From the Worship of the Calf to the Method of Receiving

Occasion: Transcription of a Fajr khatira delivered on 10 May 2022 Source: A transcription of a video khatira by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — [Watch the original video on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhGisiGRtIw)

Praise be to Allah, and blessings and peace be upon the servant of Allah, His Prophet and His Messenger, our master Muhammad, and upon his family and companions, abundant peace. O Allah, we ask You for the good of this day, the good of what is in it and the good of what comes after it, and we seek refuge in You from the evil of this day, the evil of what is in it and the evil of what comes after it; and we ask You to set right our hearts, our minds and our bodies, to seal all our deeds with good, and to make the outcome of all our affairs good.

A reminder before we begin

I remind myself and my brothers that the Fajr prayer is the main meal in the life of the people of faith; without the Fajr prayer life is not right for us, and a person loses the very sense of the sweetness of life. By Allah's grace we are in this wonderful setting, in an atmosphere of faith; we ask Allah to accept it.

This thought came to me as I was reading the last verse of our passage: ﴿وَاللَّهُ يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَن يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ﴾ ("And Allah selects for His mercy whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty"). Look at the number of those praying with us yesterday, today and tomorrow; praise be to Allah who chose us to be among the people of His house at the Fajr prayer in particular, and we ask Him for constancy in obedience.

We continue our talk, and we find ourselves before a new reminder from the Lord of the worlds to the Children of Israel.

The clear proofs and the calf

﴿وَلَقَدْ جَاءَكُم مُّوسَىٰ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ اتَّخَذْتُمُ الْعِجْلَ مِن بَعْدِهِ وَأَنتُمْ ظَالِمُونَ﴾ ("And Mūsā certainly came to you with clear proofs; then you took the calf after him, while you were wrongdoers").^[1] Allah reminds them once again that they did not lack knowledge, and that their disbelief was not out of ignorance or scant knowledge; rather, the clear proofs were in their hands, so they persisted stubbornly in these violations. When Mūsā (peace be upon him) was away for the appointment that Allah had set for him, he returned to his people and found that they had worshipped a calf besides the Lord of the worlds, glorified is He.

How foolish human minds are when they leave the framework of revelation, turn away from the remembrance of Allah, and turn their backs on the straight path that Allah has drawn for His creation! Imagine: even one who denies the existence of Allah and says that the question of divinity does not convince him still has a logic with which you can engage him; you say to him: who created the heavens and the earth? Who created you? There is common ground for dialogue. But for you to take your mind, after seeing all these signs, to the worship of a calf, which in the first place, when it grows older and matures in your hands or its colour pleases you, you slaughter to eat as a tasty meal, that is something illogical and beyond human discussion.

Raising the mount: why is the reminder repeated?

Then my Lord, glorified is He, said: ﴿وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَكُمْ وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَكُمُ الطُّورَ﴾ ("And when We took your covenant and raised over you the mount"). He, glorified is He, reminded them of the raising of the mountain in an earlier place in the sūrah: ﴿وَإِذْ أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَكُمْ وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَكُمُ الطُّورَ خُذُوا مَا آتَيْنَاكُم بِقُوَّةٍ وَاذْكُرُوا مَا فِيهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ﴾ ("And when We took your covenant and raised over you the mount: Take what We have given you with determination and remember what is in it, that you may become righteous"). As for the one before us, it says: ﴿خُذُوا مَا آتَيْنَاكُم بِقُوَّةٍ وَاسْمَعُوا﴾ ("Take what We have given you with determination and listen"). So what is the difference between the two places?

The difference is that obligations come at the start of the revelations: today you are required to do such-and-such. If you go against the command, it is repeated to you; but the one obligated is not given the whole obligation anew; rather, he is reminded of the origin of the obligation, and then he is told after that: listen to what is said, because you went against it once. So when the second time came, corresponding to their actual violation, the expression we found came: ﴿وَاسْمَعُوا﴾ ("and listen").

“We hear and we disobey”

﴿قَالُوا سَمِعْنَا وَعَصَيْنَا﴾ ("They said: We hear and we disobey"). The Lord of the worlds reminds them and answers with their reactions. This is the height of arrogance; for if I say: I did not hear, I did not notice, I did not understand what you meant, I have sought an excuse for myself, and there is in it some regard for the speaker addressing me. But to say: I heard and I disobeyed, then a stage of defiance has begun, and we seek refuge in Allah.

