When Allah Swore By The Stars
Date:
Channel: Nouman Ali Khan
File Size: 16.48MB
Episode Notes
Ustadh Nouman Ali Khan gives an impactful lecture relating to Surah Al Waqiah and its last part deals with those who are skeptical in light of Deen.
He goes on to cite various examples that illustrate our complete uninhibited dependence on Allah SWT for the smallest of our actions and needs. Yet we choose to adorn the mask of arrogance and vain without realizing that Allah is the provider of sustenance and all this could be taken away with the blink of an eye.
Hence, it is of paramount importance that we fully comprehend the gravity of the Ayats discussed in this lecture and adopt humility and gratitude of the highest degree.
AI Generated Transcript ©
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for hamdulillah lillahi Rabbil alameen wa Salatu was Salam O Allah azza wa jal MBR It was mursaleen. Early he was Sufi minister recently at Elijah Medina, Allah homage and amin home, Amina Latina Amman, Wagga solly had, whatever so we'll have the sub mini Robin alameen. Once again for the 10th time in fiscal seminar, they can work with a lady with a cousin.
inshallah tada it's been a remarkable journey for myself, and I hope all of you as well into some ions of sorts of Bukhara. On this 10th evening, I wanted to open up this discussion and this reminder, not only for the community here, but also I asked my staff to put together something for Facebook Live, I wanted to share a reminder that some These are some of my favorite in the Quran in from one point of view, when people come and ask me, what's your favorite part of the Quran? It depends on the day they're asking. So that changes but depending on the subject matter, and the subject matter here is the greatness of the Quran itself. How does the Koran describe itself? And in
what ways does it articulate its own importance? My favorite place to describe that is actually this, this is sort of latte art. And it's towards the end of Philadelphia. So to lucky, it belongs to a group of surahs, you could say they begin with cough, and they go all the way to alcohol, 53 number 52, all the way to 56 that have a common theme. And that is that there are people that are skeptical about the afterlife. Moreover, they're skeptical of the fact that the Koran is claiming such vivid detail about what's going to happen after people die. And that's one of the big reasons they are doubtful about the validity of this revelation, they don't think this can be from God, it's
too much of a too tall of a claim too fantastical view, you know, it's too imaginative. So they they make all kinds of criticisms of the Koran in these souls one after the other. So the same issue occurs in one way or the other. In off, you know, it occurs again later on, for example, that yachts and najem, you name it, come up and then last man, and then again sort of up here, it's actually in one way or the other the same subject, but by the end this is at the end of the entire discourse, you can say in one way what the conversation that began in Surah number 50 is coming to a culmination in Surah number 56 and from here on from Surah number 57 onwards are actually my
denisovans. So these are pseudo is that from a different time, all of these are McKee source earlier revelations. Anyhow, I wanted to share this passage with you because it's probably the passage that impacted me the most in just my arm of what the Quran is. Allah talks to them and says talks to those who are skeptical and says our eternal truth.
uncontested. Aruna who
have you taken a look at what you crop with the harvest you have? Were you the ones planting it? Or were we the the planters that are literally used to plant the seed in the ground. I mean, that physical act is that of the farmer and Ally's claiming, actually you just put a little piece, little seed inside the ground, who actually gave it life who made that entire mechanism work. You feel like you did all this work, putting the soil on it, making sure it gets water, making sure the weeds don't come making sure it stays free of insects. You did your part, but the magic is not from you.
The stuff of life You didn't create life. I'm not going to Saudi Arabia, no, no shot.
