Allah shows His servant the purpose of His Deeds:

Dear Muslim brother, this is our 66th lecture of Surat AnNisaa, verse 155. Allah the Almighty has said:

﴾(They have earned displeasure of Allah): Because they broke their covenant; and they rejected the sings of Allah; and they killed the prophets unjustly; and they said, “our hearts are in secure wrappings which have preserved Allah’s Word; we need no more.” No! Allah has sealed their hearts on account of their disbelief. They have no faith except a little﴿

[AnNisaa – 155]

Dear Muslim Brother:
Because of His absolute Grace, Allah shows to His servants the reasons behind His actions, either to honor or to punish. This is due to His absolute Grace When a father Punish his son without justifying his act, would he be considered an educator? Punishment does not make any sense without a reason. But when the father says: "My son, you did such and such, and I warned you repeatedly (but you did not respond) and this is your punishment", that would be understandable.
In this verse, Allah Almighty makes it clear to us why those people deserved His wrath: [Therefore, for their breaking their covenant], which means all of their covenants.
The covenant is the promise. Omrah and Hajj are the most obvious example about covenant. When we stand before the Black Stone and promise Allah to obey Him, to follow His Prophet's Sunnah(teachings) and to repent and turn to Him, we must keep our promise.

Ways of getting closer to Allah:

Allah Almighty says:

﴾And We did not find in most of them any (faithfulness to) covenant, and We found most of them to be certainly transgressors.﴿

[Al Aaraf – 102]

Keeping our promises is one of the faith basics.

Every man, in a moment of serenity, has concluded repentance with Allah, promisedto do something or to abstain from doing unlawful things, vowed to do something; but only a true believer keeps his promise. Allah Almighty says about a noble prophet:

﴾And (of) Ibrahim who fulfilled (the commandments): ﴿

[An Najm – 37]

And says about another prophet:

﴾Surely We found him patient﴿

[Saad – 44]

Patience, sincerity and truthfulness are among the means that bring you closer to Allah and raise your status with Him.
When people go through hardship, in the course of events, they promise Allah to repent and never commit the sin again. However, when Allah removes the distress, they return back to what they were doing before. This characteristic was found in Jews, and in the people of the Book. It could be also found in Muslims. Beware; when, in a time of hardship, you promise Allah to obey Him, to make good deeds, to maintain the prayer, to give money to the poor and needy, to lower your gaze and guard your modesty, you must keep your promise. This is a sign of your good faith.

﴾And (of) Ibrahim who fulfilled (the commandments): ﴿

[An Najm – 37]

But most of people do not keep their promises. Allah Almighty says about them:

﴾And We did not find in most of them any (faithfulness to) covenant, and We found most of them to be certainly transgressors. ﴿

[Al Aaraf – 102]

Allah sent hardship upon them because they did not keep their promise, and, because of [their disbelief in the sings of Allah].Allah’s sings: the universe all His creations, living and nonliving, His actions and His books.
These sings are the way that leads to Allah. Allah Almighty says: [then in what revelation would they believe after Allah and His sings?] For example, one cannot obtain a certificate without going to school. Allah Almighty made a way for everything, and His sings are the way that leads us to believe in Him. There are formative sings, universal sings and Quranic sings. All of Allah's sings constitute the road that leads to believe in Him. He who ridicules a formative or a universal or a sing, is definitely walking toward a dead end, and Allah willnot guide him to the straight path. For example, To be a doctor, one must follow a specific way: they need to get a high school degree with a certain score, go to medical school where they have to study sciences in general, anatomy, physiology, pathology and pharmacology, and finally get the medical degree. They cannot open a clinic and call themselves doctors without following this pathway.

