I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
And may Allah bless Muhammad and his pure people.
May Allah bless them all.
Peace and mercy of Allah be upon you, everyone.
And I hope you remember where we left the surah.
We have to continue with the verse,
لَتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَا أُنذِرَ أَبَاؤُهُمْ فَهُمْ غَافِلُونَ
So the surah read as,
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
يا سين والقرآن الحكيم
إِن مَكَلَ مِنَ الْمُرْسَلِينَ
You are from the prophets, from the messengers,
على صراط المستقيم
on the right path.
تنزيل العزيز الرحيم
This is a descending of revelation
from the most powerful, the most merciful.
To do what?
لَتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَا أُنذِرَ أَبَاؤُكُمْ فَهُمْ غَافِلُونَ
To warn a people whose fathers are not warned.
So they are heedless, they are ignorant of these teachings of revelation.
Well, this word,
انذار, لَتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا
to warn people,
is used very frequently in the Qur'an.
In fact, the prophet is told to be
بَشِيرًا وَنَزِيرًا
someone who brings good tidings and who warns.
So the warning is about what comes afterwards.
The warning is not about this world.
We are given actually a kind of information
about what is coming next after this life.
Of course, the knowledge of it is inside us,
otherwise we wouldn't have understood it.
But we need reminders.
And this reminder comes in form of a warning to us
that there is going to be something afterwards.
So take heed, be careful.
This is what the prophet actually does.
He just warns.
And this warning, as I said,
is not something that we are completely unaware of.
Otherwise, you wouldn't have understood anything of it.
It's just a reminder to what we already know.
The prophet is a muzaqir.
He only reminds us.
He doesn't teach us these things, these very basic elements.
He teaches us other things, of course.
But the very basic elements of faith is inside ourselves.
And we only need reminders to bring it up for us,
to make it fresh for us.
So the prophet warns us about it.
And of course, it is told here that you have to warn a people
whose fathers are not warned.
So they are heedless.
Now, there is a problem here.
And that is, will any prophet in the descendants of the Arab nation
so that Allah tells us that their fathers are not warned?
Their fathers are not warned?
We have many Arab prophets mentioned in the Qur'an.
And of course, many other Arab prophets who are not mentioned in the Qur'an.
We have Hud and Saleh.
And Shuaib, it is actually controversial whether he was an Arab prophet or not.
Of course, we are not talking about Hebrew prophets, Jew prophets,
which of course were from the other descendants of Ibrahim from Ishaq.
But the descendants of Ismail themselves had their own prophets.
We are told about a prophet called Khalid bin Sanan,
who was a few centuries before the prophet, maybe well, even before Isa, alaihi salam.
And he was warning the Arabs while Isa and the Jew prophets were warning the Israelites.
We have a name of other prophets called Qus ibn Sa'idah,
who was of course an Arab prophet in the descendants of Ismail.
And Khalid bin Sanan.
These are names mentioned in Hadith for us, who were prophets warning the fathers of Arabs,
of Quraysh and other Arabs living at the time of the prophet.
So when we are told here that,
لَتُنذِرَ قَوْمًا مَا أُنذِرَ أَبَاؤُهُمْ
You are to warn a people whose fathers are not warned,
then we have to see what really this means.
Even, I mean, when we talk about Musa, alaihi salam, and Isa, alaihi salam,
do we not regard them as prophets who had warned all nations, including Arabs?
Of course, we could say about the prophets of Bani Israel that their language was different from the language of Arabs, of course.
They were talking Hebrew language, and therefore the Arabs couldn't understand them.
And since we have in the Qur'an that, وَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَسُولٍ إِلَّا بِلِسَانِ قَوْمِهُ
We haven't sent any prophet, but with the language of their own people.
We could say that, okay, Musa and Isa, alaihi salam, were not to warn Arabs because they didn't understand their language.
Well, about our prophets and about revelation after the Prophet of Islam, the things are different
because Allah has ended this kind of national and multilingual warning to people.
The message could have been penetrated to everyone after the Prophet of Islam because the cultures had grown.
The translations could have been done. You know, before Islam there was no translation of the Bible.
Even until the second century of Islam, we had no translation of the Bible into Arabic.
But in the second century onwards, we have translations of every book to any language.
You have now, the Qur'an is translated in more than 50 languages.
The Bible is translated in more than 2,000 languages and dialects and so on.
But before that, we didn't have that. So we couldn't say that Isa or Musa, alaihi salam, had warned Arabs.
They didn't understand what they say.
So in a sense, if we regard, if we are talking about non-Arab prophets, we could say, okay, the Arabs were not warned by them.
And the verse saying, letun zira qawman ma unzira aba'ukum, you are warning a people whose fathers are not warned,
is true with regard to those prophets.
But what about the prophets who were from Arab descendants like Hud and Saleh?
Okay, you could say that they were very, very far away in the past.
They were several, several centuries back, several millennia's back, actually.
So, okay, the message was somehow confused.
The Arabs, well, didn't have it written. So their fathers were not warned.
But if we say we had prophets like Khalid ibn Sanan and Qasb ibn Sa'idah, who were just a few centuries,
four, five, six centuries before the prophet, how about that?
Well, there are a few theories about this.
We could say after a few generations, well, especially in the past where the books were not written,
or if they were written, they were distorted, then we couldn't say that a nation whose, well,
fathers in a few generations ago, past generations, a few centuries ago, they were warned.
We couldn't regard them themselves to be warned as well because everything was confused.
They didn't know who was right, who was wrong.
And we could say that since between Isa, alayhi salam, and our prophet, there was no prophet at all,
no messenger at all, and that was about 600 years, six centuries.
This is called the period of Fatsirah, the period in which there was no prophet,
the period of sleeping and slumber.
So, well, we could say that the fathers of the Arabs to whom the message was sent were not warned.
And this is what we should prefer, actually.
If a few centuries has passed, a warning has come and it is not written down.