﴿وَأُشْرِبُوا فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الْعِجْلَ﴾ ("And their hearts were made to drink in the calf"). I marvel at the level some people reach, until disobedience is drunk into their hearts! Imagine the meaning of drinking: one takes a glass and drinks the water, and it runs in the blood, in the veins and in the whole body, permeating every part. So you can imagine that Allah, blessed and exalted, may seal the heart of a person until he loves vice, and we seek refuge in Allah.

That is why, when we deal with cases of disobedience, we do not deal with all people in the same way; there is a person who is easy to convince because he is reasonable, there is a person who committed the sin once, twice or three times, and there is a person who cannot give it up because his heart has drunk it in; we ask Allah for safety. Accordingly, even as we deal with our children at home, we must determine the level the boy or girl is at. Take, for example, the matter of addiction to electronics: has it reached the stage where his heart has drunk it in? Or is it still at the level of habit? Or is it still at the level of enjoyment or an idea he can do without whenever he wishes? Determining the level at which you deal with things, whether wrong or right, is what defines for you the features of the remedy.

What does faith command?

He, glorified is He, said: ﴿قُلْ بِئْسَمَا يَأْمُرُكُم بِهِ إِيمَانُكُمْ﴾ ("Say: How wretched is that which your faith enjoins on you"). Does faith command such talk? Of course not! How can Allah say ﴿بِئْسَمَا يَأْمُرُكُم بِهِ إِيمَانُكُمْ﴾ when faith does not command that? It is only an answer to their claim to be believers; it is as if He says: if this is faith, then wretched is what this faith commands you.

From here I must review myself in every action: why do I do this? If I find an urge within me that says: my faith commands me to do this, or: I am a religious man, then let me ask; for there is one whose faith, as he imagines it, commands him to kill people, or to seize people's wealth, saying: this is permissible because they are not Muslims; or commands him to assault a woman who is not a Muslim, saying: she is of the People of the Book, she is a captive. Does faith command that? If this is an assault on what is not rightfully ours, then wretched is that faith, or wretched is that command of faith, as our Lord, glorified is He, indicates.

Wishing for death and claiming Paradise

Allah, blessed and exalted, said: ﴿قُلْ إِن كَانَتْ لَكُمُ الدَّارُ الْآخِرَةُ عِندَ اللَّهِ خَالِصَةً مِّن دُونِ النَّاسِ فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ﴾ ("Say: If the home of the Hereafter with Allah is for you exclusively, apart from the people, then wish for death, if you are truthful"). What is the story? They were offering a series of excuses before the Prophet ﷺ; among their excuses: we do not want to believe in you because we are the chosen people of God, or because we are the people of Paradise. At first they said: ﴿لَن تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلَّا أَيَّامًا مَّعْدُودَةً﴾ ("The Fire will never touch us except for a few numbered days"); that is, even if there is the punishment you speak of, it will be a few numbered days, whereas the group who followed Islam and opened their hearts to it, no.

So the Lord of the worlds says: if the home of the Hereafter is exclusively yours apart from the people, then wish for death. If you were confident of this claim and truthful in it, and that Paradise is yours with Allah, what is holding you back? Here is the difference between the believer and others: the believer loves to meet Allah at every time. The truthful believer does not care when the Hereafter comes; on the contrary, he finds the meeting with Allah slow in coming, and at times yearns to meet the Lord of the worlds. The motto "Tomorrow we meet the loved ones, Muhammad and his companions" is the motto of the people of faith who have sensed Paradise and lived it, who have felt closeness to Allah at a moment in which they are inspired to remembrance before the Lord of Might, and as you read the Qur'an you see the tears flowing from your eyes, and you truly see yourself living one of the states of Paradise. It is the Paradise we were speaking about at the Jumuʿah: that in this world there is a bliss which whoever does not taste it will not taste in the Hereafter, and in this world there is a Paradise which whoever does not enter it will not enter the Paradise of the Hereafter.