Affliction is a letter from Allah:

Allah's sings are the way to lead us to Him. He who denies Allah's sings will reach nothing but a dead end] [because they broke their covenant, and rejected the sings of Allah]
You may have noticed that whenever you explain the reason behind an earthquake, poverty, an invasion, a civil war, a drought, a thunderbolt, a volcano's irruption through Tawheed (monotheism)( Oneness of Allah (God))

makes it clear that Allah does not need to torture us, but, if He ever does, it is to send us a specific message. Allah Almighty says:

﴾ “And if we had sent a penalty on them before now, surely, they would have said: “Our Lord! If only You had sent us a messenger, we should certainly have followed Your sing before we were humiliated and put to shame ﴿

[Ta Ha – 134]

This means a misfortune is a message from Allah Almighty. When Allah sends a misfortune or a drought, when He gives the enemy power over Muslims to take their wealth and to invade their land, it means that Allah Almighty is sending them a message. We may not accept it and we may resist it, but first and foremost it is a message from Allah. The closer you are to Allah, the better you understand Him. You need to know what He drove to you is a message that you must retain, understand and behave accordingly. He who does not learn the lesson from a misfortune, his misfortune with his own self is certainly greater.

﴾ “Our lord! If only You had sent us a messenger, we should certainly have followed Your sing before we were humiliated and put to shame” ﴿

[Ta Ha – 134]

We should understand things with high monotheism:

Some interpreters of the Holy Quran said that the "Warner" in this verse in the Quran:

﴾Did We not preserve you alive long enough, so that he who would, could take a warning? And there came to you the Warner﴿

[Fatir – 37]

The Warner is also the Prophet, the age of forty, the gray hair, the calamities… A misfortune brings along a message: "My servant, you are not following the right path that leads you to happiness." [Therefore, for their breaking their covenant andtheir disbelief in the sings of Allah].
A misfortune is one of Allah's sings. The sun, the moon and whatever calamities Allah sends to His servants are among His divine sings. Therefore, we need to understand the events and accidents that occur within a frame of pure celestial monotheism, not earthy polytheism. Intelligence does not consist of knowing what happened alone, but also interpreting it. Therefore, Allah's formative sings, i.e. His actions, which are interpreted as hardship in human concept, are messages with specific purpose. This might be one of Allah's sings that is indicative of His Divinity, His Mercy and His way to guide humans:

﴾ If they accuse you of falsehood, then say: Your Lord is the Lord of All-encompassing mercy; and His punishment cannot be averted from the guilty people.﴿

[Al Anaam – 147]

Allah's All-encompassing Mercy dictates that His punishment cannot be averted from the guilty people.

Misfortune is a result of sin, it can go only with repentance:

For example, if, while walking down the street, a father sees his son, his nephew and a friend of theirs smoking, how will he react? His outrage will be definitely directed to his son, he might even hit him, while his reaction against his nephew and the other boy would be of a lesser severity. The closer the relationship, the harder the treatment. If a misfortune befalls on you it means that you are in the Divine intensive care unit; Allah sends misfortune to bring you closer to Him. What does [Then He turned to them (mercifully) that they might turn (to Him)] mean? It means that He sends hardship to compel them to repent.
The one, who interprets Allah's sings within an earthy frame, has definitely no understanding of the real meaning of Allah's actions. How many misfortunes befell on people around us, did they ever change? Did they turn to Allah? Did they follow the right path? Misfortunes carry specific messages from Allah Almighty, and the more we neglect these messages, the harder the misfortunes. Nowadays, Muslims experience severe hardship; Allah is sending us countless messages: the other party is impoverishing us, misleading us, spoiling us and humiliating us because we abandoned our religion. The misfortune that is befalling on us could not be removed unless we repent and return to Allah.[Therefore, for their breaking their covenant].
You may assault someone, but when you are certain that this person is a messenger of Allah, the guilt of assaulting him is therefore much enormous. [and their killing the prophets unjustly] Surely there is no rightful killing of prophets; this is a descriptive restrictionnot a precautionary one, because he who kills prophets is actually killing them unjustly.
[And their saying: Our hearts are covered]: Deviants stick to this 'constraint ideology'. They will say "If Allah had wanted I would not have disobeyed Him. It was beyond my will." The constraint ideology is a clear disbelief! Allah will never hold you accountable and send you to Hell if he forces you to disobey Him.