Moon, New Moon had we wanted, we would have turned it into nothing but crust, nothing would grow. stuff that you step on and don't even realize you've stepped on something worthless is called coupon that's the word Allah uses. And then you would have been crying, you want to remain desperate looking for some kind of, you know, sustenance. And you would have said, we've been penalized. We've been, you know, why are we being punished like this, we've been completely deprived. But let's move on to the moon, you would have been humbled. In other words, you're coming and speaking to Allah with this arrogance. And Allah says, I know how to humble you. I know how to put you in your place,
I could just take your food supply away. Let's see how you do then. You know, my teacher used to give the example when he would explain I act like these because this is a continuous subject matter in the Quran. Allah speaks from an authority from a higher position. There are places in the crowd that are full of love and, you know, forgiveness and repentance. And there are places in the Quran that demonstrate them as authority and as power what he's capable of doing. So he would give the example of like a wild dog like a dog that you somebody bought, and it's not coming down. It's not domesticating, right. So it's, it bites back at them and it's constantly barking and it's, you know,
you have to tie it up. And it just, it's wildness. And it's rebellion cannot be tamed. So what this cruel owner decides to do is to keep the dog outside in the sun
and not giving any fruit or drink for like two days. That same dog every time you came out that was ready to bite you and drool at you. And when it as it's about to dehydrate and die. It's completely humbled. And it's literally its faces just on the ground. And by then if you just take a little sip of water, and you bring it near the dog, it's humbly going to just it's not about him. It's just going to quietly drink and all of that crazy is gone.
Because you know as as proud as that dog was and as wild as it was, once it sustenance is taken away. It's been brought on it's nice. It's been humbled. Allah says Who do you think you're offending? Your sustainer
lsvt Shinobu Have you seen the water that you drink? Have you taken really observed where the water comes from? And don't luminol Muslim were the ones in fact that brought it down from heavy laden clouds. You're the ones that brought it down onto the earth and Africans are reasonable in sending it down. So keep in mind the examples of lies given here the rhetorical argument that he's making first he talked about crop crop would not be possible without light rain, so he brings up rain. And even if you do think you planted it on the ground, what do you think without water the one that you drink and your crops drink? That you would survive? lonely sha Allah who
had we wanted we would have completely dried it all up or made it undrinkable rather widjaja follow letters guru and how are you not grateful? How do I not find any gratitude to you for a two menara letter to rune? Have you seen the fire that you are you like yourselves, the fires that you make because you know back in the day and even today, of course we have gas heaters and all this other stuff, but the origin of fire is really from firewood, you know, and really from burning things that originally grew from the ground. So you notice the transitions happening first that crop was sustenance, then the source of that crop was water. And now later on that crop is used for multiple
purposes including one fire. Have you looked at the fires you guys build until then shall
we use the ones that came up with the fuel for that fire the trees that you burn in it, the bark that you burn in it? Um, National menciona We're the ones who produced it. Were the ones who brought it out of nothing. natalija Allah has just killed it and we made all of that into a reminder. Remember the conversation was about the afterlife. Look at the three things a lot brought up. He brought up crop, rain, and fire but they're all connected. It's actually the rain is in the middle of it all without the rain crop would never have grown trees would never have grown. Those same trees that sustain you and give you shade are also the fees from which what comes fire comes that
you light up yourselves fire however,
In the Quran typically is not described as a blessing. Fire is when you see fire. It's almost naturally a reminder of something terrifying, something you don't want to be near. Its warmth is something that will benefit you. But it also reminds you that you can't get too close to it. It's actually very similar to the warnings about fire and local on a lot brings you close enough that you feel the warmth of the Hellfire from his words.
And the new key some people wonder, why does it not talk about hell? Why couldn't you just skip that part? Just talking about heaven, it's too graphic the description of how well it's actually a parallel with fire even in this life. You need it. You need it, you need to get close enough to it to know that it's dangerous and some benefit is there and you being reminded of its danger and its benefit will come to you too. But if you don't do that, then when it does come you'll just jump right in and it'll be too close. But the incredible thing to hear also, that's something I talk about often is put on is compared with rain, often put on itself is compared with rain. And in this
passage we'll learn later on but on is compared with sustenance itself. That is when you think of sustenance, you think of food, you think of drink, you think of clothing, you think of housing, you think of these things as it is for art is going to call itself sustenance. Here, there's your physical sustenance, and there's your spiritual sustenance. And by the way, when sustenance is used properly, when the water is used properly, it produces food that gives you life. And if you you know that same water produces the crop that can also turn into wildfire, the crop that is turned into fire, this sustenance, if you use it well, it will become an in fact something that nourishes you.
If you don't use it well, it can also be something that produces one fire the same, the very same thing can become the fuel of one's fire. Now I get to the passage that I really wanted to get you
a laughter this incredible description I'm skipping a little bit gets I want to get to this whole
scene will be malarkey.
