Fiqh essirah: Lesson Eleven_ “ Shedding light on the cores/essences of this Islamic mission”, By his eminence Professor Mohammad Ratib En_Nabulsi

In the name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Gracious

Translated by: Shatha Mansi

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds and peace and blessing be upon our master Mohammed, the honest & truthful. O Allah! We have no knowledge except what you have taught us, you are the All- Knower and the All- Wise. O Allah! Teach us what benefits us and benefit us from what you’ve taught us and enhance our knowledge. Show us the true as true and enable us to follow it and show us the falsehood as falsehood and enable us to avoid it. Make us from those who listen to the saying and follow the best thereof, and make us by your mercy from your righteous worshippers. Bring us out from the darkness of ignorance and illusion to the light of knowledge and science and from mires of vain desires to heavens of pious acts.

Dear Brothers, with a new lesson from the prophetic fiqh essirah. The books of  sirah have been written after Gabriel’s visit to Prophet Mohammad PBUH. It talks about the core/essence of this Islamic mission.

   Firstly: As a philosophic introduction, the inanimate is a thing that occupies a space of three dimensions; it has length, width, height and weight.

 A plant occupies a space and has three dimensions, it has weight, but it grows.

An animal occupies a space, has three dimensions , has weight, it grows and moves.

 But a man occupies a space, has three dimensions, has weight, he grows, moves and thinks.

 That is why Allah the All_Mighty distinguished man with the power of perception. Unless man satisfies his mind’s need to knowledge, he will be degraded from his humanitarian level to a level that does not suit him, that is why the first word of the qur’an Allah sent Gabriel with was:

Read”"

Surat Al_’Alaq (The Clot), XCV1, 1

That means ‘learn’, because man was created in order to know Allah

 It is Allah Who has created seven heavens and of the earth the like thereof (i.e. seven). His Command descends between them (heaven and earth), that you may know that Allah has power over all things, and that Allah surrounds all things in (His) knowledge.

Surat At_Talaq (The Divorce) LXV, 12

The reason for your being on the earth is to know your God through his creation.

You have to learn whether you seek either the world or the afterworld/hereafter, or both of them. Knowledge does not give a portion of it unless you give it your whole, if you give it part of you, it will give you nothing. A man stays a scholar as long as he is seeking knowledge, the moment he thinks he knows, then he is an ignorant.

Dear brother, the crisis of  people of hell and they are in hell, is ignorance.

 “And they will say: “Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we would not have been among the dwellers of the blazing Fire!”

Surat Al_Mulk, (Dominion) LXV11, 10

Because each person is made to love his existence, the safety of his existence, the perfection of his existence. And this is not accomplished unless we apply the instructions of the creator, the only party you should follow its instructions is the manufacturing party. “Read”, meaning learn.  Nowadays in the world, the books that are printed in one language cannot be read in 200 years, so what shall we read? He said:

“Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists).”

Surat Al_’Alaq (The Clot), XCV1, 1

Your goal must be believing in Allah,  knowledge is not only for the sake of knowledge. Knowledge is for the sake of knowing Allah, worshipping Him, becoming a Muslim and being happy in the world and the hereafter.

“And I (Allah) created not the jinn and mankind escept that they should worship Me (Alone)”

Surat Adh_Dhariyat (The Winds that scatter) L1, 56

 “Read in the name of your God Who created (all that exists)”. This is the first reading , unless reading is aimed to the belief in Allah, it has no value, for this prophet Mohammad PBUH said:

“ O Lord! I seek refuge with You from unuseful knowledge, and from a heart that does not have piety, and from an eye that does not tear, and from an ear that does not hear, I seek refuge with You from these four”

Narrated: Attirmithi

Prophet Mohammad PBUH entered his mosque one day,  then he saw a man with people gathering around him. He asked knowingly: “Who is that?” they said: “that is Nusabah”, he said: “and what is Nusabah?”( knowingly) _He knows, that is his name_ , they said: “He knows the lineage/origin of the Arabs, then prophet Mohammad PBUH said: that knowledge does not benefit who learns it and does not harm who does not know it”

Well then, unless your goal from your knowledge is believing in Allah, as a creator, a raiser,  and a propeller, believing in Allah existing, one and perfect, believing that the names of Allah are Divine, his qualities are   optimum, this knowledge is not something to be proud of /trivial, but it is a craft.

