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Lesson 6

Weve been studying the ayaat last time, describing the people of misguidance. And in those ayaat,
Allah depicted their spiritual state. And the idea was that there are some people who are
so bent on disbelief because of arrogance and pride, that what happens to them is that they become
spiritually deformed. And this was depicted to us in the ayah where Allah mentions that these people
are like prisoners. They have a shackle around their neck which extends to their cheekbones and
their hands are bound to those shackles as well. Meaning spiritually, they are unable to see the truth
even if it was right up close to them. And all around there are barriers. Meaning, barriers stopping
them from seeing right from wrong. And then what happens is ayah 10 comes now and Allah
concludes this discussion by mentioning it is all the same to them whether you warn them or
you dont, they are not believing.
The interesting thing about this is how relevant it is to our times. As-Sadi , when he was
commenting on this ayah, he said, how in the world are they going to believe when they see what is
true as false and what is false as true? How in the world are they going to believe when they see right
as wrong and wrong as right?
The lines of morality are always changing where we live. There are many examples of this.
As-Sadi says that these people who have arrogance and pride, they dont want to submit themselves
to the worship of Allah, it has an impact on them. One of the impacts is that Allah punishes them and
they are unable to see right from wrong. And this happens to the degree that the person shows
arrogance. Which means this could happen to any one of us.
So that is the conclusion of this passage.
Let us look at the ayah in more detail.
It is the same on them whether you warn them or not warn them, they are not going to believe.
Here, there is a linguistic nuance. Allah mentioned it is the same ( on them) and He didnt say it is
the same ( on you). The difference is that if Allah had said it is the same on you whether you warn
them or dont warn them, it would have meant there is no point warning them anymore. It doesnt
make any difference what you do. Rather Allah mentioned it is the same upon them. Meaning, you
still need to warn them, but most of them are not going to listen to you. It doesnt make a difference
whether you warn them or you dont warn them.

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10. And it is all the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them they will not believe.

76 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

So this is a linguistic nuance here. (This point was made by Dr Fadil al-Samuraa'i.) And it is also
showing us that again the Prophet is being reassured from one side that they are not listening
to you, it is not because of you. It is not because you are not doing a good job, or you are not
competent or so on and so forth, it is because of them. Therefore, dont beat yourself up over them,
dont become frustrated because it is not you, it is them. But at the same time, while telling the
Prophet who they are, you still need to continue your call.
The other discussion there is on this ayah is, when is it appropriate for a person to say, I have advised
that person enough now. I should stop advising now. Sometimes, when you advise someone, they
dont listen. So you maybe try another approach. You get somebody else involved. That person is not
going to listen. Sometimes, what happens is that the person gets so frustrated with you, they say if
you keep advising, I am going to do it more.

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It is like some kids, mum and dad advise them, dont do this. Even though they dont want to do it,
they go ahead and do it - a rebellious type of attitude.
So here you have some people who dont listen and they are not going to listen. Should you continue
to advise them? What about those people who you advise, and they do the sin more because you
advise them?
Here Ibn Uthaymeen says that the ayah in Surat al-Aala,

So remind, if the reminder should benefit34

So remind, if the reminder is going to benefit. This teaches us something. This teaches us, according
to some scholars, that if someone is listening to what you are saying, then there is no point in
advising them anymore.
However, some scholars counter that, and they say that person may not benefit, but do you know
who will benefit? Other people. They see that this person keeps on being advised, which means he is
doing something wrong, and he is not listening. So let us be aware of this person. He is stubborn, he
is persistent. So there is still a benefit even if that person wasnt listening, the audience may be
listening.
However, Ibn Uthaymeen said that if a person is going ahead and doing more sins because you are
advising them, then in that case dont advise them anymore.
And this makes sense, because Nuh , he says in a complaint to Allah after 950 years of
advising his people if anyone had a right to say I am going to give up on people it was Nuh .
The thing is that if anyone was rude to us, we wouldnt see them ever again, would we? Nuh
said I kept going to those rude obnoxious people over and over again, in night time and daytime, in
public and secret, I even approached them individually and collectively as well. I have tried every
34

Surat al-Aala 87:9

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77

single means possible. And then he said, every time I called them, it only increases them in
(running away). So it has got to the point where they are not just saying I am not going to listen to
you, it has got to a point where they are saying if you tell me, I am going to do it more. So when it
came to that point, he complains to Allah that what shall I do now, they are not going to listen to me.
So perhaps this is where we can draw the line. You stop advising someone when and if they continue
to do that sin even more because of you or in spite of you perhaps. And Allah knows best.

Lessons
This ayah teaches us two lessons.