It is passed through the media only by tongue, not by written thing.
Then we could say that, well, there's no warning.
And this would tell us something very, very important.
It is not enough that you just hear that there is a prophet, there was a prophet,
just hear that what was his message.
You have to be clarified about it very accurately.
This bayan which is talked about in the Quran, that we would not punish any nation
unless we have expressed very, very, very lucidly for them.
What is the message of prophets? What is our message to them?
We are not going to punish anyone unless this bayan has come for them.
This expressive kind of clarification.
Well, it means, well, today even, it's not enough for people to have heard about Islam
and then we say, okay, so they are now obliged to follow the message of Islam
since Islam, the word of Islam is spread everywhere.
Everyone knows about Muslims.
No, this is not enough.
The message should come very clearly.
The warning should be very lucid so that Allah would punish people about it,
would actually take to task and question them about it.
So, and this makes entering Jannah very easy, isn't it?
I mean, not many people would go to hell really.
And it is only for them who have heard the message clearly
and they have rejected it from the deepest bottom of their heart.
These are the people who would go to hell.
Otherwise, I mean, someone who has not heard about it,
of course, they are not going to gain those promoted degrees and stations in Jannah,
but they are excused because they didn't know what is the warning.
And, well, take this for many, many aspects.
I mean, the Sunnis who have not heard about the message of Shia clearly,
are they going to be punished for it?
Certainly not.
The Christians who have not heard about the message of Islam clearly,
the only thing they know about Islam are Taliban or Saddam Hussein
as the leader of Muslims or terrorists to be Muslims.
So, are they going to be punished for it?
Well, certainly not.
So, the warning should be very clear.
The good tidings should come, the warning should be clear,
and of course, it is not enough that our very, very past generations have heard about it.
It should be clarified for ourselves.
لَتُنْذِرَ غَوْمًا مَّا أُنْذِرَ أَبَاوْهُمْ
This has come to you to warn a people whose fathers are not warned,
and therefore they are غافلون, they are heedless.
They don't know what is the message.
And after this message has come, okay, those who rejected it,
well, we treat them differently.
And those who accepted, of course, would gain the utmost reward of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Now, we come to one of the most difficult verses of the Qur'an.
And believe me, it is going to be very painstaking to explain the meaning of this verse.
And it needs, well, effort from me and careful listening from you
so that we are not confused by what we are going to say here about this verse.
لَقَدْ حَقَّلْ قَوْلُ عَلَى أَكْثَرِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
Okay, I write the Arabic here so that,
and I'm going to explain this verse for the rest of this session.
لَقَدْ حَقَّلْ قَوْلُ عَلَى أَكْثَرِهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ
The word, a statement, قول, well, قول could be the word or a statement,
but a statement is realized, has proved to be true for most of them, therefore they do not believe.
So what is the meaning of this?
And it has actually taken many, many exegesis of the Qur'an
to take a deterministic kind of path for explaining this verse,
because it says, Allah says, why they do not believe, because the word is realized,
has proven to be true about them, about most of them, and this is why they don't believe.
And if it is something out of our hands, if the word is realized about those of us who do not believe,
then of course we have no choice.
If non-believing is due to realization of a word or statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
in the case of different people, then they shouldn't be well asked about it.
Or Allah does whatever He wants.
He would realize His words on some people and He would punish them, and who can question Him?
Of course, no one can question Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And this is the line that most of the exegesis have taken in explaining this verse.
Now, let's take a few examples from some exegesis.
Tabari, for example, explaining this verse.
What do you mean by the word?
Yeah, yeah, well, we have to spend half an hour to see what is the statement,
which has been proved for most of them.
Well, certainly it does not refer to what is said previously, because there is no statement as such.
There should be some other statement.
Now, the statement, Tabari says,
the statement has proven to be true.
It means the adab, the punishment has become necessary for most of them.
Because Allah has determined in Ummul-Kitab that they should not believe.
And since He has determined it in Ummul-Kitab that they should not believe,
so the statement of adab, punishment, says, of course, He doesn't say statement of adab.
He says the punishment has become necessary for them.
Because in the Ummul-Kitab, Allah has written that they would not believe.
OK, this is a kind of deterministic explanation of this verse.
Qurtubi, well, several centuries later, writes almost the same thing.
Laqad wajab al-adhabu ala aqsaram.
The punishment has become necessary, is necessitated for most of them.
Because it has been predestined in the knowledge of God that they are going to die while they are kafirs.
OK, we could say this is a deterministic kind of thing.
Or we could say that because Allah knows that they don't choose to become mu'minun.
And He has written it in His knowledge previously.
So they do not believe now, so they have to.
And this word of adab is proved to be true for most of them.
There is no witness from the Quran to support this kind of explanation of the verse.
In Majmawl bayan teprasi, the Shia exegetes.
Well, he has not given his own words, probably because he didn't know how to explain this.
Because, I mean, this predeterministic kind of explanation does not go, does not conform with Shia ideology,
with Shia kind of creed, belief that everyone has a free will to choose.
So he says, it is said, though he doesn't say himself,
that it is said that it is predestined for most of them,
that they should not believe, therefore they do not believe.
OK, so he just said this is what has been told about this verse, what has been written.
And, well, how it is predestined?
It is predestined in the way that Allah has informed his angels that these people are not going to believe.
And this word is realized for most of them, has proved to be true, and therefore they do not believe.
OK, what do you think?
I think the problem is that what is the knowledge of Allah, predestined by what Allah has taught us.
How do we know what Allah has taught us?
Then the poor people are going to have to suffer.
This is where the problem is there.
I think to understand this concept, what is knowledge of Allah,
and what is predetermined is the crux of where this concept lies, as to how we...
But the point is, Allah actually in the Quran does not confuse us with his knowledge,
and with what is going to happen later on, due to our free will, of course.
Well, we shouldn't bring knowledge of Allah in because his knowledge has no time.
