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Do you wonder that a reminder came through a man from among you?0:00

Austin: Two peoples, one after the other, turned away from a messenger for the same reason: they knew him. The Qur'an asks them: “Then do you wonder that there has come to you a reminder from your Lord through a man from among you, that he may warn you?”

Fourteen ayat of Surah Al-A'raf: the stories of Nuh and Hud alayhimas salam, told twice in the same shape. About 21 minutes.

Assalamu alaikum, and welcome to the IMATX halaqa.

On the call0:29

All: Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullah.

Austin: Alhamdulillah. It's good to be together again. Let us open, as we always do, with the du'a.

Opening du'a.

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ، نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ، وَنَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا. مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللَّهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ، وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ. وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ، وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ.

Al-hamdu lillah, nahmaduhu wa nasta'inuhu wa nastaghfiruh, wa na'udhu billahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayyi'ati a'malina. Man yahdihillahu fala mudilla lah, wa man yudlil fala hadiya lah. Wa ashhadu an la ilaha illallahu wahdahu la sharika lah, wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluh. — All praise is for Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help and we ask His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evils of our souls and from our bad deeds. Whomever Allah guides, no one can lead astray, and whomever He leaves astray, no one can guide. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

رَبِّ اشْرَحْ لِي صَدْرِي، وَيَسِّرْ لِي أَمْرِي، وَاحْلُلْ عُقْدَةً مِنْ لِسَانِي يَفْقَهُوا قَوْلِي.

Rabbishrah li sadri, wa yassir li amri, wahlul 'uqdatan min lisani, yafqahu qawli. — My Lord, expand for me my breast, and ease for me my task, and untie the knot from my tongue, that they may understand my speech.

اللَّهُمَّ انْفَعْنَا بِمَا عَلَّمْتَنَا، وَعَلِّمْنَا مَا يَنْفَعُنَا، وَزِدْنَا عِلْمًا.

Allahumma infa'na bima 'allamtana, wa 'allimna ma yanfa'una, wa zidna 'ilma. — O Allah, benefit us by what You have taught us, teach us what will benefit us, and increase us in knowledge.

Austin: We praised Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, asked His help and His forgiveness, and bore witness to Him and to His Messenger. Then, in the words of Musa alayhis salam: open our hearts, ease our task, and loosen our tongues, so that people understand what we say. For us tonight, that is speaking clearly, and taking in what we hear. And we asked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make what we learn here benefit us, and to add to our knowledge.

All: Ameen.

Where we are1:50

Austin: The previous passage ended with rain falling on good land and on bad land. Now the surah turns to the messengers, one after another, and Nuh alayhis salam comes first, then Hud alayhis salam.

Each story has the same shape: the messenger's call, the leaders' answer, his reply, and the end. So we'll take them a few ayat at a time, so each part of the story stays in one piece, and keep our questions for the end.

Ayat 59-60 - Nuh calls his people2:16

Austin: Nuh alayhis salam is the first, and he speaks to his own people.

Isti'adhah.

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ

A'udhu billahi minash-shaytanir-rajim. — I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan.

7:59 in Arabic.

لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِۦ فَقَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥٓ إِنِّىٓ أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍۢ

Salma: We had certainly sent Noah to his people, and he said, "O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous Day.

7:60 in Arabic.

قَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ مِن قَوْمِهِۦٓ إِنَّا لَنَرَىٰكَ فِى ضَلَٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ

Salma: Said the eminent among his people, "Indeed, we see you in clear error."

Austin: Ibn Kathir, rahimahullah, says the stories begin with Nuh alayhis salam because he was the first messenger Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent to the people of the earth after Adam alayhis salam. So this is where the pattern starts.

And how did a people descended from Adam alayhis salam come to worship idols at all? Ibn Abbas, radiyallahu anhuma, explains it in Sahih al-Bukhari. The names of their idols “formerly belonged to some pious men of the people of Noah”. When those men died, Shaytan prompted their people to set up images where they used to sit, named after them. The images were worshipped only after that generation had died, and the reason was forgotten.

