You are on page 1of 9

168 Passage 2 | Lessons From History

Lesson 11
This dars, coming together to study
Quran, take it as a sign of the love of
Allah . In Quran, Allah
mentions

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

Allah is congratulating those who


believe and do good deeds. So when
you do good deeds like coming together
to study the book of Allah, you should
take it as a good sign from Allah
and thank Allah for that as well.
One of the ways of thanking Allah for
being given an education of Quran is to
take it seriously. And to come to the
lesson thinking, I dont know whats right
or wrong. Allah knows. Let me surrender
my intellect to the Quran, and let it tell
me what is right. This is one of the best
ways of benefitting from Quran. Not to
come to Quran as a critic, but coming to
it as a person in need of knowledge. May
Allah benefit us from the ilm of the
Quran.

One of the ways of thanking Allah for


being given an education of Quran is to
take it seriously. And to come to the
lesson thinking, I dont know whats
right or wrong. Allah knows. Let me
surrender my intellect to the Quran,
and let it tell me what is right. This is
one of the best ways of benefitting from
Quran. Not to come to Quran as a
critic, but coming to it as a person in
need of knowledge. May Allah benefit us
from the ilm of the Quran.

We have come to the end of section 2. The end of section 2 is the end of the section of Ashab ulQaryah. The last we saw some ayat after the story in which Allah is commenting on the
story, highlighting to us some general lessons.
The main lesson was that just like those people rejected their messengers and the believing man, so
too has it always been the case in history, that whenever a messenger comes to people, calls him to
Allah to believe, what do they do? Their reaction has always been the same and that is to mock the
messengers, make fun out of them and to ridicule them. This has always been the case. And Ashab
ul-Qaryah is one such scenario.
Now we will continue until the end of section 2 and then begin section 3.
What is section 3? Section 3 is totally different to section 2. Section 2 is a story. Section 3 is a section
to do with the signs in nature. Allah will present to us 10 signs in nature. If a person was to look at
them, reflect on them, he will see in those physical signs, spiritual lessons. This is very important. We

Passage 2 | Lessons From History

169

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

will look at it in more detail. In the Quran, whenever you read about Allah describing nature, the sky,
space, planets, the earth, the sun, the moon, whatever it is, the idea is not just to speak about
nature, like a documentary. Rather, the idea is to say, look at this, if you reflect on this, it is talking
about some spiritual things to do with Allah, to do with the hereafter and so on and so forth.

170 Passage 2 | Lessons From History



31. Have they not considered how many generations We destroyed before
them - that they to them will not return?
Do they not see how many generations We have destroyed before them? In this ayah, Allah asks a
question. The question is to the Quraysh first, but by extension, all people.
(From lesson 12)

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

Why did Allah tell us this? In order to show us, that this story is an example from countless examples.
By telling us that there are so many that Allah destroyed before, it is teaching us that people do not
learn from history. People repeat the same mistakes as others do. This is true of other nations, it is
true of individuals. It is true as it was then as it is today.
Ustadh remembers there was a conversation taking place in a Whats App group amongst mothers
who sent their children to an Islamic school. One of the mothers said, I will not tell my daughter to
wear hijab. Rather, let her explore the world and she will come to the understanding herself and
wear the hijab. She is sending her daughter to Islamic school. What was more astonishing was the
reaction of some of the other sisters. They said its good, let them find out what is right from their
own mistakes.
Is this really the attitude of a Muslim, that we should commit mistakes and then learn from them? In
fact, let our children make mistakes and then learn from them? Its not, is it? Is this what the ayah is
teaching us? What is the matter with people? Dont they learn from peoples mistakes before them?
They do exactly the same thing and they are met with the same fate. How foolish of people that they
dont look back in history and dont think, hang on a minute, something keeps on happening to
people over and over again. They keep getting destroyed, becoming extinct species, ruins.
Why did it happen? Was it a coincidence? Allah mentions ahlakna, We destroyed them. Dont
attribute the destruction of previous nations to nature, to a freak accident. No. Attribute it to Allah.
Alhakna. The royal We is used here to express the might, majesty and greatness of Allah that We did
this to them. Why? Why did Allah destroy them? Because they rejected His message. And the
punishment of Allah became binding on those people.
Ustadh said to his wife regarding the sister, would he like her child to find out what it feels like to fail
her GCSEs, the to learn how to pass them? Typically, such a parents response would be that they
will do everything in their power as a parent to make sure that all the opportunities and resources to
ensure they pass and accomplish education goals. So they are not prepared to let them learn from
the mistakes when it comes to dunya, but when it comes to akhirah, make mistakes and learn. This is
really disturbing to see this is the type of mentality many of us have. Some of us have it and we
dont even realize it.

Passage 2 | Lessons From History

In this ayah we are told that people need to learn


from the history of others. Dont make mistakes
yourselves and learn from your own mistakes,
rather learn from the mistakes of other people. This
is the way of the intelligent person.

History keeps repeating itself


Do people not look at the following? How many
previous nations have come? And what happened
to them? Allah mentions We destroyed them.

