- Interpretation Of Quran / The long version
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- (005) Al Maida
Allah addresses the believers with the branches of Islam:
Dear Brother: with the 27th lesson from Sura Al-Ma’ida ayah 54.Allah Said (Translated):
“O believers! Whoever among you renounce his Deen (Islam), let them do so; Soon Allah will replace them with sh3er whom He will love and they will love Him, who will be humble towards the believers, mighty against the unbelievers, striving hard in the way of Allah, and will have no fear of reproach from any critic. This is the grace of Allah which He bestows on whom He pleases. Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures’ needs and All-Knowing”
When Allah addresses the believers in the Quran He talks about the branches of Islam, warns them, brings good news or directs their attention. When Allah addresses mankind He talks about the principles of Islam.
Allah said (translated):
“O mankind worship your lord, Who created you”
The believer needs to refresh or to keep his faith:
Allah said“O Believers”.
Allah in some ayahs in the Quran addresses the believers in Him and orders them to believe in Him. Seems there is a little problem! How Allah orders the believers to believe in Him if they already believers? To answer this question the scholars explained the meaning of Allah’s order. It means Allah is ordering the believers to protect, renew and strengthen their faith and believes. Sometime faith gets torn or weakened just like a dress. So we have to keep our faith strong by increasing our knowledge, worshiping and doing more good deeds. Just like when you tell someone to do something they already doing, you want them to keep doing it and get more proficient.
Allah said (translated):
“O Prophet! Fear Allah”
In the above ayah Allah is ordering the Prophet to fear Him. But the Prophet already fears Allah. The explanation of the order: is for the Prophet to continue fearing Allah and protect this character within him. (Fearing Allah prevents you from disobeying Him and committing sins).
There is a great danger when believes and faith weaken. Faith might weaken when a person faces uncontrolled desires, doubts regarding his faith or when Islam and Quran are being criticized. So the believers need to protect, renew and strengthen their faith by remembering Allah all the time, learning more about Islam and by being in the company of the strong believers.
Struggle between truth and evil is eternal:
Allah said (translated):“O believers! Whoever among you renounces his Deen (Islam),”
There is an important point in this ayah. Let us simplify with an example. In Medicine Vaccines are used to build immunity to certain illness. A weakened or dead form of the agent that cause the illness is given. This allow the body to build immunity to the illness. So when the body is exposed to the real agent it already has the weapons (immunity) to fight back.
Allah in the above ayah is informing us (the vaccine) about some Muslims who might renounce Islam so we would not be shocked, surprised or cause weakness in our faith. Allah is preparing us mentally and informing us about these types of Muslims. These people cause no harm whatsoever to Islam. Islam is Allah’s religion and He will protect it. Do not worry about Islam.
Worry whether or not Allah will allow you to be one of its followers and servant. Allah is given us a vaccine against the people who renounce Islam by telling us about them. Then Allah tells us what would happen when these people renounce: Allah said (translated):
“O believers! Whoever among you renounces his Deen (Islam) let them do so; Soon Allah will replace them with sh3er whom He will love and they will love Him,”
A practical example: I gave my students a project from a web site that attacks the Quran through scientific means. I showed them the project and my response to it. By doing that, they are now mentally prepared (vaccinated) to face these types of sites without being shocked or surprised.
There will always be a fight between truth and evil, until the Day of Judgment. This is Allah’s will. And we need to be mentally ready to fight it. In the Day of Judgment we will be asked how we reacted to this fight. For example: Allah will not judge us on being rich or poor. But on how did we react when we were rich or poor, were we thankful for the first and patience on the second.
You are not asked about your fate but about your reaction towards it:
It was mentioned that Gabriel (the angel) peace be upon him asked Prophet Muhammad if he wanted to be king and prophet or servant and prophet. The Prophet said “servant and prophet so I remember Allah the day I am hungry and praise Him the day I am replete. Explaining the Prophet saying in some details, the percentage of people who deviate from the straight path is higher among the rich and powerful than the poor and weak. In other word sometimes being poor and weak bring you closer to Allah than being rich and powerful. You might notice in some rich and powerful countries people may be far away from Allah.
However in poor and weak countries people may be more close to Allah. Hard times usually bring people closer to Allah.
One time I saw the biggest diamond in the world at a museum in Turkey worth $150 million. The diamond was formed from a cheap piece of coal in an environment of extreme heat and pressure. The same thing with a true believer when exposed to great calamity and testing he or she will become like a diamond.