﴿بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ﴾ (“Because of what their hands have sent ahead”)

My Lord tells us about these people: ﴿فَتَمَنَّوُا الْمَوْتَ إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ﴾ ("then wish for death, if you are truthful"), but you are not truthful; why? Because, as the Lord of the worlds says of them: ﴿وَلَن يَتَمَنَّوْهُ أَبَدًا بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ﴾ ("But they will never wish for it, ever, because of what their hands have sent ahead"). Remember the words of Allah, blessed and exalted: ﴿كُلُّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ رَهِينَةٌ﴾ ("Every soul, for what it has earned, will be retained"), and His words: ﴿عَلِمَتْ نَفْسٌ مَّا قَدَّمَتْ وَأَخَّرَتْ﴾ ("a soul will know what it has put forth and kept back"), ﴿عَلِمَتْ نَفْسٌ مَّا أَحْضَرَتْ﴾ ("a soul will know what it has brought"). Every person knows his own sin best and is most aware of the calamities he has committed.

Take an example: if it were suddenly said that the police had come here, look at the eyes of the people before you; one looks to see what is going on, one jumps up: what happened? Why did the police come here? And a third becomes uneasy. This is an automatic, involuntary feeling that tells you: he must have a problem; why did the police come? You find someone who was afraid. So here Allah says: ﴿وَلَن يَتَمَنَّوْهُ أَبَدًا بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ﴾ ("But they will never wish for it, ever, because of what their hands have sent ahead").

The point: when a moment comes upon you in which you recall your memories, be keen that all your memories with Allah, glorified is He, be beautiful. If I have bad memories, let us hasten to repentance; so that when we remember the bad, we remember with it the repentance, and we hope from Allah that this repentance has wiped out what came before it. And if repentance erases what came before it, then when I review my memories after repenting from my sin, I review them from the moment of repentance.

Someone says: when I sat before the Kaʿbah and wanted to supplicate to Allah, my supplication was: O Allah, You know that there is no major sin in my life in which I disobeyed You, so forgive me what is less than that. That is, everything other than that was minor to him, while a great major sin, Allah forbid, he had not committed, by Allah's grace; so he sat before the Kaʿbah supplicating the Lord of the worlds, interceding before Him by the fact that he had not committed a major sin in his life. So in His words ﴿بِمَا قَدَّمَتْ أَيْدِيهِمْ﴾ ("because of what their hands have sent ahead"), you must take stock of the sins and evil deeds you have committed, and also of the good and the good deeds you have offered.

﴿أَحْرَصَ النَّاسِ عَلَىٰ حَيَاةٍ﴾ (“The most greedy of people for life”)

My Lord, glorified is He, said: ﴿وَلَتَجِدَنَّهُمْ أَحْرَصَ النَّاسِ عَلَىٰ حَيَاةٍ وَمِنَ الَّذِينَ أَشْرَكُوا يَوَدُّ أَحَدُهُمْ لَوْ يُعَمَّرُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ وَمَا هُوَ بِمُزَحْزِحِهِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ أَن يُعَمَّرَ﴾ ("And you will surely find them the most greedy of people for life, even more than those who associate others with Allah. One of them wishes that he could be granted life a thousand years, but it would not remove him in the least from the punishment that he should be granted life"). If we pause at ﴿أَحْرَصَ النَّاسِ عَلَىٰ حَيَاةٍ﴾ ("the most greedy of people for life"), what does it convey? That they are the greediest of people for life, and one's wish in life is longer than a thousand years. As for those who associate others with Allah: is their knowledge less than the knowledge of these, or are their desires less than the desires of those who have plunged themselves into the desires of this world, Allah forbid? Rather, both are alike: ﴿يَوَدُّ أَحَدُهُمْ لَوْ يُعَمَّرُ أَلْفَ سَنَةٍ وَمَا هُوَ بِمُزَحْزِحِهِ مِنَ الْعَذَابِ أَن يُعَمَّرَ﴾ ("One of them wishes that he could be granted life a thousand years, but it would not remove him in the least from the punishment that he should be granted life"); even if they were given what they want, it would not delay the punishment.

Some people commit a number of bad deeds and find that things passed and went by, quite normally. So he says: why not repeat it? He commits it a second time and finds that things passed, so he says: and why not a third, why not a tenth? Life is going well, so where are our Lord's punishments? We say to him: no; even if you were granted a thousand years of life on earth, or did it time after time, while Allah's veil still covers you, do not feel safe from Allah's punishment on the Day of Resurrection. So let no one be deceived by the state he is in: if he is among the people of obedience, his hope in Allah is that He not stop him from this obedience and that it continue with him; and if he is among the people of disobedience, let him beware of the wrath of the Lord of the worlds, which we do not know when it will come, and we seek refuge in Allah. We ask Allah for safety.

