Explanation of the author's statement: And His saying, the Exalted: “Those who prevailed in their affairs said, ‘We will surely build over them a mosque.’”

The Shaykh : And His saying, the Exalted:
This verse is in the context of the People of the Cave. The story of the People of the Cave is wondrous, as Allah the Exalted said: . They were young men who believed in Allah, and they were in a land of shirk (associating partners with Allah), so they left this land for Allah, Mighty and Majestic. Allah made it easy for them to enter a cave where they slept a long sleep that lasted three hundred years, and they increased by nine... nine years, and they were sleeping without needing to eat or drink or anything at all; they did not need anything at all. And among the wisdom of Allah is that Allah the Exalted turns them to the right—may Allah have mercy on you—and to the left, so that the blood does not remain stagnant in one side, so that the blood continues to circulate in them. When they emerged, they sent one of them to the city to buy food for them. When he presented the money, he found that the money had changed and differed. In the end, the people of the city learned about them, and they said, “We must build a mosque over these, meaning over their graves.” And His saying: Who are they intended to be? The rulers at that time. They said, “We will build a mosque over these.” Building mosques over graves, as you know, is among the causes of shirk and its means. These verses: we return to them now to take benefits:
First, among the benefits of the first verse: It is wondrous that Allah gives a human being a share of knowledge, and then he believes in the false gods and the tyrant. Because we said that “ma” (the particle) is for affirmation and wonder; in reality, it is for affirmation and wonder. And this is undoubtedly wondrous: that a person is given knowledge and then believes in the false gods and the tyrant.
And among the benefits of the verse: Knowledge, may Allah protect us, may not protect its owner from sin. Where do we take this from? From those who were given a share of the Scripture and believed in disbelief. And the one who believes in disbelief believes in sins, because sins are lower than it.
And among the benefits of the verse: The obligation to deny the false gods and the tyrant. It is clear that Allah the Exalted presented it in the context of wonder and blame, so it is not permissible to affirm the false gods and the tyrant; rather, it is obligatory to deny it.
And among the benefits of this verse: What the author cited it for, which is that some of this Ummah (community) will believe in the false gods and the tyrant. Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So if it is found among the Children of Israel that some believe in the false gods and the tyrant, then it will be found in this Ummah that some believe in the false gods and the tyrant.
As for the second verse, it contains among its benefits:
First: Affirming the opponent with what he cannot deny. Affirming the opponent with what he cannot deny means that you argue with your opponent with a matter he cannot deny. The Jews know that among them are people upon whom the anger of Allah has fallen, and He has cursed them and made some of them apes and pigs. They acknowledge this. So if they acknowledge this while they mock the Muslims, we say: Where is the place of mockery? Those upon whom the punishments were decreed, or those who were saved from them? The answer: Those upon whom the punishments were decreed are more deserving of mockery, may Allah protect us. So it is derived from this: affirming the opponent with what he cannot refute.
And among the benefits of this verse: The difference of people in their status with Allah, due to His saying: And there is no doubt that people differ in the increase and decrease of faith and the reward that follows it.
And among the benefits of the verse: The bad state of the Jews upon whom these punishments fell: the curse, the anger, the transformation, and the worship of the tyrant. All of this, may Allah protect us, is among the worst of punishments.
And among the benefits of the verse: The affirmation of the voluntary actions of Allah, that He, Glorified and Exalted is He, does what He wills, due to His saying: So the curse is among the attributes of actions. And among them is the affirmation of anger, due to His saying: And among them is the affirmation of power: Is the intended meaning of the apes and pigs the ones that exist? The answer: No, because it is established in Sahih Muslim from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) that every nation that was transformed does not leave any offspring, so it does not leave any offspring. And on this basis, the existing apes and pigs are not the remainder of those who were transformed. Yes.
