- Interpretation Of Quran / The long version
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- (006) Al Anaam
Dear brothers, this is lesson No. 7 of interpreting Surat Al-An'am.
Though the following Ayah is brief, it contains delicate serious facts related to faith:
I will start with the Ayah number 25. Allah says:
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you; but We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears; if they see every one of the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) they will not believe therein; to the point that when they come to you to argue with you, the disbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the men of old."﴿
Dear brothers, though this Ayah is brief, it contains very serious and delicate facts related to faith. All of you know that the first sense that is developed in the fetus is hearing, whereas seeing is developed after birth. Therefore, most of the Ayat in the Quran where seeing and hearing are mentioned start with the sense of hearing before the sense of sight, and this indicates that the Almighty Allah creates man's hearing before his sight, and this leads us to believe that hearing is the first means which enables man to receive reality.
How far can your sight serve you if you are inside your house? It lets you see the room you are in, and it stops within the walls of the room, but you might say, "I hear a strange voice". Therefore, your hearing receives sounds beyond the room your are in, and it includes all the rooms in the house. Also, if an insect or a small animal enters your house and died under your bed, how will you know that? You will know by smelling its bad smell. Hence, the order starts with "seeing" then "hearing" then "smelling". The Noble Prophets conveyed the word of truth, and those around them understood it with their ears Thus, hearing is the first means to receive guidance, whereas speaking (with your tongue) is the first means to convey Da'wah (Call to Allah).
Allah has very obvious signs in the universe:
Dear brothers, the problem is that man sees with his eyes the signs which indicate the Greatness of Allah and hears with his ears the words the Noble Prophets said. Thus:
﴾Verily! The hearing, and the sight, and the heart,﴿
What does the heart refer to in this Ayah? It refers to reasoning.
﴾Verily! The hearing, and the sight, and the heart, of each of those you will be questioned (by Allah).﴿
Hence, Allah bestowed upon you the senses of sight, hearing and reasoning, given the latter is manifested in the intellectual function of the brain for the purpose of guiding you to Him, and then He taught you the eloquent speech.
﴾The Most Beneficent (Allah)!* Has taught (you mankind) the Qur'an (by His Mercy)* He created man* He taught him eloquent speech.﴿
This eloquent speech is your means to convey the truth to others. With your ears you would have been able to hear the truth right from the mouths of the Noble Prophets had you lived in their era, you would have heard it from the mouths of their companions or followers or you can hear it from the contemporary pious righteous sincere scholars. Therefore, hearing is your means of receiving what the Noble Prophets say, whereas your sight is the means to ponder on the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, given the Almighty Allah has countless obvious signs in this universe which lead to Him, and He has sent down His Revelation which is manifested in the Quran and Sunnah. Therefore, you receive knowledge either right from the Noble Prophets, their companions or those who represent them, or you can acquire it by pondering on the creation of the heavens and the earth.
The only truth comes to you through either the Revelation or pondering:
The Almighty Allah says:
﴾Verily, therein is indeed a reminder for him who has a heart or gives ear while he is heedful.﴿
You may obtain your knowledge by searching and pondering and by making it adopted ideas, or you may have the access to the knowledge which came to you through the Revelation, which is easy to obtain. The proof is in the following Ayah:
﴾Say (to them O Muhammad PBUH): "I exhort you on one (thing) only: that you stand up for Allah's sake in pairs and singly, and reflect (within yourselves the life history of the Prophet): there is no madness in your companion (Muhammad PBUH)﴿
You should contemplate over the ready knowledge, and you should ponder on the creation of the heavens and the earth in order to reach the truth which you are looking for. This means that the truth is one, but it might come to you through the Divine Revelation, or through your contemplation. However, you should know that the truth which is acquired by contemplation might have flaws, because reasoning might make mistakes, whereas the truth that comes to you through the Divine Revelation is flawless. It is like trying to take apart a radio that you own in order to see how it is made, but you might take a piece of it due to which the radio becomes mute. You assume that this piece you remove is to filter the sound, but by experience and making error you realize that it is important to the radio and without which the radio becomes mute. Therefore, the knowledge that comes from experience is subject to errors, but if you meet the person who invented the radio, and he gives you detailed instructions of every piece of it, there would be no errors. Much in the same line, the truth is one, and it is accessible either through searching, studying, meditating and testing, or through believing in the Divine Revelation.