Prepare to see the same behaviour

The first lesson it teaches us is, prepare to see the same behaviour. People who do dawah and do it
well and properly should expect to see the same type of behaviour. Meaning, you are going to meet
some really obnoxious people, they are not going to listen to you, and no matter how hard you try,
they are just going to ignore you. They are not going to listen to you. They are not going to accept it
from you.
And thats important. Because sometimes when people get into dawah they start trying to spread
the message of Islam, be that online person and so on and so forth, then the first time they met with
opposition, they find it incredibly frustrating. What do you mean you are not going to believe? What
do you mean? How can you insult our Prophet? How can you insult Allah? How can you call our
religion bad? They become overly frustrated. They might start to think that they are doing something
wrong. They might even stop doing dawah. They may say it is not for me, people are not listening to
me. To them we say, there was no one who could do dawah better than the Prophet . No one
who had more articulate speech, no one who was more intelligent, no one who had better character
than the Prophet . So if he faced opposition, then what about the rest of us?
However, what we could add to that is that the Prophet and all of the other prophets, they tried
in many different ways. If one way wasnt working, they would just try another way.

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This is also a lesson for parents as well. Because sometimes this happens to our children. We advise
them, but instead of listening they do the exact opposite. Someone shouldnt say therefore that it is
my duty to continue to advise them so I am going to keep on doing it even if they behave badly
because of it. Rather, the person should say the responsibility is to benefit the person. And if you are
not benefitting the person, rather you are harming them, then it may be like what Allah said in Surat
al-Araf, where Allah tells us not to insult the idols of the mushrikoon, because of your insulting their
idols, they will insult Allah . Which means that you have become the cause of evil. Though
you think you are doing something good, what you are doing is causing evil to spread. So Allah
knows best.

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Never lose hope in people

The second important point is never to lose hope in people. And the reason for this is because Allah
told the Prophet it is the same on them whether you warn them or do not warn them. But he
never told him who those people are. Why? Because he has to still continue to preach to them with
the expectation that most of them are not going to listen. He doesnt know who is not going to
listen. Only Allah knows. Therefore I cannot lose hope in anyone.

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Some people are so evil, they dont have a good bone in their body. Like Firawn. But you cannot rule
out a person being guided. And this was taught to the Prophet . In the Battle of Uhud, at one
point, the Prophet was left stranded all by himself, and the Quraysh caught wind that this was
the Prophet . He had armour on and this was warfare. His identity was masked, but they found
out, and they came after him. Ibn Qamia threw a rock on the Prophet and it hit him on the head
and it resulted in 2 injuries. Of them, he had gashed lips, they started bleeding, and his tooth broke.
He fell to the ground, in one narration, unconscious. When he came around and saw his face was
bleeding, he said,

How will a nation prosper when they wound his face and they break his molar tooth whilst he is calling
them to Allah? 35
At that, Allah reprimanded the Prophet in Surat Aal-Imraan, where He mentioned

Not for you, [O Muhammad, but for Allah ], is the decision36

You have no right to be speaking in this matter. What does that mean? It means, when the Prophet
was saying, how will these people prosper, it means, he was saying, they are not going to go to
heaven. If anyone had a right to say that at that moment, it would be the Prophet wouldnt it?
He is told, no you dont have the right to say that. The only one who can say that is Allah.
And what is even more amazing is that the general of the mushrikoon at Uhud was Abu Sufyan. And
Khalid ibn al-Waleed was in charge of the battalion that managed to come around and attack the
Muslims. Both Abu Sufyan and Khalid Ibn Waleed become Muslim later on.

You dont know who is going to turn and when they are going to turn. Your job is to communicate
the truth to the best of your ability and leave the rest to Allah and never pass judgment on
anyone.

35
36

Sahih Muslim
Surat Aal Imraan

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Which is very difficult when you think about the tyrants of the world and the kinds of killings people
have done and the kufr of people and so on and so forth. But even those people, though we criticize,
and though we challenge and though we work to bring about a change in those people, we can
never say they are going to hell. And we can never say they dont deserve to go to heaven either.
Rather we say Allah knows best their fate, we will try our best to guide those people and if they are
not going to be guided we ask Allah to stop their evil from affecting anyone but themselves.

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My Reflections

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11. You can only warn one who follows the message and fears the Most Merciful
unseen. So give him good tidings of forgiveness and noble reward.
Now the discussion turns. Weve spoken about who will not listen, why they will not listen, why they
wont benefit from advice and so on and so forth. That discussion comes to an end and now the
focus will turn to who will listen. After Allah tells the Prophet who will not listen, then He tells
the Prophet who will listen.