Viraj: So it started with love for good people?

Austin: It started with love, and it ended somewhere nobody meant it to. That's why his first words are the whole message: worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone.

And the Qur'an tells us how long he kept saying it. In Surah al-Ankabut, he “remained among them a thousand years minus fifty years”. In Surah Nuh he tells his Lord that he called them night and day, and every time “they put their fingers in their ears, covered themselves with their garments”.

Victor: Nine hundred and fifty years. Mm. And I lose patience when I say something to my children twice.

Austin: And after all those years, ayah sixty gives the answer of the eminent among his people, the ones whose word counts: we see you in clear error. Nine hundred and fifty years of patience, and that is what they see.

Ayat 61-62 - No error in me4:35

Austin: Nuh alayhis salam answers them, and he does not answer an insult with an insult.

7:61 in Arabic.

قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ لَيْسَ بِى ضَلَٰلَةٌۭ وَلَٰكِنِّى رَسُولٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

Victor: Noah said, "O my people, there is not error in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds."

7:62 in Arabic.

أُبَلِّغُكُمْ رِسَٰلَٰتِ رَبِّى وَأَنصَحُ لَكُمْ وَأَعْلَمُ مِنَ ٱللَّهِ مَا لَا تَعْلَمُونَ

Victor: I convey to you the messages of my Lord and advise you; and I know from Allah what you do not know.

Austin: Look at how he begins: O my people. They have just called him astray, and he still calls them his own. Then he says what he is, a messenger from the Lord of the worlds, and what he does: I convey, and I advise you.

That second word, anṣaḥu, al-Jalalayn, rahimahumullah, explain as “I desire good for you”.

Salma: At home, nasihah always meant advice you give because you care about someone. Never a lecture.

Austin: That's the sense. And al-Qurtubi, rahimahullah, finds two pictures in the language. An-nasih is pure honey, with nothing mixed in. And an-nasih is a tailor, and the thread he sews with. Advice that is pure, and advice that mends.

Yu: Wait, so he's sewing up the people who just insulted him?

Austin: Yes. He doesn't spend one word defending himself. He keeps mending.

Ayat 63-64 - A man from among you, and the end6:05

Austin: Then Nuh alayhis salam asks them a question, and the story comes to its end.

7:63 in Arabic.

أَوَعَجِبْتُمْ أَن جَآءَكُمْ ذِكْرٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍۢ مِّنكُمْ لِيُنذِرَكُمْ وَلِتَتَّقُوا۟ وَلَعَلَّكُمْ تُرْحَمُونَ

Viraj: Then do you wonder that there has come to you a reminder from your Lord through a man from among you, that he may warn you and that you may fear Allah so you might receive mercy."

7:64 in Arabic.

فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَأَنجَيْنَٰهُ وَٱلَّذِينَ مَعَهُۥ فِى ٱلْفُلْكِ وَأَغْرَقْنَا ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَآ ۚ إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا۟ قَوْمًا عَمِينَ

Viraj: But they denied him, so We saved him and those who were with him in the ship. And We drowned those who denied Our signs. Indeed, they were a blind people.

Austin: Here is the heart of it. Do you wonder that a reminder came to you through a man from among you? Not an angel. Not a stranger. A man whose family they knew.

Viraj: Can I push on that a little? I understand them, in a way. A stranger with a message sounds like a messenger. Someone from your own street just sounds like your neighbour. Isn't that only human?

Austin: It's an honest thought, and the ayah itself names it. Al-Qurtubi turns it round. Had the messenger been an angel, he says, “you might have shrunk from him because he was not like you”. The man from among you is the mercy. He eats what you eat. He knows your street.

And still they refused. Surah Hud tells the rest of the story. He built the ship, and “whenever an assembly of the eminent of his people passed by him, they ridiculed him”. When the water came, his own son would not come aboard; he said a mountain would protect him. And Nuh alayhis salam answered him that on that day nothing could protect anyone from the decree of Allah 'azza wa jall, except the one He has mercy on.

Victor: His own son.