There is a great difference between the believer and the disbeliever:
The difference between the believer and the unbeliever, is like the difference to a hungry man between a well-cooked fine piece of meat and a rotten animal corpus that has being dead for several days, they are both meat. You would be attracted to true believers in almost all aspects of life. They do not lie; do not cheat, easy to work with, available whenever you need them and have the highest of morals. However the unbelievers are usually the opposite. Allah in away is giving us a vaccine. Allah is telling us there are some Muslims who will renounce Islam. There will be people who will attack Islam and the Quran, they will be questioning and denying the truth of the Quran. (I think we see this everyday now).
Allah said (translated):
“Likewise, for every messenger, We did make an enemy- Satan from among the human beings and Jinns’, confusing each other with flowery talk, with lies that mislead. If your lord had so willed, they would not have done it: Therefore leave them and that which they invented, (112) so that the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter may be inclined to what they say, and be pleased with it; so that they can earn what they wish to earn(113)”
The worst man is the one who stands against Allah:
The people who renounce Islam, they only hurt themselves. They are like someone trying to extinguish sunlight by blowing air out of their mouth toward the sun. Islam is Allah’s religion and nobody can extinguish its light. Allah said (translated):“Their intention is to darken Allah’s Light (by bellowing) with their mouth: But Allah will complete (brightening) His Light. Even though the unbelievers may dislike (it)”
Anyone who stands against Islam is standing against Allah the creator of everything. Allah said (translated):
“If you both (Hafsah and Aisha) turn in repentance to Allah - for your hearts have sinned – you shall be pardoned; and if you back up each other against him (the Prophet), then you should know that his protectors are Allah, Gabriel and all righteous believers; furthermore the angles too are his supporters”
We as Muslims have the Creator’s guidance to the wellbeing of humanity “Islam”. But unfortunately most of us do not appreciate it. A lot of us do not try to understand Islam correctly, nor apply it in our lives. And most of us do a bad job in presenting it to sh3er.
Allah Said (translated):
“O believers! Whoever among you renounces his Deen (Islam),”
Examples of the informative miracles of Quran:
An example from the Prophet’s life: Mosilama the lying man renounced Islam in the time of the Prophet. He wrote to the Prophet “from Mosilama the prophet of Allah to Muhammad the Prophet of Allah: the earth has two halves one for you the other for me”. Notice Mosilama could not deny that Muhammad is the Prophet. The prophet replied “from Muhammad the messenger of Allah to the lying Mosilama: peace be upon who follow the strait path (and wrote this ayah from the Quran)“The earth is Allah’s, to give as a gift to such of His servants whom He pleases; and the end will be (best) for the righteous”
If you get a chance to read some of what Mosilama or the people who renounced Islam wrote, a lot of time you just cannot stop laughing. And when they try to imitate the words of the Quran you immediately realize what they wrote is just another book written by someone. When you read or listen to the Quran and understand it you know deep in your heart this is not another human’s words.
The ayah 54 of Surat Al-Ma’idah is one of the Quran informative miracles. Allah is telling us what will happen and it does happen. For example: Allah said (translated):
“Perish be the hands of the father of flame (Abu-Lahab)! Perish be he! (1) (There is) no benefit to him (in the Hereafter) from all his wealth (2) soon he will be burnt in a fire of burning flame! (3) And his wife shall carry the (crackling) wood, as fuel (4) a twisted rope of palm-leaf fiber around her neck (5) “
The above Surat would not be true if Abu-Lahab, after hearing it, went to the Prophet and declared he is a Muslim. Abu-Lahab did not convert to Islam and he died as unbeliever and he ended up as Allah described.
Everything is under Allah’s control:
Another example: Allah said (translated):“The foolish ones among people will say: “What has turned them (the believers) away from their Qibla (the direction of prayer) that they were used to praying?”
Allah ordered the Prophet to change the direction of the prayer from Jerusalem to Makah. He informed his prophet that the foolish would say such and such, and they did. If they did not say anything that would make the above ayah invalid. Allah said (translated):
“O believers! Whoever among you renounces his Deen (Islam),”
Allah is telling us not to be surprised. People will renounce Islam. They will say the Quran is Muhammad’s own words. Some will say Islam is not the right religion for modern time. They want to change the Quran and Islamic teachings. Some will say Islam is the religion of terrorists.
But they cannot change nor damage this religion because it is Allah’s religion and He will protect it.
