Tafseer of Surah Al-Kahf by Yasir Qadhi Part 3

Part 3: Speaking False About Allah

After Allah (SubhanAllahu wa Taa’la) praises himself and establishes the Nubuwah and Risalah of the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) and describes the Qur’an, we’re now in the 4th verse and Allah mentions the purpose of the Qur’an. 

"And so that this Qur’an and this messenger may warn those people who claim that Allah has a child" (18:4)

"They have no knowledge of it, nor had their fathers. Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths; they speak not except a lie." (18:5)

Purpose of the Qur’an

So in these two verses, Allah mentions one of the main purposes of the Qur’an which is to negate false accusations about Allah and to affirm what we must believe about Allah (SubhanAllahu wa Taa’la). We have no knowledge of who is Allah except through the Qur’an. Allah criticises anybody who claim that Allah has a child.

This verse came down in Makkah and there were no Christians or Jews there. So here, the addressees are the Quraysh. And the Quraysh used to claim that Allah has daughters. And the word وَلَدٌ (waladun) doesn’t just mean a son, it means a child.

And so Allah said that He has revealed this Qur’an to warn them, “Careful don’t say this, anyone who says Allah has a daughter or son or children, this is not true.” “Do you know this? How do you know this? Where do you get this knowledge from?” The one that they would answer is “Our forefather, our culture, our tradition taught us this”.

Allah says, مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ - they have no knowledge of it, وَلَا لِآبَائِهِمْ - nor their forefathers. This shows us that one of the greatest sins in Islam is to speak about Allah and about Islam without knowledge. Allah challenges those who speak lies about Allah. Neither they nor their forefathers know this.

And the Qur’an tells us that one of the plots of Shaytaan is that Shaytaan commands you to associate partners with Allah and one of the tricks of Shaytaan is that you speak about Allah without knowledge. And this is one of the biggest problems. You cannot deviate from the truth except if you speak of falsehood. You cannot deviate from the truth except if there's a lie about Allah, about Islam, about the true Tawheed and about true Risaalah. And where do these lies come from? Shaytaan tells Allah that he will command the people to do this. So, anybody who speaks without knowledge of Allah, His Messenger, Islam and the Qur’an, this person is getting his information from Shaytaan. This is what the Qur’an tells us. And Allah negates any false information “neither you nor your father have no knowledge.”

كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ - Grave is the word that comes out of their mouths;

إِنْ يَقُولُونَ إِلَّا كَذِبًا - But they are saying but lies.

And no person on earth likes to hear slander about himself. Do you like somebody tells you something that is false? It is ingrained in us that we despise falsehood. It is ingrained in us that when we are slandered, we want to defend ourselves and this feeling comes from Allah (SubhanAllahu wa Taa’la). Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) clarifies this, saying, “None is more patient than Allah against the harmful saying. He hears from the people they ascribe children to Him, yet He gives them health and (supplies them with) provision." (Sahih Al-Bukhari,Vol. 8, Book 73, Hadith 121). They slandered Him, they lied about Him and they accused Him of having children and He still provides for them. If your enemy lies about you could you be generous to your enemy? If your enemy accuses you of a crime or a falsehood could you be generous to that enemy? No, you could not. Yet our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) said, “None is more patient than Allah against the harmful saying. He hears from the people they ascribe children to Him, yet He gives them health and (supplies them with) provision.”

Also notice what Allah says, “What a lie comes from their mouth”. To say that Allah has a child cannot come from the intellect, knowledge or a book. Where does it come from? They are literally invented from their mouth. It’s a hot speech and it doesn’t have any basis in the intellect or literature or aql, but it comes from the hot air. And to affirm how evil it is in their saying, Allah says, “They are saying which is not true but it is a lie.” And to lie about Allah is of the greatest crime.

In Surah Al-Maryam, Allah says,

“When the creation around us, the heaven and the earth, the mountains hear that certain being attribute a child to Allah, those mountains they want to crumble how dare that they have claims that Ar-Rahman has a child, And it is not befitting that Ar-Rahman beget a child." (19:88-92)

So, Allah said that one of the purposes of the Qur’an is to correct the misinformation about Allah.

The Grief of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam)

"Then perhaps you would kill yourself through grief over them, [O Muhammad], if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow." (18:6)

بَاخِعٌ, بَخَعَ  literally means to die from depression. And Allah is telling us that Ya Rasulullah if you continue down this path, you will cause your own destruction by your grief. Why is he sad, where is this grieve coming from? Allah (SubhanAllahu wa Taa’la) clarifies,

فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ - perhaps you will kill yourself in following their footstep,

إِنْ لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَٰذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا - if they do not believe in this message, [and] out of sorrow.

This verse shows us many things:

1. The sheer eloquence, it is as if the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) is following their footsteps, عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِم they are turning around and walking away and our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) is going after them, one after another, and in that goal of following them, he is feeling depressed. Why? Is it because they have rejected him? NO, it is because they have rejected Allah.

