Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: [It is nothing but a reminder for the worlds] to the end of the surah.

The Shaykh : So His saying, the Exalted, Here, "in" means "ma" (nothing). This is a rule: when "illa" (except) comes after "in," it means "ma," meaning it becomes a negation. Because "in" can come as a negation, as a conditional, or as a lightened form of the heavy "in." What clarifies these meanings is the context.
So when "in" comes and is followed by "illa," it is a negation.
That is, "what is it?" That is, the Qur'an that Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) came with, and which Jibril (Gabriel) revealed upon his heart.
: "Reminder" encompasses both reminding and remembering. So it is a reminder for the worlds and a remembering for them, meaning that they remember by it and take admonition from it. The intended meaning of "the worlds" here is those to whom the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent, as Allah the Exalted said , and He said, the Exalted, . So the intended meaning of "the worlds" here is those to whom Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent.
He said,
As for the one who does not will to be upright, he does not remember by this Qur'an and does not benefit from it, as He said, the Exalted, . So the person who does not want to be upright cannot benefit from this Qur'an.
But if someone asks: Is the will of man by his choice? We say: Yes, the will of man is by his choice. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has given man choice and will. If he wills, he does it, and if he wills, he does not do it.
Because if that were not the case, the argument would not be established against the creation to whom the messengers were sent by the sending of the messengers. Did you understand the topic? Is what we do by our choice and will? The answer is: Yes, it is by our choice and will. And if it were not so, there would be no argument for the sending of the messengers against us, because we could say that we are not able to choose. The human being is undoubtedly an actor by his choice.
And every person knows that if he wants to go to Makkah, it is by his choice. And if he wants to go to al-Madinah, it is by his choice. And if he wants to go to Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem), it is by his choice. And if he wants to go to Riyadh, it is by his choice, or to anything, whatever he wants, it is by his choice. He does not see that anyone forced him to it, nor does he feel that anyone forced him to it.
Likewise, the one who wants to perform obedience to Allah does so by his choice, and the one who wants to disobey Allah does so by his choice. So the will of man is free in it.
But we know with certainty that he did not will anything except that Allah willed it before. For this reason, He said, So when we will a thing, we know that Allah has willed it. And if Allah had not willed it, we would not have willed it, as He said, the Exalted, .
So when we do a thing, we do it by our will and choice, but we know that this will and choice were after the will of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And if Allah had willed otherwise, we would not have done it.
So if someone says: Then we have an argument in disobedience, because we did not will it except after Allah willed it. The answer is: We have no argument, because we did not know that Allah willed it except after we did it, and we did it by our choice. For this reason, we cannot say that Allah willed such a thing or willed such a thing except after it happens. And when it happens, by what did it happen? It happened by our will and choice.
For this reason, it is not appropriate for the disobedient person to have an argument against Allah, Mighty and Majestic. And Allah has invalidated this argument in His saying: .
So if they had no argument, they would not have tasted the wrath of Allah, and they would have been safe from the wrath of Allah. But they have no argument, so for this reason they tasted the wrath of Allah.
And we all know that if a person is told that there is a safe, secure country where his provision comes abundantly from every place, with trade and earnings that are not found in other countries, and another country is a fearful, unstable, disturbed country, disturbed in economy, disturbed in fear and security, to which of the two would he go? Certainly, he would go to the first, without doubt. And he does not see that anyone forced him to go to the first. He sees that he went to the first purely by his will. So now, the path of good and the path of evil: Allah told us, "This is the path of Hellfire and this is the path of Paradise," and He made clear to us what is in Paradise of pleasure and what is in the Fire of punishment. So which one do we follow? By clear and obvious analogy, we will follow the path of what? The path of Paradise, without doubt. Just as in the previous example, we follow the path of the safe country where its provision comes abundantly from every place.
If we follow the path of the Fire, there will be blame, rebuke, and censure upon us, and we will be called foolish, just as if we followed in the first example the path of the fearful, unstable country that has no stability, then everyone would blame us and rebuke us.
So in His saying, , it is an affirmation that man does a thing by what? By his will and choice. But after he does the thing and wills the thing, we know that Allah has willed it before. And if Allah had willed otherwise, he would not have done it.
And often, a person resolves to do something, and after resolving to this thing, at some moment he finds himself turning away from it, or he finds himself being turned away from it, because Allah did not will it.
Often we want to go, for example, to a mosque to listen to a lecture, and then we turn away for a reason or without a reason. Sometimes for a reason, such that we remember that we have work, or we are told that the lecture was canceled, so we return. Sometimes we return without a reason, we do not know, except that Allah the Exalted turned our desire away from it, so we returned.
For this reason, it was said to a Bedouin: How did you know your Lord? He said, "By the breaking of resolutions and the turning away of desires". "By the breaking of resolutions" means: the person resolves to do a thing with a firm resolution, and then his resolution is broken. Does he feel that there is a factor that necessitated him to deviate from his first resolution? No, but purely by the will of Allah.