Austin: Our passage ends on one word: they were a blind people. All four commentators read it the same way, and not about the eyes. Ibn Kathir says “blind from the Truth, unable to recognize it or find their way to it”. They called him the one in error, and the ayah tells us who could not see.

Ayat 65-67 - The same call, and a new charge8:17

Austin: Then a second messenger, to a second people, and he opens with the very same words.

7:65 in Arabic.

۞ وَإِلَىٰ عَادٍ أَخَاهُمْ هُودًۭا ۗ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥٓ ۚ أَفَلَا تَتَّقُونَ

Yu: And to the 'Aad We sent their brother Hud. He said, "O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Then will you not fear Him?"

7:66 in Arabic.

قَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦٓ إِنَّا لَنَرَىٰكَ فِى سَفَاهَةٍۢ وَإِنَّا لَنَظُنُّكَ مِنَ ٱلْكَٰذِبِينَ

Yu: Said the eminent ones who disbelieved among his people, "Indeed, we see you in foolishness, and indeed, we think you are of the liars."

7:67 in Arabic.

قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ لَيْسَ بِى سَفَاهَةٌۭ وَلَٰكِنِّى رَسُولٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّ ٱلْعَٰلَمِينَ

Yu: Hud said, "O my people, there is not foolishness in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds."

Austin: Hud alayhis salam, to the people of 'Ad. His first eight words in Arabic are the words of Nuh alayhis salam, letter for letter: the same call to worship Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala alone. The message does not change. Only the people do.

And who were 'Ad? The Qur'an tells us in other places. They lived in al-Ahqaf, the sand hills; the commentators place it in the south of Arabia. They built a sign on every high place, and palaces and fortresses, as if they would live forever. And in Surah Fussilat they ask, “Who is greater than us in strength?”

So their leaders don't say error. They say safahah: we see you in foolishness. Al-Qurtubi says it is lightness of mind, and he brings an old line of poetry, spear tips swaying as the soft winds pass. Something light, moved by every breeze.

Yu: So basically, a lightweight?

Austin: A lightweight. Someone not to be taken seriously. Nuh alayhis salam was called astray; Hud alayhis salam is called light.

Yu: I've had that at work. Not anger, just not being taken seriously. How do you answer that without sounding defensive?

Austin: Look at his answer in ayah sixty-seven. There is no foolishness in me, but I am a messenger. He doesn't argue about how clever he is. He says what he is, and he keeps going.

Ayat 68-69 - A trustworthy adviser, and successors10:43

Austin: Hud alayhis salam says what he brings them, and then he reminds them who they are.

7:68 in Arabic.

أُبَلِّغُكُمْ رِسَٰلَٰتِ رَبِّى وَأَنَا۠ لَكُمْ نَاصِحٌ أَمِينٌ

Salma: I convey to you the messages of my Lord, and I am to you a trustworthy adviser.

7:69 in Arabic.

أَوَعَجِبْتُمْ أَن جَآءَكُمْ ذِكْرٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ عَلَىٰ رَجُلٍۢ مِّنكُمْ لِيُنذِرَكُمْ ۚ وَٱذْكُرُوٓا۟ إِذْ جَعَلَكُمْ خُلَفَآءَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ قَوْمِ نُوحٍۢ وَزَادَكُمْ فِى ٱلْخَلْقِ بَصْۜطَةًۭ ۖ فَٱذْكُرُوٓا۟ ءَالَآءَ ٱللَّهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ

Salma: Then do you wonder that there has come to you a reminder from your Lord through a man from among you, that he may warn you? And remember when He made you successors after the people of Noah and increased you in stature extensively. So remember the favors of Allah that you might succeed.

Austin: Nuh alayhis salam said, I advise you. Hud alayhis salam adds one word: I am to you a trustworthy adviser, nasihun amin. Amin is someone you can trust with the thing itself.

Al-Tabari, rahimahullah, puts it in the voice of Hud alayhis salam: I do not lie in it, I do not add to it, I do not change it. That is amin. Indonesian has the same root in amanah, a trust you carry for someone.