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The people that will listen and who will believe and will be guided, this ayah tells us that they have 2
special qualities, which is actually telling us that if we want to have the guidance of Allah, we need to
have these 2 qualities inside of us. Allah mentions,

The only ones whom you can warn (Ibn Uthaymeen says it means the only ones who will benefit
from your warning) is (1) the one who follows the remembrance and (2) the one who fears the AllMerciful in the unseen. So go ahead and congratulate that person on forgiveness and a noble
reward.
The ayah begins with the word which gives the sense of exclusivity only. The only people who
are going to listen to you are the following. And the ayah doesnt speak about the group of people
who will listen. It speaks about the one person who will listen. Which is in tandem with the previous
ayah. Because the previous ayah says, all those people who are not going to listen, they are like
prisoners inside a cell. They are not going to believe, they are not going to listen to you. But the one
who will listen so from all the people, the ones who are going to listen are just a few in number.
And those people have this quality:

they follow the zikr. Imam As-Sadi said, what does that mean? It means that those people,

one of their aims in life is to follow the truth and its ramifications or what it entails. There are some
people in life who have a good conscience. They want to do the right thing in life. Sometimes they
want to do it even at the cost of harming themselves. They want to do the right thing even if it
means going against their own interests. Upstanding people. He is saying that the first trait in this
person is, generally in life they want to do the right thing. They want to follow the truth.

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81

the second quality is

. This is very interesting. The second quality is this

person, who is not yet a Muslim, who will become a Muslim, is the one who fears the All-Merciful in
the unseen. What does that mean? It means that this person, and there are 2 interpretations:
1) When they are by themselves, and no one is around, at that moment, when most people
misbehave, do whatever they want, they are thinking about Allah. They are concerned about
Allah . On their mind is Allah. Their concern is Allah. They are wary about Allah
.
2) The second interpretation is that they fear Allah even though they have never seen Him. They
have never seen Allah but yet they believe in Him and they fear Him.

is Quran here. The ones who

Looking at this ayah in more detail, most of the scholars say that
will follow the Quran. Why didnt He call it the Quran? There are 4 names for the Quran inside the
Quran:

1.

2.

3.

4. ( comes from farq which means to differ. The idea is Quran will distinguish, show the
difference between right and wrong. Human beings will not be able to truly see right and
wrong without the Quran in our lives.)
. What does
mean? It means the reminder. The idea is
These are the 4 names. Quran is called
that the Quran is bringing a message that isnt alien to human beings. They already know these
things in a general sense. The Quran is coming to remind them about that. It is already intuitive
inside a human being, what the Quran speaks about. It is not something that doesnt make sense.
Rather it is something natural. This is ( light upon light).

These people are ready to follow the Quran. Meaning, they are ready to follow what the Quran
stands for, what the Quran speaks about, the ideas that the Quran presents. They are already ready
to listen. Interestingly here, Ibn Uthaymeen said, ( to follow) means 2 things:
1) You listen and
2) You will do
Sometimes, people listen to advice and nod their heads, agree, but dont change their actions. This is
not . is being ready to listen and live by the Quran.

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When those 2 qualities come together, they are ready to follow the truth, and they are wary about
Allah, then all that remains is for the advice of the Prophet to come to them, or the Quran to
reach them, and they have eeman.

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And secondly, their relationship with Allah is that they are people who already think about Allah.
Inside every single human being is a , a natural dispensation, conscience, moral compass. Human
beings already know in a general sense what is right and wrong. They may not know the detail but
they have an idea about what is right and wrong. Part of that conscience is the belief in a god. And
some scholars go further and say that is Islam, meaning, the idea to submit to god. Imam AtTabari brought a narration in the ayah in surah Ar-Room,

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[Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created [all] people.37
Meaning, the idea of submitting to god is already present in humans beings. And there was a study
done in Oxford University in which behavioural psychologists concluded in a study which a very large
study on infants and children growing up, that children are predisposed to believe in god. This is one
of the conclusions of their study, which is what we are saying, which is what Allah and His Prophet
have taught us already.
These are 2 qualities. The second quality, the reason it is interesting is because firstly, Allah
mentioned they fear, not Allah, but they fear . The idea of fearing the All-Merciful seems
counter-intuitive, doesnt it? If you are thinking about Allah in terms of His mercy, you wouldnt fear
Him, would you? You would hope in Him. The name that you would fear would be al-Aziz, Al-Jabbar.
That is the One you would fear, the One who can compel, the One who is all-Mighty, the One who
can punish. So why do you think this combination is used? You fear the All-Merciful. What is the
benefit in that? What is it teaching us? These people are not deluded by the fact that Allah is .
Many people , they justify a bad lifestyle on the fact that Allah is All-Merciful.
Uncle, an alcohol store is haram. Yes, but Allah is All-Merciful. Yes, but He is also Al-Aziz. He is also
Shadeed al-Iqaab as well. This is a delusion, almost.
The brothers of Yusuf, after plotting to kill him, they said lets throw him inside the well, and
afterwards we will be people who are righteous. We will sort ourselves out afterwards. Lets do the
bad deed and we will sort ourselves out afterwards. And this is the mentality that many of us
fall into when we sin. We say we will do it, and we will do tawbah afterwards. This is like
premeditated murder. It is the worst kind of murder. The person planned it all out, step by step,
what they are going to do and then he did it. This is the same, premeditated. People plan to sin, they
plan to do this and then say they will repent. This is the worst kind. May Allah forgive us all
of our sins.
This is one of the benefit of , to show that these people are not deluded by the fact that
Allah is merciful. They are not deluded. They can still fear Allah knowing that He is . It is a very
beautiful point.
37

