33) Quran Study: Surah 74

Study From Parivash 633, Sura 74 Masud, Sabahi 06-02-1989

(0:39) Before starting the surah, I think the traditional teachers and the students, I'm going to have a pop quiz next week on what I teach today so that the ones who sleep will find out about who is listening and who is not. (1:02) I think maybe tonight is about, or it is close, I know it from the NBA playoffs. (1:17) When I came the first night here, there was a gentleman here who had a small TV. (1:21) He moved to Detroit, I guess, and he had the Lakers and I guess Detroit on TV. (1:26) So it's about a year, more or less. (1:34) So, and this is a very tough surah that is given to me, but given the fact that God, I ask him to help me tonight, be able to do a good job of what I understand from this surah, basically. (2:07) One more thing I have to add, I have, I'm going to, I have divided the surah in different parts, I have gone through the whole thing, I have tried to see what the overall point of the surah is and whether I can divide it in different parts that could help us understand it better. (2:33) The first seven verses of the surah, starting from one until seven, it seems to be like the instructions that God is giving to a lot of people think we know that it is not what we know about the code right now. (3:01) So it starts with the first verse, O you hidden secret, come out and warn, extol your Lord, cleanse your cover, forsake what is wrong, be content with your Lord, steadfastly commemorate your Lord. (3:16) These seven ayahs, as you see, God is instructing or ordering the secret. (3:30) I looked into a lot of translations, Farsi translations, all of them almost unanimously translate this as O you the person who you have covered yourself with some clothing or something, which they have taken it literally as someone who is under something covered, which they think is Muhammad. (3:56) This is towards him telling him that O you Muhammad, come out and warn, start your mission. (4:08) This may be the third surah that was revealed to Muhammad. (4:12) That's what makes it to believe that this is directly for Muhammad. (4:19) But now that we know the Quran is for all times, that doesn't apply to Muhammad. (4:35) Then God is telling glorify your Lord, cleanse your cover, which I had a lot of trouble understanding what does that cleansing mean. (4:53) It could be a lot of people in the Farsi translations, they have taken it as cleaning your clothes because you want to pray, you want to go to talk to God, so you have to clean your clothes. (5:06) It's clean and nice, but basically it could mean that cleans the mess. (5:26) Then God is asking him to forsake what is wrong, stay away from the wrong, be content with your Lord, be happy with what God has given you, and always commemorate your Lord. (5:44) With these seven surahs then God is putting another instruction that I think is from A to 11. (5:52) God is saying then when the horn is blown that will be a difficult day, for the disbelievers not easy. (5:57) Let me deal with what I created as an individual. (6:03) God is telling the messenger that when the horn is blown that will be a difficult day for the disbelievers. (6:24) He says that's not going to be an easy day for those, and let me deal with those. (6:31) This is a very interesting ayah to me at least. (6:34) Let me deal with what I created as an individual. (6:38) Sometimes we take it upon ourselves to deal with those who are disbelievers, and we try to deal with them. (6:52) God is telling us that let me deal with those. (7:05) Then from these instructions, the first part if you look at it, it is all in present tense what not to do. (7:21) Then from 12 on it starts with I provided him with lots of money, I made everything easy for him, yet he is greedy for more. (7:44) He stubbornly refused to accept those. (7:51) He reflected, then he decided. (7:54) Miserable is what he decided. (7:56) Miserable indeed is what he decided. (7:58) He looked, he frowned and whined, then he turned away arrogantly. (8:03) He said this is but clever magic. (8:08) I'll stop at 25 because I think between 12 and 25 we have a very interesting disbeliever. (8:19) God is teaching us and telling us that he has provided, since God knows that, are used to, he says that, and then children, children second to money here, something that everyone knows that human beings love to have children. (9:08) So this is another blessing from God that in addition to money that God provides for everyone, and then he says I made everything easy for him, just test him I guess to make sure that everything is provided for him. (9:31) He says I made everything easy for him so that he can reach whatever he likes to, but he's greedy for more. (9:38) Human beings are greedy. (9:39) You never, this is something that never ends. (10:09) The more you have, the more you want. (10:11) You can see it everywhere. (10:25) Life, it is not only in money, it's in fame, it's everywhere. (10:32) There are people who are greedy. (10:34) It doesn't matter what it is. (10:36) They're greedy for more. (10:38) There's a difference between being greedy for more and trying to reach. (10:44) You have to work hard. (10:49) God loves the people. (10:54) You always have to. (10:55) He stubbornly refused to accept these proofs. (11:07) God is referring to the proofs that we are going to go to. (11:18) I will increasingly punish him. (11:19) Now God is telling us that