WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.715 At the moment of death, the angels come to those who lied about Allah, and they ask them a question. The Qur'an gives it: “Where are those you used to invoke besides Allah?” They will say, “They have departed from us.” 2 00:00:14.115 --> 00:00:19.915 Seven ayat, recited by Mishary Rashid Alafasy: about nineteen minutes. 3 00:00:20.315 --> 00:00:26.192 We are students, not scholars. If a question needs a ruling, take it to a scholar you trust. 4 00:00:26.592 --> 00:00:30.789 Assalamu alaikum, and welcome to the IMATX halaqa. 5 00:00:31.789 --> 00:00:35.294 Assalamu alaikum, Benedict. Assalamu alaikum, everyone. 6 00:00:35.694 --> 00:00:38.825 Wa alaikum salam, everyone. Alhamdulillah. 7 00:00:39.225 --> 00:00:40.678 Wa alaikum salam. 8 00:00:41.078 --> 00:00:44.211 Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. 9 00:00:44.611 --> 00:01:02.217 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. 10 00:01:03.017 --> 00:01:07.494 [Du'a: Ta Ha 20:114] Wa qul rabbi zidni 'ilma. — And say, “My Lord, increase me in knowledge.” 11 00:01:08.294 --> 00:01:09.594 Ameen. 12 00:01:10.594 --> 00:01:21.953 Surah Al-A'raf is a Makkan surah. The previous passage ended at ayah thirty-six: those who deny Allah's ayat and are too proud to accept them are the companions of the Fire. 13 00:01:22.353 --> 00:01:42.774 This passage begins with those same people: at the moment of death, then in the Fire, where they turn on each other, and then what is closed to them. At ayah forty-two it turns to those who believed, and it ends in Paradise. Almost every ayah gives someone's words: the angels, the nations in the Fire, and the people of Paradise. 14 00:01:43.774 --> 00:02:39.133 [Al-A'raf 7:37] 15 00:02:39.933 --> 00:02:42.224 Would you read the translation for us, Yu? 16 00:02:42.624 --> 00:03:03.204 And who is more unjust than one who invents about Allah a lie or denies His verses? Those will attain their portion of the decree until when Our messengers come to them to take them in death, they will say, “Where are those you used to invoke besides Allah?” They will say, “They have departed from us,” and will bear witness against themselves that they were disbelievers. 17 00:03:03.604 --> 00:03:08.941 Can I ask a basic one? Our messengers, here. I thought the messengers were the prophets. 18 00:03:09.341 --> 00:03:22.448 Here they are angels. Al-Tabari says they are the angel of death and his helpers, and they take them in full, every one of them, from this world to the next. Ibn Kathir says they ask their question to frighten them. 19 00:03:22.848 --> 00:03:30.169 And earlier in the ayah, nasibuhum, their portion. We say nasib all the time: your lot, what was meant for you. 20 00:03:30.569 --> 00:03:55.791 Indonesian has it too, as nasib. Lane traces the root to setting something up: a nasib is a set portion. What the ayah adds is the limit. Al-Tabari records six views of the portion, and prefers what was written for them in this life: their provision, their deeds and their lifespan. His reason is in the ayah: it lasts until the angels come, and no angel of death comes in the Hereafter. 21 00:03:56.191 --> 00:04:09.076 So even the one who lies about Allah still receives his portion, until then. And their answer, they have departed from us: al-Tabari explains it as, they went another way, and left us when we needed them. 22 00:04:10.076 --> 00:05:12.076 [Al-A'raf 7:38] 23 00:05:12.876 --> 00:05:15.472 Victor, would you read ayah thirty-eight? 