OK, but the point is,
means of course, with these explanations, that there was something predestined for them,
and that has been realized.
OK, now the point is, there might have been something predestined,
but does it necessarily, should it necessarily contradict our free will or not?
This is the point.
Now, to understand this, we have to realize what is this statement.
This is very, very important.
And this statement is mentioned not only in this verse,
in many, many different verses in the Quran,
that there was a statement right from the beginning, from Allah,
and that statement has proved true for some people.
And that statement certainly is not that these people should not believe,
because that would have been actually contrary to free will.
It should have been another statement, something which does not contradict our free will,
and as well something which is very important that we are informed about it in many, many verses in the Quran.
Now, let's see what other verses tell us about this statement.
Well, this statement sometimes is mentioned as qaul,
qaul, which means a statement, sometimes as kalima, which means words.
Well, they could be used interchangeably.
In Surah Yunus, verse number 33, we have a verse,
كذلك حقت كلمة ربك على الذين فسقوا أنهم لا يؤمنون
In this way, the kalima of your Lord is realized, has proved to be true for those for the fasqeen.
Okay, not for everyone, of course, for the fasqeen, for the disobedient, that they would not believe.
أنهم لا يؤمنون This is a realization of a statement.
Now, we have to see what is that statement, but I want you to see how this concept is used in different places in the Quran.
Again, in Surah Yunus, in verse 96, it says, well, more clearly,
إن الذين حقت عليهم كلمة ربك لا يؤمنون
Those about whom the statement of your Lord is realized, they are not going to believe.
So we get a kind of knowledge about why some people believe and some people do not believe.
It's not just the sheer reasoning argument.
There is something said just in the beginning of our creation, long, long time ago.
And if that thing is realized, we are not going to believe.
If it does not realize, we are going to believe.
Okay, so it says those upon whom the statement of your Lord is realized, they are not going to believe.
Well, it's exactly the same as what we have here.
لَقَدْ حَقَّ الْقَوْلُ عَلَى أَكْثَرَهِمْ فَهُمْ لَا يَؤْمِنُونَ
The statement of your Lord is realized about most of them, so they are not believing.
They do not believe.
And he says, ولو جاءتهم كل آيه
Even if all the signs of God come to them, they are not going to believe.
حَبْتَى يَرَوْ الْأَذَابَ الْعَلِمُ
Until they see the painful punishment of Allah.
Then they would believe, of course.
Now they are not going to believe.
Until they see the punishment, they are not going to believe.
Now, in Surah Yaseen, you would see in following verses that he says
وَسَوَعَوْنَ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنذَرْتَهُمْ أَنْ لَمْ تُنذِرْهُمْ لَا يَوْنَهُمْ
It is equal to them.
Warn them or do not warn them.
They are not going to believe.
So it's not the question of warning.
Having been satisfied with arguments and reasonings.
There is something there which bars us from believing.
And that is a statement.
Well, we have to see what a statement means actually.
It is a rule. It is a regulation.
It is something laid down by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And that is where we have to find the crossroad.
Where the crossroad is.
Where they will believe or do not believe.
So, the same thing in Surah Yunus.
Now, the interesting thing is in Surah Muqn.
There is a history of people who believe and who do not believe.
Surah number 40 verses number 5 and 6.
قَذَبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍ وَلَا عَحْسَابُ مِنْ بَعْدِهِمْ
Before them, before your people.
The people of Nuh denied the revelation.
And many parties after them, they denied the revelation.
وَحَمَّدْ كُلُّ أُمَّةٍ بِرَسُولِهِمْ لِيَعْخُذُوهُ
And every nation targeted their messenger to capture them, to contain them.
So that they do not warn.
وَجَادَلُوا بِالْبَاطِلْ لِيُتْحَذُو بِهَ الْحَقْ
And they argued with Batil to refute and debat Haqq.
This is what they did in all nations from Nuh onwards.
فَأَخَذْتُهُمْ أَنْ أَيْسِيزْتَمْ
فَكَيْفَ كَانَ أَقَابْ
How was my retribution?
وَكَذَالِكْ
Now, this was the history.
And in this way,
وَكَذَالِكْ حَقَّتْ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكُ
حَقَّتْ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكَ عَلَى الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا
And in this way, the statement of your Lord was realized
about those who do not believe that they are the people of hell.
أَنَّهُمْ أَسْحَابُ الْنَارِ
So the statement is something to do with Jahannam and with disbelief.
And there are many other verses.
Okay, we leave this because if you want to bring all these verses,
I just wanted to say that this is a prevailing concept in the Qur'an.
There is a statement, that statement is realized about some people,
and it is because the realization of that statement that they are not believing,
that they are rejecting the revelation, and then they end up in fire.
Now, what do you think that the statement is?
Any idea? Yes?
You said it was something probably in the beginning.
There were the conversations, you know, like shaytan or shaytan felt about,
I'll misguide your people, these men that you've created,
and Allah says, except the mukhlaseen.
Yeah.
Could that be it?
That he's saying that you will not misguide the mukhlaseen,
and conversely, if you're not mukhlaseen, then you will be misguided.
Yeah, this could be the statement.
Any other idea?
Okay, let's go to this story.
I said it is right in the beginning, something had passed,
something has been decreed,
and we are actually moving according to that statement and that decree of Allah.
Now, in surah Sa'd, we have exactly the mention of statements by the shaytan
and a statement by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
These are true statements, and the first statement by the shaytan,
as well as approved and signed by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
it is sealed that this is going to happen, and I will let it to happen,
I will proceed according to what I have stated in the beginning.
Now, in surah Sa'd, the ending verses of surah Sa'd, surah number 38,
we have the conversation between shaytan and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
and Allah, shaytan says that give me respite until they are resurrected.
As I said before, right from the beginning, before Adam was put in his garden,
every angel and shaytan, including shaytan who was a jinn,
they knew that these people are going to die,
they are not going to live on this earth forever,
and they are going to be resurrected,
and so shaytan asked Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
give me respite until they are resurrected.
