What Are the Disbelievers Waiting For?
The Three Events That Compel Belief: Death, Judgment, and the Sun Rising from the West - Surah Al-An'am Analysis
Summary
This lecture analyzes Surah Al-An'am, focusing on its closing verses that question what disbelievers are waiting for. Sh. Ali Mashhour explains that this lengthy Meccan chapter comprehensively refutes all arguments against Islam and the false beliefs of pre-Islamic Arabia. The discourse then explores three significant events mentioned in the Quran: the arrival of the angels of death, the Day of Judgment, and the sun rising from the west. All three events compel universal belief, yet such forced belief is not accepted by Allah because it lacks the conscious choice and sincere struggle that characterizes true faith. Sh. Ali Mashhour emphasizes that these events share a common characteristic—they eliminate human agency in belief—and explains the theological significance of why belief during these moments holds no spiritual value.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
Alhamdulillah.
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Forch.
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Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the closing verses of he says so what are they waiting for what he's speaking about here who he is speaking of the or speaking about the disbelievers those who have disbelieved now notice where this verse is placed it's placed at the very end of surah Surah focuses very heavily on the reputation of all of the superstitions and all of the disbeliefs of the people of Jahyah. All of them. It focuses on the reputation of the shabuet of the mushrien, the idoltors, the disbelievers in general, the people of the book, the Jews, the Christians, all of them are responded to and refuted in this in this chapter. Even false prophets, even the slightest of superstitions, they're all refuted generally or specifically in this surah. So all of the arguments have been responded to. Notice all of the arguments have been responded to and was all revealed together at one time. It's a very large surah, very long surah. Yet it all came down all at once. Abbas says about.
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He says was revealed in Mecca all at once. during the night and it was accompanied by 70,000 in some wordings of this narration a was mentioned mo is a parade in Arabic it was followed and accompanied by a parade of angels angels 70,000 in number all making and of Allah as they accompanied this surah could we just take a moment here to appreciate the magnitude of that our prophet sallallah alaii wasallam is sitting in Mecca when suddenly the door to The sama is opened and from it descends Gibl. With him is a parade of 70,000 angels. And he could hear them murmuring with and of Allah as they're coming. They're accompanying this surah. Subhan Allah. Allahbarahill. Allahbar. Alhamdulillah. As they all arrive in front of the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam and then Jirel begins to recite to him what? I mean just imagine the image. But what does this tell us about? It tells us that is one of the most majestic and important chapters of the Quran. As a matter of fact, when surah was revealed, it was literally a gamecher. It changed the course of history, this chapter, and it changed the position and the the it it marked a turning point or a milestone for the da of Islam in Mecca. So at the end of this chapter, so all has been responded to, all the arguments that have been posited, all the arguments that the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam was faced with, why this and why that and what about this person who claims to be a prophet and what about that one? All of these arguments were responded to inah. At the very end of that, Allah wraps up and says, "What are they waiting for?" Meaning, here's the truth. This is the truth. Everyone has been responded to. Why are you not now following and becoming Muslim? What are they waiting for? Are they waiting for the angels to come to them or your Lord to come himself or some of the major signs of your Lord? Now, let's take a pause there at these three things. He mentions the angels. He mentions the arrival of Allah. And he mentions the arrival of some of the major miracles and signs of Allah. These are three different events. Notice these are three different events. They share a commonality. What is what do these three events have in common? The first one is the angels coming. The angels here meaning the angels of death. Because is it just one angel of death? Huh? So the angels when a person dies it's not just one angel that comes yes they have a leader a commander who is the angel of death but they this commander has many many many angels under his command just Mik he has many angels under his command to regulate the rain and the wind and all of these things. Likewise, Gi has many angels under his command, right? And the angel of death has many angels under his command. In the narration of the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam said that when a person dies, the first thing they see is the angels of death descend and surround him as far as the eye can see. So as a person gets ready to to die, they see suddenly the rooms start to fill up the room, the area, the field, the valley, the prairie, wherever they are dying. But as far as their eye can see, all they can see are the angels of death coming to prepare his soul for collection for harvest. Right? Our souls, what are our souls? What are our lives? But a planted seed, your life and my life and your life. Every one of us, our heart is what? A seed. It's been planted on the earth here, right? Allah gives us this imagery in he says we grow on the earth just the rest of the trees and vegetation around us grow and then harvest comes. Correct? We are growing into either being a believer or a disbeliever. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala make us all of the utmost of believers and make our day and time of death the best day and time of our existence. So we are a planted crop and we grow and time for harvest comes. Who does Allah send to harvest us? He sends the angel of death. And so the angel of death comes after the angels of death come to prepare the soul. They come to prepare this person for death. And when they are preparing this person for death when it is ready and ripe for harvest, the angel of death comes and he extracts the soul. He extracts the soul easily and gently or extracts the soul viciously and violently. And the angels around him are holding a shroud made of light or made of fire. And when he takes this soul, he places it in the shroud. The shroud of light or the shroud of fire. So Allah here in this verse says, Huh?