Believing in Allah is inevitable and it is a matter of time:
Dear brothers, the most crucial matter in this topic is that if you know the truth through experiment, pondering, contemplating and searching, this knowledge might be realized too late. For instance, when you come across a ball on your way, but you doubt that it could be a bomb, and you ask for the help of a bomb expert who tells you that it is a bomb, you will spare your life. On the other hand, if you test it yourself, hold it, look at it and flip it, it will explode and what you will have is only one second to realize that it is a bomb, but after this second your life will be over and this second of experience will not be enough to do you any good. This means that man might know the truth but after it is too late, when it does him no good, just like the belief of Pharaoh who said when drowning overtook him:
﴾He said: "I believe that La ilaha illa (Huwa): (none has the right to be worshipped but) He," in Whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am one of the Muslims (those who submit to Allah's Will)."* Now (you believe) while you refused to believe before and you were one of the Mufsidun (evil-doers, corrupts, etc.).﴿
This fact leads us to another fact: All people on earth including disbelievers know the truth, which the Noble Prophets brought, when they are about to die.
﴾Now We have removed your covering, and sharp is your sight this Day!"﴿
Accordingly, believing in the truth is a matter of time; you believe when you are young, and when you can make use of that faith by being upright, by drawing close to Him and by worshipping him, or you believe when it is too late, and your belief then will do you no good.
﴾No good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good (by performing deeds of righteousness) through his Faith.﴿
Difference between the written and the spoken Da'wah:
As I said earlier this lecture, the first sense used as means of receiving the truth is hearing, and the second one is sight. You see Allah's Signs, like the sun, the moon, the night, the day, the seas, the rivers, the birds, the fishes, the food, the drink and your children whom you care for. Hence, your ears will lead you to the truth as simple as that. This is why Allah's Noble Prophets used the spoken Da'wah. Da'wah is either spoken or written, but what is the difference between the two? Well to know the difference let us ask the following question, who can benefit from the written Da'wah? It is only those who can read, and so the number is few, given those who can read and write are very few in the Muslim societies. Not to mention, those who can read do not comprehend what they read, which makes those who can read and understand what they read even fewer. This is why the effect of written Da'wah is very limited.
It is said, "You either write books, or win hearts", because when hearts are touched, the effect will be deeper but for a short time, unlike writing books, for their influence stays much longer but it is limited to few people. Who would have known Imam Al-Ghazali had he not written his book Ihya' Uloom Ad-Deen? His religious session used to be attended by 400 scholars, but when he died, his sessions were over, so was his Da'wah, but what kept him alive till now? It is his book. The same goes for Al-Qurtubi; no one would have known him if he had not written his interpretation of the Quran. Thus, it is even better to do both, namely, winning hearts and writing books, given winning hearts has a deeper effect but for a short time, whereas writing books stays for a long time, but its effect is limited.
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you;﴿
Animation has a grave effect on our children:
I would like to tell you this fact: globalization does not rely on speeches but on images which can reach every person and with which the western globalization is able to brainwash the entire population on earth. Therefore, the most serious danger facing our youth is the screen. It is dangerous since it does not directly attack Islam, but rather it gives an unacceptable image of the Muslim concerning his health, his house his children, and it visualizes him in the worst image. Hence, the image is the source of danger, but on whom? On our children, because through the image, westerners are able to make Kufr and atheism penetrate their minds, and they even send immoral hints through cartoon films.