2. It also shows the sincerity of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam). For most of us when we preach, we are calling to our own ego in ourselves. When we are in an argument, we want to win but not the truth to win. Our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) wanted the truth to win, and not himself. And Allah clarifies this,
إِنْ لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَٰذَا الْحَدِيثِ – You are concern because they don’t believe in the Qur’an, not because they have rejected you.

3. Also notice over here that Allah mentions the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) before he mentions the rejecters. Allah didn’t say “They rejected the Qur’an.” Rather Allah addresses the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) in the single, in the first person, Allah says to him, calm your grief down. Console yourself. Don’t take it to this level. If you continue, you will cause destruction and harm to yourself if they don’t believe. Our Lord did not address the Quraysh for rejecting the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) but our Lord addresses Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) for his grieve at having been rejected. So who does Allah care about; the rejecters or the affirmers? Who does Allah care about; the Mu’min or the Kaafir? Allah does not need to address the Kaafir but our Lord is concerned about the grief, that Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) felt when the Quraysh rejected him. This is repeated multiple times in the Qur’an that Allah calms the Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) down. This shows us the Maqam of the Nabi, the status of the Rasul (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) that even Allah is consoling him.

This also shows us that the one who is on the path of Allah, Allah cares about him infinitely more than the one who rejects the path.

4. It also shows us that our Lord consoles our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) in distress and from this we gain the simple Sunnah. When we find somebody in a dire situation, we should console and give them words of comfort. If a Musibah has happened like any calamities or loved one has died, the heart will grieve. Allah console the grieve heart of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam). How about us when we are in grieve? We need that consolation even more. That is why our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) made a sunnah when he found somebody in distress he would give them words of comfort. When Ja’far ibn Abi Talib died, he visited the house of Ja’far, he physically put his hands on the children of Ja’far, and he made du’a for them and he prayed for the wives of Ja’far for their patience. So these are words of consolation. Allah console Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam), Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) console the Sahaba. We as well when we find anybody in distress (legitimate distress) we should give them words of comfort.

5. Our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) concerns for his people so much, Allah uses the very harsh word, بَاخِعٌ as it literally means as Ibn Abbas translated it as “you will kill yourselves out of grieve”. That grieve will consume you. Why does he grieve? Because he loves his people so much. So anybody who wants to call to Islam, he needs to have that genuine love for the people. You want these people to love your religion and to love Allah like you. Not for your ego but for the sake of Allah. No doubt this love can go to an extreme to the point that it will prevent you from living normally. In the beginning of da’wah, Allah said to Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) “Don’t take that grieve that much in going in their footsteps if they do not believe in this Book.”

This Worldly Life is a Test for Us

“Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed." (18:7)

"And indeed, We will make that which is upon it [into] a barren ground.” (18:8)

زِينَةً لَهَا - adornment for it – which means men and women, palaces, beautiful trees, rivers and oceans, everything that we see is a beautification, not for Allah but for this world. Allah does not need this world; this world is not a permanent world. Allah is telling our Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihi wassalam) all that is on this world and above it, is a beautification for this world. Why? لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ – we are going to test all of them, أَيُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا – who does the best deeds. Not the most deeds but rather the best deeds. Allah is not looking for quantity but quality. All of that that is in the world is a test for them – their money, children, their women, the possession that they own – we will test them and we will see who will do not the most but the best. A person can give a million dollar and another person give ten dollar, but it could be that the one who give million dollar is worthless in the eyes of Allah and the one who give 10 is worth more. It goes back to the intention.

Why does this verse come after the previous one?

Scholars say perhaps it is natural for a person to feel why those who reject Allah have so much wealth and power? Why they are at the pinnacle of civilization? Why do they own and why do they control? Why don’t we have this? This was also the case in early Makkah. The Quraysh has the power and Izzah. The Muslims were the one being persecuted. So what did Allah say? All that they have are test for them. Don’t put your heart on this because the next verse clarifies it.

وَإِنَّا لَجَاعِلُونَ - And we have done this, we will do something else. What have we done? We had made the world an adornment. What will we do? We will make this whole world صَعِيدًا جُرُزًا.

صَعِيدًا means flat land and جُرُزًا means infertile without any greenery. So Allah says that all this beauty that you see is temporary. And the time will come, i.e. Yaumul Qiyaamah, because Allah says in the Qur’an that on that day, this world will be substituted with another world. So Allah says, don’t be deceived by this greenery or power and by all that they have because a time will come when the world will become a flat land. The Qur’an says the mountain will crumble and everything will be destroyed. This world will become infertile which means no greenery and there will be nothing there. Allah is telling us “Don’t be deceived by the greenery of this world. The real beautification will be on the next world.”

To be continued with Part 4...