From the Opening of Sūrat al-Baqarah: Guidance and Belief in the Unseen

المناسبة: تفريغ خاطرة فجر أُلقيت بتاريخ 23 مارس 2026م المصدر: تفريغ خاطرة مرئية للدكتور أحمد أبو سيف، مشاهدة الفيديو الأصلي على يوتيوب

He opened with a supplication: that God set right our religion, our worldly life and our hereafter; prepare for us right guidance in our affairs; bless us in what He has provided; protect us from the punishment of the Fire; and turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the next, out of His mercy, pleasure, generosity and kindness.

The Qur'an, he said, is guidance for creation, and that guidance has several dimensions: the intellectual, the psychological, and the behavioural and practical.

The unseen as the starting point

He turned to the opening of Surah al-Baqarah: ﴿ذَٰلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ﴾ ("That is the Book; there is no doubt in it; a guidance for the God-fearing"), and then to those who believe in the unseen: ﴿الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ﴾.^[1] That includes belief in God, in the earlier scriptures, in the earlier messengers (some of whom God has told us about, and some of whom He has not), and in the Last Abode.

"How can we believe in the unseen in itself?" he asked, and answered in English: because the whole religion comes after it and is built on this point. If you do not begin here, you will never be on the straight path. Once you believe in the unseen, once you believe in whatever you receive after that, you receive it, observe it, put it in your mind and in your heart, and start working on that basis.

Prayer and spending

Then he paused at ﴿وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ﴾, "and they establish prayer," at the word "establishing" (iqāma).^[4] Then: ﴿وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ﴾, "and from what We have provided them they spend." And the verse that follows: ﴿وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنزِلَ مِن قَبْلِكَ وَبِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ﴾, "and those who believe in what was sent down to you and what was sent down before you, and of the Hereafter they are certain."

Believers, disbelievers, hypocrites

He noted that the opening of al-Baqarah presents three groups: the believers, the disbelievers, and the hypocrites. Of the hypocrites God says: ﴿وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ آمِنُوا كَمَا آمَنَ النَّاسُ قَالُوا أَنُؤْمِنُ كَمَا آمَنَ السُّفَهَاءُ﴾, "and when it is said to them, 'Believe as the people have believed,' they say, 'Shall we believe as the fools have believed?'"^[2] He paused over the word sufahā' ("fools"): what we want to know here, he said, is how they see us, how they look at us, meaning the Muslims.

That led him to the speech of Noah's people: ﴿مَا نَرَاكَ اتَّبَعَكَ إِلَّا الَّذِينَ هُمْ أَرَاذِلُنَا بَادِيَ الرَّأْيِ وَمَا نَرَىٰ لَكُمْ عَلَيْنَا مِن فَضْلٍ بَلْ نَظُنُّكُمْ كَاذِبِينَ﴾, "We see none following you except those who are the lowest among us, at first glance, and We do not see in you any superiority over us; rather, we think you are liars."^[3]

--- ^[1]: سورة البقرة: 2–3. توثيق المحرر: وردت الآيات في التفريغ مقطّعة؛ والترجمة الإنجليزية للآيات من وضع المحرر. ^[2]: سورة البقرة: 13. ^[3]: سورة هود: 27. توثيق المحرر: قال المتحدث في موضع آخر ما يُفهم منه «الأعراف»، والتفريغ مضطرب في هذا الموضع؛ والآية بهذا اللفظ في سورة هود. ^[4]: توثيق المحرر: التفريغ مجزّأ في هذا الموضع، ويُفهم منه أن المتحدث ربط «الإقامة» بـ«القيام»؛ لم يتأكد ذلك فلم يُثبت في المتن.