We have manual crafts and intellectual crafts. The tools of these crafts depend on the mind, but the knowledge that Allah the All_Mighty wants is knowing Him, a knowledge that lifts man.

By the way, dear brothers, there are three types of knowledge; knowledge of  His creation, knowledge of  His  orders, and knowledge of  Him. Knowledge of His creation is a specialty of the universities of the world; physics, chemistry, mathematics, logic, psychology, sociology, education, medicine, engineering, astronomy, geography, history, language and foreign languages. Knowledge of His orders; the permitted (ћalal), the forbidden (ћaram),  rules of  jurisprudence (fiqh), personal status, selling fiqh, inheritance fiqh, ..etc. This knowledge is a specialty of the Islamic Law in the Islamic world. But knowledge of Him is something else, it requires fighting  not studying. The first two types of knowledge require studying. Some great scholars said: “Fight to be seen”

When you apply Allah’s method, when you control/keep the head and what it comprehends, the  abdomen and its contents, your income and spending, your organs, your home and your work, then Allah the All_Mighty allows you to know him in a way that makes you happy in the world and in the hereafter.

Therefore, “Read in the name of your Lord Who created(all that exists)”, knowledge is not justifiable unless it is a way of knowing Allah, then obeying Him, then for achieving safety and happiness in the world and the hereafter. That is the first believing reading “Read in the name of your Lord” . All the west is with the beneficence, but the believer is with the benefactor. “Read in the name of your Lord  Who created”. Who created man? Who created the animal? Who created the plant? A tree works silently, without a sound, without an exhaust, without smoke, without noise. It gives you delicious fruits in their colors, smells, sizes, stature, and benefits. Who created the cow? It gives you milk, dairy products, you are happy with it. Who created the fruits and crops? Who created the heavens and the earth? Who created the stars? Who created the birds? Who created the fish? Who created the plants? Who created the decorative plants? Who created that child who is filling your home with joy? Who created all these? “Read in the name of your Lord who created”. This creation denotes knowledge, wisdom, mercy, power and beauty, so we must contemplate in the creation of the heavens and the earth, we must stop at these verses.

Dear brothers, a clear example of a poor man who had never tasted honey in his life, but he read books about bees, so tears went down his eyes from the greatness of Allah the All_Mighty in creating the bees and the honey. This poor person who has never tasted honey achieved the first goal of creating the bees and honey, because he knew Allah through them. But the rich man who eats honey in large quantities, and never knew Allah through His creation  suspended the major goal of creating the bees and honey, that is why when prophet Mohammad PBUH said when he saw a crescent:

“A crescent of benevolence and reason”

[narrated by, Abu_Daood from Qutadah]

 “Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists), you may say: How should I know the galaxies? There are 230 thousand billion  galaxies, unbelievable numbers, every galaxy has millions of  millions, and the universe is infinite, some galaxies are 20 billion light years away from us,   “Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists),  we answer you that you should know /recognize Allah through his creation, but you have a verse before you.

 “Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists) 1, He has created man from a clot ( a piece of thick coagulated blood)2.”

Surat Al_’Alaq (The Clot), XCV1, 1,2

Aren’t you married? You say: yes, Do you have children? You say: Yes , but how did this child  become a perfect human being?  In the marital encounter,  the man produces more than 300-500 million sperms , one sperm cannot be seen in the naked eye, it needs a microscope , one sperm enters the ovum whose  size is like one grain of salt , put your saliva at the tip of your finger with the least pressure , there will be small pieces that are  not seen in the naked eye, and the sperm is much smaller.  This creature;  with a brain that contains 140 billion basic dark cells that do not know their job yet, 14 billion skin cells, 300 thousand hairs, 130 million nerve cells, and coned to the eye retina, 800 thousand nerves in the optical nerve, 35 million eupeptic extractions in the stomach on the way of the chitin  Which is 100 km long, 1 million neutron on the blood in blood vessels 150 thousand kilometers long, on  pulmonary sockets with the size of 200 square meters.

 “Verily, We created man in the best stature (mould).”

Surat At_Tin (The Fig) XCV, 4

 “ Have We not  made for him a pair of eyes (8), And a tongue and a pair of lips(9), And shown him the two ways  (good and evil)(10), But he has not attempted to pass on the path that is steep (i.e. the path which will lead to goodliness and success).”

