43. Ali 'Imran - Ayah 92-95
لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ ۚ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا مِن شَيْءٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ
Never will you attain the good [reward] until you spend [in the way of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)] from that which you love. And whatever you spend - indeed, Allah is Knowing of it.
Today, I (ustadh) am hoping to cover ayah 92 all the way to ayah 95, and it's a pretty challenging section. The first challenge is understanding its continuity from the subject matter that we covered before. Three ayaat were dedicated to Islam and Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) gave us a picture of what Islam is, and the jewel ayah in between. And then there were few ayaat dedicated to kufr – kufr is opposite of Islam. And now it seems that the subject has completely changed all of a sudden.
لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ ۚ وَمَا تُنفِقُوا مِن شَيْءٍ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ – He says: you will not reach goodness; think of being good as an island that you won't reach; you are not going to get to being a good person until you spend from out of what you love. وَمَا تُنفِقُوا مِن شَيْءٍ – and whatever you might spend of anything; فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ – then certainly Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) knows about it. So the ayah is clearly about spending and a standard Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) gave for spending.
What does it have to do with Islam and kufr and everything else that we have learnt so far. If you have been following along, one of the things that doesn't stop coming up over and over again is how Islam is directly tied to the religion of Prophet Ibrahim (عليه السلام) – one of the names of Islam is مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ. As a matter of fact, today we are also going to read
قُلْ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ ۗ فَاتَّبِعُوا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا – Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has spoken the truth, follow the religion of Ibrahim (عليه السلام). Notice also the ayah where we said, we believe in Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), we believe in what was revealed to us; Ibrahim (عليه السلام) was the first Prophet mentioned right after Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم). The word Muslim came from Ibrahim (عليه السلام).
If you pay attention to the legacy of Ibrahim (عليه السلام), it boils down to one thing; sacrifice. Sacrificing his wife and child in the middle of the desert; being willing to sacrifice his own life and jumping into a fire; sacrificing his own well-being living under his father's house at a young age and leaving for Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)'s sake; sacrifice, sacrifice; and putting a knife to his child's neck; any test you think of that required a great deal of self sacrifice or sacrifice of what you love – that would be Ibrahim (عليه السلام).
But human beings, all the rest of us believers, we are not asked to take our family in the middle of a desert and walk away; we are not shown a dream that we have to put a knife to our child's neck; but we are asked a much less kind of sacrifice; actually by extension what we have been asked for is to spend from the things that we love.
In Surah al Baqarah, this was already described in great detail. As a matter of fact, in the very beginning of Baqarah, which is the kind of introduction to this faith; it's right after Fatihah, it's how we start things off; right in the beginning, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) didn't just say: they believe in the unseen
– الَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ; وَيُقِيمُونَ الصَّلَاةَ – they establish the prayer; and immediately He says: وَمِمَّا رَزَقْنَاهُمْ يُنفِقُونَ – they spend from what we have given them.
So giving up what you love meaning human beings give up a part of their life to earn a living; maybe a lot of people don't enjoy being in office or being stuck in traffic I (ustadh) would imagine, it's not exactly a glorious part of your life but we do it because we need to earn a living. A farmer may not enjoy spending eight or nine hours in the burning sun to try to do the work that he has to do the entire year; but we do it because we need to do that in order to earn a living; which you have to think of it as that a living or wealth or money that's earned, that actually you had to give up a part of your life to get it.
This is why the hadith of Prophet says: كل نفس باع نفسه – every person sells themselves; gives up a part of themselves; sells themselves actually mean you gave up all you have; the most valuable asset that we have in this life is our time, we give up our time. We didn't spend it the way we wanted to, we spent it for something that will earn us a living. Now when you earn that living, it's very hard to part with it or to do with it what you don't want to do. You now finally got this reward and it's really an extension of yourself. Think of your wealth as almost an extension of yourself, which is why Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ (9:41) – struggle with your moneys and yourselves. What's the relationship between money and self?
One is the extension of the other. Here Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) reminds us of one of the fundamentals of Islam; after describing Islam – faith, submission to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) – and disbelief – kufr and its degrees – He goes to the sort of inner realities of faith and that's what the Qur'an does often. Islam at its core is a lot of things but in different places in the Qur'an, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) will highlight one value that you shouldn't overlook; like this is one of the most important values that gets overlooked. And so here He is describing one of the core values of Islam – how do you and I (ustadh) know that we actually have submitted to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) in our hearts is that we have this value of giving up from what we love – تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ.
Now remarkably Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) didn't say: you will not become a good person until you spend what you love; He didn't say that. Then Arabic would have been لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا ما تُحِبُّونَ, but the Arabic is لَن تَنَالُوا الْبِرَّ حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا من ما تُحِبُّونَ, there is a من (min) there, which changes everything.
Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is saying: you will not reach goodness until you spend some of what you love; not what you love, some of what you love, from out of the things you love. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) doesn't want you to give up everything that you love. He put that love in you for a reason, but He doesn't want you to hoard all of it for yourself, He does want you to give up some of it. In Surah al Baqarah, when Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) was describing the ethics of giving, He said: don't spend وَلَسْتُم بِآخِذِيهِ إِلَّا أَن تُغْمِضُوا فِيهِ, don't spend filthy things; like don't give up your smelly clothes and say: I want to donate these, or the car that is not running anymore, "I like to donate this to the cancer society." Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: don't give things in charity that if were given to you, you'd squint, (and react somewhat like) "this is what you want to give me?"; don't do that. In other words, give the best of what you have; give out of what you love.
Notice the بِرَّ, it's an echo from the previous Surah, Surah al Baqarah, there is an ayah dedicated to بِرَّ –
لَّيْسَ الْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّوا وُجُوهَكُمْ (2:177) – goodness isn't that you turn your faces east or west. That's not all there is to goodness, there is more to goodness than that; and part of that ayah was وَآتَى الْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ – a person who has become good gives money even though they have love of that money. And this idea is coming back again: you are not going to attain any goodness until you learn to spend out of what you love – مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ. Now this is not very direct, I (ustadh) discussed this with Sheikh Sohaib today and we talked about it for a little bit.
There are a couple of observations I (ustadh) have. You don't have to agree with them at all, as always.
One observation is that in the previous ayah Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) said: when Judgment Day comes people will try to ransom the weight of the earth in gold, and Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: I don't want the weight of the earth in gold, I just want some of the things you love, give those to me now, so you don't have to try and offer me the entire planet in gold on Judgment Day when it's worthless. So it's actually this contrast from the previous ayah when it's too late and you thought that you were doing good, you were delusional about that and you realize that you didn't reach any goodness at all. As far as I (ustadh) see – again these are my comments – religious clergy in different religions whether it is Buddhist or Christians or even the Muslims sometimes or rabbis etc. historically clergy people were kind of very formally dressed and they had a lot of formalities around them. They had kind of a regal presence and even today, people are in awe of their presence and they have certain kinds of formal clothes, special foods and special gatherings, special ornamental kind of churches and synagogues and shrines etc. etc., so they are surrounded by material things and they represent the spiritual and the immaterial and yet when you look at them they actually enjoy a very material kind of life.
Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: you are not going to attain any kind of goodness until you learn to spend from what you love. Meaning the people who represent the religion should actually be the first role models of giving up what they love. And you will find even today religious institutions, or religious leadership sometimes actually is a model of how much material you can give; like religious bodies whether it is Muslim or Christian become very capitalistic kinds of ventures. It was not too long ago, I (ustadh) was watching a Youtube video about a preacher who was saying, "Yeah, God blessed me, look at this Rolex, this is my 20th Rolex, Jesus has been good to me this year, I just bought my second private jet". Guess where that private jet came from? From the donations of his congregation that just sit there listening.
The people who are supposed to be standing by the religion of Ibrahim (عليه السلام), the signature of Ibrahim (عليه السلام)'s legacy is sacrifice; how is this sacrifice? How are you claiming loyalty to the religion of Ibrahim (عليه السلام) if this is how you live, if this is what you represent? When have you spent out of what you love? So
حَتَّىٰ تُنفِقُوا مِمَّا تُحِبُّونَ – until you spend from what you love. Teaching ourselves and our children these values means that when you buy clothes for Eid, maybe we and our kids are wearing old clothes from last Eid and this year's clothes we will give away at the last minute, because we have to spend some things out of what we love. It's not a loss, nobody is going to die if they don't wear brand new clothes, it's going to be fine. It's a little bit of training for ourselves and you don't just do that to them; like you bought your new outfit and you wore that and you make the kids give up theirs. No, you lead by example and you do some of that.
The thing is, the ayah is Madani and notice that in the beginning of the ayah there is no يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ and there is no يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا, there is no believers, this; there is no people of the Book, listen up; there is no qualification in the beginning. It suggests that everybody is addressed. But by context you can decipher that the leaning more here is towards the Muslim community actually; the conversation about the people of the Book was in third person in the previous ayahs, so Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) talked about them and said: those people have Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)'s curse, those who repented, those who fixed their ways, those who disbelieved; those, those, not you, those.
And all of a sudden, you will not reach goodness; so this transition could suggest that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is talking directly to Muslims.
But there is another sort of التفات here. التفات means transition. That's a style of the Qur'an good for you to know about in your own reading. It will help you a lot. Let me put it to you this way.
