Session 1 Briefing — Al-A'raf 1–10

Who is a reminder meant for?0:00

George: When we hear a reminder, most of us think of someone else who needs it. Early on, Surah Al-A'raf speaks to all of us: “Follow what has been revealed to you from your Lord and do not follow other than Him any allies. Little do you remember.”

Ten ayat, recited by Mishary Rashid Alafasy: about eighteen minutes.

We are students, not scholars. If a question needs a ruling, take it to a scholar you trust.

Assalamu alaikum, and welcome to the IMATX halaqa.

Joining the call0:34

Salma: Assalamu alaikum, George. Assalamu alaikum, everyone.

Yu: Wa alaikum salam, everyone. Alhamdulillah.

Viraj: Wa alaikum salam.

Victor: Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

George: Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullah, Salma, Yu, Viraj, Victor. It is good to be together. Let us open with the du'a Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, tells His Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, to say in Surah Ta Ha: my Lord, increase me in knowledge.

Du'a: Ta Ha 20:114 · Mishary Rashid Alafasy.

Wa qul rabbi zidni 'ilma. — And say, “My Lord, increase me in knowledge.”

Victor: Ameen.

Where we are1:13

George: Surah Al-A'raf is the seventh surah of the Qur'an, two hundred and six ayat, revealed in Makkah. Much of it tells the stories of earlier prophets and how their people answered them, and those stories spoke to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, as his own people turned him away.

These first ten ayat come before any of the stories. They set out what every story will test: what people do with the guidance they are given, and how they will answer for it.

Ayah one - the opening letters1:42

Al-A'raf 7:1 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Salma, would you read the first ayah for us?

Salma: Alif, Lam, Meem, Sad.

Viraj: Can I ask a basic one? What do the letters mean?

George: Al-Jalalayn leaves their meaning to Allah. Al-Qurtubi records that position, and several explanations as well. One, from Qutrub and al-Farra, is that they point to the alphabet from which the Qur'an is composed. Others take them as surah names, divine names or oaths. He makes none of them the agreed meaning. Allah knows best, and we turn to what He says next.

Ayah two - no tightness in the chest2:30

Al-A'raf 7:2 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Would you read ayah two, Yu?

Yu: This is a Book revealed to you, O Muhammad, so let there not be in your breast distress therefrom, that you may warn thereby and as a reminder to the believers.

George: Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is speaking to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, about the Book that came down to him.

Salma: And the word for distress is haraj. We say la haraj when we mean, no problem, go ahead.

George: No problem, because nothing is in the way. Lane's Lexicon gives the first sense as things pressed close together, and of the chest, strait, or contracted. Distress sounds like sadness. The Arabic is about space: a chest with no room in it. The same word comes in Surah Al-Hajj, where Allah has not placed on us any haraj in the religion.

Here the commentators read the tightness in two ways. Ibn Kathir reports it as doubt about the revelation, from Mujahid, Qatadah and as-Suddi, and he records a second explanation, hesitation to convey it. Al-Jalalayn reads it as constraint in conveying it, for fear of being called a liar.

Viraj: On the second one, Ibn Kathir connects it with the call to patience, in Surah Al-Ahqaf.

Yu: For me it's the end of the ayah. A reminder to the believers. I always heard reminders as meant for people who didn't believe yet.

Ayah three - follow, and do not follow4:08

Al-A'raf 7:3 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Viraj, would you read ayah three?

Viraj: Follow, O mankind, what has been revealed to you from your Lord and do not follow other than Him any allies. Little do you remember.

George: The address turns from the Prophet to everyone who receives the message. Follow, and do not follow: the same command from both sides.

Salma: Awliya. A wali is the one who looks after you, a guardian.

George: Lane gives the root's base idea as nearness, it was next to it, and the wali as the manager of the affairs of another, like the guardian of an orphan. Indonesian kept the word as wali, for the one who has charge of you. Allies loses that. The ayah is about whose word runs our affairs.

Victor: And Ibn Kathir explains following revelation as following the Prophet who brought it, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

George: And it ends with qalilan ma tadhakkarun, little do you remember. The Corpus glosses this form of the verb as to receive admonition, and Lane gives the related word, dhikra, as remembrance with the reception of exhortation. So it is less a weak memory than a reminder not taken to heart.

