March 17, 2013 Sifaat Al Muttaqin - Al Ma'idah - [Juz 5: Ayah2] Today Insha Allah we will start Surah-e-Ma idah after completing the Ayahs on Muttaqin in Surah Baqara, Ale-Imran and An-Nisa. All these ayahs talked about the taqwa, characteristics of muttaqin, their trials and rewards. In Surah Baqara the discussion of taqwa was concerning the person himself, how he is supposed to attain taqwa related to legislation of halal and haram. Later in Surah Ale-Imran the circle becomes bigger to include the relationships with other people as well. In Surah An-Nisa we talked about the weaker segments of the society and how to deal with them having taqwa mostly about the rights. Ayah 2 O you who have believed, do not violate the rites of Allah or [the sanctity of] the sacred month or [neglect the marking of] the sacrificial animals and garlanding [them] or [violate the safety of] those coming to the Sacred House seeking bounty from their Lord and [His] approval. But when you come out of ihram, then [you may] hunt. And do not let the hatred of a people for having obstructed you from al-masjid al-haram lead you to transgress. And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is severe in penalty. When we see Ayah 2 of Surah Ma idah we see taqwa mentioned twice; first in the form of a noun ( ) and then as a Fal-e-Amar ( ). O you who have believed We have seen that almost all the ayahs which mention taqwa are addressed to the believers. This ayah also starts by addressing the believers ( ). The ayah is a long one and can be divided into parts; the Page 1
first part of the ayah describes the things which are forbidden and are unlawful which we cannot do ( ) and then later part talks about what is supposed to be done or the things commanded by Allah SWT. What are the things which Allah SWT has forbidden us to do? do not violate - here is the. is from, which means to make lawful means to do it. So means don t make lawful something which is haram ( ); There are two types of haram: (1) alll the time you have to abstain from it, so it is always classified as haram for example drinking alcohol, lying, backbiting etc; (2) the other type applies to certain things which are halal under normal circumstances like putting perfume, having relationship with the spouse etc but when one is in a state of ihram then these lawful things become haram unless one comes out of ihram. By saying Allah SWT is warning the believers that don t violate His command by making the things halal during this condition which have been made unlawful for you ( ). What are the things mentioned in this ayah have been made unlawful? 1) is a plural of and it means symbols of Islam ( ); Allah SWT made it so special by saying signs of Allah SWT; like when we look at safa and marwa, Arafat, mina all these rituals of the Hajj ( ) are the symbols of Islam. In these signs there is magnifying of Allah SWT ( ). These are places of magnifying Allah SWT so we cannot violate what has been forbidden for us in these places. Page 2
2) or [the sanctity of] the sacred month The sacred months are four:,,, - so do not violate the rules in these sacred months ( ). What does it mean not to violate in these sacred months? ( ). It means that we should not wrong ourselves by committing sins in these months ( ) this is applicable generally but more in thesee sacred months one should be cautious of these things. Another thing which is forbidden during these months is fighting ( ) means initiating a fight during these months is not allowed but if there was already a fight which had started before these months and is continuing or if the enemy is fightingg then to defend yourself it is allowed to fight back otherwise it is not allowed for the believers to start/initiate a fight ( ). 3) or [neglect the e marking of] the sacrificial animal - the sacrifice of animal for the sake of Allah SWT in Masjid-ul-Haram is like a gift we give to the house of Allah SWT ( ) of course Allah SWT does not need these gifts. Whenever a person takes an animal for sacrificing in the masjid then no one is allowed to take it ( ) or kill it or steal it for any other purpose ( ). 4) and garlanding g [them]- or animals which have been brought for giving to the poor as charity is also not allowed to be harmed. It is actually some kind of sacrifice which have something around their necks like necklace it is Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad SAW that he used to put a garland around the neck of such sacrificial animal ( ) to show the signs of Allah SWT ( ) and to magnify Him ( ), in order that whoever sees that animal with that necklace around its neck they will understand that nobody can touch ( ) or harm or steal it ( ) till they finish the hajj and do the sacrifice. It is worse than the because that does not have any signs but very clearly shows the signs that it is for Allah SWT. Page 3
We see that the ayahs of taqwa are different from Surah An-Nisa and other ayahs here it is related to violating the legislation of Allah SWT. "O Allah, save me from haram and make the halal sufficient and by your favour make me independent from others" ". To be continued on Tuesday, March 19 Insha Allah Tuesday, March 19, 2013 Continuation from March 17 Class of Ayah 2 of Surah Ma idah In the last class we started the discussion of Ayah 2 of Surah Ma idah where we discussed four things which have been made unlawful during certain conditions: Today we will start with the 5 th point: 5) or [violate the safety of] those coming to the Sacred House from which means directed or heading towards, or can also be said and refers to people who are heading towards masjid-ul-haram in Makkah ( ) for Umrah or Hajj, it has been said that do not exceed your boundaries and do not stop them ( ) from going there. Whoever going to Makkah ( ) for Hajj or Umrah have a protection from Allah SWT and one should not touch their money ( ) and themselves ( ). Why are these people coming to Bait-ul-Haraam ( )? Seeking the bounties from Allah SWT ( ) and pleasure of Allah SWT ( ). meaning seeking bounties meaning people going to Makkah for trade and whatever they will earn ( ). Other people go for gaining pleasure of Allah SWT by doing Hajj or Umrah, whether the Page 4