Victor: Mm. Trust isn't something you can say about yourself. People see it, over years.

Austin: Over years. And then ayah sixty-nine. He reminds them that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala made them khulafa', successors after the people of Nuh. Ibn Kathir reads it as a favour to be thankful for. Al-Tabari reads a warning in it too: He put you in their place when He destroyed them, and He can put others in yours.

Viraj: Successors. So it isn't ownership. You're standing where someone else stood.

Austin: Standing where someone else stood. And in Surah Hud he says it out loud: “My Lord will give succession to a people other than you”. Their strength was given too; Ibn Kathir says Allah 'azza wa jall made them “taller than other people”. All of it given. None of it theirs to keep.

Ayat 70-72 - Our fathers, the names, and the wind12:52

Austin: 'Ad answer with their fathers, and with a dare.

7:70 in Arabic.

قَالُوٓا۟ أَجِئْتَنَا لِنَعْبُدَ ٱللَّهَ وَحْدَهُۥ وَنَذَرَ مَا كَانَ يَعْبُدُ ءَابَآؤُنَا ۖ فَأْتِنَا بِمَا تَعِدُنَآ إِن كُنتَ مِنَ ٱلصَّٰدِقِينَ

Victor: They said, "Have you come to us that we should worship Allah alone and leave what our fathers have worshipped? Then bring us what you promise us, if you should be of the truthful."

7:71 in Arabic.

قَالَ قَدْ وَقَعَ عَلَيْكُم مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ رِجْسٌۭ وَغَضَبٌ ۖ أَتُجَٰدِلُونَنِى فِىٓ أَسْمَآءٍۢ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَآ أَنتُمْ وَءَابَآؤُكُم مَّا نَزَّلَ ٱللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَٰنٍۢ ۚ فَٱنتَظِرُوٓا۟ إِنِّى مَعَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْمُنتَظِرِينَ

Victor: Hud said, "Already have defilement and anger fallen upon you from your Lord. Do you dispute with me concerning mere names you have named them, you and your fathers, for which Allah has not sent down any authority? Then wait; indeed, I am with you among those who wait."

7:72 in Arabic.

فَأَنجَيْنَٰهُ وَٱلَّذِينَ مَعَهُۥ بِرَحْمَةٍۢ مِّنَّا وَقَطَعْنَا دَابِرَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ بِـَٔايَٰتِنَا ۖ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ مُؤْمِنِينَ

Victor: So We saved him and those with him by mercy from Us. And We eliminated those who denied Our signs, and they were not at all believers.

Austin: Their whole case is in ayah seventy: shall we leave what our fathers have worshipped? Not that their gods are true. Only that their fathers worshipped them.

Victor: As a father, that one is hard to hear. My children will do some things only because I did them. I hope what I hand on can stand without me.

Austin: May Allah 'azza wa jall make it so. And Hud alayhis salam answers with the names. Do you dispute with me concerning names you have named? Al-Qurtubi gives an example the Arabs knew: al-'Uzza, named from 'izz, might, and there is nothing of might in it. A name can promise what the thing cannot give. Then he says: wait; I am with you among those who wait.

And the end. Ibn Ishaq, rahimahullah, tells a story that the commentators carry: 'Ad had gone years without rain, and sent men to Makkah to pray for it. Clouds came, and the black one was chosen. It is a story they carry, not a narration from the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. But the Qur'an itself tells that moment, in Surah al-Ahqaf: when they saw it approaching their valleys, they said, “This is a cloud bringing us rain!” It was a wind.

Seven nights and eight days, Surah al-Haqqah says. And ayah seventy-two: We saved him and those with him, by mercy from Us. Not by strength. The people who asked who is greater than us in strength were cut off to the last.

Salma: And the wind... wasn't there a hadith about the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and two winds?

Austin: There is. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said that he was given victory by the saba, the east wind, and that 'Ad were destroyed by the dabur, the west wind. Al-Bukhari puts it among the battles too, at the Trench, and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds the believers of that time in Surah al-Ahzab: “We sent upon them a wind and armies of angels you did not see”. One wind. For 'Ad a punishment, for the believers a help.