Believing in forcing people to do evil is disbelief:

He says:

﴾Those who are polytheists will say: If Allah had wanted we would not have associated (aught with Him) nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden (to ourselves) anything; even so did those before them reject the truth until they tasted Our punishment. Say: Have you any knowledge with you so you should bring it forth to us? You only follow a conjecture and you only tell lies.﴿

[Al Anaam – 148]

He who says: "If Allah wanted, I would not have associated sh3er with Him, I would not have disobeyed Him, I would have prayed, I would and I would…", he is surely a very weak believer. I would rather say that his faith is invalid.
[And their saying: Our hearts are covered]: Falsehood does not come out of our hearts and the truth does not get in; this how we were created. Regretfully, this ideology is widespread among Muslims. I would even say it is the ideology of some preachers. All is up to Allah. Of course it is, and this is a word of truth. But let me putit this way: in a school system, is it because of the teacher a student fails and succeeds?, No, the student who failed did not make it because he simply has chosen not to study, so he failed and the teacher did not allow him to pass. However, the student who passed has chosen to study so he succeeded and the teacher allowed him to pass. It is as simple as that!

Orders and prohibition mean that we have free choice:

Dear brother,
It is easy for one to attribute all his sins to Allah and say: "This is how I was created… If Allah had wanted, I would have not been like this... If Allah had wanted, I would have done that... Do not object... All is an act of Allah…" So If you are doing nothing but executing Allah's will (and you do not have a choice in what you do) why he is holding you accountable for your acts? Why He says:

﴾And he who has done an atom's weight of evil shall see it.﴿

[Al Zalzalah – 8]

For example, if the space between two parallel walls is large enough for only one person to walk in, can we ask him to turn to the right? Is there any right in the first place? Therefore, scholars said the simple fact that the Quran includes orders and prohibitions means that one does have the freedom of choice. If one is forced to do one thing without a choice, there would not have been any orders or prohibitions in the Quran.
It is very comfortable for one to attribute their sins and crimes to Allah and say "this is the arrangement of you Allah", interpreting their mistakes as pure acts of Allah( they believe Allah has forced them to do these things without a choice) and are completely beyond their will. If so, why does He hold us accountable then?
A man asked Ali Ibnu Abi Taleb: "Was our trip to Sham a pure act of Allah?" (He meant a forced trip) Ali answered: "Woe to you! If it was an inevitable act of Allah, the promises and threats would become null, and the reward and punishment would be over. Allah ordered His servants but granted them the freedom of choice. Forbids them to do something to test and warn them. He imposed upon them what is in their ability. He gives them too much for just a little."
Allah's sings are sometimes the misfortunes that befall on us. We surely need to look at them from a monotheistic believe: This misfortune is a warning for us to take notice.
This is a true story of a Bedouin who lives far from a very big city in a Muslim country. When the city expanded, it got closer to his land and the land price rose significantly. Taking advantage of the Bedouin's ignorance, a real estate office managed by three partners bought the land at a very unfair low price and constructed a ten floor building. The first partner dropped dead from the top of the building and the second one was hit by a car. The third partner, who interpreted the two accidents as a message from Allah, looked for the Bedouin for more than six months until he found him and paid him three times the value of his share.

Misfortune means we are eligible to repent:

Do not interpret misfortunes as life troubles. Be sure that Allah is sending them on purpose, then learn well that there is no God but Allah and ask Him for forgiveness
We may feel relieved when we attribute what happens to Freemasonry, colonization, Sharon, Bush, etc… as if we have done nothing. They are tyrants, that is true, but the problem lies in us and this is why Allah gave them power over us. A believer never feels down or oppressed, but believes Allah may give a stronger person power over him as a message from above. It is easy to repent and return back to Allah as long as our hearts beat. If a misfortune befalls on you, trust that you are eligible to repent. However, Allah says about the ones who do not repent:

﴾But when they neglected that with which they had been admonished, We opened for them the doors of all things, until when they rejoiced in what they were given We seized them suddenly﴿

[Al Anaam – 44]

One may say: "The infidels are powerful." Well, this verse perfectly applies to them:

﴾But when they neglected that with which they had been admonished, We opened for them the doors of all things, until when they rejoiced in what they were given We seized them suddenly ﴿

[Al Anaam – 44]

Disbelief causes the seal on the heart

﴾Surely Firon exalted himself in the land and made its people into parties, weakening one party from among them; he slaughtered their sons and let their women live; surely he was one of the mischief makers. * And We desired to bestow a favor upon those who were deemed weak in the land, and to make them the Imams, and to make them the heirs ﴿

