Why Muslims Fear Surah Al-Alaq in Prayer
The First Revelation: Understanding Surah Al-Alaq and the Beginning of Prophethood
Summary
This lecture discusses Surah Al-Alaq, the first chapter revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), focusing on its historical context and significance. The speaker explains that while the first five verses were the initial revelation received by the Prophet, the remainder of the chapter was revealed later when Meccan opposition had become more pronounced. The lecture emphasizes the importance of studying Quranic narratives with scholarly depth to understand the nuances, context, and spiritual dimensions beyond surface meanings. A substantial portion of the lecture covers Aisha's narration about the beginning of revelation, specifically the phenomenon of true visions (righteous premonitions) that preceded the verbal revelation, explaining how the Prophet's heart remained spiritually awake even during sleep, a quality that distinguished prophets from ordinary people.
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.
And so inshallah starting tomorrow inshallah will be at 12:40 will be at 8:15 starting tomorrow inshallah. Not too much.
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Alhamdulillah.
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Tonight in we just heard in the second also known as how long has it been since anyone here has heard recited in salah usually except in Ramadan when we are finishing the Quran. on probably never or next to never, right? Everyone is scared of the saga at the very end. What do I do with it? Do I make sjud and then come back up? Do I not make sujud at all? Should I make sjud and then add another surah with it? You know what? Just leave it. And so we don't hear it that often. is an incredibly important and pivotal chapter of the Quran. As we know, most of us have heard and know that this was the first chapter of the Quran to be revealed to the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. Not just the first chapter, but the first five verses of it. And the story of that we will hear in a in a few minutes inshallah. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam first received the opening five verses of surah al the remaining parts of this chapter from the fifth verse all the way until its end. It is clear that it was revealed way later. Why? Because at the very end, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala speaks about the prophet sallall.aii wasallam's antagonists and the chieftains in Mecca and their harm of the prophet sallall.aii alaihi wasallam and their rebellion against him and their antagonism of him and his followers. And this only happened in the subsequent years after his da became public and began to change the landscape of society at that time. when he started to get followers, when he started to have a very big effect, this is when they started to rebel and fight against him. And their antagonism first started as mockery and later turned violent and oppressive and tyrannical which inshallah we will get to. This chapter at its end speaks about that. But its very beginning, those first five verses, those were the first verses of the Quran to be revealed to the prophet sallall.aii wasallam in of any part of the Quran. These were the first words that he heard from Gabriel when he came to him in the in the cave in and he brought to him these five words. As a matter of fact, Gabriel didn't say anything to him other than these five verses. And in order to understand that and in order to understand the chapter of we have to really look at why it was revealed, how it was revealed, the method that it was revealed in. Because when we just read the book, the Quran as it is just that, it has meanings that all of us understand that all of us can clearly see. But we miss the details and the nuances of context, of climate, of mood, of attitude, of environment. We miss all of these things. Where do we get these things? These details come with scholarship. These details come with knowledge. That's what knowledge is. It's not just seeing the most obvious meanings of the Quran. It is about the nuances. It is about the details. He reported a narration and this is actually the second narration or third based on how it is counted narration that Albkari narrates in his he actually began his with this narration. Why? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala began the Quran with this verse. These verses also this narration is collected by Muslim. Both of them on the authority of now when did the prophet Sam marry? When this happened okay when when the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam passed away in the most generous of estimates was 18 years old. When he passed away in the most generous of estimates was 18 years old. That means that when this happened to the prophet Samisha was not even born yet. However, the narration of this, all of the chains of narration go back to Aisha wasn't there. The only woman that was with him at the time was that was his only wife at the time. He was 40 years old. And the timing of this revelation is roughly the month of August, the year 610 after AD, what they say AD in Gregarian. They say after death, after was raised and so was not there, but it's okay. We don't need to have her spell it out for us. The prophet told me sallallah.aii wasallam she was his wife. Obviously she heard this detailed description and story of the first revelation from the prophet sallall.aii wasallam directly. Almkar mentions this narration of and she details to us very beautifully the experience our prophet had in that cave on that fateful night. None of us here probably every single one of us has already heard this story right? But this is the issue with stories that we hear from the Quran, from the Sunnah. We'll just take a moment before we mention this to to say this. How many of us here have never heard the story of Adam and we've all heard it, right? The story of Noah, the story of L, the story of Misam, of Isa, of of Har and Ibraim. Most of us have grown up with these stories. But again, most of us have not heard these stories since we grew up. And that's what's very interesting about the stories of the Quran. is that every time you read the Quran, it is as it is the poet says, "No same man crosses the same river twice. The man is not the same man as he was before and the river is not the same river as it was before." Two different things. And so Allah tells the prophet sallallahu alaih remind them for indeed the reminder is beneficial to the believer. Often times we skip over these things. We we I already know that story. Let's get into the the stuff the obscure stuff that no one's ever heard of before. The really shocking things that we've never heard. What we need is to concentrate on these stories, the stories of the Quran, the stories of the Sunnah of the prophet sallall.aii wasam. And we need to hear them over and over and we need to re-examine them at every junction in our lives because we need to hear them and they will provide us with guidance at each junction in a new way. We heard these stories most of us as children when we thought children and we saw the world as children see the world. When is the last time we heard these stories as adults with adult minds as adults see the world? There's a very different view. is a very different light. says in her narration in Bkari Muslim relating the story of these verses these opening verses of she said.