we'll punish him. (11:28) He reflected, then he decided. (11:31) Miserable is what he decided. (11:33) Miserable indeed is. (11:34) He just, God is, again is stressing of the fact that this decision of heeding the warnings and learning and believing in God alone. (11:53) He looked, he frowned and whined, then he turned away. (12:00) When I was reading these verses, everyday life that we go through, I see it's real. (12:10) It is something that happens every day. (12:19) Especially since, with my background, coming to the U.S., getting education, going back there and thinking that we're striving to have Islam. (12:47) And it has been, it has been a lot about it. (13:02) We went back home in 1970. (13:09) I love to go back because this was something that, and my job was to teach in the university because of the Islamic background that all of us have in that Islamic backgrounds. (13:58) I wanted to have, but what every group there were, maybe in a time, I remember maybe 10, not of Quran, of something that they thought is from Quran. (14:24) Because now I look back and I see, now that I go through this, this is a different story. (14:44) And over there, they don't have access, they don't have access to the, one interesting thing that I recently mentioned that interpret Quran or translate Quran based on the Hadith. (15:26) They mean they adjust the Quran translation or understanding to the Hadith. (15:33) And this is a very true, but anyway, in during these times, always wanting more from Islam. (16:14) They didn't think that this is because this ruling the country, they saw this as a true stone, a woman. (16:40) If you see Islam, use Islam, they can search you. (16:52) So what happened was that after five years, which I was, they went back home and I told Mary that I have to go. (17:12) I want to learn more science. (17:13) So I have to go. (17:14) So I just, after revolution, they have, when I went back home, I said, Mary, and God knows now that I know after a few months, they passed the rule that now people, I applied and was accepted. (17:57) It was, we almost stopped in Vancouver. (18:06) But when we came here, one thing that I didn't want to, the reason was that I saw the brainwashings. (18:32) So anyway, we came here and I remember I went to the door and talked to her, she couldn't refuse. (18:44) And after they kept calling and she said, Mahmoud, talk to them. (18:53) One Sunday morning, they showed up at the door, two very nice ladies. (19:02) The lady insisted. (19:03) I felt bad. (19:03) So okay, let's make an effort. (19:06) So anyway, one day, what you're saying is exactly what Khomeini said. (19:37) The lady was shocked. (19:38) So they left. (19:39) They never came back. (19:42) It took about three years, I guess, that all of a sudden to learn. (20:14) And I knew somehow Mary found out. (20:27) And then one night she said, okay, let's go, you know, try it, you know. (20:33) And I came and I listened. (20:39) One thing that impressed me the most, the fact that the message, one night, I remember his answer was, you like the message, which the message was something. (21:42) So nowadays, my friends here, a lot of them are very puzzled. (21:50) One of them who I was talking recently, he doesn't practice. (21:59) But one thing very interesting that he asked me, he said, why among all those monks, you don't believe in God? (22:12) He said, you don't believe in God? (22:16) I said, but he said, Muhammad wrote Quran. (22:22) He just wrote it himself. (22:31) Why do you worry about what I go? (22:51) But he's going back to these verses that I have here, 22, 23, and 24 and 25. (23:02) That's exactly what I hear. (23:04) You know, this is, we used to hear it back home. (23:14) Now, it is something that people pay attention to. (23:18) They're surprised why you go there. (23:21) Why do this? (23:23) Why? (23:23) What is this? (23:24) This is exactly what God is saying. (23:31) And then God is saying that I'll commit him to retribution. (23:37) What's retribution? (23:38) Thorough and comprehensive, obvious to all people. (23:42) And over it, it's not sure at all. (23:56) So this is so I'll stop here. (24:00) And I gave him a few questions to ask me. Speaker 2 (31:49) Referring to that same, we make the night, but here before getting to 31, one comment about what you said about the 29, they challenge you to bring to hell is actually surrounding the disbeliever. Speaker 1 (41:10) So this is another verse that I found. (41:26) Verse 31 by itself, it is all in present time. (41:32) In present tense, sorry. (41:33) We made the guardians of hell angels, and we assigned their numbers 19. (41:41) To disturb the disbelievers, to convince the Christian, the faith of the faithful, to remove all the traces of doubt, to expose those who harbor doubt in their hearts, and the disbelievers, they will say, what did God mean by this allegory? (42:04) God does send astray whoever he wills, and guides whomever he wills. (42:09) None knows the soldiers of your Lord, except he. (42:13) This by itself is a huge chapter. (42:17) First, I tell you about the translations that I saw, and it is very interesting when I look at them, is that everyone translates, most of the ones that I saw, translate this right. (42:29) They say, we made the guardians of hell, exactly, they say, guarding the hell, 19. (42:37) And this is for these reasons, to accept that this is a divine, and the faith, and so on. (42:52) But none of them