First and foremost, I want to share with you why the Quran takes oaths in many places and love swears by things and I don't mean the word swear as high schoolers using guys swears, like, you know, like cursing and things like that. I mean, taking an oath, I swear to God, I swear by God, I swear by the sky, I swear by the sun, I swear by the moon. These are the oaths that are taken and taken into Chrome. Obviously, we don't do that anymore. When you're talking with somebody now. You know, I swear by the sun. I'll be back tomorrow like we don't. That's not normal. We do. Is everything okay?
Oh, perfect. This is gonna be on Facebook. Somebody parked incorrectly. A black Toyota Canary. Canary Really?
is about to say, hey, look, he's somebody who's a true Muslim because they have a Toyota Camry. That's how we know if you're if you're ever confused of which one's the musty parking lot. Look for camrys is Russian. Right. So anyway, hopefully, not offending you.
Okay, so the Camry license, nobody knows their license plate, but still DJ l 854780. They named?
Mine and Kennedy. Sorry, bro.
Can we cut this out? Are you like, okay?
I'm sorry. No offense to your memory. Don't run me over. Okay.
Where were we? I swear, that's what I'm talking about taking an oath.
So the function of oath today when you know people are talking casually and I swear to God, sometimes they say that out of frustration, right? Another place where of course in contemporary society, an oath may be taken is when you're testifying in court, I swear to tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth, probably most of the truth. So help me God. You know, it's something like that. And so you say the, the the courtroom is a context for an oath, an oath is also a place a time of anger. You know, I swear, if you don't stop, it's a threat. That's how an oath can be used. And the Arabic language and by the way, this is across languages, like whether you're talking about orlu
or English or any other language, oh, it's have generally the similar purposes, right. So you know, these the the idea of testifying and taking an oath in a courtroom, or testifying or or taking an oath when you're frustrated, or at least common. It's not just something in English literature, or just in Arabic literature, it's across literature. But there are some things that are unique about the Arabic literary tradition, and the way these people spoke, and the way they took oaths. They use them in a way that's kind of different from other cultures. And they did two unique things with them. And I want to highlight those things because they're not as obvious when you're reading a
translation of the Quran. You might think of the old
As you think of any other, but it works a little bit differently in classical Arabic, right, so two of those things that I'd like to highlight for you, the first of them is they would do it to call attention to something
to just do, you know, focus on so I want you to pay attention to x. And their way of saying that is I swear by x, this is adopted MB, by the way, if there's a crowd and everybody's talking, and nobody's really listening, and you want to get up there, and you want to make an announcement that gets everybody's attention, the old way of doing that was taking an oath. And of course, you want to get their attention. So you'll have to take an oath by something that is actually going to interest them and going to garner their attention. So you will say something like, they'll say, like, the people are in a marketplace, everybody's talking, there's a lot of commotion and noise, one guy gets
up on top of the mountains as well. So I swear by the morning that's coming. You know what that meant? On the other side of the hill, maybe there's an advancing army and things are about to go get down by the time the morning comes. So this is a state of emergency, what's happening in the morning. You know, what, nowadays you call like a news alert or flash. Right? So that kind of thing wasn't Oh, it just it got your attention. That's what it was. Okay. Yet, another interesting thing about OAuth is that and this is somewhat similar to what we do, but not really, when somebody says, I swear to God, or I swear,
and just kind of come up to you and say, I swear to God, and they walk away.
What just happened?
What was the point of your the oath you take is never the point. The oath itself was there to emphasize the point you're going to make you understand. So you can't ever look at an oath on its own. Because it's in a sense and complete, something has to come along to complete it. Now, what's interesting about that, of course, is in every language, but what's unique about Arabic, and especially the Quran, is that when you take an oath, you're going to take an oath by something that is going to serve as evidence for what you're going to be saying. I want you to think about the stars. And what's going to happen here is going to make us think about the stars by swearing by the
stars. But the conversation is actually going to be about the Quran.
So he's going to make a connection between what two things, stars in the cloud. And the way to put this in Simple English for you is, I want your attention on the placement, the vast placement of the stars across the galaxy.