Your questions, and two for your circle16:13

Austin: So, back to where we began. Two peoples, the same question: do you wonder that a reminder came to you through a man from among you? Nuh alayhis salam answered with patience, Hud alayhis salam with trust: I am to you a trustworthy adviser. And neither people could take a reminder from someone they knew.

Now, your questions. Who would like to start?

Viraj: Mine is about that word, amin. Hud alayhis salam says it about himself. Did our Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, have to earn it with his own people too?

Austin: He had earned it before he asked them for anything. Al-Bukhari reports from Ibn Abbas, radiyallahu anhuma, that when the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, was told to warn his closest kindred, he climbed as-Safa and called the clans of Quraysh. He asked them: if I told you horsemen were in the valley, about to attack you, would you believe me? They said yes, “for we have not found you telling anything other than the truth”. Then he told them he was a warner to them, before a terrible punishment.

Viraj: So they trusted him, and still they didn't follow?

Austin: Many didn't, not that day. His own uncle, Abu Lahab, answered him harshly. Trust doesn't open a heart; only Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does that. But trust is what a messenger brings to the door. Nuh and Hud alayhimas salam brought it too.

Yu: That's a bit scary for the rest of us. If trust takes years, I'm right at the start.

Salma: We all are. But that's hopeful too. Every small promise you keep counts.

Victor: At the masjid it's the same. People bring me the small things for years before they bring me a hard one.

Yu: So the small things are the interview.

Austin: Every promise kept. That's how amin is built, a little at a time, and the hard things come to the one who kept the small ones.

Victor: Mine is about Hud alayhis salam at the end. He says, wait, I am with you among those who wait. Why with them? He could have walked away.

Austin: He could have. Al-Tabari reads it as: wait for the judgement of Allah 'azza wa jall between us and you; I am waiting with you for His decree. He doesn't stand above them. He waits beside them, still their brother.

Victor: And when you've said what you can, to a son or a daughter, and it still isn't heard? You wait too?

Austin: You wait, and you keep the door open. Not as a threat. As someone who is still there. The outcome was never his to decide.

Yu: Like when someone has read your message and you don't send ten more.

Austin: Exactly that. One message, sent well, and then patience.

Viraj: Can I add something? Waiting with them sounds harder than walking away.

Austin: It is harder. Walking away protects your pride. Waiting with them keeps your care. That's the advice of ayah sixty-two again: wanting good for them, even while you wait.

Salma: Mm. Nasihah with patience in it.

Austin: Two questions for your circle. The first, Viraj?

Viraj: Many of us take a reminder more easily from a well-known speaker, or even a stranger, than from a brother, a spouse or a friend our own age. Why is a reminder sometimes harder to take from someone we know well?

Austin: And Salma, the second.

Salma: Think of the one person whose advice you actually take. What did they do, over time, to earn that? And whose amin are you?

Austin: The full questions are in the study notes for your circle.

Victor: Whose amin am I. Mm. That one will stay with me.

Close19:56

Austin: Before we finish, what are you taking home?

Yu: Being called a lightweight, and answering with what I am, not what I'm not.

Salma: Advice as mending. In sha Allah, more like a tailor than a judge.

Austin: Mine is the trust. I want to keep the small promises, so that when I have something true to say, there is trust behind it.

Let us end the way the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, ended a gathering. Abu Barza, radiyallahu anhu, reports he called these words an expiation for what happens in a gathering. Salma, will you?

Salma: Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdika, ashhadu an la ilaha illa anta, astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk.

Austin: Glory is to You, O Allah, and praise. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except You. I seek Your forgiveness, and I repent to You.

All: Ameen.

Salma: Next time, the passage goes on from ayah seventy-three, with Salih alayhis salam and the people of Thamud, in sha Allah.

Viraj: And if Nuh and Hud alayhimas salam are new names for you, that's fine. They were new to me too, not so long ago.

Austin: If you lead a halaqa of your own, the questions and the study notes for this passage are on the halaqa website, for your circle. Jazakumullahu khayran for listening.

Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.