The Meaning of the Poet's Words: "And you made faith disbelief, and guidance *** the very essence of misguidance, and this is from transgression. Then you concealed your minds, not that *** Allah intended for you to purify yourselves upon the Qur'an"
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The Shaykh :"And you made faith disbelief, and guidance *** the very essence of misguidance, and this is from transgression" They made faith into disbelief. How? That is, they said that the one who affirms [the attributes] is a disbeliever because he is a *mujassim* (one who ascribes a body to Allah). They claimed that Allah has a body, so it would be disbelief. Thus, this faith of theirs is disbelief. And they made guidance the very essence of misguidance, meaning they made knowledge to be misguidance and ignorance. And this is from transgression, without doubt.
"Then you concealed your minds, not that *** Allah intended for you to purify yourselves upon the Qur'an"
You concealed your minds. Yes, how?
The student: The commentary indicates that it means "you were arrogant."
The Shaykh : how
The student: The commentary indicates that...
The Shaykh : Let us explain it first.
"Then you concealed your minds, not that *** Allah intended for you to purify yourselves upon the Qur'an
until they responded, hastening, to the call of *** ta'til (denial of the divine attributes); they had fled from faith"
"You concealed your minds" means that you mocked them and treated them lightly. It is like what Allah the Exalted said about Pharaoh:[Az-Zukhruf 43:54] "Not that Allah intended for you to purify yourselves upon the Qur'an." Because if Allah had intended for these minds to purify themselves upon the Qur'an, they would not have answered you or obeyed you. But He said: "until they responded, hastening, to the call of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes)". "Until they responded, hastening" means rushing to the call of ta'til (denial of the divine attributes). This makes it clear that the intended meaning is the belittling of people's minds. And how many are those who followed the people of tahrif (distortion of a text's meaning) and said that their statement is the truth and is *tanzih* (transcendence).
"until they responded, hastening, to the call of *** ta'til (denial of the divine attributes); they had fled from faith
O, woe to them, if only they knew who called *** and had not called, they would have sat down like a coward.
"Woe to them"—who? Those who were belittled and followed. If they knew, if they realized who called, meaning those who called them, and that they are distorters and misguiders. And what did these people call for? To distort the texts and to deny Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, of the attributes He affirmed for Himself. If they realized this, he says: "They would have sat down the sitting of a coward." And I think you know that the sitting of a coward is not followed by standing, because a coward's legs do not carry him. So if he sits, he does not rise again. Thus, if these people had realized what these callers were calling them to, and realized their own state, they would not have answered them or followed them, hastening. Rather, they would have sat down the sitting of a coward and disavowed them. It is clear now. So if there is a difference in the commentary regarding this, there is no doubt that it requires consideration. Whose commentary is it?
The student: "You were arrogant."
The student: ... "You concealed."
The Shaykh : In any case, it is clear, clear that the intended meaning is "you concealed."
"Then you concealed your minds, not that *** Allah intended for you to purify yourselves upon the Qur'an"
You concealed your minds. Yes, how?
The student: The commentary indicates that it means "you were arrogant."
The Shaykh : how
The student: The commentary indicates that...
The Shaykh : Let us explain it first.
"Then you concealed your minds, not that *** Allah intended for you to purify yourselves upon the Qur'an
until they responded, hastening, to the call of *** ta'til (denial of the divine attributes); they had fled from faith"
"You concealed your minds" means that you mocked them and treated them lightly. It is like what Allah the Exalted said about Pharaoh:
So he bluffed his people, and they obeyed him
فاستخف قومَه فأطاعوه"until they responded, hastening, to the call of *** ta'til (denial of the divine attributes); they had fled from faith
O, woe to them, if only they knew who called *** and had not called, they would have sat down like a coward.
"Woe to them"—who? Those who were belittled and followed. If they knew, if they realized who called, meaning those who called them, and that they are distorters and misguiders. And what did these people call for? To distort the texts and to deny Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, of the attributes He affirmed for Himself. If they realized this, he says: "They would have sat down the sitting of a coward." And I think you know that the sitting of a coward is not followed by standing, because a coward's legs do not carry him. So if he sits, he does not rise again. Thus, if these people had realized what these callers were calling them to, and realized their own state, they would not have answered them or followed them, hastening. Rather, they would have sat down the sitting of a coward and disavowed them. It is clear now. So if there is a difference in the commentary regarding this, there is no doubt that it requires consideration. Whose commentary is it?
The student: "You were arrogant."
The student: ... "You concealed."
The Shaykh : In any case, it is clear, clear that the intended meaning is "you concealed."