- Interpretation Of Quran / The long version
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- (006) Al Anaam
Dear brothers, this is lesson No. 9 of interpreting Surat Al-An'am.
When man believes that he is created for the Hereafter he hastens to obey Allah:
Dear brothers, I will start with Ayah No. 31. Allah says:
﴾They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allah , until all of a sudden, the Hour (signs of death) is on them, and they say: "Alas for us that we gave no thought to it," while they will bear their burdens on their backs; and evil indeed are the burdens that they will bear!﴿
Dear brothers, the Arabic word "Qad" is used for confirmation, and if it precedes the verb in the past tense indicating assertion, namely, the loss is inevitable for those. What will they lose? They will lose the eternity; the Paradise they were created for and the best fruit of faith which is the everlasting happiness. Hence:
﴾They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allah﴿
The problem occurs when man believes that the worldly life is everything, and this belief makes him dispense with obeying Allah, but when man believes that he is created for the Hereafter, he will devote himself to obey Allah. Allah says:
﴾As for him who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty to Allah and fears Him* And believes in Al-Husna.﴿
When man believes in Al-Husna, he will refrain from disobeying Allah, and you will find his life entirely based on giving, because he is created to give.
Worldly life is for striving, while the Hereafter is for Divine Honoring:
Dear brothers, when you believe that your value in the worldly life is derived from giving not from taking, you will be on the right track, but when man builds his glory on what he takes from others not on what he gives to others, he will become heedless. Such a person never stops saying, "I own this", "my wealth is as much as that", "my finance standing is so and so" or "look what I can do"). Man's value in the worldly life which is the farm land for the Hereafter is evaluated according to what he gives to others. This is why you find the believer happy, because he brings happiness to others, he serves others and he looks after all the servants of Allah.
﴾They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allah﴿
When he denies meeting with Allah, and when he disbelieves in Al-Husna, he dispenses with obeying Allah.
﴾But he who is greedy miser and thinks himself self-sufficient* And gives the lie to Al-Husna﴿
Basically, either you believe in Al-Husna (the Paradise) and that you are created for it, or you disbelieve in Al-Husna, and you believe only in the worldly life. Man sometimes overlooks the fact that the worldly life (or according to the Quranic term [Al-Hayat Ad-Dunya] "the mundane life") means that it is in a lower level, but lower than what? It is lower than the other life which is transcendental (i.e. the Hereafter) and is based on honoring:
﴾There they will have all that they desire,﴿
The Hereafter is based on honoring, whereas the worldly life is based on striving.
﴾O man! Verily, you are returning towards your Lord with your deeds and actions (good or bad), a sure returning, so you will meet (i.e. the results of your deeds which you did).﴿
If giving pleases you, you belong to the people of the Hereafter:
The worldly life is decreed by Allah to be the abode of striving, trial, testing and instincts, but since you are provided with the Divine Method which prevents you from fulfilling your instincts unlawfully, you will live in continuous struggle and striving to pay the price of being righteous, simply, because life is based on paying efforts to follow the Divine Orders which are expensive, whereas the Hereafter is based on honoring (as a reward of all the striving in the worldly life).
﴾The fruits in bunches whereof will be low and near at hand.﴿
Allah also says:
﴾There they will have all that they desire, and We have more﴿
Dear brothers, when you believe in the Hereafter (in the sense that you are created for it), you will fear disobeying Allah, better yet, you will build your daily decisions and movement on giving others which will bring you happiness. Actually, giving others include giving them money, dedicating some of your time to them, paying efforts to help them, and helping them using your expertise, knowledge or anything you own. Pay attention to the following evaluation: If giving others brings happiness to you, then you are one of the people of the Hereafter, but if taking is what brings happiness to you, then you are one of the people of the worldly life.
Because man believes in Al-Husna, he fears disobeying Allah, and he builds his life on giving, but if he believes only in the worldly life, and he denies the Hereafter, he will be stingy, and he will dispense with obeying Allah, because he will find obeying Him pointless since he denies the Hereafter, and he will build his life on taking only.