Surat Ar-Room 30:30

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Another nuance is the word itself. In Arabic there are many words for fear. In fact, in the Quran,
there are 9 words for fear38. There is , , , and then there is this word .
The word is different to khawf. Khawf is when you fear something and you dont want to be
near it. Like a person fears dogs, he doesnt want to be near it. He goes in the opposite direction. A
person who has has a fear that is a sense of awe. Like if you meet someone who is famous, you
are in awe of that person. It is a charismatic person, you are in awe of that person, and it doesnt
make you want to run away, it makes you want to take a selfie. It makes you want to go after the
person and shake his hand, speak to them and so on.
So thats . And thats why Allah mentioned about the scholars of Islam,

Only those fear Allah , from among His servants, who have knowledge.39

This is the word . And that helps us to understand the combination of , because now,
they are not scared of , they are in awe of . The fact that Allah is so incredibly merciful to all
of His creation, it brings them in a state of awe of Allah .

So for this person, Allah instructs the Prophet ,

38

Types of fear mentioned in the Quran

Khawf
Khashiyah
Khushoo
Taqwa
Hadthr
Raaa
Wajas
Wajl
Rahb
Rub
Shafaq
Wajf

39

Surat Faatir 35:28

(79:40)


(36:11)


(23:2)

(2:197)

(9:64)
(11:74)
(11:70)

(8:2)

(16:51)

(8:12)


(52:26)
(79:8)

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The people who have true of Allah are the scholars of Islam. Because what they know about
Allah brings them into the awe of Allah. May Allah bring us into His awe.

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go to this person and congratulate him.
Congratulate him on 2 things:
Imagine the Prophet is standing there, there is a crowd of people, he is talking to them,
trying to advise them, most of them say, you might as well go home, we are not going to listen to
you. But he knows that he has to keep on doing it. With the hope that somewhere in that crowd
are one or two people who are going to listen. He doesnt know who they are, because even the
traits are hidden traits. (1) They are ready to listen how do you know who is ready to listen? You
dont know who is ready to listen. (2) and they fear Allah in the unseen. We dont know who
fears Allah in the unseen. Even those traits arent known to the Prophet . So he is calling this
crowd of people, and he has an assurance in his mind that someone is going to listen. When that
person comes forward, he is told, go to him and tell him:

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1) Forgiveness: all your sins of the past are forgiven.

2) You will have a noble reward.
This combination is very interesting.
First of all, the idea of is to do with the past. The idea of noble reward is to do with the future.
Past and future, it is all covered. You become Muslim, and everything is taken care of.

Past

Future

Why anyway? Why is important to this type of person?
If you look at it in light of the seerah, this surah is coming down in Year 10. These people have
listened to the Prophet many times. 10 years have gone by and they still havent accepted it.
Now, even if you want to accept it, you are embarrassed. Today, ya Rasoolullah, I want to become
Muslim.
And the reason is, for 10 years I have been such a bad person. Shaytan will tell that person, all your
life, you have been doing shameful things. Are you going to change now? Even if you do, you are a
hypocrite. Isnt that what shaytan will say? What will attract a person out of the crowd is, dont worry
about those 10 years, everything in those 10 years is forgiven.

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Conversion of Amr b. s, last of those who converts before Fath, I have one condition... that I be
granted maghfirah
One of the most amazing conversion stories in Seerah is the story of Amr bin Aas. His conversion
story in seerah is amazing. Because Amr bin al-Aas was a staunch enemy of Islam. He was one of the
people who the Quraysh sent to Habasha (Abyssinia) to try and broker a deal with Najashi to get the
Muslims back. The first migration was to Abyssinia. The Muslims left, and Amr bin al-Aas came after
them. He comes to Najashi and said these people left us, they betrayed us. He says we want them
back and Najashi refuses.

