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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "He will say, 'Oh, I wish I had done good for my life...'" to the end of Surat al-Fajr.

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The Shaykh : As for what follows: This is the sixty-eighth meeting, yes.
And upon you be peace. May Allah keep you well... But pray the midday prayer with us.

The questioner : ...

The Shaykh : Yes
As for what follows: This is the sixty-eighth meeting of the weekly gathering that takes place every Thursday, and this day is: the fourth Thursday of the month of Rabi' al-Awwal in the year 1415.
And it is our custom to speak about what Allah the Exalted has made easy of the exegesis of the Noble Qur'an, and we have reached the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He:
(24) He will say, "Oh, I wish I had sent ahead [some good] for my life." (25) So on that Day, none will punish [as severely] as His punishment, (26) And none will bind [as severely] as His binding [of the evildoers]. يَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِي * فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لا يُعَذَّبُ عَذَابَهُ أَحَدٌ * وَلا يُوثَقُ وَثَاقَهُ أَحَدٌ
[Al-Fajr 89:24-26]
And this is the end of Surat al-Fajr.
Allah the Exalted says:
that Day, man will remember, but what good to him will be the remembrance? يَوْمَئِذٍ يَتَذَكَّرُ الْإِنْسَانُ وَأَنَّى لَهُ الذِّكْرَى
[Al-Fajr 89:23]
Meaning: When Allah comes on the Day of Resurrection, and the angels come in rows, and they surround the creation, and the terrors and terrors occur, the person remembers. He remembers that he was promised this day, and that he was informed of it by the messengers (peace be upon them), and they warned and frightened, but whoever the word of punishment has been decreed for him, he will not believe even if every sign came to him, may Allah protect us.
At that time he remembers, but Allah the Exalted says:
But of what avail will the remembrance be to him? وَأَنَّى لَهُ الذِّكْرَى
How can he have remembrance on this day in which he saw what he was informed of with certainty? And faith upon witnessing does not benefit, and faith upon witnessing does not benefit because every person believes in what he witnessed. The beneficial faith is faith in the unseen:
Who believe in the unseen الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ
[Al-Baqarah 2:3]
and believing in what the messengers reported about Allah the Exalted and about the Hereafter. On that day the person remembers, but Allah the Exalted said:
But of what avail will the remembrance be to him? وَأَنَّى لَهُ الذِّكْرَى
Meaning: It is far that he benefits from this remembrance that occurred in him when he witnessed the truth.
He says يَقُولُ
The person
Oh, I wish I had sent ahead [some good] for my life." يَا لَيْتَنِي قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِي
[Al-Fajr 89:24]
wishes that he had brought forth for his life. And what is his life? Do you think he wants the life of this world? No, by Allah, the life of this world has ended and passed, and the life of this world is not life in reality. The reality is that it is worries and sorrows. Every joy is followed by sorrow, every health is followed by illness, every gathering is followed by separation. Look at what happened! Where are the fathers? Where are the brothers? Where are the sons? Where are the wives? Is this life? Absolutely not. For this reason, some of the wise poets said:
"There is no sweetness in life as long as its pleasures are spoiled by the remembrance of death and old age"
"There is no sweetness in life as long as its pleasures are spoiled by the remembrance of death and old age"
Every person remembers that his end is one of two things: either death, or old age.
We know people who were young in the prime of youth, they were given long life, but they returned to the worst of age. A person feels pity for them when he sees them in a state of misery, even if they have wealth and family, but they are in a state of misery.
And so it is with every person, either he dies early, or he is given long life and is returned to the worst of age. Is this life? Life is what Allah the Exalted has clarified:
And indeed, the home of the Hereafter - that is the [eternal] life, if only they knew. وَإِنَّ الدَّارَ الْآخِرَةَ لَهِيَ الْحَيَوَانُ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ
[Al-'Ankabut 29:64]
Meaning: The complete life is for them, if only they had known.
He says this:
Oh, I wish I had sent ahead [some good] for my life." يَا لَيْتَنِي قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِي
[Al-Fajr 89:24]
He wishes, but unfortunately, how can he have remembrance.