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She said that the first beginning stages that ushered in the arrival of Giri in the cave of on that fateful tonight was that as a as a preface to this revelation, the prophet sallallah.aii was began to receive revelation in the form of visions that he would have in his sleep. She mentions that this continued in some narrations for six months. six months that whenever he would see something happen in his sleep, whenever he would see an occurrence, someone speaking to him, whatever it is, he would then wake up and it would occur exactly as he saw it in his sleep. We're not speaking about a mild feeling of deja vu, as they say. I feel I've seen this before. I feel I've heard this before. We're speaking about reality is occurring to him twice every day or each time he has this. This notes when his heart was awakened as a prophet. Why? What is the leading description of the prophets and messengers about their sleep? When the Jews of Medina came to test him, they said, "What is the they asked him three questions? One of the three questions they said, what is the description of the messengers with regards to their hearts and sleep?" Anyone know the answer to this? Speak loud. Let's hear your nice voice. your nice muratan in voice.
[Arabic recitation]
Specifically this messenger Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam his descriptions in the previous books was that his eyes sleep but his heart does not sleep. Listen to that description. His eyes sleep but his heart does not sleep. Sallallah.aii wasallam. Allah described as coming with the Quran to what part of the prophet's body? He said that comes with the Quran and revelation to your heart. That's the that's the part that receives the revelation first is the heart of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. Prophets and messengers are slaves to Allah and they are and Allah is not on their time. He'll wait for them to wake up before he reveals something to them. The messengergers's heart must be ready for the receiving of the message of Allah whenever the king of kings dictates that this message is to come whether he is awake or sleeping sallaiam. And this is why you read narrations where he would sleep and then he'd wake up and go lead salah. He sleep through the night. He'd wake up and go lead fud asb said. How is he leading salah without wudoo? His heart is awake. His heart is awake but his eyes are asleep. He knows whether he broke his wudoo or not. The narrations that state that he got up and led salah. This means that he was through his through the night he did not break his his woo. So for instance when we fall asleep this invalidates our wudoo correct. Why does it invalidate our wudoo? Is sleep itself what invalidates your woodoo or the uncertainty of having broken your wudoo? It's the second one. Correct. That's why the companions if they slept a light sleep they would wake up and pray. Why? because they didn't have to make their woo over because their sleep was light enough that they would have felt if they passed you know wind or passed broke wind this is referred to as slumber a light sleep right and so the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam he didn't have this issue his heart was always awake and wudoo is a spiritual purification that affects the heart in ways that we cannot see. And so he would wake up and make why? Because his heart was always awake. And so we see here that these first six months when he started to anything that he would see in his sleep was valid was a premonition was a prophecy of something that will occur in the future. This is only from Allah. And this articulates the time when his heart was awakened by Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. He has now had his heart awaken. That's why said she said that the first receiving of revelation that he had was premonitions in his sleep. The righteous premonition. What is a righteous premonition? that whenever he would see something occur in his sleep, when he would wake up, it would play out exactly as he he saw it in his sleep. Aa described it. She says that when he would wake up, that thing that he saw in his sleep would occur as clearly as the break of dawn. meaning that it wasn't we have in our sleep when we're dreaming, we see all kinds of weird stuff and things that don't matter and a mess and a tangled web of all kinds of thoughts. And these aren't this is not what prophets see. Anything a prophet sees in his sleep is considered to be what? Revelation. That's why Ibraim he didn't say Allah told me to slaughter you to his son is because that in itself sounds as if Allah is commanding something evil. He didn't say that Allah told me to kill you. He didn't say that. He said, he said, "My son, I see I saw in my sleep that I was slaughtering you." What did is understand from this? He said, "Yeah, do what you have been commanded." So he considered this as what? a command from Allah because prophets don't see silliness in their sleeps. Once their heart is awakened with revelation, that heart belongs entirely to Allah. Sleeping or awake. That is how revelation works. And so Aisha tells us that the first thing he received was his heart was awakened with the premonitions of glimpses into the future from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Not that he knew the future. He didn't know the future. He was given prophecies by Allah of the future which is the most prominent description of revelation. And that's why it's referred as prophecy. And that is why he is called a prophet because the most prominent you know the most prominent description or aspect of prophethood is glimpses into the future whenever Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wishes to show him. So this if we go this we're going to be talking about this narration for another 3 weeks but ya what are you going to do we got to hear it. So we will end with that for tonight inshallah we'll continue this in our next sitting in our next gathering. We ask Allah subhanahu wa'ta'ala.
[Arabic recitation]