GET TO KNOW: Ep. 16 - Surah At-Taghabun - Nouman Ali Khan - Quran Weekly

[Music]

alul

once again

everyone today we try and get to

know the 64th of the Quran this is the

last of the in the Quran which means the

suras that declare Allah's Perfection uh

and in this beautiful beautiful Surah

Allah summarizes the subject matter of

all the previous M matters of Faith

disbelief uh conviction you know the

comparison between the skies and the

Earth and ourselves how the skies and

the Earth are in submission and that

human beings have this you know this

Rebellion towards Allah ironically even

though they're the best of Allah's

creation this Surah can be easily

divided into several parts the first of

them again is this idea the skies and

the Earth declare Allah's Perfection but

human

beings among you are those who believe

and the ones who

disbelieve he he he folded you he molded

you he created you and then he perfected

the molding and beautified the molding

in which he crafted all of you so Allah

you know imposes on us the favor that he

did by designing Us in the remarkable

way that he did the human being uh and

you'll notice that in this first passage

there are two attributes of Allah that

are at the opening and the end the two

two attributes of Allah that complement

each other at the at the opening

it's Allah is in complete control and at

the end

it's Allah is knowledgeable of what goes

on deep inside the chest uh and so

Allah's control and Allah's knowledge

now these two things are usually talked

about when we talk about trust and

Reliance in Allah why because Allah

knows what you're going through and

Allah is capable of changing your

circumstance and whatever you're going

through is happening because Allah is

allowing it to happen when you know bad

things happen to people they start

questioning Allah and say well if he's

all powerful how come he's not changing

my circumstance they

question and then on the other side of

the predestination problem is if Allah

already knows what I'm going to do how

is it my fault and Allah actually

establishes first of all both of those

as realities that Allah in fact is

knowledgeable over whatever goes on

inside the chest and he is in fact in

complete control these two attributes

once again the purpose of them is to

establish one powerful dimension of our

faith and that is Reliance in Allah

trusting Allah letting Allah there are

things that in my life are within my

control what I eat how I sleep how I

deal with people what I say there are

things that are within my control and

then there are things that are Beyond My

Control there are aspects of my health

that I can try to take care of but then

again health and sickness are in Allah's

hands ultimately life and death is in

Allah's hands whether you're living in a

city that's enjoying good weather or

you're in the middle of a tornado or an

earthquake that's not in your hands

whether you're driving perfectly on the

road that's up to you but somebody else

comes and Rams into you that's out of

your control there are things that we

have to relegate to Allah that they're

just beyond us and that is an aspect of

our faith that's highlighted in this

beautiful beautiful Surah in the next

passage of the Surah you've got this

interesting dichotomy Allah will talk

exhaustively about those who disbelieved

in previous Nations

those who disbelieve are talked about

over and over and over again then he'll

talk about you know therefore if you

look at the consequences of those who

didn't rely on Allah and thought that

they were invincible and that they're

not going to be brought to question as a

result of learning about the their

accounts you should renew your

faith believe in Allah and his messenger

and the light that we have sent down I

love one of the features of this Surah

is that this is the Surah that kind of

is one of the unique places in the Quran

where the Quran is explicitly described

as light the Quran itself is described

as light you know the prophet his

role so he can bring you out of

darknesses into light Allah himself

describes

himself you know then Allah talks about

people who live in this life you know

based on guidance and you know

he'll put light in place for you that

you can walk in and now that light

itself is being described as the Quran

believe in Allah the messenger and the

light that we've sent down so when

somebody walks with light it's like

Allah saying they walk with Quran they

live with Quran they think about the

Quran as they move in their life so

that's the the call to Iman then

thereafter again another discussion

about

IM you know you

know so twice have this conversation

about IM the conversation started In

this passage with kufur with disbelief

then twice there's discussion about Iman

and then at the end again Allah

describes so those are the people who

disbelieve at the end again so this

second passage is really a contrast

between those who believe and those who

disbelieve then we get to what belief

and disbelief particularly cuz you know

it's belief in Allah belief in the

Angels belief in prophets belief in

books yes belief is General but every

Surah has a particular flavor and I've

alluded to this the the the particular

texture of faith that Allah is

highlighting in this Surah is Reliance

in Allah Reliance on him and that's why

in that third passage Allah opens that

subject up and

says there's no Calamity that ever

strikes you except that it happens by

Allah's leave Allah is the one in

control of whatever struck

you whoever truly believed in Allah

Allah guides his heart may Allah give us

you know tranqu quity in our hearts when

difficult times hit because that's also

from Allah and the the idea is if we can

hold on to our faith during difficult

times the gift you get is priceless what

is the gift Allah himself will guide his

heart my heart will be given guidance if

I can remain tranquil and relaxed and

relegate the matter to Allah in times of

difficulty the gift I get is absolutely

the most valuable gift the guidance of

Allah and then this passage also towards

the end of this passage

the you know Believers should then Place

their trust exclusively in Allah that

matter of trust comes back again but

what I find really remarkable about this

passage is this conversation about trust

and Reliance and letting your heart be

at ease because Allah is in control all

of that is there but in the heart of

this passage you know what's

there obey Allah and obey the messenger

if you turn away then our messenger's

only responsibility is to communicate

clearly and to communicate that which

clarifies why why is that in the middle

obey Allah and obey the messenger

because when people lose their trust in

Allah they stop obeying Allah why did

you stop praying well why did Allah let

me lose my job why did I have to get

sick I don't I sick I don't feel like

praying anymore people stop obeying

Allah and the messenger when their

Reliance on Allah goes away so Allah put

that in the very very middle the

demonstration that you're still relying

on Allah that you still trust Allah that

you still have good opinion of Allah is

demonstrated in your continued loyalty

and obedience and subservience to Allah

may Allah continue to keep us all that

way now towards the end of

theah Allah will first mention a couple

of times he'll mention trials you're