Even the students know this. He can say what he wants, maybe he has some
respect, he has got no authority. You cant touch me if you touch me, I will go to the authorities. So
sometimes one has one, they dont have the other.

42 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

So when you put them all together, what you find is that when you hear that Allah is ar-Rahman, you
think of the idea of love, of compassion and care. And that love, compassion and care is seen by
human beings through the relationship between the mother and the child. In fact, what that actually
means is that the reason why your mother loves you is
because of Allah. That is what it is showing us.

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The idea of mums love for the children comes from Allah
Himself. Which means that Allah loves His creation more
than the mother loves her son or daughter. Allah loves His
creation more than the mother loves her children.

Allah loves His creation

more than a mother loves
her children.

There is a hadith narrated by Umar al-Khattab as well,

about a woman who had lost her child, and she was
frantically looking for her child. And then all of a sudden
she found her child and she lifted him up, and embraced
him and hugged him. At that moment, the Prophet said that does any of you think that this
mother will throw her child in the fire? They said, no. There is no way that she will throw her child in
the fire. Not unless she couldnt help it. He said, Allah loves His servants more than this mother loves
her child. This hadith is in Sahih al-Bukhari.

The Quran is coming down from the One who is the ultimate authority and is so loving, caring and
merciful.

Why
together?

They are very different names. Why did Allah bring them together here? Whats the
wisdom behind that? You hear the name Al-Aziz, which kind of makes you scared. And then you hear
the name Ar-Raheem, right next to it, which makes you think that Allah loves you, will have mercy on
you, will forgive you, and that makes your heart warm to Allah. And they are placed right next to
each other. What is the benefit of that?
For the believers, Allah has a lot of love, care and compassion. But if you disbelieve in Allah, dont
think you can disbelieve, and thats it, thats the end of the story. Allah will punish you if you
disbelieve.
What is the most common couple when it comes to names of Allah? Which is the most common pair
in the Quran? Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem come together more than 100 times in the Quran. The name
Al-Aziz usually comes with Al-Hakeem, not with Ar-Raheem. So this is a very rare combination. So we
should ask ourselves, why are those 2 names being brought together?
There are a few reasons:

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43

Points to His Perfection

The first reason is that bringing them together points to the perfection of Allah. This is an amazing
point. Because what we know about human history is that power corrupts people. Power leads to
oppression. Power leads to the absence of rahmah. But when you hear Allah is al-Aziz, He has the
ultimate power, that does not diminish Allahs mercy. This points to Allahs perfection.
And the opposite also holds true. Sometimes, someone is nice to people because they are not strong
enough to stand up for themselves or to say no. They do not have that character. They dont know
how to say no and people take advantage of them. Sometimes, people show rahmah out of
weakness. Allah is Al-Aziz Ar-Raheem to show that His mercy is not because of a lack of
power of strength. Rather, both of those things are coming together to point to the perfection of
Allah .

Strike balance of fear & hope

The balancing of hope and fear. When you hear about al-Aziz, you are fearful. Sometimes, too much
fear can lead to despair. So it is balanced with the idea of hope, which comes in Ar-Raheem.

Emotionally compelling
It is emotionally compelling. What does that mean? We need to appreciate when this was revealed
in the 10th year of prophecy where the Prophet has given dawah to all these people of Makkah,
and most of them have rejected him. Now Surat Ya-Seen is coming, and it is telling them, you better
listen up. This man has been sent. Who is sending him? Al-Aziz. Now someone who is in the audience
appreciates all the nuances that we have mentioned in the language. He listens to the message and
he has been rejecting this man for 10 years now. He may hear this and feel, this is coming from AlAziz. He will destroy me if I dont listen to this. The arrogance in his heart softens. It begins to break.
But once a persons arrogance breaks, he then needs to be made a call of mercy to come forward.
Someone might be scared and not want to reject, but they might not have the motivation to come
forward. When they hear Al-Aziz they become scared, when they hear ar-Raheem straight
afterwards, they feel that despite all the bad I have done, the One calling me is Ar-Raheem. Hell look
after me now. It is emotionally more compelling.
Allah knows best.

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Each word is really selected by Allah. You can really focus and think about things.