Allah the Exalted said:
(25) So on that Day, none will punish [as severely] as His punishment, (26) And none will bind [as severely] as His binding [of the evildoers]. فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لا يُعَذَّبُ عَذَابَهُ أَحَدٌ * وَلا يُوثَقُ وَثَاقَهُ أَحَدٌ
[Al-Fajr 89:25-26]
Meaning: On this day, no one is punished with his punishment, and no one is bound with his binding. And it is known that this disbeliever, the believer, the mention of the believer will come to us, if Allah wills. The disbeliever, no one is punished with his punishment on that day. And I tell you why? Because he is thrown upon the people of the Fire in the standing place with extreme thirst. They look at the Fire as if it were a mirage. The mirage is what a person sees in the days of summer in the heat of the places, until it seems to him that it is water.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : They look at the Fire as if it were a mirage and they are thirsty, so they rush to it, they go to it quickly wanting what? They want to drink. When they come to it, its doors open and its keepers say to them:
Did there not come to you messengers from yourselves, reciting to you the verses of your Lord and warning you of the meeting of this Day of yours? ألم يأتكم رسل منكم يتلون عليكم آيات ربكم وينذرونكم لقاء يومكم هذا
[Az-Zumar 39:71]
The proof has been established against you. They are rebuked before they enter the Fire, and the rebuke is a punishment of the heart and a pain of the soul, before they taste the pain of the Fire, may Allah protect us. May Allah protect me and you from it. In the Fire, the Mighty, the Exalted rebukes them with a greater rebuke than this. They say:
(106) They will say, "Our Lord, our wretchedness overcame us, and we were a people astray. (107) Our Lord, remove us from it, and if we were to return [to evil], we would indeed be wrongdoers." ربنا غلبت علينا شقوتنا وكنا قومًا ضالين * ربنا أخرجنا منها فإن عدنا فإنا ظالمون
[Al-Mu'minun 23:106-107]
Allah the Exalted says, and He is the Most Merciful of the merciful:
He will say, "Remain despised therein and do not speak to Me. اخسئوا فيها ولا تكلمون
[Al-Mu'minun 23:108]
More than this humiliation, may Allah protect us
He will say, "Remain despised therein and do not speak to Me. اخسئوا فيها ولا تكلمون
[Al-Mu'minun 23:108]
The Most Merciful of the merciful says it. So who will have mercy on them after the Merciful? There is no one to have mercy on them. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed that
The lightest of the people of the Fire in punishment is the one who has two slippers on his feet, from which his brain boils, and he does not see that anyone is lighter in punishment than he is أهون أهل النار عذابًا من عليه نعلان يغلي منهما دماغه، ولا يرى أن أحدًا أهون منه
, and he does not see that anyone is more severely punished than him. He sees that he is the most severely punished of people, and he is the least of them in punishment. And on him are two sandals from which his brain boils. The sandals are at the bottom of the body and the brain is at the top. If the top of the body boils from the bottom, then the middle is even more so. May Allah protect us and you from the Fire.
(25) So on that Day, none will punish [as severely] as His punishment, (26) And none will bind [as severely] as His binding [of the evildoers]. فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لا يُعَذَّبُ عَذَابَهُ أَحَدٌ * وَلا يُوثَقُ وَثَاقَهُ أَحَدٌ
[Al-Fajr 89:25-26]
Because they, may Allah protect us, are bound:
Then into a chain whose length is seventy cubits insert him." ثُمَّ فِي سِلْسِلَةٍ ذَرْعُهَا سَبْعُونَ ذِرَاعاً فَاسْلُكُوهُ
[Al-Haqqah 69:32]
They put him in this chain. Their hands are shackled, we ask Allah for well-being. And no one can imagine now what they are in of misery, wretchedness, and punishment. By Allah, sometimes a person wishes that he had not been created out of fear of the Fire. 'Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say:
I wish my mother had not given birth to me, I wish I were a tree that is cut down ليت أمي لم تلدني، ليتني شجرة تُعْضَد
Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah 34:253
Because a person does not know first what he is upon now! Is he on the right or on the wrong? Is there showing off in his worship? Is there religious innovation in his worship? And he does not see also - and this is more dangerous - he does not see what he will be concluded with:
Similarly, a person may do deeds characteristic of the people of Paradise, so much so that there is only the distance of a cubit between him and it, and then what has been written (by the angel) surpasses, and he starts doing deeds of the people of the (Hell) Fire and enters the (Hell) Fire. إن الرجل ليعمل بعمل أهل الجنة حتى ما يكون بينه وبينها إلا ذراع، فيسبق عليه الكتاب، فيعمل بعمل أهل النار، فيدخلها
Sahih al-Bukhari 3332
Who is safe at death from being turned away and led astray? And Satan comes to him and says: I am your father. Leave Islam, O my son, and be a Christian or a Jew? Because some people, may Allah protect us, are tested at death. The religions are presented to him, and it is said to him: Choose the Christians, or choose the Jews. Turn away from Islam. For this reason: And from the trial of life and death. Who is safe? I ask Allah to make my and your ending good. Who is safe? So: It is obligatory for the person to prepare.