The argument about Jibrīl and Mīkāʾīl

Then the people come up with a new argument: they said: the angel who comes to you, O Muhammad, who is he? He said: Jibrīl. They said: had it been Mīkāʾīl we would have believed in you at once, but between us and Jibrīl there is a matter.^[6] So the Lord of Might, glorified is He, says: ﴿قُلْ مَن كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِّجِبْرِيلَ فَإِنَّهُ نَزَّلَهُ عَلَىٰ قَلْبِكَ﴾ ("Say: Whoever is an enemy to Jibrīl — it is he who has brought it down upon your heart").

Consider the beginning: what does the Prophet ﷺ have to do with the matter? He is only a conveyor, so why does Allah address him and bring him into the dialogue? Because he is the caller, and if the caller has doubts raised about the sources of his information, he may be shaken, or at least his tongue may stammer. Perhaps you notice this with some verses when we pray and a passage confuses you, so your tongue stammers: do you carry on with it or go back over it? The tongue stammers because of the momentary confusion that comes upon a person, so his speech is not fluent, and he does not feel the verse when he recites it while he is hesitant over its words. So imagine that you present people with a body of information and then doubt what you have: the tongue stammers and cannot pronounce the good, the truth or the honest word directly, and you cannot face people with a steady gaze, bold words and enthusiasm. So here Allah the Exalted makes His Prophet firm before he begins a renewed stage of dialogue before these people: ﴿قُلْ مَن كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِّجِبْرِيلَ﴾ ("Say: Whoever is an enemy to Jibrīl"); He let him know that there is a problem in the matter, that an issue is being raised about Jibrīl (peace be upon him), so He makes the caller firm first, and then answers this question afterwards.

Steady your child before you answer him

This opens a door for us in dealing with our children if they come to have doubts about their religion and come to you stammering. Your son comes and says: Dad, is it true that our Lord created seven heavens? You say: why? He says: my friend at school tells me such-and-such. Or he says: is it true that the Messiah does not atone for people's sins? You say: who told you that? He says: so-and-so, the teacher, explained such-and-such to us at school. Deal with the situation by steadying the child first, before you teach him how to answer his friend. The heart of the one who speaks the truth must be made firm before he utters any information; he must be psychologically settled. If you cannot convince him and fill his mind with the information, be certain that he will not convey his words to others, he will remain in doubt, and perhaps this very point will be a turning point in his life. We seek refuge in Allah from any of our children going astray.

This applies to your children, and indeed to ourselves too, when at times a doubt falls into our minds and we find no satisfying answer to it. This is not strange; it is narrated with this meaning that some of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ complained to him that one of them sees in himself what he is ashamed to speak of, and he ﷺ made clear to them that this is a sign of faith.^[2] That is because Satan casts doubts; for example, a question may occur to a person about the manner of Allah the Exalted's attributes, how His rising over the Throne is, how His speech is, how His Hand is — words that appear in the Noble Qur'an — and he asks: how? If he says: I seek Allah's forgiveness, meaning: I declare the Lord of the worlds far above this thinking, that is part of faith. So if a doubt is raised before you on the tongue of one of your children, or it enters your home, know how to answer it after you have steadied the one to whom it was cast: steady him psychologically and reassure him with information, and after that he goes forth and acts normally.

The issue is universal, not personal

﴿مَن كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِّلَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَجِبْرِيلَ وَمِيكَالَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَدُوٌّ لِّلْكَافِرِينَ﴾ ("Whoever is an enemy to Allah and His angels and His messengers and Jibrīl and Mīkāl — then indeed, Allah is an enemy to the disbelievers"). We are speaking of Jibrīl and Mīkāʾīl, but the issue is not one of individuals, one angel rather than another; it is a universal issue: do we believe in the angels or not? If we affirm angelhood for these, then they are equal in their station and standing, and what differs between them is a matter of the distribution of roles. It is said that Mīkāʾīl is charged with provision and distributing provision among people; so it is as though whoever says that sees Mīkāʾīl, the one of sustenance, as the one who will feed us, while Jibrīl, the one of the texts — what do we want with texts? What do we have to do with them! Since their thinking was like this, Allah made known that the matter is a matter of principle, and after that comes the matter of distributing roles. It is not for us to decide what each of the angels does.

