Exegesis of Verses (23 - 32) of Surat al-Qamar.

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, the leader of the white-foreheaded ones, and the imam of the righteous, 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 the eighty-fourth session after the one hundredth of the known sessions: namely, the Open Door sessions, which take place every Thursday. This is the tenth Thursday of the month of Safar in the year 1419. This session will be the conclusion of this term of study until the study begins, if Allah wills, in the second term after about three months. We ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, to conclude for us and for you with good.
And we begin this session, as is customary, by speaking of what Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has facilitated by way of exegesis of His great speech. We have reached the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He:
: "Thamud denied the warning," meaning: by what came to them of the warning, which are the signs brought by Salih (peace be upon him). Their dwellings are known now as the land of al-Hijr on the road from Madinah to Tabuk. Salih (peace be upon him) was sent to his people, calling them to worship Allah alone, having no partner, like the other prophets. Allah the Exalted said: , and He said: .
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, sent him to his people and gave him a sign, which was: a she-camel with a share of water for them and a share for her, meaning: that the large, abundant well of water, on the day the she-camel comes and drinks, and they mentioned that if she drinks a vessel of water, then the one who waters her milks from her milk a vessel of water equal to what they gave her. This is among the signs of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: that a she-camel drinks water and then immediately produces it as milk; this is not customary, but it is a sign among the signs of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, showed them so that they would take heed. For Allah did not send a messenger except that He brought to him signs by which people would be assured, out of His mercy and wisdom. For it is not conceivable that a man among people would come and say, "I am the messenger of Allah to you," unless Allah brought to him signs indicating his truthfulness. The scholars said: "And there is no sign given to any of the previous prophets except that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) had something like it or greater". But it may not have been available during the life of the Messenger (peace be upon him), but it exists in his Ummah who followed him. For this reason, it is among the established principles among the scholars: "That every karamah (miracle granted to a righteous person) of a wali (close friend of Allah) is a sign for the prophet whom he followed", because this karamah testifies to the truth of what the wali was upon, and this wali is a follower of his previous messenger, so in that is a sign that this Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) upon which the wali is is true, and this becomes a sign for the prophet. So the principle now is: "That every karamah of a wali is a sign for the prophet whom he followed".
And upon this, we say: Among the signs of Musa (Moses) was that he struck the stone, and when he struck it, it burst forth with springs flowing with water from a dry stone. Did the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) have something like this?
The answer: He had something greater, , Subhan Allah! This is greater than the sign of Musa, because the sign of Musa is that water comes out of the stone, and water coming out of the stone is customary, as He said: But is it customary for water to come out of a vessel that has a separation between it and the ground?
No, so this is greater. Musa (peace be upon him) struck the sea and it split, becoming dry paths. This is undoubtedly a great sign. Something greater than this happened to this Ummah: they walked on the water without a dry path being made for them. They walked on the flowing, easy water in which one who falls in drowns, with their mounts and their feet, and they did not drown in the story of al-'Ala' ibn al-Hadrami, and in the story of Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him). They walked on the water, and this is greater than walking on land from which the water has parted.
So the important point is that there is no prophet whom Allah sent except that He gave him of the signs by which people would be assured. We said this is mercy, and what else? Answer, O brothers.

The questioner : And a favor.

The Shaykh : What?

The questioner : And a favor.