Let's just say a teacher walked in the class and some people failed the test and he has got a stack of exams in his hand and he is standing there and he says: some people think that they don't have to study and they are going to pass anyway, and some people think that failing an exam is a joke. He doesn't point out anybody's name, he just says: some people, some people, some people and all of a sudden he says: Zainab. What just happened? He goes from 'he and they', all of a sudden switches to 'you'. What does that do psychologically for the child who heard 'you'? When they said: some people, some people, (people think) probably not me, I am good, this is about some people, but the moment you quickly switch over from the third person, 'he and they' to 'you', it's a shocking threat, "What? What? Me? Oh my God, and your world comes to an end"
What does Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) do? He is talking about the People of the Book and they think, "Yeah, yeah, yeah", and then the transition happens: "You won't be any good until you spend from what you love. You will not attain any goodness and you won't reach it. You might think that you are righteous because you are part of the clergy and people think that you are righteous, and people call you righteous but I am telling you that you are not righteous until you spend from what you love. You see how that switch is a shocker and then after that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) adds something for the rest of the community.
Most of the people of Madinah who heard this were poor. Even if they are going to give from what they love; the guy owns two dates, he is going to give one of them, he is going to give half a date; what is he going to give, and he is thinking that this little thing that I gave what's its worth to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)? Like somebody gave a thousand, somebody gave a million. Sometimes you are at these embarrassing fundraisers, where somebody raises his hand: I will give $20,000; people are like: takbeer; and somebody else $10,000, somebody else $5000, and you are like I have $3, (you look around and think) can anybody give me a takbeer for that one; when somebody says: here is $5, and what you hear: takbeer; but nobody responds, like there is no motivation, it's not inspiring; but that $3, if that was something dear to that person and it was not much from what they had, that may be way more valuable to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) than the $20,000 that someone else gave.
So what does Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) do at the end of this ayah? He says: وَمَا تُنفِقُوا مِن شَيْءٍ – and whatever you might spend of anything at all; فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ بِهِ عَلِيمٌ – then certainly Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) knows about it; Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) knows the value of what you spent, people will judge the quantity of what you spent, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) will judge the quality of what you spent, that's the fundamental difference. You are not here to measure yourself against somebody else.
Here is the other remarkable thing about the word تُنفِقُوا; when you mention spending, you should mention not just what you spend, you should also expect to be told what to spend on; both things are missing. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: spend from what you love. What is it that I love? He doesn't say.
The immediate assumption is that it must be money. And who should you spend it on? Maybe He is referring to the poor, needy etc. etc., He didn't specify. He just says: spend from what you love, whatever you spend, I am fully aware of what you spent. Let's take a broader look at spending.
In Surah al Hadid, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: وَأَنفِقُوا مِمَّا جَعَلَكُم مُّسْتَخْلَفِينَ فِيهِ – spend from whatever I have given you capacity in; spend out of your youth, spend out of your time, spend out of your money, spend out of your talent, spend out of your priorities, spend out of your brain capacity, spend out of your physical strength; what is that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has given you that you are capable of spending; and of the things that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has given you, what do you love and of that stuff that you love what can you give to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى); it's a broad spectrum of what are you willing to bring before Allah (سبحانه و تعالى).
In Surah At Tawbah, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: انفِرُوا خِفَافًا وَثِقَالًا وَجَاهِدُوا بِأَمْوَالِكُمْ وَأَنفُسِكُمْ; some soldiers are strong, muscular and well built, trained in fighting, they are going to be assets on the battlefield. Other soldiers that just joined the army were scrawny, they were not trained, didn't know how to wield a sword, they were like: what are we going to do on the battlefield?
And Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: come forward whether you are heavy or light, just come forward. He wants to see you bring whatever you have because Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is the One Who gave it to you to begin with, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is the One Who gave you what you have; He wants to see what of it are you willing to give up.
Go back to Surah al Baqarah and you will find that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) opened the subject up profoundly. The longest section in the Qur'an to understand the divine wisdom in spending; why should one spend, what should one spend, how should one spend, that wisdom is captured at the end of the Surah al Baqarah, there are few pages just dedicated to spending.
When you read Surah Al e Imran and you read the ayah like this one, it's echoing some of those things; it's actually saying that remember those lessons, now let's just summarize it here. And the summary is: You won't be a good person until you learn to spend from what you love and never underestimate what you have spent. Don't say: well, what I spent was worthless; so long as it was from within what you loved, it had value. That's the principle that we are being taught.
Now this overarching value is applicable to the People of the Book that we are talking about. Even though the overall idea is spending, underneath spending is sacrifice; and I (ustadh) told you that these religious clergy were not willing to make a certain kind of sacrifice, and so Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is saying: Look, the underlying principle that you haven't embodied in your hearts, that's the reason you are not able to make this jump. But when that doesn't happen, when you don't follow the real essence of the religion, you come up with a new kind of religion.