And as you pay attention to that, I'll make you think about Takara
that's what's gonna happen. So we're gonna have to understand what that relationship is between those two things. I'll give you another easier example before I dive into this, that I think everybody here wanted to know at least if you know short sutras of the Quran, well, what is it? Well, awesome. In in Santa Ephesus, right? I swear by time, each and every human being as drowned in loss. Without a doubt about it. each human being is drowned in love. So the thing is, I'm calling your attention to what? Pay attention to the concept, the notion of time as it's running out, then think about human beings in laws. And you realize something, the greatest evidence that we are at a
loss is the fact that we're constantly losing, no matter what you do, there's one thing you're always losing, which is why time there's no loss greater than time, the wealthy among you, the healthy among you, the poor, the rich, the man, the woman, the one who lives in this continent or that continent, it doesn't matter. We're all losing time just the same. There is no greater evidence to the loss of humanity than time itself right so that that connection is really profound. Now I want to come to this there are some things unique about this are there and by the way, there are lots of local
komari De La Hoya teeny was listening when you know when they leave.
The morning the night the sign of the moon, the fig, we all love the mountain the tree. There's so many. There's so many Earths Why is this one special? Well, there's a few reasons The first of them is he starts with fella
then no.
I want you to keep track of what conversation was happening. Do you raise the crop? Do you make it rain?
Are you the ones who make the fire happens? No.
He's like, saying no to all of your false notions. saying no to all of your heedlessness. It's a no exclamation mark. No fence stop. auxin will be malarkey in new June. I swear by the placement of the stars themselves. And he adds I swear oxygen with a verb which is typically not used typically in Arabic you use what for an O like what a lot of Arab friends tell you that all the time. Well, I'm hungry. Well, I need ice cream. Well, luckily, you know, they don't mean it. Like it's not like oh, you took an oath by a few cents a box. Can you like the
Unless because I'm calling up yoga, like, you know,
it's all good. If you swear by God in the Arabic language, I swear to God, it's actually not considered a crazy big deal unless
Allah will not hold you to account when you just run your mouth and take notes.
Basically, because Allah knows people run and especially with the arrows back in the day to this day will lie you just kind of walk rolls off the tongue will love man will kill you.
Like, and now he shows up at your house the next day with a dagger I'm sorry, I took it Oh, if I must, you know, you don't, you don't have to do that. It's all good. You didn't mean it like that. But when instead of law, Allah actually uses the verb itself. I myself take an oath. It is as though Allah has intervened himself, bringing himself into the conversation. And it is why I'm so profoundly in like mesmerized by the sloth. A lot of went into the first person speaking to us directly, calling my attention and yours directly to the stars and not just the stars, beloved, in new June, the placement and the place where they fall. Moroccan means a number of things. Now this
translation, I keep offering you the placement of the stars, that actually means this, it's several layers of meaning. And I want to go through those layers of meaning with you. And hopefully I'll be able to summarize that for you. So you keep them in mind before you get to the oath itself. The first of those meanings, like if you're a vassal of the Allahu taala and Homer says, I'm new Juju, we'll call our Mama Mama to have our cotton lulea but we're not German Arabic or 10 gene actually means slow and gradual process also. So you know how the Quran came over 23 years, right? One of the ways you can look at the word moodgym in this ayah is I swear by the exact timings at which
revelation keeps on coming. I swear every time a confusion arises and God's word just ends. When a problem arises and the buzzword descends as the the answer or criticism arises and allows word to sentence to solve the problem. Allah chose Allah a consultant is likely to say, well, Quran and Sunnah hula chakra who Allah Nancy Adam smokes in what is
called a recital that we broke apart. So you can recite it onto people at the very most anticipated occasion, the whole book didn't come down all at once a situation arises and then the Quran comes down. And Allah says, I swear by the very timely coming down of the Quran as it comes in the sense that's one of its meanings. And that's why
I actually even or imbecile the love of Thailand, and others even said some makara fellow will be Moroccan and mucho
de la mina sama Indonesia, a lot of the new German like the the Some say that the Koran came from the seventh heaven from the possession of a law to the first heaven in later to the public, you know, learning from father right, the one we argue about every Ramadan. Right, so it came from the seventh heaven to the first in a little color. And then from Little cutter. To us, it came new gentleman, it came piece by piece in a process. And that's why some have looked at the word noon here and said, Look, a lot of swearing by the fact that so called outcomes little by little at the right occasion. It's gradual revelation, by the way, on a side note, that would mean then that you
and I engaging in our study of the Quran, little by little is actually fulfilling one of its divine purposes. Its original revelation, the best of its students, and the best of its teachers were meant to consume it over a couple of decades. Right? We're certainly not the best of its students. So if we can take our sweet time with the book, it's all good. There's no rush to go from one end to the, to the other end, take your time. This is Bulacan in New Jersey, one of its meanings. But the other that I keep falling back on is in fact, the placement of the stars mode, there is two things in the Arabic language, it is either a location, a place, or it's also where something falls. And I'd like
you to remember that it's not just the placement of the stars, but where the stars fall, or where the stars in a sense are at their lowest. And in that sense, it might even highlight because the lowest of the stars are in the first heavens in the first time. It's talking about that but also allies highlighting how the stars are so beautiful like this tapestry at night that we don't get to see a night sky in its full glory nowadays anymore because of pollution and city lights and things like that. But those of you that ever go like you know stargazing out into the country or somewhere where there's a good spot and you just you realize how blanketing the night sky is with stars. It's
a it's it's humbling, it's really humbling. It's something to to not one may not be able to stop staring actually for some time when they when they actually see the kind of love now you see like one or two stars and we realize it's an airplane and you know,
it's not the same.