Surat Al_Balad (The City) XC, 8_11

Dear brothers, when you engage in your body, what is the splendid wisdom in that man has no sensory nerves in his hair? What would happen if he had sensory nerves in his hair? He would need to go to hospital for a haircut and have full anesthesia. The same thing is applied to nails.. There is hair in the nose but not in the mouth, have you ever thought of that? If there were hair in the mouth, it would be unbearable, shaving it would be very difficult, one may cut his tongue while shaving it, anyway some people’s tongues need  to be cut. “ Have We not  made for him a pair of eyes (8), And a tongue and a pair of lips(9), And shown him the two ways  (good and evil)(10),

Also if the bladder did not have muscles, man would need fifteen minutes to empty it and he may not be able to, but with the muscles, it needs few minutes. A very thoughtful wisdom. If we spent years talking about the wisdom of Allah’s creation, we would never end.

“ Have We not  made for him a pair of eyes (8), there are a hundred million light recipients/receivers in one square millimeter, whereas the most professional digital camera has ten thousand light receivers in one square millimeter.

Allah the All_Mighty said: “Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists) 1, He has created man from a clot ( a piece of thick coagulated blood)2.”A clot, a baby, a brain, two eyes, two ears, a nose, a mouth, a tongue, and an esophagus. It is possible for a person hanged from his legs upside down to be able to drink water, water will reach the stomach by going upwards through muscles in the esophagus that contract simultaneously delivering it to the stomach. In your deep sleep, a message comes from the mouth to the brain that the saliva has increased, so the brain, which is awake, gives an order to the epiglottis to close the wind pipe and open the esophagus, and eventually you swallow your saliva. This happens hundreds and hundreds of times in your sleep. But when the dentist asks you to open your mouth, the saliva drips down, he puts a drainer/ sucker/pump to help. In your sleep the muscles under you spinal system send a signal that they have been pressured, the vessels narrow, nutrition weakens, an order comes to you to turn to the other side.

 “…And we turned them in their right and on their left sides,..”

Surat Al_Kahf (The Cave) XV111,18

Without the turning, our flesh would be peeled off. “Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists) 1, He has created man from a clot ( a piece of thick coagulated blood)2.” That is a fiducial reading, then knowledge serves faith.

 ( سورة العلق ) .

“Read! In the Name of your Lord is the Most Generous”

Surat Al_’Alaq(The Clot) XCV1,3

The first reading is a research and belief reading, the second one is gratitude and thanksl reading.

Someone  must have read in a book that it was printed in 1932, and he was born in 1938, was there anything on earth named ‘Sa’eed En_Nawrasi’ during printing that book? NO

 “Has there not been over man a period of time, when he was not  a thing worth mentioning?”

Surat Al_ Insan or Ad_Dahr (Man or Time),LXXV1,1

When was it printed? Did any of us exist in the year 1900? Did we have any birth ceritificates? Did we have any IDs? We did not exist. Allah the All_Mighty granted you three blessings;  existence, support and  the right guidance and reason. Firstly, He granted your love in your parents’ heart, they supported you with food, drink and warmth.  The first reading is for research and belief and the second one is for gratitude and thanks. You learn in order to believe, in order to thank. Now when you believe and thank, you will be achieving the aim of your existence.

 “Why should Allah punish you if you have thanked (Him) and have believed in (Him). And Allah is Ever All_ Appreciative (of good), All knowing”

Surat An_Nisa’ (The Women) 1V,147

If you believe and thank, the divine treatment stops, disasters stop, everything stops because if you achieve the goal of your existence, then there will be no need for disasters, that is the second reading: “Read! In the Name of your Lord is the Most Generous”, but Allah the All_Mighty granted us with the bliss of eloquence.

“The Most Gracious (Allah)!(1), He has taught (you mankind) the Qur’an (by His Mercy)(2), He created man(3), He taught him eloquent speech(4)”

Surat Ar_Raћman (The Most Gracious),LV,1_4

Eloquence is to express your needs, thoughts, and feelings orally, that is oral eloquence. Listening is receiving others thoughts,  feelings and needs verbally/orally. But presentation and listening need meeting. When you write a speech, or a book, someone whom you had never met before might read your book and benefit from it, well then,

“He has taught (the writing) by the pen.”

Surat Al_’Alaq,(The Clot) XCV1, 4

With pen, knowledge is transferred from one place to another, from one era to another, from one land to another. With translation , knowledge is also transferred from one country to another, a very eloquent word: ““Read! In the Name of your Lord is the Most Generous, Who has taught (the writing) by the pen.”

