Abrogation, the Monopoly on Paradise, and Reciting the Book as It Deserves

Occasion: Transcription of a khatira after Fajr delivered on 11 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=1F8aZd0Rl4E)

O Allah, we ask You for pardon and well-being in our religion, our worldly life and our Hereafter. O Allah, prepare for us right guidance in our affair, bless us in what You have provided us, protect us from the punishment of the Fire, and turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the Hereafter, O Lord of the worlds. Do not leave us to ourselves or to any one of Your creation; grant us sincerity, favor us with good work for Your religion, and make us among those You have chosen in their worldly life to be among the people of Your Hereafter.

Today, by Allah's permission, we begin this seventh session in an attempt to understand the Noble Qur'an in a brief and concise way, and we would like you to have your copies of the Qur'an with you. We begin with the words of Allah, blessed and exalted:

﴿مَا نَنسَخْ مِنْ آيَةٍ أَوْ نُنسِهَا نَأْتِ بِخَيْرٍ مِّنْهَا أَوْ مِثْلِهَا أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ﴾ (We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten except that We bring one better than it or similar to it. Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?) ^[1]

The context in which the verse came

We always strive to look at the link between the verses. No sensible person takes a passage of the Noble Qur'an out of context and begins a talk with it or ends a talk with it; rather, we treat the Qur'an as one continuous discourse from its beginning to its end. So what came before this verse? It was the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, taking to task those who claimed things about Him unbefitting the majesty of His Face, unsuited to the foundations of the heavenly law sent down from Allah to creation, and unsuited to logic and to reality. And the last of their crimes, according to the sequence of Qur'anic revelation, was that ﴿وَاتَّبَعُوا مَا تَتْلُو الشَّيَاطِينُ عَلَىٰ مُلْكِ سُلَيْمَانَ وَمَا كَفَرَ سُلَيْمَانُ﴾ (they followed what the devils recited during the reign of Sulaymān; and Sulaymān did not disbelieve) ^[2], meaning that they left the human way for an entirely different way, one neither within the logic of the sensible nor in line with the path of divine reform sought in the Book of the Lord of the worlds.

Then came the verse to the Muslim community, that they should follow what was sent down and follow the guidance to the letter, so that even words that bear two meanings must be watched in how they are pronounced and worded: ﴿لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا ۗ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ﴾ (Do not say "Rāʿinā" but say "Unẓurnā," and listen; and for the disbelievers is a painful punishment) ^[3]. After that came His words, exalted be He: ﴿مَا نَنسَخْ مِنْ آيَةٍ﴾ (We do not abrogate a verse).

The objection of the Jews: why this inconsistency?

The commentators speak about this verse and say that Allah, blessed and exalted, followed with it the saying of the Jews: What is the matter with Muḥammad, that he commands you with this at this time, and then commands you with something else at another time? Do you not see that he does not settle on a fixed text or ruling? So why this inconsistency? They said this only to stir up a set of doubts among people so that people would waver in their religion, and that is, in general, a devilish method.^[4]

For when Satan came to Ādam he said: ﴿هَلْ أَدُلُّكَ عَلَىٰ شَجَرَةِ الْخُلْدِ وَمُلْكٍ لَّا يَبْلَىٰ﴾ (Shall I direct you to the tree of eternity and a kingdom that does not decay?) ^[5], as though saying, by the tongue of his situation: I am a sincere adviser to you. And it is said to him: How can this be the tree of eternity and a kingdom that does not decay, when the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, told me not to eat from it? So he sends the second message: Your Lord only wanted you not to contend with Him in His dominion and authority, and He wants such-and-such for you. So rational doubts begin to be stirred up. In the same way they said: Muḥammad tells you this at this time and then that at another time. Among this is the matter of the change of the qiblah, which is coming: ﴿سَيَقُولُ السُّفَهَاءُ مِنَ النَّاسِ مَا وَلَّاهُمْ عَن قِبْلَتِهِمُ﴾ (The foolish among the people will say: What has turned them away from their qiblah?) ^[6], and we will discuss it in detail when we reach it.

What does abrogation mean for the commentators?

Abrogation (*naskh*) in the terminology of the people of tafsīr is of two kinds: either you lift the ruling entirely, so that you had a text and you lift it completely, which is abrogation by removal; or you replace it, taking this ruling and putting another ruling in its place, which is abrogation by substitution.

Are there abrogated verses in the Noble Qur'an? A group of scholars, and they are many, speak of many abrogated verses in the Qur'an. We do not want to reject this view, but we want to say that, for us to say that this verse is abrogated, two conditions are required:

The first: that a ruling abrogating it was revealed after it. If a verse speaks on a subject and no verse speaking on that subject was revealed after it, then it has no abrogator. Every abrogated text must have an abrogating text, and this is quite natural.