So now as
I've shared these meanings with you. But I want to tell you some things about this. Oh,
by the way, the oath was never the point you never go to someone and say, I swear and walk away, remember, so the I swear by the placement of the stars, and where they fall,
what thoughts should come across somebody's mind as they think about them? before you get to the next part, he wants your attention, thinking about the placement of the stars and the falling of the stars. The Quran itself will call attention to three things regarding stars.
The first of them will be nigp, homea. Dune, and by the stars they find their way.
People out at sea in the ancient days, how do they navigate? This forest people lost in the middle of the desert, that the time is not very good navigation. How do they navigate by the stars at night? The stars were a means of navigating on the earth. And so particularly navigating during the night. Yes, navigating during the night is one of the functions that are on disk drives, another welaka de la dunia busy. Notting Hill, kawaki, welaka, z Anissa, adonia v masabi. We beautifying the sky of the world, the sky with lamps, with the goat the beauty of stars. So the first was navigation. And the second is beauty. The light sky is supposed to be something glorious, I would
argue, especially for the Arabs, because they lived in not a very nice looking place. So in the daytime, they look at a desert as Not exactly. Amazing.
So the only real beauty they get to see is what the sky actually sort of captures it very beautifully. When najmul was said yesterday, and the two things that the error would rarely find beauty a is in the middle of the desert to see a tree ha beautiful.
So the star and the tree makes sense that the two kind of most most, you know, prominent sources of beauty. For you know, for somebody who lives in California, the sun might be beautiful. For someone who lives in the village, the sun is not a thing of beauty, you know.
But now there's a third function. So I want to highlight these so you don't forget them. The first function was navigation, the second was beauty, it's a thing to be mesmerized by it. And the third tip one Min quilici Marlin mountain, shooting stars and stars as they fall in love, the scribes are actually shot against devils who try to go near the angels When the angels are having a sacred divine conversation. And as the the devils try to hear some of it, and stars are shot at them or meteors are shot at them. Right? So the stars are a means of securing divine plans. And the devils have no access to it.
These are the three goals of the stars. But we're not really talking about stars.
We're actually talking about the frog
in the hula Quran can before I get to that, you know, one thing that I realized this author is like no other authors.
And that's not my opinion, that's actually a low own opinion. And what do I say that because there's an ayah in between that is never found anywhere else, or enough with a person on notice time.
And certainly, it is an oath had you any clue? It's incredible.
It's an amazing of
he never he didn't swear by time and then pause and say By the way, that's an epic oath.
And then go on to make his point. He didn't swear by the sun, the moon the fig, the all of nothing else did he pause and say By the way, this deserves special attention. This is a magnificent oath. Had you any clue? Had you truly pondered? But he did that with us.
And then the look some other he then then the the object of the what is he swearing to in the Koran Karim, no doubt about it. It is in fact a recital truly Noble.
