Al-A'raf, movement II: The messengers

Is it just how life goes?0:00

Benedict: When hard times pass and life is good again, it is easy to say: that's just life. Surah Al-A'raf tells of towns that said the same: “Our fathers also were touched with hardship and ease.”

Five messengers and the pattern behind them, with a key ayah of each passage 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 call0:33

Benedict: Assalamu alaikum, everyone.

All: Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullah.

Benedict: Alhamdulillah. This one is a little different: not one passage but a whole movement of the surah, five messengers in one sitting. 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.”

All: Ameen.

Where we are1:06

Benedict: We read Surah Al-A'raf in five movements: Adam and the heights, the messengers, Musa and Fir'awn, Bani Israil, and covenant and worship. This is the second. The first ended with rain on a dead land, and two kinds of ground: good land that brings out its plants, and bad land where little grows.

Al-Qurtubi says that once Allah has shown He is the Creator, He tells the stories of the nations, with the warning in them. So now five messengers come, one after another, to five peoples. After the fifth, the surah stops and draws out the pattern, and that is where our opening line comes from.

7:59–64 · Nuh: the call to worship Allah1:44

Al-A'raf 7:59 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:59 on Quran.com.

Benedict: Salma, would you start us off?

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.”

Benedict: After Adam's story at the start of the surah, the stories of the prophets begin, and the commentators say Nuh comes first because he was the first messenger sent to the people of the earth after Adam.

Victor: Ya qawmi u'budu llaha ma lakum min ilahin ghayruhu. I have heard that line in so many khutbahs.

Benedict: You will meet it again in this movement, Victor, word for word. Here, the eminent among his people answer: we see you in clear error. Nuh does not throw it back at them. He says, my people, there is no error in me; I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds.

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

Yu: Advise you. At work, that word usually comes right before something I don't want to hear.

Benedict: His people did not want it either. But Nuh means it, and he keeps calling them my people.

Viraj: Then I don't understand. If he is that gentle and that clear, how do they still say no?

Benedict: That is the question of this whole movement, Viraj, and each story gives its own answer. Here the ayah only says that they denied him. Allah saved him and those who were with him in the ship, and drowned those who denied His signs. Indeed, they were a blind people.

7:65–72 · Hud and 'Ad: power and inherited worship3:47

Al-A'raf 7:70 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:70 on Quran.com.

Victor: I'll read this one.

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.”

Benedict: That is how 'Ad answered Hud. Before it, the story runs very close to Nuh's. Hud is their brother, and he opens with the same call, the one Victor knows from the khutbahs. The chiefs say, we see you in foolishness, and he answers, there is no foolishness in me.

Salma: Almost Nuh's words, then.

Benedict: Almost. Hud even asks a question Nuh asked, word for word, and then adds something new. Yu, would you read it?

Yu: 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.

Benedict: How does that sit with you, Yu?

Yu: They were strong, and things were going well. Honestly, that's when I listen least. When work is good, a warning is the last thing I want.

Benedict: Mm. And that is their answer, the ayah Victor read: leave what our fathers have worshipped? Then bring us what you promise us. The commentators say what they were asking for was the punishment Hud had warned them of.

Viraj: So is the problem following their fathers, or following them with nothing to show for it?

Benedict: Hud answers that in the next ayah: you argue with me over names you have named, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority. Nothing from Allah stands behind them.

Victor: As a father, that one stays with me. I want my children to follow me in what is good, and to tell me when I'm wrong.

Benedict: Allah saved Hud and those with him, by mercy from Him, and cut off those who denied His signs.

7:73–79 · Salih and Thamud: rejecting a clear sign6:05

Al-A'raf 7:79 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:79 on Quran.com.

Benedict: Viraj?

Viraj: And he turned away from them and said, “O my people, I had certainly conveyed to you the message of my Lord and advised you, but you do not like advisors.”

Salma: An-nasihin. We say nasiha at home all the time: advice, given for your own good.

Benedict: It is the same word Iblis claimed for himself near the start of the surah, swearing to Adam and his wife: indeed, I am to you from among the sincere advisors. In Indonesian it is nasihat. Iblis used it to deceive. Salih meant it, and his people did not like advisers.