The second condition, which is very important: that we cannot reconcile the two texts; that is, there is a contradiction between them such that I cannot act on both together, so I must act on one of them, which is the later one. If it becomes clear that only one must be acted upon, then the other has no further use.

These are the rules, and no one should speak by any others. So we said to them: We accept what you have said on the question of abrogation, but let us trace the verses the scholars have judged to be abrogated and see whether or not we can reconcile them with others.

An example: the verse of bequest and the verses of inheritance

Let me give you an example, one I mention often: the verses of inheritance abrogated the verse of bequest: ﴿إِذَا حَضَرَ أَحَدَكُمُ الْمَوْتُ إِن تَرَكَ خَيْرًا الْوَصِيَّةُ﴾ (when death approaches one of you, if he leaves wealth, the bequest) ^[7]. When the verses of inheritance came, ﴿يُوصِيكُمُ اللَّهُ فِي أَوْلَادِكُمْ ۖ لِلذَّكَرِ مِثْلُ حَظِّ الْأُنثَيَيْنِ﴾ (Allah instructs you concerning your children: for the male, the like of the share of two females) ^[8] and so on, they said that the verse of inheritance abrogated the verse of bequest. This is a very reasonable statement. And the words of the Prophet ﷺ came confirming this meaning: «لا وصيةَ لوارث» ("There is no bequest for an heir") ^[9]; it is as though the words of the Prophet ﷺ support the view that the verse of inheritance abrogated the verse of bequest, so that the verse of bequest no longer exists as a practical ruling, and I cannot apply it in any way.

Then it is asked: So why is it in the Qur'an at all? They answer: Because our Lord, glorified be He, is teaching us that there was a kind of gradual progression. So I say: If I found a use for it, would your statement that it is abrogated be lifted? Is that not so? I need to know: do I act on the second or the first? If I am able to act on both, and to find a field of application for both in real life, then let us simply look: do we need the verse of bequest after the revelation of the verse of inheritance? They said: No. I said: That is not accurate; where do you live? They said: We live in Egypt, or in Jordan, or in Palestine, or in any Muslim country. Fine; if one of us dies in a Muslim country, the judge distributes the inheritance by the Islamic method: How many children do you have? Do you have a wife? Do you have a father? Then he says: this one takes such-and-such, this one takes an eighth, this one takes a third, this one a sixth; and he distributes the estate directly. So you do not need a bequest there at all.

But come to America: if you have not written your will before you die, the wealth may go down any path, I do not know which. So they said to us: And what do you do there in America, folks? We said to them: Everyone must have written his will and indicated in it the distribution of the inheritance according to Islamic law. So I write in my will, for example: If I die, the house is to be divided among the children, the business is to be divided among the children, the cars are to be divided among the children, the acres are to be divided among the children, and everything I own. Imagine someone very wealthy saying: It is to be divided in this way. And among the most important things written in such a will is the matter of proportions, so he says: a third of what I have goes to so-and-so, a quarter of what I have goes to so-and-so, and so on.

One of the brothers came to me wanting us to write his will, and I said to him: Consider the possibility that you die while your wife and children are alive, consider the possibility that you and your wife die together while the children are living, consider all the other possibilities, and set down the shares for each possibility with a specialized lawyer, and that is it. So if a use is found for the verse of bequest, for example, do we still need to say that it is abrogated? We hold abrogation where there is contradiction; if the contradiction is removed, the ruling of abrogation is removed.

So what does the verse mean?

So what does the verse say, then: ﴿مَا نَنسَخْ مِنْ آيَةٍ أَوْ نُنسِهَا﴾ (We do not abrogate a verse or cause it to be forgotten)? What we see is that this verse pointed to the abrogation of the previous religions;^[10] that is: We lifted the rulings that existed in the previous religions and established what came in Islam. So Islam, with its later way, is the true religion that must be followed from now on, and no Jewish or Christian text is acted upon on the grounds that it is a Jewish or Christian text. If I find something good in what came before, and I have what endorses it, then when I establish its practice in people's work and lives, I establish it by the ruling of Islam, not by the ruling of the earlier legal teachings they have. If they have something good, I have no objection at all, but I place it under the list of divine commands in the Qur'an and divine prohibitions in the Qur'an, and so on.