What is that new kind of religion? In this new kind of religion, you make important the things that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) did not make important. You make a big deal out of everything that is actually not a big deal. For some people, whether you are a good Muslim or not depends on whether or not you are wearing a kufi. If you are wearing that, you are good, if you are not (they say:) what kind of Muslim are you. For some people, the gauge for whether or not you are even going to heaven is whether or not you celebrate the Prophet's birthday. For some people, if you celebrate it, you are going to hell and for some people, if you don't celebrate it, you are going to hell because you don't love the Prophet enough. This is the litmus test (for them) for whether or not somebody is holding on to their faith. For some other people, it's going to be the evil eye. Oh my God, you are going to a shadi, do nazar, recite Ayat ul Kursi; dress inappropriately but make sure you recite Ayat ul Kursi so you don't get nazar, that's the religion.
You emphasize parts of the religion that were never emphasized in the Book, some of this stuff nowhere to be found in the Book. Sometimes these things are so obscure and so out there, I (ustadh) am only bringing this up because I've gotten over a hundred emails just in the last couple of months on this subject. Women are emailing and saying that my parents just want to get rid of me, they think that I am a burden in the house and some proposal came and I don't like the guy so I said no, and they said that you are dismissing the favor of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), a good proposal came and you are turning it down, you are being ungrateful, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) will question you, you are disobeying your parents first of all that is sinful and you are denying Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)'s favor. Dude, she thinks that he is ugly, that's not Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)'s favor. They use religion to say: you are disobeying your parents, being obedient to parents is part of Islam; and then they say: you are being ungrateful to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). Is this in Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)'s Book? Did Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) obligate someone to marry someone? A proposal came, well, he's got both legs, he can speak. This is not the criteria; you are allowed to say no. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) gave anybody that right to refuse. To make someone feel guilty like that and then the craziest part is they go to some religious person – I am not even calling him an imam or sheikh – and he will give the same advice. (And I'll go like) What Book are you people reading? What religion is this? But this becomes the religion, self serving religion.
And certain rituals are very important; for some people the 27th of Ramadhan is Islam, "Wait, you are not going to spend all night in the masjid on 27th, what kind of Muslim," that's what Islam becomes – a handful of things. For some people, it is zabihah meat, that's all it is. They'll check every ingredient, they won't eat ice cream. They haven't given their wife her mahar, but that's okay, it has been thirty years, she is a grandma now, but ice cream better be halal. This kind of ridiculous emphasis of things that weren't supposed to be emphasized; why does that happen? Because you leave the core values of the religion. The core value of the religion in this passage is "not until you spend from what you love". Now understand the next ayah.
Ayah 93
كُلُّ الطَّعَامِ كَانَ حِلًّا لِّبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِلَّا مَا حَرَّمَ إِسْرَائِيلُ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ مِن قَبْلِ أَن تُنَزَّلَ التَّوْرَاةُ ۗ قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِالتَّوْرَاةِ فَاتْلُوهَا إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ
All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel had made unlawful to himself before the Torah was revealed. Say, [O Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم)], "So bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful."
He says: كُلُّ الطَّعَامِ كَانَ حِلًّا لِّبَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِلَّا مَا حَرَّمَ إِسْرَائِيلُ عَلَىٰ نَفْسِهِ مِن قَبْلِ أَن تُنَزَّلَ التَّوْرَاةُ – all kinds of food was made permissible (halal) for the children of Israel; and then He says: except for what Israel – not the country, not the nation; Israel is the person, Yaqoob (عليه السلام) – prohibited himself from, much before the Torah came.
Obviously Israel, meaning Yaqoob (عليه السلام) is the son of Ishaq (عليه السلام) who is the son of Ibrahim (عليه السلام), so this is the grandson of Ibrahim (عليه السلام). The Torah was given to Musa (عليه السلام) at least four centuries later.
So the thing that he did not want to eat: Some say that it was camel meat, and we will get to that; has nothing to do with the Torah because the Torah came four hundred years later.
Then the ayah concludes قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِالتَّوْرَاةِ فَاتْلُوهَا إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ – tell them, bring forward the Torah and recite it, if in fact you are telling the truth.
At first glance, the previous ayah was about spending and now this ayah is about what Jacob (Yaqoob) used to make haram for himself and bring the Torah; seems completely unrelated. First we will dig into this ayah, then we will try to understand the Qur'an's logic – why does it connect these things that apparently don't seem connected.
Let's first get some historical context.
قال أبو رَوْق و الكَلْبي: نزلت حين قال النبي صلى اللّٰه عليه و سلم: إنا على ملّة إبراهيم، – at the time when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said: I am committed to the religion of Ibrahim
فقالت اليهود: كيف وأنت تأكل لحوم الإبل وألبانها! – Yahood said: how can that be, we have seen you eat camel meat and you drink camel milk. Because in their mind camel milk and camel meat is haram. God revealed that you can't eat that, it's in the Torah, how can you eat that and say that you are on the religion of Abraham. Abraham would never do this, he didn't eat camel meat or camel milk.
