بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
One of the means of increasing faith is pondering over the Qur'an. Ajurri mentioned the characteristics that come when you act upon the Qur'an and Sunnah.
He obliges himself to be dutiful to his parents by:
1) Lowering his wing to them
In (17:23-24)
"واخفض لهما جناح الذل من الرحمة"
This means he shows humility to his parents for the sake of Allah. He doesn't do this for the sake of worldly gain.
2) Lowering his voice before their voices
3) Expending his wealth for them
The child spends on his parents when they are in need, remembering their previous goodness upon him.
Especially the mother, when she carried him with hardship and gave birth to him with hardship.
When Shaykh Abdulrazaq albadr was explaining this book, he mentioned a story. A couple had a baby, and the husband said he would take care of the child the entire day by himself. He wanted to know how much his mother suffered when he was young. He took care of everything and couldn't bear it by the end of the day.
The mother spent efforts and money on us. She has done everything for her children, so it is unfair for the child to forget all the favours the parents have done.
He is gentle and kind with his parents, by both action and by speech.
4) He looks at them with the eye of respect and mercy
5) He prays for their longevity
He wants to enjoy their companionship, the reward Allah will give him if he is dutiful to them when they are alive.
He is acting upon the statement of Allah, "ربي ارحمهما كما ربياني صغيرة"
6) He is thankful for them in old age
7) He is not irritated by them
When the parents grow old, they may feel pain and suffering which they keep to themselves because they don't want to annoy their child. Due to their suffering they may raise their voices, lose their tempers, say irritating words because of his old age, etc.
The bearer of the Qur'an will bear this with patience and give them excuses for any of they behaviour. When they grow older their behaviour may change.
Allah specified old age because it is not an easy age to handle.
This is the guided son. He realises the meaning of dutifulness to parents.
8) He doesn't look down upon them
Especially if the son or daughter is educated or rich, and the parents are still poor, etc. The child may look down on his parents and make fun of them. There will be no blessings in the life of that child if he looks down on his parents, humiliates them, etc.
If the Prophet said, "A Muslim is a brother to another Muslim and shouldn't look down upon him" then what about our parents? They deserve more honour and respect.
AlBukhari has a book called, "الأدب المفرد"
He started his book with a chapter on dutifulness to parents to emphasise its importance.
HADITH: Your mother 3x
The Prophet emphasised the matter of dutifulness to parents. If you look at the life of all the famous scholars, you will see how dutiful they were to their parents. Allah blessed their lives and exalted them.
The Shaytan may spoil the relationship between the children and parents.
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The Hypocrites
We have to take care of purifying our hearts from sicknesses, especially before Ramadan. The greatest sickness is hypocrisy. If hypocrisy enters the heart and settles there, the person may not feel it. He may be doing abundant good deeds but it has no effect on his heart. He is not increasing in faith or changing to a better person. This means there is something in the heart that is preventing the effect of good deeds.
If you come across a characteristic of hypocrisy and you detect that you have it, you have to strive hard against yourself to overcome that sickness and repent to Allah immediately. Ask Allah to purify your heart from that specific characteristic. Don't despair or lose hope in reformation. We have to take the means to cure the sickness.
- Whenever they are commanded by Allah with any command
انفروا - March forth, move quickly to act upon the command. Don't show laziness, reluctance, or walk heavily.
What is the reason for lagging behind? Love and inclination to the Dunya, forgetting the Aakhirah and its reward.
We are humans and our hearts can get taken away by the Dunya,
HADITH: The companions came to the Prophet and said "When we are with you our faith is high, but whenever we leave you and we mingle with our family, it becomes low"
the Prophet said, "If you will be the same as with you are with me, you will be like angels"
We need to reach a balance. If our entire day is in heedlesness this will make you forget Allah, and on the Day of Judgement, Allah will abandon. Even if the few minutes we spend in remembrance of Allah, our mind is with this world. This indicates excessive heedlesness. As the period of heedlesness increases, as our faith decreases. As the heedlesness decreases, as our faith increases.
HADITH: Three things aren't considered lahw. One of them is to play with children.
Even when you enjoy with your family, then do it hoping for Allah to reward you by bringing joy to their hearts, educating them, by playing with them.
Verses 42-45:
"لو كان عرضا قريبا و سفرا قاصدا لاتبعوك و لأكن بعدت عليهم شقة و سيحلفون بالله لو استطعنا لخرجنا معكم يهلكون أنفسهم و الله يعلم انهم لكاذبون
In the previous verses, Allah is addressing the believers. From Verses 42-90 Allah talks about the pure hypocrites and their characteristics.
This verse was revealed on the Prophet while he was still in Tabuk. In this battle there was no gain. The س in سيحلفون is to indicate something that will happen in the future.
They are destroying themselves with their false oath.