Then my Lord, glorified be He, said: ﴿أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ﴾ (Do you not know that Allah has power over all things?), and then: ﴿أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ﴾ (Do you not know that to Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth?) ^[11]. Affirming that the dominion of the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah, blessed and exalted, indicates that He, glorified be He, has the right to do whatever He wills. So even if the matter of abrogation exists in the Noble Qur'an in the sense our shaykhs speak of, a sense with which we differ a little, we submit to Allah, blessed and exalted, because His is the dominion of the heavens and the earth, and He does in His dominion whatever He wills. We have believed, in principle, in the message of Muḥammad ﷺ, and believed in the method by which the Noble Qur'an was transmitted to us. So if we agree that the Qur'an was sent down to the Messenger, that the Messenger fulfilled this trust, and that it reached us in its correct form, then whatever is said about there being abrogated verses in the Qur'an or otherwise, I have accepted the principle, and so I am submitting. Why? Because to my Lord belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth, glorified and exalted.

The question of the learner and the question of the show-off

Allah, blessed and exalted, said: ﴿أَمْ تُرِيدُونَ أَن تَسْأَلُوا رَسُولَكُمْ كَمَا سُئِلَ مُوسَىٰ مِن قَبْلُ﴾ (Or do you intend to ask your Messenger as Mūsā was asked before?) ^[12]. To whom is this verse addressed? Either it addresses the Jews directly, or it addresses the Companions, so that if a question came to them it would not be a question of objection but questions of inquiry. There is a question that comes in order to learn, and a question that comes in order to show off one's skills. Imagine the situation: someone asks you in order to display his skills to you and to make you understand that you know nothing, so you say to him: You poor man, what you have heard from me is a small part of a great deal, and that is the end of it. And there is a person who asks in order to learn, and to him you give everything you have, as much as you can. So my Lord, glorified be He, said: ﴿أَمْ تُرِيدُونَ أَن تَسْأَلُوا رَسُولَكُمْ﴾ (Or do you intend to ask your Messenger), whether the words were for the Children of Israel or for the Companions of Muḥammad ﷺ.

The envy of those lying in wait, and being on guard against it

Then the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, speaks to us, saying: ﴿وَدَّ كَثِيرٌ مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ لَوْ يَرُدُّونَكُم مِّن بَعْدِ إِيمَانِكُمْ كُفَّارًا حَسَدًا مِّنْ عِندِ أَنفُسِهِم مِّن بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُمُ الْحَقُّ﴾ (Many of the People of the Book wish they could turn you back to disbelief after your belief, out of envy from themselves, after the truth has become clear to them) ^[13].

Allah, blessed and exalted, has made us aware of the reality that enmity exists, and that there are people lying in wait for your mistake, searching for a gap in you however small or large, wanting to drop you into the nearest snare they can, so that a problem befalls you. Why did Allah, exalted be He, inform us of the existence of enmity? So that we take the utmost precaution, and be at the highest level of constant readiness to protect ourselves and the Muslim presence in Western or Eastern society, whichever it may be. It is as though the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, is saying: ﴿وَدَّ كَثِيرٌ مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ﴾ (Many of the People of the Book wish).

And this word "wish" (*wadda*): is it an outward act or an act of the heart? So-and-so wished to do such-and-such or to say such-and-such; it is a matter still within the bounds of intention. So why does our Lord tell us this? To say: You must be ahead in knowing what is being planned and arranged against you. We are not people of mere reaction, where something happens and we run after it.

That is why, for example, when someone draws a couple of silly drawings against the Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ, many of our brothers react; and we should react, but it should not be exaggerated, because it is something that came from a person from whom it is to be expected. So we must act with wisdom. Have a reaction, but do not make it a random, aggressive reaction; make your reaction respectable before your enemy before it is respectable before your friend, so that you act with a measure of reason and wisdom in your reactions. When a thing comes from its own source, it is no surprise. We have a saying in Egypt: A shameful thing that comes from shameful people is not shameful. Is it shameful or not? It is shameful, folks, but they say this because so-and-so is the one who said it, and nothing more is to be expected from so-and-so.

"So pardon and overlook": was it abrogated?

Then Allah, blessed and exalted, said: ﴿فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّهُ بِأَمْرِهِ﴾ (So pardon and overlook until Allah delivers His command). What does "until Allah delivers His command" mean? The answer: Take note, outcomes must be considered, as must the stage in which these verses were revealed. The people of knowledge speak of verses they say are abrogated, and this is one of them.^[14] Every verse that commanded pardon, overlooking, forbearance and dealing with people in the best way, they said was abrogated by the verses of fighting. So can we act on this verse or can we not? As long as you are able to act on it in reality, there is no need to say it is abrogated in any way.

