Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: (You will surely pass through stage after stage)
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Exegesis of His saying, the Exalted: (You will surely pass through stage after stage)
Then he said after that: [Al-Inshiqaq: 19] The address here is to all people, meaning: you will pass from one state to another. This indicates that states change, encompassing the states of time, the states of place, the states of the bodies, and the states of the hearts. Pay attention! It includes four things.
We know that the states of time shift [Al-Imran: 140] There is a day of joy, expansion, and the soul’s ease, and another day that is the opposite, to the extent that a person feels this without there being a known cause. In this regard, the poet says:
A day is ours and a day is against us, a day we are humiliated and a day we are honored
This is something each of us knows by himself. You wake up today feeling comfortable, happy, and joyful, and the next day you are the opposite without a reason. But it is necessary that a person must pass through stage after stage.
Likewise in the states of places: A person descends to a station today, and to another station the next day, and a third and a fourth, until the stations end for him in the Hereafter, and before the Hereafter in the graves. These are temporary stations. The graves are not the final stations; rather, they are a stage.
And a Bedouin man heard a man reciting the saying of Allah the Exalted: [At-Takathur: 1-2] So the Bedouin man said: By Allah, the visitor is not a resident. The Bedouin man, by his fitrah (innate natural disposition), knew that behind these graves is something to which the destination leads; because we know that a visitor visits and then departs.
And by this we know what we read in the newspapers: (So-and-so passed away and then they moved him to his final resting place) This phrase is a great error, and its implication is disbelief in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and disbelief in the Last Day; because if you make the grave the final resting place, this means there is nothing after it, and this is disbelief in the Resurrection.
The one who believes that the grave is the final resting place and there is no resting place after it is a disbeliever, and the final resting place is either Paradise or the Fire.
The states of the bodies: In the bodies, a person passes through stage after stage,And listen to the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Ar-Rum: 54] .
When a person is first created, he is a small child, such that you can gather his hands or feet with one of your hands and carry him with that hand. He is a weak being, then he continues to grow stronger little by little until he becomes a strong, robust youth. Then, when he has completed his strength, he returns to weakness a second time. Some scholars have compared the state of the body to the state of the moon: it appears as a weak crescent, then it grows little by little until it is full of light, then it begins to wane little by little until it disappears. We ask Allah to make our endings and yours good. Yes, this is the state of the bodies.
As for the states of the hearts, and what do you know about the states of the hearts! The states of the hearts are the calamity, they are the affliction, they are the blessing, they are the punishment. All the hearts of the children of Adam are between two fingers of the fingers of the Most Merciful, and He turns them as He wills. If He wills, He leads them astray, and if He wills, He guides them. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said this hadith: He said: (O Allah, Turner of the hearts, make my heart firm upon Your religion) .
The hearts have strange states. Sometimes the heart attaches itself to the worldly life, and sometimes it attaches itself to something of the worldly life, such as wealth, so wealth becomes his greatest concern. Sometimes it attaches itself to women, so women become his greatest concern. Sometimes it attaches itself to palaces and houses, so that becomes his greatest concern. Sometimes it attaches itself to vehicles and cars, so that becomes his greatest concern. Sometimes it is with Allah (Mighty and Majestic), always attaching itself to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and seeing that the entire worldly life is a means to the worship of Allah and to the obedience of Allah; so he uses the worldly life because it was created for him, and he does not let the worldly life use him. So look, -my brothers- at the people of the worldly life. Do you think that the worldly life serves them, or do they serve it? They are the ones who serve it. They are the ones who exhausted themselves in acquiring it. But the people of the Hereafter are the ones who used the worldly life and the worldly life served them. Therefore, they do not take it except through the pleasure of Allah, and they do not spend it except in the pleasure of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So they used it in taking and spending. But the people of the worldly life who labored with it, staying up nights reviewing the ledgers, reviewing the checks, reviewing the expenditures, reviewing the payments, reviewing what they took and what they spent—these people, in reality, were used by the worldly life and did not use it. But the man who is at peace, who made his provision from Allah sufficient for him to be independent of people, and not to be made wretched by it from the obedience of Allah, this is the one whom the worldly life served.
The states of the hearts are the greatest of the four states. For this reason, it is obligatory upon us all—and I say that to myself before you—to review our hearts every hour and every moment. Where does the heart live? What does it occupy itself with? Why does it turn away from Allah? Why does it look to the right and to the left? But we seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Indeed, Shaytan flows through the son of Adam like blood, and it has overcome many people to the extent that it diverts a person from his prayer, which is the head of his wealth after the two testimonies. So you find that when he enters into his prayer, his heart goes to the right and to the left, until he exits his prayer and has not understood anything of it,And the people are shouting, saying: Our prayer does not restrain us from obscenity and wrongdoing. Where is the promise of Allah?At that time it is said: My brother! Is your prayer a prayer? If from the time you say the takbir (saying Allahu akbar), doors of endless thoughts open for you, are you a person who is praying? You prayed with your body, but you did not pray with your heart. And it came in the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (Indeed, a man may depart from his prayer and nothing is written for him of it except a tenth of his prayer, a ninth, an eighth, a seventh, a sixth, a fifth, a quarter, a third, a half) according to what he understands of it. So the hearts pass through stage after stage.
Then he said after that:
[That] you will surely experience state after state.
