Explanation of the author's statement: And his saying: ((And of the people are those who say, "We believe in Allah"))

The Shaykh : And his saying: His saying: This is a prepositional phrase serving as a fronted predicate. "Man" (who) is a delayed subject, and the "min" in his saying: is for partiality. Who is meant by "man"? It refers to those whose faith does not reach the depths of their hearts. They say, "We believe in Allah," but it is a superficial faith, as in His saying, the Exalted: on the edge. What? The verse is like this verse. This person says, "We believe in Allah," with his tongue, but the faith has not reached the depths of his heart, so he is on the brink. He says, "We believe in Allah," and then Allah, Glorified and Exalted, tests him with what He decrees for him, such as the dominance of the enemies of Allah over him. He tests him by allowing those who harm him for the sake of Allah to harm him. So when he is harmed for the sake of Allah, he makes the trial of the people like the punishment of Allah.
And his saying: The "fi" (in) here is for causality, meaning because of Allah, or because of believing in Him and establishing His religion. When he is harmed in that, he makes... It is also permissible for the "fi" to be for location, on the assumption that it means "when he is harmed in the Shari'ah of Allah," meaning harm in this Shari'ah to which he holds fast. So when he is harmed in Allah, "ja'ala" (he made) is in the state of jussive (mandative) as the answer to "idha" (when).
The student: ...

The Shaykh : No, because when "if" is not a jussive particle, "if" or "when" is used in the sense of "made" or "caused." "The fitnah of the people" means the fitnah of the people toward him. The fitnah intended here is harm. Allah the Exalted called it fitnah because a person may be led astray by this harm and turn away from the path of Allah, as He the Exalted said: By what do they lead them astray? By harming them until they turn them away from the religion of Allah. So here, "the fitnah of the people" means their harming of them, which causes their being led astray. The attribution of fitnah to the people here is of the type where the source is attributed to its doer. Now, it is known that a person flees from the punishment of Allah by obeying the command of Allah, is that not so? Yes, a person flees from the punishment of Allah by what? By obeying the command of Allah so that he does not fall into the punishment. This makes this harm like the punishment of Allah, so he flees from their harm by obeying their desires and their command, making this fitnah like the punishment. Thus, he fears them as he fears Allah, because he made their harm like the punishment of Allah, so he fled from it by obeying them. At that point, the correspondence between the verse and the translation is very clear, where this man who was harmed in the cause of Allah made this harm in the position of the punishment of Allah, so he feared them as he fears Allah Mighty and Majestic, and he obeyed them as he obeys the command of Allah out of fear of Him. Is the verse clear or not? Or is it not clear?
The student: Clear.

The Shaykh : Now, the verse corresponds exactly to the translation in that he feared the people as he feared Allah, so he obeyed their command, contrary to the command of Allah, Glorified and Exalted. In this verse is a great wisdom, which is the testing of Allah, Glorified and Exalted, of the servant. His testing, Blessed and Exalted is He, is according to what His wisdom requires. The testing of Allah of the servant in order to purify his faith is of two types: sometimes with what He Himself, Blessed and Exalted is He, decrees for the servant, and sometimes with what He decrees through the hands of creation. Which type is the verse with us? It is of the second type, which is what Allah, the Exalted, decrees through the hands of creation, in the form of harming this believer as a test and trial. As for what Allah decrees for the servant, it is in His saying, the Exalted: But some people do not have patience for this when calamities befall them, may Allah protect us from that. Sometimes they disbelieve and apostatize; sometimes they apostatize completely, and sometimes they disbelieve by what contradicts the command of Allah, Glorified and Exalted, in their stance toward that calamity. This is a matter that a person should be alert to, which is His testing him when he believes by allowing one of the enemies of Allah to dominate him, or by causing him to miss what he loves from the matters of this world, or by causing him to experience what he dislikes from the matters of this world. Many people are afflicted, for example, with one of their relatives, and you find him saying in his heart, may Allah protect us from that, "It is a hardship what Allah has decreed for me," and his faith is diminished by that greatly. This is part of the trial by which Allah tests the servant. So, my brother, be alert to this thing and keep yourself on guard, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, tests the servants with what reveals the realization of faith.
The author said: "the verse" What does "the verse" mean? Complete the verse. Yes, we will complete it. Now, "like the punishment of Allah." And if help comes from your Lord, they will surely say, "We were with you." They claim this based on what? They claim that based on the faith that was with them. So when help comes from Allah and the Muslims are victorious, they say, "We were with you," and they want to share in the spoils and other things that befell you. Here, the "waw" (and) is a conjunction, connecting to an omitted word according to one opinion, or to what preceded it, on the assumption that the "hamza" (interrogative) follows it, according to another opinion. And his saying: Why did he say "la'lam" (knowing) and not "bi'alam" (with knowledge), because the "ba" is a preposition?
The student: It is prohibited from being declined (mamnū' min al-sarf).

