Exegesis of Verses (2 - 4) of Surat al-Hadid.
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The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
As for what follows:
This is the two hundred and eighth session of the sessions named "The Open Door," which take place every Thursday. This Thursday is the twenty-sixth of the month of Safar, 1420. We begin the session, as is customary, by explaining what Allah the Exalted has bestowed from His Noble Book.
Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said:[Al-Hadid 57:1] We have previously discussed tasbih (glorification) and that all the heavens and the earth and whatever is within them glorify Allah the Exalted in two ways:
The first? Answer? With the tongue of speech, you say Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah).
And the second is with the tongue of reality, meaning that the state of these creatures indicates the transcendence of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He from futility and play, and that He is free from every defect and shortcoming. The disbeliever glorifies Allah by which of the two ways? Or by which of the two aspects? By the tongue of reality, because he does not glorify Allah with the tongue of speech; he does not glorify Allah with the tongue of speech, but rather he disbelieves in Allah the Exalted.
We have previously discussed His saying and that Allah has the judgment, and that His judgment is based on what? On wisdom and might. There is no need to repeat that, because it has been mentioned before and is available to the one who keeps the recordings.
Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Hadid 57:3] Four things: The First means that there is nothing before Him, because if there were something before Him, Allah would be a created being, and He the Exalted is the Creator. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained "The First" as being what? That there is nothing before Him. All existing things are after Allah the Exalted; there is no one with Allah or before Allah. He is The Last, meaning there is nothing after Him, because if there were something after Him, what comes after Him would be uncreated by Allah, and it is known that all created things are created by Allah the Exalted. So He is the one for whom there is nothing after Him. Thus, He is The First with no beginning, and The Last with no end; there is nothing after Him.
And The Apparent and The Hidden. The Apparent: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said in its explanation: All created things are beneath Him (Exalted and Majestic is He), so there is nothing above Him.
The Hidden: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Meaning that nothing stands between Him and anything. He is All-Aware, All-Knowing of everything. Mountains, trees, walls, or anything else do not stand between Him and anything; there is nothing beneath Him. The First and The Last encompass the entirety of time, and The Apparent and The Hidden encompass the entirety of place. Let us return: What does The First mean?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : And The Last?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : And The Apparent? The Last?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Are you here?
The student: Subhan Allah al-Azim (Glory be to Allah the Great).
The Shaykh : Subhan Allah al-Azim does not mean The Apparent. Okay, who knows? Yes?
The student: The one for whom there is nothing above Him.
The Shaykh : The one for whom there is nothing above Him. The Hidden is the one for whom there is nothing beneath Him, meaning that nothing ever stands between Him and anything. There is nothing beneath His sight; He sees everything, the Exalted. There is nothing beneath His hearing; He hears everything. There is nothing beneath His knowledge; He knows everything. We said that these four names encompass what?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, the temporal aspect in His saying "The First and The Last," and the spatial aspect in His saying "The Apparent and The Hidden."
[Al-Baqarah 2:29] Every thing, so Allah is All-Aware of it. [Ali 'Imran 3:5] If a person works inside his house in a dark room, does Allah the Exalted know his work? Yes, He knows. Moreover, He knows what his soul whispers, as He the Exalted said: [Qaf 50:16] When you think of something, Allah knows it before it happens. Does He know the distant past? Yes, everything. Does He know the distant future? Yes, everything. For this reason, Musa (peace be upon him) said to Pharaoh when he asked about the former generations, meaning what is their state? "Tell us about them?" [Taha 20:52] He does not err, meaning He does not lack knowledge, because error means ignorance, as Allah the Exalted said regarding His Prophet: Yes, "Erring" does not mean that he is an open sinner, no, it means that he is ignorant and does not know, as He the Exalted said: [Ash-Shuraa 42:52] What? [Ash-Shuraa 42:52] And He the Exalted said: [Al-'Ankabut 29:48] So Allah is All-Aware of everything. My brother, if you know that Allah is All-Aware of everything, can you commit a sin against Allah while you are hidden from people? Answer? Answer, everyone, yes or no? No, because you know that Allah knows it; it is not possible. Allah the Exalted said: [Az-Zukhruf 43:80] The answer is [Az-Zukhruf 43:80] So if you believe that Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) is All-Aware of everything, it necessitates that you do not commit disobedience to Him even in secrecy, and that you do not leave off His obedience even in secrecy.