So our Lord, glorified and exalted, said: ﴿فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّهُ بِأَمْرِهِ﴾ (So pardon and overlook until Allah delivers His command). The stages of the work of daʿwah must be measured not by time but by outcomes. We had a period in Mecca that ended as a period of time; then the Prophet moved to Medina, and the method followed in Medina was establishing presence: establishing tangible presence. I exist as a nation, I exist as a state, and this state has the right to defend itself. From here we heard of the battle of Badr, the battle of Uḥud, the battle of the Trench and others. What happened? I came to have a political, social and economic entity, an entity that must influence others, whose existence is not mere reactions; I am not blown about by the wind, going after whoever strikes me from here and whoever strikes me from there.

So the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, said: ﴿فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا﴾ (So pardon and overlook); has pardon and overlooking come to an end? The answer: Look at where you are and whom you are dealing with. If I understand the reality I live in, I know the measure of my strength.

The matter of pardon and overlooking, when you restricted its meaning to silence and not responding, was said to be abrogated. But: ﴿فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا﴾ (So pardon and overlook), while I speak with the utmost strength, yet I carry no weapon in my hand, I hold no pistol, I shoot no one, and I shed no blood. I speak with the utmost strength together with the capacity to pardon and overlook ﴿حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّهُ بِأَمْرِهِ ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ﴾ (until Allah delivers His command; indeed, Allah has power over all things).

"Establish prayer and give zakāh" amid the talk of confrontation

﴿وَأَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ﴾ (And establish prayer and give zakāh). Why does it appear in the middle of this political talk, or the talk of confrontations between peoples, aggressions and the like? Being occupied with the foundations of worship helps servants to respond in kind. When you are truly occupied with obedience to the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, Allah, Mighty and Majestic, makes your pillars firm, so that you are in a strong position to respond if the matter requires a response.

Let us review together the very first of the commands revealed to the Prophet ﷺ: ﴿قُمِ اللَّيْلَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا﴾ (Stand in prayer at night, except a little) ^[15]. Why should I stand the night except a little? Why all this toil? The answer comes: Wait, ﴿إِنَّ نَاشِئَةَ اللَّيْلِ هِيَ أَشَدُّ وَطْئًا وَأَقْوَمُ قِيلًا﴾ (Indeed, the hours of the night are more effective for concurrence and more suitable for words). So am I to remain standing all night before my Lord, when I want to work? The answer comes: This helps you too, for you have in the day a long occupation. So standing at night, being alone with Allah, blessed and exalted, supplicating during the night and reading the Noble Qur'an were what made the pillars firm when you went out to people and spoke with them.

The matter of establishing prayer and giving zakāh is among the strong supports of the Muslim community. Were it not for our being together in a mosque, praying side by side, hearing the same message from the honorable imam reciting the Qur'an, and hearing the same counsel from the preacher or speaker on the minbar, were it not for this gathering, we would be scattered. That is the matter of ﴿أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ﴾ (establish prayer). As for ﴿وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ﴾ (and give zakāh), how does it help me? The answer: when you meet in the mosque, for example, you see that so-and-so needs something, so-and-so has an ailment, so-and-so is good at this, so-and-so does that, Allāhu akbar! So you are building an integrated community. And if you call people to action, the moment you call them you find them there, and as you say, "Good people, we have a man who needs such-and-such," you find people pouring it into your hands.

"And they say, None will enter Paradise": the monopoly on Paradise

Allah, blessed and exalted, said: ﴿وَقَالُوا لَن يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلَّا مَن كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَىٰ﴾ (And they say: None will enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian) ^[16]. This is a new one. We spoke before about "we do not like Mīkāʾīl, we do not like Jibrīl," and also the matter of sorcery and so on... And this is a new one, a new claim: ﴿لَن يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلَّا مَن كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَىٰ﴾ (None will enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian).

We are accustomed to applying any text to the reality we live in. The matter of "None will enter Paradise except..." is a matter of a wicked monopoly: you want to monopolize; you want to take all of Paradise for yourself.

This monopolizing talk, most regrettably, has invaded a number of minds. Some minds have claimed that none will enter Paradise except those of our school or our party: I am a Sufi, so none will enter Paradise except the Sufi. I am a Salafi, so none will enter Paradise except the Salafi. I am of the Tablīgh, so none will enter Paradise except those of the Tablīgh. Why? What are you doing? May Allah forgive you! Most regrettably. Imagine we were discussing a question of creed, and he says to you: Are you an Ashʿarī or one of Ahl al-Sunnah? You say to him: They are all of Ahl al-Sunnah. He says: No, you Ashʿarīs will go to the Fire. Why would we go to the Fire? We say "There is no god but Allah, Muḥammad is the Messenger of Allah," and we say to you: Paradise is true, the Fire is true, Muḥammad is true and ʿĪsā is true, and we still hold fast to the fundamentals.