24 00:05:15.872 --> 00:05:41.720 Allah will say, “Enter among nations which had passed on before you of jinn and mankind into the Fire.” Every time a nation enters, it will curse its sister until, when they have all overtaken one another therein, the last of them will say about the first of them “Our Lord, these had misled us, so give them a double punishment of the Fire.” He will say, “For each is double, but you do not know.” 25 00:05:42.120 --> 00:06:03.303 Ibn Kathir says this is said to those who lie about Allah and reject His ayat: enter the Fire with earlier nations like you, of jinn and people. Al-Tabari says its sister means its sister in religion and creed. And the last of them, Ibn Kathir says, are the followers, who complain that the first of them misled them. 26 00:06:03.703 --> 00:06:09.345 Di'fan, double. And the answer gives the same word back: li-kullin di'fun. 27 00:06:09.745 --> 00:06:35.123 For each is double. Lane says that in the language of the Arabs this word first means the like of a thing, the same again, and al-Tabari gives the same sense. Ibn Kathir says each is repaid for his deeds, and those who lead others astray carry others' burdens along with their own. And but you do not know: al-Tabari says, you do not know the measure of what Allah has prepared for you. 28 00:06:35.523 --> 00:06:49.782 There's a narration in Sahih Muslim on that. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said that whoever calls people to misguidance carries a sin like the sins of everyone who follows him, and their sins are not reduced at all. 29 00:06:50.182 --> 00:06:58.181 And the same narration carries the good half: whoever calls people to guidance has a reward like the rewards of everyone who follows him. 30 00:06:59.181 --> 00:07:19.345 [Al-A'raf 7:39] 31 00:07:20.145 --> 00:07:24.417 And the first of them answer. Viraj, would you read ayah thirty-nine? 32 00:07:24.817 --> 00:07:32.440 And the first of them will say to the last of them, “Then you had not any favor over us, so taste the punishment for what you used to earn.” 33 00:07:32.840 --> 00:07:38.256 Fadl. When we ask for something in Arabic, we say min fadlik: of your favour. 34 00:07:38.656 --> 00:07:44.287 Favour, an advantage. Indonesian has the word in fadilah and afdal. 35 00:07:44.687 --> 00:07:51.621 I was reading Ibn Kathir on this one. He reports al-Suddi on what the leaders mean: you went astray just as we did. 36 00:07:52.021 --> 00:08:18.465 And al-Jalalayn has them say: you did not disbelieve because of us, so we are the same. Al-Tabari adds: you knew what happened to us, and the messengers came to you as they came to us. On one point the commentators differ. Mujahid read no favour over us as no lightening of the punishment. Al-Tabari rejects that, because the ayah speaks of what they did before, and al-Qurtubi's one line is close to Mujahid's. 37 00:08:19.465 --> 00:08:53.091 [Al-A'raf 7:40] 38 00:08:53.891 --> 00:08:56.335 Salma, would you read ayah forty? 39 00:08:56.735 --> 00:09:10.453 Indeed, those who deny Our verses and are arrogant toward them, the gates of Heaven will not be opened for them, nor will they enter Paradise until a camel enters into the eye of a needle. And thus do We recompense the criminals. 40 00:09:10.853 --> 00:09:38.059 It opens with almost the same words as ayah thirty-six, where the previous passage ended. That ayah said where they end up; this one says what is closed to them. Ibn Kathir gives two readings of the gates: their good deeds and supplication do not rise through them, or the gates are not opened for their souls. Ibn Jurayj joined the two, and al-Tabari takes both, because Allah's statement is general and makes no exception. 41 00:09:38.459 --> 00:09:43.875 And then al-jamal, the camel. With a long a, jamaal is beauty. 42 00:09:44.275 --> 00:10:12.928 The same root. Lane gives jamal as the male camel, and the root also gives jamaal, beauty. Al-jamal comes only once in the whole Qur'an, and so do the two words after it, samm and khiyat, the eye of the needle. Al-Tabari reports Ibn Abbas, in some reports: the great camel, too big for the hole of the needle. And al-Jalalayn says it plainly: which is impossible, and so is their entry into Paradise. 43 00:10:13.328 --> 00:10:17.596 I've heard some people say it's a rope, not a camel. Is that right? 