فقال النبي صلّى الله عليه وسلّم، كان ذلك حلالا لإبراهيم فنحن نحله – the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) simply answered: this used to be permissible for Ibrahim (عليه السلام), so it's permissible for us. In other words, it's permissible for us because it is still the religion of Ibrahim.
(عليه السلام). فقالت اليهود: كل شيء أصبحنا اليوم نحرِّمه فإنه كان محرماً على نوح و إبراهيم حتى انتهى إلينا – they said: everything that is unlawful in our Torah, even though the Torah came to Moses, was actually also haram for Ibrahim (عليه السلام) and Nuh (عليه السلام). All the way back to Nuh (عليه السلام), they follow the law of the Torah. Abraham and Noah followed the law of Torah, even though the Torah wasn't even there, that's their claim.
فأنزل اللّٰه عزّ و جلّ هذه الآية
تكذيباً لهم – So Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) revealed this ayah to show what kind of lie they are making up; what do you mean? All of this happened before the Torah was even revealed. How are you going back and saying this is what they followed?
Now let's read a little bit of history. This is an analysis by Neal Robinson, Neal Robinson's notes on this concept, I (ustadh) am going to read this off to you because I think this is beneficial.
The section of Al Baqarah devoted to the Abrahamic legacy does not mention dietary regulations; so Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) did not associate food restrictions with Ibrahim (عليه السلام) in the Qur'an. Nevertheless elsewhere in this Surah there is a brief list of prohibited foods; so in another place in 173 in Surat ul Baqarah Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: الْمَيْتَةَ وَالدَّمَ وَلَحْمَ الْخِنزِيرِ وَمَا أُهِلَّ بِهِ لِغَيْرِ اللَّهِ; four things; dead animals, blood, and then swine and then whatever may have been sacrificed in an idol's name or other than God's name. So four items are mentioned, you are not supposed to eat those. The four prohibited items were also forbidden to Jews by the Torah, but so were many other food stuffs. Christians, on the other hand, were required by a mid first century Apostolistic Council to merely abstain from foods offered to idols. So Christians don't have the dead or blood, or swine; they just say: as long as the animal wasn't sacrificed for idols, you can eat it. But the Jews had the same four items as the Qur'an revealed in Surat ul Baqarah. Idols, fornication, and what is strangled and blood; fornication might seem out of place in the Bible. Because there is a list of prohibited things and fornication is mentioned in it. What does fornication have to do with haram foods? The Greek word is 'pornia', it was probably included because of its association with idolatry, although it is just as conceivable that the council actually prohibited swine's flesh which is a similar word 'coria' and that the text is corrupt, in which case the Qur'anic and Apostolistic prohibition would be virtually identical. Be that as it may, the Jews of Arabia were more likely to raise objections to the Qur'an's list besides the Christians. It was probably their complaint that it was too minimalist that gave rise to subsequent revelations reasserting that these were the only four items forbidden and explaining that the more onerous foods law imposed on the Jews were a punishment. So the Jews had much more haram stuff, in which they included camel meat. Qur'an comes along and says: only four things are actually haram, and all the other stuff that was made haram on you was because you misbehaved. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) made more things haram on you as punishment, and that is actually mentioned in the Qur'an. This development would have gone down well with the Christians and may even echoed Christian sentiment but it would hardly have silenced the Jewish objections. It was perhaps at this point that the Jews brought Abraham into the discussion. So now the Jews are bringing up Abraham because they believe that Abraham has dietary restrictions. The Qur'an doesn't mention dietary restrictions with Ibrahim (عليه السلام). So what do they bring up? We have seen the rabbis interpret Genesis 26:5 to mean that Ibrahim (عليه السلام) obeyed the whole of the Torah even though he lived several centuries before God gave it to Moses. By the Torah, they understood that not just the written text of the first five books of the Bible, but also the oral Torah which contained many more minutiae. It included, for example, a rule known as Eruv Tavshilin/ Erub Tabshileen which is the way you cook – you should only cook on Friday, you should cook on Sunday, which days you should cook; very specific details; and they say: yeah, Ibrahim (عليه السلام) followed all this stuff; even though they have no evidence to this. They made up this claim. The rabbis maintain that Ibrahim (عليه السلام) knew and obeyed all prohibitions and injunctions of both the written and the oral Torah, down to the very detail.
I (ustadh) was discussing this with my Qur'an study group because some of them are actually Bible study experts, and I (ustadh) wanted to understand when Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says here that all kinds of food was halal for them except for what Israel made haram for himself. What's the Biblical reference to this? What is the story behind him making something haram for himself?
