Indonesian Muslim Association of Austin, Texas

All sessionsSession 05Discussion

Session 05 · Al-A'raf 7:32–36

Discussion

Three core questions, four optional ones, and personal reflection prompts.

3 min readWednesday 7 October 202626 Rabi' al-Thani 1448

Read · 3 min · This is the session

Choose three questions for our 15-minute discussion. Start with the core questions: Q1, Q2 and Q3. The sample circle ends with Q1 and Q2. You are welcome to pass or use a general example rather than share something personal.

Q1 core

Ayah 32 asks: who has forbidden the adornment and the good things Allah brought out for His servants? The people in the ayah made the religion stricter than Allah made it, and they felt more religious for it. In ordinary life, when does being stricter than the religion feel like being more religious, and what helps us tell the difference?

Then, if the conversation goes there: is there a good thing you enjoy but still feel a little guilty about? Where does that feeling come from?

Read 7:32

Q2 core

When ayah 33 says what Allah has forbidden, it does not list foods or clothes. It lists shameful deeds, sin, and baghy, wronging other people without right. Why is it often easier to argue about what people eat or wear than about how we treat each other?

Then: which item on the list in ayah 33 do we talk about least? Why do you think that is?

Read 7:33

Q3 core

The promise in ayah 35 goes to whoever has taqwa and aṣlaḥa, sets things right. Taqwa comes with a second verb. Think of something you have left wrong, in your own habits or between you and someone else. What makes repair hard, and what helps?

Read 7:35
Four more questions (Q4–Q7), if the conversation goes there

Q4 optional

Some of the Companions wanted to be more religious: one said he would not marry, another that he would not eat meat, another that he would not sleep on a bed. The Prophet ﷺ said: I pray and I sleep, I fast and I break my fast, and I marry. The narration is on the hadith page. What does his answer say about devotion in an ordinary week?

Read 7:32

Q5 optional

Shirk in ayah 33 is joining with Allah “that for which He has not sent down authority”. The word is sulṭān. In Indonesian a sultan is a king; in the ayah it is a proof, as the Arabic words page shows. What changes when authority has to come with proof?

Read 7:33

Q6 optional

Ayah 34 says that when their time comes, “they will not remain behind an hour, nor will they precede [it]”. The word for the fixed time is ajal. What does that ask of us about the things we keep putting off?

Read 7:34

Q7 optional

Ayah 35 is the fourth “O children of Adam” in ten ayat: 26, 27, 31 and 35. Read the four in a row; the first three are on the verses page for 7:26–31. What do they tell us together?

Read 7:35

Tadabbur — personal reflection

These are personal applications, written for this session. They are separate from the verse translation and from the tafsir.

  1. Ayah 32 says the good things were brought out for Allah's servants. Think of one good thing you enjoyed today, and thank Him for it by name.
  2. Read the list in ayah 33 slowly, one item at a time. Which one do you most need to hear this week?
  3. Ayah 34 says the time is already set. Is there an apology, a visit or a phone call you have been leaving for later?
  4. Finish this silently: One good thing Allah allows that I have been treating as suspect is ……… One thing I will set right this week is ………