Speaking about the stories of the Qur'an.

The Shaykh : Other than the stories of the Qur'an, what the Sunnah brought is like the Qur'an in terms of truth, provided it is authentic from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Likewise, it is the best of the stories of creation and the most beneficial of the stories of creation. So, what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) narrated to us from the news of the Children of Israel is truth and veracity, and it contains a lesson and benefit. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) narrated many things to his Ummah, but we are now speaking about what? About the sciences of the Qur'an. Yes.
The student: And they are three categories: a category concerning the prophets and messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) and what happened to them with those who believed in them and those who disbelieved; a category concerning individuals and groups to whom things happened that contain a lesson, so Allah the Exalted conveyed them from them, such as the story of Maryam and Luqman, and the one who passed by a city that was in ruins upon its roofs, and Dhul-Qarnayn, and Qarun, and the people of the cave, and the people of the elephant, and the people of the trench, and others; and a category concerning events and peoples in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), such as the story of the battles of Badr, Uhud, the Confederates, Banu Quraizah, Banu Nadir, Zayd ibn Harithah, Abu Lahab, and others.

The Shaykh : These are three categories in the stories of the Qur'an. The first: concerning the prophets and messengers (peace and blessings be upon them) and what happened to them with those who believed in them and those who disbelieved. In this, Allah the Exalted says: And for this reason, the reliable source regarding the news of the nations is what came from Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). In this, there is a lesson. In these stories, there is a great lesson, a lesson for the believers, and a lesson for the deniers.
Second: regarding individuals and groups who experienced events containing lessons, which Allah the Exalted conveyed from them, such as the story of Maryam, which is detailed in Surat Maryam and contains many lessons. Among the most important is His saying: a woman in labor. A woman in labor is usually weak; it is said: it is not easy to move the head or shake the trunk. The head moves more, but the trunk is difficult. fresh, moist fruit falls on you from above. meaning it does not get damaged when it falls to the ground, but is like what a person gathers gently. Is this not among the signs of Allah? It is a lesson from the signs of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, by which a person reflects on the power of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He. Also, the story of Luqman with his son, as he admonished him, is a great story with many benefits. Among the most important is all of it is wisdom. Likewise, the story of the one who passed by a village that was desolate, its roofs collapsed, cold and dry, and he said: meaning how can Allah give life to this village after it has died? So Allah showed him that for a hundred years, a hundred years. It is a hundred years because time passes when the soul is not in the body, resulting in a complete cessation. Time passes and you do not feel it. This is why we find that for a sleeping person, two or three hours pass as if it were one minute, and for one in a coma it is even more so, and likewise for one under anesthesia, time passes without their knowledge. The dead are even more so in this regard, because Allah caused him to die at the beginning of the day and gave him life at the end of the day, so he said: either a day, if this was the second day of his death, or part of a day. Allah said to him: Glory be to Allah, a hundred years and the man did not change. His hair did not grow, and there was no growth or change or swelling. Then Allah said to him: meaning it did not change. The food and drink did not change in color, smell, or dryness; they did not change. This is among the signs of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Drink that is in the sun, air, night, and day did not change, and no beast was sent to drink from it; it remained as it was. Glory be to Allah. The food also did not change. It has been said that it was grapes, and it has been said otherwise, but it does not concern us. The important thing is that even if it was grapes or bread, how did it not change? He looked at his bones and saw them shining. The donkey had changed, but the food and drink had not changed. Glory be to Allah, because the argument lies in the donkey. The fact that the food and drink did not change indicates the power to keep things as they were, and the matter of the donkey is evidence of the power of Allah the Exalted to create things after their decay. Allah is the Greatest. The donkey looked at his bones shining, so Allah said to him: So he looked at the bones, some riding on others, intertwined with sinews, rising with sinews, then covered with flesh, and then the donkey stood up. Allah is the Greatest, Glory be to Allah. This story is among those that revive the heart and by which one knows the power of Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He. Likewise, Dhul-Qarnayn. Allah the Exalted gave Dhul-Qarnayn a great kingdom that reached the east and west of the earth. His story is famous, and among the greatest lessons in it is that he came upon a people who could hardly understand speech. Meaning, they could hardly understand by themselves, nor could they make others understand. If a person spoke to them, they did not understand, and when they spoke, they were not understood. So they said to him: meaning we will give you dirhams. although