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What are they waiting for? Are they waiting for the arrival of the angels, meaning to take their souls in death? Or are they awaiting the arrival of your Lord? When will Allah arrive to judge? Huh? The day of judgment. So the arrival of your Lord is the most significant thing that will happen on what day? The day of judgment. So here he mentions first an individual's death. The second one he mentions the day of judgment when the whole world will die and be resurrected and then Allah will arrive to judge. And that is or some of the major signs and miracles of your lord. Then he speaks about these miracles. He says when the major signs of your lord arrive, no soul that believes after witnessing these signs will be accepted by Allah. Their belief will not be accepted. nor any soul that was a believer but did nothing fruitful with their belief. No more turning over a new leaf. Turning over a new leaf, turning over a new page, a new chapter in your life, the door of Toba being opened in the west. All of this what closes. So what do these three things have in common? Inahkari Abu was told by the prophet Sam. Listen to this narration. He said they were watching the sunset. He was with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. He said, he said, "Do you know where this sun goes when it sets? After it sets, he said, What?
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Forch.
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So the prophet sallallah.aii wasallam is speaking to him. He says, "Do you know where this sun goes when it sets?" He said, "Allah and his messenger knows best." He said, "It continues until it falls in prostration under the throne of Allah." At the throne of Allah. Under the throne of Allah. And upon prostrating it then asks permission from Allah to continue in its journey and Allah grants it permission and it continues until it rises from the east and so it goes. He said on one day it will set for in the west and fall prostrate under the throne of Allah and seek permission to continue on its path and Allah will not grant it permission to continue and instead he will command it saying go back the way you came. And at that moment the sun will then rise from the west. And when the sun rises from the west, the prophet continues, "When the sun rises from the west, when the people see it, the people of earth, they will all believe simultaneously.
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All speech. for.
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Edge.
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When in the Arabic language you say all of them means together simultaneously at the same time. The prophet says that when the people see the sun rise from the west, all of them will immediately believe simultaneously. Everyone will believe immediately. The prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam commented and said, "And that is when no soul that was not a believer prior will be accepted as a believer after witnessing this. When the people see the sunrise from the west, all of them will believe. And anyone who was not a believer prior to that, his belief will not be accepted." Now, here's the question. What do these three times have? What do these three happenings have in common? Why does Allah mention these three things together? He mentions death. He mentions the day of judgment. He mentions the sun rising from the west. What do these three events have in common? Huh?
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All three events share something in common. What is that? Those events, they cause a person to believe in spite of himself. Everyone believes during those three events. Everyone believes. Is there an atheist when he dies? No. When the angels show up and they ripping his soul out of his body, is he still debating on whether or not there is a creator? No. They all believe at that point. Everybody repents when they die. Everybody repents when Allah arrives to judge. Everyone believes and repents when the sun rises from the west. But is that repentance? Is that belief of any value at that point? No. Why? Isn't that what Allah said? Those are the rules, right? No one can be compelled to believe, right? Well, those those events compel everyone to believe. You don't want to be forced to believe, sure. But when you see something that is irrefutable and you believe those are the rules we're going by. And so nothing is unique at the moment of death. No one's repentance is unique at the moment of death. No one's repentance is unique at the moment of judgment. No one's repentance is unique at the arrive at the sun rising from the west. Those things are not unique happening. The belief that those things illicit is not unique. It's not something that a person chooses consciously and fights his demons in order to do right. Even a shan andl himself cannot explain those three things away. So there's nothing unique about belief at that point and that is why it is not accepted. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam tells us that when the sun rises from the west the door of Toba will be closed. Some of the mention the meaning the predecessors the the right. It's actually the words of he mentions that the door of repentance is in the west and when the sun rises from it it will be closed forever. Just imagine if the sun r rises from the west what would happen on this earth but then the scientists are telling us well the the earth's gravitational pull and the magnetics and also the solar flares and also that the earth's rotation is slowing you know very little and it's eventually okay Great. This is not an explanation, right? The sun will rise from the west. And by the way, it won't just immediately rise from the west. It will disappear for a while. It'll be gone. Meaning nighttime will fall upon humanity and it'll be a very long night. People will wake up. The believers will wake up for salah and find that it's still dark out. They'll wake up for fud and find that it's still dark out. There will be a total blackout. Where'd the sun go? People will start to panic. Chaos will ensue because the sun is missing. And then after this long night, it's not mentioned how long this night is, but it is mentioned that this night is long enough that we will have to make our five daily prayers during that night based on averages. We'll have to approximate when would have been if the sun was up today and make at that time. Asia. And then finally after this long lull, this global lull, the sun will reappear. But this time it will be rising from the west. And when the people see that, they will immediately stare, gawking, starruck at the heavens and they will believe all at the same time simultaneously. But no one's belief is going to be accepted at that point. What's that? How close is the day of judgment from that point? Very close. Probably years, if not months. But there's some other events that will happen after the sun rises from the west. But people will believe. It won't be accepted. People will either have been a believer or a disbeliever by that point. Could you imagine believing in Allah in the last day, but you can't believe now? it's not accepted. And you're watching a p the these these poor damned souls watching the clock knowing that when it strikes midnight, they will go to hell and there is nothing they can do to stop it. But that is a conscious choice that they made for themselves. Now this verse has another dimension of explanation and in that explanation we will understand why the deed will exist. That was your question yesterday, right? Why this test? And it has to do with this verse. Inshallah, we will discuss that tomorrow. Foreham.
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That's a really good question. We'll talk about it.