[Al Qasas – 4-5]

Never say "Allah set a seal upon my heart" [and their saying: Our hearts are covered; No! Allah set a seal upon them owing to their unbelief].
I want to make this idea clear to you. For example, a patient is not convinced by the knowledge and experience of a physician, how can the latter ever help him? He certainly cannot because the patient does not believe in him at the first place, and, consequently, his knowledge and virtues have been withheld from the patient [No! Allah set a seal upon them owing to their unbelief].
They disbelieved in Allah. For example a driver, who is going on a journey, comes to a cross-roads. Knowing not which road to follow, he asked a man who happens to pass by about the right road to reach his destination. If the driver does not trust the man's answer and says "you are a liar and you know nothing", will the man ever give him any further advice? Definitely not! The driver rejected his knowledge and this rejection raised a barrier between them. Allah Almighty says:

﴾And they say: Our hearts are covered No, Allah has cursed them on account of their disbelieve; so little it is that they believe. ﴿

[Al Baqara – 88]

Their hearts were covered owing to their disbelieve, so they shall not believe except a few, and this is because of Allah's mercy. "Except a few" means there is still hope for them to wake up, although the hope is too little.

﴾ And for their disbelieve and for their having uttered against Mariam a grievous calumny. ﴿

[Al Nisaa – 156]

There are various types of disbelief:

There are various types of disbelief; it may be a disbelief in Allah, in His names, in some of His Names, in His prophets, in some of His prophets, in His books, or in some of His Books. Quran does not repeat itself. Allah Almighty says:[and their disbelief in the sings of Allah][and for their having uttered against Mariam a grievous calumny]. They said that this Holy Prophet was born of adultery.

The following verse has many interpretations:

Allah Almighty says:

﴾ And for their disbelief and for their having uttered against Mariam a grievous calumny * And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah(Jesus), Isa son of Mariam, the Messenger of Allah ﴿

[Al Nisaa – 156-157]

1. Either they actually said "the messenger of Allah"

Either they actually said "the messenger of Allah" because they were certain that the Messiah is truly the Messenger of Allah, which made their crime even worse.

2. Or they said it to ridicule him.

Or they said it to ridicule him.

3. Or it is the speech of Allah Himself

Or it is the speech of Allah Himself who says:

﴾ And for their disbelief and for their having uttered against Mariam a grievous calumny * And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah(Jesus), Isa son of Mariam, the Messenger of Allah ﴿

[Al Nisaa – 156-157]

Allah Almighty says:

﴾ and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no real knowledge, but only follow a conjecture, and certainly, they did not kill him (Jesus). ﴿

[Al Nisaa – 157]

Allah denies that they killed Jesus and then crucified him

Allah denies that they killed him and then crucified him. The one they killed and crucified appeared to them like the Messiah (Jesus), and the Messiah was raised and ascended to Allah:

﴾And when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to terminate the period of your stay (on earth) and cause you to ascend unto Me and purify you of those who disbelieve and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection﴿

[Al Imraan – 55]

The Messiah was raised to the sky the way Prophet Muhammad was raised to the farthest lote-tree. However, Prophet Muhammad returned to earth, while the stay of the Messiah will last till the end of time and his coming down is one of the major signs of the Day of Judgment. The Prophet, peace be upon him, said: "The earth shall be overwhelmed with injustice and oppression, then my brother Issa comes and fill it with fairness and justice."
[Ibn Majah narrated by Abdullah in close words]

People of the Scripture will belief in the Christ before his death

Allah Almighty says:

﴾ And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Mariam, the Messenger of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no real knowledge, but only follow a conjecture, certainly, they did not kill him But! Allah raised him up to Himself; and Allah is AllMighty, All Wise.﴿

[Al Nisaa – 157-158]

And says:

﴾ And there is not one of the followers of the Book ﴿

[Al Nisaa – 159]

It means that everyone from the people of the books will believe in him before they die.The Messiah shall return to earth, reciting pure pages, and the people of the book shall believe that he is the Messenger of Allah Almighty who says:

﴾ And there is not one of the followers of the Book but most certainly believes in this before his death(Jesus), and on the day of resurrection he (Isa) shall be a witness against them. ﴿

[Al Nisaa – 159]

Muslims today do most of the sins of those people

Then Allah Almighty says:

﴾For the injustice (iniquity) of the Jews, We madeunlawful for them certain good and wholesome (food) which had been lawful for them (earlier) ﴿

[Al Nisaa – 160]

It means: because of their iniquity.