And look at the verse: ﴿مَن كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِّلَّهِ وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ﴾ ("Whoever is an enemy to Allah and His angels"); in the first verse, ﴿قُلْ مَن كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِّجِبْرِيلَ﴾ ("Say: Whoever is an enemy to Jibrīl"), the talk is of a person, whereas here He attributes the angels to Himself, glorified is He: ﴿وَمَلَائِكَتِهِ﴾ ("and His angels"), not that they follow anyone else. Then He said: ﴿وَرُسُلِهِ﴾ ("and His messengers"), because those who conveyed the very existence of the angels are the messengers. Which of us has seen an angel around him flying with five wings or with seven? No one has seen this. So the upshot is that we believed in these angels only through these messengers, and so disbelief in the angels is naturally disbelief in the messengers. Then He said: ﴿وَجِبْرِيلَ وَمِيكَالَ﴾ ("and Jibrīl and Mīkāl"), so disbelief in Jibrīl was at the same time disbelief in Mīkāl: ﴿فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ عَدُوٌّ لِّلْكَافِرِينَ﴾ ("then indeed, Allah is an enemy to the disbelievers").

Casting aside the covenant, and the helper in obedience

﴿وَلَقَدْ أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ آيَاتٍ بَيِّنَاتٍ وَمَا يَكْفُرُ بِهَا إِلَّا الْفَاسِقُونَ﴾ ("And We have certainly revealed to you clear verses, and no one would deny them except the defiantly disobedient"). ﴿أَوَكُلَّمَا عَاهَدُوا عَهْدًا نَّبَذَهُ فَرِيقٌ مِّنْهُم﴾ ("Is it not that every time they took a covenant a party of them threw it away?"); whenever hardship came upon them they came to the Prophet ﷺ in peace, saying: that's it, and reaching a point close to being convinced, then some of them would come and undo for them what they had pledged. Here comes the matter of companionship. Imagine you have committed yourself to something, say we announced today that we will start Qur'an memorization programmes, and I committed myself; then a brother comes and says to you: why are you wasting your time with this man? So if you make a covenant and a party of them throws it away, someone else has come to undo the idea for you; so stay with those who help you to more obedience and help you to fulfil what you have pledged to Allah.

Denial after knowledge

﴿وَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ مِّنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا مَعَهُمْ نَبَذَ فَرِيقٌ مِّنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ كَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("And when a messenger from Allah came to them confirming that which was with them, a party of those who had been given the Scripture threw the Scripture of Allah behind their backs as if they did not know"). Our problem is the matter of denial after knowledge, and denial accompanied by ignorance. There is discussion around it: is a person punished or excused? A few days ago I was reading something on how people will be at different levels on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever was not reached by the call at all remains on the basis of what he is upon; if he affirmed the oneness of Allah, following what he had of Christianity or Judaism, but never heard of the matter of tawḥīd or of Muhammad ﷺ at all, then according to what I read there is no blame on him, if Allah wills.

There is another person whom the call reached, but an impression preceded this message: when he heard about Islam, he already had in his mind that the Muslims are liars, obstinate, people of blood and wars, backward, and so on; so the first impression found inside the minds and ears of these people is against the matter. When the call reaches him he is hesitating between right and wrong, so the matter passed him by and he paid it no attention. And in what I read: perhaps Allah, blessed and exalted, will test such people on the Day of Resurrection, if my report is accurate.

But there is another group who knew the truth and were certain of it, yet opposed it by choice; they chose something else while knowing. That is why the Lord of the worlds says here: ﴿كَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("as if they did not know"), but in reality they do know the truth of what came on the tongue of the Prophet ﷺ.

What one who has left the truth follows

Look: a person must find something that attracts his soul; he must see himself belonging to something. Whoever leaves the framework of what is right and true, the straight path, the revealed scriptures and belief in what the messengers brought, must seek for himself a field in which he feels he is successful: ﴿وَاتَّبَعُوا مَا تَتْلُو الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَىٰ مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ﴾ ("And they followed what the devils had recited during the reign of Sulaymān").^[3] In the matter of Hārūt and Mārūt there is discussion: were they two angels (malakān) or two kings (malikān)? It is a disputed question that we will not go into here. Our concern around this matter is: do we follow corruption or righteousness? Do we follow what is right or what is wrong? Do we follow truth or falsehood? These people chose for themselves to follow falsehood in its patterns, kinds and causes, and we seek refuge in Allah from that: ﴿وَلَبِئْسَ مَا شَرَوْا بِهِ أَنفُسَهُمْ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("And wretched is that for which they sold themselves, if they only knew").