Allah said (translated):
“O believers! Whoever among you renounces his Deen (Islam) let them do so; Soon Allah will replace them with sh3er whom He will love and they will love Him,”
There is a rule in the above ayah. If you have a strong faith and truly love Allah, you will not renounce Islam. Your love for Allah will protect you.
“Allah will replace them with sh3er whom He will love”.
Man is the master of the world because he carried the trust:
Allah mentioned that He loves them first, because He is the Merciful and He wants his creatures to be happy. Some scholars said He loves them first because he knew they will love him.Some will say: if Allah created us to be happy why all this misery and calamity in the world. This misery is from our own doing. Allah created us with freedom of choice. And based on the choices we made we will suffer the consequences. Allah said (translated):
“We did offer the trust, duty and responsibility to the heavens, and the earth and the mountains; but they refused to undertake it, because they were afraid of it. But mankind undertook it- Verily, he was being ignorant (and foolish about the responsibility)”
Mankind accepted the trust and the responsibility and because of that Allah gave them the mind, the freedom of choice and created the skies and earth to serve them. So the important point is the freedom of choice. When you choose to enjoy life and ignore the guidance of your creator, you can do that, and then you will suffer the consequences. Allah sends messengers and books to guide mankind to the right path and here you also have the choice to follow or not. Allah said (translated):
“This is the truth from your lord. Then let him who will believe in it, and let him who will reject it”
Two meanings of love:
“We guided him to the right way: Now it is his choice either to be grateful or to be a disbeliever”
Allah sends calamities and hardship on mankind so they might repent and return to Him. Allah wants his creatures to be happy in this life and the Hereafter. An example to illustrate: the main purpose of a car is to move, takes you from one place to the other. In each car there are brakes which function opposite to the car’s main purpose! Why? For you own safety. So Allah created us to be happy. And when we deviate from the path that will lead us to happiness Allah sends us misery and calamities to remind and guide us back to happiness. Allah said (translated):
“And verily, we will truly make them taste the penalty in this (life even) before the supreme penalty, so that they may (repent and) return”
Love has two meanings: emotional and mind (intellectual) love. Example to illustrate: you have severe illness that requires a medicine that tastes horrible. You will do whatever it takes to get the medicine. When you get the medicine you will love it (intellectually) even though it tastes horrible because it will be the tool to treat the illness. Emotionally we love food and drinks which taste good, we do not love food or drinks that taste bad. So you love that medicine with your mind not you emotions.
Man gets happiness only if he chooses whom he loves:
Mankind love Allah through their mind initially. Using your mind and your intellectual ability you start thinking about the creation and the creator. You think about the sky, the earth, the animals, your own body and everything around you. You realize that Allah created everything. Everything in Allah’s hand: your life, health, family, children, friends, work,…etc. When you realize all of that you love Allah with your mind. Then you begin to worship Him and obey Him and the emotional love begins.In ayah 54 of Surat Al-Ma’idah the love has two interpretations. The first: Allah loves mankind and He wants them to be happy. They love Allah because of His grace upon them and his guidance to them. The second: Allah loved mankind when He first created them. Then when they followed his guidance and obeyed Him, He loved them again.
Islam is based on loving. Allah is capable of making every human being obey and love him. However this would be forced love and obedience and would not make them happy. Allah created freedom of choice in mankind. They can only be happy when they choose whom to love, not when it is forced on them to love someone.
So the prophet (PBUH) said:
"None of you believes until he loves me more than he loves his children, his parents, and all people." In another hadith in Bukhari he said: "None of you believes until he loves me more than he loves himself."
Every misguiding call has characteristics:
The prophet peace be upon him said “You will not be a true believer until you love me more than yourself, money, children and family”. The companion Omar was an honest man. One day he was walking with the Prophet holding his hand. Omar said “messenger of Allah I love you more than anything in this world, but I love myself more” The prophet said “No, you must love me more than yourself” Omar said “It is now and Allah is my witness I love you more than myself” The prophet said “Now Omar (you are a true believer)”.You must feel the love of Allah. And from that love you will love his creation, his messengers, the believers and all mankind. (A true believer does not hate).