44 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

Nazm analysis i. v26 ii. v29 iii. al-Shuaraa

ayah 5

[This is] a revelation of the Exalted in Might, the Merciful

ayah 26

It was said, "Enter Paradise." He said, "I wish my people could know

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ayah 29

It was not but one shout, and immediately they were extinguished.

ashShu'ara

And indeed, your Lord - He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful.

In terms of the connection of the nazm, the connection between this ayah and the surah itself, we
find that this is a principle being illustrated here, and then it will be expressed through a story. And
that is the story of Ashab al-Qaryah.
Because in that story what we find is there was a whole city, they rejected 3 prophets. What
happened to them? They were destroyed. Allah mentions there was just one violent blast that came
and they were like people, like a fire had been put out, that is how their end was. So which name is
that expressing? Al-Aziz. You heard Allah is al-Aziz, He will destroy people who disbelieve in Him,
and then you are shown in a story, how He destroyed a nation once upon a time.
As for Ar-Raheem, that is also inside the story. Because a man who came from Aqsa al-Madinah, he
tried to advise his people and tried to warn them. But they wouldnt listen to him. He was killed.
What happened to him? It was said to him, enter paradise. And he said, if only my people knew what
I am getting now. And this is a token of Allahs mercy. In fact, the very sending of the prophets
themselves, to those people is an act of mercy from Allah. Because what is going to be their fate if
they dont get the messengers? They are going to go to the hellfire. So the story illustrates this.
There is one other thing as well. The pair Al-Aziz Ar-Raheem, comes 9 times inside one surah. In surat
Ash-Shuara, it appears 9 times. A series of stories is presented, starting with Moosa , then the people
of Hud, then Thamud, then Lut, then Shuayb, and every time, what the story ends with is they
rejected their messenger, and they were obnoxious, and they were destroyed. And then the story is
sealed every time by mentioning,

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45

The same statement comes 9 times inside that surah. The 9th time, it appears slightly differently, but
8 times in a row it appears in the same way. Why? Why is Allah sealing the stories with the same
words

And indeed, your Lord - He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful.
Why? Because the story shows Allah is al-Aziz Ar-Raheem. Al-Aziz because Allah destroyed them in
such a horrific way. So just listen to this story. It will show you how Allah is al-Aziz. And secondly, arRaheem because Allah sends these people time and time again messengers. Over and over again.
They come and say the same thing. They exhaust their efforts in trying to advise them and every
single time, they are abused, rejected, and mocked at. Every time Allah sends prophets. Why does
Allah do that? Because Al-Aziz Ar-Raheem.

So this is how the words are appearing inside the surah and how the connections are made. Allah
knows best.

Lessons
There are 3 lessons we learn from this ayah. Very important lessons.

Use Step-wise approach in dawah

The first lesson it teaches us is that you should use a step-wise approach in dawah. When you are
advising your friends, family, colleagues at work, and trying to bring them close to Allah, use a stepwise approach. What does that mean? It means that you should take things slowly. A little bit of
advice here, build on that next time, and so on and so forth. Dont try and go in heavy handed
straight away and just give all the information you have in one go.
This happens sometimes when people embrace Islam, we found that many of those brothers and
sisters they say that as soon as I became Muslim, people started giving me loads of books. They said
you need to know how to pray straight away, you have to give your zakat, you have to fast, all these
things, and it is too much for me. I couldnt do it. Yesterday I was a kafir. Today I am a Muslim, and
you are telling me that I have to raise my hands in the salah.
This is going against the Quranic wisdom. Because the Quran is tanzeel. It gradually came down
over 23 years. When did the order to pray salah 5 times a day come down? The 11 th year. Isra wa alMeraj. So you have been a Muslim now for 10 years, then youre being told pray 5 times a day. What
about fasting? When was fasting obliged? In the 2 hijri year. You have been Muslim now for nearly 15

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[Because the Prophet who came, came to help them find their way to paradise = rahma but they
rejected it and Allah punished them = izzah.]

46 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

years, and now you are being told to fast Ramadan. Hijab, they said came down in the 4 th or 5th hijri
year. A Muslim lady has now been a Muslim for 20 years almost. 20 years down the line you are being
told to wear hijab. Why? Why werent they told to wear hijab straight away? They are dealing with a
lot of baggage. For many years, many of them have been alcoholics, womanizers, idol worshippers.
Is it possible a person changes overnight? It is possible that overnight he goes from zero to hero? It is
not possible. It takes time. And this is a mark of wisdom. That when you educate others, you do it
slowly, gradually.