44 00:10:17.996 --> 00:10:40.782 Some early scholars read it al-jummal, a thick rope like a ship's cable. It is reported from Ibn Abbas in other reports, and from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, Ikrimah and Mujahid. Al-Tabari rules that the reading all the regional readers agree on, al-jamal, is the one to keep. So the agreed text says camel, and the rope is a reported reading. 45 00:10:41.182 --> 00:10:51.025 Going back to the ayah, for me it's the arrogance, arrogant toward them. When a reminder comes from someone I didn't expect it from, do I let it in? 46 00:10:52.025 --> 00:11:07.781 [Al-A'raf 7:41] 47 00:11:08.581 --> 00:11:11.253 Viraj, would you read ayah forty-one? 48 00:11:11.653 --> 00:11:18.969 They will have from Hell a bed and over them coverings of fire. And thus do We recompense the wrongdoers. 49 00:11:19.369 --> 00:11:22.423 Ghawash. Like al-Ghashiyah, the surah. 50 00:11:22.823 --> 00:11:37.305 The same family of words. Al-Tabari says the bed is what is spread out to sit and lie on, like a rug, and ghawash is the plural of ghashiya, what covers from above. Many of us know Surah Al-Ghashiyah from salah. 51 00:11:38.305 --> 00:12:08.671 [Al-A'raf 7:42] 52 00:12:09.471 --> 00:12:13.589 Here the passage turns. Would you read ayah forty-two, Yu? 53 00:12:13.989 --> 00:12:24.439 But those who believed and did righteous deeds, We charge no soul except within its capacity. Those are the companions of Paradise; they will abide therein eternally. 54 00:12:24.839 --> 00:12:29.266 Wus'aha, its capacity. Wasi' is wide, roomy. 55 00:12:29.666 --> 00:12:47.879 Lane's first example of the verb is a vessel, big enough for what is put in it. The noun wus' comes five times in the Qur'an, and all five are this same promise. Many of us know it from the last ayah of Surah Al-Baqarah: Allah does not charge a soul except with that within its capacity. 56 00:12:48.279 --> 00:12:55.143 Subhanallah. Can I ask a basic one? Why does it say this in the middle, before it even says they are in Paradise? 57 00:12:55.543 --> 00:13:14.812 Al-Jalalayn and al-Qurtubi both call it a parenthesis: it sits inside the promise of Paradise, not after it. Al-Tabari says Allah does not charge a soul with deeds beyond what it can bear, so that it is not put in hardship, and Ibn Kathir reads it as Allah telling us that faith and acting on it are made easy. 58 00:13:15.212 --> 00:13:27.409 La nukallifu nafsan illa wus'aha: We charge no soul except within its capacity. For me, it's how I judge other people's load at work. I don't always give my colleagues that measure. 59 00:13:28.409 --> 00:14:17.188 [Al-A'raf 7:43] 60 00:14:17.988 --> 00:14:21.496 The last ayah of the passage. Salma, would you read it? 61 00:14:21.896 --> 00:14:45.212 And We will have removed whatever is within their breasts of resentment, while flowing beneath them are rivers. And they will say, “Praise to Allah, who has guided us to this; and we would never have been guided if Allah had not guided us. Certainly the messengers of our Lord had come with the truth.” And they will be called, “This is Paradise, which you have been made to inherit for what you used to do.” 62 00:14:45.612 --> 00:14:56.133 Before the rivers and before the praise, the ayah begins with what is taken away: the ghill in their hearts. Ibn Kathir says ghill is envy and hatred. 63 00:14:56.533 --> 00:15:06.905 There's a narration in Sahih al-Bukhari about that. The believers are stopped at a bridge between Paradise and the Fire, and there the wrongs they did to each other in this world are settled between them. 64 00:15:07.305 --> 00:15:16.304 Ibn Kathir brings that narration right here. And when they are let in, each of them will know his home in Paradise better than he knew his home in this world. 65 00:15:16.704 --> 00:15:22.040 And then what they say: hadana, guided us. It comes twice in one breath. 