What happens is that after Khandaq, the Quraysh realized that the tide has turned in the favour of
the Muslims and soon, it is just a matter of time they are going to come and take over Makkah. Amr
bin al-Aas is one of those people. And he said to himself, they are going to come here. What should I
do now? He says to himself, I am going to go to Abyssinia and ask Najashi whether I can live there as
well. If Najashi allows us to stay there, we can stay there and see what happens. If they take over, we
stay here. If they dont take over, we go back.
He is still thinking strategically about what to do. He goes to Abyssinia. And as he is going, he meets
another Muslim who has been sent by the Prophet to call back Jafar ibn Abi Taalib. The Prophet
sent a message to Jafar that now the time has come, you can come back now. He sees that
messenger, and he goes to Najashi and he is still trying to cause corruption. He goes to Najashi and
says, allow me to kill that messenger, because those people have betrayed us. They have turned
against us and now they are going to come and attack us again. Najashi is Muslim now. He does
something which is part of their culture. He takes his hand and slaps it on his nose really hard. In one
narration, Amr bin Al-Aas said I thought he had broken his nose. This was an expression of anger.
How dare he say something like this? He says that you want me to kill the messenger, the one who
comes to him and speaks to him (Jibreel) spoke to Moosa. Is this what you want me to do? Amr bin
Al-Aas said I wished the earth would swallow me up at that time.
And then Najashi starts giving him dawah. He starts saying to him, the time has come for you to
become Muslim. You know that and I know that. Accept Islam. They said this is one of the occasions
where a tabiee is giving dawah to a sahabi. Najashi never saw the Prophet . He was a Muslim.
Therefore he was a tabiee. Amr bin al-Aas will become Muslim and sees the Prophet therefore
he is a sahabah. But he accepts Islam at the hands of a tabiee.
Al-Aas accepts Najashis call and becomes Muslim. But he has a reservation. He goes en route to
Madinah, and on the way he meets Khalid ibn al-Waleed. He says why are you going to Madinah? He
says the time has come to become Muslim. He says I wanted to go for the same reason. They both
go together.

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That was Amr bin Al-Aas. He was a smart man. He was like a politician, if you like. A statesman. And
he is the last person to become Muslim before the conquest of Makkah. The last. The very last
person.

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Khalid bin al-Waleed goes forward and gives baya to the Prophet . Amr bin al-Aas comes to the
Prophet . In one narration, the Prophet extends his hand and Amr doesnt extend his hand.
The Prophet tells him whats wrong with you? He says, I will give you the baya if you can
promise me that I will be forgiven my sins. What is the one thing on his mind? . Will I really be
forgiven? He says, what is the matter with you? Do you not know that Islam wipes away
whatever came before and hijrah wipes away whatever came before it? Meaning, you are going to
do 2 things which are going to wipe away all your sins. Islam, and hijrah.
So this is one of the psychological reasons why is spoken of first, because this is the thing on
their minds. The last people to accept to Islam are thinking, all my life I have been bad.

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. Even more interesting. Why noble reward? One of the reasons, and Allah knows best, is

because of this. Imagine again that scene. Most of them have been belying the Prophet for so
many years. And then you are one of the people, you are listening to the Prophet speaking and
you say, you know what, it makes sense. I think I should become Muslim now. But you know what?
What is going to happen if I step forward and give my hand to the Prophet ?What are those
people going to say to me? They will say, you are going to leave us and become Muslim? Shame on
you! What a despicable person you are. Many reverts families disown them. They say you are going
to become a terrorist. You are going to become an extremist. They are going to put their reputation
on the line. They are going to lose all respect in the eyes of their people. That is why Allah is going to
make them noble. Who cares what people think when Allah makes you noble?
Both of those things that are going to be obstacles are going to be removed in such a beautiful way.

Lessons
Moving on, one of the main lessons that this ayah teaches us is that the secret to success in life is 2
things:
1. To act on what you know and
2. To be sincere.
A person who is going to break away from bad people, change his life and be successful, is a person
who has 2 qualities:
1. He is ready to do what it takes. He is ready to stand for the truth.
2. The reason he is going to do that is
, because of Allah. No one else. It is not for
himself, not for his people, not for freedom or liberty or anything else. It is for Allah and Allah
alone.

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If those 2 traits come together inside a person, they will be successful in life. Anyone who reads the
stories of the prophets will see this is everywhere in their lives. They are ready to do what it takes
even if it means having to take the slack for that and they are ready to do it for Allah.

Nazm Analysis
How does this ayah tie up with the rest of the Surah? How does it link to other places in the surah?
There are 3 links:
1.

The first link is what will come later. This ayah is speaking about the one person who will
listen and believe. Then comes a story about ashab ul-qaryah. A whole city who denies their
prophets except for one man.

One man, just one person. Three prophets, dawah given to everyone, and who accepts? One
man. And even that man, he is right at the furthest part of the city. He comes along.
2. And when he comes along, he tells his people to do ittiba.

Follow, meaning listen and obey those that dont ask you for any wage and they are
themselves guided people.
3. The third link is, what happens to this person? He is killed. He becomes a martyr. And when
he is in paradise, he speaks and his words are captured in the Quran. And what does he say?

He says, if only my people knew the amazing rewards.

In 2 ways. In how Allah forgave me everything I did, and how Allah made me of those that are
honourable people.

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88 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

ayah 11

You can only warn one who follows the message and fears the Most Merciful unseen. So give him good tidings of forgiveness
and noble reward.

ayah 20

And there came from the farthest end of the city a man, running.

ayah 21

Follow those who do not ask of you [any] payment, and they are [rightly] guided.

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ayah 27

Of how my Lord has forgiven me and placed me among the honored."

The thing about the links in the Quran is that you dont see them, but when someone tells you, it is
so clear! It is from the amazing miraculous nature of the Quran. No one could speak like this, no one
could write like this, no one could say something like this.