So I (ustadh) am going to read this for you, this is from the Bible itself. Genesis 32:22-32:
The same night he rose – he is referring to Jacob; Jacob's other name is Israel – and took his two wives, his two female servants and his eleven children and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. He took them and sent them across the stream and everything else that he had. And Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. Then he said, "Let me go, for the day has broken." But Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." And he said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Jacob." Then he said, "Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed." Then Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." But he said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" And there he blessed him. So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." The sun rose upon him and he passed Penuel, limping because of his hip. Therefore to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh. Sinew of the thigh is the inner vein of the thigh. He says: when he wrestled this man; which in the later Jewish interpretation, some actually even believed that it was God that he wrestled and beat and others said: no, this was an angel that he wrestled and there is commentary about that. The more conservative view is that this was an angel that he wrestled. And then that angel injured his thigh. Therefore to this day, the people of the Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh that is on the hip socket, because he touched the socket of Jacob's hip on the sinew of the thigh.
This is Genesis 32:22-32
Meaning Jacob stopped eating the meat of the thigh. Somehow it reminded him of the wrestle that he had. This is the Biblical story. Now I (ustadh) am going to read some more notes for you.
The account contains several plays on the meaning of the Hebrew names—Peniel (or Penuel), which is Israel—as well as similarity to the root of Jacob's name (which sounds like the Hebrew for "heel") and its compound the limping of Jacob (Yaʿaqob ), may mirror the name, Jabbok; which is also limping.
The Hebrew text states that it is a "man" with whom Jacob wrestles, but later this "man" is identified with God by Jacob. Furthermore referencing an "angel" (malak). Following this, the Targum of Onkelos offers "before I have seen the Angel of the Lord."
Meaning the view became that it wasn't a man, it was an angel. And when he says: I wrestled with God; meaning someone sent by God. That's the idea. Why did they wrestle? We don't know. That's the story that the Bible says.
Now according to Genesis, Jacob wrestled with a being whom he identified as God. This apparently angelic being gave Jacob the name Israel because he had "striven with God," an ambiguous etymological derivation with both positive and negative import. The angel's injuring of Jacob's "thigh" provides an etiology for why the Israelites do not eat the thigh sinew. And that all food was allowed for the Israelites before the revelation of the Torah except that which Israel prohibited himself. Muslim scholars explain that Jacob prohibited the eating of the sinews or the eating of camel meat and milk in fulfillment of a vow he made to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) since Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) cured him of the injury (of his thigh).
When He cured his injury, the Muslim view is that he no longer ate the meat of the thigh, and the meat of camel, so that's a vow he made to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) personally.
I (ustadh) don't think it necessary to assume that the Qur'an accepts the entire narrative as it stands, meaning the Biblical story of wrestling and all that, it's not that the Qur'an is accepting that story. The Qur'an is accepting the conclusion though, and that's important. The Qur'an is accepting the conclusion that Yaqoob (عليه السلام) took some sort of a vow and made some sort of a commitment that he is not going to eat the meat of the thigh. As a matter of fact, in Chinese tradition – some Jews used to live in the area – and the name they gave to the Jews is: the people who don't eat thigh; that's the name they gave Jews because they were so committed to this law.
Let's step back from all this research. The Qur'an states: First of all, it was never prohibited for you. This is a story having to do with Yaqoob (عليه السلام). You were never told that you were not to eat the meat of the thigh or not to eat the meat of camel. This was something he did on his own for himself. Also he did this well before the revelation of Torah and the Torah makes clear what's prohibited and what's not prohibited and this is not a part of it; you made this derivation yourselves. The Qur'an has a sharper commentary on the derivation of Mosaic law than Jewish scholars, in one ayah; and saying: bring the Torah and see, how are you saying that it is haram – قُلْ فَأْتُوا بِالتَّوْرَاةِ فَاتْلُوهَا إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ. But the deeper issue that needs to be understood is that the Qur'an's agenda is not to prove that Yaqoob (عليه السلام) made that meat haram for himself and Muslims can eat camel etc.
Here, what the real issue was: the Qur'an was calling for sacrifice and the rabbis were being called to sacrifice their positions. They needed to come up with a way to dismiss the call of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم), like "Oh yeah? We should follow you? You eat camel meat; Psshh." This is a tangent, this is not a fundamental of the religion. This was not even a fundamental of the Torah, but for them this became the issue. It's actually not an issue; it's just a distraction from the actual religion, that's what this is. So what the Qur'an does, is first of all says: okay, how do you respond to distracting questions; first of all go to the source.
Let me (ustadh) give you an example, people ask: what's Islam's stance on ------, and you fill in the blank; what's Islam's stance on polygamy, what's Islam's stance on slavery; you know these politically incorrect questions, you have heard them a million times. How did the passage begin? Jacob took his two wives, his two servants. So before, my dear Christian and Jewish friend, you ask me about Islam's stance on slavery and polygamy, what's the Bible's stance on it? We will talk about the Qur'an, since you're asking, what's your stance on it, and do you believe in the Bible? (They will respond) Yeah. (You are like) Okay, then what's the Bible stance on it? If you think that the Qur'an is politically incorrect, oh no, no, no, Bible is politically incorrect; there is stuff you are going to read in there and you will say: that's in there, and nobody questions these?