Salma: Subhanallah.

Benedict: Here is how it came to that. Salih brings the same call and a sign, the she-camel of Allah: leave her to eat in Allah's land, and do her no harm. Then he reminds them, as Hud did, of what they have. Victor?

Victor: And remember when He made you successors after the 'Aad and settled you in the land, and you take for yourselves palaces from its plains and carve from the mountains, homes. Then remember the favors of Allah and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption.

Subhanallah. They had so much.

Benedict: Then the chiefs turn on the believers. Salma?

Salma: Said the eminent ones who were arrogant among his people to those who were oppressed, to those who believed among them, “Do you actually know that Salih is sent from his Lord?” They said, “Indeed we, in that with which he was sent, are believers.”

Benedict: And the arrogant answer: in what you believe, we are disbelievers. They hamstring the she-camel, tell Salih to bring what he promised, and the earthquake seizes them.

Viraj: The way I understood it, Salih says this ayah after the earthquake, as a goodbye.

Benedict: That is the order the ayat give, though the commentators differ on whether he said it before the end or after. Either way it is his last word to them. Al-Tabari says the advisers they did not like are the ones who advise for Allah's sake and hold you back from your own desires.

Salma: For me, that's the hard part. I like advice, as long as I asked for it.

7:80–84 · Lut: transgression and attempted expulsion8:35

Al-A'raf 7:82 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:82 on Quran.com.

Benedict: Lut's is the shortest of the five. Yu?

Yu: But the answer of his people was only that they said, “Evict them from your city! Indeed, they are men who keep themselves pure.”

Benedict: Lut does not open with the call we have been hearing. He names what his people were doing: an immorality no one had done before them, approaching men with desire instead of women. And this ayah is their whole answer: evict them, because they keep themselves pure.

Victor: Keep themselves pure. They meant that as an insult?

Benedict: They did. One of the early scholars put it this way: they shamed them with what is no shame at all. Allah saved Lut and his family, except his wife, who was of those who remained behind, and He rained upon the rest a rain of stones. Then see how was the end of the criminals.

7:85–93 · Shu'ayb and Madyan: justice and fidelity9:54

Al-A'raf 7:85 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:85 on Quran.com.

Benedict: And Shu'ayb. Salma?

Salma: And to the people of Madyan We sent their brother Shu'ayb. He said, “O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. There has come to you clear evidence from your Lord. So fulfill the measure and weight and do not deprive people of their due and cause not corruption upon the earth after its reformation. That is better for you, if you should be believers.”

Victor: Ya qawmi u'budu llaha ma lakum min ilahin ghayruhu. There it is again.

Benedict: I have to say, the first time I read this movement straight through, I only noticed it here. Nuh, Hud, Salih, and now Shu'ayb: four messengers, the same words. And in the same breath, Shu'ayb goes from the call to the measure and the weight.

Viraj: Can I ask something? Why does a prophet talk about scales? I thought messengers talked about Allah.

Benedict: Hold on to that one, Viraj. It is the very question this movement leaves us with, and we will come back to it at the end. Shu'ayb goes on: remember when you were few and He increased you. And the arrogant chiefs answer him. Victor?

Victor: Said the eminent ones who were arrogant among his people, “We will surely evict you, O Shu'ayb, and those who have believed with you from our city, or you must return to our religion.” He said, “Even if we were unwilling?”

Salma: Evict, again. That's what Lut's people said too.

Benedict: It is. And Shu'ayb answers them: upon Allah we have relied. Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth.

Yu: For me, that's the line. When I've done what I can and the rest is out of my hands, upon Allah we have relied is what I want to be able to say.

Benedict: Then the earthquake seizes them, and it is as though they had never lived there. And Shu'ayb turns away with almost Salih's words: I conveyed to you the messages of my Lord and advised you, so how could I grieve for a disbelieving people?

7:94–102 · The recurring pattern of rejection12:35

Al-A'raf 7:95 · Recitation: Mishary Rashid Alafasy. Read 7:95 on Quran.com.

