WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:13.730 Doing the right thing can look like losing: a deal you walk away from, money you leave on the table. The chiefs of Madyan told their own people exactly that: “If you should follow Shu'ayb, indeed, you would then be losers.” 2 00:00:14.130 --> 00:00:23.676 Eighteen ayat of Surah Al-A'raf: the story of Shu'ayb alayhis salam, and the pattern the surah names after five messengers. About 25 minutes. 3 00:00:24.075 --> 00:00:28.042 Assalamu alaikum, and welcome to the IMATX halaqa. 4 00:00:29.042 --> 00:00:32.690 Wa alaikum salam wa rahmatullah. 5 00:00:33.340 --> 00:00:39.438 Alhamdulillah. Good to have everyone here again. Let us open, as we always do, with the du'a. 6 00:00:40.088 --> 00:01:04.239 [Opening du'a · 1 of 3] 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. 7 00:01:04.639 --> 00:01:12.621 [Opening du'a · 2 of 3] Rabbishrah li sadri, wa yassir li amri, wahlul 'uqdatan min lisani, yafqahu qawli. 8 00:01:13.021 --> 00:01:19.741 [Opening du'a · 3 of 3] Allahumma infa'na bima 'allamtana, wa 'allimna ma yanfa'una, wa zidna 'ilma. 9 00:01:20.391 --> 00:01:42.028 We praised Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, asked His help and His forgiveness, and bore witness to Him and to His Messenger. Then, with the words of Musa alayhis salam: open our hearts, ease our task, and loosen our tongues, so that people understand what we say. And we asked Allah 'azza wa jall to make what we learn benefit us, and to add to our knowledge. 10 00:01:42.678 --> 00:01:44.578 Ameen. 11 00:01:45.578 --> 00:02:02.540 The previous passage ended with Lut alayhis salam, and the rain that came down on his people. Now the fifth messenger of this part of the surah: Shu'ayb alayhis salam, sent to Madyan. Ibn Kathir, rahimahullah, says Madyan was the name of the tribe, and of a town on the road from al-Sham to the Hijaz. 12 00:02:02.940 --> 00:02:16.737 His story runs to ayah ninety-three. Then the surah steps back from all five stories, and says what happened in every one of those cities. We'll take it a few ayat at a time, so each part of the story stays in one piece, and keep our questions for the end. 13 00:02:17.737 --> 00:02:23.538 Shu'ayb alayhis salam speaks to his own people, and he begins where every messenger before him began. 14 00:02:24.188 --> 00:02:27.203 [Isti'adhah] A'udhu billahi minash-shaytanir-rajim. 15 00:02:27.603 --> 00:02:51.004 [7:85 in Arabic] ⁧وَإِلَىٰ مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًۭا ۗ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥ ۖ قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم بَيِّنَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۖ فَأَوْفُوا۟ ٱلْكَيْلَ وَٱلْمِيزَانَ وَلَا تَبْخَسُوا۟ ٱلنَّاسَ أَشْيَآءَهُمْ وَلَا تُفْسِدُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ بَعْدَ إِصْلَٰحِهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌۭ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ⁩ 16 00:02:51.654 --> 00:03:13.089 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. 17 00:03:13.739 --> 00:03:33.852 Worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Ibn Kathir calls it “the call of all Messengers”. And in the Arabic, from “He said” to “from your Lord”, these are the words of Salih alayhis salam at ayah seventy-three, word for word. That's our own check of the text, not a commentator's. Same message, new people. 18 00:03:34.252 --> 00:03:58.402 Then, in the same breath, he turns to the market. Fulfill the measure and the weight. Ibn Kathir says he commanded them “to refrain from cheating people in buying and selling”. And al-Qurtubi, rahimahullah, reads “do not deprive people of their due” very widely: running down someone's goods, talking a seller out of them, cheating on the value, or tricks in measuring. All of it, he says, is taking wealth wrongfully. 