What does Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) do when they say: this meat wasn't allowed? He didn't even say the word camel. The Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said it, the Qur'an doesn't say it. The Qur'an says all kinds of food was permissible for the Israelites except what Israel made haram on himself, why don't you bring the Torah and show me where; bring the Torah, let's discuss your Book. Isn't it flipping it on its heels? Instead of you (the Muslim audience) defending Qur'an, (Muslim should say to them:) why don't you defend your position; the best defense is offense. You should understand distracting questions for what they are.
Ayah 94
فَمَنِ افْتَرَىٰ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ مِن بَعْدِ ذَٰلِكَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ
And whoever invents about Allah untruth after that - then those are [truly] the wrongdoers.
Then He goes even a step further: go ahead and read it if in fact you are truthful, and whoever makes up a lie against Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) after that, meaning you couldn't find it in the Torah, you couldn't prove it, and now you feel bad, you feel that your ego has been hurt because you lost the argument so you become more adamant. And who is still going to make lies about Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) even after they found out that it's not any basis فَأُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ – then those are the ones that are wrongdoers. By the way, when they become more adamant like that, they're basically going to say: what do you know? We are the scholars, we are the ones who know this Book better than you; this is our Book, not your Book etc. etc. And Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) is told straightforward in the 95th ayah:
Ayah 95
قُلْ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ ۗ فَاتَّبِعُوا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
Say, "Allah has told the truth. So follow the religion of Abraham, inclining toward truth; and he was not of the polytheists."
قُلْ صَدَقَ اللَّهُ ۗ – tell them: Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) spoke the truth; let them know that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has spoken the truth, meaning if Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) said that your Torah never had this, then you know what, your Torah never had this and it was never forbidden. I am going to stand by when Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) spoke the truth.
And then He adds: فَاتَّبِعُوا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا – follow the religion of Ibrahim (عليه السلام), focused, specifically to God; be dedicated to the religion of Ibrahim (عليه السلام). This statement فَاتَّبِعُوا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا is a very pointed statement.
Actually what he (Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم)) is saying is, oh it's an interesting thing you bring up that the meat wasn't allowed because he made it haram on himself; you are talking about haram and halal and sacrifice and meat, you know the whole idea of sacrifice? It goes back to Jacob's grandfather because he was told to sacrifice his son. So if you really want to talk about this issue, let's go to its source and the source is Ibrahim (عليه السلام), so let's discuss Abraham instead. Let's all agree that we are going to follow the religion of Ibrahim (عليه السلام) فَاتَّبِعُوا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا. Think of it this way, there are فروع i.e. branches and there are اصول (usool) i.e. roots. The questions are going to be about branches. The Muslim understands that the branches are connected to the root, and the problem is never the branch, the problem is the root. The Muslim understands from the Qur'an logic, how do you take an issue from the branch and come back to the root and address the root issue.
The root issue is you messed up in the way you understand Ibrahim (عليه السلام). We are going to challenge you on what Ibrahim's (عليه السلام) legacy truly means, if you come to that. If the root is fixed, if the base of the building is fixed, everything else is fixed; if there is a problem up there, it's because the foundation is shaking, that's why the building is shaking. So go back to the foundation and the foundation is Ibrahim (عليه السلام), فَاتَّبِعُوا مِلَّةَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ حَنِيفًا – follow the religion of Ibrahim (عليه السلام), solely dedicated; وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ – he wasn't one who worshiped any idols. He didn't associate false gods.
Ayah 96
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَ مُبَارَكًا وَهُدًى لِّلْعَالَمِينَ
Indeed, the first House [of worship] established for mankind was that at Makkah - blessed and a guidance for the worlds.
Ayah 97
فِيهِ آيَاتٌ بَيِّنَاتٌ مَّقَامُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ ۖ وَمَن دَخَلَهُ كَانَ آمِنًا ۗ وَلِلَّهِ عَلَى النَّاسِ حِجُّ الْبَيْتِ مَنِ اسْتَطَاعَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلًا ۚ وَمَن كَفَرَ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ غَنِيٌّ عَنِ الْعَالَمِينَ
In it are clear signs [such as] the standing place of Abraham. And whoever enters it shall be safe. And [due] to Allah from the people is a pilgrimage to the House - for whoever is able to find thereto a way. But whoever disbelieves - then indeed, Allah is free from need of the worlds. (97)
The conversation isn't even with the mushrikeen, the conversation is with the Jews and the Christians, but when you take an authority other than Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) and you make that the final word, that is shirk; so you may not be worshiping idols, but you have created different kinds of idols, you've created your intellectual idols. Why don't you become more like Ibrahim (عليه السلام) whose legacy you claim? Since you like discussing debatable issues like this meat issue and we ask you to bring the Torah, since you've brought the Torah already let's make another claim. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: I have a follow up question; since you love asking questions and I answered yours and I told you to bring the Torah, since you came with the Torah, now that you have it accessible, let's bring up another claim.