My Reflections

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89

12. Indeed, it is We who bring the dead to life and record what they have put forth
and what they left behind, and all things We have enumerated in a clear register.
This is the conclusion of the first main passage of the Quran. It concludes by speaking about
resurrection. Which seems to be out of place because the conversation is about the Prophet and
how he is upon guidance and how he has been sent and about how people would not listen to him
and would not believe in him, and about the few people that will listen to him. It is about good, evil,
good people, bad people and then resurrection. The question is, how does this tally and flow with
what came before?

This ayah begins with a triple emphasis. Linguistically, triple emphasis is being applied. Allah
mentions firstly, ( truly We) ( We) ( We bring to life). Triple emphasis to say the only One
who can do this is Allah. Allah will truly do this. Allah will bring the dead back to life.
So much emphasis why? Because there is so much denial. People wont accept it, people wont
believe it. Even in our times, some of the best movies are about the end of time. People make a joke
out of it, people dont believe in it. People take it as fictitious, something that wont happen. Since
then and till now people dont accept that humans are going to die and then come back to life. This is
one reason why the Quran makes it so emphatic that it is a reality.
The second benefit of emphasizing so much is to express the power of Allah. He is truly going to, no
doubt about it whatsoever. Meaning, He has the total capability and power to do this miraculous
thing which is to bring dead people back to life.
And then a second thing.
And We are writing what they are going to send forward as well as their footsteps.
What does that mean? Ibn Taymiyyah quotes Qutaybah, one of the tabiee, who explains this.
He says means the deeds that people are doing right now in their lives is being recorded. is
speaking about when they die, the imprint they leave on other people is also going to be recorded.
Whatever you are doing now, good or bad, it is being written by the angels. After you die, it is not
the end of the story. Good or bad, until it ends itself. This is like the Prophet told us in an
authentic hadith that when a person dies, his (good) deeds come to and end except for 3 things. A
person is gone, how can he continue to do good deeds? The Prophet explained:

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

Indeed We will bring the dead to life, and We are writing what they have put forward as well as their
footsteps. And every single thing has been recorded in .

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Sadaqah jaariyah: a person did a righteous act that continues to benefit him after he dies. For
example someone who built a well, or someone who set up a school, built a masjid. As long
as they benefit people, in the grave it keeps getting added to his account of good deeds.
2. Knowledge which benefits people: he taught people good things and they continued to
benefit. Maybe even the generation that came after benefit because they teach them what
they learn. It is a powerful idea, because there is no end to this. Especially your parents. If
they are the primary educators of children, and those children go on to teach their children
who teach their children who teach their children, until Yawm al-Qiyamah, you could be
accumulating mass reward just through your own kids. So why send your kids to learn Islam?
Why not teach them yourselves? You have got so much to gain.
3. A righteous child who makes dua for them. As long as there are people in this world making
dua for you, you will continue to benefit from that. It is another reason to raise your kids to
be righteous. It is for your own benefit. If you die, and they are good practicing Muslims, they
will make dua for you. When they pray salah they will think of you and make dua for you. May
Allah give us children like that.
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1.

So this is how you leave a good legacy. When you die, your legacy will benefit you too.
Switch that around, it could be an evil legacy. Someone did evil themselves and also impacted other
people around them. Like someone who starts a business and the business is fraudulent. The
business grows, and after you die it grows even more, it becomes a multinational corporate.
Employees and revenues are increasing. All of that based on fraudulent activity. And all of that goes
to your account. The worst thing imagine happening to you in your grave, and it is only increasing.
So this is .
It has also a very specific meaning as well which the scholars brought out. They said can also refer
to the literal footsteps of a person as well. And this is based on the fact that the Prophet advised
a tribe Banu Salamah who were thinking of relocating to be closer to the masjid that your footsteps
are being written. You are further away from the masjid of the Prophet , however you have to
walk more. As you walk, you accumulate good deeds. And that is better for you, to stay further and
to walk more, than to be closer.
This is an interesting hadith. Because this idea of finding
ease in the religion needs to be properly understood.
Because if the idea was to make things as easy as possible
the Prophet would have said come as close to the
masjid as possible. Why go through the heat of Madinah?
They were living near Masjid Qiblatayn, which is about 3
minutes walk from the masjid. In the sweltering heat.
A blind man asked for concession to read his Fajr at home.
He came to the Prophet and asked for a concession
because he said I dont have someone to take me, a guide.

The idea of ease in the

religion needs to be properly
understood.

Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

91

The Prophet initially said okay. But then he asked him a question. He said, can you hear the
athan? He said yes. He said then you have to come. He was a blind man. He was having trouble
finding his way. If he could hear it, he could hear it and navigate himself.
So the idea of ease in the religion needs to be properly understood.

