Moon, Night, Dawn: Understanding Divine Oaths

With the brothers after after the most of us have seen it. Allah starting tomorrow I will be joining the officially and so the idea is that we sit down and we collectively take turns reading until we get through an entire J of the Quran. So that's 20 pages with light corrections and you know and then if there's any questions or any discussion after that on any of the verses we can have that inshallah. A third and final announcement is actually we would cordially ask that starting immediately that when we come in I know for probably you know ever since whenever we've always used the side door to come in. However, if you've noticed during the past week, we've opened up the main doors here for Isha. So, there's a couple of reasons for that, but we want to start using the main door when we come in, put our shoes there, put everything there, and then if someone needs to use the restrooms, they can cross across. for a couple of reasons, but one of those is so that the sisters as well can have their own entrance to enter from and they don't feel pressured so that they can put their shoes on the rack there and and have a you know their own entrance inshallah. But that's only going to work if we actually start using it. So by sheer habit I see that you know most of us are still using the old way which is you know fine perfectly fine but look at this big beautiful giant door here it is so enticing so inviting as you walk by it's beckoning you to use it. So please for the brothers use this new big door. It's not new but it's new to us. So any other announcements? You sure? Okay.

[Arabic recitation]

So sad about that. I really am. You know, but we have words to exchange over that. Inshallah. Alhamdulillah.

[Silence]

Continuing where we left off in the verses of surah mud, we're here on the last final around 10 verses of surah mud. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says,.

[Silence]

These are verses 32-37. This is a portion of the Quran that is known as.

[Silence]

For subhanahua.

[Silence]

Woman. , woman.

[Silence]

This this part here is what we call the of the Quran. What is the it is when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala swears by something when he says I swear by right I swear by the morning sun and the night when it wraps itself around and becomes very still and in its darkest etc. These are two examples of many many many places in the Quran in which Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses this type of rhetoric which is referred to as which is referred to as swearing by something. Now these things that Allah swears by they are not obviously they are not random. These things are not haphazard. These things are strategically placed in a chapter. They carry a particular tone, a very particular meaning and sometimes even a very particular rhythm that will match and escalate what is being said throughout the chapter. Here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has just concluded the verse speaking about the 19 angels that are the gatekeepers of the hellfire. Malik and his 18 subordinates and their subordinates below them. He spoke subhanahu wa ta'ala about the reasons that he mentioned these things and these details in the Quran. And now he goes into he says after this word is usually used in the Quran to negate whatever came before it. So someone will say something that is wrong. Allah will rebuttal and say kala meaning this is incorrect but it doesn't always mean that sometimes the word keela is used as a means to draw the attention of the listener to what is to follow it meaning what is to follow it is very important subhanahu wa'ta'ala then says I swear by the moon and I further swear by the night as it recedes. Now here Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is giving us very specific imagery in our mind's eye. He's swearing by the moon. He's swearing by the night as it retreats. And I further swear by the dawn as it grows in intensity. So what is the imagery here? What are we collecting from this? I swear by the moon. And I swear the moon usually presents itself high in the sky and becomes prominent towards the middle or the second and final half of the night. And the night begins to retreat when the moon is in its fullest position in the sky. And then the night further retreats and recedes when the dawn starts to break and intensify. This is a parable for what? This is an example and a parable for the coming of the messenger, the arrival of the messenger. People were in jeileia. People were in a state of misunderstanding, of misguidance. People were in a state of worship of other than Allah, idolatry, superstition, indecency, bloodshed, misguidance, confusion. People were in a state where they disbelieved in the last day. And here Allah has appointed a messenger amongst them. And now the moon has grown in its intensity. the light of the moon, the night has no choice but to recede and retreat. And then the dawn breaks which is a parable for the sending of jirel with the verses of the Quran. The book of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is just the daybreak as it comes to do away with the night to do away with the confusion, do away with the guilt, do away with the hopelessness. People were suffering from incredible hopelessness before the Quran. And the Quran came back came to restore people and restore their hope in Allah and restore their hope in their actual potential. And so Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala swears by the moon. He swears by the receding and retreating night. He swears by the dawn as it grows in intensity. What is he says?

[Silence]

Monkeys. for.

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And so Allah Subhanahu Waaala now comes with the response, what is he swearing by here? He swears by the moon and I swear by I further swear by the night as it retreats and I further compound that swear by swearing by the morning sun as it intensifies and as it intensifies. Indeed, this in this knowledge and this revelation of suffer of the hellfire and its descriptions is one of the greatest deterrents and one of the greatest warnings to mankind. in. And so he says indeed that hellfire that was just described in the previous verses, it is one of the greatest and most grave of warnings. Now, that imagery fits perfectly because people, they don't change. Human beings, we naturally fear change. It makes us feel we're not in control. We can't predict what's going to happen. And so, people are naturally adverse to change. However, this change, this change of the prophet Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam, this change of jahyah, this change of the Quran, it's a big change and it's painful at times. However, it is the best of change. It is necessary change. It is just as necessary and just as beautiful and just as grand and illustrious as the morning sun breaking the dawn, as the night retreating with its coldness and with its stillness and with its lifelessness and the moon being outshined by the sun. We got used to things in night. We got used to things and we started merely surviving. But the Quran came to teach us how to live. Not just to exist, not just to survive, but how to live with hearts filled with hope and reliance upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so this change may be fought against, but it is change for the better. Second of all, this change is inevitable. It is just as inevitable as the sun rising. It is not something you can stop, oh people of Quraysh, those who have chosen amongst you to fight the message and fight against the messenger and try to hinder the path of Allah. Your fight is as fruitless as it is in trying to stop the sun from rising at morning. It's impossible. It is inevitable. It is not just a force of nature. It is beyond that. It is the will of almighty Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so if you choose to embrace it, you will lust bluster in the sun. And if you choose to fight against it, your fight is just as hopeless as the night's fight against the morning sun.

[Silence]

Alhamdulillah.