Exegesis of Verses (8 - 10) of Surat al-Mujadilah.
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The Shaykh : Praise be 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 upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
This is the thirty-fourth meeting after two hundred of the meetings known as the Open Door Meeting, which takes place every Thursday of every week, and this Thursday is the twenty-ninth of the month of Muharram in the year one thousand four hundred and twenty-one:
We begin this meeting, as is customary, by explaining what Allah Mighty and Majestic facilitates, and we had previously reached the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-Mujadila 58:8] :
Meaning: Allah Mighty and Majestic forbade them, or the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family and his Companions).
Meaning: from whispering among themselves and secret talk, by which they display or intend to humiliate the believers, where the believer, if he passes by them and sees them whispering, thinks that they are whispering about a matter in which they are plotting against him, so they were forbidden from that.
[Al-Mujadila 58:8]: You find them whispering among themselves with that by which they sin, meaning: by which they earn punishment in the Hereafter.
: Transgressing against the believers by causing them worry and grief.
Meaning: that they advise one another among themselves to disobey the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family and his Companions).
[Al-Mujadila 58:8] Meaning: if they pass by you or come to you while you are in a gathering [Al-Mujadila 58:8]: and that is by their saying: "Death be upon you" "Death be upon you" means: death, but they do not pronounce it clearly, so the listener thinks that they are saying: Peace be upon you, and for this reason the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family and his Companions) commanded that if the People of the Book or anyone other than the People of the Book whom we suspect is saying: Death be upon you, greets us, we should say: And upon you, if he invoked peace, it is upon him, and if he invoked death, it is upon him, and this is the height of justice, but if the Jew or the Christian or anyone else greets you clearly by saying: Peace be upon you, then you may say: Upon you be peace, by the saying of Allah the Exalted: [An-Nisa 4:86], and because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family and his Companions) said: , and this indicates that if they said: Peace, we would say: And upon you be peace.
[Al-Mujadila 58:8] Meaning: one of them prompts his own soul, or the meaning is they say among themselves:
[Al-Mujadila 58:8]
As if they are challenging Allah Mighty and Majestic and saying: If we commit a wrong, Allah will punish us.
Allah the Exalted said: Meaning: I have repaid them.
: And this is a severe warning for those who escaped the punishment of this world that they will have the punishment of the Hereafter.
[Al-Mujadila 58:9]:
When Allah mentioned the state of the Jews that they whisper with sin, transgression, and disobedience to the Messenger, He forbade the believers to be like them, so He said:
[Al-Mujadila 58:9]: The opposite of that: [Al-Mujadila 58:9]:
With righteousness, meaning: doing good, and piety: avoiding evil, meaning: let some of you whisper to others with that which contains good, either a good deed they command, or a forbidden thing they command to be feared and avoided.
[Al-Ma'idah 5:96]: Fear Allah the Exalted, meaning: obey Allah, because piety is taking protection from the punishment of Allah, by what?
By doing His commands and avoiding His prohibitions, because nothing protects from the punishment of Allah except this.
[Al-Ma'idah 5:96] Meaning: you will be gathered to Him on the Day of Resurrection, for Allah Blessed and Exalted is He gathers the first and the last on a level ground where the caller is heard and the sight penetrates, we are not on a level ground in this world but on a ground resembling a sphere, and therefore the sight does not penetrate to what is beyond the curve of the sphere, and the caller is not heard, but in the Hereafter Allah Mighty and Majestic says:
: Meaning: it is stretched out in one stretch with no mountains, no curvature, and no dwellings, and for this reason the caller is heard, because there is nothing to reflect the sound, and the sight penetrates: it sees their farthest as it sees their nearest.
All the creatures will be gathered on this flat ground with no mountains, no rivers, no valleys, or anything else, and in His saying:[Al-Ma'idah 5:96] is the affirmation of the resurrection, which is the Last Day, and belief in it is one of the six pillars of faith, and they are the pillars of faith:
That you believe in Allah, and His angels, and His books, and His messengers, and the Last Day, and in the divine decree, its good and its evil, so whoever denies the resurrection is a disbeliever with a disbelief that takes him out of the religion, indeed, whoever doubts in it is a disbeliever with a disbelief that takes him out of the religion, so let him save himself before death and let him prepare his soul for belief in the Last Day, for we will be gathered to Allah and resurrected on the Day of Resurrection and recompensed for our deeds, if good then good, and if evil then evil.
Meaning: from His commands, meaning: He is the one who commands you to whisper with sin, transgression, and disobedience to the Messenger, why?
[Al-Mujadila 58:10] Meaning: sorrow will befall them in their souls, but does this harm them?
The answer: It does not harm them, He said:[Al-Mujadila 58:10] Sahih al-Bukhari 6288 Meaning: if they are three, two do not whisper without the third, He said: Riyad as-Salihin 1599, and similarly, if they are three and two of them know a language other than Arabic, and the third does not know this language, then it is not permissible for some of them to speak to each other in the language that the third does not know, because that grieves him, and this is from the work of Satan, we ask Allah for safety.