The image is the most effective weapon against the Islamic world, and scientists call such an effect, "destruction from within". The image can be like that by stereotyping the Muslim, giving the worst image of him. As you can see there is an ongoing war which uses media as its main means. Media is the unsheathed sword on the necks of Muslims. If a little girl who does not wear hijab and who lives in an Arab county is shot dead by an extremist Muslim, this piece of news will be displayed hundred times on news till every Muslim is considered a criminal (in the eyes of the world) since he kills an innocent child for not wearing hijab.
In fact, media is leading the fiercest war against Islam, so you cannot raise Muslim generation then hand them to media, because by doing so you are putting this generation under the control of pornography (which comes from immoral TV channels) and the control of atheism, which will destroy the most effective potential force of the Islamic society (i.e. the youth).
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you﴿
We have two words in Arabic which are equivalent to the word "listen". The first one is "Sami'a" and the second is "Istama'a"; the first one (Sami'a) is used when someone hears something by accident, like hearing a song played by one of the stores in the market, and in this case you cannot avoid listening to it. Unlike the ear, the eye has an eyelid, so you can lower your gaze and avoid looking at women in the street.
﴾Tell the believing men to lower their gaze (from looking at forbidden things)﴿
The ear is always open, and this is why Allah said about the people of the cave (Ahl Al-Kahf):
﴾Therefore We covered up their (sense of) hearing (causing them, to go in deep sleep) in the Cave for a number of years.﴿
Their eyelids are closed, thus they cannot see, but their ears can hear voices, so in order not to disturb their long sleep (for 300 years), Allah covered their sense of hearing so that they would not hear any outer sounds.
Some people listen to the Prophetic Hadith to stand against the truth:
Allah says:
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you;﴿
﴾who﴿
"Of them" means few of them. The Arabic word used for the verb "listen" in this Ayah, is "Istama'a" not "Sami'a", and the word "Istama'a" means to listen having the intention of finding flaws, defects and shortcomings to oppose the truth.
Dear brothers, some people of the other party (Kuffar) read the Quran to find a flaw, not to be guided. Those people read the Quran aiming to spread what they mistakenly consider a drawback, among people and to criticize Quran thereby. Others listen to the Hadith of the Prophet PBUH not to understand it or to pursue guidance in it, but to find shortcomings in Islam. Hence, this Ayah is very delicate, for it describes the other party:
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you;﴿
They listen only to hunt down delusional (assumed and not real, for the Quran is perfect as it is the Word of Allah) defects, flaws or drawbacks.
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you;﴿
Allah the Almighty installed in man the following:
﴾But We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears;﴿
I hope I can make this Ayah clear to you: consider the example of someone whose water tank in the house is broken and all his furniture is soaked in water because of this broken piece. In this case when he heads to the market to buy this piece and fix the water problem in his house, he will only see the stores which sell this piece, is not that right? He will not see the florist or the chandelier stores with all their breathtaking crystals, but all he can see is the store which sells this piece. Seeking this piece only makes him blind and deaf.
((Abu Ad-Darda' reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, "Your love of something might render you blind and deaf."))
The Ayah describes the person who belongs to the other party, i.e. disbelievers and who sits in the assembly of the Prophet PBUH not for the purpose of pursuing guidance and listening to it, but for the purpose of hunting down flaws and shortcomings in order to spread them among his people.
Whoever is far from Allah and is indulged in sins cannot comprehend Quran:
The Almighty Allah says:
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you; but We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears;﴿
"AlAkinnah (veils)" is the plural of the Arabic word "Kinan" and "Kinan" is the cover or the veil.