reason is trade or pleasure of Allah SWT, Allah SWT has commanded that their money and they themselves should not be harmed by people. But when you come out o of ihram - once all these conditions are over that is they are no more in ihram ( change. ) or in Makkah performing Hajj or Umrah or for the other reason then the conditions then [you may] hunt Al haram and halal. There are other things which are also forbidden, which are: llah SWT is telling us His legislation regarding the boundaries about the And do not let the hatred of a people This really needs taqwa because at the time of Prophet Muhammad SAW disbelievers were stopping them from doing umrah which was developing hatred in the hearts of believers against the disbelievers. is from which means pulled or drawn; means hatred or disliking ( ) when we talk about taqwa then how the behavior is being polished that even the hatred of people should not let you take revenge with them. Even the hatred of the believers was not withoutt a reason. Page 5
for having obstructed you from al-masjid al-haram - means stopped you ( ) from doing umrah in Masjid-al-haram. lead you to transgress exceed the limits and they would want to take a revenge from them ( ) this behavior does not suit muttaqin that while dealing with people who harmed in the past they take revenge from them. A person should follow Allah s rules even if peoplee are oppressing him and are unjust to him ( ). This is the characteristic of a muttaqi. They should follow Allah s rule and not people who are violating Allah s rules. Don t be unjust to anybody who was unjust to you ( ) and never betray people who betrayed you ( ), you need to deal the best because you are doing for Allah SWT because if you are doing it for yourself then you will take revenge and you will be unjust with people who were unjust to you. But a muttaqi never does anything for his own sake - this is the attitude of the muttaqin. After all of these rules and legislation the next thing mentioned in the ayah is related to the attribute of the muttaqin; Page 6
And cooperate in - the person. The two things mentioned here are: to co-operate with each other in something very high which will elevate - the goodness; and the taqwa. Don t help each other in bad or evil but in everything which Allah SWT loves and will be pleased with all the good qualities and actions ( ) co-operate each other in these. Help each other to reach to taqwa and don t help each other in taking the revenge, so we need to advise each other for taqwa and not to violate the rules of Allah SWT. What makes us to abstain from the sins and follow the rules on the light of Allah SWT is the taqwa ( ) it is because of the light of Allah SWT in their hearts and not because of other people, because they are just and they co-operate each other in good. To be continued Insha Allah Thursday, March 21, 2013 Continued from March19th, 2013 (Temporary change in the Class of Al-Muttaqin held on Thursday, March 21 st, whichh is usually conducted on Sundays and Tuesdays) In the last class we stopped with the discussion of the believers who co-operate with each other in good and taqwa ( ) if we have to share something with our sisters in Islam then we should share what is good help each other ( ) in good ( ) and taqwa ( ) Page 7
the deeds which Allah SWT accepts and is pleased with; the good deeds which are the apparent actions ( ) and taqwa which is the action of the heart the hidden one ( ). After that Allah SWT is forbidding us for doing the opposite of it: and aggression but do not cooperate in sin Allah SWT knows His creation and knows that the enmity of people can make the believers do some unacceptable deeds so the command is to help each other in doing good and always have taqwa in dealing with people. So here the emphasis is on not helping each other ( ) in doing sins ( ), whether regarding Allah SWT or against the people believers should stop each other from doing any injustice ( ) to other people or backbiting or any other sin and also not encourage or initiate the bad. Also not helping each other in transgressing or violating rights of the people ( ) so if people are oppressing others then never be a party with the people who are transgressing and doing injustice with others. This Ayah is talking about limits which people should not exceed against each other and because of that oppression people can have hatred in their hearts against each other and they can react against each other because of that hatred. Here Allah SWT is again emphasizing on having the fear of Allah SWT and commanding as follows: And fear Allah Here Allah SWT is commanding us with taqwa ( ) here the taqwa is in doing the actions commanded by Allah SWT and abstaining from the forbidden deeds on the light of Allah SWT ( ). Page 8
In this ayah taqwa is mentioned twice; one as a noun and the other as a verb acting on it and co-operating with each other in doing good and having the taqwa and fearing Allah SWT in everything it includes all the actions of the heart. And then in the end of the ayah Allah SWT is warning the people: Indeed, Allah is severe in penalty After commanding to have taqwa Allah SWT is warning people here and what makes people have taqwa is the fear of Allah s severe punishment because there is some forbidden and unlawful things which people should not do and if they cross the limits ( ) then Allah SWT is informing that He is severe in punishment. When we are doing good deeds then we hope mercy from Allah SWT but the result of bad deeds is of course the severe punishment from Allah SWT ( ); here two things together hope and fear. O Allah! I ask You for Your love and the love of those who love You, and for the love of every action which will bring me closer to Your love. Page 9