Morning Class - Sunday, January 22, 2013 This is a series of lectures where the Muttaqin are discussed through the Ayahs of Quran covering either their characteristics or other discussion about taqwa. Currently we are in Surah Ale Imran. Today Insha Allah we will discuss Ayah 179. Ayah 179 Allah would not leave the believers in that [state] you are in [presently] until He separates the evil from the good. Nor would Allah reveal to you the unseen. But [instead], Allah chooses of His messengers whom He wills, so believe in Allah and His messengers. And if you believe and fear Him, then for you is a great reward. Surah Ale Imran talks about the ghazwat and the afflictions which Sahabah went through, sacrifices which they gave for the sake of Allah and those were the biggest tests for them. The Ayah starts with It is not possible in Allah wisdom ( ); Allah will not let this happen. What is that thing about which it is mentioned that Allah will not let it happen? means to leave ( ): leave whom? the believers who have the attributes of the faith ( actions and it includes all different types of beliefs. )which show in their Page 1
in your present state - Allah will never leave the believers in the present state without testing their belief as is mentioned in Ayah 2 of Surah Ankabut 1. It is similar here that it is not possible in Allah s wisdom to leave the believers in the present state. What state is being referred here is given next: until He separates the evil from the pure till Allah differentiates the good from the bad and this is for the believers though it is mentioned in the beginning that they are the believers but still they will be tested in order to show the difference between the evil ( ) and the good and pure ( ) and show who are true believers or who are not. Actually our tests are the tests of our beliefs through the decree of Allah. means to differentiate and also means clear ( ) till it will be clear who is the real believer by differentiating between the wicked and the good. Everybody is born pure, it is the nature but when someone does the sins then he becomes wicked ( ) because of his sins ( ). The person can purify himself ( ) with his faith and because of his virtuous deeds ( ). It is not evident looking at the current state of the believers that who is the real believer, if all are mixed with each other then Allah will put them in tests to distinguish between the good and the bad. This is the test of the truthfulness. Allah will leave them after the good has been separated from the evil and the truth becomes clear. If we look at the meaning of and in detail we will see the following attributes of : they are the believers in One God, sincere and truthful. As against them the are the mushrik who associate partners with Allah, they show off and lie. This elimination is in this life that s why we have elimination in the Day of Judgement. So this elimination requires tests and trials ( ). This is the Sunnah of Allah. How Allah will test them? 1 and they will not be tried? (Surah Ankabut Ayah 2) Do the people think that they will be left to say, "We believe" Page 2
With some obligations, easy as well as difficult ( ), such as Jihad in the way of Allah will test them because at the time of ease everybody claims to be a believer but the real test of belief is when a person is in distress and still maintains his faith and belief in Allah s decree. Something else also not possible in addition to leaving the believers without testing and that is: nor will Allah reveal to you the unseen It is not possible in Allah s wisdom that one of His creations knows ( about the unseen and hidden matters, the knowledge of which Allah ) has kept with Himself ( ). Allah will not reveal the ghaib to any of His creation ( ) otherwise if this knowledge is given to them what is the point of these tests and trials. These two matters 2 are the tests and the trials and this is out of Allah s wisdom ( ). We don t know what is hidden because there is the wisdom to distinguish. How can Allah put somebody in trials without sending any types of warnings when we know that Allah will not leave any believer without testing and will not reveal the unseen to His creations. Allah will then choose ( ) pick and select ( ) among His messengers whomever He Wills according to His Will and Wisdom ( ) and will not leave His creations without His guidance sent through His messengers. This requires taqwa and lot of efforts to really keep ourselvess on the path. May Allah show us all the right path and keep our faith firm under all tests and trials Ameen Ya Rabbil Alimeen. Ayah 179 to be continued next week Insha Allah Sunday, January 27 th, continuation of Ayah 179 from January 22 nd Class Allah SWT in this Ayah is addressing the believers and the ones who claim to be believers that Allah SWT will put them all under situations where they will be tested and the pure will be distinguished from the impure. This test will be imposed on everyonee so that the distinction is made clear, to purify the believers and to see whether they are truthful or not. 2 Leaving the believers without testing and distinguishing between good and bad and revealing the unseen to His creation Page 3
In this Ayah Allah SWT has negated two things: 1. Allah will not leave the believers without testing to distinguish between good and evil. The people who are not truthful will fail the test and that will eliminate them from the group of believers and in the end there will be only believers with pure hearts. These are very gentle tests but we know we are being tested. 2. Allah SWT will not show any unseen to His creation in order for taking the test from the believers in order for us to work for our akhira. Imagine if we know our end result? So it has wisdom from Allah SWT to keep it secret. What is the result after the test? We can see obedient believers or disobedient disbelievers. Next Allah SWT is saying - we have tests in our life but SubhanAllah Allah SWT never left us unguided so He chose ( ) messengers among His slaves whoever He Wills. This is action of Allah SWT which is according to His Will and is not random but according to His Wisdom ( ) and Knowledge ( ) what are we supposed to do now when messengers have been sent to us and now though we do not have them among us but we have their messages, books, signs of Allah SWT? so believe in Allah and His messengers These tests are good for the believers to upgrade them and to know themselves; their weaknesses and strengths so believe in Allah SWT and His messengers; all the time we need to go back to the wisdom of our creation which is to worship Him. This is nothing but the shahadatain ( ) which is the first pillar of Islam and Iman. It has two parts; (1) I witness that there is no god except Allah SWT; which is sincerity for the sake of Allah and (2) I bear witness that Muhammad SAW is messenger of Allah; which show us to follow him ( ). Page 4
This is believing in Allah SWT and following the path of His messenger, which is our duty and our goal in our life. Then there are two conditions ( ) and if we fulfill those conditions then there is a reward ( ) for us; what are the conditions? (1) - to believe and (2) to guard ourselves and put our heart in a cage protected from any external influence and from attaching to anyone other than Allah SWT and following anything other than the path of Muhammad SAW. The believers who are fulfilling these two conditions are given glad tidings to have a great reward by Allah SWT. This Ayah brings us back to the main point of believing in Allah SWT and having His fear and guarding ourselves, and this is the way of success and the way of great reward which will be in the Day of Judgement. The summary of Ayah 179 is that we have tests in this life which distinguishes between good and bad and the good ones are required to have faith and belief in Allah SWT and follow His messengers and have taqwa; if we have the belief and taqwa then there is a great reward for us in the akhira. We ask Allah for His forgiveness and Mercy. Anything that is good from these notes is from Allah. Any mistakes & misrepresentations are my own. I ask Allah for His acceptance of all our good deeds and forgiveness of our sins Ameen. Love you all my precious sisters for the sake of Allah Page 5