19 00:03:59.052 --> 00:04:05.089 Wait, talking a seller down counts? I do that at every market stall. I thought that was just bargaining. 20 00:04:05.739 --> 00:04:25.044 Bargaining isn't the problem. What al-Qurtubi names is running the goods down, and talking a seller out of them. And for the bargaining itself there is a narration. The Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said: may Allah have mercy on a person who is easy-going when he buys, when he sells, and when he asks for what he is owed. 21 00:04:25.694 --> 00:04:31.202 Mm. Easy-going, and still the full measure. That's a man I would buy from. 22 00:04:31.852 --> 00:04:37.143 And that's why the scale comes straight after worship. Faith and fair dealing, in one breath. 23 00:04:39.643 --> 00:04:44.194 Then he turns from the market to the roads, and to the people who were taking sides over him. 24 00:04:44.844 --> 00:05:02.089 [7:86 in Arabic] ⁧وَلَا تَقْعُدُوا۟ بِكُلِّ صِرَٰطٍۢ تُوعِدُونَ وَتَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِهِۦ وَتَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًۭا ۚ وَٱذْكُرُوٓا۟ إِذْ كُنتُمْ قَلِيلًۭا فَكَثَّرَكُمْ ۖ وَٱنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ⁩ 25 00:05:02.739 --> 00:05:15.954 And do not sit on every path, threatening and averting from the way of Allah those who believe in Him, seeking to make it seem deviant. And remember when you were few and He increased you. And see how was the end of the corrupters. 26 00:05:16.604 --> 00:05:29.728 [7:87 in Arabic] ⁧وَإِن كَانَ طَآئِفَةٌۭ مِّنكُمْ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِٱلَّذِىٓ أُرْسِلْتُ بِهِۦ وَطَآئِفَةٌۭ لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا۟ فَٱصْبِرُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَحْكُمَ ٱللَّهُ بَيْنَنَا ۚ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ ٱلْحَٰكِمِينَ⁩ 27 00:05:30.378 --> 00:05:41.473 And if there should be a group among you who has believed in that with which I have been sent and a group that has not believed, then be patient until Allah judges between us. And He is the best of judges." 28 00:05:42.123 --> 00:06:05.099 What were they doing on the roads? Ibn Kathir gives two readings. Al-Suddi, rahimahullah, says they were bandits, threatening people “with death if they do not give up their money”. Ibn Abbas, radiyallahu anhuma, and others say they threatened “the believers who come to Shu'ayb to follow him”. Ibn Kathir prefers the first, and reads the rest of the ayah, turning people from the way of Allah, as the second. 29 00:06:05.499 --> 00:06:12.919 So, a road, where people come and go, and two ways to block it: taking from people, and frightening them away from the good. 30 00:06:13.569 --> 00:06:21.425 Can I ask about ayah eighty-seven? Be patient until Allah judges between us. Isn't that telling the ones who didn't believe to just carry on? 31 00:06:22.075 --> 00:06:28.097 Al-Qurtubi says the opposite. Be patient doesn't give them leave to stay as they are. It's a warning. 32 00:06:28.747 --> 00:06:30.954 So the waiting is the warning? 33 00:06:31.604 --> 00:06:35.864 The waiting is the warning. And the next ayah shows they didn't wait. 34 00:06:37.864 --> 00:06:43.667 The chiefs answer him with a threat, and Shu'ayb alayhis salam answers them, then turns to his Lord. 35 00:06:44.317 --> 00:06:58.450 [7:88 in Arabic] ⁧۞ قَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ لَنُخْرِجَنَّكَ يَٰشُعَيْبُ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَكَ مِن قَرْيَتِنَآ أَوْ لَتَعُودُنَّ فِى مِلَّتِنَا ۚ قَالَ أَوَلَوْ كُنَّا كَٰرِهِينَ⁩ 36 00:06:59.100 --> 00:07:11.358 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?" 