The diversity of all people on earth (the six billion people) in affiliation, skin color, nationality, religion, sect or orientation does not count as a standard, but what really counts is the Divine Standard only:
﴾As for him who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty to Allah and fears Him* And believes in Al-Husna.﴿
﴾But he who is greedy miser and thinks himself self-sufficient. And gives the lie to Al-Husna .﴿
There is not a third group other than the two mentioned in the Ayah above. Thus, whoever believes in Al-Husna, regardless his district, country, era, city, race, skin color, nationality, sect or religion, will fear disobeying Allah and will build his life on goodness, whereas whoever denies Al-Husna will dispense with Allah and will build his life on taking. Hence:
﴾They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allah﴿
"Meeting with Allah" means the Hereafter, so they deny the Hereafter, and they deny the existence of Paradise which is as wide as heavens and earth and where there are that no eye (has ever) seen, no ear has (ever) heard and no human heart has ever perceived, but when does the problem lie? It lies when he who denies the Hereafter living his life in a deluded claimed comfort realizes the truth.
Your success lies in your successful destiny:
Those who disbelieves in the Hereafter are like the person who has a check of one million dollar, but upon cashing it, he finds out that it is a forged one, but he is unaware of that fact. However, holding that check gives him a false feeling of richness, superiority, power and ability to buy whatever he wants whenever he likes, but when does the disaster happen? It happens when he finds out that it is a bad check, and he will be locked in jail for it. He who laughs last, laughs longest, because the one who laughs at the start will laugh little but cry a lot, due to the fact that the blessed end lies in the successful destiny (winning the Hereafter). Allah says:
﴾And the (blessed) end is for the Muttaqun (pious)﴿
((O Lord, a soul which is comfortable and over-fed in the worldly life, might be hungry and naked on the Day of Resurrection, O Lord a soul which is hungry and naked in the worldly life, might be comfortable and over-fed on the Day of Resurrection, O Lord a man might treat his self with honor while actually he is humiliating it, O Lord a man might be humiliating his self while actually he is honoring it.))
The blessed end is to win the Hereafter. One of the most outstanding sayings of Imam Ali, may Allah be pleased with him, was the following, "Real prosperity and poverty are after standing before Allah (on the Day of Judgment)" Whoever you are, and even if you own in your life 90 billion dollars (like Bill Gates), or 10 billion or 4 billion, all that money will go to your heirs in seconds after your death, isn't that true?
﴾The life of this world is only the enjoyment of deception (a deceiving thing).﴿
Nothing will help man after death but his good deeds. Therefore:
﴾They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allah﴿
The great loss is to lose the Hereafter:
When you believe in meeting with Allah, you will connect every move in every second with that belief. If this man is about to lie, he will remember that Allah forbids lying, and that lying displeases Allah. Thus, he will not lie. Believing in meeting with Allah in the Day of Resurrection makes man religiously disciplined. To make this point clear, consider the situation of the author who chooses his words carefully, because he knows very well that he will be called to account for every word he writes. He bears in mind that using the wrong word will make things difficult for him, so he keeps asking himself, "Will I be punished for writing it?"
Notice how man fears a powerful person, only because he knows that such a person can call him to account for every mistake he commits. In fact, Man is amazingly disciplined in the worldly life when it comes to fearing another human being, since that person is powerful, and he might do harm to him seriously. Therefore, he abides by all his orders and carries them out to the letter though he is human like him, so why is he not the same with the Creator of mankind?
﴾They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allah﴿
When does man realize that he has lost? Realizing such a big loss is like realizing the theft of a huge warehouse, where all commodities are piled up year after year, but this warehouse has two doors one in the front and one in the back, so the thief can steel goods in millions from the back door without anybody notices that, because the commodities in the back are old ones and almost forgotten, but after a while the owner will find out, and he will know about the back door. His realization is too late, and he will be shocked when he discovered the loss. The grave loss is when man realizes that he was wrong.
﴾Verily! Fir'aun (Pharaoh), Haman and their hosts were sinners.﴿
Fir'aun said:
﴾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﴿
In another Ayah, whoever loses says:
﴾"Oh! Would that I had taken a path with the Messenger (Muhammad PBUH).﴿
﴾ Now (you believe) while you refused to believe before﴿
Therefore, the real loss is the unfixable one. There are losses that can be fixed in the worldly life, but the unfixable mother of losses is when man loses his Hereafter and loses meeting with Allah the Almighty.