he was a great king. They thought he would take a bribe. meaning better than what you give me. and the filling is more effective than the dam, meaning they cannot do the filling. The dam, perhaps, they might try to move it. So they smelted iron for him and heated it in the fire. copper. So he poured molten copper on it, and the iron pieces stuck together with the copper. Who can separate them? Yes, because it is smooth. This is among the nearby stories. Likewise, Qarun. Qarun was a rich man from the people of Musa, but he disbelieved in him and boasted and became arrogant with the wealth Allah had given him. He oppressed his people, and Allah brought him from treasures whose keys were a burden for a group, meaning they could not carry them. The keys, how did the treasuries and what was in them come back? So Allah the Exalted, when this man transgressed, said: it all collapsed. . Likewise, the People of the Cave. The story of the People of the Cave is strange. Seven men and with them a dog. They left their people because they associated partners with Allah, and these men were sincere to Allah, monotheists for Him. They emigrated to Allah, and no one who intends Allah ever fails. Allah the Exalted sheltered them, preparing for them a cave, a wide grotto facing the northeast, where the sun does not reach it, neither when it sets nor when it rises. a little at sunset. They remained in the grotto sleeping, not dead. It was sleep, and when a sleeper’s sleep is long, he becomes tired, hungry, and thirsty, but these did not do so except that Allah turned them to the right and to the left so that their bodies would not decay. The dog it was as if nothing had happened, and Allah bound it so that it did not go beyond them. They remained three hundred years and nine years, until Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, replaced the first polytheist king with a righteous king. They remained in this cave for this period, and Allah the Exalted turned them to the right and to the left. He did not say "they turned themselves" because the action of a sleeper is not attributed to him, so the pen was lifted from him. Allah sent them forth, and they disputed. and they had remained three hundred years and nine years, because they slept at the beginning of the day and woke up at the end of the day, so they thought they were in one day or two. and they requested that one of them go with their paper money, the dirhams, to the city to buy food. When he went to the city and they saw the coin, the coin was old, three hundred years old, and perhaps, Allah knows best, it had the image of the old king on it. So they were amazed at them. This story contains great lessons, and if Allah wills, we will give each of you one of these stories to reflect on and present the benefits and lessons in it. Now, there are also the People of the Elephant. The People of the Elephant were a group that came to demolish the Ka'bah. This was because the King of Yemen placed a Ka'bah near him that rivaled the Ka'bah in Makkah so that people would perform Hajj to it. So one of the Arabs came to this Ka'bah and defecated in it. Why? To insult it. So the king was angry and sent a great army to Makkah, led by a great elephant, intending to demolish the Ka'bah. When it reached a place called al-Maghmas, near Rayy al-Hajj, the elephant refused to advance. If they directed it toward Makkah, it would stand still, and if they directed it toward Yemen, it would run, by the permission of Allah the Exalted. This is why, when the she-camel of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) knelt at al-Hudaybiyyah, when it knelt and they wanted it to stand, it refused. So the Companions said: , meaning it has become stubborn. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , removing injustice is obligatory, even for animals, because they had wronged it when they said it was stubborn. He said: it is not actually stubborn, and this is not its nature. It is an obedient she-camel. , then he said: and this is what made him (peace and blessings be upon him) submit to the conditions that you know. Even when they said: write "In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy," they said: we do not know al-Rahman or al-Rahim, write "In the name of your Lord, O Muhammad," to this extent of stubbornness. He said: , when he said this, Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, did not agree to it. He said: be patient, do not write "Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah." If we knew that you were the Messenger of Allah, we would not have fought you or prevented you, but write "Muhammad ibn 'Abdullah." He said: , then he mentioned the remaining conditions where there was opposition from the senior Companions. Now, the important thing is, what happened to the People of the Elephant? The scholars said: "Ababil means scattered, numerous groups with stones of Sijjil". These stones would strike one from the head and come out from the rear. The swarming: the crops that camels or cattle ate and trampled with their feet. And the elephant, as I told you, Allah confined it in a place called al-Maghmas, as the pre-Islamic poet said: "The elephant was confined in al-Maghmas until it groaned as if it were...", and not in Wadi Mahshur as some scholars claimed. Rather, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) hastened in Wadi Mahshur for two reasons: the first is that the valley was trampled, meaning it had sand mixed with soil, which makes the camels... in walking, so he hastened. And the second is that the people of the pre-Islamic age used to stand in this valley and recite their glories and the glories of their fathers, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) wanted to oppose them. They would descend, and the Messenger would hasten. He said: and the People of the Trench.