37 00:07:12.008 --> 00:07:36.753 [7:89 in Arabic] ⁧قَدِ ٱفْتَرَيْنَا عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا إِنْ عُدْنَا فِى مِلَّتِكُم بَعْدَ إِذْ نَجَّىٰنَا ٱللَّهُ مِنْهَا ۚ وَمَا يَكُونُ لَنَآ أَن نَّعُودَ فِيهَآ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّنَا ۚ وَسِعَ رَبُّنَا كُلَّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًا ۚ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا ٱفْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ ٱلْفَٰتِحِينَ⁩ 38 00:07:37.403 --> 00:07:59.643 We would have invented against Allah a lie if we returned to your religion after Allah had saved us from it. And it is not for us to return to it except that Allah, our Lord, should will. Our Lord has encompassed all things in knowledge. Upon Allah we have relied. Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth, and You are the best of those who give decision." 39 00:08:00.293 --> 00:08:12.924 Leave our city, or come back to our religion. And his first answer is a question: even if we were unwilling? Ibn Kathir explains it: would you force us, “even though we hate what you are calling us to”. 40 00:08:13.324 --> 00:08:35.492 Then he is firm. Going back would be inventing a lie against Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, after He had saved them from it. And straight after the firmness: except that Allah, our Lord, should will. The commentators read that line in more than one way. Ibn Kathir says it “refers all matters to Allah's will”. He doesn't lean on his own firmness. He leaves it with his Lord. 41 00:08:35.892 --> 00:08:49.325 And then the du'a: our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth. Al-Qurtubi reports from Ibn Abbas that Shu'ayb alayhis salam prayed much, and made this du'a when he lost hope that his people would change. 42 00:08:49.975 --> 00:08:57.537 Mm. Firm, and still saying, except that Allah, our Lord, should will. A proud man finds that hard. 43 00:08:58.187 --> 00:09:04.503 It is hard. Firm about the truth, and humble about himself. That's the shape of his whole answer. 44 00:09:07.003 --> 00:09:12.579 The chiefs turn to their own people with a warning, and then the story of Madyan comes to its end. 45 00:09:13.229 --> 00:09:21.215 [7:90 in Arabic] ⁧وَقَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ لَئِنِ ٱتَّبَعْتُمْ شُعَيْبًا إِنَّكُمْ إِذًۭا لَّخَٰسِرُونَ⁩ 46 00:09:21.865 --> 00:09:29.070 Said the eminent ones who disbelieved among his people, "If you should follow Shu'ayb, indeed, you would then be losers." 47 00:09:29.720 --> 00:09:34.258 [7:91 in Arabic] ⁧فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ ٱلرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا۟ فِى دَارِهِمْ جَٰثِمِينَ⁩ 48 00:09:34.908 --> 00:09:39.966 So the earthquake seized them, and they became within their home corpses fallen prone. 49 00:09:40.616 --> 00:09:49.359 [7:92 in Arabic] ⁧ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ شُعَيْبًۭا كَأَن لَّمْ يَغْنَوْا۟ فِيهَا ۚ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ شُعَيْبًۭا كَانُوا۟ هُمُ ٱلْخَٰسِرِينَ⁩ 50 00:09:50.009 --> 00:09:57.941 Those who denied Shu'ayb - it was as though they had never resided there. Those who denied Shu'ayb - it was they who were the losers. 51 00:09:58.591 --> 00:10:18.339 There's the line we began with: “If you should follow Shu'ayb, indeed, you would then be losers.” The last word is khasirun. Lane's dictionary calls loss in buying and selling its original meaning, and these are people who were just told to fix their scales. Al-Tabari explains the chiefs' word: cheated in your bargain, and ruined. 52 00:10:18.989 --> 00:10:23.470 So basically, they told everyone that believing was a bad deal. 53 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:44.153 A bad deal. Then the earthquake. Ibn Kathir says it shook them “as punishment for threatening to expel Shu'ayb and his followers”. And ayah ninety-two answers the chiefs with their own word, twice over: those who denied Shu'ayb, as though they had never resided there; those who denied Shu'ayb, it was they who were the losers. 