Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: [Are you more difficult to create, or the sky which He built...], to the end of the surah.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and I send prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the Pious, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
This is Thursday, the thirtieth of the month of Jumada al-Akhirah, in the year 1413, and it is the fourth Thursday that we meet with our brothers in this month, as is scheduled every Thursday. We ask Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, to make these gatherings blessed. We begin this gathering with the exegesis of verses from the Book of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. We started from Surat al-Naba to the end of the Qur'an, and we are now at the saying of Allah the Exalted: to its end.
Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, addresses His servants, saying: . He intended by this interrogative to establish the possibility of the Resurrection, because the polytheists denied the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding the Resurrection, and they said: . So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: ?
The answer is known to everyone that it is the sky, as He, the Exalted, said: .
This phrase is not connected to the one before it. Therefore, the reader should pause when he recites at the word: , then resume and say: . The phrase is introductory to explain the greatness of the sky. "He built it" means: Allah, Mighty and Majestic, built it. Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, explained in another verse in Surat al-Dhariyat that He built it with strength, so He said: meaning: with strength .
Raised, meaning: above the earth. And He, Mighty and Majestic, raised it without pillars, as He, the Exalted, said: .
Meaning: He made it level and complete, as He, the Exalted, said regarding the creation of man: meaning: He made you level and complete in creation. So the sky is likewise; Allah, Mighty and Majestic, made it level.
: He covered it, meaning: He darkened it. So the night is dark, as He, the Exalted, said: .
He made it clear by the sun, which emerges every day from its rising point and sets at its setting point.
:
THE EARTH AFTER THAT, meaning: after the creation of the heavens and the earth.
, and He explained this spreading by His saying: .
The earth was created before the sky, as Allah, the Exalted, said: . So the earth was created before the sky, but its spreading and the emergence of water and pasture from it was after the creation of the heavens.
Meaning: He made it firmly fixed in the earth, holding the earth so that it does not shake with the creatures.
Meaning: Allah, the Exalted, made that a provision for us to enjoy in what we eat and drink, and for our livestock, meaning: our cattle, such as camels, cows, sheep, and others.
When Allah, Mighty and Majestic, reminded His servants of these blessings that indicate the perfection of His power, He reminded them of their inevitable end, which is unavoidable, so He, the Exalted, said:
: And that is the standing of the Hour, and He called it a great calamity, because it is a great disaster that overwhelms everything that came before it. "The greatest" means: greater than every calamity.
: An explanation of this day in which the greatest calamity occurs, which is the day in which man will remember what he has striven for. How will he remember it?
He will remember it written before him, and he will read it himself. Allah, the Exalted, said: : When he reads it, he will remember what he has striven for, meaning: what he has done. As for today, we have forgotten what we have done. We have done many deeds, some good, some idle, and some bad, but we forget all of this. On the Day of Resurrection, this will be presented to us in a book, and it will be said: You yourself: So then he will remember what he has striven for .
Then He said: -May Allah protect us and you from it- and "emerged" means: revealed. It will come and be led by seventy thousand reins, each rein with seventy thousand angels leading it. When the wrongdoers are thrown from it into a narrow place, bound together, and Hell will come -may we seek refuge in Allah- for one who sees and perceives, so hearts will be torn out and the newborn will turn white-haired. For this reason, He said:
: These two descriptions are descriptions of the people of the Fire: transgression, which is: exceeding the limit, and preferring the worldly life over the Hereafter by placing it before the Hereafter and making it the greatest concern of the person. So if someone asks: What is transgression?
We say: Transgression is exceeding the limit, as we mentioned earlier. Exceeding the limit by what? What is the limit of man?
The limit of man is mentioned in the saying of Allah, the Exalted: . So whoever exceeds his limit and does not worship Allah, that is the transgressor, because he has exceeded the limit. You are created not to eat and enjoy and be comfortable as the livestock enjoy. You are created to worship Allah. So worship Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Worship Allah. If you do not do so, you have transgressed. This is transgression: that man does not fulfill the worship of Allah.