The reward: a gift in proportion to the Giver

﴿وَلَوْ أَنَّهُمْ آمَنُوا وَاتَّقَوْا لَمَثُوبَةٌ مِّنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ خَيْرٌ لَّوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("And if they had believed and feared Allah, then the reward from Allah would have been better, if they only knew"). We notice something: what was going on in the minds of the Children of Israel was that they wanted this world only. So why did the Lord of the worlds not promise them this world if they believed and feared Him? It is as though He says: it is included, but you do not notice: ﴿لَمَثُوبَةٌ مِّنْ عِندِ اللَّهِ﴾ ("the reward from Allah"). Reward from Allah may come as provision of money, it may come as provision of children, it may come as provision of a wife, it may come as provision of good health, and it may come as provision in the Hereafter; and that does not rule out there being provision in this world.

The indefiniteness of "reward" (mathūbah) may make you say: is it not very little? We say: we make a very great effort; we wake every day for Fajr and come to the mosque, we give charity and other things, and all this toil, what is in return for it? You tell me: a single reward only! The answer: the gift is in proportion to the Giver; so seek guidance from Allah. If the Giver is Allah, then a reward from Allah equals this world and all that is in it, and everything you want will be included in this reward. And I see it, by Allah, as indicating abundance, or this is what I hold as my belief before Allah, blessed and exalted.

﴿لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ (“If they only knew”): the right of knowledge over us

The closing of the verse with His words, the Exalted, ﴿لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ ("if they only knew"), I see as a mental prompt for the people of faith to increase their learning in faith. Your saying: I know nothing about my religion, is a great shortcoming in itself; for perhaps a single doubt could turn my mind and change all the courses of my life. But there is a difference between one who knows nothing of knowledge, one who is religiously cultured with some superficial information, and one whose foot is firmly rooted in this knowledge. Those firmly rooted in knowledge need not be only the imams and the honourable scholars who stand on the minbars. That is not the only one firmly rooted; rather, the one firmly rooted in knowledge is the one who holds fast to it and takes it as a way of life for himself. Each of us has his trade: I work at such-and-such, you work at such-and-such, and you spend your day like so; but we have a share with knowledge that we do not miss and that does not escape us.

The method of receiving: building the believing society

My Lord, glorified is He, said: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ﴾ ("O you who have believed, say not 'Rāʿinā' but say 'Unẓurnā' and listen; and for the disbelievers is a painful punishment"). We have begun a new stage, and this is a preparation for moving to it, in which we raise the believing society. The first issue in teaching the believing society is the method of receiving: how do you receive information? Of the people sitting now, one looks at the speaker and says to himself: what is this empty talk this man is saying! Another looks at the subject very convinced of what is said, and a third analyses the information, compares right and wrong, and says: I heard such-and-such in such-and-such a place. These differences among them give each one a different reception. And here we are not speaking about a person telling us a couple of words, but about receiving the Qur'an; if there is no courtesy at the time of receiving, there will be no certainty at the time of applying.

That is why the other verses come: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تُقَدِّمُوا بَيْنَ يَدَيِ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ﴾ ("O you who have believed, do not put yourselves before Allah and His Messenger, and fear Allah").^[4] What is the link between taqwā and this issue? That you do not insult the Prophet with a word, that you do not object to his words, and that you do not say: my opinion is better than his. He tells you: no, this is the scale by which the matter of respecting the words of the Prophet ﷺ is weighed when I receive them.

﴿رَاعِنَا﴾ and what is exploited against the religion

The Lord of the worlds says: ﴿لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انظُرْنَا﴾ ("say not 'Rāʿinā' but say 'Unẓurnā'"). It was a word common on people's tongues at the time, but the Jews seized on it, used it and twisted it, so they began to say a bad word: "rāʿinā" from care (riʿāyah), or "rāʿinā" from folly (ruʿūnah). You know the difference; they used it contrary to its intended meaning. Here we learn that any action that may come from the Muslim society can be exploited by others against the religion, and it is better that we stay away from it; there is no need for it.