When it came to writing, it was present tense. When it came to recording, it is past tense. Both are to
do with writing stuff down. One is present, one is past. Everything has been recorded in . This
refers to the preserved tablet, al lawh al mahfoodh according to all the scholars. why is it called
? means leader, means clear. Some scholars said it can mean clear or clarifying. The reason
it is called is because what comes from umm. Umm means mother. The mother is said to be
the origin. The idea is that every decree that ever takes place goes back to that book. That is why it is
an . And the reason it is is because the way it tells what is going to happen is so clear and
precise. Thats why it is . Here, Ibn Taymiyyah said, this ayah is speaking about 2 types of
writing:
1.

Al kitab as-sabiq: the book which is the primary book or the first book or the foremost book,
the preserved tablet.
2. Al kitab al-muqaran: the book which is relative. The book which is relative which is with the
angels who are recording what you do as you do it.
This ayah is speaking about both because the first is naktubu which is speaking about al-muqaran. As
for the second book, sabiq, kulla shayin ahsaynahu fi imamim mubeen.

There is a very astute point made by Ibn Taymiyyah. Ibn Taymiyyah said that when the Quran speaks
about resurrection, it draws upon 2 attributes of Allah:
1. Qudrah, the power of Allah.
2. Ilm, knowledge.
In Surat al-Qiyamah,

do people think that we will not be able to bring back their bones?
On the contrary, We can do more than that.

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Everything has been recorded. refers to ancient counting. It was counting that was done with
pebbles. They used to have a vessel and would put pebbles in there to count. The reason is that it is
accurate. Once you count, you can empty it and see how many as opposed to your head, where you
can lose count. So the idea is not just counting but being precise. And Allah mentions everything has
already been recorded.

92 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

We can bring them together to the tip of their fingers.

This points to power as well as knowledge.
In Surat Taghabun,

Allah mentions that disbelievers claim they will not be brought back to life. Say, on the contrary, I
swear by my master that they will be resurrected, then they will be informed about what they used
to do, and that is very easy for Allah.

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

The word ( that is very easy for Allah) reflects the power of Allah. As for they will be informed in
detail what they do refers to knowledge.
The reason he said that happens is because the Quraysh would deny resurrection on 2 counts, first it
is impossible, it is not going to happen, meaning god doesnt have the power to do it. The
second reason they would deny it is because when we are mixed up inside the soil, would we then be
brought to life? Meaning, we are going to die, decompose and scatter into the soil. Our pieces are
going to be in the thousands all mixed and hidden. It is not about power, it is about knowledge.
That is why Allah mentions We have the power and We have the knowledge. Wherever you are, no
matter how many pieces you are in, whether you are scattered into the ocean, in ashes, we will know
exactly where every piece of you lies.

My Reflections

Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

93

Class Summary of v 10-12

After telling us that some people are so stubborn that their arrogance cripples their spiritual state image of shackles around their necks - Allah then moves to console the Prophet by telling him
that because they are puffed up with pride your Call will unfortunately fall on deaf ears, but it's not
your fault...
)(

Allah consoles the Prophet for the lack of response to his dawah. Remember, Ibn Ashur said that
Ya-Seen was revealed after Surah al-Jinn which is around the 10th year in Makkah, hence the hostility
the Prophet is facing has reached an all time high. Allah addresses him here by telling him that it
is the same whether you warn them or you don't, the reality is that some of them will never believe
as they have turned away from Me and so misguidance now surrounds them - furthermore they are
barred from seeing guidance - and I have made punishment binding upon them as act of Divine
Justice.
Notice the verse is Sawaaun alayHIM and not alayKA. If it was 'alayKA it could mean "its the same
whether YOU warn them or don't" i.e. don't bother anymore. However, by saying 'alayHIM it means
its all the same to THEM but despite that you need to continue on and not stop- , the
precision of the Quran. This point was made by Dr Fadil al-Samuraa'i. Hence, the Prophet should
give dawah to all, even those whom he knew will never listen, why? Because Prophets job was to
convey and establish the evidence upon the people so they have no excuse before Allah of not
knowing the truth (Surah Nisa (4):165).
Look at this verse, if Allah is telling the Prophet to advise them despite knowing they are
rejecting his advice, this applies to us in our everyday life with our friends and family, DO NOT GIVE
UP ON ANYONE.
Ibn Uthaymeen makes an interesting point: in Surah al Ala (87):9, So remind, IF the reminder
should benefit. Meaning if the reminder will not benefit them then stop advising them. He then
clarifies that if your advice only makes the person more inclined to evil then DON'T warn anymore
e.g. "Bro, the more you tell me not to smoke the more I want to smoke!"
So who will listen to the Prophet ?Is there anyone out there that will follow him?


