Degrees of Excellence among Prophets and Believers

Occasion: A transcription of a lecture delivered in Ramadan 1441 AH, on April 26, 2020Source: A transcription of a video lecture by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Praise be to Allah, who has blessed us with the blessing of Islam, and has poured out upon us of His goodness, His grace, His blessings and His gifts, which cannot be counted or enumerated. Rather, praise be to Allah who taught us that His blessings cannot be counted or enumerated: ﴿وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا﴾ (And if you should count the favor of Allah, you could not enumerate it).^[13] Praise be to Allah for the blessing of fasting, for the blessing of the night prayer, for the blessing of Islam, and for the blessing of the Qur'an. Praise be to Allah who made us among those who were guided by His guidance and walked the path of His Messenger ﷺ, and who poured out upon us of what He poured out upon His righteous servants, the keeping close to the Qur'an and its people. And we ask Him, Glorified be He, to grant us understanding of His Book, and to guide us to the true tracks of His Messenger ﷺ, so that we walk behind them and on their paths, and keep to the very steps on which the Prophet ﷺ walked.

We live through these blessed times in which souls become pure, feelings soften, the ribs of the soul grow calm, and the hearts of the believers find tranquility, those hearts that have often suffered through the year, until when Ramadan comes they set down their burdens before the Qur'an in the month of the Qur'an. And today I want to speak to you about something that passed before you today, which is the reading of the third part of the Book of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, and we begin with the opening with which the Lord of the worlds opened this part: ﴿تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ ۘ مِّنْهُم مَّن كَلَّمَ اللَّهُ ۖ وَرَفَعَ بَعْضَهُمْ دَرَجَاتٍ﴾ [البقرة: 253] (Those messengers, some of them We have favored over others; among them were those to whom Allah spoke, and He raised some of them in degrees).

Do the Prophets Excel One Another?

We were in a conversation with your brothers in the morning, and we asked: is there excellence of some prophets over others? Then the Prophet ﷺ tells us not to prefer some prophets over others, and he says: do not prefer me over Moses, nor over Jonah son of Mattā.^[1] And so he ﷺ informs us that the matter of weighing the prophets against one another is not acceptable in itself, so it is not accepted that you prefer Abraham over Moses, or Noah over Jesus. It is not acceptable to set up a ranking among those whom Allah chose to occupy the same office and the same standing.

So how then do we understand the words of Allah, Blessed and Exalted? The understanding, in my view, is that the excellence among them came about only through the effort they expended. And we see in this that the verse came after the story of David and his war with Goliath, and after Allah told us of people who went out fleeing from death, and Allah caused them to die. For when Allah, Mighty and Majestic, created us, He created us to bear responsibility: ﴿إِنَّا عَرَضْنَا الْأَمَانَةَ عَلَى السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَالْجِبَالِ فَأَبَيْنَ أَن يَحْمِلْنَهَا وَأَشْفَقْنَ مِنْهَا وَحَمَلَهَا الْإِنسَانُ﴾ [الأحزاب: 72] (Indeed, We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they declined to bear it and feared it, and man undertook to bear it). It is responsibility, the responsibility of the trust, which makes us advance forward and not go back, which makes us expend our effort and not stay silent about it, and offer it rather than only take. Accordingly, I see in this outlook on excellence a model of what Allah wanted to bring about as excellence among people in their efforts.

Spending as the Arena of Excellence

And the example set forth in the noble sūrah is a very important example, in which the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, speaks to us: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن يَأْتِيَ يَوْمٌ لَّا بَيْعٌ فِيهِ وَلَا خُلَّةٌ وَلَا شَفَاعَةٌ ۗ وَالْكَافِرُونَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ﴾ [البقرة: 254] (O you who believe, spend from what We have provided you before there comes a Day in which there is no trade and no friendship and no intercession; and the disbelievers, they are the wrongdoers). This divine call, coming directly after the discussion of excellence among the prophets, must contain an indication that this is the arena through which you can attain excellence among yourselves.

So we ask: Glory be to Allah, how do we excel one another by giving, when not all of us find something to give? Someone asked the Prophet ﷺ about the best of deeds, and he ﷺ told him that the best of them is to give, to spend from what one has, and to spend with generosity and bounty. So he asked him: O Messenger of Allah, what if I have no wealth?^[2] And the Prophet ﷺ gave him varied models of spending: spending of effort, spending of time, spending of money. So it became clear to me that spending money is one part of very many parts called the school of spending, or the school of giving. Accordingly, I see that spending is a source of excellence among people.