And Allah the Exalted said about Nuh (peace be upon him) that he said:[Nuh 71:7] So that they would not hear They covered themselves with them so that they would not see, refuge in Allah, because they hated the truth. [Al-Baqarah 2:29] After that?
[Al-Hadid 57:4] He created the heavens and the earth; He the Exalted brought them into existence with all order and measure. The heavens are seven, and the earths are seven. The earth preceded the sky, because Allah the Exalted said in Surat Fussilat, when He mentioned the creation of the earth: [Fussilat 41:11] He created the heavens and the earth; the earth before the creation of the heavens. But Allah begins with the heavens because they are more noble than the earth and higher than the earth. How are the heavens? Are they wrapped in a single layer, or is there a distance between them?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : There is a distance between them, a distance. The distance is very, very far. This necessitates that the smallest of the heavens is the sky of this world, followed by the second and the third, each one wider than the other, a vast area, and they are layers aligned one above the other. In the hadith of the Mi'raj, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would knock whenever he ascended to a heaven, and it would be opened for him. As for the earth, Allah the Exalted made it in the singular form in the Qur'an, the singular form. The plural of earth? Earths. You do not find "earths" in the Qur'an; it is all "earth," "earth." But Allah indicated that they are multiple in His saying:[At-Talaq 65:12] Meaning similar to them in number, not in attribute, because the similarity in attribute between the earth and the sky is very far-fetched. But they are similar to them in number, and the Sunnah stated this explicitly in the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): Sahih Muslim 1610a He created them in six days. How many days? Allah the Exalted left it unspecified; He did not clarify that the day is fifty thousand years, or less, or more. And when it is left unspecified, it is taken to be the known and customary, which are our days. It has come in the hadiths that they are Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Friday is the end of the creation of the heavens and the earth. When did it begin?
The student: Sunday.
The Shaykh : Sunday. There is no creation on Saturday, neither beginning nor end. So if someone says, "Is Allah not able to create them in an instant?" The answer is yes, because when He wills a thing, He says to it "Be," and it is. So why was it in six days? I answer that with two answers: The first is that these created things are arranged one after another, arranged one after another, so Allah arranged some of them after others until He perfected them and finished them in how many? Six days. The second is that Allah taught His servants composure and deliberation, and that the most important thing is the perfection of a thing, not just its completion, so that a person should deliberate in what he makes, even if he could finish it in an hour, he should deliberate and finish it in two hours. So He the Exalted, Blessed is He, taught His servants deliberation in the matters they are capable of, and both matters are sound.
He rose above it, meaning He elevated Himself above it in a manner befitting His Majesty. We cannot liken Him to His creation, because Allah [Ash-Shuraa 42:11] and the Throne is a great created thing; none knows its magnitude except He who created it, the Exalted. And it has come in the hadith A ring, what? The brother? The ring, and what is it?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : The ring is a ring of the armor, the armor composed of rings of iron. The ring of iron from the armor, and what is its proportion to the desert? Here?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, a part of this chain, nothing. A wide desert of land. Put in it a ring from the rings of the armor, what is it? And what is its proportion, and what portion of the land does it hold? Nothing. There is no god but Allah! So none knows its magnitude except Allah the Exalted. And it is not for us to ask: Where is the substance of the Footstool? From where? From gold? From silver? From pearl? We have no right to speak of this. It is a great Throne, as Allah described it. Yes, [At-Tawbah 9:129] [Al-Buruj 85:15] A very, very great Throne; none knows its magnitude except Allah. He rose above it for the perfection of His dominion, (Exalted and Majestic is He).
You may find in some books that *istawa* (rising above the Throne) means *istawla* (took possession of), and you sometimes see this, especially those of you who have looked into the books of the Asha'irah and their like. They say *istawa* means *istawla*. This is a distortion of the words from their places and a statement about Allah without right and without knowledge. For if He created the heavens and then *istawa* upon the Throne, we would say He took possession of the Throne. But before He took possession of it, whose was the Throne? Look at the falsity of this claim. Then we say: Allah took possession of everything. Do we say He *istawa* upon the earth? We cannot say that. Therefore, *istawa* must mean "He rose above." How did He rise? We do not know; Allah knows best. The rest of the discussion on this attribute will come, if Allah wills, in the next lesson, for it is very important. Now, to the questions. We start with the right side, and the guests are the most deserving of the questions. The first question.