There are five characteristics of the hypocrites in this verse:
1) The hypocrites don't deal with people unless there is a gain or benefit for them. They don't think of the benefits they will get with Allah. They participate if there is worldly gain and don't if there isn't.
Allah decrees situations like these in order to distinguish between the truthful and the liars. The Prophet didn't fight in this battle. Allah cast fear in the hearts of the Romand and there was no battle.
2) The hypocrites always take oaths and swear falsely. They don't honour and magnify Allah, and don't give heed to the importance of swearing by Allah.
Too much swearing indicates there is no magnification of Allah in the heart of the person.
3) They give excuses in order that they won't have to participate.
4) Their concern is their good image with the believers. They want to be with the believers because of what they will gain of worldly privileges. They don't seek the pleasure of Allah.
"لخرجنا"
Their greatest the concern is to be with the believers. To seek the pleasure of the believers, not Allah.
5) The hypocrites don't make احتساب. They don't hope for the reward from Allah whenever they do a good deed. This is one of the more serious characteristics.
We have to ask ourselves why we are doing something. The hypocrites go with the group without having احتساب.
Allah mentioned how the hypocrites falsely swear 7 times in this Surah and affirms that they are telling lies.
The person may tell lies to himself, then to the people, and then to Allah without feeling it. On the Day of Judgement they will lie and swear to Allah as they used to swear in this life.
How can we act upon this verse? When you are asked to participate in any obligation, or any command of Allah comes to you, you have to have احتساب. If you don't want to participate don't give false excuses. Check your excuses, are they truthful excuses? Allah knows if your excuse is genuine.
As-Sa'di mentioned the restrictions regarding excuses. There are excuses accepted by Allah and excuses which aren't.
We give excuses to people because we don't want the person to be angry with us. We always think about the person in front of us, we don't think about Allah.
He said:
"العذر هو المانع الذي يمنع. اذا بذل العبد و سعه و سعى في أسباب الخروج ثم منعه مانع شرعي فهذا الذي يعذر "
The excuse is the hindrance which prevents a person. If the person did his best and exerted his utmost and something prevented him, which is legally accepted as an excuse, then this is the person who is excused.
When you give an excuse, don't think of the person who is in front of you. Think of Allah. Will he accept your excuse on the Day of Judgement?
One should check his excuses with regards to duties and obligations. He shouldn't give any excuse, we have to be truthful.
The hypocrites said, "لو استطعنا لخرجنا معهم"
What is the criteria of استطاعة?
Eg. You have a headache. How much can you bear it and do the other work? How much is it preventing you from doing your duties?
Can you bear this sickness and overcome it or not?
The slave could be excused apparently, but Allah knows very well if the person can or cannot do. This should make us careful to not take it lightly when we give excuses. We are dealing with Allah and not the people.
One should be aware of Allah's observation. He knows when you give an excuse to the person who wants their right from you. When you give an excuse to the people, let your concern be how much you are excused with Allah.
Did you try your best to take the means of participation? Did you put effort or without taking any means did you just immediately resort to an excuse? Without even thinking we refuse.
This is the refusal of giving rights, which is obligatory on us.
If you tried your best and Qadar Allah something happened, then you're excused with Allah.
Be one of the truthful in your excuses and not amongst the liars. The one in front of you is a human being, he may believe you if you're lying and may be angry if you tell him the truth. Make your concern Allah and he will make people pleased with you. Remember the Day of Judgement when Allah will ask you, "Why didn't you give the right of so-and-so? Why didn't you render trusts back?"
Think of that Day. What will your answer be?
Because the hypocrites swear all the time, they will come on the Day of Judgement thinking they can swear and deceive Allah.
Contemplate, reflect and implement these verses. Ask Allah to enlighten your heart and keep you firm whenever you go through any situation, to act truthfully. Invoke Allah.
In Verse 43:
"عفا الله عنك لم أذنت لهم حتى يتبين لك الذين صدقوا و تعلم الكاذبين"
Allah is addressing the Prophet. He is denying the action of the Prophet in a gentle manner.
The hypocrites and those who had a genuine excuse all came to the Prophet to ask to stay behind. The Prophet accepted all their excuses, without checking if they were truthful.
Before criticising the Prophet Allah said عفا الله عنك.
This is like when you want to rebuke someone who is beloved to you and you say, "May Allah forgive you, what did you do this?"
This shows the kindness and gentleness of how Allah dealt with the Prophet.
How should we deal with people? We have to be gentle and give them excuses. Think good of people when they do something wrong.
This verse indicates the status of the Prophet with Allah.
Before the hypocrites went to the Prophet they said we will ask him permission and if he refuses they would have stayed behind. The believers asked the prophet for permission, and if he refused they would have gone for Jihad. When the Prophet gave them all permission, the hypocrites hypocrisy remained hidden.
In Verse 44:
This verse affirms that the truth believers who believe in Allah and the Day of Judgement will not ask to be exempted.
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