The believer's life is focused on the Hereafter:
Allah says:
﴾They indeed are losers who denied their Meeting with Allah , until all of a sudden, the Hour (signs of death) is on them, and they say: "Alas for us that we gave no thought to it,"﴿
Dear brothers, the prudent one is the person who is never taken by surprise, whereas the less prudent is the one who is taken by surprise, and the least prudent is the one who is stunned by unexpected news. The believer believes in the Hereafter, and his life revolves around that belief thusly. He is just like the student who never forgets the minute of exams, and so he will never choose welcoming his best friend (who has no exams) at home over studying, but rather he will apologize to him and refuse to waste time with him, simply because the moment of the exam never leaves his mind.
The top student at high school was asked by a reporter the following Question, "What do you refer your success with flying colors to?" His answer was outstanding, for he said, "I refer it to the moment of the final exam which never left my mind not even for one second throughout the academic year." This is the example of the believer, for he always thinks of meeting with Allah, so he evaluates every step he takes and asks himself, "Does this action displease Allah?", "Does this bestowing please Allah?", "Will this withdrawing displease Allah?", "Is this relation forbidden?", "Does severing these ties displease Allah?" and "Does this affection bring Divine Wrath?"
﴾You (O Muhammad PBUH) will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad PBUH)﴿
He thinks of everything including his affection, smile, strengthening ties, severing ties, charity, withdrawing and all other details. Furthermore, every decision or action he takes is based on the ground of the inevitability of meeting with Allah and of being asked about it.
Focusing the hour of death keeps you steadfast on the Path of Allah:
Dear brothers, I am always asked about matters related to the daily life like commerce, selling and buying, and I am also asked by employees about applying the laws and about decisions that will lead to putting someone in jail or end up with impounding huge sums of money, so what do I answer them? I always say, "Prepare an answer to Allah, and do not think about pleasing people" Your success is not achieved by preparing an answer to your supervisor (who is human like you), but it is achieved by preparing an answer to Allah the Almighty, for He is the One Who knows everything. Therefore, the clever person is the one who is never taken by surprise, because he starts from the end (i.e. from death). According to NLP, there is an outstanding rule which says, "Start from the end", and since man's end is death, start from death. In other words, do the deed which does not bring shame to you when you meet with Allah, and refrain from doing whatever beings you shame before Allah. The Prophet PBUH said:
((If you feel no shame, then do as you wish))
If you feel no shame towards Allah, then do whatever you wish. Hence, start from the end which is death. You can see how many people die including the rich, the powerful, the poor, the weak, the healthy and the sick". Therefore, start from the end, for starting from the end will make you disciplined on the Path of Allah.
Dear brothers, the Prophet PBUH asked us to remember death:
((Abundantly remember the destroyer of pleasures, the separator between lovers and the disperser of groups))
Death destroys pleasures and separates people.
((Live as long as you want, for you will die. Love whomever you want, for you will leave him. Do whatever you want for you will be requited for it))
Believing is a matter of time:
Fir'aun eventually believed in Allah, but when it was too late. You should know beyond doubt that all of us, every human being, every disbeliever, every atheist, every infidel, and every living soul on earth will believe with all that was conveyed by all Prophets, peace be upon them, when death reaches them. Therefore, believing is a matter of time, so either you believe today, or you believe when you die (when it is too late).
﴾"Alas for us that we gave no thought to it,"﴿
Allah says:
﴾Then, on that Day, you shall be asked about the delight (you indulged in, in this world)!﴿
Have you done anything with the grace of being secured in your country? Have you done anything with being satisfied by your living? Have you done anything with your good health? Have you done anything with your leisure? . What have you done with all these graces?
((Take advantage of five before five: your youth before your old age, your health before your illness, your richness before your poverty, your leisure before your work, and your life before your death.))