Benedict: Now the surah steps back from the five stories. Victor, this one is our opening line.

Victor: Then We exchanged in place of the bad condition, good, until they increased and prospered and said, “Our fathers also were touched with hardship and ease.” So We seized them suddenly while they did not perceive.

Benedict: The ayah before it gives the first half of the pattern. Whenever Allah sent a prophet to a city and he was denied, He seized its people with poverty and hardship, that they might humble themselves. Then came the good years, and the words Victor just read.

Viraj: I'll be honest, part of me agrees with them. The notes on the surah say people may dismiss both as ordinary changes of fortune. But hard times and good times do come to everyone, don't they?

Benedict: They do. Al-Jalalayn gives the rest of their thought: this is just the habit of time, nothing from Allah, so stay as you are. That last part is the mistake. Salma, the next ayah?

Salma: And if only the people of the cities had believed and feared Allah, We would have opened upon them blessings from the heaven and the earth; but they denied the messengers, so We seized them for what they were earning.

Feared Allah. In the Arabic that's wattaqaw, isn't it? From taqwa.

Benedict: It is. We met the root near the start of the surah, in the clothing of taqwa: what you put between yourself and harm. In Indonesian, takwa. Here, with belief, it is what would have opened those blessings.

Then come the questions. Did they feel secure from the plan of Allah? And the last one, Yu?

Yu: Has it not become clear to those who inherited the earth after its previous people that if We willed, We could afflict them for their sins? But We seal over their hearts so they do not hear.

Those who inherited the earth. Is that us?

Benedict: The warning is for whoever comes after them, and that includes us. And the movement ends: We did not find for most of them any covenant; but indeed, We found most of them defiantly disobedient.

Your questions, and one for your circle15:05

Benedict: So, is it just how life goes? The four commentators read it the same way: those towns took the hard years and the good years as the way of the world. Ibn Kathir says Allah was testing them in both, and the believers are grateful to Allah in good times and patient in hard times.

Hud and Salih were already telling their peoples: remember the favors of Allah. So for us, a hard season and a good year ask the same of us. Do they bring us back to Allah, with thanks for the good and patience in the hard, or do we put them down to just life?

Viraj: Benedict, can I ask something that bothered me? When I read this part on my own, I thought I'd lost my place. Nuh, then Hud, the same words again. Why tell nearly the same story five times?

Benedict: Near the end of the movement, Allah says to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam: those cities, We relate to you some of their news. And the ayah Yu read speaks to whoever inherits the earth after them. And each one has something of its own: Nuh's ship, 'Ad's strength, Thamud's sign, Lut's people wanting the pure driven out, Madyan's scales.

Viraj: So the sameness is on purpose.

Benedict: The call is the same every time. It is the peoples, and their reasons, that change.

Yu: Mine is from work. A colleague saw what I was reading at lunch and asked me: so in your book, God just wipes out towns? I didn't really know what to say.

Benedict: Tell him what comes before the ending. Each people is sent a messenger who warns them first. Ayah ninety-four says even the hard years were sent so that they might humble themselves, and ninety-six says Allah would have opened blessings upon them, if they had believed.

Yu: So the ending isn't the whole story.

Benedict: No. And we leave the endings where the text leaves them, with those towns.

And one question for this movement, for your circle. Salma?

Salma: In Shu'ayb's address, how are worship and people's rights connected? Read ayah eighty-five first.

Benedict: Viraj, that is your question from earlier. The full question, and the passages to read, are in the study notes for your circle.

Viraj: I'll be thinking about that one.

Close17:19

Benedict: Before we close, what are you taking with you?

Salma: Liking the advisers. Even the ones I didn't ask for.

Victor: For me, the good years. I want to notice them more, alhamdulillah.

Benedict: 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.

Benedict: 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: The sessions take these stories one at a time, beginning with Nuh, ayat fifty-nine to sixty-four, in sha Allah.

Viraj: If these stories are new to you, take them one prophet at a time. That's what I'm doing.

Benedict: If you lead a halaqa of your own, the question for this movement and the notes on the surah are on the halaqa website, for your circle. Jazakumullahu khayran for listening.

Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.