The Shaykh : No, mercy and wisdom. Mercy for the people so that these signs would lead them to believe and they would be saved from the punishment of Allah. Wisdom, because it is not wise for a person to stand up among people and say, "I am the messenger of Allah," until signs are brought.
Among the signs of Salih was this she-camel with a share of water for her and a share for Thamud, a day for her and a day for them. This is among the signs of Allah, and something like it happened to the Messenger (peace be upon him) during the Hijrah. For he passed by a shepherd who had goats or sheep that had no milk, so the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) wiped their udders, and they began to flow with milk. That was a specific sign in a specific place, in a specific she-camel. This is with any sheep.
He said, Mighty and Majestic: "The warnings" is the plural of "warning," and what is meant by it is the signs given to whom?
Salih (peace be upon him). So they said, among what they said in their denial: We ask Allah for safety. They denied the signs as if they had not come to them! Meaning: "Do we follow one human being from among us? We do not accept it." And this negation means denial, meaning: "It is not possible for us to follow one of us."
Meaning: "If we follow him, we will surely be in error and misery," meaning: in ignorance and in punishment. As if he promised them that if they followed him, they would be guided and saved from the Fire. So they said the opposite: "If we follow you, we will go astray and be burned by the Fire!" The opposite of what he said! This is among the most severe hostility toward the messengers (peace be upon them) and opposition to Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He.
This is also contempt. A question of contempt, meaning: How is the remembrance cast upon him from among us? What distinguished him?
And all of this is doubts, not proofs. So his being human does not prevent him from being a messenger; rather, the messenger must be human, because Allah said: Meaning: If We had sent an angel, it would have been necessary for Us to make him in the form of a human so that he could mix with people and be accepted by them. And if We made the angel human, We would have confused them with what they are accustomed to, so the matter would have become mixed up.
So we look now at the first doubt: that they said he is a human.
The second: that he is from us and is not distinguished from us by anything.
The third: that he is one, and Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: "We strengthened them." These people say one is not enough; he must be supported by a second and a third.
The fourth: This is not befitting.
So four doubts, and they see them as proofs that necessitate rejecting Salih (peace be upon him). But in reality, they are not proofs, but doubts and misguidance. And so it is with the falsifiers, O my brothers. The falsifiers in every time and place bring forth doubts against the truth, but Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He, must clarify the truth, so that he who perishes perishes with clear proof, and he who lives lives with clear proof.
Then they said: "Nay" here is for refuting his claim that it is the truth.
This is a form of exaggeration and at the same time a description, because the word "fa''al" (active participle) comes for exaggeration and comes for description. If you say, "So-and-so is a carpenter," it means he is among the carpenters, even if he has only carpentered once. And if you say, "So-and-so is a blacksmith," it is for the exaggeration of the frequent use of iron. They see, and may Allah protect us, that he is a liar described with lying, having no attribute except lying, and also much lying.
Meaning: arrogant, haughty, proud, arrogant, claiming what is not his.
Allah the Exalted said: "They will know tomorrow." When? On the Day of Resurrection. And the "s" (sin) here is for certainty and nearness, because if you say, "Zayd will stand up," this is affirmation and nearness as well. So if someone says: "The certainty is true, the Hour is coming, there is no doubt in it, but how is the nearness?"
We said: Allah says: , , and among the passing proverbs: "Every one who comes is near". The one who has passed a thousand years is nearer than the one who has passed ten minutes, is that not so?
Because the one who has passed ten minutes cannot return, but the future must come: So "they will know," the "s" here is for what?

The questioner : Certainty.

The Shaykh : And what else?
And nearness. "Tomorrow" is the Day of Resurrection. It is called "tomorrow" because it comes after your day. They will know who the liar is, the arrogant one. So who will know? Salih or Thamud?

The questioner : Salih.

The Shaykh : Salih?

The questioner : The second one.

The Shaykh : The second is Thamud. They will know on the Day of Resurrection who is the most wicked liar: is it Saleh, the most wicked liar, or are they? This is a great warning. Man is a human being, heedless of this great day.
Allah the Exalted said: meaning: those who work for the Hereafter. Rather, their hearts are covered over from working for the Hereafter.
meaning: the deeds of this world are what they work for. He used the nominal sentence, meaning that they are certain to work for it, not leaving it or being negligent in it, whereas as for the Hereafter, they are heedless of it.
after that?

The questioner : .