171

Dont make mistakes yourselves


and learn from your own
mistakes, rather learn from the
mistakes of other people. This is
the way of the intelligent person.

1.

Nations were destroyed. The Arabs, for example, they knew about 4 prophets who were
Arab prophets Muhammad , Shuaib, Saleh and Hud. These are the Arab prophets, and
they are mentioned in the Quran. These prophets and the stories of those nations were
known to the Quraysh. And their fate was also known to them as well. They were completely
destroyed. Those people were completely wiped out. They were wiped out. And they never
came back, one interpretation is that these people are no longer in existence. They are
nowhere to be seen. You can go to the places where they used to live, there is nothing there.

2. Another interpretation is that you dont know anything about them because not only were
they destroyed, but their culture, their language, their values, all of those things have been
completely removed by us. Dont they reflect over this? They are not going to come to the
Quraysh. What does this mean? They died and were destroyed years ago. What does it mean
they werent going to come back to the Quraysh? They died and were destroyed years ago.
What does it mean they were not going to come back? It means not only were they
destroyed but their history was wiped out such that the Quraysh did not even read about
them. They werent just destroyed, their names, their legacy. So that even if they wanted to
find out about some nation that used to live there at some time, they cannot. Utterly
annihilated. That is the message behind the last part, all of this was destroyed. And that
would be a shock for the Quraysh, because they dreamed about becoming immortalized in
poems. They wished their forefathers and their names would live into the future because
they had been immortalized in poems that people would recite and remember them by and
celebrate them. They are told, you dream of being remembered, look at those people, they
cant be remembered because they were destroyed because they rejected the message.
This is a message to the Quraysh to say, look, history is there as a lesson for you. People, why dont
you look at it? Why dont you reflect on it? If you did, perhaps you wouldnt be so obnoxious towards

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

And so what happened is, those people, they never


came back. What does that mean, they never came
back? It can mean 2 things:

172 Passage 2 | Lessons From History


Allah. Perhaps you wouldnt have worshipped others with Allah . Perhaps you would listen
to your messengers. So this ayah is communicating a lot of things. It is a very strong message that
people need to learn from this story.
1. This ayah is telling us that Ashab al-Qaryah are just one of many.
2. They are one of a trend. They are not the anomaly, rather that is the norm. Generations came
before you. Generation after generation did exactly the same thing, and they ended in
destruction (ahlakna).
The main lesson from this story is, if reject the truth and you know it is the truth, then be prepared
for punishment in this life and in the hereafter. This is the main message.
The second message is that the punishment came to these people not only because of rejecting the
messengers. It was because of rejecting the message and they oppressed the messengers and the
believer who came to advise them as well. The punishment was tied with the zulm they did.

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

This is similar to the hadith,


Allah (mighty and sublime be He) said: Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be
at war with him.68

Lessons
Importance of knowing history
The first thing it is teaching us is the importance of knowing history. Muslims, Quran is encouraging
us to learn about history. History is a huge topic. But what the Quran is teaching us is that there are
certain parts of history we should know about. Previous nations you should know about, to know
how they were destroyed. You should know what fate they met. You should know how they
responded to their messengers. And that is a piece of knowledge which will benefit you if you seek
that knowledge out. There are other parts of history, but there are certain elements which are being
encouraged by the Quran for us to seek out and to learn.

A believer is offended by what offends Allah


The second lesson it teaches us is that a believer is offended by what offends Allah. This ayah is
speaking about how Allah destroyed people in a way that they never remained in existence anymore.
They became extinct species. Why Allah destroyed them is because Allah became angry at
the way they behaved towards His messengers. When you read about this, what should your attitude
be towards people who used to mock their prophets?

68

Hadith Qudsi

Passage 2 | Lessons From History

173

1.

Should it be neutral, this is what Allah said about them - as for me, I am neither here nor
there.
2. Or should it be that even though Allah despised them, I quite like them astaghfirallah.
3. Or is it that if this is what Allah said then I am personally offended by what those people did.
What should we think?

This is very important because this is


the concept of wala wal bara. It is a
misunderstood term, but the essence of
it is this whatever Allah loves, you will
love that thing. And whatever Allah
does not love, you will not love it either.
In fact, you will not find it within
yourself to like something that Allah
does not like. This is a very summarized
understanding.

Whatever Allah loves, you will love that


thing. And whatever Allah does not love,
you will not love it either. In fact, you
will not find it within yourself to like
something that Allah does not like.

When Allah mentions He doesnt like


how a people behave, we say, that
offends me as well, I take offence to
that as well. Therefore, what of the fact
that Allah took offence to the fact that they used to mock the prophets?
In our times, do people not mock prophets? In our times do people not mock the religion that was
brought by the prophets? Comedians, for example, love to take jabs at religious people. They do it
with the Christians, they do it with the Jews, they do it with the Muslims as well. What do you say
then about a brother or sister who is sitting on his couch watching a comedian, making jokes about
Islam, and everyone is laughing and he joins in the laughter too? What does that say? It means that
he is not offended by what offends Allah. The true believer will automatically be offended by that. He
will not be able to tolerate anyone speaking about Allah or His prophet or His religion in that way.
Now the way that he reacts, thats a separate discussion. Should you react in a violent way? No, you
should not react in a violent way. But you should react in a way that tries to change that view. He
tries to bring good in the world. This is one of the things that we learn. We should also despise them
and try to reform them and change them.