As for what follows:
This is the two hundred and eighth session of the sessions named "The Open Door," which take place every Thursday. This Thursday is the twenty-sixth of the month of Safar, 1420. We begin the session, as is customary, by explaining what Allah the Exalted has bestowed from His Noble Book.
Allah Blessed and Exalted is He said:
Whatever is in the heavens and earth exalts Allah, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.
سبّح لله ما في السّماوات والأرض وهو العزيز الحكيمThe first? Answer? With the tongue of speech, you say Subhan Allah (Glory be to Allah).
And the second is with the tongue of reality, meaning that the state of these creatures indicates the transcendence of Allah Blessed and Exalted is He from futility and play, and that He is free from every defect and shortcoming. The disbeliever glorifies Allah by which of the two ways? Or by which of the two aspects? By the tongue of reality, because he does not glorify Allah with the tongue of speech; he does not glorify Allah with the tongue of speech, but rather he disbelieves in Allah the Exalted.
We have previously discussed His saying
The Mighty, The Wise
العزيز الحكيمAllah the Exalted said:
He is the First and the Last, the Ascendant and the Intimate
هو الأوّل والآخر والظّاهر والباطنAnd The Apparent and The Hidden. The Apparent: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said in its explanation:
There is nothing above Him.
الذي ليس فوقه شيءThe Hidden: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
There is nothing beneath Him.
الذي ليس دونه شيءThe student: ...
The Shaykh : And The Last?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : And The Apparent? The Last?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Are you here?
The student: Subhan Allah al-Azim (Glory be to Allah the Great).
The Shaykh : Subhan Allah al-Azim does not mean The Apparent. Okay, who knows? Yes?
The student: The one for whom there is nothing above Him.
The Shaykh : The one for whom there is nothing above Him. The Hidden is the one for whom there is nothing beneath Him, meaning that nothing ever stands between Him and anything. There is nothing beneath His sight; He sees everything, the Exalted. There is nothing beneath His hearing; He hears everything. There is nothing beneath His knowledge; He knows everything. We said that these four names encompass what?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, the temporal aspect in His saying "The First and The Last," and the spatial aspect in His saying "The Apparent and The Hidden."
and He is Knowing of all things.
وهو بكلّ شيء عليمIndeed, from Allah nothing is hidden in the earth nor in the heaven.
إنّ الله لا يخفى عليه شيء في الأرض ولا في السّماءAnd We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him
ولقد خلقنا الإنسان ونعلم ما توسوس به نفسه[Moses] said, "The knowledge thereof is with my Lord in a record. My Lord neither errs nor forgets."
قال علمها عند ربّي في كتاب لا يضلّ ربّي ولا ينسىAnd He found you
ووجدكlost, so He guided you.
ضالّا فهدىAnd thus We have revealed to you an inspiration of Our command. You did not know
وكذلك أوحينا إليك روحا من أمرنا ما كنت تدريwhat is the Book or [what is] faith
ما الكتاب ولا الإيمانAnd you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand. Otherwise the falsifiers would have had [cause for] doubt.
وما كنت تتلو من قبله من كتاب ولا تخطّه بيمينك إذن لارتاب المبطلونOr do they think that We hear not their secrets and their private conversations
أم يحسبون أنّا لا نسمع سرّهم ونجواهمYes, [We do], and Our messengers are with them recording.
بلى ورسلنا لديهم يكتبونAnd Allah the Exalted said about Nuh (peace be upon him) that he said:
every time I invited them that You may forgive them, they put their fingers in their ears
كلّما دعوتهم لتغفر لهم جعلوا أصابعهم في آذانهمand covered themselves with their garments.
واستغشوا ثيابهمand He is Knowing of all things.