If I travel to a foreign country without knowing their language or numbers, and I attend a lecture there, do you think I will understand 5 % of this lecture? Actually I will not understand 1 % of it. Well, I will not understand 1 in a million of it and not even one letter. Allah says:
﴾And if We had revealed it (this Qur'an) unto any of the non-Arabs* And he had recited it unto them, they would not have believed in it.﴿
Suppose that Allah had sent the Quran in a non-Arabic language, and His Messenger PBUH, who received this book, read it to the people of Makkah, do you think they would have understood anything of it? Not at all! Imagine sitting between two people from Turkey or Iran, will you understand any word of what they say? Allah says:
﴾They would not have believed in it.﴿
Pay attention to the Ayah below:
﴾Thus have We caused it (the denial of the Qur'an) to enter the hearts of the Mujrimun (criminals, polytheists, sinners, etc.).﴿
If an Arab man who is eloquent in Arabic language, but he is very far from Allah and is indulged in sins and desires reads the Quran, he will not understand anything feeling that it had been written in a foreign language:
﴾Thus have We caused it (the denial of the Qur'an) to enter the hearts of the Mujrimun (criminals, polytheists, sinners, etc.).﴿
This is why Allah says:
﴾And it (the Qur'an) is blindness for them. ﴿
He also says:
﴾And it increases the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers) nothing but loss.﴿
Seeking the worldly life makes him blind and deaf:
Allah The Almighty says:
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you; but We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears;﴿
The blazing desires in their ownselves veiled them from comprehending the Quran. Thus, they understood nothing of it, but the delicate question that I would like to ask is that why did the Prophet PBUH accepted to sit in an assembly where there were Muslims whose eyes overflowed with tears after comprehending the Quran, and others to whose hearts the Quran never reached? The problem lies therein. By answering this question we will highlight the key issue of this Ayah.
The person who ponders on the creation of the heavens and the earth and who believes in the Signs of Allah which indicate His Greatness, will believe that upon reading the Quran that this book has been sent down from the Creator, so he will listen to it. Unlike him, the person who never pondered on the creation of the heavens and the earth being in quest of his own fortunes, desires, lusts and benefits will not comprehend any of the Ayat.
This is why I put forth the following fact in your hands: The reason why one person comprehends the Quran, while another one does not, is that the former weeps because the Quran touches his soul, whereas the latter is as far from weeping over the Quran as the distance between the heavens and the earth. Moreover, the former pursues the truth, while the latter does not. Those who are very clever, who are in quest of their desires and who reject guidance, are just like a very advanced professional camera which costs 2 million Liras but it has no film in it. It does not matter how advanced and accurate the camera is, how amazing its qualities are, it is useless as long as it has no film in it to produce photos. The one who does not comprehend the Quran is the one who pursues the worldly life only, because loving something might render man blind and deaf to the truth.
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you;﴿
They listen to you (O Muhammad PBUH) only to belittle the Quran, to find a shortcoming as they mistakenly think and to criticize you. They listen to you overtaken by the lust for controlling and disbelieving, and because they are like that, Allah decrees, due to His Justice, that a veil should be drawn between them and the Quran.
Kufr makes disbelievers' hearts wrapped:
The Almighty Allah says:
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you; but We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears;﴿
As if their ears are blocked and their hearts are wrapped (veiled from the truth).
﴾And they say, "Our hearts are wrapped (i.e. do not hear or understand Allah's Word)." Nay, Allah has cursed them for their disbelief﴿
Their Kufr made their hearts wrapped.
﴾And deafness in their ears; if they see every one of the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) they will not believe therein;﴿
A Khatib of a Masjid in Morocco said following the earthquake (of Aghadeer), "It might be a punishment from Allah to the sinners". Though he said the truth, demonstrations and great conflict started, because a party there refused the truth and wanted an earthy explanation.
﴾And when Allah Alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who believe not in the Hereafter are filled with disgust (from the Oneness of Allah)﴿
And when those (whom they obey or worship) besides Him are mentioned:
﴾They rejoice!﴿
Why this person comprehends the Quran, but that person does not? Why this person weeps over hearing the Quran, but that person does not? Why a person who obeys his father and attends the Friday sermon gets bored feeling that time does not pass, while the one who attends it seeking Islamic knowledge feels that time flies? Time passes fast or slowly, and a minute of pain seems to be an hour, whereas an hour of pleasure seems to be a minute.