Allah said, you have given the respite,
قَالَ إِنَّكَ مِنَ الْمُنْظَرِينَ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْوَقْتَ الْمَعْلُوبُ
until a determined day.
قَالَ فَبِعَزَّتِكَ لَأُخُوْيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَيْنَةً
He said, I swear by your power and magnificence
that I am going to astray all of them.
Since we have given you respite,
and shaytan knew that Allah's word doesn't change.
Seeing he has said, I have given you respite, that's it.
He has the respite, and after receiving that statement from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
he said, okay, now that you have given me the time,
I am going to lead them astray all.
إِلَّا إِبَاتَكَ مِنْهُمُ الْمُخْلَصِينَ
But a few who are really purified for you.
Now Allah says, قَالَ الْحَقَّ
He said, this is just, you try to do that.
والحق أقول
And I say the justice statement, just the statement.
والحق أقول
And I say a justice, a just statement.
لَأَمْ لَأَنَّ جَهَنَّمَ مِنْكَ وَمِمَّنْ تَبِعَكَ مِنْهُمْ أَجْمَيْةً
I will fill the Jahannam with you,
and with whomever who follows you.
This is just, isn't it?
Since Adam and his progeny, of course,
were given preference over shaytan, and over all angels.
So shaytan said, is this the one you have preferred over me?
Give me respite and you will see what I will do.
How your creatures who you have preferred over us would act, would behave.
Allah said, I will give you respite.
He said, so I will read them astray.
He said, this is just, if you could do it,
and whoever follows you would go to hell with you.
So the hell is initially created for shaytan only.
And of course, whoever follows him will go to hell with him.
Hell is not created for us.
It is us who follow shaytan to hell.
This is a very important issue.
We have to realize that we are not created for hell.
We are created for Jannah.
But with our free will, unfortunately, we follow shaytan to hell.
Now, this statement is more clearly stated in surah Sajjah, surah 32, ayahs number 13 and 14.
It says,
If we wished, you would have given the guidance to every soul.
Everyone would have been guided by me.
Well, not with free will.
I would have guided them to Jannah without them even willing it.
I could have done it.
But I didn't want to do this.
But there was a just statement from me, from Allah.
I will fill Jannah from jinn who are shayateen and from human beings.
I will fill it with them.
This is a just statement. Why is it just?
Because I wanted to take shaytan to hell.
He said, these creatures of you are like me.
I told them justice.
If they are like you, they should be with you.
And this justice statement is passed by me.
That whoever follows shaytan should go to hell with him.
And then those people who go to hell, they might ask, why have you brought us here?
And this is a kind of answer to them.
You have to taste this just statement because you forgot that you are going to meet one day.
And now you have met me and you have been a follower of shaytan.
Now, it's not clear yet.
I'm sure it's not very clear yet.
Now, let's see what Allah says in surah Isra about this statement.
Surah Isra, ayat number 61 to 65, number 17.
When we told angels to prostrate before Adam, everyone prostrated but Iblis.
What did he say?
Should I prostrate to one whom you have created out of clay?
Well, the silly argument is, fire is better than clay.
He said silly argument, isn't it?
And then he said,
He said, tell me, is this he whom you have honored above me?
Well, Adam, of course, was a very small creature compared to shaytan and compared to Jibreel and other creatures of Allah.
He said, is this he whom you have honored above me?
If you should respite me to the day of judgment, I will most certainly master his progeny, except a few.
I will rule over them.
I will reign them and I will harness them, all of them.
I will harness all of them if you give me respite.
Allah said, this is his statement.
This is a very, very important statement.
Depart.
He said, go.
Depart for whoever of them will follow you.
Then surely hell is your recompense, a full retribution.
Now, shaytan, what he wanted to do, he wanted to confuse Allah with his justice, so to speak.
And of course, he didn't know that Allah is not going to be confused.
He wanted to confuse him with his justice, saying that you have put this above me.
Give me respite.
I know this creature of you.
I have tested it.
I have looked at it from every side and I know that I can deliver them to hell.
And Allah said, OK, do it.
This is justice.
OK, now, and then Allah said something else to shaytan.
Go.
Beguile whosoever of them, you can with your voice and collect your forces against them, riding and on foot.
And share with them in wealth and children and hold out promises to them.
So do whatever you can do.
I will give you full authority over them.
Do whatever you want.
And of course, shaytan's promises are notes, but delusion.
Inna ibadilay salaka alayhim sulfa.
You cannot overcome my servants.
And these are the human beings that I have created.
You will see it.
Now, the statement is that Allah has decreed that shaytan would have authority over us with us having free will of this.
And the statement is that whoever would follow shaytan would go to hell with him because that is his about his abode, his place of dwelling.
And whoever follows him would go to his place of dwelling.
That is the statement passed.
Now, laqad haqqal qawlo ala aqtarihim.
The world is realized about most of them.
What does this mean?
It means most of them have followed shaytan, isn't it?
Allah decreed that they could follow you.
That's the statement.
And this statement is realized for most of them.
That is why they don't believe.
So it is nothing to do with our free will.
We have free will, but there was a statement that shaytan could be given authority to lead astray anyone who wishes to follow him.
And that word actually is realized about most of them.
That is why they don't believe.
They are following shaytan, not you.
And that's so.
Now, if someone wants to follow shaytan, whatsoever, howsoever you want them, they are not going to believe because they are believing in something else.
They are following someone else.
Someone could not follow the prophet and shaytan at the same time.
It is not possible.
And that is statement which has gone past us right in the beginning of creation is realized for most of the people.
So they do not believe.
Now, we have a very interesting verse in Surah Saba number 34, surah number 34, verse 20.