The Shaykh : "Indeed, We" means: Himself, (Exalted and Majestic is He). He used the plural form to magnify Him, (Exalted and Majestic is He), because of the greatness of His attributes, the abundance of His perfections, and the multitude of His soldiers. Therefore, He refers to Himself with the form of magnification: meaning: We sent it as a trial for them and a test: will they believe or will they not believe? And what was the outcome? Did they believe or not?
They did not believe. In this is an indication that Allah the Exalted may reveal to a person from the signs such that people believe in their like, so that when they become arrogant, their arrogance is with knowledge, and thus their punishment is more severe and more painful. For this reason, Allah made the she-camel what?
A trial, because it manifested the truth to them, but they did not accept it. Pay attention to this gradual leading astray from Allah (Mighty and Majestic). Pay attention: if Allah makes the means of sin easy for you, do not do it. For indeed, Allah sometimes makes the means of sin easy for a person as a trial for them. Have you seen the people of the Sabbath from the Children of Israel? The means of sin were made easy for them as a trial, and that was that Allah forbade them to hunt fish on the day of the Sabbath. So the fish would come on the day of the Sabbath in great numbers on the surface of the water, but they were committed and did not hunt fish on the day of the Sabbath. When the time became long for them, they were unable to control themselves, so they returned to their nature, which is treachery, cunning, and deceit. So they devised a scheme to hunt the fish: they would place nets on Friday, and the fish would come and enter the nets, and when it was Sunday, they would take the fish. This was a clear scheme, so Allah turned them into monkeys. Allah the Exalted said: In the beginning of this Ummah, Allah forbade the people in a state of Ihram from hunting. So Allah sent down game upon them while they were in a state of Ihram, within the reach of their hands and spears, meaning: the one who advances can catch it by hand, like what?
Like a rabbit, a gazelle; one catches it with his hand.
meaning: the bird. The bird could not be reached except by arrow because it was far away, but the bird began to fly as if it were on the ground, and the spear could reach it. A trial. Here, did Allah make the means of sin easy for them or not?
He made it easy. But the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and they are the best of people, not one of them took a single hunted animal! (May Allah be pleased with them). Whereas the Children of Israel schemed and deceived Allah. As for the Salaf of this Ummah—may Allah guide us and you to accompany them in this world in their deeds and in the Hereafter in their dwellings—they did not take any.
So here, the she-camel—we return to the verse—Allah the Exalted sent it as a trial for Thamud to test them.
"Wait for them" means: wait for their punishment, or wait for their actions and see what they do.
"And be patient" means: be patient. But the taa is extra, and the original form is "istabbara" with a taa, for emphasis. But the taa was changed to a taa' for a morphological reason dictated by the Arabic language. Meaning: Allah said to His messenger Saleh, wait for these people and be patient, be patient, for victory is near.

And for this reason he said: meaning: every drink is attended by the one who deserves it, either the she-camel or they. And they remained on this, but they did not persist; they did not continue with that.
They called out to their companion whom they saw as strong and brave, and they said to him: "This she-camel has made things difficult for us. If we killed it, we would drink every day." So they asked him to kill it—may Allah grant us safety! Is this strong, brave companion whom they see more daring than them, regardless of his name, for some exegetes named him, but that is not what concerns us? Did he feel offended, hmm?
He did not feel offended and did not delay, but he hastened.
"Ta'attaa" is the form of interaction from "give," meaning: he offered himself and quickly. The faa in his saying indicates speed. From the moment they called him, he immediately agreed.
He killed the she-camel, may Allah grant us safety! He first cut off its limbs, then slaughtered it second. And it was one of the signs of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and one of their benefits, but may Allah grant us safety, their souls did not accept it.
Allah (Mighty and Majestic) addresses the human being: Did it hit its mark? And was it severe? The answer is: Yes, it was in its place and it was severe. What is this punishment?
A cry was sent down upon them, and refuge is sought in Allah, along with the earthquake. So there were sounds in the sky, and trembling in the earth. The earthquake and the cry took them, and they became in their dwellings prostrate, as if they had not been found.
meaning: the enclosure. A person makes an enclosure for his sheep. I do not know if you know this or not?
The Bedouin in the desert makes an enclosure for the sheep from dry trees and palm fiber and the like, so that they do not go out and so that wild beasts do not prey upon them. This enclosure, with the passage of time, the sun, and the winds, crumbles until it disappears. Were these strong, mighty men who denied his messenger like this?

The questioner : Like the dry stalks of a dying person.

The Shaykh : Like the dry stalks of a dying person, meaning: like the enclosure when it is destroyed. And this is from the signs of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) and the perfection of His power and dominion .
, Its interpretation has been mentioned previously, and we said that the meaning is: that Allah the Exalted made the Qur'an easy, meaning He made its meanings easy for whoever reflects upon it, and made its words easy for whoever memorizes it. So if you direct yourself in a sound way to the Qur'an for memorization, Allah will make it easy for you. And if you direct yourself in a genuine way to reflection and understanding the meanings, Allah will make it easy for you.
Is this for excitement? Allah (Mighty and Majestic) excites us to recite the Qur'an so that we may be admonished by it.
May Allah make us and you among those who recite it with true recitation, in word, meaning, and action. Indeed, He is over all things capable. And now, to the questions, we begin with the right side.