The third reading: A reading of  inspiration and  submission, where do we come up with it? ““Read! In the Name of your Lord is the Most Generous, Who has taught (the writing) by the pen.”

 “He has taught man that which he knew not”

Surat Al_ ‘Alaq (The Clot),XCV1,5

If you look at the sun you will realize that it has a creator, but where did the rules of zakah, the prohibited women, the prohibited food, the worships, performing prayers, rules of haj and umrah, the interactions, loans, money transfer, guarantee, where did they  come from? From the revelation. That is the third reading, you should read  a scholar and faith reading, then gratefulness and thanks reading and then a revelation and submission reading. The core/substance of the mission is the verse “Read in the name of ALllah Who has created (   ), …….

Dear brothers, anything beyond the capacity of your mind is told to us by the revelation. If you have a shop and need a scale, you bought a  the best quality scale, but it is designed for weights between five grams and five kilograms. It occurred to you to use it for weighing your car, you put it on the floor, drove over it and broke it down. The scale did not work because you used it against the manufacturer’s instructions. Since this scale cannot weigh your car, the manufacturing company wrote the car’s weight on it, saying its weight is 1392 kilos. Anything your mind  fails to comprehend, is inspired to you by Allah the All Mighty. Through prophecy/revelation we knew about the beginning of the world, Adam and Eve, not the monkeys , a big difference.

Once I joked with someone, I said: By Allah I am convinced with Darwin’s theory, he shouted: God forbid. I am convinced with it backwardly, Darwin’s theory said he was a monkey and turned into man, my belief is the opposite, he was a human and turned into a monkey now. What is the meaning of monkey/ape? It means his main concern is his tummy, what is the meaning of  swine? His main concern is with what is between his legs. Food and sex have become man’s major concern, like monkeys and swines. Then Allah the Most Gracious said: 

 “..and those of whom (some)  he transformed into monkeys and swines,..”

Surat Al_Ma’idah (The Table spread with food) V

 “The cuckold/procurer never enters paradise, they asked: who is the cuckold? He said: that who is not jealous on his honor” his wife walks by his side in her tight outfit  as if naked. Women’s clothes should be loose and thick  and not thin that shows the color of her complexion nor  tight that shows the size of her body. The cuckold (dayyouth) is someone who accepts obscenity in his wife or is not jealous for his honor.

 “Read! and your Lord is the most Generous, Who has taught(the writing) by the pen, He has taught man that which he knew not”

Dear brothers, we have a fourth reading: a reading of  aggression and tyranny, if we threw a burning piercing grenad on a shelter with walls one meter thick, it would get through it, burn inside the shelter killing one thousand people. There are different kinds of weapons; fissionable bombs, clever bombs, microbial bombs, chemical bombs, napalm bombs, destruction missiles. That science is a science of destroying mankind, controlling the universe, theft of fortunes. It is a science, but a science of satans and unicorns.

“Nay! Verily, man does not transgress (in disbelief and evil deed).”

Surat Al_’Alaq,(The Clot) XCV1, 6

Allah the All Mighty gave us an example of tyrant people, a repetitive model, Aad’s people.

 “Saw you (O Muhammad) not how your Lord dealth with ‘Ad (people), Of Iram (who were very tall) like (lofty) pillars, The like of which were not created in the land?

Surat El_Fajr (the dawn) LXXX1X, 6_8

Excellence in various aspects, you get confused, a strong army, great art to ruin the people of  the earth, on the roads, on the  factories, on the economy, on a very expensive currency “The like of which were not created in the land” arrogance with excellence in different aspects.

 “ …and they said: Who is mightier than is in strength?”

 Surat Fussilat (They are explained in details)XL1,15

Another thing, Whenever Allah the All Mighty destroyed a people, He mentioned that he had destroyed people much stronger than them, except for Aad, when He destroyed them, He said:

 “.. See they not that Allah Who created them  was mightier in strength than them.”

Surat Fussiat (They are explained in detail) XL1, 15

That means there was no power over Aad’s except Allah, Allah gave us an example, what did Aad do?

“Who did transgress beyond  bounds in the lands (in the disobedience of Allah), And made therein much mischief”

Surat El_Fajr (the dawn) LXXX1X, 11,12

They had two effective tools, do they have bombing and corruption with the movies? Never. Women wearing and indecent clothes to spoil the humans, did they spoil their country? No, they spoiled all countries, check Allah the All Mighty’s saying:   

 “So you Lord poured on them different kinds of severe torment, Verily, your Lord is ever Watchful (over them)”

Surat El _Fajr LXXX1X, aya, 13, 14

What is the speed of wind now? 160 kilometers, takes everything on its way.