When Allah talks about the people of Saba or Sheba and how he had bestowed his favors upon them and how they rejected his prophets and his warnings,
he says,
وَلَقَدْ سَتَّقَ عَلَيْهِمْ إِبْلِيثُ صَنَّهُ فَاتَّبَعُوهُ إِلَّا فَرِيقًا مِّنَ المُؤْمِنِينَ
Iblis proved through his opinion over them.
What was the opinion of Iblis?
That he would lead all of them astray, all human beings.
It was his guess.
Of course, his guess was not true.
And forget about Mokhlasun.
They are different people.
But even us, he's not going to lead all of us astray.
It was his guess.
And he will be disappointed on the day of judgment, inshallah,
seeing that many, many people are going to Jannah rather than following him to Jahannam.
Of course, the more people go to Jannah, the more shaitan is disappointed.
And the more they go to hell, the more he is happy.
You remember at the end of Surah, at the end of the Du'a Abu Hamza,
Imam Sajjad brings his final argument to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that why she should forgive him.
He says, if you punish me, your enemy shaitan will be happy.
And if you forgive me, your prophet will be happy.
And I'm sure you prefer the happiness of your prophet over the happiness of your enemy.
So please forgive me.
This is the final argument of Imam Zain al-Abeddin actually put to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that why he should forgive him.
So the more people go to hell, the more shaitan gets happy.
And if they go to Jannah, it means that his world is not realized.
His hope is not fulfilled.
Okay, so although he knew that there are some very, very chosen, pure people that he could not get near and he could not lead astray,
and he said right from the beginning, I don't go near them.
Okay, I'm going to lead all of them astray.
But I select a few select the chosen ones.
This is not going to become true.
This is not going to be fulfilled because there are many, many people who would follow those Mokhlasun and who would go to Jannah.
Now, this is why what Iblis said in the beginning is mentioned in the Quran as a guess, as an opinion.
He was of the opinion that he's going to lead all of them astray.
And Allah said about some people that
that, well, I got said that I am a Blythe who's done now a Blythe proved through his opinion over them.
Not over everyone.
Those who follow him, Iblis has proved his opinion over them.
Therefore, they followed them.
They followed him.
Allah, but even in a moment, what a few, a small party of the believers.
So those small parts of the believers were not from Mokhlasun, of course.
But they did not follow.
They did not.
Actually, the opinion of Shaytan was not proved to be true about them.
So this is what's the what is realized actually about many people.
And therefore they do not believe.
If you follow Shaytan, you are not going to believe in Allah.
Whenever you see someone talks about disbelief, talks about something which opposes the message of Allah,
open your eyes.
You have to see a Shaytan sitting beside them.
And this is what clearly we had in the Quran.
Well, Shayateen are so numerous, maybe more than us.
OK, the progeny of Shaytan, of Iblis, maybe more numerous than the progeny of Adam, alayhi salam.
And they are everywhere.
And we have a Hadith by Imam Bahr, alayhi salam, that a mu'min whose heart is firm,
if you look, clearly you will see Shayateen like bees around their honey.
They are around the heart of mu'min.
They want to deceive him, but they can't, of course.
They come, they can't.
Now, anywhere you see a disbelief, a word of disbelief,
something which would not actually, which creates doubt about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala,
you have to see a Shaytan because human being is very clean, very pure.
The fitrah of human being is towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala directly and completely.
So if something comes, it is because they have followed Shaytan.
And Shaytan has sat beside them, has harnessed them.
And this is what we have in many other verses.
Now, this statement is realized when someone follows Iblis.
This is now clear, I hope.
Now, about Iblis, we have in Surah Hajj, this is a very, very interesting verse,
Surah number 22, verse number four, kutiba alayhi.
And this is again a kind of decree, a statement.
An hu man tawallahu fa innahu yuzilluhu wayahdihi ila adhabu s-sahiyyat.
It is written for Shaytan that whoever follows him, he would lead them astray.
He would deviate them from the path of Allah and would lead them to the fire of hell.
This is what Shaytan does.
And if what he guesses is realized and if the statement of Allah is realized,
that okay, whoever followed you, they go to hell,
then of course whatever sign of Allah comes, then people are not going to believe.
Now, we have many verses in the Qur'an saying that those people who choose to follow Shaytan,
Shaytan comes and sits beside them.
They will be the consort to them.
And whatever they think, whatever they say, it is not their statements.
It is not their thoughts. It is Shaytan's thoughts.
Have you ever heard about Shayateen coming and possessing people?
They say someone is possessed by jinn.
These are very extreme cases, of course, that a jinn could actually possess even the physics of a human being.
It might happen and it is very rare, very extreme and it's due to some kind of black magic or something that would happen.
But this is not something which is the only way Shaytan could possess a human being.
Shaytan could possess our mind.
And this is clearly seen with many, many people.
And they would actually redirect, deviate the whole kind of thinking.
Whatever we say is deviated.
Whatever we believe in is deviated.
And this is what mentioned in the Qur'an in...
Well, this is a very, very scary verse.
In Surah Zuhruf, verses number 34 to 38.
وَمَنْ يَعْشُ عَنْ ذِكْرَ الرَّحْمَانَ نُقَيِّظْ لَهُ شَيْطَانًا فَهُوَ لَهُ قَرِيمًا
Whoever turns away from remembrance of God, we would appoint a Shaytan for him, for them.
Of course, not for him only, for him and for her.
Don't think whatever I'm saying about these as-sleyt people are men, not women.
And we appoint a Shaytan for them.
And they are their companies, their consuls, they're all who they are.
And what they do? You don't see them.
Because they are not going to be seen by us.
What they do?
وَإِنَّهُمْ لَيَسُدُّونَهُمْ عَنِ السَّبِيلِ
They bar them from the right path.
وَيَحْسَبُونَ عَنَّهُمْ مُحْتَدُونَ
And they think that they are very guided, they are very rational people,
they are very, very knowledgeable people,
whatever they say is based on knowledge and experience and everything,
but they don't know whatever is said to them by that Shaytan.
حَتَّى إِلَى جَعَانَةٌ Until they come to us.
