Surah Al-Qasas Verse 83

Notes taken at a brief session by Ustad AE. All Glory and praise is for Allah SWT alone, all good comes from Him and all faults are from my own self. These are my personal notes and not to be taken as Ustad's word verbatim.

Ayah 83 Surah Al Qasas :  That home of the Hereafter We assign to those who do not desire exaltedness upon the earth or corruption. And the [best] outcome is for the righteous. main focus of talk

The entire quran is relevant to every person. Even though Allah may be talking about the disbelievers or even firawn, if we analyse the ayah; it will apply to us and we will learn something for ourselves from it. So we can never look at a verse and say that it isn’t talking about me. Every muslim should try to find the message for them in every ayah.

The above verse speaks about 2 qualities, the absence of which is the cause for a “good  end” – “al –‘aaqibah” These 2 qualities are status/power and  corruption - ‘uluw and fasaad .  These 2 qualities are linked in the Quran in multiple places; and one does cause the other. The greed for power will cause corruption, whether willingly or otherwise. Islam does not allow the means to be justified by the end – hence one cannot take wrong measures to attain power in order to “fix” things – because he is causing fasaad, even though it may be unintentionally.

To understand the real and true meaning of a “good end”, a muslim must first fathom that this dunya is not meant to be comfortable and fun. According to the hadith of the Prophet SAW, this world is a “sijn” (prison) for the believer and Jannah for the disbeliever. Why did the prophet use “sijn”, he could have said its hard.. the idea he wanted us to grab is all the things a prison is associated with is exactly what this dunya is : so its not meant to be fun, or luxurious and its meant to be uncomfortable, strange, unjust, cruel, stifling, etc etc. The kuffar along with shaytan are making it a paradise for themselves, and want to drag you into it so you spend this life making this prison into Jannah when it can never be. Once you come to terms with what this dunya is, 1) you accept your circumstances and difficulties because you say I know its suppose to be tough 2) you know a better end, the best end awaits you. That is what the “good end” truly means. It is the only “good end” .. and it is for those who are not arrogant and don’t cause corruption/oppression.

These words are usually associated with political figures/ heads of states, etc but as stated earlier everything in the Quran is relevant to you. So you have to see how you are seeking status among people and how you are/could be the cause of someones’ or your own destruction.
One of the tools of destruction that the kuffar have employed is “interest”. It is the greatest oppression of its kind; however we must analyse why and how we get ourselves in situations which trap us in interest. Why are we so materialistically attached to this dunya (remember its supposed to be a prison!) that we must get ourselves into debt. Debt cannot be forgiven by Allah, because it is a right of the person you have borrowed from and only he can forgive it to you.

Having wealth or status is not impermissible and it has always existed and will always exist – it is the arrogance and feeling superior and demeaning others which is meant by the above verses.

Ibn Taimiyyah divided the people into 4 groups in his explanation of the ayah,
1)      Those who seek power and destruction eg bashar al assad
2)      Those who desire corruption without elevation, such as the thieves and criminals from the riff-raff amongst the people.
3)      The third type: Those who desire elevation without corruption, such as those who have the deen, they desire to elevate themselves by it over other than them amongst the people.
4)      Those who seek neither : this is the group that the good end is for. These people don’t want fame and don’t seek for themselves to be known, rather only spread the word and name of Allah. They would gladly give up what is rightfully theirs in order to maintain peace and are of those who join people not cause divide. Eg. Hasan ibn Ali RA who gave up his khilafa because not doing so would have spent the lives of 1000s of people although every companion would have backed him.
Al- Aali is Allah’s name and ‘uluw is His attribute and only He can have it.

Salah

Salah - Its "the" pillar of our deen simply because its the only we got to do 5 times daily; simply because its the first thing we will be asked about by our Lord; simply because when the people of Jannah will ask people of jahannum what put you there - they will say we didn't pray. Allah has told us it prevents us from "fahsh" (immodest things) and to seek help from Salah. Allah has told us innumerable times to establish Salah. So its a biggie.
Seeing how important Salah is, its not unnatural that its a norm in today's society to label a person who prays 5 times a day as "religious". So here's the tricky part about salah, how many people do you know who pray regularly and have so for years, but nothing from their daily lives has changed, even one bit.  With the amount of people praying regularly, we shouldn't see as much "fahsh" in the society as we do, but we do. The problem is though we pray regularly, we dont understand its significance, we dont give its rightful rank, we dont believe it will change us.
People! as important as Salah is - it means nothing if you have not made a connection with Allah SWT in it. It is nothing, if you dont know what you are saying and who you are standing in front of. Its nothing if your day to day life is not changed from it. You cannot reap its many benefits unless you know what benefits to reap from it!
 If you pray, and i hope you do; but arent able to make the necessary changes in your life that you know you must - reassess the quality of your salah. Chances are there's something missing there. Dont ever think you pray "enough" or "well enough" - remember Iblees was elevated in ranks to that of angels and then became the accursed.
Our salah is in constant need of improvement, only and only then will we see an improvement in ourselves. Theres an old programming term GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out. Apply that to your ibadah, the more ikhlas and effort that goes into the salah - the better the results. Consider why you rush your salah. What are the reasons you delay your salah or dont pay attention to tahara or the salah itself? eliminate those weeds, like your life depends on it - because it does!
The munafiq of Madina harbored a hate for Islam and Muslims, yet what was one act they diligently performed - Salah! Why? They knew if they didnt come to jama'a, people will know they are not true muslims. SubhanAllah! But what was wrong with their Salah? They were not sincere, as we arent now. Our salah can easily be compared to that of the munafiq because we drag ourselves to the prayer mat; but thats the extent our sincerity reaches.
Whether its hijab you are struggling with, gheebat, anger, tawakkul, discipline or even depression (not the medical kind) - all the solutions are in your Salah. Go back to the drawing board - no frills or fancy and take control of that next Salah that may be your last.
May Allah make me improve my Salah, may you benefit from my post. All good is from Allah and all evil and hurtful things are from my nafs.