﴾For the injustice (iniquity) of the Jews, We made unlawful for them certain good and wholesome which had been lawful for them (earlier) because they hindered many from Allah’s Way* And their taking usury(interest) though indeed they were forbidden to take it and cheating sh3er of their properties, and We have prepared for the disbelievers among them who reject faith a painful punishment. ﴿

[Al Nisaa – 160-161]

Misfortune and hardship befell upon them because they broke their covenants, denied Allah's sings, killed the prophets unjustly, denied that human has the freedom of choice. Because they said "our hearts are covered", uttered against Mariam a grievous calumny, said "we killed Issa, son of Mariam", did not prevent each other from doing evil took usury when they were forbidden to take and cheated people of their money.Aïsha,(our prophet’s wife)may Allah be pleased with her, reported that Quraysh people were highly concerned about the Makhzoumi woman who stole, so they suggested to delegate UsamaIbnuZayd, to plead with the Prophet, peace be upon him, for her. The prophet, peace be upon him, said:

((Are you pleading against Allah's law?" Then he said: "What caused people before you to perish is that when a noble man steals, they let him go, but when a poor man steals, they punished him. I swear to Allah if Fatima, my daughter, steals I will cut her hand.))

[Al Boukhari ]

These were their mistakes. Aren't these mistakes the same that are prevalent among Muslims nowadays? Allah says:

﴾They would not prevent one another from committing iniquities; evil indeed were their deeds﴿

[Al Maaida – 79]

"What caused people before you to perish is that when a noble man steals, they let him go, but when a poor man steals, they punished him. I swear to Allah if Fatima, my daughter, steals I will cut her hand."
This sin (not preventing each other from doing evil things) was the cause of their destruction, Is this sin prevalent nowadays among the believers? Allah Almighty says:

We should believe in all the prophets:

﴾ However, those among them who are well-grounded in knowledge and those who truly believe in what has been revealed to you (Muhammad) and what was revealed to other Prophets before you, establish Salah (prayer), pay Zakah (obligatory charity), and believe in Allah and the Last Day, those are the ones who will soon be given a mighty reward﴿

[Al Nisaa – 162]

Faith is indivisible. One should believe in all of the prophets of Allah not to choose what he or she likes, believes in some prophets and denied the sh3er.
A group with a firm knowledge, among the people of the book, and the believers believe in what was revealed unto the Prophet. However, the other side (the nonbelievers) rejects the prophecy of Muhammad, peace isbe upon him. They think he is kind of genius, a social reformer or a smart person. But for the people who believe, he is Allah's Messenger and Prophet. Those who denied his prophecy have had prophets themselves, and our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was sent to mankind as a sign of Allah's mercy.

When the ignorant accepts learning he becomes a pillar

[But the firm in knowledge]
To be half a savant is the most dangerous of them all; he is not a real savant so one could benefit from his knowledge or an ignorant so one could teach him.
The ignorant who chooses to learn is performing one of the pillars of life. Allah Almighty said: [But the firm in knowledge among them and the believers believe in what has been revealed to you] like Abdullah Ibnu Salam, may Allah be pleased with him. He was one of the Jews' rabbis who believed in what was revealed unto Prophet Muhammad. He asked the Prophet to hide him and to convoke the Jews and ask them about him. Their answer was decisive: "He is our master and the son of our master. He is our savant and the son of our savant…" They praised him as no one has been praised before. Prophet Muhammad said: "What would you say if I tell you that he converted to Islam?" They said: "We would not believe it!" In the midst of all this, AbdulallahIbnu Salam came forth to them and said: "I converted to Islam." At that time they said: "He is the meanest and the son of the meanest. He is an ignorant and the son of an ignorant." This is pure obstinacy! Allah Almighty said:

﴾and what was revealed before you, and those who keep up prayers and those who pay Zakah (obligatory charity) and the believers in Allah and the last day, those whom We will give a mighty reward.﴿