And why? Because it is dear to souls. The Lord of Might, Glorified be He, says: ﴿وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ﴾ (And whoever is protected from the stinginess of his own soul, it is those who are the successful).^[14] It is as if success depends on one matter, which is being protected from the stinginess of the soul: that I take out of what I have and give it to people, and so he succeeded. And the answer came: yes, because if you were protected from your soul's stinginess and learned to give, you would give from your wealth for zakāh, and would give from your wealth and your time for the performance of the obligation of Ḥajj, and would keep your family ties, and would be good to your neighbors, and would grant the people around you each according to what he wants and needs. So the system of giving comes complete, not confined to a single door.

The Ever-Living, the Sustainer: Fear Nothing

Then the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, after commanding this spending and making it a source of excellence among people, and since the matter is hard on souls, tells us what amounts to this: spend and fear nothing, for I am here. ﴿اللَّهُ لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ ۚ لَا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلَا نَوْمٌ﴾ [البقرة: 255] (Allah, there is no deity except Him, the Ever-Living, the Sustainer of all existence. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep). Do not think that your condition will be lost in a moment of heedlessness; for the God who commanded you with this spending is the Ever-Living who does not die, and He is the Sustainer who takes charge of the affairs of the heavens and the earth. So what you gave from here and let go, He gives you from here, so you spend it also or keep it for yourself.

Indeed, the concept of giving ought to expand in proportion to our trust and certainty in Allah, Glorified be He. For to the degree that you are certain of Allah, the Mighty King, Exalted in His majesty, that He owns the means of the heavens and the earth, and gives whom He wills whatever He wills, and raises whom He wills and lowers whom He wills, and honors whom He wills and humbles whom He wills, and withholds from whom He wills and extends to whom He wills, to the measure of your belief in Allah, Blessed and Exalted, will be your spending.

And since the human soul may waver between giving and taking, or between giving and withholding, the Lord of the worlds says: ﴿لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ﴾ [البقرة: 256] (There is no compulsion in religion). And although the verse has a more general significance than that, in this context it may be interpreted in this way:^[3] We will not compel you to give, but know that whoever gives and walks in the company of the believers whom I commanded a little while ago to spend by My saying "O you who believe, spend," and whoever follows this path and walks in it, is within My precincts and in the shade of those of whom Allah spoke with His words: ﴿اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِ﴾ [البقرة: 257] (Allah is the Ally of those who believe; He brings them out from darknesses into the light). And the people of knowledge say that the darknesses mentioned in this noble text are the darknesses of polytheism and disbelief, and we add that they are also the darknesses of ingratitude: being ungrateful for Allah's blessing by holding back wealth and not giving it to the needy.

The Ethics of Crisis and the Ethics of Prosperity

The condition through which creation is passing today requires that the dinar and the dirham and the dollar and the pound, and any currency whatever, not be kept in our pockets; rather it requires that wealth be spread open in our hands for people. I have five, and you have ten, and this one has twenty, and this one has thirty, and this one needs one and this one needs two; so it is as if we are in a shared vessel in which we gather all our money so that everyone may take.

And there are great differences between the ethics of crisis and the ethics of prosperity. In prosperity people own things, and the Lord of Might asks them to give the zakāh of their wealth, and does not urge them with further urging toward further charity, because there is no need for it.^[4] But when there is a crisis in society, the slogan is raised: "May Allah have mercy on the Ashʿarīs." This is how the Prophet ﷺ spoke of the Ashʿarīs, who, when a calamity struck them, gathered everything they had and put it in one vessel, so the people came and all ate, so none of them rose except satisfied, and the food did not run out until everyone had eaten.^[5] It is mutual cooperation among individuals, and between individuals and food, and between food and people. It is the spirit of the community when crises befall societies, and all the people become of one heart like a single man, as the Lord of the worlds, Glorified be He, told us: ﴿إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِهِ صَفًّا كَأَنَّهُم بُنيَانٌ مَّرْصُوصٌ﴾ [الصف: 4] (Indeed, Allah loves those who fight in His cause in a row as though they are a [single] structure joined firmly).