relates this part to the beginning, but they isolate this, or translate it as into this, and the hidden secret that God is. (43:11) What would it mean if God was telling, and give the message, and warn, while he's telling that there are 19 angels, and this number, this number 19, something that they have put in there, to disturb the disbelievers. (43:30) The first thing that God is saying is to disturb the disbelievers, because when you go to them with this, I haven't done it yet, would react, and seeing what I have seen here, is that it really disturbs them. (43:52) So they try to avoid, what I think that made by Rashad Khalif, there's something which is in there, and nobody can deny it. (44:11) So it really disturbs the disbelievers. (44:14) And then to convince the Christians and Jews, which is clear by itself, to strengthen the faith of the faithful. (44:23) This is very crucial, at least for me, because usually, especially the educated people who go to college, all of a sudden they start thanking yourself, that I'm doing all these things, and slowly you can really lose your faith. (44:54) You start questioning, how can God, for me, a chemist, feel that it is so amazing, that for me, I look at it, and I say, God, how could this happen? (45:16) But looking, coming back, and reading Quran, and trying to understand it, it gives me more, more the feeling that no, this is real, this is scientific, this is something that God has created and left for us. (45:36) And five, to expose those who harbor doubt in their hearts, and the disbelievers, to expose those who harbor doubts in their hearts, which here, clearly, this is about the hypocrites. (45:54) If you offer them this code, this evidence, and then, God does send astray whomever he wills, and guides whomever he wills. (46:09) None knows the soldiers of your Lord, except he. (46:17) Going back to what I mentioned about, at least my own experience, and question of number 19, from the day that I came to this mosque, I heard, but it didn't catch up with me. (46:37) The reason was that, as I said, I had the background, and also, in every day of my life, I've seen so many signs, how these thousands of thousands, find out how this system works, years and years away from understanding it. (47:08) So to me, it wasn't, but it was something, as I said, that gave me to know that if I confront somebody scientific, who tries to take me out with science, then we can. (47:41) And another thing that I have noticed, I have to mention it here, is that the mathematical code is great. (47:59) I've noticed sometimes, using it, little things, you know, if I see something happening outside, it has counting the letters in there, it has a long name. (48:41) It's just very funny, I point, in the middle of the night, why I'm counting those. (48:48) So honestly, this really happened to me, I'm not saying this is, but I counted them, and it was 19. (48:54) So I recounted them, it was 19. (48:58) Then I said, I have to wake her up. (49:00) Then I said, she's going to laugh at me, say, you know, you're crazy, go to the middle of the night. (49:06) But first of all, I got scared. (49:13) So finally, after half an hour, I didn't wake her up, and she started laughing, she was dying, and she said, come on, don't joke, I said, honest? (49:32) And so we sat down and counted, it was 19. (49:35) But whatever the reason, I looked at it, I wouldn't, because I think, that's why I told Merrick that she may be an imamzadeh, you know what imamzadeh is? (49:59) Adib, you know, you know what imamzadeh is? Speaker 4 (50:03) Exactly, someone related to the imam. Speaker 1 (50:07) Right, right. (50:11) So anyway, so in any case, but seriously, this is something that sometimes, we, I think those times when we go over, try to overkill, something which is not related to this, something that everybody can question, you, I think, are taking away from what is dilution. (50:53) Yes, you're diluting, right. (50:58) So this is something that I wanted to mention as part of what I saw in this verse, and overall in the surah. (51:08) And going back to this verse, this is another thing that I would like to mention. (51:23) I have another verse from surah 19, Maryam, I guess, 73, when our revelations are recited to them, clearly explained, that this believer asks the believers, which side is more powerful and in greater number? (51:39) And here God says, none knows the soldiers of your Lord except thee. (51:43) I think there's something related to this. (51:45) My understanding is that God is telling us, reminding us, we have, we are responsible of giving the message, warning them, but in no way we have the right or are given the right to try to judge them. (52:08) If they are believers or non-believers, God knows it. (52:11) We don't have to say to someone, because it is a very, very big responsibility that I would take first. (52:28) The only thing that I can tell them is that, okay, this is the truth, this is God's message, this is the proof. (52:34) Take heed or not. (52:35) And since God tells us later, and here again, He guides whomever He wills, sends astray whomever He wills, that again God is telling us that we have no business of judging people. (52:54) And again, I have experienced this, that a lot of people who are really interested to come and listen and learn, for different reasons. (53:06) Some of them are curious, some of them are really looking for a place that would be free from all