(24) He will say, "Oh, I wish I had sent ahead [some good] for my life." (25) So on that Day, none will punish [as severely] as His punishment, (26) And none will bind [as severely] as His binding [of the evildoers]. يَقُولُ يَا لَيْتَنِي قَدَّمْتُ لِحَيَاتِي * فَيَوْمَئِذٍ لا يُعَذَّبُ عَذَابَهُ أَحَدٌ * وَلا يُوثَقُ وَثَاقَهُ أَحَدٌ
[Al-Fajr 89:24-26]
.
Then Allah the Exalted concluded this surah with what delights the heart and opens the chest, and He said:
[To the righteous it will be said], "O reassured soul, يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ
[Al-Fajr 89:27]
O Allah, make our souls at peace.
(27) [To the righteous it will be said], "O reassured soul, (28) Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ * ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَرْضِيَّةً
[Al-Fajr 89:27-28]

Return to your Lord ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ
This saying is said to the person at the moment of death in the last moment of the world. It is said to his soul: Come out, O peaceful soul. Come out to a mercy from Allah and satisfaction. So she rejoices and is happy, and her exit from the body becomes easy, because she was given glad tidings of what is better than everything in the world. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said:
And the space occupied by the whip of one of you in Paradise is better than the world and what is on it. لَمَوضع سوط أحدكم في الجنة خيرٌ من الدنيا وما فيها
Jami` at-Tirmidhi 1664Sahih (Darussalam)
The whip of a person: the short stick. The place of the whip in Paradise is better than the world and what is in it. And it is not your world, the world from its beginning to its end, with what is in it of pleasure, kingdom, and luxury, and others. The place of the whip is better than the world and what is in it. So how about the one who looks at the kingdom of his journey of two thousand years, two thousand years, he sees its farthest point as he sees its nearest point. A pleasure that we cannot grasp with our souls or our imagination:
And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes as reward for what they used to do. فَلا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَا أُخْفِيَ لَهُمْ مِنْ قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ جَزَاءً بِمَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ
[As-Sajdah 32:17]

What is the meaning of the peaceful? The peaceful means: the believing, the safe, the believing, the safe. Because you will never find a soul more at peace than the soul of the believer. The believer, O my brothers, his soul is good and at peace. For this reason, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was amazed at the believer and said:
How wonderful is the affair of the believer, for all his affairs are good. If hardship strikes him, he is patient, and that is good for him. If prosperity strikes him, he is grateful, and that is good for him عجباً لأمر المؤمن إن أمرَه كلَّه خير، إن أصابته ضراء صبر، فكان خيراً له، وإن أصابته سراء شكر، فكان خيراً له
He is at peace, walking with Allah by His decree and destiny. He does not get angry at calamities, and he does not become arrogant at blessings. Rather, he is grateful at blessings, and patient at tribulation. So you find him at peace.
But the disbeliever, or the weak in faith, does not find peace. When tribulation strikes him, he panics and gets angry, and he sees that he is wronged by Allah, may Allah protect us. Until some of them commit suicide, they do not have patience, they do not find peace. He is always in anxiety. He looks, for example, at himself and finds that he has little money, few children, he has no wife, he has no people to protect him. So he says: I am not in blessing, because so-and-so has money, he has wives, he has children, he has a tribe that protects him. I do not have that. So he does not see any blessing from Allah upon him, he does not see any blessing from Allah upon him, because he is weak in faith, and he is not at peace, always in anxiety.