And His saying: , these two are concomitant. For the one who transgresses in the worship of Allah prefers the worldly life, because he uses it as an excuse from obeying Allah. He is distracted by it from obeying Allah. When the Fajr adhan is called, he prefers sleep over prayer. When he is told: Remember Allah, he prefers play over the remembrance of Allah, and so on.
And His saying: meaning: it is its refuge. And the refuge is: the return and the abode. And what an evil abode the abode of Hell is -May Allah protect us and you from it-.
So when he acknowledges it, Allah says to him: . This is the station he feared.
meaning: from its desires. And the soul is a commandeer of evil, it does not command except evil. But there is another soul that opposes it, which is: the soul at peace. Because man has three souls: the soul at peace, the commandeer, and the blaming soul, and all of them are in the Qur'an.
As for the soul at peace: it is in the saying of Allah, the Exalted: .
And as for the commandeer of evil: it is in the saying of Allah, the Exalted: .
And as for the blaming soul: it is in the saying of Allah, the Exalted: .
And man feels these souls in himself. He sees in himself sometimes an inclination to good, he loves good and does it. This is the soul at peace. And he sees sometimes in himself an inclination to evil, so he does it. This is the soul commandeer of evil.
Then comes the blaming soul, which blames him for what he did. So he finds himself regretting the disobedience he did, or another blaming that blames him for the good he did -may we seek refuge in Allah-. For some people may blame themselves for doing good, and for keeping company with the people of good, and say: How can I keep company with these people who prevent me from my life and my desires and my play, and the like of that.
So the blaming soul is a soul that blames the commandeer of evil at times, and blames the soul at peace at other times. So it is in reality a soul between two souls. It blames the soul commandeer of evil when it does evil and makes the person regret. It may blame the soul at peace when it does good -we ask Allah for safety-.
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: : Paradise is the abode of bliss that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, prepared for His awliya (close friends of Allah). In it is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has not occurred to the heart of any human being. Allah, the Exalted, said: . This is how it came in the Qur'an, and it came in the Qudsi hadith: .
This Paradise is attained by man before he dies. How is that?
When the term approaches and the angels call the soul to exit, they say: Come out, O soul at peace, to the pleasure of Allah. And the soul is given glad tidings of Paradise. Allah, the Exalted, said: When do they say this? At the time of death : So he is given glad tidings of Paradise, and his soul exits willing, easy, and smooth. For this reason, when the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) narrated, he said: : We all hate death by nature. But the believer, when he is given glad tidings of what he is given at death, loves the meeting with Allah, loves death, and it is easy for him. And the disbeliever, when he is given glad tidings of what distresses him -may we seek refuge in Allah- at death, hates the meeting with Allah, and his soul flees and scatters in his body, until it is pulled out from him as a skewer is pulled out of wet wool. And wet wool, when a skewer is drawn over it -which is known among weavers- is almost torn apart by the intensity of the pulling.
Thus the soul of the disbeliever -may we seek refuge in Allah- scatters in his body, because it is given glad tidings of punishment and fears. For this reason, some people -may we seek refuge in Allah- have their faces turn black, and their color in life is red. And one whom I trust -and he swore to me more than once- and he is among those who handle the washing of the dead, said: By Allah, two cases passed me that I will never forget. He said: I washed two men, with a time between them. He said: The face was black like coal -may we seek refuge in Allah- and the body was normal, because he was given glad tidings of what distresses him, may we seek refuge in Allah. And when a person is given glad tidings of what distresses him, he changes.
So Paradise—O Allah, we ask You to make us all among its people—Paradise contains what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has not occurred to the heart of any human being.
And I told you: a person may attain it before he dies through what he is promised of it. It is not hidden from us what came in the Prophetic biography that Anas ibn al-Nadr—I think it is Anas ibn al-Nadr—(may Allah be pleased with him) said: , and this does not mean a sensory experience; rather, it is a true experience. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Some people may attain the Herewhile while they are in this world". Then Anas went out to fight and was killed (may Allah be pleased with him).