﴾While they will bear their burdens on their backs; and evil indeed are the burdens that they will bear!﴿
Allah says:
﴾"Did you think that We had created you in play (without any purpose), and that you would not be brought back to Us?"﴿
Also, Allah says:
﴾Does man think that he will be left Suda [neglected without being punished or rewarded for the obligatory duties enjoined by his Lord (Allah) on him]?﴿
Man was not created purposelessly:
You join the university and you pay hundreds of thousands for your tuition, and you use the university's facilities like the halls, libraries, campus and restaurants, and after all that will you pass without exams? Can anyone just ask the university for PHD without having any exams? Is there any university on earth that will give a PHD to anyone without exams? Since the university which is an earthy institute does not do that, how does anyone dare to claim that man is created on earth in play and purposelessly? It is rather impossible that man is created in vain.
﴾So, by your Lord (O Muhammad PBUH), We shall certainly call all of them to account* For all that they used to do.﴿
Dear brothers, according to some scholars, there is no drop of blood that is shed, but the one who causes it should be held responsible for it, except the blood of the one who is killed lawfully (like criminals who commit homicides), for Allah, may His Glory be glorified, will take the burden of their blood shedding. Hence, it is not a collateral damage or a mistake to kill one hundred people in bombing and then say, "I was misinformed". Those, who miss their targets and cause casualties will be held responsible for all this innocent blood.
﴾"Alas for us that we gave no thought to it," while they will bear their burdens on their backs; and evil indeed are the burdens that they will bear!﴿
When man financially does something wrong, he will be burdened with impoundments, law suites and sometimes he will be threatened of prison. In this case he will say to you, "I cannot sleep at night" (because of all these burdens), so what will man's situation be if he errs with the Creator of the universe, especially when others' rights are involved in some of these error? Better yet, what will man's situation be if he is an oppressor who builds his glory on the destruction of others and who builds his wealth on impoverishing them.
﴾And evil indeed are the burdens that they will bear!﴿
Man sometimes might say a word and regret it, and he does not know if he will be reckoned for saying it or not, and so he will not sleep at night because of its burden though it is a word he said. People are burdened with poverty which causes oppression and psychological diseases, or it might lead to committing major sins like prostituting, wrecking houses, separating married couples or becoming undutiful to parents. Will all that go unpunished by Allah? Will the one, who builds his wealth on the destruction of others and who enjoys opulence, while people are in server misery, go unpunished by Allah? The Prophet PBUH was asked by a Bedouin to teach him, and when the Prophet PBUH reached the following Ayah:
(("So whosoever does good equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it. And whosoever does evil equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it." [Az-Zalzalah, 7-8]. The man said: "This is enough for me" and he left, the Prophet PBUH said: "This man left as Faqeeh (knowledgeable of legislative rulings)"))
You will be called to account for even the deed that weighs as little as an atom.
Sorts of sins:
Dear brothers:
﴾ And evil indeed are the burdens that they will bear!﴿
This means that this burden, due to their sins, faults and errors, will bring their doom. By the way, all the sins which are results of violating Allah's Rights are easy to be forgiven (upon repenting), but all the violations of others' rights, will not be forgiven unless one renders them back to their owners or be forgiven by them. People's rights are based on justice, thus they will not go away unless the rights are rendered to their owners, whereas Allah's Rights are based on forgiveness. Therefore, sins are of three kinds: Sins you commit between you and Allah which are able to be forgiven (upon repenting), the unforgivable sin which is Shirk (associating partners with Allah in worship) and pending sins which are not forgiven unless the rights are rendered to their owners or the person is forgiven by them. Allah says:
﴾And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. But far better is the house in the Hereafter for those who are Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V.2:2). Will you not then understand?﴿
﴾And the life of this world is nothing but﴿
This style indicates exclusiveness, namely, the worldly life is all about play "La'eb" and amusement "Lahoo" and nothing more. What is the concept of La'eb? It is like when someone plays with snow and makes a snowman on his car though he knows that the snow will melt after a while. In other words, playing is a purposeless action which will end after a while like a building that is decided to be destroyed a while after it is built. Are there not people who build sand castles on the shore? After a while these structures will be destroyed by water. Every purposeless action in the worldly life which does not serve one's Hereafter is worthless, and it is mere La'eb.
