Exegesis of Verses (10-23) of Surat al-Rahman.

The Shaykh : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah send prayers upon our Prophet Muhammad, the Seal of the Prophets and the Imam of the righteous, and upon his family and his Companions, and upon those who follow them with excellence until the Day of Judgment.
As for what follows:
So this Thursday is the twenty-fifth of Jumada al-Akhirah, in the year 1419 AH.
We begin this gathering, as is customary, with the exegesis of the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), which Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) revealed so that we may reflect upon its verses and so that those of understanding may remember.
Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) says: This means: Among the blessings of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is that Allah placed the earth for the creatures, meaning: for the creation.
:
Allah placed the earth for the creatures, meaning He sent it down relative to the sky. The creatures are the creation; in it are humans, in it are jinn, and in it are angels who descend by the command of Allah from the sky. Although the abode of the angels is in the sky, they descend to the earth, such as the two angels who are seated on the right and on the left, and the angels who protect by the command of Allah—the Mu'aqqibat—and the angels that descend on the Night of Decree, and others.
Meaning: In the earth are fruits, meaning: fruits by which people refresh themselves, and their types are many, such as grapes, pomegranates, apples, oranges, and others.
He specified the date palm because its fruit is the best of fruits; it is a sweet, a food, and a fruit. Its tree is among the most blessed and most beneficial of trees, to the extent that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) compared the date palm to the believer and said: : So the Companions debated among the trees until the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed them that it was the date palm.
And His saying: is the plural of kimm, which is the covering of the fruit. For the fruit of the date palm, when it first emerges, has a strong kimm over it, then it grows within that kimm until it splits and the fruit comes out.
The grain means: that which is eaten from wheat, corn, millet, rice, and others.
And His saying: with stalks means: what remains of its stalk when it dries, which is known as straw, because it is threshed, meaning: the beasts trample it with their feet until it is threshed.
And the fragrant plant is this tree with the pleasant scent. So Allah mentioned in the earth the fruits, the date palm, the grain, and the fragrant plant, because each one of these four has a distinctiveness that it possesses, and all of this is for the benefit and welfare of the servants.
The address is to the jinn and humans, and the question is for negation, meaning: Which blessing do you deny?
He created the human, meaning: his species.
And the salsal is the dry clay that has a salsal, meaning: a sound when you tap it with your fingernail, it makes a sound.
It is the baked clay, and this is with regard to the creation of Adam (peace be upon him). For Allah created him from dust, from clay, from salsal like pottery, from black mud formed, all these are descriptions of the dust. It transitions from being dust to being clay, to being black mud, to being salsal, to being like pottery, until when it was completed, Allah breathed into it of His spirit, and it became a human.
And they are the jinn.
The Marij: the mixed, that which is in the flame when it rises becomes mixed with smoke, so it has a color between red and yellow. This is the Marij of fire. And which of them was created first?
The jinn were created before the humans. For this reason, Iblis said to Allah (Mighty and Majestic): , Meaning: By which of the blessings of Allah do you deny, where Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created the human from this material and the jinn from this material? And which is better, the dust or the fire? The dust is better, without doubt. And whoever wants to know about that, let him refer to the words of Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) in his book: *Ighathat al-Lahfan min Makayid al-Shaytan*.
Meaning: He is. Rabb: a predicate for a deleted subject, and the estimation is: He is the Lord of the two easts and the Lord of the two wests. Meaning: He is their owner and their manager. So nothing rises except by the permission of Allah, and nothing sets except by the permission of Allah. And nothing that the east and the west possess belongs to anyone but Allah (Mighty and Majestic). He dualized the east here with regard to the east of winter and the east of summer, because it differs. The sun in winter rises from the far south, and in summer it is the opposite. The moon in the same month rises from the far south and from the far north. And in another verse, Allah the Exalted said: So He pluralized it. And in a third verse: : So what is the combination between them?
We say: As for the dual, it is with regard to the easts of winter and summer. The plural of easts is with regard to the east of every day and its west, because the sun rises every day from a place other than where it rose yesterday, and so it is with the setting. Or with regard to the risers and the setters, because they include the sun, the moon, and the stars, and these cannot be counted except by Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So the plural is with regard to the east of every day and its west, because every day differs from the other day in rising and setting. Or with regard to the risers and the setters, because they are many: the sun, the moon, and the stars. Who can count them?
No one can count them except Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
As for His saying: It is with regard to the direction, because the directions are four: east, west, north, and south. The plural here is easy and simple, there is no difficulty in it. So we say: the two easts and the two wests. The dual is with regard to the wests of winter and summer and the easts of winter and summer. Now, the plural?
Either with regard to the east of the sun and its west every day, and this differs. It is not hidden from you now how you find the sun changing its rising and setting every day, and especially when the night and day are equal, you find the difference is a minute or a minute and a half between its setting yesterday and today. Now, or with regard to the riser and the setter, and the risers and the setters are many, no one can count them except Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
The singular is with regard to the direction, because the directions are four: east, west, north, and south.
Meaning: By which of the blessings of Allah do you deny, O assembly of jinn and humans?
So what is our answer to these questions in all the verses?
Our answer: That we do not deny any of Your blessings, O our Lord. For this reason, a hadith was reported in its chain is weak that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), when he recited them to the Companions, they were listening to the recitation of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) and they did not respond with anything. So he said a word whose meaning is: That the jinn were better in response than you, for they used to say whenever he recited a verse: "We do not deny any of Your blessings, O our Lord." But this hadith is weak; it is only mentioned by the exegetes here.
What are the blessings and favors in the two easts and the two wests?
Be attentive: Every verse that followed contains great blessings. So what are the blessings contained in the difference between the east and the west?
The blessings are the benefits that result from that for the creation: summer, winter, spring, autumn, and others that we do not know. So they are great blessings by the difference of the east and the west.
Then He said, (Glorified and Exalted is He): Marj means: sent. The two seas means: the salty and the fresh. They meet: some of them meets some. The salty sea, these great seas like the Red Sea, the White Sea, the Atlantic Sea, these seas are all salty. And Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) made them salty, because if they were fresh, the air would spoil and stink, but the salt prevents the stench and spoilage.
The other sea is the fresh sea, which are the rivers. The rivers that come either from heavy rains or from melting snows that flow in the earth. The important thing is that Allah the Exalted sent them by His wisdom and power where Allah (Mighty and Majestic) willed.
Meaning: some of them meets some. When?
At the mouth of the river in the sea. They meet and mix, some with some. But when they are moving or when they are separate, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) says.
And it is the dry land of the earth.
Meaning: neither of them transgresses against the other. And if Allah the Exalted had willed, He would have unleashed the seas and they would have overflowed onto the earth and drowned it. For the sea now, when you stand on the shore, do you find a wall that prevents its flowing onto the dry land?
You do not find one, even though the earth is spherical. And yet, the sea does not flow here or there by the power of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). And if Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) had willed, the waters of the seas would have flowed onto the dry land of the earth and destroyed it. So the barrier between them is what?