"The turning away of desires": the person intends a thing and turns toward it completely, and then he finds himself turning away from it, whether the one turning him away is a tangible preventer or the one turning him away is a mere choice, the choice of the person to turn away. All of this is from Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
So the result is that Allah says, . And what is the meaning of uprightness? Uprightness is moderation. Moderation, and there is no moderation more upright than the moderation of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, in His Shari'ah.
In the previous Shari'ahs, the Shari'ahs were suitable for the condition of the nations in time, place, and state. After the sending of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), his Shari'ah was suitable for the nation to which the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was sent, from the beginning of his mission to the end of the world.
For this reason, it was one of the known expressions that the Islamic religion is suitable for every time and place and state. For every time and place and state, if people held fast to it, Allah would reform the creation.
Look, for example, a person prays first standing. If he is unable, then sitting. If he is unable, then on his side. So the Shari'ah develops according to the condition of the person, because the religion is suitable for every time and place. It is obligatory for the one who has a new state of impurity to purify himself with water. If using water becomes difficult due to inability or absence, he turns to tayammum (dry ablution). If there is no soil or he is unable to use soil, he prays without anything, without the purity of water or the purity of tayammum. All of this is because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, His Shari'ah is entirely built on justice. There is no injustice in it, there is no oppression in it, there is no hardship in it, there is no difficulty in it.
For this reason, He said, . Against uprightness, there are two deviations: a deviation toward the side of excess and extremism, and a deviation toward the side of negligence and shortcoming. For this reason, the people in the religion of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, are three: three forms, two extremes and a middle:
An extreme person who is excessive, overzealous, and rigid. And another extreme person who is negligent, shortcoming, and careless. The third is a middle between excess and negligence, upright on the religion of Allah. This is the one who lives.
As for the first and the second, the first is the extremist and the second is the harsh one, both are perishing, perishing according to what they have of extremism or shortcoming. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade extremism, excess, rigidity, and overzealousness, until he said, , because overzealousness involves hardship on the self and involves going out of the religion of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. As he also condemned the negligent and careless ones, and he said in describing the hypocrites, .
So the religion of Allah is a middle between the one who is extreme in it and the one who is harsh toward it. For this reason, He said here, , he does not lean to the right or to the left. His walking is a walking of uprightness on the religion of Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
And upright conduct, just as it is in dealing with the Creator (Mighty and Majestic), which is worship, is also in dealing with the created. So be with people between two extremes: between the extreme of severity, harshness, and frowning, and the extreme of laxity, negligence, self-abasement, and lowering one's status. Be firm in one aspect and gentle in another.
For this reason, the jurists (may Allah have mercy on them) said that the judge should be gentle without being weak, and strong without being violent. His gentleness should not lead him to weakness, nor his strength to violence. He should be between the two: gentle without weakness and strong without violence, so that matters are set right. For example, some people deal with people constantly with frowning and severity, making themselves feel that they are above people and that people are beneath them. This is a mistake.
And some people lower their own status and humble themselves to the point of negligence and indifference, such that they remain among people without any sanctity or respect. This is also a mistake.
So it is obligatory for a person to be between this and that, as was the guidance of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Indeed, he (peace and blessings be upon him) was severe in places of severity and gentle in places of gentleness. So a person combines here firmness, resolve, gentleness, compassion, and mercy.
: This means that you cannot will anything except that Allah has willed it before. So my will now to speak to you and talk to you is a will from me, but it was not except after the will of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). If Allah had willed otherwise, I would not have willed it. And if Allah had willed that the thing not happen, it would not have happened. And even if I willed it, but Allah the Exalted did not will it, it would not happen. Rather, Allah the Exalted causes means to intervene between me and this so that it does not occur.
And this is a matter that a person must pay attention to: that he knows that his action is by his will, a complete will without coercion. But is the will coupled with what? With the will of Allah. He knows that he did not will the thing except after Allah willed it, and that if Allah had willed that it not be, the person would not have willed it, or the person willed it but Allah intervenes between him and it by means and obstacles.
And here He said and did not say "your Lord," indicating the universality of the lordship of Allah and that the lordship of Allah the Exalted is general.
But you must know that "the worlds" here is not like "the worlds" in His saying . I said regarding the first "worlds" that what is intended by it is what?
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Not those to whom the Messenger was sent. But here, "Lord of the worlds," the intended meaning of "the worlds" is everyone other than Allah, for he is a world, because nothing is complete except a Lord and a created being. So when it is said "Lord of the worlds," it is established that the intended meaning of "the worlds" is everyone other than Allah, as the Imam, Shaykh al-Islam Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab (may Allah have mercy on him) said, "Everyone other than Allah is a world," and I am one of that world.
So the result is that this surah is a great surah containing reminder and admonition. It is recommended for the believer to read it with reflection and deliberation and to be admonished by what is in it. Just as it is obligatory for him in all the surahs of the Qur'an and its verses to be so, so that he may be among those who are admonished by the Book of Allah and benefit from it. We ask Allah the Exalted to admonish us and you with His Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and His cosmic signs. Indeed, He is Capable of all things.
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 all his Companions.
And now it is the time for questions. What do you say?