Surah Al-Baqarah Ayah :

Transcription

1 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 1 Friday 2/28/2014 AYAH 177: Surah Al-Baqarah Ayah : Piety is not just that we turn our faces toward east and west in prayer. There is more to it than just that. What is being pious? And pious acts? Everyone has a different definition of it. Men, women have a different vision of it. If a woman is in hijab, prays, fasts, she is pious. A man who is pious is expected to grow a beard, pull up his pants. But no one mentions being good to others, family. Behaving in public, not backbiting, not picking fights in the masjid. Not spreading fitna in the community by spreading rumors. Giving sadaqah, being kind to orphans, being polite to others, These are all part of being pious as well. We are being told that we cant just cling on to one thing and say that is piety. When the qibla direction was changed to Kabah. People questioned the Muslims saying how can their deen be right if they changed their qibla? this was a big change for people but this was done to distinguish Muslims from the people of Bani Israel. When a new country is formed, the flag is also changed to represent that new country. But we take one thing that the Prophet did for example: growing a beard. These people take that as the one and only sign of a mans piety. If someone doesn t have a beard, he is worth nothing and not a pious person. But we should think how much of the Prophets life was devoted to this act? For example, the prophet used to fast so someone will say I will fast all the days but did he fast only? NO. he fasted some days and some days he did not. He did many things which are sunnah for us, but we have to look at his life and see how much of his life is dedicated to that act. Now the different sects of Islam have formed because each has focused on some of the Prophets actions and defined them as piety and they consider anyone who is not doing those actions as a bad person/muslim. Here we have been given a vast definition of peity. Like a tree, first there are seeds, then a trunk, then branches and then leaves grow. There is a sequence to everything. Same for Ibadat. There has to be good roots first. If we want our children to pray, but we need to realize that we need to put the seed of Iman, love for Allah in them for them to pray and want to learn how to please Allah.

2 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 2 What is Piety? The piety starts with having Iman in Allah. That is the first pre-requisite in being a pious person. No matter how much of a pious act we are doing, if we don t have Iman in Allah, there is no reward for any deed. Iman is the beginning of any act being considered a pious, righteous deen. Iman is something that if it is in the heart, the heart is at complete peace. Iman takes three things for it to be complete: Verifying it in the heart Saying it by the tongue confirming it Actions that show it All three of these things are needed for Iman. If there is one of these things that is missing, then iman will decrease. If the actions are there along with confirmation and conviction in the heart, that will cause the iman to increase and increase. If you are lost, and you ask for directions. The person tells the directions to you but you take a different rout in the opposite direction. That means that you didn t believe or trust what that person told you. Same for Allah s guidance. If you say you have Iman and you don t do the actions that Allah has required of those with Iman that means you don t fully have the conviction in your heart. If you have conviction of it in your heart, the fruit of Iman is the actions. Actions are what seal the deal. Iman goes up and down. Allah has said in Quran when Quran s ayahs are read in front of them, it increases their iman Just reading or hearing Allah s ayahs increases our Iman. After we attend this class, our iman is different level than what it is a few days later. Allah s ayah s increase Iman. Its not enough to say because our parents were Muslim, we are Muslim. Iman is completed with consciousness. He conscious decision that you have Iman and being content with following Allah s commands. Human cant see Allah but he still believes in him, how? With Iman. We must believe in Allah as we see him. Iman is a discovery. Anything that we get through discover, it changes our view, behaviors and thinking about that thing. When someone goes thorugh a natural disaster, they discover Allah s might & it changes their iman.