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you; but We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears;﴿
The disbeliever does not accept to see the events from the Tawheed perspective:
We come to the following Ayah:
﴾If they see every one of the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) they will not believe therein;﴿
Once an earthquake (Tsunami) hit a city causing floods and the destruction of all the surrounding buildings except for a Masjid which is but a sign from Allah, yet someone would say, "Well the concrete of the Masjid was strong and made of reinforced concrete", so he refuses to say, "Allah left the Masjid intact to be a message to His servants". This kind of people refuses to admit Tawheed oriented explanations of events, but rather they adopt earthy Shirk oriented explanations only.
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you; but We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears;﴿
On the other hand:
﴾And when they (who call themselves Christians) listen to what has been sent down to the Messenger (Muhammad PBUH), you see their eyes overflowing with tears﴿
They wept because the Quran touched their deep feelings and because of submissiveness to Allah. Accordingly, the one, who offers Salah, recites the Quran and remembers Allah without feeling anything, has a big problem which he should acknowledge.
After mentioning this fact, Allah generalized by saying:
﴾If they see every one of the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) they will not believe therein;﴿
These Ayat denote earthquakes, sea tides, thunder storms and civil wars.
﴾Say: "He has power to send torment on you from above or from under your feet, or to cover you with confusion in party strife, and make you to taste the violence of one another."﴿
Definition of Myth:
The Almighty Allah says:
﴾To the point that when they come to you to argue with you, the disbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the men of old."﴿
The myth is a story, which is written on papers, and it is eccentric, abnormal and superstitious. Also, the myth is found in the books of the men of old. One of the well-known myths is that the earth is held on a horn of an ox, and the earthquake happens when it moves the earth from one horn to another. What a funny myth it is! There are countless myths like this one. Thus, the believer should review his beliefs, because some of them are mere myths, delusions, nonsense and falsehood. This review is done by referring those beliefs to the Quran and Sunnah, so he should accept whatever goes along them and call others to it, and he should reject whatever is not supported by evidence from both sources. I repeat again:
﴾If they see every one of the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) they will not believe therein; to the point that when they come to you to argue with you, the disbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the men of old."﴿
Dear brothers, the main point is mentioned in the following Ayah. Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, says:
﴾And they prevent others from him (from following Prophet Muhammad PBUH) and they themselves keep away from him, and (by doing so) they destroy not but their ownselves, yet they perceive (it) not.﴿
The Ayah refers to those who sit with the Prophet PBUH to hunt down what they assumed to be flaws, and after leaving his assembly they do the following:
﴾And they prevent others from him (from following Prophet Muhammad PBUH) and they themselves keep away from him﴿
They will keep themselves away from the Prophet PBUH and from his Sunnah and guidance. Furthermore, they will prevent others from following him. Thus, they commit two crimes; the first one going astray, and the second one is misleading others. There are misguided people, but worse than them are the ones who misguide others, and there are corrupted people, but worse than them are the ones who corrupt others.
The most miserable person is the one who devotes his capacities against the truth:
The Almighty Allah says:
﴾And they prevent others from him (from following Prophet Muhammad PBUH) and they themselves keep away from him, and (by doing so) they destroy not but their ownselves, yet they perceive (it) not.﴿
When man becomes means of misguiding others, he is considered the most miserable person on earth, and when he takes the opposite side of the truth, he is considered the most foolish man on earth, because he does not know against Whom he is standing (i.e. against Allah).