I'll see you when i get there

When i first heard that everyone will recognise each other in Jannah, even if they had only crossed each other's path once in this world - i didnt know how that would be. You see, i forget faces fast and names even faster! As a Jannah hopeful, i was wondering how i would recognise someone i saw at a supermarket etc - but as i know Allah's word is final and true, i accepted. SubhanAllah! Allah brought the answer in front of me. Off late i have been frequenting Islamic conferences around town Alhamdolillah. Also got an opportunity to participate in some events/ with some organisations and more than once i spotted people i had seen at a conference or a meeting elsewhere! A light bulb went on in my head - Just like this i will recognise the people from dunya. I may not know them or their name but i will know i have seen them before. Amazing, eh? Think about it: if you are working in the way of Allah, trying to be sincere and so is person X in the same country - chances are you will meet or see person X somewhere (sirat al mustaqeem is straight, afterall!) - and then if both of you were to enter Jannah Inshallah - you will recognise each other. WOW! So, here is what i will say to you - I'll see YOU when i get there :))

Mandatory Vs Voluntary

So, here's a situation: your teacher at school or boss at work has given you a project. This project will be used to determine your achievement level; may it be a grade or promotion. You have also been given the criteria you will judged on: one criterion is that which is mandatory, without which the project is invalid and the second criterion includes items which are not mandatory and these will give you "brownie points"; they may be the deciding factor between an A or A+.
You and a friend begin work on your individual projects. You are not too concerned about the criteria and randomly include all information relevant to the project you can get your hands on. Also you are a glitzy person, so you beautify your folder, use different technologies and add files upon files of info. To an onlooker, you are working ferociously and they tell you maybe you will be winner.
Your friend on the other hand, spent his time getting the mandatory criteria fulfilled. Once he was sure he had all the required elements down pat; he moved on to work on brownie points. Obviously, he had spent a big chunk of his time with the first part of the project so he isnt left with a lot of time for the second and time comes to submit.
The project is evaluated. Who do you think made it?
This is the situation of life, my friend. Allah has told you clearly the criteria you will be judged on. Until you fulfill your mandate, any effort is INVALID. So, if you're giving charity but not zakah, if you're helping your friends but not your relatives, if you're working honestly but are disobedient to your parents; if you are praying salatul tasbih every thursday but miss your fard prayers regularly; if you are staying up in the nights of Qadr but dont even pray Isha in your regular nights, if you are abstaining from food and drink during ramadan but do not asbtain from mixing freely with the opposite sex for "iftaars", if you pray but your aurah/satr is not covered properly... I'm afraid Allah SWT will deem your life a failed project.
Please my friends, lets focus on finding out what are the mandatory elements that will take us in to Jannah and without which all our other efforts may just be building castles in the air. Allah says again and again the Day of Judgement will be a day of regrets: those who did good, will wish they had done more and those who didnt do good, will wish they could go back if for a day so they can fulfill their fards!! But there will be no going back for anyone. THAT is eternity.

Majority Rules?Think Again

In the eyes of Allah, numbers have no value. His Majesty is not affected if only 1 person were to enter Jannah or 1000. It is reported in an authentic hadith that most of mankind will enter hell. Also in the Quran Allah never praises the majority. Rather, the majority is usually used when referring to disobedience. When Allah refers to the grateful ones and to the believing ones, He says they are few. My point is, if you are the only one standing on a principle you know is right - stay strong. People may not understand why you are doing or saying what you are,  because thats not what the majority does or says - know that in the eyes of Allah SWT, one steadfast momin is dearer than anyone; know that believers will be of the few; know that grateful ones will be of the few; dwellers of Jannah will be of the few; those who get the prophet SAW's company will be of the few; those who see Allah will be of the few. One wise man used to pay Oh Allah make me of the few! How wise was he and how foolish are we wanting to fit in when we were made to stand out!

ps: i will get reference of the hadith and possibly a clearer ref of the wise man in mention here.