3 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 3 Those who are converted Muslims, they learn the deen in depth and they discover what it means to have true Iman. That person changes completely because they have adopted the deen through discovery and they become convinced. When Moosa s staff turned into a snake and killed all the other snakes, the magicians recognized that this must be a prophet of Allah and they dropped in sajda right away and converted. So, the Pharoe said he will torture them and punish them like never before. So these magicians said do what you want. Whatever you do to us will only last in this life these are the same magicians who were completely devoted to the Pharoe a few minutes ago but Iman changed completely who they were. There was a group of Christians came to the Prophet and the Prophet recited the Quran for them. When they heard the words of the Quran, their state was revealed by Allah in Surah Maida. when they heard the Quran and what was revealed to the Prophet, they could not help but cry, their eyes had floods of tears. Whatever you believe, changes you. If someone said there is an ant in your room, you wouldn t react. But if you know that there is a lion in your room, you would react differently out of fear. That is how Quran should change us, and our Iman should change us knowing Allah is watching me all the time, everywhere. The way people will react on the day of judgement when they see Allah, that s how the person who has true iman reacts in this life at the thought of Allah watching them. When someone has true Iman in Allah than that person is aware of what the commands are. And when a person believes truly in the Day of Judgement, that is what makes his actions pure and pious. When someone is truly aware of his questioning on the Day of Judgement, every action he takes will be according to Allah s will so Allah will be pleased with him. Once you have Iman in the Day of Judgement, the person can t rest until he has gotten rid of all his bad deeds. They start to stick him like thorns until he gets rid of them. For this person, the trials of the life here are nothing because he is more worried about the trials coming on the Day of Judgement. We have Iman in the dunya but not Iman in the Akhira because we worry more about our trials of this world than the trials of the akhirah. Your homework is to make two columns: one that says trials of the Dunya, the second will say trials of the Akhira. Start listing the trials for both places. Than compare the two to see which trials are more severe and which ones we should be more worried about avoiding,

4 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 4 Also, we have to have iman in the Angels (the one who is the link between Allah and his prophets). How can we deny believing in the angels if we believe in Allah and his book because it was brought to us by the angels. They are obedient to Allah no matter what. How many are there? No one but Allah knows that number. Prophet said: In the house of Allah there are 70 thousand angels who are doing nothing but praying to Allah or doing tawaf all the time. They are huge in size. Prophet saw Angel Gibrael and he had 600 wings. His form took up the whole horizon and he had not even opened up all his wings. And Gibrael is not even the biggest of the angels. This does not mean we start to call upon the Angels for help and worship. We should believe in them as creatures and obedient creatures of Allah. There are some angels who have big status because of the purpose for which they are created. Angel Israfeel was created to blow the horn that announces the Day of Judgment. Angel Israeel was created to take the souls after death. He has two types of assistant angels, those of Rahmah and those of the Hellfire. When someone pious passes away, the pious angels come for him. Those who were not good, for them the angels of Hell will come. Munkir, & Nakeer angels question us in the grave. They have no expression, or feel anything for the person. The pious person will have the ability to answer their questions, the sinner will not be able to speak when he sees them. Angels who have lifted Allah s throne. There are 4 types. These are the angels who have strong iman in Allah and they pray for forgiveness for the ones who have Iman. From their ear lobes to their shoulders, the distance is 500 years. There are uncountable angels of Jannah and hellfire. There are angels called Kiraman Katibeen who are all with us all the time writing our good and bad deeds. There are those we call guardian angels. They protect us when Allah wills for them to protect us. Every person has these angels assigned to them. Allah has angels on the mountains guarding them. there are also angels who wander around and they gather when there is a gathering of people who are mentioning the name of Allah.