54 00:10:44.553 --> 00:11:04.664 Ibn Kathir says Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala “refuted their earlier statement”. And in Surah ash-Shu'ara, Shu'ayb alayhis salam uses the same root for short-changing: “those who cause loss”, al-mukhsirin. Putting the two together is our own reading: the people who gave short measure called the believers losers, and the word came back on them. 55 00:11:05.314 --> 00:11:11.199 Mm. All that weighing and counting, and in the end, as though they had never lived there. 56 00:11:13.699 --> 00:11:18.841 Then Shu'ayb alayhis salam turns away from them, and says his last words to his people. 57 00:11:19.491 --> 00:11:30.509 [7:93 in Arabic] ⁧فَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ لَقَدْ أَبْلَغْتُكُمْ رِسَٰلَٰتِ رَبِّى وَنَصَحْتُ لَكُمْ ۖ فَكَيْفَ ءَاسَىٰ عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍۢ كَٰفِرِينَ⁩ 58 00:11:31.159 --> 00:11:41.286 And he turned away from them and said, "O my people, I had certainly conveyed to you the messages of my Lord and advised you, so how could I grieve for a disbelieving people?" 59 00:11:41.936 --> 00:11:49.868 Even now, O my people. And he says what his work was: I conveyed the messages of my Lord, and I advised you. 60 00:11:50.518 --> 00:11:53.529 So his part ends at conveying and advising? 61 00:11:54.179 --> 00:12:01.955 His part, yes. What they did with it was theirs. And he had already left the judgement with his Lord, in ayah eighty-nine. 62 00:12:04.455 --> 00:12:10.540 Now the surah steps back from all five stories, and says what happened in every city that denied its prophet. 63 00:12:11.190 --> 00:12:20.782 [7:94 in Arabic] ⁧وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا فِى قَرْيَةٍۢ مِّن نَّبِىٍّ إِلَّآ أَخَذْنَآ أَهْلَهَا بِٱلْبَأْسَآءِ وَٱلضَّرَّآءِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَضَّرَّعُونَ⁩ 64 00:12:21.432 --> 00:12:29.737 And We sent to no city a prophet who was denied except that We seized its people with poverty and hardship that they might humble themselves to Allah. 65 00:12:30.387 --> 00:12:43.682 [7:95 in Arabic] ⁧ثُمَّ بَدَّلْنَا مَكَانَ ٱلسَّيِّئَةِ ٱلْحَسَنَةَ حَتَّىٰ عَفَوا۟ وَّقَالُوا۟ قَدْ مَسَّ ءَابَآءَنَا ٱلضَّرَّآءُ وَٱلسَّرَّآءُ فَأَخَذْنَٰهُم بَغْتَةًۭ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ⁩ 66 00:12:44.332 --> 00:12:56.386 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. 67 00:12:57.036 --> 00:13:17.297 First, hardship. And it came “that they might humble themselves”. Ibn Kathir says, so that they would “supplicate, humble themselves and invoke Allah”. The hardship came with a door left open. And this is said of peoples who had denied their prophets. It isn't a way to read anyone's illness or poverty as a punishment; believers are tested too. 68 00:13:17.697 --> 00:13:38.105 Then ease, until they increased. In the Arabic that's one word: 'afaw. Ibn Kathir says it means “increase in numbers, wealth and offspring”, and al-Tabari reports from Ibn Abbas that they grew as plants grow. Indonesian has this root in maaf, from 'afw, pardon. Here it has nothing to do with forgiving. They grew many. 69 00:13:38.505 --> 00:13:52.151 And what did they say? Our fathers also were touched with hardship and ease. Ibn Kathir: they saw “a cycle where we sometimes suffer a hardship and at other times, we enjoy a bounty”, and did not see that He was testing them in both. 70 00:13:52.801 --> 00:13:56.111 So “that's just life” is the dangerous sentence. 71 00:13:56.761 --> 00:14:03.441 It can be, when it means the times are only weather. The believer sees a test in both, and answers each one. 72 00:14:04.091 --> 00:14:09.006 Isn't there a hadith about that? The believer is good either way, in ease and in hardship? 73 00:14:09.656 --> 00:14:30.430 There is. Suhayb, radiyallahu anhu, reports in Sahih Muslim that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said the affair of the believer is a wonder: all of it is good for him. If something good comes to him, he gives thanks, and that is good for him. If harm reaches him, he is patient, and that is good for him. Ibn Kathir brings it right here. 74 00:14:32.930 --> 00:14:36.464 Then the surah says what could have been, for those same cities. 