Suratul Ikhlas: A call to Monotheism

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Surah al Ikhlas.

قُلْ هُوَ اللهُ أَحَدٌ

اللهُ الصَّمَدُ

لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ

وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ


Subhanallah so many of us have memorized this surah. In fact there was a sahabi who would recite end the recitation of every rak'ah with this Surah because this Surah was dear to his heart.

Reciting this Surah carries the reward of reciting a third of the Quran.

It is a Surah that talks about tawheed.

Unfortunately I had never been able to have a close relationship with this surah and often I would wonder: what is the benefit in this for us, those who already believe in One God? I often wondered if I would ever be able to establish a relationship with it and if ever I would appreciate this Surah that it changes my life.

Alhamdulillah during maghrib today, I was thinking about Surah al ikhlaas. It struck me in its simplicity. It was the simplest form of da'wah. How to invite one to Islam in the fewest sentences were mentioned in this Surah. Then I realized it was not only da'wah to non-muslims but to muslims as well.

The first ayah says: Say: Allah is The Uniquely One. Subhanallah. This is stopping us from anthropomorphizing Allah. It is also establishing His separation from the creation in that He does not have a source that precedes Him or any successor to succeed Him(Ahad being different from waahid; waahid is preceded by sifr and succeeded by ithnayn). It also shows unlike us creation, who have a need for pairs to propagate or even just other organisms for various purposes or other physical matter for purposes of survival, Allah is too Majestic and Honorable to develop such needs.

Then the next ayah follows: Allah is As Samad. It is translated as Self Sufficient in Muhsin Khan's translation but I remember someone(I believe it was Shaykh Abu Omar) when he was explaining the meaning of that mentioned something that I remember was slightly different in meaning. Sahih Translation translates it as Eternal Refuge. Either way as I remember it, to explain the name the following was mentioned. Think if you live in a village, and you fall into some great difficulty, you will go seek the assistance of the strongest and most capable person of the village to help you out. The one who might be the most superior and will have no problems in helping you out. And each time you fall into the biggest problems, he helps you out. And he helps and helps without any decrease. So take that example and magnify it manifold and perhaps you will get a glimpse of what As Samad means. Allah gives and gives and requires no compensation to be able to give. And He is the Strongest to whom we should turn for help. So turn to Him for help.

The third ayah mentions: He does not beget nor was he born. This goes back to what is mentioned in the first ayah. He is far Glorified above to have desires of the pleasure and comfort the creation gets from the pair and the offspring. Moreover He is Uniquely One, so there is no one suitable to take any position equal to or just slightly inferior to Him. We are all lowly slaves who are but the creation of Allah and we seek only to please Him. Any pride or notions of superiority to the others that may arise in your heart is merely whisperings of the shaytan, for none but Allah knows the ranks of every single person and who is forgiven and who is punished. It also shows how other religions fall into great error by anthropomorphizing Him by saying He has daughters or a son or other such filth. Nay, but He is far Glorified above that which they ascribe to Him. Indeed He is the most High, the Supreme.

Finally the Surah ends with: And there is none in likeness unto Him. Now the interesting thing about this Surah is that when I was contemplating about this I was thinking about two things. One is in line with the rest of the Surah that is talking about His Uniqueness and His being Glorified above having equals or anything similar to Him(this is where a lot of heretics also went wrong when they denied the Most Glorious Attributes of Allah by likening it to His creation). The other things I was thinking is that there is nothing like Him as in He is the Creator and we are the creation. The Creator is not part of the creation, nor is the creation part of the Creator. Two separate entities: One with superlative qualities, the other with some good and some deficiencies but essentially existing for the Praise and Glorification of the Creator. Also because there is none in likeness unto Him, we do not have the capability to imagine or understand how He is. We do not have anything else that might inspire us to get even a gist, but rather we believe in what He reveals to us and do not go beyond the bounds. For the fortunate few, they will see Him in Jannah and inshAllah then we might be able to appreciate His Majesty and Beauty and Supremacy a little better. Finally, I will say that since there is none like unto Him, there is no point worshipping stuff that has contemporaries or equals. There is no point looking upto to anything in the creation, for there is something better than that. Only Allah who has no one/thing comparable to Him azza wa jal is worthy of directing our prayers to. In addition in everything that we do pertaining to our Lord subhanahu wa ta'ala we should realize He is perfect beyond our ability to understand, so we should show proper respect for Allah and His Deen. We should take strict countenance of ourselves when we are in a state of 'ibadah for we are facing the One who has no equal who deserves the best of worship. And even when we may have deficiencies in our worship, we should seek forgiveness and supplicate to Allah to grant us that which is best for us.