5 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 5 Angels have shame, shyness. They feel grief and joy. They love who Allah loves. There are angels who curse those who Allah curses. There are angels who give good thoughts and peace in the hearts of those who have Iman. Allah sends them down to the people with true Iman to give them good news and tranquility of the heart. We have to have iman in the book and it doesn t happen until we read it the way it deserves to be read, act upon it, and spread it. We have to have iman and belief in the Prophets who were sent down by Allah to give us the message. Before we can have Iman and pious deeds and behaviors, we have the Iman in these things. You cant have a strong stable tree without strong roots. Belief in these things make our future deeds and Iman strong. Now Allah addresses the actions. Until now he was addressing the inner beliefs we should have. How he is addressing the deeds we should have if we have iman. First he mentions that the person gives his wealth for the love of Allah. The one with Iman loves Allah so much that he gives what he loves for Allah s sake. We love our kids we want to give them everything. Even toys made of plastic even though they are worthless but they make our child happy so we spend money to get them for the kids. When their happiness is more important than ours, this is real love. We never complain about losing our money, sleep for our kids sake. If you want to increase the love in your heart for Allah, do one thing. When you lie down at night, remind yourself, Allah has given me so much. How He saved me when I was in dire need of help. How he gave me whatever is dear to me. How he is making all the stars and the moon & rest of creation function on their own. Allah wants to see if we love him, are we able to give from our wealth for his sake or not? Do we give it in happiness or give it with hesitation and irritation? We should give the wealth when we need it the most. The one who doesn t love his money, for him giving the money is no big deal, but the one who loves his money and still gives it, that is true love. Its like a young man and an old man. Both have desires for the opposite sex but when the younger man controls his desires, it is worth more than if he does it at the older age. At the older age, the desires are not as strong so controlling your desires for the sake of

6 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 6 Allah at the height of your youth when the desires are strongest, it is worth more to Allah because it is harder for you but you still do it for the sake of Allah. So, who should we give our wealth to first? The ones we don t want to give to.our relatives. Its not just the poor ones but any relative. We should be kindest to them first. Weather its in the form of sadaqah or in form of gifts. However you choose to give to them, you have to give them from your wealth simply because they are your relatives. Abu Talha said to Prophet I heard Allah has commanded to spend from our wealth? Prophet said yes. So he said I have a garden which has 600 date trees and streams and I want to give it for the sake of Allah Prophet said to him give it to the sons of your uncle These days we say the opposite. We are willing to give but not to our relatives. Another pious deed is to have kindness, generosity, and well manners and concerns towards people. When we give of our wealth, we should give to the orphans. Not just the poor ones but even the rich ones. Out of love and kindness. No matter how much we have, when we get a gift from someone, it makes us feel good. When you spend on the orphans, your heart softens. When we spend on relatives, our hearts become soft towards each other and our relations improve. We should give to the one who is in need, people who are hand-t0-mouth. Prophet said miskeen is not just the ones who ask for food and clothes, miskeen is also the ones who don t have enough that all his needs are met. These people have food, they have clothes and a place to live, but they can t do anymore beyond the necessities. They don t seem like the needy but they are. So we should give to family first, then the orphan, than the miskeen. So if we have an orphan relative and we give to them, we get twice the reward. If a woman has money and her husband loses his job and he doesn t have enough to make the bills. If she gives him money to help him, she receives double the ajar for that. Hazrat Zainab wife of Abdullah bin Masood asked about spending on the husband and some orphans who were living with them. she asked if I spend on them, will I get ajar/reward? Prophet said yes, you will receive double reward because they are your relatives also We should also spend on the traveler. Specially the traveler in need.

7 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 7 Also we should not turn down the ones who ask for help. If you cant help them, you should politely say no, but never insult or degrade them. Also, we should free the slaves, but these days this means to pay the debt for someone who is in debt. We need to pay zakat from our wealth. Those who don t pay zakat, and have jewelry they don t pay the zakat on, that jewelry will be heated on the fire and then put on the bodies on the day of judgement. We have to not only pay our zakat but spend beyond it from our wealth. Even if you don t have money, you can give things like clothes, jewelry and so on. Another deed is to honor the promises you make. A promise is made to Allah when you say I ll pray two rakah if I get this or that and there is a promise you make in form of a contract like a job agreement. Even when your boss is not looking, you have to do your job and honor that contract. Even marriage is a contract we should honor. In every single khubah the prophet used to remind us to keep our promises. The Prophet said the one who does not honor his promises, he has no deen Also, we should have patience. If we don t have patience, we cant do any of these above deeds. Specially when we are tested in some way, we have to have patience. In every stage of life, things will happen that we don t like, but we have to be patient & control our emotions. The people who do all these deeds, if they say we have Iman and we are the truthfull, they are the true Mutakeen (Pious). AYAH 178: Here Allah is telling us what to do when someone kills another person. It is a very serious matter. Human life in Islam is very important. These days killing a human is easier and more common than killing cats and dogs. oh people. Taking someones life, or wealth is haram for you one person who has murdered one Muslim is the murderer of all Muslims the blood of the Muslim is more respectable(honored) than the Kabah