And this fighting should not be confined to the battlefields alone. There is fighting against a ruthless enemy who wants to raid the lands and the people, and there is another battle against poverty, or against need, or against crisis, or against the enemy of souls who wants to creep into us, and in it we ought to be of one heart like a single man. And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ tells us with his saying: «مثل المؤمنين في توادّهم وتراحمهم كمثل الجسد الواحد، إذا اشتكى منه عضو تداعى له سائر الأعضاء بالسهر والحمّى» (The likeness of the believers in their mutual love and mercy is that of one body: when one limb complains, the rest of the body responds with sleeplessness and fever).^[6] Those are the ethics of crisis.

And the crisis has revealed the ethics of many people, indeed of great states. For many people, when they saw the crisis show its face, prices suddenly rose, and foodstuffs vanished all at once in some places. What is this? It is the ethics of crisis, which express the soundness of the metal of those who stretched out their hands with help, whether states or individuals, and disclose the baseness of the metal of those who seized the opportunity to exploit people's needs and to trade in what creation needed.

Wealth Is a Trust We Are Entrusted With

We return to the blessed verses. The Lord of Might says: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنفِقُوا مِمَّا رَزَقْنَاكُم﴾ (O you who believe, spend from what We have provided you), and to make this matter and this concept easier for you, know that you spend from what Allah, Exalted, gave you, as the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, said with His words: ﴿أَنفِقُوا مِمَّا جَعَلَكُم مُّسْتَخْلَفِينَ فِيهِ﴾ [الحديد: 7] (Spend from that in which He has made you successive trustees). So what I have is not my property, but is the property of Allah, Blessed and Exalted. So why is it with me and not with so-and-so? I am entrusted with it, entrusted so that I deliver it to those who need it.

For Allah, Blessed and Exalted, singles out some of His servants for giving, and singles out some of them for need, so that He tests this one in his need: will he transgress the commands in obtaining wealth? And He tests this one to whom He gave wealth: will he succeed in the test of delivering the trust to its owners? And in both cases that servant is being tested, whether the one who took the wealth and whom Allah gave it, or the one who was deprived of wealth and whom Allah withheld it from. And what remains common to all people is the gift of the Lord of the worlds to whoever desires it: the gift of faith, which is the most precious thing in the universe. As for this world, it is as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ describes it: «لو كانت الدنيا تعدل عند الله جناح بعوضة ما سقى الكافر منها شربة ماء» (If this world were worth the wing of a gnat in the sight of Allah, He would not have given a disbeliever a drink of water from it).^[7]

Servants of Allah, we stand before a system of ethics whose features the Lord of the worlds, Glorified be He, defines for us, but the foundation of this system is that you break the barrier of stinginess that exists within yourself. And Allah first sets forth an example for us: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنفِقُوا﴾ (O you who believe, spend); do not worry about spending, for the Giver and the Guardian and the Protector and the Sustainer, His existence stands between you and any need. And We will not compel you to give, but know that you are under Our guardianship if you give.

The Parable of Abraham and the Ruined Town

Then the Lord of Might sets forth for us a model of this flowing giving. What is the model set forth for us in these blessed verses? ﴿أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رَبِّهِ﴾ [البقرة: 258] (Have you not considered the one who argued with Abraham about his Lord?). He is pointing his Messenger ﷺ to look and take a lesson. Abraham, peace be upon him, was on a mission of calling to Allah with which no money goes out, but rather there goes out with it advice to an oppressor, to a tyrant whom Allah, Exalted, had given what distinguished him over others. So whoever spends as a teacher for students is spending from his teaching and his professorship, and whoever spends as a physician for a patient is spending from his medicine for the one in front of him, and whoever spends as an imam for a congregation is spending from what he has for those under his responsibility and care. And by this the tasks are distributed and people complement one another, and that is the saying of the Lord of the worlds, Glorified be He: ﴿وَاللَّهُ فَضَّلَ بَعْضَكُمْ عَلَىٰ بَعْضٍ فِي الرِّزْقِ﴾ [النحل: 71] (And Allah has favored some of you over others in provision). So He, Mighty and Majestic, favored people in livelihoods, or distinguished among them in their livelihoods, and glory be to the One whose words these are. So when Abraham, peace be upon him, stood before Nimrod to admonish and speak to him, that was the model of spending that he had.