75 00:14:37.114 --> 00:14:49.981 [7:96 in Arabic] ⁧وَلَوْ أَنَّ أَهْلَ ٱلْقُرَىٰٓ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَٱتَّقَوْا۟ لَفَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَرَكَٰتٍۢ مِّنَ ٱلسَّمَآءِ وَٱلْأَرْضِ وَلَٰكِن كَذَّبُوا۟ فَأَخَذْنَٰهُم بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَكْسِبُونَ⁩ 76 00:14:50.631 --> 00:15:01.791 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. 77 00:15:02.441 --> 00:15:11.177 Blessings from the sky and the earth: barakat. Ibn Kathir and al-Jalalayn say that here they are rain from the sky, and growth from the earth. 78 00:15:11.827 --> 00:15:17.483 At home we say baraka all the time, for food that goes further than you expected. Is it the same word? 79 00:15:18.133 --> 00:15:36.550 The same root. In Indonesian it's berkah, or berkat. Lane gives the picture behind it: a camel settling down on its breast, and from the same root, a pool, where water collects and stays. So baraka is good that comes, and stays, and grows. Lane's own words are “abundance of good”. 80 00:15:36.950 --> 00:16:01.105 And there is a narration that ties it back to the scales. Hakim ibn Hizam, radiyallahu anhu, reports in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said: if the buyer and the seller speak the truth and make clear what is in the goods, their sale is blessed; if they lie and hide something, the blessing of their sale is wiped out. The commentators don't bring it here; the link to ayah eighty-five is ours. 81 00:16:01.755 --> 00:16:06.753 Mm. An honest weight, and the little goes further. I have seen that. 82 00:16:07.403 --> 00:16:16.727 May Allah 'azza wa jall put that baraka in our own dealings. But the ayah doesn't end on the blessings. They denied, so they were seized for what they were earning. 83 00:16:19.227 --> 00:16:23.192 Then three questions, one after another, to the people of those cities. 84 00:16:23.842 --> 00:16:29.719 [7:97 in Arabic] ⁧أَفَأَمِنَ أَهْلُ ٱلْقُرَىٰٓ أَن يَأْتِيَهُم بَأْسُنَا بَيَٰتًۭا وَهُمْ نَآئِمُونَ⁩ 85 00:16:30.369 --> 00:16:36.027 Then, did the people of the cities feel secure from Our punishment coming to them at night while they were asleep? 86 00:16:36.677 --> 00:16:42.222 [7:98 in Arabic] ⁧أَوَأَمِنَ أَهْلُ ٱلْقُرَىٰٓ أَن يَأْتِيَهُم بَأْسُنَا ضُحًۭى وَهُمْ يَلْعَبُونَ⁩ 87 00:16:42.872 --> 00:16:48.012 Or did the people of the cities feel secure from Our punishment coming to them in the morning while they were at play? 88 00:16:48.662 --> 00:16:55.464 [7:99 in Arabic] ⁧أَفَأَمِنُوا۟ مَكْرَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ فَلَا يَأْمَنُ مَكْرَ ٱللَّهِ إِلَّا ٱلْقَوْمُ ٱلْخَٰسِرُونَ⁩ 89 00:16:56.114 --> 00:17:03.171 Then did they feel secure from the plan of Allah? But no one feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people. 90 00:17:03.821 --> 00:17:12.634 At night, while they were asleep. In the morning, while they were at play: Ibn Kathir says, “while they are busy in their affairs and unaware”. 91 00:17:13.034 --> 00:17:31.462 And then: did they feel secure from the plan of Allah? The commentators explain it, and none of them means trickery. Ibn Kathir: His power to take them “while they are inattentive and heedless”. Al-Jalalayn: “His drawing them on by degrees through graces and then seizing them suddenly”. 92 00:17:31.862 --> 00:17:40.230 And the last line brings back our word, khasirun, a third time: no one feels secure from the plan of Allah except the losing people. 93 00:17:40.880 --> 00:17:44.995 So the danger isn't the night or the morning. It's feeling secure. 