وهو بكلّ شيء عليمIt is He who created the heavens and earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne. He knows what penetrates into the earth and what emerges from it and what descends from the heaven and what ascends therein
هو الذي خلق السّماوات والأرض في ستّة أيّام ثمّ استوى على العرش يعلم ما يلج في الأرض وما يخرج منها وما ينزل من السّماء وما يعرج فيهاThen He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, "Come [into being], willingly or by compulsion." They said, "We have come willingly."
ثمّ استوى إلى السّماء وهي دخان فقال لها وللأرض ائتيا طوعا أو كرها قالتا أتينا طائعينThe student: ...
The Shaykh : There is a distance between them, a distance. The distance is very, very far. This necessitates that the smallest of the heavens is the sky of this world, followed by the second and the third, each one wider than the other, a vast area, and they are layers aligned one above the other. In the hadith of the Mi'raj, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) would knock whenever he ascended to a heaven, and it would be opened for him. As for the earth, Allah the Exalted made it in the singular form in the Qur'an, the singular form. The plural of earth? Earths. You do not find "earths" in the Qur'an; it is all "earth," "earth." But Allah indicated that they are multiple in His saying:
It is Allah who has created seven heavens and of the earth, the like of them
الله الذي خلق سبع سماوات ومن الأرض مثلهنّHe who wrongly took a span of land, Allah shall make him carry around his neck seven earths.
من اقتطع شبرا من الأرض ظلما طوّقه الله به يوم القيامة من سبع أرضينThe student: Sunday.
The Shaykh : Sunday. There is no creation on Saturday, neither beginning nor end. So if someone says, "Is Allah not able to create them in an instant?" The answer is yes, because when He wills a thing, He says to it "Be," and it is. So why was it in six days? I answer that with two answers: The first is that these created things are arranged one after another, arranged one after another, so Allah arranged some of them after others until He perfected them and finished them in how many? Six days. The second is that Allah taught His servants composure and deliberation, and that the most important thing is the perfection of a thing, not just its completion, so that a person should deliberate in what he makes, even if he could finish it in an hour, he should deliberate and finish it in two hours. So He the Exalted, Blessed is He, taught His servants deliberation in the matters they are capable of, and both matters are sound.
Then He rose above the Throne.
ثمّ استوى على العرشThere is nothing like unto Him
ليس كمثله شيءThe seven heavens and the seven earths in the Footstool are like a ring thrown into a vast expanse of the earth, and the superiority of the Throne over the Footstool is like the superiority of the vast expanse over this ring.
أنّ السّماوات السّبع والأرضين السّبع في الكرسيّ كحلقة ألقيت في فلاة من الأرضThe student: ...
The Shaykh : The ring is a ring of the armor, the armor composed of rings of iron. The ring of iron from the armor, and what is its proportion to the desert? Here?
The student: ...
The Shaykh : Yes, a part of this chain, nothing. A wide desert of land. Put in it a ring from the rings of the armor, what is it? And what is its proportion, and what portion of the land does it hold? Nothing.
The seven heavens and the seven earths, in relation to the Footstool, are like a ring cast into a vast expanse of land, and the superiority of the Throne over the Footstool is like the superiority of that vast expanse over this ring.
ما السّماوات السّبع والأرضين السّبع في الكرسيّ إلاّ كحلقة ألقيت في فلاة من الأرض وإنّ فضل العرش على الكرسيّ كفضل الفلاة على هذه الحلقةthe Lord of the Great Throne."
ربّ العرش العظيمHonorable Owner of the Throne,
ذو العرش المجيدYou may find in some books that *istawa* (rising above the Throne) means *istawla* (took possession of), and you sometimes see this, especially those of you who have looked into the books of the Asha'irah and their like. They say *istawa* means *istawla*. This is a distortion of the words from their places and a statement about Allah without right and without knowledge. For if He created the heavens and then *istawa* upon the Throne, we would say He took possession of the Throne. But before He took possession of it, whose was the Throne? Look at the falsity of this claim. Then we say: Allah took possession of everything. Do we say He *istawa* upon the earth? We cannot say that. Therefore, *istawa* must mean "He rose above." How did He rise? We do not know; Allah knows best. The rest of the discussion on this attribute will come, if Allah wills, in the next lesson, for it is very important. Now, to the questions. We start with the right side, and the guests are the most deserving of the questions. The first question.