And among the benefits of the verse: That the punishments are of the same kind as the deed. Where is this taken from? Because these who were turned into apes, and the ape is the closest in resemblance to the human, were turned into that because they did a deed whose appearance is permissibility and legality, but it is forbidden. What is this deed? That they transgressed on the Sabbath. For it was forbidden to them; hunting was forbidden to them on the day of the Sabbath. So Allah, Mighty and Majestic, tested them, and it became that when the Sabbath came to them, the sea would fill with fish, and the fish would appear on the surface of the water. And on days other than this, these fish would hide and nothing would come from them. So the time prolonged for them, and they said, “How are these fish, and we cannot hunt on the day of Friday? What shall we do?” They said, “Make a net; put a net in the water on the day of Friday and leave it until the fish come and enter the net. And when it is the day of Sunday, you come and hunt them, and by doing so, you have not hunted on the day of the Sabbath.” This is a trick. What is its appearance? Legality. But its meaning is falling into sin, exactly. And for this reason, they were turned into an animal that resembles the human, and not a human: the apes. . And this indicates that the reward is of the same kind as the deed, and it is explicitly indicated by His saying, the Exalted: .
And among the benefits of the verse: That these Jews came to worship the tyrant, due to His saying: . And there is no doubt that they still worship the tyrant to this day, because they worshipped Satan and obeyed him and disobeyed Allah and His messengers.
In the verse, there is also a grammatical point that we have not mentioned, which is “upon him” and “among them.” The pronoun in “His curse” is singular, and “His anger upon him” is singular, while “among them” is plural, even though the referent is one, and it is “man” (who/whom).
What is the answer?
That the singular was considered in the form, and the plural was considered in the meaning. And that is because “man” is a relative pronoun that is suitable for the singular and the non-singular, or not? Ibn Malik said:
“And man and ma and al—ya—equal what was mentioned”
When he mentioned the relative pronouns for the singular, dual, and plural, and the masculine and feminine, he said:
“And man and ma and al equal what was mentioned”.
So “among them” returned to “man” considering the meaning? And “His curse” and “His anger upon him” returned to it considering the form. Yes. Then he said: “Whoever Allah has cursed and He is angry with him, and He made among them...” and he did not say “He made them.” The reason: Because the curse and the anger are general, and the punishment by turning them into apes and pigs is specific, not encompassing all the Children of Israel.
It is derived from the third verse; it is derived from the third verse:
What is included in the context of this verse of the wondrous story of the People of the Cave, and what it contains of verses indicating the perfection of the power of Allah the Exalted and His wisdom.
And among them: That one of the causes of building mosques over graves is the exaggeration in the people of the graves. Because those who prevailed in their affairs said: “Let us build mosques over them,” because they became, in their view, a place of respect and honor, so they exaggerated in them. So the causes of building mosques over graves are the exaggeration in them.
We benefit from it: That the exaggeration in graves, even if it is little, may lead to something greater than it. And for this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said when he sent Ali: ... many, then those who come after us will place greater... the building.
The chapter on what came that some of this Ummah will worship idols
He said that some of this Ummah, not all of this Ummah, because it is not possible for all of this Ummah to worship idols, due to the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . And His saying: “ta'bud” (worship). And in a version: “ya'bud” (worships). So as for “ya'bud,” it is considering the added-to (the noun to which the verb is attached) or the added? The added is masculine, and as for “ta'bud,” it is considering the added-to. Ibn Malik said in the Alfiyyah:
“And perhaps it gives the second a feminine *** If it is for a deleted weak letter” And he gave as an example for it their saying:
“I cut some of his fingers” So the femininity here is for the sake of “his fingers,” not for the sake of “some.”
And His saying: “ta'bud al-awthan” (worship the idols). Al-awthan is the plural of wathn, and it is everything that is worshipped besides Allah, whether it is a tree, a stone, an idol, or otherwise; it is an idol.
And his saying: "worshipping the idols" means humbling oneself to them through worship, whether the worship is in the form of supplication or in the form of action, drawing near, bowing, and prostrating. This is drawing near through action, and supplication is worship through supplication. Supplication is worship, as Allah the Exalted said: So whoever comes to a grave and says, "O so-and-so, O close friend of Allah, or O Prophet of Allah, or the like of that, help me, save me," then that is shirk (associating partners with Allah) and worship. Likewise, whoever stands behind a grave and bows to it or prostrates to it, then that is also worship.
He said: "And the saying of Allah the Exalted:

Have you not seen those who were given a portion of the Scripture, who believe in superstition and false objects of worship

ألم تر إلى الذين أوتوا نصيبا من الكتاب يؤمنون بالجبت والطاغوت

[An-Nisa 4:51]

" Have you not seen? This interrogative is for affirmation and wonder. Indeed, those who were given a share of the Book should be the farthest of people from believing in the false god and the tyrant.
And his saying: "a share" means a portion.
And the meaning of: "were given" is they were granted.
And his saying: "of the Book" of the revealed Book. They were not given the entire Book, but only a share of it, because they were deprived of a part of it due to their disobedience.
And his saying: The false god and the tyrant. The false god: it is said that it is sorcery, and the tyrant: it is said that it is Satan. It is also possible that the intended meaning of the false god is everything in which there is no good, and the tyrant is everything by which a person exceeds his limit, whether it is a worshipped object, a followed leader, or an obeyed authority. So it is not restricted to Satan. The meaning is that these people who were given a share of the Book did not believe in Allah; they believed in what does not benefit them and in what they exceeded their limit with, such as idols and others. This interrogative is intended for affirmation along with wonder and denial. That is, he denies these people to whom Allah the Exalted gave a share of the Book, and then they believe in the false god and the tyrant. And at the end of the verse it says: Then the polytheists sent to them to ask them, saying: "Which of us is more guided, we or Muhammad?" They said: "You are more guided, more guided than Muhammad." And they, meaning the Jews, are truthful or lying? Yes, they are lying to the utmost degree of lying, and they know that too. That is, they know that they are lying and that guidance is with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as Allah the Exalted said: .
What is the connection of this verse to the chapter? The connection is that it only comes after mentioning the cause of the hadith, which is: Those who were given a share of the Book believe in the false god and the tyrant, and that some of this Ummah... its cause is those who came before them. And what is necessitated by this? That there will be in this Ummah those who believe in the false god and the tyrant. So the verse matches the heading exactly.
He said: And the saying of Allah the Exalted:
The student: Previously... .

The Shaykh : There is no harm in repeating it, there is no harm. And his saying: The interrogative here is for excitement or for affirmation. That is, have We not informed you of one worse than that in reward from Allah? From whom is the one referred to? The one referred to is what the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions were upon. For the Jews claim that they are the ones upon the truth and that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is not upon the truth. So Allah the Exalted said: And his saying: "reward." What is its grammatical case? It is a specifier for "worse," because "worse" is a superlative noun, and whatever comes as a specifier for a superlative noun is placed in the accusative case as a specifier. Did Ibn Malik point to that?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : In wonder.
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : ... wonder, yes?
The student: ... .

The Shaykh : Yes? And after... if you add it, yes. He pointed to it, but I forgot. He pointed to it by saying that whatever comes after the superlative form (af'ala) is placed in the accusative case as a specifier. And his saying: "reward" The meaning of "reward" is the return and the outcome. Those whom Allah cursed are the worst in reward. Those whom Allah cursed and became angry with, and made of them apes and swine, and worshipped the tyrant, and I seek refuge in Allah. And who are these? The Jews. This description applies to the Jews. So the Jews are the worst in reward from Allah compared to the believers. And the evidence from this is his saying: If some of the Jews worshipped the tyrant, and this Ummah will follow the ways of those who came before them, then it is necessitated that there will be in this Ummah those who worship the tyrant.
He said: And the saying of Allah the Exalted: The sentence here is affirmed by the oath, the lam, and the nūn of affirmation. "They prevailed over their affair" means those who have authority over them, and they are the princes and leaders. And the story here, or the verse, is about whom? The People of the Cave. They said, "Let us take for them a mosque," meaning over their graves. And this Ummah will build mosques over graves, just as those who came before them did, as evidenced by the following hadith of Abu Sa'id.