94 00:17:45.645 --> 00:17:56.510 That's it. Ibn Kathir closes with al-Hasan al-Basri, rahimahullah: the believer does his worship while feeling fear, and the wicked commits his sins while feeling safe. 95 00:17:57.160 --> 00:18:01.052 Mm. Feeling safe is when a man stops checking himself. 96 00:18:03.552 --> 00:18:07.301 The pattern ends by turning to the people who came after those cities. 97 00:18:07.951 --> 00:18:20.569 [7:100 in Arabic] ⁧أَوَلَمْ يَهْدِ لِلَّذِينَ يَرِثُونَ ٱلْأَرْضَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ أَهْلِهَآ أَن لَّوْ نَشَآءُ أَصَبْنَٰهُم بِذُنُوبِهِمْ ۚ وَنَطْبَعُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يَسْمَعُونَ⁩ 98 00:18:21.219 --> 00:18:31.495 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. 99 00:18:32.145 --> 00:18:47.625 [7:101 in Arabic] ⁧تِلْكَ ٱلْقُرَىٰ نَقُصُّ عَلَيْكَ مِنْ أَنۢبَآئِهَا ۚ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَٰتِ فَمَا كَانُوا۟ لِيُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِمَا كَذَّبُوا۟ مِن قَبْلُ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ يَطْبَعُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ⁩ 100 00:18:48.275 --> 00:19:02.589 Those cities - We relate to you, O Muhammad, some of their news. And certainly did their messengers come to them with clear proofs, but they were not to believe in that which they had denied before. Thus does Allah seal over the hearts of the disbelievers. 101 00:19:03.239 --> 00:19:09.454 [7:102 in Arabic] ⁧وَمَا وَجَدْنَا لِأَكْثَرِهِم مِّنْ عَهْدٍۢ ۖ وَإِن وَجَدْنَآ أَكْثَرَهُمْ لَفَٰسِقِينَ⁩ 102 00:19:10.104 --> 00:19:16.631 And We did not find for most of them any covenant; but indeed, We found most of them defiantly disobedient. 103 00:19:17.281 --> 00:19:31.664 Those who inherited the earth after its people. Ibn Kathir compares Surah Ta Ha and Surah as-Sajdah: people walk among the homes of those destroyed before them. Ayah one hundred speaks to whoever lives where others lived before. That's all of us. 104 00:19:32.064 --> 00:19:41.902 Then: those cities, We relate to you some of their news. Al-Qurtubi says they are told as a comfort to the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and to the believers. 105 00:19:42.552 --> 00:19:49.824 Ayah one hundred and one worries me a little. They were not to believe in what they had denied before. Did they ever have a choice? 106 00:19:50.474 --> 00:20:06.035 The commentators give four views of that line. Ibn Kathir calls one of them sound: they would not believe later “because they denied the truth when it first came to them”. That keeps it with what they chose. And ayah ninety-four has already told us the hardship came that they might humble themselves. 107 00:20:06.435 --> 00:20:17.595 And the covenant in the last ayah: Ibn Kathir says it is the fitrah, what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala placed in people from the start. It has its own ayah later in this surah, and we'll come to it there. 108 00:20:20.095 --> 00:20:52.614 So, back to where we began. The chiefs told their people that following Shu'ayb alayhis salam would make them losers. They counted loss in money and in standing. Ayah ninety-two answered them: those who denied him were the losers. And ayah ninety-nine named the losers in every city: the ones who feel secure from the plan of Allah. So the passage counts loss by where a person ends, not by what the scale shows today. And it asks two things of us: give the full measure, even when it costs, and never feel so safe that we stop checking ourselves. 109 00:20:54.614 --> 00:20:57.701 Now, your questions. Who would like to start? 110 00:20:58.351 --> 00:21:07.383 Mine goes back to ayah eighty-eight, and I couldn't answer it myself. They tell him, return to our religion. Had Shu'ayb alayhis salam been in it before? 111 00:21:08.383 --> 00:21:24.975 All four commentators say no. Al-Jalalayn say the chiefs speak to Shu'ayb and his followers together, “because Shu'ayb was never part of their religious community”, and he answers in the same plural. Ibn Kathir says they spoke to him “but intended it for those who followed his religion too”. 