8 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 8 So that is the status of the human life in Islam but what do we do when someone does kill someone. In the Taurat there were also guidelines for them. An eye for an eye unless the wronged person forgives than it is forgiven. They changed the forgiveness part and kept the rest. The Christians did the opposite. They kept the forgiveness part but lost the punishment part. What did the Muslims do? They punished the poor for killing someone rich but didn t do anything if someone rich killed a poor. A woman kills someone or a woman gets killed, they used to kill their whole family as revenge. Quran said no matter who is killing, the punishment will be equal. A slave kills so the killer will be killed as punishment for it. No matter if it s a rich, poor, man or woman. But if someone is forgiven by the brother (decendants) of the murdered, than that person can live. The family has three options: They can ask for life of the murderer in return They ask for money in return. (100 camels or 1000 gold coins or 10,000 silver coins) They forgive the murderer without anything in return So here we see that even after a person commits a murder, he/she does not leave the realm of Islam, that person is still your brother. So if he is forgiven with or without something in return, you have to deal with that matter in an honest and fair way. When giving the decendants their payment, be sincere, and be greatful to them that they didn t ask for your life in return. This choice of exchange and options given to us by Allah is His rahmah for us. Anyone who does not deal with this matter in the prescribed way, or honestly, for him is a severe punishment. So we learn two things: Punishment or consequences will only be given to the person who committed the crime. You cant punish someone else (family member) if another person committed the murder.

9 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 9 The three options will be given to the family of the person who is murdered and based on what they chose to do, it should be dealt with in the manner that Allah has outlined for us. AYAH 179: The wisdom of Allah behind allowing the payments is that if the person who was killed was the primary earner in the family or supported the family financially, at least the payment is something (even though it will not replace the person)that will make it easier for them. Even if they take the payment in exchange for forgiveness, it is still forgiveness and a huge kindness because they could have asked for the life in return of the life that was taken, People criticize the punishments of Islam as too strict but we have to think f there is no payment and no choices given to the family, then no one will hesitate to murder. If they know that their own life can be taken in exchange for the murder, or their hand will be chopped off for the robbery, people will not take that risk and not commit the crime. When we publicize crimes so much on TV and watch re-inactments of them, people become desensitized by it and murder and violence is no big deal. In countries where this is not common, when something happens in real life, they are truly shocked by it and it s a big deal. Video games are so violent that the kids get used to the violence and kids become thrilled by them so much that they want to experience that for themselves and they go out & do things like shoot up schools. AYAH 180: We are only allowed to distribute 1/3 of our wealth as we please. The other 2/3 amount is already distributed and decided by Allah who gets how much. You cannot give the 1/3 to the decendants who Allah has already given a share to, you can give it to your adopted child or donate it to someone who is not a decendant of yours. When you have made a decision to give someone your 1/3 share, you should not wait to write it down or tell someone because you never know what will strike you when,

10 Surah Baqarah: ayah Page 10 You can put things like if you want to have someone pay your debts or fast your fasts for you or do hajj for you after you pass away. AYAH 181: Some people who hear the will of the person about to die, they change it after they are dead. The sin of changing the will is very serious. Allah knows what the deceased intended and what you changed it to. AYAH 182: Sometimes the person dying wills something that is not allowed or a sin. In this case, you are allowed to not follow it. You can resolve it by telling the house hold and telling them that if we obey what they said, the deceased will be harmed because Allah will question him/her about it. And suggest that it be changed according to the shariah. This is allowed. the person who does good deeds for 70 years but is unjust in his will, will go to hellfire because his last act was unjust. But the one who does bad deeds for 70 years but is just and fair in his will will go to Jannah because his last act is just 90% of households are homes where the wills are not carried out correctly. May Allah keep us from being one of them.