)(

Verse 11: You can only warn him who follows the reminder and fears the Merciful in secret; so announce
to him forgiveness and an honourable reward
The people who will be affected by your warning are still out there and they have two qualities

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Verse 10: And it is the same to them whether you warn them or don't warn them: they will not believe

94 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

1.They FOLLOW the Dhikr &
2. Fear Allah when in the GHAYB.
The verse begins in an emphatic way INNAMAA serves purpose of hasr (exclusivity) The ONLY
one out there who will..... Now these qualities become more important for us to know because if
we internalize them we can benefit from the Prophet's advice too!
1. They Follow the dhikr without hesitation according to al-Tabari this means the Qur'an
2. They Fear Allah in ghayb- 2 views
a. when all alone
b. they fear Him even though they have not
seen Him.

We often hear the Quran

but are we making ittiba
of what is being said...?

Detailed Analysis:

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

FIRST= Iittibaa dhikr literally means to follow a dhikr

(reminder)
Ibn Uthaymeen- It has two qualities:
1. being ready to listen 1st quality of ittiba
2. ready to act on what you hear 2nd quality of ittiba
Do ittibaa' of what? al-Dhikr
Quran has four names: Quran, Al Kitaab, Al Dhikr, Al Furqan

Reflect: We often hear the Quran but are we making ittiba of what is being said...? Some people are
ignorant of the content of the Qur'an but their attitude stinks such that they don't even want to hear
what it says never mind following it! May Allah give us the
right attitude and then allow us to listen and follow what
He says.
SECOND= Khashiy ar-rahman bil ghayb- those that have
fear of Allah when in seclusion away from the sight of the
creation, this is a sign of a person who will be guided.
SUPER LESSON: If you want to know who you really are,
ask yourself what you are like when all alone, this is who
you really are. The person who fears Allah in private, this
is ikhlaas. Its all well and good behaving well in front of
others but are you like that when all alone? They said
about Umar: his private life is better than his public!
Ibn Uthaymeen: a hypocrite is the exact opposite; he is

If you want to know who

you really are, ask
yourself what you are like
when all alone, this is who
you really are.

Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

95

the best with people and the worse on his own.

Question: Isn't it a little that the verse says the 2nd quality is to fear the merciful one in the Unseen,
why would someone 'fear' the loving and compassionate one? This is like the verse in the beginning
describing Allah as al-Aziz whilst al-Raheem...
Answer: Firstly, Khashiyah is not like Kawf- Ibn Ashur said it means to have fear out of
veneration/awe not out of being scared/fearful. The difference is this; having khawf makes you want
to run away e.g. fear of spiders make people run a mile, but Khashya is to have awe which makes you
want to draw closer to the object of Khashya! , may Allah grant us this. This is why Allah
describes the scholars of Islam, the people who truly have KHASHYA of Allah are the scholars.

Hence, we can understand the pairing of Khashya &

Rahmah. The incredible mercy, compassion & care of
Allah for us should make your heart feel in awe of Him!
The verse ends: Fabashirhu bimaghfiratin wa ajrin
kareem- give glad tidings to these believers who adhere
to the religion and have fear of ar-Rahman in seclusion,
you will become honoured in sight of God, and a noble
reward awaits you.

If your study of Islam is not

bringing you closer to Allah
then question what you are
learning or why you are
learning. You will find the
problem in one or both.

Complete forgiveness is mentioned first & then

reward. Why?
Shaytaan tries to deceive people by reminding them of their sins/making them feel like a hypocrite.
This can stop a person coming forward and taking advice. Allah calls upon this person and tell him
that He is ready to forgive us. This brings down the first major barrier to belief in the mind of the one
contemplating it. "You're telling me God can forgive all my mistakes and I can be pure again?!" this
makes complete sense when you realise that those who have not yet believed have been ignoring
the Prophet's call now for 10 years and so even if one of them did want to accept Islam they're
probably feeling guilty for abusing the Prophet for so long..."can I really be forgiven if I change
now?"- YES.
What's the second barrier? I really want to come forward and embrace Islam but my family and
society at large will turn on me and ostracize me. They'll ridicule me and dishonour me. Look at the
second promise of Allah: a NOBLE reward. Allah will honour you, so don't worry about what people
will say... , how eloquent is the Quran.

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SUPER LESSON: If your study of Islam is not bringing

you closer to Allah then question what you are learning
or why you are learning. You will find the problem in
one or both.

96 Passage 1 | The Quran and the Heedless

Detailed Study of Surah Ya-seen Ustadh Asim Khan

Interesting: Notice how the previous verse spoke about *people* being arrogant and *people*
having shackles but when it came to belief and goodness Allah spoke in the singular "The only ONE
who will benefit from..." "Congratulate HIM". In between the lines the Prophet is being told that
most will reject you but perhaps one or two will accept. Now look at the story that follows. The
whole town rejects the message of 3 Prophets but one lone person Believes and comes running. This
again is an illustration on the principle, an example or the theory. What is even more amazing is the
fate of this Believing man, the people kill him. He goes to paradise, he says, Woe to my people. If
only they knew how Allah forgave me and how Allah made me of the honourable people.- He got
the i.forgiveness and he was ii. honoured!