Allahs perspective of history cannot be competed with


The last lesson shows us Allahs perspective on history. If Allah mentioned nations in this way and
commented on them with these comments, it means that this is the best understanding of those

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

It should be the third one. This is an assumption already built in the Quran. If Allah mentions that He
doesnt like these things, it is assumed that you, as someone who loves Allah, you too will not like it.
You too will be offended by it as well.

174 Passage 2 | Lessons From History

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

historical instances. There are so many things to learn about previous nations, their culture, their
languages, but ultimately what is the main take or message when you study them? The main take or
message when you study them is, they were arrogant, they didnt listen to their messengers, Allah
destroyed them. And that is the supreme understanding when reflecting on previous nations.
Everything else is secondary.

Ustadh shared a picture of Peru. It is a historical site discovered in 1911. It is now known as a world
heritage site. It has been that since 1983. It is said to be one of the new seven wonders of the world
in 2007. Its name is called Machu Picchu. It is located in the Peruvian Andes and is theorized to have
been the home of the Incan elite. At 7000 feet above sea level, it is not only an engineering marvel
but a historical site which perplexes archaeologists till today. Farming, astronomical, bridges,
drainage, water collection, cementless stones and so on and so forth, and much more. This was the
home to a group of people. Where are they now? Extinct. What happened to them? Most probably,
what happened to many other nations. So now, when you are thinking about these things, you are
thinking, it wasnt just a freak accident, something happened and they became extinct, and thats
the end of the story. Rather, it is a sign now. It is a lesson.
(From Lesson 12)
What about us? When we hear about the relics of perished nations, such as Firawn, apparently his
body is inside the pyramids of Giza, and other places around the world that we know are relics of
perished nations, Allah destroyed them. What should our attitude be? Can we visit them? Can we go
to some place for sightseeing? Is that permissible?

Passage 2 | Lessons From History

175

If Allah spoke about them this way, are you going to make an effort to visit those people and places
and celebrate their existence? You claim to love Allah, and then you are doing this to those Allah
despised.
There is a narration the Prophet passed by a place called Hijr which is between Mina and Taif,
and that is supposed to have the relics of the people of Thamud. As he passed by them some of his
companions saw some of the remains of their houses and they were curious. They went around to
explore. And the Prophet told them, do not enter their homes, for what happened to them
could happen to you. And then in a narration, he covered his head and quickly passed by that area. In
one narration in Sahih Bukhari, the Prophet said dont enter their homes except if you are
crying.69

Another lesson we can learn from this ayah, is we are being told, dont they see what happened in
history. It is teaching Muslims we should have an interest in history. Even on an academic level, there
is value in studying history, especially if you are doing it for the right reasons. Knowledge of history
can become almost like a proof to use in your worship of Allah. There is benefit in studying history.

My Reflections

69

Sahih Muslim, Sahih Muslim, Sahih Bukhari, Riyad as-Saaliheen,

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

It means that you can visit them if you are going there for the right reasons - if you are going there to
take a lesson. If you go to see what happened with their arrogance, and seek protection from it, if
you recognize that is the consequence of arrogance, that is the exception to the rule.

176 Passage 2 | Lessons From History




32. And indeed, all of them will yet be brought present before Us.
The previous ayah mentions those people are never going to come back. There was an implied
meaning there. They are not going to come back to you. Whom are they going to come back to? They
will return to Allah.
It is very emphatic. Each and every one will be sent to Allahs presence. The word
doesnt just
mean become present. It means

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

1.

To be brought into the presence of someone else. The idea is that the person is not coming
willingly. They are going to be brought.
2. The second understanding is, it is not about being present, it is about having to present your
case. The word ihdhar has a meaning of accountability in it. It is not just coming to a location,
they are going to come for a reason. What is the reason they are going to come? In order to
be held to account for everything they did.
Imagine the day we are taken to account and you have to answer for everything that you did in your
life. May Allah make our accounting easy.
And the way Allah mentioned it, He emphasized it in three different ways:
1.

. Everybody. Not just only those nations that were destroyed. You, Quraysh, all those

nations, everyone that will come in the future, everyone together will be brought for an
accountability. And that is very interesting because you were told about historical account
and you read about it, but in the future you will see it as well. is the first way it is being
made emphatic.
2. The second way is by using the word . means all together. All of them will come
altogether. It brings together things which are scattered. People lived in different times.
People are buried in different places. Some peoples remains are lost. No one knows where
they are. They will be all brought together. All of them.
3. And thirdly, the word . The word means to be with. But the word also means to be
with. The difference between and is means to be especially with. With us here now.
Who were they being especially with? They will be especially with Us on that day. And we are
being told all of you will come before Me for an accountability.
That is the end of Passage 2. This is how it ends, with a comment on the hereafter. Now come ayaat
to do with nature.

My Reflections

You might also like