 “And as for Aad, they were destroyed by a furious violent wind!(6), Which Allah imposed on them for seven nights and eight days in succession, so that you could see men lying overthrown (destroyed), as if they were hollow trunks of date-palms!(7)

Surat Al_Haqqah (The Inevitable), LX1X, aya 6, 7

What did they do? Allah the All_ Mighty said:

“ Do you build high palaces on every high place, while you do not live in them?(128), And do you get for yourselves palaces (fine buildings) as if you will live therein forever (129)”

Surat Ash_Shu’ara (The Poets) XXV1, aya 128, 129

Unbelievable architectural and manufacturing  excellence,  He said:

 “And when you seize (somebody), you seize (him) as tyrants?

Surat Ash_Shu’ara (The Poets) XXV1, aya 130

تفوق عسكري يفوق حد الخيال ، هذه ثلاثة ، تفوق علمي :

Unbelievable military and scientific excellence, He said:

“..though they were intelligent”

Sutar Al_Ankaboot (The Spider)XX1X, aya 38

From architectural excellence, to manufacturing, to military to scientific excellence, to arrogance,  to corruption and tyranny to excellence in various areas. There is a very accurate implication, Allah the All_ Mighty said:

“And that it is He (Allah) Who destroyed the former ‘Aad’ (people).”

Surat An_Najm (The Star) L111, aya 50

It means that there is another Aad, you see it and hear about it every day. It came for the sake of freedom and democracy of course, this is the second Aad, that is why Aad in the holy qur’an represents the tyrant nations who are excelling in science, what type is their science/knowledge? A fourth type, that is aggression and tyranny. The knowledge that is considered  a crime against man.

7

Dear brothers, that was the essence of  surat “Iqra’” (Read), which was the first surat presented b y Gabriel, but when man ignores Allah the All_ Mighty, He says:

“ Nay! Verily, man does trangrress( in disbelief and  evil deeds (6), Because he considers himself sufficient(7)”

Surat Al _Alaq (The Clot) XCV1, 6,

He is man in the hands of Allah at any time

If  man dispensed with Allah’s obedience, that is why Allah the All Mighty said:

“ By the night as it envelops(1), By the day as it appears in brightness(2), By Him Who created male and female(3), Certainly, your efforts and deeds are diverse (different in aims and purposes(4), As for him who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty to Allah and fears Him(5), And believes in Al_Husna  (the best)(6), We will make smooth for him the path of ease(goodness)(7), But he who is greedy miser and thinks himself self_sufficient(8), And belies Al_Husna (9), We will make smooth for him the path of evil(10), And what will his wealth avail him when he goes down (in destruction)(11), Truly! On Us is (to give) guidance(12),

Surat Al_Lail (The night) XC11, aya, 1_12

Dear brothers, believe that mankind no matter how different are their creeds, faiths, colors, roots, races, denominations, religions,   is of two models; the first model:  “who gives (in charity) and keeps his duty to Allah and fears Him”, we believe  this model was created for paradise, according to this belief, he built his life on the basis of giving, giving everything like his money , time, effort,  and experience. That is the first man who believed he was created for paradise, and accordingly he  refused to disobey Allah, and therefore, the divine reply to him was, “We will make smooth for him the path of ease(goodness)(7)”“, easing up for what was created for him from paradise, Allah chooses him specific abilities, race, father, mother, craft, income, potentials, in order to help him reach paradise.

The second model, “But he who is greedy miser and thinks himself self_sufficient(8), And belies Al_Husna (9)  “ he was mean and , that example/model disbelieved in the good will, believed in the world, he would say: life is everything, their goals and end of their hopes. According to this disbelief in the hereafter and the belief in this life, he became self_sufficient , he built his life only taking,   his glory was built on the spoils of others. He builds his power over their weakness, his security over their fear, his well being over their poverty, his life over their death. That person goes opposite what he was created for, to misery in life and doom in the hereafter. Well then,

That sura as the first sura that came down from the revelation of heavens, and it has connotations to the essence of the Islamic mission. I beseech Allah the Most Glorious that we would move to the confidential mission in the next lesson, how the mission started  confidentially  until it became overtly.

And All Praise be due to Allah Lord of the Worlds