They both come to us together, and we have this in Surah Qaf as well,
and many other Surahs, that if Shaytan becomes a consul to a human being,
then they go together to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for trial,
and they would go together to hell, and they would be chained in one chain together.
And this is, of course, the most fearful kind of punishment
that you are with someone who is your enemy all the time for the rest of your life, for eternity.
And he said, until they come to us, the human being says,
قَالَ يَعْلَيْتَ بَيْدِ وَبَيْنَةَ بُؤْدَ الْمَشْرِقِ
Oh, if I just had a distance from you, like a distance between East and West,
فَبِأْسَ الْقَرِيمِ
And this is a very, very bad kind of consort that you choose for yourselves.
So, and many other verses, okay, we don't go through it.
We just have to know that Shaytan comes sometimes and sits beside us and doesn't leave us.
If we let them to come, and if we deviate ourselves,
and how we let them to come?
By following the sign they put for us.
In Surah Nuur, we have a very, very nice metaphor.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَّبْأُوا خُطواتِ الشَّيْطَانِ
Do not follow the footsteps of Shaytan.
They don't come right to us and say, do not believe in Allah. Allah is not there.
Because, I mean, this is obvious, we are not going to believe in this.
I mean, we see signs very clearly, we are not going to believe in this.
But what he does, he comes and tells us, okay, how good it was if you had done such a thing.
That was a footstep. He leaves for us.
Like someone who wants us to find them, and they leave some signs, some footsteps for us,
and he follows those footsteps, those signs, and we get there.
He leaves some footsteps for us.
لا تتبعوا خطوات الشَّيطان
وَمَن يَتَّبْأُ خُطواتِ الشَّيْطَانِ
Whoever follows these footsteps of Shaytan, what he does,
فَإِنَّهُ يَأْمُرُ بِالْفَحْشَاءِ وَالْمُنْكَرِ
He tells you to do Fahsha' to something which is really violating the whole human conscience,
and Munkar, and something which is denied by all people who are on Fitrah.
And then when you follow that, you become a Fasik, and then simply he tells you there is no God.
And you say, well, I either don't think there is a God.
So this is how he does it, step by step.
And then after he has done this, then he sits inside you, possesses you.
And of course Allah says, وَمَن يَكُنِ الشَّيْطَانُ لَهُ قَرِيْنًا
Whoever for whom Shaytan is a console, is a Qareen,
what a bad Qareen he is.
Or many many other ways, for example Ibrahim tells to Azhar,
يَا أَبَتِ إِنِّ أَخَافُ أَن يَمَسَّكَ عَذَابٌ مِّنَ الرَّحْمَنَ
I really fear that a punishment from God comes to you.
And what is that punishment?
فَتَكُونَ لِلشَّيْطَانِ وَلِيَّا
You will become a friend of Shaytan.
Then he leads you wherever he wants.
So this statement is that Shaytan is going to possess us,
to harness us, to overcome.
استحوذ عليهم الشَّيْطَان
Shaytan has overcome them.
فَأَنْسَاهُمْ ذِكْرَ اللَّهِ
And have made them to forget the remembrance of God.
And whoever becomes like this,
ولاك حزب الشَّيْطَان
These are the party of Shaytan of course.
They would go with him to hell.
على إن حزب الشَّيْطَان هم الخاصرون
And they are the losers.
لَقَدْ حَقَّلْ قَوْلُ عَلَى عَكْسَرِهِمْ
The statement is realized for most of them.
Is the statement that God has signed, approved.
That Shaytan would have the power,
and whoever follows him would go with him to hell.
And of course, when someone would go to hell,
it is not the case that for example,
there is a very good person here,
and then on the Day of Judgment he would go to hell.
Or it is not possible that we are a very bad person here,
and on the Day of Judgment we go to Jannah.
No, the signs of it show itself here.
Okay?
I mean, if we are going to hell,
if a prophet or a prudent person just looks at us,
and at our behavior,
they would know that whether we are going to hell or to Jannah.
Because the signs show itself here.
The way we behave shows whether we are going to hell,
or whether we are going to go to Jannah.
So the world is realized,
and this is why they are not going to believe.
And then there are other verses which of course confirm this.
In Surah Yasin, inshallah, we would continue.
Not next week again, because I'm going to Austria.
So inshallah, the week after,
we will continue with the verses.
Okay, brother and sister, now you've got about 15 minutes for questions.
We've got mics on the gents side,
and if I can have one or two volunteers on the ladies side,
so they pass the mics along.
So brother and sister, please take the opportunity for...
Can you get the mic?
This is the last session.
Okay, can you just comment on this particular statement
with regards to the tense that's being used,
that it's proved.
So was that proved at that particular moment in time,
or is that true today as well?
Because the way the statement reads,
it would suggest that the proof had actually been established at that point in time.
No, no, it's not the proof in the sense that in the eternity it has been proved.
It means that through their behaviors,
the word has been realized, the statement has been realized upon them,
or has proved to be true because they are following Shaitaan,
so it has proved to be true for them.
So it is what we do which makes that word to become true,
to prove to be true or not.
So it's not something that has passed, has decreed in the past.
The statement itself is decreed in the past,
but whether we realize it, in fact, it is us who realize it for ourselves.
Whether we realize it for ourselves or not, it depends upon us.
And Allah says to His Prophet,
it is actually somehow surprising for the Prophet himself that
why I'm giving them very clear sign, very clear warning,
why they do not believe.
And Allah tells them, don't expect them to believe,
because they have realized the word upon themselves,
and they have followed Shaitaan, so they are not going to believe.
From the lady's side now, please, we'll try to alternate.
If one of the young girl can get up and try to pass the mic,
that will be appreciated.
Mariam, do you want to pass the mic, please, or any other?
Ladies, while you're well, are you ready?
I think there is a question from the lady's side.
If you are ready, please ask the question.
Okay, I think whilst they are thinking,
I'll pass it from the gentleman's side, please.