For this reason, we find people now going to every place to relax themselves, to remove from them the pain and fatigue. But nothing removes that from you except what? Except faith, true faith, is what leads to peace.
The tranquil soul: it is the believer, is it not? The one who is secure, a believer in this world, secure from the punishment of Allah on the Day of Resurrection. O Allah, make our souls like this.
O my brothers, some of the Salaf said a strange word. He said: "If the kings and the sons of kings knew what we are in, they would fight us for it with swords." Do you find anyone in this world more blessed than the kings and their sons? Answer? No, there is no one more blessed than them in appearance, meaning in the blessing of the body or the blessing of the body, but their hearts are not like the hearts of the believers. The believer who has nothing but a patched garment and a hut that does not protect him from the rain or the heat, but he is a believer; his worldly life and his enjoyment in this world are better than that of the kings and the sons of kings, because his heart is illuminated by the light of Allah, the light of faith.
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) was imprisoned and afflicted for the sake of Allah (Mighty and Majestic). So when he was put in prison and they closed the door on him, he said (may Allah have mercy on him):
And a wall will be placed between them with a door, its interior containing mercy, but on the outside of it is torment. فَضُرِبَ بَيْنَهُمْ بِسُورٍ لَهُ بَابٌ بَاطِنُهُ فِيهِ الرَّحْمَةُ وَظَاهِرُهُ مِنْ قِبَلِهِ الْعَذَابُ
[Al-Hadid 57:13]
He says this as a mention of the blessing of Allah, not as boasting. Then he said: What can my enemies do to me? -What do they do? My Paradise is in my chest. What is Paradise? Faith, knowledge, and certainty. And my imprisonment is seclusion, and my exile -if they exile me from the land- is travel, and my killing is martyrdom. Glory be to Allah! This is certainty, this is tranquility.
If a person were put in prison here, he would start worrying and agonizing: What is my future? What is the future of my children? My family? My tribe? But this man says: My Paradise is in my chest, and he told the truth. And perhaps this is the secret in the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):
They will not taste death therein except the first death لا يَذُوقُونَ فِيهَا الْمَوْتَ إِلَّا الْمَوْتَةَ الْأُولَى
[Ad-Dukhan 44:56]
It is known that there is no death in Paradise, neither first nor second. But because the enjoyment of the heart extends from this world to entering Paradise, it became as if the whole of this world and the Hereafter is Paradise, and there is in it only one death. So we ask Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) to make a good ending for us and for you, and to gather us with you and our Muslim brothers whom Allah has blessed in Paradise with the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous. Indeed, He is capable of all things.
He, the Exalted, says:
(27) [To the righteous it will be said], "O reassured soul, (28) Return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ * ارْجِعِي إِلَى رَبِّكِ رَاضِيَةً مَرْضِيَّةً
[Al-Fajr 89:27-28]
well-pleased رَاضِيَةً
With the enjoyment that Allah has given you
well-pleased with مَرْضِيَّةً
with Allah (Mighty and Majestic), as Allah the Exalted said:
Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ
[Al-Ma'idah 5:119]
.
And enter among My [righteous] servants فَادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي
[Al-Fajr 89:29]
Meaning: Enter among My righteous servants, among them, because the righteous are the servants of Allah, and they are the best of the classes of humanity. Humanity has three classes: those upon whom is mercy, those upon whom is anger, and those who are astray.
All these classes are mentioned in which surah? Surat al-Fatihah:
(6) Guide us to the straight path - (7) The path of those upon whom You have bestowed favor, not of those who have evoked [Your] anger or of those who are astray. اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ * صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا الضَّالِّينَ
[Al-Fatihah 1:6-7]
.