Dear brothers, first of all let us define playing. When we build a university, this structure is built to last, and it is built for noble purposes; it is built in order to graduate the leaders, the scientists, the doctors, the writers and the educators of this Ummah. On the other hand, a circus tent might be set up, which is a temporary structure, and after a while another building will be built in its place. Therefore, playing is to build and then bring down what you build, and making a snowman or a sand castle is the closest example. Thus, playing is an aimless and purposeless act and this is exactly the definition of "vanity".
The real meaning of La'eb:
A little child likes to play with his toy car, he moves it on the ground or on the furniture, and he is very delighted upon hearing the sound it makes. Also, he is into this toy which gives him pleasure, and in his father's view he is just playing, and this is the definition of playing. However, when this little child grows up and becomes an important person, upon giving his photos when he was a little boy playing with his car which he used to love so much, how will he look at his action? How will he evaluate fighting his brother over this toy car? How will he see his tears when his car was taken from him? As an important man he will see all that as mere playing, and this is exactly the definition of playing, for it is an aimless action, it is an action whose pleasure does not last, and it is the action which you belittle when you leave it behind and move forward.
If I want to go deeper with the concept of playing, we will notice that the worldly life is all about playing, and at the end there is death awaiting. Accordingly, everyone will die including the powerful and the weak. We strive to acquire our scientific degrees, we print business cards to introduce ourselves, we build big houses to show off in front of our visitors, we write books to let others read our thoughts and we do many other things in life, but death puts an end to all that.
Actually, the worldly life without considering the Hereafter is mere playing. Each one of us purchases different high-tech devices for their qualities, and one of us will talk for hours about their properties, but after a while we forget about them, get bored and move to purchase other devices, and this is just like children's playing. Hence, the act is the same (playing) whether it is done by a little child or by a grownup, but the bottom line is that when we forget the Hereafter, when we disbelieve in Allah, when we overlook the eternal life and when we forget about Paradise and Hell, everything we do in the worldly life will turn into playing. The worldly life, without religious thinking and without a meaningful purpose, is just vanity and playing.
Well, man reached the moon, but that journey's cost was 23 billion dollars, and that high cost negatively affect the budget of most of the countries for the purpose of stepping on the moon and placing the flag of a certain county in the moon sand, but what good did that journey do to the miserable people on earth? The patients, the poor and the hungry did not make any use of that journey, did they?
Hence, it was an expensive kind of playing, for its cost is astronomical. Now, they are thinking of touring journeys to the moon, and this business is just playing. Since there is no air on the moon, they have to wear suites, and the astronaut's suit costs 17 million dollars, and since there is no air, the sounds also do not transfer. Therefore, the people needs equipments to communicate with one another and to breathe on the moon, and all these high-tech gadgets are very expensive, and all of that is playing. I am not trying to underestimate this scientific breakthrough, but after all when there is no purpose for an action, it will be mere playing. A substantial expensive action like that which was only for showing off is considered playing since it does not bring happiness to mankind.
Life is about La'eb when man longs for the matters and distractions that fill it:
One of the scientific breakthroughs is inventing a plane which is faster than sound and has the ability to travel around the earth in one hour. Generally, you spend one hour to reach the airport, but by such a plane you spend only one hour to travel around the earth which is very fast, but what is the point, though it is a remarkable breakthrough? In our era, there are lots of breakthroughs in communications, space, internet, computers or digital cameras, and all these inventions are beyond imagination.
Once I was in a foreign country, and I saw there a smart refrigerator. Such a refrigerator is provided with sensors all over it, and it has a special place for eggs, fruits, cheese, meat or juice, so if the housewife ran out of eggs, the sensors, which are connected to a screen and to the internet, will inform the supermarket that this house needs eggs, and through the internet, the supermarket will charge the credit card provided and will bring eggs to the doorstep immediately. What an advanced technology! Well, so what! You bought your things through this high-tech smart refrigerator, but the latter costs astronomical sum of money, so is that not kind of playing?