Okay, yeah.
Sheikh, just to go back to your earlier statement,
unless I misunderstood,
you made a couple of statements to the effect that
if the non-Muslims have not been warned about Islam
and do not know about it,
then it would be unjust for Allah to punish them.
Can one then extend that argument further,
that if the Sunnis don't know about the Shia madhhab,
some of them, then it would be unjust for Allah to punish them?
Can one then extend that argument further,
that within the Shia community,
there is a different levels of knowledge base,
and those who are on the periphery,
who do not know much about Shiism,
can one extend that argument the same to them?
Then the corollary of that would be,
if they are more centrist and know more about Islam,
they are probably in the worst position,
because they will be the true Islam, the Shia original,
the Islam original,
that they will be in a position where they will be questioned most.
So the more central you are in your acquisition of true knowledge,
then you are putting yourself into the most difficult situation.
The President of the Bush, yeah, that's true.
If you are a president, you are always asked by people,
why did you do this, why did you do that,
because you have the authority.
If you are an ordinary person,
well, you are only asked about your own affairs.
And about religion also, the more knowledgeable you are,
because through that knowledge you could reach higher status.
If you don't use it properly,
you are asked by Allah and punished more.
Yes, actually, why the Jews were cursed by Allah and not other nations?
Because they were given the most articulate kind of revelation,
and they actually rejected it, they denied it, they just played with it.
So Allah says that they have the most fearful chastisement under the judgment,
I mean those of them who actually knew about it and rejected it.
So the more you have knowledge, the more you are at peril,
and of course the more you are liable to reach higher status.
It just equals itself out, yes.
You can rest on my lady's back.
Then you go to the dock, get to bed, and then you go to the junkie,
you throw a fire, then you throw it here.
Lady, now I don't know if that bent up.
Sheikh, I just wanted to point out, forgive me for pointing out this, obviously,
we are here to learn from you, just to point out about a language point of view,
about al-qawl.
I think one of the meanings of al-qawl is judgment, probably.
So like when you say al-qawl al-haqq or al-qawl al-fasl,
which means that Allah had made the judgment that the majority of the people will go astray.
And this is probably one of the indications that the Quran is miraculous,
because it told us before the end of humanity that this is what will happen to humanity,
similar to what it told us about Abu Lahab, for example, which proved to be true.
This will be proved to be true that the majority of humanity will go astray.
Yeah, well, literally it doesn't mean judgment, but its implications might be,
for example, al-qawl al-fasl, which is the statement which separates between haqq and batil,
or between false and true. Its implication is a judgment, of course.
And there might be any judgment that would involve a statement.
So that statement would be a judgment, but literally it doesn't mean judgment.
It means a statement. And some statements are judgments as well.
Whether this statement is a judgment or not, I think we have to judge it by comparing it with other verses of the Quran.
And well, I think it was a decree, a kind of rule that Allah laid down in the beginning.
And it might, well, its implication that it is a kind of statement according to which Allah is going to judge us.
Yeah, in this sense, we could say that it's a judgment, but literally it means it doesn't mean judgment, I think.
Salamu alaikum.
You know, I feel that if Allah has given this authority, which is quite a negative thing for us,
He must have given another positive authority as well to pull us into His way, to guide us into His way as well.
Yeah. But we are talking about beginning of time.
And I don't know if our Imams, I mean, that is what I pull at the moment, I feel.
So can you comment on that?
Yeah, of course. Despite all these things which I said, Allah says,
Inna ka'ida shaytan kana da'eefa. His deception is very weak.
And opposite to this very weak deception, there are very strong calls from Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,
in our fitrah, angels who are calling us towards Him, which are more stronger than shaytan.
And of course, the prophets who come and bring all these enlightenment to us.
So, yes, of course, there are, I mean, well, we could say that Allah has not treated shaytan justly
because He has put such a strong opposition to him in terms of angels and prophets and all these things.
But still, despite all these, we see that some human beings prefer to follow shaytan. Yeah.
In surah Nur, ayat 21 that you mentioned, Allah says here, I'm just reading the translation,
and were it not for Allah's grace and mercy upon you, not one of you would have been pure.
But Allah purifies whom He pleases. How does Allah make that choice and what can we do to make that choice more?
Yeah. Well, if we choose not to follow shaytan, then we strive towards him, of course.
But the point is, we are not going to traverse this path without his grace and it is not possible for us to purify completely,
to get qualified to get into Jannah unless he has some sort of grace, additional grace upon us.
And this is actually the meaning of hadith reported from the prophet that he said,
no one is qualified to enter Jannah if it was not because of favor and grace of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And he was asked, even you, the prophet of Allah, the messenger of Allah, he said,
even me would not have been qualified to enter Jannah if there was not that favor and grace.
And this means that we make so many mistakes in terms of prophets.
There are times which their knowledge was not to the point that they could have worshipped Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala as he deserved.
Well, the prophet himself confessed that subhanaka ma'abadna kaqqa ibadat.
We have not worshipped you as you deserve to be worshipped.
And of course, if he was going to take us to task, no one would have entered Jannah.
So it's only his grace and his favor that would purify us, would make us qualified to enter Jannah.
But that grace would not actually encompass everyone.
It does not take everyone into his fold.
It only takes those people who turn to Allah, who struggle for it.
Of course, they make mistakes, they make sins, but they are not they are trying not to follow Shaitan,
but to follow Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. They are in combat with that grace.
Those who want to follow Shaitan, they would go with him to hell.
Ladies, don't be here.
Be prepared to be here.
If not, there is a benefit path.
And yet, it's like there are women and ladies on the way.
Ladies are less deceived by Shaitan. They have no question since.
In the Quran, it says that Shaitan will wait for us to go on the straight path before he takes us from left, right, up and down.
There's one verse. I can't don't know which verse it is.
No, he waits on the straight path for us.
Yeah, he waits.
To lead us. He waits there.