And perhaps some will say: if Abraham was about to be killed in such a situation, what of me if I become poor? Then the Lord of Might passes me through a story of utmost wonder, and speaks with His words: ﴿أَوْ كَالَّذِي مَرَّ عَلَىٰ قَرْيَةٍ وَهِيَ خَاوِيَةٌ عَلَىٰ عُرُوشِهَا﴾ [البقرة: 259] (Or [consider] the like of the one who passed by a township which had fallen into ruin). Is it possible that your condition, in terms of owning wealth, is like a township fallen into ruin, you look at your state and say: how could this poor fellow have wealth at any time? Or from where could wealth come to him? Then Allah, Blessed and Exalted, informs us of the example set forth with us, and how He gives life to the dead. And Allah sets forth the example for "ʿUzayr," it appears,^[15] as He sets it forth for us at the same time: that He who was able to give in the first instance is able to give a second and a third time, and that no one becomes poor in the shade of the dominion of the Lord of the worlds, Glorified be He.

The Wonder at Those Who Fear Poverty

By Allah, I marvel at people who fear poverty! If we live in a respectable state whose government cares for its people, and people do not go to bed hungry under any circumstances, so whoever needs money has a stipend issued to him at the state's expense, and whoever needs medical care is treated at the state's expense, and whoever needs such and such, he lives in a state in which he is at ease and reassured, because he is under the sponsorship of this state and under the leadership of this ruler. So how about those who live in the shelter of the Most Merciful, in the shade of the greatness of His power, Glorified be He? How about those who believe in the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic: ﴿وَمَا مِن دَابَّةٍ فِي الْأَرْضِ إِلَّا عَلَى اللَّهِ رِزْقُهَا وَيَعْلَمُ مُسْتَقَرَّهَا وَمُسْتَوْدَعَهَا﴾ [هود: 6] (And there is no creature on earth but that upon Allah is its provision, and He knows its place of dwelling and its place of storage)? How about those who are certain of the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted: ﴿وَفِي السَّمَاءِ رِزْقُكُمْ وَمَا تُوعَدُونَ﴾ [الذاريات: 22] (And in the heaven is your provision and that which you are promised)?

We have believed that He who gave life the first time is He who gives it a second time, and we have believed that He who gave wealth the first time is He who gives it if the servant spends, even if he reaches the point of poverty. For Allah, Exalted, looks after those who give for His sake and in His cause. And accordingly the Prophet ﷺ speaks in such words as: «الخلق عيال الله، أحبّهم إلى الله أنفعهم لعياله» (Creation is the dependents of Allah; the most beloved of them to Allah are those most beneficial to His dependents).^[8] And whatever the interpretations of such a blessed text may be, we stand before a system of divine gifts and a system of human gifts. Which is more faithful? Which is greater? Which is more majestic? Which is larger? Glory be to the All-Creating, the All-Knowing, who deposited in His universe such secrets as produce wonder in the minds of human beings!

Abraham and the Birds

And we pass through the verses, and the Lord of Might tells us of Abraham, peace be upon him, as he says to the Lord of Might, Glorified be He: ﴿رَبِّ أَرِنِي كَيْفَ تُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ﴾ [البقرة: 260] (My Lord, show me how You give life to the dead). Why this example set forth? Through it the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, shows you how wealth comes to you even if its means are cut off, as the limbs of these birds were cut apart and each placed on the top of a mountain, but by the command of Allah the parts of spending come back to you again.

I wish that the great merchants in all the countries, those who ascribed themselves to Islam, would listen to this example from the words of the Lord of Might, Glorified be He. And we know that there is much good in people, but at the same time we are certain that the soul may prevail at times. So rest assured in what the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, has, and know that if you are walking through this world by the method of trade and profit, then that is the example set forth for you in what they spend in this worldly life.

The Parable of the Grain

Allah, Blessed and Exalted, says: ﴿مَّثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ حَبَّةٍ أَنبَتَتْ سَبْعَ سَنَابِلَ فِي كُلِّ سُنبُلَةٍ مِّائَةُ حَبَّةٍ﴾ [البقرة: 261] (The example of those who spend their wealth in the cause of Allah is like a seed [of grain] which grows seven spikes; in each spike is a hundred grains). This depiction of this crop, as it rises from its place to flourish and to please the eye and its fruits multiply and its harvest grows great, is a comparison that fills the eye of merchants, who picture the success of the deal before concluding it, and picture sales being distributed before the goods are bought. They have this mentality that imagines where the money is going and how it grows in its size and quantity and balances. And the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, sets forth for them the same example, on condition that they conduct themselves with the manners of Allah, Exalted, which He set down on earth between the givers and the takers: so that they do not remind people of what they give, and do not give charity except what they know is purely for the sake of Allah, Blessed and Exalted. Otherwise their state would be like that of a smooth rock on which there was soil, then rain fell on it and left it bare ﴿لَّا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ مِّمَّا كَسَبُوا﴾ (they are unable to do anything with what they have earned).^[9]