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And there is a very beautiful hadith23 in Sahih Bukhari where Aishah explains this. She
says, the first thing that was to be revealed in the Quran was al-Mufassal. Al-Mufassal refers to Surah
Qaf until the end of the Quran. And then she says, the reason why that was when the hearts of
people became firm on Islam, then Allah revealed halal and haram. Then she said, had the people
been told dont drink alcohol in the beginning, they would have said we will never stop drinking
alcohol. She said if they were told dont commit zina, dont indulge in adultery, fornication, they
would have said we would never have stopped doing zina . This is what she said.
She is explaining this wisdom that what you need to do first is you need to take it slowly, gradually.
And secondly, what is more important than the laws is the spirit. What does that mean? It means that
the reason a person is going to pray and fast and wear hijab and abandon drugs and alcohol and so
on and so forth is because they believe in their hearts that if they do this they will get reward and if
they abandon it they will get punished. Thats what it comes down to.

What to teach your kids first

So if you want your daughters to wear hijab, your children to recite Quran, and be well behaved,
pray, and so on and so forth, dont keep telling them to do those things if you havent told them why
they should be doing them.

How to give dawah to those with weak faith

Because she said the first thing that was revealed was al-Mufassal. If you read Juz Amm and
Tabarak, there are no laws in that. Instead, all it talks about is hell and heaven. Only mentioning
jahannum and jannah, the hereafter. Why? Because when a person keeps on hearing those things,
and starts imagining them, he starts to believe in them. He becomes convinced. Now he has got all
the motivation to act on that belief. So it makes sense that when the laws do come, the way they act
on it will be instantaneous. It will be intuitive. It wont be with resistance. This is one of the wisdoms
of Quran and it teaches us that we should take a step-wise approach in doing dawah to our friends
and family. Allah knows best.

How to strengthen your own faith

23

Sahih al-Bukhari

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47

Quran is a token of Gods mercy

Another lesson it teaches us is that Quran is a token of Allahs mercy. It means that whatever the
Quran contains of laws and dos and donts, is a product of Allahs mercy. And that is very important
because what we hear is that the laws of Islam are like a chore . They are not just difficult but
they hold people back. They are backward, and they just make things difficult for you. Isnt
that what people say?
It is not just about doing things. Rather it is to show you the things, that if you do them, they will
help you. And not just help you in the life to come; they will help you in this life. Every law that Allah
gave us is to benefit us.

If you want to go to paradise, you have to do

certain things, challenge yourself and work hard.
While that is true, what we are learning here is
that sometimes people work hard, do things that
dont benefit them. For example, a person gives
his entire life to a particular career and at the end
of it, when he is 50 or 60 and is retiring, he may
say I didnt benefit one bit. Instead my hair has
gone gray and I have become more stupid.
But what we are learning is if a person did
everything Allah asks of him, not only would it be
difficult for him and rewarding in the end, but it
would be rewarding whilst he is doing it. He
would never feel that what he has had to do was
pointless. Rather it has brought him immense
benefit in his life.

If a person did everything Allah

asked of him, not only would it
be rewarding in the end, but it
would be rewarding whilst he is
doing it.

Knowing the origin of the Quran should change your approach to it

The last thing it shows us is knowing the origin of the Quran should change your approach towards
it. When you heard

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And Ibn Taymiyyah said that every instruction to do something from Allah, and every prohibition
to stay away is for the benefit of the human beings such that whatever instructions they are told to do,
if they did them, there is a maslaha (a benefit) for that person even if he cannot see the benefit. And
everything He told him to stay away from, in that there is a protection from a marsada (a harm). If he
stays away from it, he will be protected from a harm, even if he cannot see it. That is everything that
Allah has asked. It is something to benefit you. And it is not something to make your life difficult.

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that the Quran came from Al-Aziz, and Allah is al-Aziz, meaning Allah has the ultimate power and
authority and He will punish people who reject this message. This should change the way you read
the Quran. It should make you think about the fact that these words are not just coming from
anyone. It is coming from Allah. And when I hear that it has come from al-Aziz, it should make me sit
up and listen carefully to what is being said because it is talking about al-Aziz.
So these are some of the lessons that we learn from this ayah.

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My Reflections