Some chairs can give you a massage, so what! They invent a shower through which gives high speed flow of water as a massage to the body, so what! After all, all of that is just playing, and they are advanced toys for the grownups with abilities beyond imagination. Allah says:
﴾And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. ﴿
Let me repeat again, playing is an aimless and purposeless action whose pleasure does not last. The racing camels in gulf countries are fed with pistachio, honey and cashew, and every served meal to the camel can feed an entire village, and all that done for saying, "This camel won the race", well so what! This is the worldly life. Are football, horses racing, car racing and mountain climbing not mere playing?
﴾And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement.﴿
Difference between "Lahoo" and "La'eb":
"Al-Lahoo (amusement) is different and graver than "AlLa'eb" (playing), for the latter is an aimless act, whereas the former in addition of being aimless, it distracts you from offering your duties. When a young man learns how to play chess during summer, and he spends hours in playing it, this is considered "La'eb", but when this student wastes hours in playing chess during the academic year that will be "Lahoo", because he favors spending his time in a trivial matter over performing a worthwhile deed. The Great Allah Who has created the universe describes the worldly life to you in an all-inclusive eloquent and concise definition, when He says:
﴾And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement. ﴿
You will disdain any aimless action which wastes your time after a while, and this playing is done by children or by grownups alike:
﴾But far better is the house in the Hereafter for those who are Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V.2:2). Will you not then understand?﴿
The worldly life with faith is not "La'eb". When you seek Islamic knowledge, and when you offer good deeds in order to please Allah, life will be worthwhile. In this case your time is valuable to you, and you will spend it in obedience (to Allah), in seeking knowledge, in enjoining Ma'roof (goodness), in preventing Munkar (evil doings), in serving people, in taking the burden of people on your shoulders or in solving problems. When you do all that to please Allah, Allah will be pleased with you, and He will bestow happiness upon you. Hence, when there is no faith, the worldly life turns into playing only.
Consider the following example: A student of medicine longs for four things: a car, a clinic, a wife and patients. He needs patients to pay him money, then a wife, a car and a clinic in a well-known place. After a period of time, he fulfills his dreams and becomes a very successful physician, he buys a house and a car, and he gets married, but then what? Death is the inevitable end of everyone even if that person is the richest or the most powerful man on earth.
Even if man owns a private jet with a bedroom and a living room in it, a yacht in the sea on which he can spend his vacations, a very big house and a great wealth, after all, in one second he might become news on an obituary after he is used to be a very important person. This is life, and it is mere "La'eb" and "Lahoo". La'eb as I defined it earlier is the purposeless action whose pleasure does not last and which you will belittled after a while, whereas Lahoo is the same, but it also distracts you from the worthwhile actions, and he who chooses to spend his time in trivial matters instead of worthwhile ones is the big loser.
﴾And the life of this world is nothing but play and amusement.﴿
Believing in the Hereafter makes your efforts in the worldly life fruitful:
When I mention these examples I do not mean to accuse any of you (if some of you are rich), for even the rich people might be doing very good deeds, but what I meant to say is that life will end with death, and death is inevitable for every living soul with no exceptions.
﴾But far better is the house in the Hereafter for those who are Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V.2:2). Will you not then understand?﴿
We, as human beings, are created for a Paradise which is as wide as the heavens and the earth, so if you exist in the worldly life and you put in your mind this Paradise, all your deeds will become meaningful and not La'eb or Lahoo but serious purposeful deeds. Therefore, what nullifies the possibility that life is La'eb and Lahoo? What nullifies that possibility is to believe in Allah, for when you believe in Allah the Almighty, the worldly life will become a worthwhile place, because it will turn into a farm land for the Hereafter, and because all your deeds will be in the Cause of Allah, you will deserve the Divine Rewarding:
﴾But far better is the house in the Hereafter﴿
It is eternity.
﴾But far better is the house in the Hereafter for those who are Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V.2:2). Will you not then understand?﴿
This means that your reasoning orders you to long for the Hereafter. The only two pillars of faith which are always mentioned together are believing in Allah and in the Hereafter. Therefore, when you believe in the Hereafter, and when your life is entirely oriented towards that destiny, the worldly life will turn from a place of La'eb and Lahoo into a place of serious thriving and useful deeds, and this is the difference that counts. Westerners enjoying life by all means, but after all, death will put an end to everything. We will continue interpreting the Ayat of Surat Al-An'am next lecture insha' Allah.