So I realized even for one who has been born and raised in tawheed, there are many lessons in Surah al Ikhlaas. I only hope that I learn more and will develop a closer relationship with Allah's Speech. Allahumma ihdina.

Surah al Fatihah: A cure for all pain

While dealing with the pain of the loss of my dear father, I learnt some new lessons from Surah al Fatihah in this situation.

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

I begin and take support with the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful to the universe and especially to the muslims.

الْحَمْدُ لِلهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Praise and thanks to Allah the Lord of the Worlds.
Verily, my Dad was like my world and the very fact that Allah had me born into his family was something I need to praise and thank Allah for. Also the wonderful moments that I shared with my father is something I need to praise and thank Allah for. Since He is Rabb of my dad, He has the authority to take my world away or to let me enjoy it as a gift(and test) from Him as long as He Decrees.

الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

He is the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful
Indeed Allah let me meet with my Dad this summer and I actually was able to meet him before he passed. This in itself is a great mercy from Allah. Moreover, we had had a death scare when my dad had had a myocardial infarction and had essentially "died" yet upon the insistence of the resident, the doctors continued to attempt to resuscitate him and it worked. It seemed like a miracle. Really it was but a preparation for his passing away. Just like the rumour of the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wasallam dying in the battle of Uhud was a preparation for his death much later. To add to that, my mother would have actually accompanied my father, but by the Decree of Allah, my dad insisted that she stay at home and he would come back soon. This in itself is a mercy as now I at least have my mother with me today as a source of comfort. The examples of His Mercy do not end here, yet I would like to keep this post as brief as I can.

مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ
Owner of the Day of Judgement
He is the Owner of the Day of Judgement. If He has complete power over the Day of Judgement, surely He also has power over my dad, and the judgement regarding him on the Day of Judgement. Also the Day of Judgement will be a day when even I would not care about my dad. Hence it is a reminder that since a Day will come when I will only be concerned with myself, I should seek refuge in Allah from such a Day and to continue to make as much du`a as I can for my father in this life.

إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ
You Alone do we worship, and You Alone do we seek help from.
Even during this calamity of my father's passing away, my first concern should still remain the worship of Allah. As mentioned in many places(two of them that I remember on the spot are Surah al Isra' and Surah al Baqarah) that worship of Allah alone precedes doing good to parents. Hence worship Allah alone and turn to worship even as a means of seeking help. Secondly seek help from Allah even outside of formal worship. Make du`a to Him, intend your acts for His Sake. Indeed in the remembrance of Allah do the hearts find rest. So remember Him often.

اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ
Guide us to the Straight Path
This is to be understood in many different ways even in the specialized context of my father's shahaadah. Yet for the sake of being succinct, I will provide only one particular understanding. O Allah, guide me during this difficult time and bring to closer to Your worship and to Your remembrance.

صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
The Path of those upon whom You bestowed gifts(blessings), not those upon whom was Your Anger, nor those among the deviants.
This ayah can be broken into three sections. The first is the group upon whom the gifts were bestowed. The second is the group upon whom came the Wrath of Allah(who deliberately rejected the command of Allah while they had knowledge). The third are the deviants(who did impermissible acts out of ignorance without bothering to seek the knowledge).
The first - O Allah, make me mourn the death of my father according to the Quran and Sunnah as the Prophet sallallahu alayhe wasallam, and the Sahaabah, and the Salaf and the `Ulamaa of the deen would mourn. Do not let me go into excessiveness and do an act that you dislike.
The second - O Allah, do not let me do acts that you have revealed in the Quran and Sunnah as forbidden acts. Do not let me cross the boundaries of Islam in mourning my father.
The third - O Allah, do not let me introduce or take part in bid`ah acts of worship. Acts that done on their own would be liked by you but because of certain conditions placed on them(that are not from Quran or Sunnah or ijmaa`) become a disliked act that should be frowned upon. These acts may range from makrooh tahreeman to haraam.

And that is my understanding of Surah al Fatihah according to the situation I am currently in.

Wallahu ta`la a`lam.

RabbirHamhuma kama rabbayaani Sagheeraa