إِنَّ أَوَّلَ بَيْتٍ وُضِعَ لِلنَّاسِ لَلَّذِي بِبَكَّةَ مُبَارَكًا وَهُدًى لِّلْعَالَمِينَ – the first house built for the worship of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) was placed in the location of Makkah, and it was a guide for all nations; not just the Arabs.
فِيهِ آيَاتٌ بَيِّنَاتٌ مَّقَامُ إِبْرَاهِيمَ – in it there are very clear self evident signs, the location of Ibrahim (عليه السلام). This is where Ibrahim (عليه السلام) was; Ibrahim (عليه السلام) was at Makkah. The Qur'an is making this claim to the rabbis who have brought the Torah with them, and the Qur'an is saying: Ibrahim (عليه السلام) was at Makkah, built the Ka'bah; and Qur'an is saying to them that it is in your Book and you know it; you brought the Book for camel meat, right?
But let Me tell you, there is something that's a little more pressing (of an) issue than camel meat, because camel meat was about sacrifice, sacrifice goes back to Abraham, Abraham performed that sacrifice in Makkah at the Ka'bah, so let's address that first. It completely changed the subject and flipped it on the Israelites who brought the Torah. First it says bring the Torah and then says: okay, let's see فَاتْلُوهَا إِن كُنتُمْ صَادِقِينَ.
I (ustadh) am not discussing ayah number 96; I want to introduce how the transition has happened here. When we'll discuss this ayah, we will look at how the Old Testament talks about Makkah, and the sacrifice of Abraham and why that's so significant to understand. I (ustadh) will also recommend some book reading for you for those who are interested in the subject because this is one of the most important subjects in our discourse with our Christian brothers and sisters.
There are two children of Abraham Biblically that are famous, Isaac and Ishmael. They believe that Isaac was the one to be sacrificed. When God commanded that you should sacrifice your son by way of dream, it was supposed to be Isaac. And since it is supposed to be Isaac, he is the blessed child and therefore the children of Isaac are blessed. And therefore the children of Isaac including Jacob and Jacob's offspring – the Israelites – are blessed. On the other side, there is a child that is not blessed – Ishmael, so all of his children and offspring are cursed. And since Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) is from the offspring of Ishmael, he must be from the cursed lineage, that must be the devil's religion, it can't be the right religion because he is from the non-blessed lineage. We don't have the notion of blessed lineage and non-blessed lineage; as a matter of fact, nobody is condemned for who their parents are and nobody is condemned for who their children are, every human being will stand their own, that's how we are. Ibrahim (عليه السلام)'s father is an idol builder, that doesn't put Ibrahim (عليه السلام) to shame. Nuh (عليه السلام)'s son is an idol worshipper and he is a disbeliever, that doesn't change the rank of Nuh (عليه السلام); so we don't have that but the Christians do. They have the idea of blessed lineage and cursed lineage and they use this idea to fortify how we will just completely dismiss Arab people and the Arab Prophets and of course the coming of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه و سلم) ur Rasoolullah. So this idea that Ishmael was the one to be sacrificed or Isaac was the one to be sacrificed – it actually had some pretty major implications theologically, to this day.
You will find people in churches talking about this and saying that Islam is the religion of the devil. Where does it comes from? The cursed lineage. And they consider him an illegitimate child and all this other stuff that comes with that package. So let's dig into the Torah itself and see what we find. Is there any reference to Makkah? The Qur'an is bringing up the Torah and then since you asked a question, here is our claim; you made a claim about Yaqoob (عليه السلام), we make a claim about Yaqoob (عليه السلام)'s grandfather, let's go further up the root and find the common ground. That's the Qur'an's approach and that's the kind of reasoning we need to learn to think with.
The last thing is we are back to Ibrahim (عليه السلام) and the building of the Ka'bah; why is the building of the Ka'bah significant? Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) told Ibrahim (عليه السلام) to build the Ka'bah after he passed the hardest of all tests, وَإِذِ ابْتَلَىٰ إِبْرَاهِيمَ رَبُّهُ بِكَلِمَاتٍ فَأَتَمَّهُنَّ ۖ قَالَ إِنِّي جَاعِلُكَ لِلنَّاسِ إِمَامًا – Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) tested Ibrahim (عليه السلام) with all kinds of trials and finally said: I am making you a leader over all of mankind, now build my house, in Baqarah. In other words, the Ka'bah represents the fulfillment of many different kinds of sacrifice. Today's passage began with: you will not become any good until you learn to sacrifice; you will not become any good until you learn to give up out of what you love. So we are now learning what it means for us to be in the religion of Ibrahim (عليه السلام). May Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) give us a loyalty and a love and a continuous commitment to learning Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)'s Book and to bringing its insights and its wisdom into our lives.
No comments:
Post a Comment