So the conclusion is that Paradise contains what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has not occurred to the heart of any human being.
Allah the Exalted said: : "They ask you," meaning: people ask you, just as He the Exalted said in another verse: . The people's questioning about the Hour is divided into two categories:
Questioning that involves rejection and denial, and this is disbelief. The polytheists asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) about the Hour and hastened it, and Allah said about these people: .
And questioning about the Hour, asking when the Hour is so that one may prepare for it, and there is nothing wrong with this. A man said to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . So people ask the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), but their intentions in this question differ. However, whatever their intentions and whatever their questions, the knowledge of the Hour is with Allah. For this reason, He said: , meaning: it is not possible to inform them of the Hour. Why?
Because its knowledge is with Allah. Its knowledge is with Allah, as Allah the Exalted said in another verse: .
And Jibril—and he is the most knowledgeable of the messengers—asked the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)—and he is the most knowledgeable of the creation among humans. He said: , meaning: if it is hidden from you, then it is hidden from me. And if the most knowledgeable of the angels and the most knowledgeable of humans do not know when the Hour is, what can be said of those below them?
And by this we know that what some people spread, that the Hour will be such and such, or such and such, in a specific time, is all lies. We know that they are liars in that, because they do not know when the Hour is, and no one knows it except Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
, meaning: you do not have knowledge of it, but you are a warner. "Who fears it," meaning: who fears it, and they are the believers. As for one who denies it, rejects it, and lies about it, then the warning does not benefit him: .
For this reason, we say: you do not ask when you will die, or where you will die, because this is a matter that does not need asking. This is a settled matter, and it must happen. And however long your life in this world lasts, it is as if you remained for only one day. Indeed, as He the Exalted said here: .
But the question that must come to mind, and for which you must have an answer, is: in what state will you die? I do not mean: are you rich or poor? Strong or weak? Or do you have dependents or are you childless?
No, but: in what state will you die in terms of your deeds? If you ask yourself this question, you must prepare, because you do not know when death will overtake you suddenly. How many people went out to drive their cars and were brought back carried on shoulders? And how many people went out from their families saying, "Prepare me lunch or dinner," but did not eat it? And how many people put on a shirt and buttoned it, and only the washer who washed it unbuttoned it? This is a matter witnessed through sudden events in any state. You should look now and think: in what state will you die?
We ask Allah to grant us and you repentance and turning back to Him.
For this reason, you should seek forgiveness as much as you are able, for in seeking forgiveness is relief from every worry and an exit from every distress. So much so that some scholars say: "If a person asks you for a ruling, seek Allah's forgiveness before you issue the ruling to him, because sins stand between a person and guidance". And he derived this from the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): .
And this is a good derivation. It can also be derived from His the Exalted saying: , and seeking forgiveness is from guidance.
Therefore, I advise myself and you to be mindful of Allah, to seek forgiveness frequently, and to account for the self, so that we are prepared for what we fear may overtake us suddenly from death. We ask Allah to make our endings good for you and for us.
Allah the Exalted said: , meaning: they see the Resurrection.
: "The evening" is from the zenith to the setting of the sun, and "the forenoon" is from the rising of the sun to the zenith. That is, it is as if they did not stay except half a day. And this is the reality. If I asked you now: how has the time that has passed over you been? Do we feel now that they are years, or as if it were one day?
It is as if it were one day, without doubt. Without doubt, it is as if it were one day. And the person now is between three things:
A day that has passed, and this has been missed by him. A future day, and he does not know whether he will reach it or not. And a present time, and this is what he is asked about. As for what has passed, it has been missed, and what has been missed has died and perished from you. What has passed has perished from you, and the future, you do not know whether you will reach it or not. And the present is what you are asked about.
I ask Allah the Exalted to make my and your outcome good, and to make our ending praiseworthy and our conclusion happy. Indeed, He is Generous and Bountiful. And all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And may Allah send prayers and blessings upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions, and those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
Now, the session of questions is proceeding.