Surah Al Hajj 73-78

48. A Thematic Overview

Summary (4a)

Surah Al Hajj (73-78)

“O people, an example is presented, so listen to it. Indeed, those you invoke besides Allah will never create [as much as] a fly, even if they gathered together for that purpose. And if the fly should steal away from them a [tiny] thing, they could not recover it from him. Weak are the pursuer and pursued.” (Sahih International)

  •  Evaluate communication: main ingredients (contents) vs. extra ingredients (appearance, humor, venue, dialect, etc.)

  •  When we see the speaker, we allow their outward appearance to shape our receptiveness to their message

  •  ضرب مثل : “you’re about to get hit with this example...an example has been struck” - instead of “Allah struck an example...” because if you mention the ayah is from Allah, some people will stop being receptive to the rest of the message . In this way, Allah captures the attention of the Mushriks because they don’t know this is from Allah.

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 The Arabs were Idol worshippers, so they used to offer food to their gods... so Allah specifically mentioned the example of the fly because when food a fly eats the food that was offered to the “holy gods”, the people wouldn’t be able to retrieve the food from the fly, and the idols couldn’t even create a fly if they wanted too.

 Fly saliva is acidic, so when the fly eats food, its saliva decomposes the food on contact...so if you managed to catch the fly somehow, you still wouldn’t be able to retrieve the food...so all false gods are disqualified by a fly!

 “The seeker and the sought are inherently weak”

  •  Ex. seeker = student, sought = degree

  •  Allah says both the seeker and the sought were designed to be weak.

  •  Ex. seeking wealth. Wealth is not permanent and you are not permanent...we will all decay. When we want something and it’s taken away it reveals how weak we are.

  •  Ex. if your phone was taken away from you by your parents, you freak out

  •  انا لله و انا اليه راجعون : “Allah owns everything, and to Him we return”...this teaches

    us we own NOTHING, which allows us to deal with loss, even it is a loved one

    “They have not appraised Allah with true appraisal. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might.” (Sahih International)

  •  “They don’t realize Allah’s Supreme Power over everything...” Allah talks about His Ultimate Power after mentioning our inherent weakness.

  •  If you seek Allah, you as the seeker will be strong. If you seek anything else, you as the seeker will be weak.

  •  Brilliant people who accomplished big things never fit in...they just focused on their goals and they reached them...Our goal is Allah.

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“Allah chooses from the angels messengers and from the people. Indeed, Allah is Hearing and Seeing.” (Sahih International)

  •  يصطفى : “to choose because you like something” like picking between identical red and blue cars, you pick based on what you like.

  •  Allah judges people’s actions based on quantity and quality...we can all appreciate quantity, but only Allah can evaluate quality.

 This gives us hope that even when we feel we haven’t accomplished anything, Allah will judge us for our effort. (Imagine how Nuh (A) felt struggling to do da’wah for 950 years)!

“He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them. And to Allah will be returned [all] matters.”

  •  Allah records everything we do...even if we run a red light, we will get the ticket later

  •  Allah knows the quality and quantity of our worship

  •  Allah knows where we’ve been and where we will be. He knows our mistakes, and knows our potential.

“O you who have believed, bow and prostrate and worship your Lord and do good - that you may succeed.” (Sahih International)

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  •  Prayer will benefit your spirituality; doing good for others will benefit their spirituality...we have to balance our time between both. The only way your public work will be of any value is if you are sincere in your private life.

  •  Take care of your Fajr and take care of your Isha...everything else will work out

  •  Be in service to people...don’t think when you are in a position to serve other, that you

    are better than others!

  •  If you are able to balance your spirituality with your activism, then you will be successful

    “And strive for Allah with the striving due to Him. He has chosen you and has not placed upon you in the religion any difficulty. [It is] the religion of your father, Abraham. Allah named you "Muslims" before [in former scriptures] and in this [revelation] that the Messenger may be a witness over you and you may be witnesses over the people. So establish prayer and give Zakah and hold fast to Allah. He is your protector; and excellent is the protector, and excellent is the helper.” (Sahih International)

 اجتباكم: to be chosen because you are suited for a job...From just the job description, we feel completely unqualified. But Allah CHOSE US to carry on the work of the Prophet (S)... He knows we can do it

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  •  Who can struggle for Allah “like He deserves it...” How will we ever be able to meet that bar??? Again, Allah already has stated that He chose us because he knew we could do it.

  •  ما جعل : Allah gave us the hardest job description, then tells us that we won’t have any problem getting the job done. Allah teaches us that HE is the One who makes things easy and difficult...With Allah on our side nothing is difficult.

  •  ملة أبيكم إبرهيم : Ibrahim (A) was tested with tons of difficult tests...leaving his family in the desert, being thrown in the fire, etc. If Allah can make Ibrahim’s (A) tests easy, He can make our tests easy too. And it is Ibrahim (A) who named us Muslimeen, people who submit. When you think life is difficult, remember that it is Ibrahim (A) who named us.

  •  شهيدا : on the Day of Judgment, Allah will ask the Prophet (S) to testify on behalf of each and every one of us. Imagine how terrible our punishment will be if the Prophet (S) testifies against us.

  •  “Establish prayer, give Zakah, and hold onto Allah, he is your protective friend, what an awesome protector, and what an awesome helper!”

    •  This is the way to seek Allah

    •  Story of Ashaabul Kahf: The youth who refused to worship idols had the laws of physics bent for them, because they believed in Allah. When young people try to serve Allah, Allah molds the world to fit their needs. Allah’s miracles don’t just come to prophets; they come to young people trying to serve the deen. If we don’t serve the deen, Allah will replace us with an Ummah that will.

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