112 00:21:25.625 --> 00:21:30.035 So the return is meant for the ones who followed him, and he answers for all of them? 113 00:21:30.685 --> 00:21:37.151 For all of them, in one we. Some of his followers had been in that religion before. He never had. 114 00:21:38.151 --> 00:21:45.641 Mine is ayah ninety-six. A guy at work told me, if you're religious enough, the money comes. Is that what the ayah is saying? 115 00:21:46.291 --> 00:22:07.213 No. Al-Qurtubi gives a caution with this very ayah. It is said of the peoples already named, and believers too may be tested with a narrow living, as an expiation of their sins. So it isn't a promise that faith brings wealth. And remember the narration of the believer: ease and hardship are both good for him, one met with thanks and one with patience. 116 00:22:07.863 --> 00:22:12.344 So berkah isn't more money. It's more like the money doing more? 117 00:22:12.994 --> 00:22:21.301 That's close. Good that comes, and stays, and grows. Sometimes that's more. Often it's a little that goes a long way. 118 00:22:21.951 --> 00:22:24.451 Mm. That's how we use it at home. 119 00:22:25.451 --> 00:22:34.633 Mine is the farewell, ayah ninety-three. How could I grieve. As a father, I want to know. Did he grieve for them, or not? 120 00:22:35.633 --> 00:22:53.983 The commentators read it both ways, and we don't have to choose. Ibn Kathir: I will not feel any sorrow for you, since you disbelieved. Al-Tabari reports from Ibn Ishaq, rahimahullah, that Shu'ayb alayhis salam did feel grief for his people when he saw the punishment, and then said this to console himself. 121 00:22:54.633 --> 00:23:01.022 Mm. Then can a father know both? Grieve, and still tell himself he did what he could? 122 00:23:01.672 --> 00:23:08.353 He can. And Shu'ayb alayhis salam could say it truthfully: I conveyed, and I advised you. 123 00:23:09.003 --> 00:23:11.212 I think I need that line at work. 124 00:23:12.212 --> 00:23:15.516 Two questions for your circle. The first, Salma? 125 00:23:16.166 --> 00:23:26.963 We all buy, sell, get paid and pay others. Where is it easiest to give a little less than full measure, in work, in time or in a price, and what helps us give it in full? 126 00:23:27.613 --> 00:23:29.587 And Viraj, the second. 127 00:23:30.237 --> 00:23:38.981 When a good stretch or a hard one comes, what makes it easy to say that's just life, and what helps us remember it is from Allah, 'azza wa jall? 128 00:23:39.631 --> 00:23:42.499 The full questions are in the study notes for your circle. 129 00:23:43.499 --> 00:23:46.735 That's just life. I say that more than I should. 130 00:23:47.735 --> 00:23:50.695 Before we finish, what are you taking home? 131 00:23:51.695 --> 00:23:55.135 Firm about the truth, and humble about myself. 132 00:23:55.535 --> 00:23:57.935 Not calling a good year luck. 133 00:23:58.335 --> 00:24:05.215 Mine is the scale. I want to give the full measure, in an hour of work as much as in a price. 134 00:24:06.715 --> 00:24:20.075 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? 135 00:24:20.725 --> 00:24:28.165 Subhanaka Allahumma wa bihamdika, ashhadu an la ilaha illa anta, astaghfiruka wa atubu ilayk. 136 00:24:28.815 --> 00:24:39.295 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. 137 00:24:39.945 --> 00:24:42.135 Ameen. 138 00:24:42.785 --> 00:24:49.745 Next time, the passage goes on from ayah one hundred and three, with Musa alayhis salam and Fir'awn, in sha Allah. 139 00:24:50.395 --> 00:24:57.755 And if Shu'ayb alayhis salam is a new name for you, that's fine. Every one of us met these stories for the first time once. 140 00:24:58.405 --> 00:25:08.005 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. 141 00:25:08.405 --> 00:25:12.085 Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.