The Shaykh : And the reason for the prohibition of declension is that it is an adjective and has the pattern of a verb. From the "al-'alamin" themselves, or from others? All of them.
The student: Yes, all of them.

The Shaykh : Yes, all of them. So Allah, the Exalted, knows what is in your heart better than you, and knows what is in the heart of another better than you, because the verse is general. And the intended meaning is what is in their hearts, because the heart is in the chest. So He, Blessed and Exalted is He, knows best. The word "la'lam" (knowing) here is a superlative noun. Some of the exegetes, may Allah have mercy on them, especially the later ones, when they come to something like this, say "la'lam" means "knowing" (alim) to avoid the superlative being applied between the Creator and the created. This interpretation they adopted, in addition to being contrary to the wording, corrupts the meaning, because if you say "la'lam" means "alim" (knowing), then the word "alim" applies to both the human and Allah and does not indicate a difference in degree. So Allah is knowing and the human is knowing, and it does not indicate a difference in degree. Thus, it corrupts the meaning. As for distorting the wording, it is apparent, where they changed the superlative noun, which indicates the existence of the meaning and an increase, to an active participle that does not indicate that. The correct view is that "la'lam" is in its proper place and is a superlative noun. And if it is a superlative noun, it clearly indicates the non-equivalence of the knowledge of the Creator and the knowledge of the created. And His saying, the Exalted: Who is meant by "al-'alamin" (the worlds) or "al-'alimin" (the knowing ones)?
The student: Everyone other than Allah.

The Shaykh : Everyone other than Allah. Everyone other than Allah is a "alam" (world). They said: Because they have knowledge of their Creator. Because they have knowledge of their Creator, and that is the case. Indeed, all of creation is a sign among the signs of Allah, Glorified and Exalted, indicating His perfection and His power, and what His lordship requires.

The questioner : His saying: ... whoever has a chest.

The Shaykh : ...

The questioner : What carries, for example, the stars? The stars are a "alam" (world).

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : What does this verse include?

The Shaykh : Do you mean to interpret "al-'alamin" (the worlds)? Yes, that is correct, "al-'alamin." So everyone who has a will in their chest.

The questioner : And the angels are also excluded.

The Shaykh : Yes

The questioner : The exclusion of the angels from the verse is because we do not know if they have a chest or...

The Shaykh : No, we do not know that they have bodies, and they are among the "al-'alamin" (the worlds) and they have a will. So Allah, the Exalted, knows what is in the chests of the "al-'alamin" (the worlds), meaning what can be in the heart, whether it is knowledge or he has knowledge. So Allah, the Exalted, knows it best. And here there is a warning against a person being on the edge, saying with his tongue what is not in his heart. So we say to him, "Beware, for Allah, the Exalted, knows what is in your heart." And for this reason, look at the fruit of faith: Ka'b ibn Malik, when he sat with the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) when he returned from Tabuk, and Ka'b had lagged behind without an excuse, he said: Look, faith. Was Ka'b ibn Malik able to say to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) such and such excuses, as the hypocrites did? But he knew that Allah knows what is in his heart and what is in his chest. And because of his faith in this, he told the truth. He said, "I have no excuse at all, and I was not better off than this expedition. I had two mounts." Now, the point from this verse is .
He said: From Abu Sa'id al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), marfu' (traced to the Prophet).

The questioner : This fear that is in the verse, O Shaykh, what kind of fear is this? Is it not to be understood as the natural fear that occurs because of...?

The Shaykh : Except that this is of the natural fear that is because of... unless it was... and it appears that it is of this type, that it is of the natural fear that is for a reason.

The questioner : ... .

The Shaykh : Because fear is general. We said that this chapter includes all categories.