According to the earthy standards of power, a citizen cannot stand against the government, because the latter is very powerful, and everything is in its hands, and it can crush him in a second, so standing against it is foolishness and ignorance, and it manifests instability. Much in the same line, man is a weak creature and he is under the Divine law "Be!" or "Go away" and it is. Besides, man's hearing, sight, brain, skills, moves and stills are in the Hand of Allah, so how does he dare to take the opposite side of the truth? How can he do that? The most miserable people are the ones who stand against the people of the truth. Man might fall short, but Allah will help him overcome his own self, and man might also sin, but the mother of disasters is standing up against the truth and taking the people of the truth as enemies. As a result, he will become the most miserable person on earth, because he uses his skills and potentials to reject the truth.
﴾Verily, those who disbelieve spend their wealth to hinder (men) from the Path of Allah, and so will they continue to spend it; but in the end it will become an anguish for them.﴿
Allah also says:
﴾Say (O Muhammad PBUH) to those who disbelieve: "You will be defeated﴿
The Ayah is crystal clear.
Trenching against the truth is an inevitable loss:
The Almighty Allah says:
﴾If you two (wives of the Prophet, namely 'Aishah and Hafsah) turn in repentance to Allah, (it will be better for you), your hearts are indeed so inclined (to oppose what the Prophet likes), but if you help one another against him (Muhammad PBUH), then verily, Allah is his Maula (Lord, or Master, or Protector, etc.), and Jibrael (Gabriel), and the righteous among the believers, and furthermore, the angels are his helpers.﴿
What is the meaning of this Ayah? It means that when two women in a very powerful county criticize the law, military forces, marines and air forces will be put on the alert besides the police forces because of them. There is a delicate indication in the previous Ayah: If you stand against the truth, or take the opposite side of it, you should know Whom you are against. You are against the very Powerful One.
Those who stand against the truth aim to put out the light of Allah the Almighty. Trying to do so is like standing before the sun and blowing air in order to put it out. The possibility for the sun, which is 156 million kilometers far from the earth, whose flares spread to a distance of one million kilometers and which will remain blazing for the next 5 billion years, to be put out is zero. Will anyone accept this irrational claim? Allah says:
﴾They intend to put out the Light of Allah (i.e. the religion of Islam, this Qur'an, and Prophet Muhammad PBUH) with their mouths. ﴿
If putting out the sun is impossible, what would you say about putting out the light of Allah in the entire universe? Therefore, if you oppose the truth, you should know that you are inevitably a loser. Hence, when a Divine Report is conveyed to you, you should believe it as if you witnessed it:
﴾ Have you (O Muhammad PBUH) not seen how your Lord dealt with the Owners of the Elephant? [The elephant army which came from Yemen under the command of Abrahah Al-Ashram intending to destroy the Ka'bah at Makkah]. ﴿
Did anyone see how the Almighty Allah dealt with the Owners of the Elephant? No one did, but you should believe this Divine reported information as if you witnessed it when it took place. There is another Ayah which refers to seeing events:
﴾The Event (the Hour or the punishment of disbelievers and polytheists or the Islamic laws or commandments), ordained by Allah will come to pass, so seek not to hasten it. ﴿
The meaning of the Ayah is that the event has not occurred yet, but Allah uses the past tense as if it already happened, and this is how faith should be.
Whoever seeks guidance will be guided, but whoever does not will not be guided:
Dear brothers, this Ayah and the one which follows it imply why someone is affected by the Quran, while another one is not, and why someone is guided by Quran, whereas another one is not. Allah guides the one who seeks guidance, whereas the one who rejects guidance will not be Divinely guided, because Allah says:
﴾Then whosoever wills, let him believe, and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve. ﴿
Allah also says:
﴾Verily, We showed him the way, whether he be grateful or ungrateful. ﴿
Allah in another Ayah says:
﴾And of them there are some who listen to you; but We have set veils on their hearts, so they understand it not, and deafness in their ears; if they see every one of the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) they will not believe therein; to the point that when they come to you to argue with you, the disbelievers say: "These are nothing but tales of the men of old."* And they prevent others from him (from following Prophet Muhammad PBUH) and they themselves keep away from him, and (by doing so) they destroy not but their ownselves, yet they perceive (it) not.﴿