You know, the world is covered in darkness misguidance confusion. A person has a world inside of them that's covered in the darkness of greed, of hopelessness, of rage of jealousy, of previous mistakes, their darkness is inside of us. And there's darkness is outside. Their darkness is like propaganda. people calling to the wrong thing. There are people setting false standards for you. People spreading lies that happens in the world around you and your immediate circle that may happen in your family and happens in the news and happenings in the world at large. There's the darkness of injustice and oppression. There are all forms of darkness that are inside of a person and outside of
a person. And the law says just like the stars will never fill you when you're traveling in the dark of the night.
You're gonna be able to find your way so long as you learn to rely on the stars, because they're perfectly placed and they're not going anywhere. The stars are gonna be where they are, the world will rotate, but the stars will be where they are. And when you need direction, you can always rely on them. He calls on the reliability and the unflinching, that relentless, you know, guidance and navigation of the stars, to call attention to me that that is what Quran is for you, you're navigating in the darkness of this life, and your stars are the art of the Quran. For me,
I was baffled enough at that. But I think further, the stars serve three purposes. What was the second purpose do you recall?
beautification?
The Quran is purpose is to help you find beauty in a time that is associated with fear, loneliness the night.
The night is a time where crime happens, then it is a time where you don't want to go outside. The night is a time where you don't know what dangers lie ahead of you. Because your vision becomes limited. And at that time that is associated with depression and death and stillness, because it's darkest darkness and death go hand in hand, by the way. Why? Because inside the grave, it's dark. Right? There's no more light. A plant in the dark dies light is associated with life.
Allah azza wa jal is describing that this will happen if you gave it a chance you'd find beauty where everything else everywhere else you'd find out weakness, you'd find beauty in the squad.
In the hood of its noble, it's a it's a noble recital. You know what that means? That means that we have to come with a preconceived notion that we read the Quran, that one day we'll navigate helped me navigate and to, I have to look for the beauty and the Muslims. It's beautiful. You will never doubt the beauty of the night sky. You should never doubt the beauty of us words.
On another note, you know how the stars are perfectly placed.
And had they not been placed in the arrangement that they are we wouldn't be able to find the guidance. And Allah himself says the placement of the stars. That is an indication that the Quran was supposed to be placed, every aisle was supposed to be placed, every word was supposed to be placed. Every student was supposed to be placed exactly where it's supposed to be. fatica was supposed to be number one, but God was supposed to be number two, he was supposed to be number three. And last was supposed to be number 114. It was supposed to be this way, just like the placement of the styles. Amazing in the hula.
Then think about the word. By the way, one more thing about the third objective of Star Wars. What was it?
protection.
There are devils that try to attack not to be awful to watch shaytaan don't follow footsteps of Satoshi Tom comes to you two ways he comes to you directly no headphones necessary. He comes to you directly or he comes to you through people through society through media through messaging through other things.
Allah is describing that the stars themselves are you protection against shielding?
What is the protection negotiating for us?
Quran is your navigation. It's the place you will find beauty and it's your protection. So how
and what needs protection from their enemy. And as humanity was sent on this earth, we were warned that the devil is our enemy. And against your enemy, you need protection and Allah sent the best protection in novela. Khurana McKinney
and now
there was an interesting allegation made against the Prophet salallahu earnings.
The allegation made was this man is probably possessed by the devil. I've actually heard that on some talk radio to the kuranes from the day
you know, and that's not new. They started way back they said it and when they said it Allah xojo says By the way, I descended this on from the the stars that that fall and follow the devils want to capture some piece of fun they can't because when the Quran comes down the entire heavens were placed on lockdown. I'll take five minutes to describe that incredible phenomenon to you is something to wonder about.
So we in Islam, we believe in human beings, angels and jinn. Right? So two of these species are invisible to us the angels and the jinn. Now the thing is, the jinn have access to space travel thing go around in the skies and whatever.
But for 23 years, something strange happened that the gym themselves couldn't figure out.
They used to
You know how like guys hang out in the parking lot later at night? or whatever, they have a spot where they chill.
Dude devils had the gym, not all evil, but they had places where they hung out in the sky.
So they're gonna hate I'll see you, you know, by Pluto or something I don't know. But yeah. So they're going there. They're heading to the sky and the Quran describes that they actually this happened when the prophet SAW someone was in fire. And he was he was almost killed. He was stoned. He