لَتَرْكَبُنَّ طَبَقاً عَنْ طَبَقٍWe know that the states of time shift
And these days [of varying conditions] We alternate among the people
وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِA day is ours and a day is against us, a day we are humiliated and a day we are honored
This is something each of us knows by himself. You wake up today feeling comfortable, happy, and joyful, and the next day you are the opposite without a reason. But it is necessary that a person must pass through stage after stage.
Likewise in the states of places: A person descends to a station today, and to another station the next day, and a third and a fourth, until the stations end for him in the Hereafter, and before the Hereafter in the graves. These are temporary stations. The graves are not the final stations; rather, they are a stage.
And a Bedouin man heard a man reciting the saying of Allah the Exalted:
The competition for more has distracted you until you visit the graveyards.
أَلْهَاكُمُ التَّكَاثُرُ * حَتَّى زُرْتُمُ الْمَقَابِرَAnd by this we know what we read in the newspapers: (So-and-so passed away and then they moved him to his final resting place) This phrase is a great error, and its implication is disbelief in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and disbelief in the Last Day; because if you make the grave the final resting place, this means there is nothing after it, and this is disbelief in the Resurrection.
The one who believes that the grave is the final resting place and there is no resting place after it is a disbeliever, and the final resting place is either Paradise or the Fire.
The states of the bodies: In the bodies, a person passes through stage after stage,And listen to the saying of Allah the Exalted:
Allah is the one who created you from weakness, then made after weakness strength, then made after strength weakness and white hair. He creates what He wills, and He is the Knowing, the Competent.
اللَّهُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ ضَعْفٍ ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ ضَعْفٍ قُوَّةً ثُمَّ جَعَلَ مِنْ بَعْدِ قُوَّةٍ ضَعْفاً وَشَيْبَةً يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَاءُ وَهُوَ الْعَلِيمُ الْقَدِيرُWhen a person is first created, he is a small child, such that you can gather his hands or feet with one of your hands and carry him with that hand. He is a weak being, then he continues to grow stronger little by little until he becomes a strong, robust youth. Then, when he has completed his strength, he returns to weakness a second time. Some scholars have compared the state of the body to the state of the moon: it appears as a weak crescent, then it grows little by little until it is full of light, then it begins to wane little by little until it disappears. We ask Allah to make our endings and yours good. Yes, this is the state of the bodies.
As for the states of the hearts, and what do you know about the states of the hearts! The states of the hearts are the calamity, they are the affliction, they are the blessing, they are the punishment. All the hearts of the children of Adam are between two fingers of the fingers of the Most Merciful, and He turns them as He wills. If He wills, He leads them astray, and if He wills, He guides them. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said this hadith: He said: (O Allah, Turner of the hearts, make my heart firm upon Your religion) .
The hearts have strange states. Sometimes the heart attaches itself to the worldly life, and sometimes it attaches itself to something of the worldly life, such as wealth, so wealth becomes his greatest concern. Sometimes it attaches itself to women, so women become his greatest concern. Sometimes it attaches itself to palaces and houses, so that becomes his greatest concern. Sometimes it attaches itself to vehicles and cars, so that becomes his greatest concern. Sometimes it is with Allah (Mighty and Majestic), always attaching itself to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and seeing that the entire worldly life is a means to the worship of Allah and to the obedience of Allah; so he uses the worldly life because it was created for him, and he does not let the worldly life use him. So look, -my brothers- at the people of the worldly life. Do you think that the worldly life serves them, or do they serve it? They are the ones who serve it. They are the ones who exhausted themselves in acquiring it. But the people of the Hereafter are the ones who used the worldly life and the worldly life served them. Therefore, they do not take it except through the pleasure of Allah, and they do not spend it except in the pleasure of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So they used it in taking and spending. But the people of the worldly life who labored with it, staying up nights reviewing the ledgers, reviewing the checks, reviewing the expenditures, reviewing the payments, reviewing what they took and what they spent—these people, in reality, were used by the worldly life and did not use it. But the man who is at peace, who made his provision from Allah sufficient for him to be independent of people, and not to be made wretched by it from the obedience of Allah, this is the one whom the worldly life served.
The states of the hearts are the greatest of the four states. For this reason, it is obligatory upon us all—and I say that to myself before you—to review our hearts every hour and every moment. Where does the heart live? What does it occupy itself with? Why does it turn away from Allah? Why does it look to the right and to the left? But we seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan. Indeed, Shaytan flows through the son of Adam like blood, and it has overcome many people to the extent that it diverts a person from his prayer, which is the head of his wealth after the two testimonies. So you find that when he enters into his prayer, his heart goes to the right and to the left, until he exits his prayer and has not understood anything of it,And the people are shouting, saying: Our prayer does not restrain us from obscenity and wrongdoing. Where is the promise of Allah?At that time it is said: My brother! Is your prayer a prayer? If from the time you say the takbir (saying Allahu akbar), doors of endless thoughts open for you, are you a person who is praying? You prayed with your body, but you did not pray with your heart. And it came in the hadith from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): (Indeed, a man may depart from his prayer and nothing is written for him of it except a tenth of his prayer, a ninth, an eighth, a seventh, a sixth, a fifth, a quarter, a third, a half) according to what he understands of it. So the hearts pass through stage after stage.