A true prophet always comes with a miracle to prove he is a prophet from Allah. Some people renounce Islam and claim to be prophets. Why their followers did not ask for a miracle. The reason being those who claimed to be prophets did not bring anything new, they just want much less worship or no worship. They tell their followers to be free, do whatever you want, follow your desires without guidance, no need to pray, to fast, to be honest. Of course they have millions of followers. These man made religions the wholly aspect is the people themselves. In the other hand the true prophet with Allah’s religion, the wholly aspect is Allah and his guidance not prophets or people. True Prophet’s message is clear: worship Allah the creator and follow his guidance, fulfill desires according to his guidance. Allah said (translated):
“And if he (the Messenger) were to invent any saying in our name (44) We should certainly have seized him by his right hand (45) And then We certainly would have cut off the artery of his heart (46) Nor could any of you withhold him (from Our Anger) (47)
“And if we had not given you strength, you would have certainly listened to them a little (74) if that was so, we would have made you taste twice the part (of punishment) in this life, and twice the part after death”
In the Divine Approach, glorification is to approach:“I follow nothing except what is made known to me (by Allah)”
“Say: I am only a man like yourselves (but) the revelation has come to me that, your Allah is the One Allah (Allah)”
“Say it is not in my power to cause you harm”
“Say: I have no power over any good or harm to myself”
“I do not know what is hidden”
“If I disobeyed my lord, indeed, I would have fear of the penalty of a dreadful Day”
When the approach is greater people get less important:
When the approach is great, it controls people’s desires, transgression, and deviation. So the prophet is asked for the proof:“And the disbelievers say: You (Muhammad) are not a messenger”
Miracles come as proofs, but when someone comes allowing people to do whatever they want with no limits, his followers are millions as there is not obligations in such religions, such people are not asked for proofs.
Allah said (Translated):
“O believers! Whoever among you renounce his Deen (Islam), let them do so; Soon Allah will replace them with sh3er whom He will love and they will love Him, who will be humble towards the believers, mighty against the unbelievers”
The meaning of helping the weak:
“Humble toward the believers”
means: they love the believers. The believers help each other. There is no difference between rich or poor nor weak or strong. They all work together.It is a great disaster: when a person humiliates weak believer and be afraid of a strong unbeliever. The prophet said
“You will win because of the weakest among you”
When we help, respect and protect the weak among us, Allah rewards by making us win over the ones who are stronger than us. When the strong helps the weak the whole community become very strong and can face any external threat.The disbeliever is mighty against the weak and weak in front of the strong:
The Varmint (vile, mean, and immoral) is servile (excessive willingness to please sh3er) when facing the strong. And show excessive strength and aggression when facing the weak. It is a character of most unbelievers. I bear witness to Allah that digging a well with two needles, sweeping a large land with two feathers, moving two seas with two sieves or washing two black men until they become white is a lot less stressful than asking a varmint for a favor.A person depends only on Allah. If everything in the sky and earth try to work against him or her, Allah will find a way out for him or her. But when a person depends on anything but Allah, Allah will make the sky and earth work against him.
If you do according to Allah’s orders don’t care for sh3er:
The kind, true believer is gentle on the weak and stand up against the aggressor. He or she does not care about nor fear anything or anyone except Allah. Allah said (translated):“And those who, when grave wrong is inflicted on them (are not afraid but) help and defend themselves (39) the recompense for an injury (or evil) is an injury (or evil) equal to it (in degree): But if a person forgives and makes reconciliation, his reward is due from Allah: Verily He (Allah) does not love those who do wrong”
“And will have no fear of reproach from any critic”. An old saying: “if you are not ashamed then do whatever you want”. If you are doing what pleases Allah, do not worry nor fear what people might say or think about you. If you worship people instead of Allah or when your goal is to please people, you will never succeed. You are always afraid of what people might say about you, and working hard trying to gain their approval. You cannot make everybody happy.
A humor example: one day Juha (a funny Arabic character) rode on his donkey and let his son walk beside him. People said: look at that mean father letting his son walk. The next day Juha let his son rides the donkey and he walked. People said: look at that shameful son: has no respect for his father letting him walk and he rides. The next day both Juha and son rode on the monkey. People said: look at that animal cruelty both of them riding the donkey. The next day neither of them rode the donkey. People said: look at these fools they have a donkey and they don’t ride it. I guess what is left to do was for both Juha and son to carry the donkey on their backs and see what people would say. The point is you will never please everyone.
Whatever you do there is always someone who will criticize you. So do not worry about what people might think or say. Be a true strong believer, if it pleases Allah do it, if it does not, do not do it. Allah said (translated):
"This is the grace of Allah which He bestows on whom He pleases. Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures’ needs and All-Knowing”
Love Allah, Allah will love you. Be humble toward the believers, strong and firm towards the powerful. Strive hard in the way of Allah.
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