When the scholars differed among themselves, setting aside the approaches to comprehending the question of creed (I do not want to say intellectual trends or creedal trends, for that wording is not accurate): the creed is one, and it is what the Book of the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, stipulated and what Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ﷺ believed. That is the creed. But the approaches to comprehension: is my mind of this capacity or of that capacity? How did I comprehend the matter of belief in the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted? To make these approaches to comprehending the law depend on whether you walk behind me or behind someone else, to monopolize righteousness and corruption, to say these are going to Hell and those to Paradise, this one is an innovator, that one is a sinner and that one is a disbeliever, that is not accurate talk. The Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, cancels this idea for us when He presents to us this claim of those who said: ﴿لَن يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلَّا مَن كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَىٰ﴾ (None will enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian); He cancels any monopoly.

When claims of monopoly collide

﴿وَقَالُوا لَن يَدْخُلَ الْجَنَّةَ إِلَّا مَن كَانَ هُودًا أَوْ نَصَارَىٰ﴾ (And they say: None will enter Paradise except one who is a Jew or a Christian). Then look at what happens after that, the next step in this barren approach: ﴿وَقَالَتِ الْيَهُودُ لَيْسَتِ النَّصَارَىٰ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ وَقَالَتِ النَّصَارَىٰ لَيْسَتِ…﴾ (The Jews say: The Christians have nothing to stand on; and the Christians say: The …) ^[17]. This happens very often when you see two opposing approaches: the adherent of this one tells you that one is headed for ruin, and the other tells you: No, you are the one headed for ruin, and we alone are the people of salvation. So let us enter Paradise together!

Breadth of vision leads a servant to embrace the creation, and narrowness of vision makes a servant see only himself, and himself alone.

The mosques and the method of building the Muslim community

Then He, exalted be He, said: ﴿وَمَنْ أَظْلَمُ مِمَّن مَّنَعَ مَسَاجِدَ اللَّهِ أَن يُذْكَرَ فِيهَا اسْمُهُ وَسَعَىٰ فِي خَرَابِهَا ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ مَا كَانَ لَهُمْ أَن يَدْخُلُوهَا إِلَّا خَائِفِينَ ۚ لَهُمْ فِي الدُّنْيَا خِزْيٌ وَلَهُمْ فِي الْآخِرَةِ عَذَابٌ عَظِيمٌ﴾ (And who is more unjust than one who prevents the name of Allah from being mentioned in His mosques and strives toward their ruin? It was not for them to enter them except in fear. For them in this world is disgrace, and for them in the Hereafter is a great punishment) ^[18].

Whether the talk is about the people of Mecca who prevented the Prophet ﷺ from staying at the Sacred House of Allah from the outset, so that he was forced to leave, or from returning to it when he wanted to perform ʿumrah, or otherwise, whatever the occasion on which the verse was revealed, the Lord of the worlds, glorified be He, is pointing to the method of building the Muslim community, and that it will only be in these mosques that belong to Allah: ﴿وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا﴾ (And the mosques are for Allah, so do not invoke anyone alongside Allah) ^[19]. And that when the servant of Allah stood up calling upon Him, they almost crowded upon him, and it was said to him: ﴿قُلْ إِنَّمَا أَدْعُو رَبِّي وَلَا أُشْرِكُ بِهِ﴾ (Say: I only invoke my Lord and do not associate with Him), and say: I do not possess for you..., and none can protect me from Allah, and I will not find in other than Him a refuge, ﴿إِلَّا بَلَاغًا﴾ (except a conveying). So from where did the conveying go out? From the mosques. So when the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted, told us ﴿أَقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَآتُوا الزَّكَاةَ﴾ (establish prayer and give zakāh), He told us about the place where prayer is established, and the houses in which the hearts of the monotheists are fused together until they go out to people with this great call.

Allah, blessed and exalted, said: ﴿وَلِلَّهِ الْمَشْرِقُ وَالْمَغْرِبُ ۚ فَأَيْنَمَا تُوَلُّوا فَثَمَّ وَجْهُ اللَّهِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ﴾ (And to Allah belong the east and the west; so wherever you turn, there is the Face of Allah. Indeed, Allah is All-Encompassing, All-Knowing) ^[20]. With this we have finished with the method of Muslim building, which is an important subject to be discussed in other sessions.

The claim of a son, and the saying of those who do not know

﴿وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا ۗ سُبْحَانَهُ ۖ بَل لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ ۖ كُلٌّ لَّهُ قَانِتُونَ﴾ (And they say: Allah has taken a son. Glorified is He! Rather, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth; all are devoutly obedient to Him) ^[21]. This is another of the calamities they committed. Then: ﴿وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ لَوْلَا يُكَلِّمُنَا اللَّهُ أَوْ تَأْتِينَا آيَةٌ﴾ (And those who do not know say: Why does Allah not speak to us, or a sign come to us?) ^[22]. And this is yet another new calamity, but here Allah linked their saying to the matter of lack of knowledge: ﴿وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ (And those who do not know say).