[Ali 'Imran 3:122] Meaning: it is obligatory for every believer to rely upon Allah Mighty and Majestic, and if he relies upon Allah, He is sufficient for him, no one will harm him.
O Allah, we ask You for reliance upon You and sincere faith in You, for You are capable of all things.
And now to the questions. We begin with the oath.
As for what follows:
This is the thirty-fourth meeting after two hundred of the meetings known as the Open Door Meeting, which takes place every Thursday of every week, and this Thursday is the twenty-ninth of the month of Muharram in the year one thousand four hundred and twenty-one:
We begin this meeting, as is customary, by explaining what Allah Mighty and Majestic facilitates, and we had previously reached the saying of Allah the Exalted:
Have you not considered those who were forbidden from private conversation, then they return to that which they were forbidden
ألم تر إلى الذين نهوا عن النجوى ثم يعودون لما نهوا عنهwere forbidden
نهواfrom whispering
عن النجوىthen they return to that which they were forbidden and converse among themselves about sin and aggression and disobedience to the Messenger
ثم يعودون لما نهوا عنه ويتناجون بالإثم والعدوان ومعصية الرسولand transgression
والعدوانand disobedience to the Messenger
ومعصية الرسولAnd when they come to you, they greet you with that [word] by which Allah does not greet you
وإذا جاؤوك حيَّوك بما لم يحيك به اللهthey greet you with that [word] by which Allah does not greet you
حيوك بما لم يحيك به اللهAnd when you are greeted with a greeting, greet [in return] with one better than it or [at least] return it
وإذا حييتم بتحية فحيوا بأحسن منها أو ردوهاWhen the People of the Book greet you, they say, "As-samu 'alaykum" (Death be upon you), so you should say, "Wa 'alaykum" (And upon you)
إن أهل الكتاب إذا سلموا يقولون: السام عليكم فقولوا وعليكمand say among themselves
ويقولون في أنفسهمWhy does Allah not punish us for what we say?
لولا يعذبنا الله بما نقولAs if they are challenging Allah Mighty and Majestic and saying: If we commit a wrong, Allah will punish us.
Allah the Exalted said:
They will enter it, and evil is the destination
حسبهم جهنمThey will enter it, and evil is the destination
يصلونها وبئس المصيرO you who have believed, when you converse privately, do not converse about sin and aggression and disobedience to the Messenger but converse about righteousness and piety
يا أيها الذين آمنوا إذا تناجيتم فلا تتناجوا بالإثم والعدوان ومعصية الرسول وتناجوا بالبر والتقوىWhen Allah mentioned the state of the Jews that they whisper with sin, transgression, and disobedience to the Messenger, He forbade the believers to be like them, so He said:
do not converse about sin and aggression and disobedience to the Messenger
لا تتناجوا بالإثم والعدوان ومعصية الرسولbut converse about righteousness and piety
وتناجوا بالبر والتقوىWith righteousness, meaning: doing good, and piety: avoiding evil, meaning: let some of you whisper to others with that which contains good, either a good deed they command, or a forbidden thing they command to be feared and avoided.
And fear Allah to whom you will be gathered.
واتقوا الله الذي إليه تحشرونBy doing His commands and avoiding His prohibitions, because nothing protects from the punishment of Allah except this.
to whom you will be gathered.
الذي إليه تحشرونAnd when the earth is leveled
وإذا الأرض سطحتAll the creatures will be gathered on this flat ground with no mountains, no rivers, no valleys, or anything else, and in His saying:
to whom you will be gathered.
الذي إليه تحشرونThat you believe in Allah, and His angels, and His books, and His messengers, and the Last Day, and in the divine decree, its good and its evil, so whoever denies the resurrection is a disbeliever with a disbelief that takes him out of the religion, indeed, whoever doubts in it is a disbeliever with a disbelief that takes him out of the religion, so let him save himself before death and let him prepare his soul for belief in the Last Day, for we will be gathered to Allah and resurrected on the Day of Resurrection and recompensed for our deeds, if good then good, and if evil then evil.
Private conversation is only from Satan
إنما النجوى من الشيطانthat he may grieve those who have believed
ليحزن الذين آمنواThe answer: It does not harm them, He said:
but he will not harm them at all except by permission of Allah
وليس بضارهم شيئا إلا بإذن اللهno two of them should hold secret counsel excluding the third person
لا يتناجى اثنان دون الثالثlest the third should be grieved
من أجل أن ذلك يحزنهand upon Allah the believers should rely.
وعلى الله فليتوكل المؤمنونO Allah, we ask You for reliance upon You and sincere faith in You, for You are capable of all things.
And now to the questions. We begin with the oath.