And likewise we say that the example set forth for those who were mindful of Allah, Blessed and Exalted, is ﴿كَمَثَلِ جَنَّةٍ بِرَبْوَةٍ﴾ (like a garden on a height).^[10] These are comparisons that the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, sets forth for us to teach us that those who have risen to the ascents of faith and reached all these stations of it are in the garden of faith before they are in the garden of wealth, and that bliss is in giving. For whoever used a thing enjoyed it once and it went, while whoever enjoys giving enjoys it at every moment when he remembers that Allah, Exalted, made his hand the upper one, and that his heart was generous in what he gave, and that his mind grasped a bigger matter than the one with which people deal in this purely material worldly life.

Satan Promises You Poverty

We stand before a method through which the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, speaks to us: if you find an obstacle to spending now, know that ﴿الشَّيْطَانُ يَعِدُكُمُ الْفَقْرَ﴾ (Satan threatens you with poverty), and that the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, is the One who ﴿يَعِدُكُم مَّغْفِرَةً مِّنْهُ وَفَضْلًا ۗ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ﴾ [البقرة: 268] (promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty; and Allah is All-Encompassing and Knowing). Forgiveness here represents the reward of the Hereafter, and bounty here represents the reward of this world, so this is a promise from the Lord of the worlds, Glorified be He. And the word "vastness" has come into use, and the Lord of Might describes Himself with it: that He is All-Encompassing, Glorified be He, to express to us the vastness of the dominion in His hands, and the vastness of the giving He can give, and the vastness toward souls that were humbled and deserve to take again. And He says "Knowing," because He knows with what intention the spending went out, and under what disposition that person gave charity.

Wisdom and Those Who Abstain from Asking

Accordingly, we ought to be among the people of wisdom: ﴿يُؤْتِي الْحِكْمَةَ مَن يَشَاءُ﴾ [البقرة: 269] (He gives wisdom to whom He wills). The wisdom that moves you to be for people so that Allah may be for you. The wisdom that makes you know that if you give today, hundreds of hands will give you tomorrow, and if you withhold today, no hand will reach out to you tomorrow. The wisdom that makes you distinguish between the little that you give, however large its figure, and the abundance that Allah gives, even if it is well-being, or steadiness of soul, or calm in a household, or blessing in one's dependents. These are the gifts of the Lord of the worlds that never stop.

But we ought to be alert that among those around us are people who abstain from asking out of modesty: ﴿يَحْسَبُهُمُ الْجَاهِلُ أَغْنِيَاءَ مِنَ التَّعَفُّفِ﴾ [البقرة: 273] (The ignorant one would think them self-sufficient because of their restraint). So watch for the needy in times like these, and look to the needs of creation, and observe what people do with what is in their hands. And know that the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, who tested with wealth is the One who tested with need, and that if you succeed in Allah's test and give to creation, you are helping the rest of the people to succeed in the test of Allah, Exalted, when He tried them with withholding.

Conclusion and Supplication

I ask Allah, Blessed and Exalted, to make these words a wake-up call for the spirit of giving in the whole Muslim nation, and I ask Allah, the Most High, the Almighty, that these words be a reason for stretching out hands with help to the Islamic centers that still need spending, and to the mosques existing in the whole world, and to the poor, and to relief organizations, and whatever else creation needs. And I ask Him to extend to us the hand of His help, and to help us with what is in His hands, and to pour out upon us of His provision.