Yu: Masha Allah. So dhikr is more than the words after salah?

George: It includes them. Lane gives the root both ways: remembering with the heart, and saying it with the tongue.

Ayah four - at night, or resting at midday5:56

Al-A'raf 7:4 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Victor, would you read ayah four?

Victor: And how many cities have We destroyed, and Our punishment came to them at night or while they were sleeping at noon.

George: Now the passage turns to communities that did not follow. Ibn Kathir connects their destruction to their rejection of the messengers.

Salma: Qa'ilun. Many of us know qailulah, the short rest in the middle of the day.

George: Same root. It comes only twice in the whole Qur'an: here, and once in Surah Al-Furqan, for a resting place. Sleeping at noon sounds strange in English. The Arabic names the ordinary midday rest.

Viraj: Why does it matter what time of day it came?

George: Ibn Kathir explains the night and the midday as times of rest, or of heedlessness. They are the hours people feel safest.

Yu: For me that's the end of a long work week, when everything is fine and I'm not thinking about anything else.

Ayah five - we were wrongdoers7:09

Al-A'raf 7:5 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Would you read ayah five, Yu?

Yu: And their declaration when Our punishment came to them was only that they said, “Indeed, we were wrongdoers!”

Salma: Zalimin. Zulm is any injustice, small or big.

George: Indonesian has it as zalim, usually for someone who oppresses others. Lane gives the root's first sense as putting a thing in a place not its own, so the Arabic is wider. Later in this surah, Adam and his wife will use the same root of themselves: we have wronged ourselves.

Viraj: The way I understood it, what they said was true, but it came when the punishment had already arrived.

George: Yes. Ibn Kathir explains that they admitted their wrongdoing and that they deserved what came to them. The words were right. The time to act on them had gone.

Victor: Astaghfirullah.

Ayah six - both sides are asked8:29

Al-A'raf 7:6 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Viraj, would you read ayah six?

Viraj: Then We will surely question those to whom a message was sent, and We will surely question the messengers.

Salma: Ursila, and al-mursalin. The first word of that root we learn is rasul.

George: One root, on both sides of the sending: those it was sent to, and those who were sent with it. The English hides that.

Viraj: But if the messengers did their part, why are they questioned?

George: Ibn Kathir explains that the nations will be asked how they responded, and the messengers about their delivery of the message. He links it to Surah Al-Ma'idah, the Day Allah gathers the messengers and asks what response they received.

Yu: There's a narration in Sahih al-Bukhari from the sermon on the Day of Sacrifice. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, asked the people to acknowledge that he had conveyed the message, and told those present to pass the message to those absent.

George: And he noted that the one it reaches later may understand it better than the one who passed it on.

Ayah seven - never absent9:42

Al-A'raf 7:7 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Salma, would you read ayah seven?

Salma: Then We will surely relate their deeds to them with knowledge, and We were not at all absent.

Viraj: The way I understood it, when Allah relates their deeds to them, His account rests on complete knowledge.

George: That's right. Ibn Kathir reports from Ibn Abbas that the record will disclose people's deeds, and he explains that Allah knows everything they said and did, great or small.

Salma: And the last word, gha'ibin. Al-ghayb, the unseen, is the same root.

George: This plural comes only three times in the Qur'an. Indonesian has the root as gaib, for what is hidden from us. Here it is turned the other way. Allah was never absent.

Victor: Alhamdulillah for that. Most good deeds, nobody ever hears about. He was there for every one.

Ayah eight - the weighing is the truth10:48

Al-A'raf 7:8 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Victor, would you read ayah eight?

Victor: And the weighing of deeds that Day will be the truth. So those whose scales are heavy, it is they who will be the successful.

Salma: Mizan. We use it for any scale, in the kitchen or in the market.

George: The root comes twice in this ayah. First al-wazn, the weighing, then mawazinuhu, his scales. Lane gives the verb as it was heavy, or outweighed. And the word is plural: his scales, not one scale.

Al-Jalalayn explains al-haqq here as the true, fair weighing. Ibn Kathir grounds it in Surah Al-Anbiya, where even the weight of a mustard seed is brought.