So what do I learn now? I learn that as long as ignorance surrounds these minds, you will find no benefit from them; on the contrary, they go astray and lead astray, they go astray and lead astray. Why? Because of the absence of knowledge.

The jurist is not one who forbids everything to people

We also have, most regrettably, some companions or people affiliated with daʿwah, one of whom sets himself up as a shaykh and forbids everything to people; everything is ḥarām! There are very many people around them, and among them were those who liked to live in a state of torment, terror and fear all the time. If he comes to talk to you about a matter, you say to him: Lighten up, take it easy on yourself, simplify the matter. And he says to you: You know nothing, you are ignorant, Allah has forbidden this! It is not so; rather, you are the one who complicated the matter a little. Let us keep things simple.

The jurist is not the one who forbids everything to people; rather, the jurist is the one who grasps the situation of the person asking for a fatwa and gives a fatwa suited to his situation. A man would come to the Prophet ﷺ and ask him a question, and he would forbid it to him, and another man would come and ask him the same question, and he would permit it to him.^[23] And the matter is well known, the matter of Ibn ʿAbbās ^[24], when a man came to him and said: O imam, is there repentance for a killer? And you can imagine that you are speaking about a serious matter, we are not joking: is there repentance for a killer? He looked at him and said: No. And the man went back without a word.

When he was asked about it, he said: He came with the intention of killing in his eyes, so when I told him "No," I prevented him from it (and imagine if he had gone, killed the man, and then run to the mosque seeking help). So what do we do with one who has killed? We have other legal rulings that we apply to him: we look, and if the slain person has family, we give them the blood money, even if we carry out retaliation; but we do not make the man feel that he has met Allah, blessed and exalted, with his companion's blood on him, or in disbelief, or that he is going to Hell, Allah forbid. Rather, we make faith firm in him, even if he is fined financially, or even if his life is forfeited, so that he meets Allah, blessed and exalted, with a tranquil and settled soul.

The resemblance of hearts: "We will not believe you until we see Allah openly"

﴿وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ لَوْلَا يُكَلِّمُنَا اللَّهُ أَوْ تَأْتِينَا آيَةٌ﴾ (And those who do not know say: Why does Allah not speak to us, or a sign come to us?), and here you are again: "We will not believe you until we see Allah openly," which we passed a little while ago, and they come once more and say: No. ﴿كَذَٰلِكَ قَالَ الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِهِم مِّثْلَ قَوْلِهِمْ ۘ تَشَابَهَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ﴾ (Thus spoke those before them, the like of their words; their hearts resemble one another) ^[25].

"The Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their creed"

And to sum up, so as to close all these files: ﴿وَلَن تَرْضَىٰ عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ﴾ (And the Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their creed) ^[26]. When we go to the conferences we attend, and to all the meetings in which the Muslim, the Jew, the Christian, the Buddhist and others are present, you must be on your guard; you are there to establish your Islamic presence, not to follow others, and you will not be able to influence anyone except by the permission of the Lord of the worlds, glorified and exalted.

Quite simply: we sat once at one of these meetings, and I said to the priest: Do you imagine that you will change my belief, when I have spent all these years in this religion? He said to me: And do you think that you will change me too? I said to him: I have not tried, by the way. I said to him: I have not tried, not because I begrudge you the call or the religion, but because I am not prepared to waste my time; with every person in front of you, you know what he has.

The point: ﴿وَلَن تَرْضَىٰ عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ﴾ (And the Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their creed). Are we now dealing with persons or with a way? We agreed that we are dealing with a way. Then He said: ﴿الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَتْلُونَهُ حَقَّ تِلَاوَتِهِ﴾ (Those to whom We have given the Book recite it with its true recital) ^[27]. As for this matter of true recital: we have finished with the file of ﴿وَلَن تَرْضَىٰ عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ﴾ (And the Jews will never be pleased with you) and closed it, and we will see some brief indications that come after that. But in closing this file, understand that the Jews will not be pleased with you; they will not be pleased, and the meaning is not that they will not permit your existence; rather, ﴿لَن تَرْضَىٰ عَنكَ الْيَهُودُ وَلَا النَّصَارَىٰ حَتَّىٰ تَتَّبِعَ مِلَّتَهُمْ﴾ (the Jews and the Christians will never be pleased with you until you follow their creed).

