Exegesis of the first surahs of al-Tariq up to the saying of Allah the Exalted: "So he has no power or helper."

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 final session of the month of Jumada al-Thani in the year 1414, which takes place every Thursday of every week. And we have felt, and all praise is due to Allah, much good from the brothers who attend, or who listen to the recorded tapes. This is a blessing from Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) upon everyone, and there is no doubt in this.
In last week's lesson, we spoke about the ruling on wiping over leather socks and what is related to it. As for this week, we will continue with what we were doing, which is the exegesis of the last part of the Qur'an, because it is the part that is most frequently recited and heard by people. We have begun the exegesis of Surat al-Tariq after completing what came before it.
Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) says:
Here, as you see, there is an oath. Allah the Exalted swore by it, which is the sky, and also by al-Tariq (the Night Comer). This may be confusing to some people: how does Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) swear by created things, when swearing by created things is shirk (associating partners with Allah)? This is due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): , and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . So it is not permissible to swear by other than Allah, not by the prophets, not by the angels, not by the Ka'bah, not by the homeland, and not by any of the created things.
The answer to this confusion is that we say: Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) has the right to swear by whatever He wills of His creation. His swearing by what He swears by from His creation indicates the greatness of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), because the greatness of the created indicates the greatness of the Creator. And Allah the Exalted has sworn by many things from His creation. And no one has spoken better on this topic than Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) in his book: *Al-Tabyan fi Aqsam al-Qur'an* (The Clarification of the Oaths in the Qur'an). It is a good book that benefits the student of knowledge greatly.
Here, Allah the Exalted swears by the sky. The sky is everything that is above you. Everything that is above you is a sky. Even the clouds from which rain descends are called a sky, as Allah the Exalted said: . And if it is applied to everything that is above you, then it includes what is between the sky and the earth, and it includes all the heavens, because they are all above you and higher than you.
As for His saying: , it is a second oath, meaning that Allah swore by al-Tariq. So what is al-Tariq?
Al-Tariq is not the one who knocks on his family's door at night. Rather, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) explained it by His saying: . This is al-Tariq. And the star here may mean all the stars, in which case the "al" in "al" is for the genus.
It is also possible that it is the piercing star, meaning the shining star, i.e., one with strong brightness, because it pierces the darkness with its light. And whichever it is, these stars are among the signs of Allah (Mighty and Majestic) that indicate the perfection of His power, in their movement, their order, their different shapes, and their different benefits as well. Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) said: , and He the Exalted said: . So they are an adornment for the sky, stones for the devils, and signs by which guidance is found.
Then Allah clarified what was sworn to by His saying: : The "in" here is a negation, meaning not every soul. And "lamma" means "except," meaning: not every soul except that it has a guardian from Allah. And Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) clarified the task of this guardian by His saying: . These guardians preserve the human being's deeds, what is for him and what is against him. And he will find it on the Day of Resurrection as an open book. It will be said to him: .
These guardians write what the human being does in terms of speech, and what he does in terms of action, whether it is apparent, like the words of the tongue and the actions of the limbs, or hidden, even what is in the heart of what the human being believes, for it is written against him. Due to His saying the Exalted: . This guardian preserves the deeds of the children of Adam.
And there are other guardians whom Allah mentioned in His saying: .
: The "lam" here is for command. And the intended meaning of "look" here is the look of consideration, which is the look of insight. Meaning: let the human being think about what he was created from. Was he created from iron? Was he created from steel? Was he created from something hard and strong?
The answer to these questions is: : which is the man's fluid. And He the Exalted described it in another verse as a lowly fluid, weak in flow, not like ordinary flowing water. And He the Exalted described it in another verse as a drop, i.e., a little of the fluid. This is what the human being was created from. And the wonder is that the human being is created from this lowly fluid, and then his heart becomes harder than stones, refuge sought in Allah, except for those whose hearts Allah has softened for the religion of Allah.
Then He clarified that this gushing fluid: And this indicates the depth of the exit of this fluid, and that it comes out from a secure place in the body.
The correct view is that this description is for the man's fluid. And some scholars said: it comes out from between the backbone: i.e., the man's backbone, and the ribs of the woman. But this is contrary to the apparent meaning of the word.
The correct view is that what comes out from between the backbone and the ribs is the man's fluid, because Allah the Exalted described it as such.
Then He the Exalted said: . "Indeed": i.e., Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
"Over its return": i.e., over the return of the human being.
"He is Able": and that is on the Day of Resurrection, due to His saying: . So the One who was able to create the human being from this gushing, lowly fluid is able to return him on the Day of Resurrection. And this is from the category of arguing with the tangible about the expected unseen, and it is a rational analogy.
For the human being, with his intellect, says: if Allah is able to create the human being from this lowly fluid and give him life, He is able to return him a second time . For this reason, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) argues with the beginning about the resurrection, because it is a clear, obvious analogy, and the intellect moves from this to that quickly and without difficulty.
And His saying: : i.e., it tests the secrets, which are the hearts. For the reckoning on the Day of Resurrection is based on what is in the hearts, and the reckoning in this world is based on what is in the limbs. For this reason, the Prophet (may Allah send prayers and blessings upon him and his family) treated the hypocrites as Muslims. Where permission was sought to kill them, he would say: . So he would not kill them while he knew that so-and-so is a hypocrite, and so-and-so is a hypocrite. But the action in this world is based on the apparent, and on the Day of Resurrection it is based on the hidden.
i.e., it tests. And this is like His saying: . For this reason, it is obligatory upon us, my brothers, to take care of the work of the heart more than the work of the limbs. For the work of the limbs is an apparent sign, but the work of the heart is what matters. For this reason, the Prophet (may Allah send prayers and blessings upon him) informed about the Khawarij, while addressing the Companions, saying: , meaning that they strive in the apparent deeds, but their hearts are empty, refuge sought in Allah. Islam does not go beyond their throats. They emerge from Islam as an arrow emerges from a quiver. So we, my brothers, must take care of the hearts, and their rectification, and their deeds, and their beliefs, and their directions. Al-Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "By Allah, Abu Bakr did not surpass them in prayer or fasting, but he surpassed them by what settled in his heart of faith". And when faith settles in the heart, it carries the human being to action. But the apparent action may not carry the human being to the rectification of his heart.
So we, my brothers, must take care of our hearts and their rectification, and purifying them from the impurities of shirk (associating partners with Allah), bid'ah (religious innovation), hatred, enmity, and dislike of what Allah revealed to His Messenger, and dislike of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), and other things from which the heart must be purified.
Then He the Exalted said: . Meaning: on the Day of Resurrection, the human being has no inherent power.
"And no helper": and that is the external power.
So he himself is not able to defend himself, and no one is able to defend him. Allah the Exalted said: . In this world, they ask each other, some asking others, and some taking refuge in others. But on the Day of Resurrection, there are no kinships: meaning no relatives. Kinship does not benefit. And they do not ask each other. So we ask Allah the Exalted to rectify our hearts and your hearts, and our deeds and your deeds, and to grant us from Him mercy. Indeed, He is the Bestower.
Now we begin with the questions. We ask that each question be a single one so that we can better accommodate your inquiries. We will start with the right side first, then move to the left.