That is why, if someone comes to me asking a question about a doubtful matter, I say to him: I will not tell you now halal and haram; the first question: are you compelled to do this? If he is not compelled, but this is what is better for him, then we begin to speak of halal and haram, and we say: whoever leaves something for Allah, Allah compensates him with something better,^[5] and the like. Questions of this kind are very many.

One lying in wait who does not want good for you

Then the Lord of the worlds tells us, in the context of upbringing, that there is one lying in wait for you who does not want good for you: ﴿مَّا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَلَا الْمُشْرِكِينَ أَن يُنَزَّلَ عَلَيْكُم مِّنْ خَيْرٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ وَاللَّهُ يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَن يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ﴾ ("Neither those who disbelieve from among the People of the Book nor the polytheists wish that any good should be sent down to you from your Lord. But Allah selects for His mercy whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty").

I want to draw your attention and mine to a detail that may be right and may be wrong, that is, it may be accurate and it may not: I see that every place where the People of the Book are mentioned together with the polytheists, the Jews are meant rather than the Christians; for the Christians, if you read about them, you find them much milder in this respect.

Then my Lord, glorified is He, said: ﴿وَاللَّهُ يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَن يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ﴾ ("And Allah selects for His mercy whom He wills, and Allah is the possessor of great bounty"). We ask Allah, blessed and exalted, of His bounty, that He envelop us in His mercy, protect us from disgrace in this world and from the punishment of the Hereafter, and keep our hearts and minds sound.

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: This verse is al-Baqarah 92; the earlier verse about raising the mount, with which it is compared, is al-Baqarah 63, and the place before us is al-Baqarah 93. The last verse of the khatira's passage, which the speaker mentioned at its opening, is al-Baqarah 105. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The speaker cited the ḥadīth by its meaning and said at its end "the completeness of faith". What is narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, from Abū Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), is that some of the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ asked him: «إِنَّا نَجِدُ فِي أَنْفُسِنَا مَا يَتَعَاظَمُ أَحَدُنَا أَنْ يَتَكَلَّمَ بِهِ» ("We find in ourselves what each of us considers too grave to speak of"); he said: «وَقَدْ وَجَدْتُمُوهُ؟» ("Have you really found that?"); they said: Yes; he said: «ذَاكَ صَرِيحُ الْإِيمَانِ» ("That is clear faith"). The meaning is given here without asserting the wording of the exchange. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: al-Baqarah 102, which mentions Hārūt and Mārūt. ^[4]: Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt, verse 1. Editor's documentation: The speaker cited the verse as evidence without naming the sūrah. ^[5]: Editor's documentation: This meaning is narrated in a ḥadīth with the wording: «إِنَّكَ لَنْ تَدَعَ شَيْئًا لِلَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ إِلَّا بَدَّلَكَ اللَّهُ بِهِ مَا هُوَ خَيْرٌ لَكَ مِنْهُ» ("You will never leave anything for the sake of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic, but that Allah will replace it for you with what is better for you than it"); Shuʿayb al-Arnaʾūṭ graded its chain authentic in his takhrīj of the Musnad (23074), as did al-Albānī in «al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah». The speaker did not attribute it. ^[6]: Editor's documentation: In his commentary on the verse, Ibn Kathīr mentions the ḥadīth of Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with them both) as narrated by Aḥmad, al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī, in which the Jews said to the Prophet ﷺ: «لو قلتَ: ميكائيل الذي ينزل بالرحمة والنبات والقطر لكان» ("Had you said Mīkāʾīl, who comes down with mercy, vegetation and rain, it would have been [otherwise]"); he reports al-Tirmidhī as grading it «حسن غريب» (ḥasan gharīb). And in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, from Anas (may Allah be pleased with him), ʿAbdullāh ibn Salām (may Allah be pleased with him) said when the Prophet ﷺ mentioned Jibrīl: «ذَاكَ عَدُوُّ الْيَهُودِ مِنَ الْمَلَائِكَةِ» ("That one is the enemy of the Jews among the angels"), and in the ḥadīth: «فَقَرَأَ هَذِهِ الْآيَةَ: ﴿مَنْ كَانَ عَدُوًّا لِجِبْرِيلَ فَإِنَّهُ نَزَّلَهُ عَلَى قَلْبِكَ﴾» ("and he recited this verse: Whoever is an enemy to Jibrīl — it is he who has brought it down upon your heart").