Yeah, he waits there.
We are already heading for the straight path and he is waiting for us.
So, you know.
He waits there to offer his kind of.
They are not talking about the people that are gone already.
No, like he's not.
The point is all of us are on the straight path.
This is the point. We are created on the straight path.
This is the meaning of Fitrah.
Now, he waits on that straight path.
He waits there until we come to this world.
We realize that we have to do things.
Then he tells us, do this, do that.
So, he actually ambushes us on the straight path.
Yeah.
Yeah, we are created on that straight path.
Really, you are born.
Olaas pano adala.
How can he ambush us?
Well, he says, is this another guess by him?
Is this another opinion of his?
Because he has his opinions on other things.
The point is, you see, we are created to move along the straight path.
And this is where Shaitaan comes in.
He sits on the straight path.
He ambushes us on that straight path.
And he deviates us from it.
So, originally, we are all created on Fitrah, on the straight path.
Then Shaitaan deviates us from it and leads us to different directions.
Now, maybe I don't get the point of your question.
How does he do it?
Well, not how does he do it.
You know, in the other verse, he said that he guessed.
I can't remember.
He guessed, right?
He guessed that he would lead everyone astray.
That was his opinion.
Yeah.
So is this one of his opinion?
I mean, we are in the...
No, he was of the opinion that he could ambush us on the straight path.
And he could lead all of us astray.
This was his opinion.
But his opinion did not come true because most of us would go to Jannah.
Okay?
Although we make mistakes, although we make sense,
but the point is we don't want to follow him.
We just fall and rise again.
But his guess was that he would lead all of us to his own path,
would lead all of us astray.
And that guess is realized about some people, not about all people.
As-salamu alaykum.
This brings me to the question that I was going to ask.
You said in one place that you mentioned one of the verses where he says about the people,
where all of them except a few of them are misguided.
That means there were a few people who were left.
And even this verse says, aksaruhum.
And then other places you made the statement that most of us are going to go to Jannah.
To me, that seems like a con...
Does it mean that, yes, most people are going to be misguided,
but does it mean that most people are not going to be misguided, only some people are going to be misguided?
I'm a bit confused about whether this, the statement in Surah Yassin,
the third ayah that we're talking about, where it says aksaruhum,
the word of Allah is going to be true for them.
That means that they are going to be following Shaitan,
and therefore they are going to follow him to hell.
Does that apply to the majority of humanity?
Is there any implication there?
Aksaruhum means that the majority of the people of Ghoraysh who were adviced by the Prophet,
was not of course the majority of other groups of people.
We have majority of other nations who have believed in the message of the Prophet.
But we have to actually distinguish between two groups of people.
One are the mukhlasun, who are never, never led astray by Shaitan.
Those are the select few, but there are others who follow them rather than following Shaitan,
and they would go to Jannah.
Well, they might be the majority, might not be the majority.
There are some people who have not been guided.
They are not going to go to hell as well.
To whom the guidance is coming?
To whom the guidance is coming, and Shaitan has led them astray.
I think they are the minority, not majority.
I just want to clarify about this predetermination, determinism.
If the argument that you have been putting forward saying that the people have got a choice to be misguided or not,
but that is also in Umm al-Kitab, that these people will be misguided or not,
then I think that the people who are not guided,
they are not going to be guided.
They are not going to have a choice to be misguided or not, but that is also in Umm al-Kitab, that these people will be misguided.
Don't bring that up, because you started with that argument that there are some like the Sunnis who are deterministic,
because for example, the way they do these exegesis are their interpretation saying that,
these are the people who are already in Umm al-Kitab, therefore they are predetermined to be misguided.
Both, even the arguments that you have given, also can be said it is a determinism as well,
in the sense that they are misguided, they will be misguided,
because they are the certain kind of people who will be misguided, and therefore it is already predetermined.
How do you try to distinguish these two different ideas?
We have two different types of determinism.
One is that the fate of everyone is determined by Allah SWT, so they have no pre-choice.
The other is that there are some predetermined rules that we would follow,
some predetermined statements, some predetermined Sunnis that everyone would follow.
I mean, the very fact that we have free choice is a predetermination of Allah SWT.
We have no choice in this, and it is predetermined, predestined that all human beings should have free choice.
This is a kind of determinism, but it is not determinism in that sense that everyone is forced to do what they do.
Predetermined, which they say, the asharahs usually say, is that the fate of every person individually
is predetermined by Allah SWT, and they only follow that path without any free choice.
This is what we reject. But the kind of predeterminism that yes, there are certain things that are predetermined,
and we could not violate them like our free choice, for example, like that we have to follow this course,
this path of human regeneration. These are predetermined things.
So therefore in Umul-Ketab, it is which part of the...
In Umul-Ketab, as far as we are concerned, there is that predeterminism that there are rules and regulations.
But when you go to deeper layers of Umul-Ketab and to the knowledge of Allah, yes, Allah knows what is going to happen for everyone,
but he knows what's going to happen for everyone through their free choice.
And we have to distinguish between these two things.
Sheikh, can we take any more questions?
Just to go back to what you said that shaitan was given this respite, and it was just for Allah to do that.
And then there was this two groups, those who follow Adam and his descendants and the shaitan.
Now, shaitan was given this respite, but shaitan is not Allah, and he doesn't have any power like Allah.
Just parking that argument then, just on one side, and starting with any individual born on this earth,
we said that he or she potentially is likely to go onto the straight path unless shaitan intervenes.
And this individual relies on various infrastructure for his knowledge base from his parents,
from Thuraym and the Prophet and the living Imam and the scholars like yourselves, etc.
So there's an infrastructure to remain on the straight path.
What is fascinating me is what is the infrastructure of the shaitan?
It must be fantastically huge and powerful.
And how is it developed?
You also mentioned one ayah that Allah said that if you leave the path, then I'll appoint a shaitan for you.
So isn't Allah being unjust here by creating more shaitan as well?