Reciting the Book as it deserves

The method of dealing is that you have a way called the Book, which you must recite as it truly deserves. So how do they recite it with its true recital? What does "its true recital" mean, our teacher? Some say: true recital is that you recite the Noble Qur'an well according to the rules of tajwīd. But the matter of true recital is understanding the causes and means of applying this way.^[28] The matter of reading is an elementary matter, known from reality by necessity; it is not right for a Muslim not to know how to read the Qur'an. This is self-evident and does not rise to the level of discussion and raising issues about it; it is something we teach little children in the kuttāb.

But ﴿يَتْلُونَهُ حَقَّ تِلَاوَتِهِ﴾ (they recite it with its true recital), and upon true recital follows: ﴿أُولَٰئِكَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ﴾ (those believe in it). So my Lord, glorified and exalted, linked the matter of true recital with the matter of faith: ﴿الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَتْلُونَهُ حَقَّ تِلَاوَتِهِ أُولَٰئِكَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ﴾ (Those to whom We have given the Book recite it with its true recital; those believe in it. And whoever disbelieves in it, it is they who are the losers). And here I am speaking about another matter: disbelieving in the Book does not mean denying its existence; rather, disbelieving in the Book may be putting the Book in other than its place, or applying it where it does not belong, so that you harm the religion with what you strive to reform it with. Do you imagine yourself the genius whose like has never existed? Listen to others, brother; open your mind a little to the people around you, and do not shut it and say: I am the only one in the world living Islam.

So my Lord, glorified and exalted, said: ﴿أُولَٰئِكَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِهِ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الْخَاسِرُونَ﴾ (those believe in it. And whoever disbelieves in it, it is they who are the losers).

Returning to the Children of Israel

﴿يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ﴾ (O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I bestowed upon you). If you remember how the address to the Children of Israel began: ﴿يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَوْفُوا بِعَهْدِي﴾ (O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I bestowed upon you, and fulfill My covenant), and after that came ﴿يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ﴾ (O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I bestowed upon you), and this is the third: ﴿يَا بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتِيَ الَّتِي أَنْعَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَأَنِّي فَضَّلْتُكُمْ عَلَى الْعَالَمِينَ وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا لَّا تَجْزِي نَفْسٌ عَن نَّفْسٍ شَيْئًا وَلَا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهَا عَدْلٌ وَلَا تَنفَعُهَا شَفَاعَةٌ وَلَا هُمْ يُنصَرُونَ﴾ (O Children of Israel, remember My favor which I bestowed upon you and that I preferred you over the worlds. And fear a Day when no soul will avail another at all, nor will compensation be accepted from it, nor will intercession benefit it, nor will they be helped) ^[29].

After that the talk begins about Ibrāhīm, upon our Prophet and upon him be blessings and peace, as a model who fulfilled the message of Allah, blessed and exalted, and conveyed His call in the most complete way. We will continue tomorrow, if Allah wills. May Allah, exalted be He, keep your day safe, may He, Mighty and Majestic, bless your steps, be pleased with you and make you pleased, and the peace of Allah be upon you, and His mercy and blessings.