The questioner : The dry land of the earth.

The Shaykh : The dry land is the view of the geographers, and they do not believe in any other view. Some scholars said: Rather, the barzakh (the interval between death and resurrection) is a conceptual matter that prevents the salt and fresh water from mixing with each other. They said that there are fresh water springs in the depths of the seas that gush from the earth, to the extent that divers dive down to them and drink from them as the sweetest water, and yet the sea water does not spoil it. If this is established, there is no obstacle to accepting the view of the geographers and the view of the exegetes, and Allah is capable of all things.
It produces from both: meaning: from the two seas: the fresh and the salt, pearls and coral, which are pieces of pearl, red, beautiful in shape and color, even though they are waters.
And His saying, the Exalted: He attributed the production to the two seas, the fresh and the salt. It has been said: The pearl does not come out except from the salt water and does not come out from the fresh water. Those who said this were confused about the meaning of the verse: How does Allah say "from both" when it is from one of them?
So they answered that this is from the category of tughlib (predominance). Do you know tughlib?
That one side is made to predominate over the other, such as saying: "The civilization of Abu Bakr and 'Umar," or saying: "The two moons for the sun and the moon." This is from the category of tughlib. So "from both": the intended meaning is one of them. Some said: Rather, this is by omission of a dependent noun, and the estimation is "from both," meaning: from one of them. So, in our view, how many views are there?
Two views: Either it is from the category of tughlib, or it is from the category of omitting the dependent noun, and the estimation is "it comes out from one of them."
There is a third view: That the verse remains on its apparent meaning, with no tughlib and no omission, and "from both" means: from both of them together, the pearl and the coral. And even if the salt water is distinguished by being more abundant and better, which of these views do we adopt?

The questioner : What is in agreement!

The Shaykh : We adopt what agrees with the apparent meaning of the Qur'an, and this is a rule that you must understand: That we adopt what agrees with the apparent meaning. So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: So who is the Creator of both?

The questioner : Allah.

The Shaykh : And He knows what comes out from them. So if the apparent meaning of the verse is that the pearl and the coral come out from both of them together, it is obligatory to take its apparent meaning. But there is no doubt that the salt water is more abundant and better, but this does not prevent us from saying according to the apparent meaning of the verse. Rather, it is necessary that we say according to the apparent meaning of the verse. And this is a rule: Take it in the Qur'an and the Sunnah that we carry the thing on its apparent meaning and do not interpret it figuratively, except out of necessity, in which case we must proceed according to what the necessity requires. But without necessity, it is obligatory to carry the Qur'an and the Sunnah on their apparent meanings.
Completing the verse, because what is in these seas and what is obtained of the great benefits in them are many blessings that a person cannot deny.
And up to here ends this statement, and we move to the questions, if Allah wills, and we start with al-Ayyam, one question for each person.