And I ask you, when you read this verse: Does any of you feel that those upon whom Allah has bestowed His mercy are the prophets, the truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous, and that he is asking Allah to guide him to the path of these people? Most people do not feel this. Most people read it like this, but they do not feel that this is a history, meaning it points to the history of nations, and that the second class, those upon whom is anger, are the Jews and those similar to the Jews from everyone who knew the truth and opposed it. Everyone who knew the truth and opposed it has a similarity to the Jews, as Sufyan ibn 'Uyaynah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Whoever is corrupt among our scholars has a similarity to the Jews."
Who are those who are astray? The Christians. They are those who were ignorant of the truth; they wanted it but were blinded from it -may Allah protect us- they did not find guidance to it.
Ibn 'Uyaynah said: "And whoever is corrupt among our worshippers has a similarity to the Christians." Because they are the worshippers; they want good and they want worship, but they do not have knowledge, so they are astray.
So I say, O my brothers, people are three classes: those upon whom is mercy, those upon whom is anger, and those who are astray.
And here he says:
And enter among My [righteous] servants ادْخُلِي فِي عِبَادِي
[Al-Fajr 89:29]
Of the servants? Which class is meant? The first class: those upon whom is mercy.
And enter My Paradise وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي
His Paradise which Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has prepared for His awliya (close friends of Allah) -we ask Allah to make us and you among its people- Allah attributed it to Himself to honor it and magnify it, and to inform the creation of His care for it (Exalted and Majestic is He).
And Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) has created it with a creation other than the creation of this world. He created for us in this world fruit, dates, and pomegranates. In Paradise there is also fruit, dates, and pomegranates. Do you think that what is in Paradise is like what is in this world? Absolutely not, because Allah says:
And no soul knows what has been hidden for them of comfort for eyes فَلا تَعْلَمُ نَفْسٌ مَا أُخْفِيَ لَهُمْ مِنْ قُرَّةِ أَعْيُنٍ
[As-Sajdah 32:17]
And if what is in Paradise were like what is in this world, we would know it.
So: it is like it in name, but it is not like it in reality, nor in manner. For this reason he said:
And enter My Paradise وَادْخُلِي جَنَّتِي
So he attributed it to Himself to indicate its honor and the care of Allah for it. And this obliges the person to desire it with the utmost desire, just as he desires the houses of Allah, which are the mosques, because Allah attributed them to Himself. So likewise, he should desire this abode which He attributed to Himself. And the matter is easy. A man said to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him):
Point me to a deed that will put me in Paradise and keep me away from the Fire. He said: You have asked about something great دلني على عمل يدخلني الجنة ويباعدني من النار، فقال: لقد سألت عن عظيم
-And it is a great authentic hadith,
So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise has attained [his desire] فَمَنْ زُحْزِحَ عَنِ النَّارِ وَأُدْخِلَ الْجَنَّةَ فَقَدْ فَازَ
[Ali 'Imran 3:185]
But- and it is easy for whom Allah makes it easy -O Allah, make it easy for us to the right path-
it is easy for the one for whom Allah makes it easy. Worship Allah and do not associate anything in worship with Him, establish prayer, pay charity إنه ليسير على مَن يسره الله عليه تعبد الله لا تشرك به شيئاً، وتقيم الصلاة، وتؤتي الزكاة
Sunan Ibn Majah 3973Hasan (Darussalam)
And he mentioned the hadith.
The important thing is that the religion, and praise be to Allah, is easy and simple, but the souls that command evil are what stand between us and our religion, along with desires and doubts.
Our Lord, give us in this world [that which is] good and in the Hereafter [that which is] good and protect us from the punishment of the Fire." رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً وَفِي الْآخِرَةِ حَسَنَةً وَقِنَا عَذَابَ النَّارِ
[Al-Baqarah 2:201]
.
[Who say], "Our Lord, let not our hearts deviate after You have guided us and grant us from Yourself mercy. Indeed, You are the Bestower. رَبَّنَا لا تُزِغْ قُلُوبَنَا بَعْدَ إِذْ هَدَيْتَنَا وَهَبْ لَنَا مِنْ لَدُنْكَ رَحْمَةً إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْوَهَّابُ
[Ali 'Imran 3:8]
.
And now to the questions, and we start with the oath. And it is our custom that the question is one for each person, and there is no follow-up to the answer unless the answer is wrong. Yes.
Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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