--- ^[1]: Sūrat al-Baqarah, verse 106. ^[2]: Al-Baqarah, verse 102. The speaker uttered only part of the verse. ^[3]: Al-Baqarah, verse 104. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: al-Qurṭubī states in his commentary on the verse that its occasion was that when the Jews envied the Muslims for turning toward the Kaʿbah, they attacked Islam on that account and said: «إن محمدًا يأمر أصحابه بشيء ثم ينهاهم عنه» ("Muḥammad commands his companions to do something and then forbids it to them"); according to al-Baghawī, those who said it were the polytheists. ^[5]: Sūrat Ṭā-Hā, verse 120. Editor's documentation: Satan's saying «إني لكما لمن الناصحين» (Indeed, I am to you both among the sincere advisers) is in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf, verse 21, and the speaker mentioned it by its meaning, by way of narration. ^[6]: Al-Baqarah, verse 142. The speaker confined himself to the beginning of the verse. ^[7]: Al-Baqarah, verse 180. Editor's documentation: The speaker uttered as much of the verse as appears here. ^[8]: Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, verse 11. ^[9]: Editor's documentation: The ḥadīth was narrated by Abū Dāwūd (2870), al-Tirmidhī (2120) and Ibn Mājah (2713) from the ḥadīth of Abū Umāmah al-Bāhilī, may Allah be pleased with him, in the wording: «إِنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَعْطَى كُلَّ ذِي حَقٍّ حَقَّهُ، فَلَا وَصِيَّةَ لِوَارِثٍ» ("Allah has given every one who has a right his right, so there is no bequest for an heir"), and al-Tirmidhī said: «حديث حسن صحيح» ("a ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīth"). ^[10]: Editor's documentation: This is Dr. Ahmed's understanding of the verse. Al-Ṭabarī took it to refer to the abrogation of rulings in the Qur'an, saying on the meaning of ﴿مَا نَنسَخْ مِنْ آيَةٍ﴾ (We do not abrogate a verse): «ما ننقل من حكم آية إلى غيره فنبدّله ونغيّره» ("whatever ruling of a verse We transfer to another, so that We replace it and change it"). ^[11]: Al-Baqarah, verses 106 and 107. The speaker uttered only the beginning of verse 107. ^[12]: Al-Baqarah, verse 108. The speaker uttered only the portion set down. ^[13]: Al-Baqarah, verse 109; and his words after it, «فاعفوا واصفحوا حتى يأتي الله بأمره» (So pardon and overlook until Allah delivers His command), are from the same verse. Editor's documentation: The verse ends with His words «إن الله على كل شيء قدير» (Indeed, Allah has power over all things), which the speaker uttered later. ^[14]: Editor's documentation: In his commentary on His words ﴿فَاعْفُوا وَاصْفَحُوا حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّهُ بِأَمْرِهِ﴾ (So pardon and overlook until Allah delivers His command), al-Ṭabarī narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās that it was abrogated by His words ﴿فَاقْتُلُوا الْمُشْرِكِينَ حَيْثُ وَجَدْتُمُوهُمْ﴾ (then kill the polytheists wherever you find them) (al-Tawbah: 5), and from Qatādah and al-Suddī that it was abrogated by His words ﴿قَاتِلُوا الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا بِالْيَوْمِ الْآخِرِ﴾ (Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day) (al-Tawbah: 29). The transcript is garbled at the point of the verse the speaker cited as the abrogating one, so it has not been set down in the body. ^[15]: Sūrat al-Muzzammil, verses 2, 6 and 7. ^[16]: Al-Baqarah, verse 111. The speaker mentioned the portion of the verse set down here. ^[17]: Al-Baqarah, verse 113. Editor's documentation: The speaker broke off at the second half, and the rest of the verse is «لَيْسَتِ الْيَهُودُ عَلَىٰ شَيْءٍ» (The Jews have nothing to stand on); it has not been set down in the body. ^[18]: Al-Baqarah, verse 114. ^[19]: Sūrat al-Jinn, verses 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 (including «إِلَّا بَلَاغًا مِّنَ اللَّهِ», except a conveying from Allah). Editor's documentation: The sentences reported in the paragraph render the meaning of these verses, and some words in the transcript are garbled, so they were reported only as far as could be established. ^[20]: Al-Baqarah, verse 115. ^[21]: Al-Baqarah, verse 116. ^[22]: Al-Baqarah, verse 118. ^[23]: Editor's documentation: An instance of this is what Abū Dāwūd (2387) narrated from Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him: that a man asked the Prophet ﷺ about intimate contact short of intercourse for one who is fasting, and he permitted it to him; and another came and asked him, and he forbade it to him; and the one to whom he had given permission was an old man, and the one he had forbidden was a young man. ^[24]: Editor's documentation: al-Qurṭubī mentions in his commentary on Sūrat al-Nisāʾ (verse 93), in the narration of Saʿd ibn ʿUbaydah: A man came to Ibn ʿAbbās and said: Is there repentance for one who killed a believer deliberately? He said: No, only the Fire. When he had gone, those sitting with him said: Is this how you used to give us fatwas? You used to tell us that one who killed has accepted repentance! He said: I reckon him an angry man intending to kill a believer. So they sent after him and found him so. The body has been limited to what agrees with this narration. ^[25]: Al-Baqarah, verse 118. ^[26]: Al-Baqarah, verse 120. ^[27]: Al-Baqarah, verse 121. ^[28]: Editor's documentation: This is Dr. Ahmed's understanding of true recital. In his commentary on the verse, al-Ṭabarī narrates from Ibn ʿAbbās that he said: «يتبعونه حق اتباعه» ("they follow it as it truly deserves to be followed"), and from Ibn Masʿūd that he said: «إن حق تلاوته أن يحل حلاله ويحرم حرامه، ويقرأه كما أنزله الله، ولا يحرف الكلم عن مواضعه» ("Its true recital is that one treats as lawful what it makes lawful and as unlawful what it makes unlawful, reads it as Allah revealed it, and does not distort words from their places"). ^[29]: Al-Baqarah, verses 122 and 123. Editor's documentation: Before them the speaker mentioned the two earlier occurrences of the call, which are in al-Baqarah: 40 and 47.