the things that have been added to Islam, somewhere that they can't abide by the rules of the Koran. (53:30) If not, then they'll go back to where they are. (53:32) But if we, somehow, the more we come here, we feel that feeling of belonging to this place, we try to protect it. (53:46) And in that protection, the thing that we feel we have to do, because we think it is the God, we may make a mistake, doesn't get the chance to come in here and listen, at least we have to do something with it. (54:12) And this is something else that I have noticed and I thought that I had to, because that I wanted to mention and hope that everyone, all of us, will learn from this. Speaker 2 (54:27) And I think I'll stop here again, because they cannot deny it or they cannot prosecute. Speaker 3 (1:03:36) That is 2 to 39. Speaker 1 (1:08:08) Again, it's in the present tense. (1:08:11) 32, absolutely, and denied as it shines. (1:08:20) This is one of the great miracles, a warning to human race, for those among you who wish to advance or regress. (1:08:27) Every soul is trapped by its sins, except for those on the right. (1:08:34) Again, if you put this, if you not try to isolate, God in 32, 33 and 34 is human beings that we see, we feel, as it shines, that this is one of the great miracles. (1:09:09) 31, that God is talking about 19 angels and the number 19, and God is swearing that this is a great miracle. (1:09:19) And in 36, he's telling us that this is a warning to human race, which could apply to any way at any period of time as we know it. (1:09:35) And for those among you who wish to advance or regress, we have the choice. (1:09:42) If we see the miracle, if we follow the Quran, then we advance. (1:09:48) Otherwise, we regress. (1:09:50) And it says, every soul is trapped by its sins. (1:09:53) The more you commit sins, the more you are going to be trapped. (1:09:57) And this goes back to what has been discussed quite a number of times here, that 40 years of age is the limit at that point. (1:10:13) But I guess here, every soul is trapped by its sins. (1:10:16) The more you sin, the more you get trapped into it. (1:10:21) So it is something that the prophet has to be made by time. (1:10:28) Then from 39 to, I guess, to 47, God is explaining what will happen in the future. (1:10:42) Except for those on the right, while in paradise, the one who was on the right, while in paradise, they will ask about the guilty. (1:10:51) What brought you to this retribution? (1:10:54) They will say, we did not observe the contact prayers. (1:10:57) We did not feed the poor. (1:10:59) We blundered with blunders. (1:11:00) We disbelieved in day of judgment until certainty came to us now. (1:11:07) If we compare these verses 40 to 47, God is giving the reasons for people who go to the hell. (1:11:19) Basically, these are the things that have been said over and over here in the studies or in the khutbahs, that God is giving the reasons to say, we did not observe the contact prayers. (1:11:32) We did not feed the poor. (1:11:34) We blundered with blunders and we disbelieved in the day of judgment. (1:11:39) So these are the major sins that you can commit hell. (1:11:45) And then when in the day of judgment, when you are in there, certainty came to you, it's too late. (1:11:53) You have already committed enough that it's too late for you to repent. (1:12:03) And God now is saying, it's a kind of a closing on the whole surah. (1:12:08) God is saying, the intercession of the intercessor will never help them because of what they committed, the sins that they committed. (1:12:16) Why are they so averse to this reminder, running like zebras who are fleeing from the lion? (1:12:21) Does each one of them want to receive the scripture personally? (1:12:27) Indeed, they do not fear the hereafter. (1:12:29) Indeed, this is a reminder for those who wish to ask. (1:12:34) They cannot take heed against God's will. (1:12:37) It is the source of righteousness. (1:12:41) 48 is clearly what I didn't know before coming to the mosque, that shafa'ah or intercession is not going to help anyone. (1:12:51) That's why they believe in intercession. (1:13:04) But clearly God is saying that no shafa'ah, no intercession. (1:13:08) And then God is kind of, when I read this verse, it's kind of a son, a father talking to his son, saying, why are they so averse to this reminder? (1:13:21) Because you tell your son because you are more God is telling us, don't do this, do the right things. (1:13:31) But we are averse to the reminder, and then we go and experience it. (1:13:35) And God says, you know, why are they so averse to this reminder? (1:13:40) Why they don't take heed and they don't understand? (1:13:44) They are running like zebras who are fleeing from lion. (1:13:49) And then God is asking, does each one of them want to receive the scripture personally? (1:13:58) Should God come to each one of us personally and tell, okay, this is your scripture, go and follow these rules. (1:14:04) And then God is telling us, indeed, they do not fear the hereafter. (1:14:14) Indeed, this is a reminder. (1:14:17) This miracle is for those. (1:15:01) Indeed, this is a reminder for those who wish to take heed. (1:15:05) They cannot take heed against God's will. (1:15:07) He is the source of righteousness. (1:15:13) These have been discussed. (1:15:14) It's only five minutes. (1:15:17) I'm going to stop. (1:15:18) There are a few verses that I took out of other places.