66 00:15:22.440 --> 00:15:53.605 Three times from one root, with linahtadiya, to be guided, in between. Hidayah, in Indonesian, comes from this root, and so does hadiah, a gift. Lane gives the verb as he directed him, or guided him, to the way. Al-Tabari says guided us means He gave us success in the deeds that earned this. Al-Qurtubi says: He guided us and created the guidance for us. Notice what they speak about: not what they did, but what Allah, Azza wa Jall, did for them. 67 00:15:54.005 --> 00:16:01.623 Alhamdu lillahil-ladhi hadana li-hadha: praise to Allah, who has guided us to this. I would like those to be my words too. 68 00:16:02.023 --> 00:16:15.818 And the call at the end: you have been made to inherit it for what you used to do. Ibn Kathir says: by your deeds you reached Allah's mercy, by His mercy you entered, and you took your places there according to your deeds. 69 00:16:16.818 --> 00:16:50.351 We began with the angels' question at death: where are those you used to invoke besides Allah? Those had left them. In the Fire, the nations speak about each other: these had misled us; you had not any favor over us. In Paradise, the resentment is taken out first, and then they speak about Allah: He guided us, and the messengers of our Lord came with the truth. So the passage asks two things of us: to lean on Allah now, while there is still time, and to own our part, giving Allah the credit for any good we do. 70 00:16:50.751 --> 00:16:53.043 Before we finish, any questions? 71 00:16:53.443 --> 00:16:59.546 Mine is about the camel. A friend at work told me there's the same picture in the Bible. Is it the same thing? 72 00:16:59.946 --> 00:17:11.836 The same picture is in the Gospels, in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and there it is said of a rich man. In ayah forty it is said of those who deny Allah's ayat and are too proud to accept them. 73 00:17:12.236 --> 00:17:20.163 Mine is about ayah forty-three. Why do the people of Paradise say the messengers of our Lord came with the truth? They're already there. 74 00:17:20.563 --> 00:17:29.484 Al-Tabari says it means the truth of His promise to the obedient and His threat to the disobedient. They have seen both come true, and they say so. 75 00:17:29.884 --> 00:17:33.160 Victor, would you read our first question for the discussion? 76 00:17:33.560 --> 00:17:51.320 At death the angels ask: “Where are those you used to invoke besides Allah?” And the answer is: “They have departed from us.” Leave the people in the ayah aside for a moment. What do we lean on in an ordinary week that will not be there at the end? What does leaning on Allah look like on a busy day? 77 00:17:51.720 --> 00:17:53.857 And Salma, the second. 78 00:17:54.257 --> 00:18:17.422 In ayah thirty-eight the followers say about their leaders: “these had misled us”, and Allah answers: “For each is double.” In ayah thirty-nine the leaders tell the followers: “you had not any favor over us”. In ordinary life, when is “someone else led me into it” true, and when is it a way of not owning our own choice? What makes owning our part hard, and what helps? 79 00:18:17.822 --> 00:18:20.267 That second one will stay with me. 80 00:18:20.667 --> 00:18:24.177 Bring your own questions about these ayat to your circle, too. 81 00:18:25.177 --> 00:18:36.457 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? 82 00:18:36.857 --> 00:18:43.941 Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdika, ashhadu an la ilaha illa anta, astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk. 83 00:18:44.341 --> 00:18:54.242 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. 84 00:18:54.642 --> 00:19:02.035 Next session, we go on from ayah forty-four, where the people of Paradise call across to the people of the Fire, in sha Allah. 85 00:19:02.435 --> 00:19:06.631 And if you're new to the Qur'an, start with one ayah, and take your time. 86 00:19:07.031 --> 00:19:16.101 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. 87 00:19:16.501 --> 00:19:19.934 Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.