Viraj: What is actually put on the scale?

George: Ibn Kathir records three explanations: the deeds, the records of the deeds, or the people who did them. And he concludes that all of these may occur.

Yu: There's a narration in Sahih Muslim about it. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, describes praise of Allah as filling the scale.

George: And in Jami' at-Tirmidhi he teaches that nothing is heavier in a believer's scale on the Day of Judgment than good character.

Ayah nine - they lost themselves12:14

Al-A'raf 7:9 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Would you read ayah nine, Yu?

Yu: And those whose scales are light, they are the ones who will lose themselves for what injustice they were doing toward Our verses.

Salma: Khasiru. Khasara is what a shop does when it loses money.

George: Khasiru anfusahum, they have lost themselves. Not money, not time: what is lost here is the self. The same phrase comes in eight ayat, and in Surah Al-Mu'minun it describes the light scale again.

Viraj: Can I ask about the end? How does someone do wrong toward a verse?

George: The verb is yazlimun, from the same root as zalimin in ayah five. The tafsir ties their loss to their wrongdoing toward Allah's signs. One way to read it, with Lane's sense of the root, putting a thing in a place not its own: ayah three said the verses are to be followed, and these people put them somewhere else.

Ayah ten - livelihoods, and little thanks13:30

Al-A'raf 7:10 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read the verses.

George: Viraj, would you read the last ayah?

Viraj: And We have certainly established you upon the earth and made for you therein ways of livelihood. Little are you grateful.

Salma: Ma'ayish. In Egypt they call bread aish, the thing you live on.

George: From the root for living. It comes only eight times in the Qur'an, and this plural twice. Not one provision, but many ways of living. Al-Jalalayn glosses it as the means of sustaining life, and Ibn Kathir makes it concrete: a place to live, mountains and rivers, rain that brings provision, and the ways of earning a living.

Victor: He also connects it with the ayah that says Allah's blessings are beyond counting.

George: Then the ayah ends, qalilan ma tashkurun, little are you grateful. Ayah three ended qalilan ma tadhakkarun, little do you remember. The thanks is shukr, which Indonesian kept as syukur.

Yu: Subhanallah. The same two words at both ends of the passage.

Your questions, and two for the discussion14:48

George: We began with a reminder we hear and pass to someone else. These ten ayat give us a Book, and end the command to follow it with little do you remember. They give us the earth, and end with little are you grateful. In between is the weighing, and Allah says it is the truth. So the reminder is ours first.

Before we finish, any questions?

Yu: Mine is about ayah three. At work I follow my manager, and at the masjid I have a teacher I trust. Is that taking awliya besides Allah?

George: The ayah does not tell us to have no guardians or leaders. Ibn Kathir's point is narrower: following awliya besides Him means disregarding what the Messenger brought and following something else. So the ayah is not about having a manager or a teacher. The question is whose word decides when theirs and the revelation disagree.

Viraj: Mine is about ayah four. When there is an earthquake or a flood, I've heard people say it is a punishment. Is that what this ayah means?

George: The ayah tells us about towns that rejected their messengers, and Ibn Kathir connects their destruction to that rejection. We know that because revelation told us. Nobody has revelation about a flood or an earthquake today, so we do not say it is a punishment on a place or its people. Allah knows best, and we keep to what the text says.

Would you read our first question for the discussion, Yu?

Yu: Ayah 3 ends with qalilan ma tadhakkarun, “Little do you remember”: closer to “little do you take it to heart.” Think of a reminder that stayed with you. What makes it hard to let a reminder change what we actually do, and what would help?

George: And Salma, the second.

Salma: The tafsir discusses deeds, records, and people being weighed. What does the certainty of just weighing invite us to take seriously in daily life?

Victor: I'll be taking that second one home with me.

George: Bring your own questions about these ayat to your circle, too.

Close16:50

George: Let us end the way the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, ended a gathering. Abu Barza 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.

George: 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.

Yu: Next session, we go on with ayat eleven to eighteen, where Iblis refuses, and makes a vow, in sha Allah.

Viraj: And if the Qur'an is new to you, the start of a surah is a good place to begin. Take it slowly.

George: 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.