And let us all remember that if we owned the treasuries of the earth, we would hold back for fear of spending,^[11] but the Lord of Might, Glorified be He, gives, and His giving is vast, and if each of us were to wish for something from what he has, that would not diminish the dominion of Allah except as a needle diminishes when it is put into the sea.^[12] And I do not want to exceed the time available to me, and I ask Allah, Exalted, to grant us and you sincerity in word and deed. May Allah bless you in your month, and pour out upon you of the good in your hands, and be pleased with you, and the peace of Allah, His mercy and His blessings be upon you.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The lecturer gave the meaning without attribution, and it came in similar form in the two Ṣaḥīḥs with various wordings, among them «لا تخيّروني على موسى» ("do not give me preference over Moses") and «لا ينبغي لعبد أن يقول أنا خير من يونس بن متّى» ("it is not proper for any servant to say: I am better than Jonah son of Mattā"). ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The lecturer did not attribute it and did not give its wording, and close to it is the ḥadīth «على كل مسلم صدقة» ("Upon every Muslim there is a charity"), in which one who finds nothing is to work with his hand and benefit himself and give charity, or help one in need (al-Bukhārī and Muslim, from the ḥadīth of Abū Mūsā, may Allah be pleased with him). ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The interpretation of «لا إكراه في الدين» ("there is no compulsion in religion") in the context of spending is a reading particular to the lecturer, and he himself noted that the verse has a more general significance. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The lecturer's phrasing in this sentence is garbled in the transcript, and this is the closest that can be established of its meaning. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: Its origin is in al-Bukhārī and Muslim from the ḥadīth of Abū Mūsā, may Allah be pleased with him: «إن الأشعريين إذا أرملوا في الغزو... جمعوا ما كان عندهم في ثوب واحد ثم اقتسموه بينهم... فهم مني وأنا منهم» ("When the Ashʿarīs ran short of provisions on a campaign... they gathered what they had in one cloth and then divided it among themselves... so they are from me and I am from them"); and his statement "so none of them rose except satisfied" is from the lecturer's own explanation. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: Reported by al-Bukhārī and Muslim from the ḥadīth of al-Nuʿmān ibn Bashīr, may Allah be pleased with them both, and the lecturer did not attribute it. ^[7]: Editor's documentation: Reported by al-Tirmidhī and Ibn Mājah from the ḥadīth of Sahl ibn Saʿd, may Allah be pleased with him, and the lecturer did not attribute it. ^[8]: Editor's documentation: Reported with weak chains of transmission from Anas and Ibn Masʿūd, may Allah be pleased with them both, and the lecturer cited it without attribution and then said "whatever the interpretations may be." ^[9]: Editor's documentation: It refers to the saying of Allah, Exalted: ﴿فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ صَفْوَانٍ عَلَيْهِ تُرَابٌ فَأَصَابَهُ وَابِلٌ فَتَرَكَهُ صَلْدًا ۖ لَّا يَقْدِرُونَ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ مِّمَّا كَسَبُوا﴾ [البقرة: 264] (his example is like that of a smooth rock upon which is dust and is hit by a downpour that leaves it bare; they are unable to do anything with what they have earned), and the lecturer did not give the verse in full. ^[10]: Editor's documentation: Its completion is ﴿وَمَثَلُ الَّذِينَ يُنفِقُونَ أَمْوَالَهُمُ ابْتِغَاءَ مَرْضَاتِ اللَّهِ وَتَثْبِيتًا مِّنْ أَنفُسِهِمْ كَمَثَلِ جَنَّةٍ بِرَبْوَةٍ﴾ [البقرة: 265] (And the example of those who spend their wealth seeking the approval of Allah and certainty from their souls is like a garden on a height), and the lecturer mentioned the comparison with the garden without giving the verse. ^[11]: Editor's documentation: The lecturer's wording approximates the saying of Allah, Exalted: ﴿قُل لَّوْ أَنتُمْ تَمْلِكُونَ خَزَائِنَ رَحْمَةِ رَبِّي إِذًا لَّأَمْسَكْتُمْ خَشْيَةَ الْإِنفَاقِ﴾ [الإسراء: 100] (Say: "If you possessed the depositories of the mercy of my Lord, then you would withhold for fear of spending"), and he did not give the verse. ^[12]: Editor's documentation: The meaning is in the ḥadīth qudsī reported by Muslim from the ḥadīth of Abū Dharr, may Allah be pleased with him: «يا عبادي لو أن أولكم وآخركم وإنسكم وجنكم قاموا في صعيد واحد فسألوني فأعطيت كل إنسان مسألته ما نقص ذلك مما عندي إلا كما ينقص المخيط إذا أُدخل البحر» ("O My servants, if the first of you and the last of you, the humans of you and the jinn of you, stood in one plain and asked Me, and I gave every human what he asked, that would not diminish what I have except as a needle diminishes when it is put into the sea"), and the lecturer did not give its wording. ^[13]: Editor's documentation: The lecturer did not mention where the verse occurs, and its wording is in [إبراهيم: 34] and [النحل: 18] (Ibrāhīm: 34 and al-Naḥl: 18). ^[14]: Editor's documentation: The lecturer did not mention where the verse occurs, and its wording is in [الحشر: 9] and [التغابن: 16] (al-Ḥashr: 9 and al-Taghābun: 16). ^[15]: Editor's documentation: The transcript reads «لعزيب»; it may be «لعُزَير» (for ʿUzayr), which is not certain and needs listening to the audio.