- The video discusses Surat al-Bayyinah and analyzes each verse.
- The Prophet Muhammad was commanded by Allah to recite this surah to Ubayy bin Ka'b.
- Ubayy was surprised that his name was mentioned and cried upon hearing this.
- The first verse mentions two groups of people: the people of the book and the idolaters.
- The people of the book refers to those who have previous divine books, while the idolaters worship other than God.
- There are different interpretations of the verse, with some scholars believing it refers to the challenge of showing a clear proof to believe in the Prophet's message.
- The second verse states that the clear proof is the Prophet Muhammad, who recites from purified pages.
- The third verse mentions upright books, which could refer to surahs, verses, or laws in the Quran.
- The fourth verse highlights that the people of the scripture differed after the clear proof came to them.
- The final verse emphasizes that they were only commanded to worship Allah exclusively, establish Salah, and pay Zakah.

- The verse emphasizes the importance of worshipping Allah exclusively and avoiding associating anything with Him.
- The word "Hunafa" is used to describe Ibrahim, who avoided falsehood and gravitated towards truth.
- Salah (prayer) connects us with Allah, while zakah (charitable giving) connects us with others and promotes goodness in communities.
- Both salah and zakah help us detach from worldly desires and focus on what is more important.
- Having both salah and zakah establishes a strong core and promotes more good deeds.
- The fate of those who disbelieve and commit to disbelief is the fire of hell, while those who believe and do righteous deeds are considered the best of creatures.
- The reward for those who believe and do good deeds is eternal gardens and the pleasure of Allah.
- The ultimate reward should be the motivation for seeking Allah's pleasure rather than chasing temporary and flawed worldly desires.

The speaker emphasizes the importance of contentment and peace, and questions why people instead chase after material possessions and success. They encourage striving to establish prayer, pay zakah, and follow through with good actions, while detaching from worldly desires. The speaker hopes to be among those who please Allah and are pleased with what they are given. The video concludes with the end of Surat al-Bayyinah.

- The video analyzes Surat al-Bayyinah and its verses.
- The surah mentions two groups of people: the people of the book and the idolaters.
- Different interpretations exist, with some scholars believing it refers to the challenge of providing clear proof for the Prophet's message.
- The surah emphasizes the importance of worshiping Allah exclusively and establishing prayer and charitable giving.
- The fate of those who disbelieve is the fire of hell, while believers who do good deeds are considered the best of creatures.
- The ultimate reward should be seeking Allah's pleasure rather than worldly desires.
- The speaker encourages contentment, detachment from worldly desires, and striving to please Allah.

As-salamu Aleikum!
Let's take a quick dive into Surah Al-Bayyinah.

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As-salamu alaykum and welcome back to Deen and Chai, a casual space to talk about Deen over a cup of chai or coffee or any beverage you'd like.

Today I have an iced latte and today we're going to take a dive into Surat al-Bayyinah.

So we're going to go through verse by verse and analyze each verse in this surah and have a discussion about it insha'Allah.

We have a hadith on this surah where Imam Ahmed recorded from Anas bin Malik that the messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Ubay bin Ka'b, إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَمَرَنِي أَنْ أَقْرَأَهَا عَلَيْكَ لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَامِ Verily, Allah has commanded me to recite to you those who disbelieve from among the people of the scripture now This is in reference to this surah that we're going to talk about.

So the Prophet ﷺ is telling Ubayy that Allah has commanded me to recite this surah to you.

Now Ubayy was surprised and so he asked, Allah mentioned my name to you?

So he wanted to know that Allah specifically mentioned my name to you?

And then the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, naam, yes.

He couldn't believe that Allah had directly Mentioned him to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam that Allah had commanded the Prophet to recite this surah specifically to Obay So he cried from the emotion of realizing that or hearing that from the Prophet ﷺ.

So that's a little bit of a background of this surah.

Now we're going to go verse by verse insha'Allah and let's start with the first verse.

So the first verse says لم يكن الذين كفروا من أهل الكتاب والمشركين منفكين حتى تأتيهم البيّنة Those who disbelieved from among the people of the scripture and idolaters were not going to leave until there came to them the bayyinah.

So in this surah, in this verse, we see 2 groups of people being mentioned.

Those who are the people of the book and those who are idolaters.

Now the people of the book, this refers to those who have previous divine books that were brought down to them.

And we as Muslims believe in these previously divine books in their original form and the prophets that came down with them like Prophet Jesus, Prophet Moses and so on.

And so this is in reference to the groups of people that have believed in these scriptures that have came before them.

Now the idolaters, the mushrikeen, this refers to people who are worshipping other than God.

So people for example who are worshipping the idols at that time or worshipping other things like the sun, like animals, like other things at that time.

So distinguish between these 2 groups of people.

And there are different opinions as to how do we actually, what do we actually take from this verse or how do we actually interpret this verse.

So this verse is saying that those people who disbelieved from these groups of people so there were people who were idol worshippers or there were people who were people of the book who amongst them disbelieved in this message in the Quran or in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and it says that they wouldn't stop their disbelief until al-Bayyinah came to them.

Some scholars go with the interpretation that this verse is Allah saying what these people are saying, meaning that there were groups of these people that were saying that they will not believe in the Prophet's message until a very clear, distinct proof comes to them.

And this interpretation is based off of verses in other places of the Qur'an.

So in other places of the Qur'an there are verses that talk about people telling the Prophet ﷺ, show us a clear proof, show us something.

And show us, for example, a Jannah in this earth, or show us something else.

Basically show us something distinct so that we can believe in you.

So they were challenging the Prophet ﷺ to show them something.

Now the other way that this verse is looked at is as a statement that Allah is saying that these people will not stop, their disbelief or the groups amongst these people who have disbelief will not stop until a clear proof comes to them.

So there are people who would stop if a clear proof came to them basically.

Now, when we look at the second verse, Allah is telling us what the clear proof that he sent is.

So he's saying that these people will not stop until al-bayyinah comes to them, until something clear, very clear and distinct comes to them.

So now in this next verse, Allah is telling us that he has given them a clear proof.

He has al-bayyinah, a clear, distinct proof that has come to everyone.

And that clear, distinct proof is rasoolun minallahi yathluh suhufan mutahharah.

A messenger from Allah reciting purified pages so this messenger means the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم He is a messenger, he is a bayyinah, he is a clear distinct proof, he has come to the people and he is reciting from purified pages.

Now the Prophet ﷺ wasn't specifically reciting from pages, He was reciting from memory of what he was taught to recite.

But his recitation and his memory was very concrete.

The things that he was reciting was very concrete, that was directly from purified pages.

So there's no debate in the Prophet's memory.

There's no debate in what he is reciting It is clear and is coming from purified pages and these purified Pages are interpreted to mean that he is reciting What is written down among purified pages up above?

Where do we get this interpretation from?

In another place in the Quran We learn about these records that are held high above purified pages that are held high above So the verses in other places in the Quran for example that we look at tell us في صحف المكرمة records held in honor مرفوعة مطهرة exalted, purified بأيدي سفر in the hands of scribes or angels كِرَامٍ بَرَرَ Honorable and obedient So we are told in surah 18 in the Qur'an, verses 13 to 16 that the Qur'an is preserved in purified pages and honored pages up above and they are protected by angels up above there's no flaw in them or there's no error in them they are protected up above and protected by angels the third verse tells us فيها كتب قيمة wherein are upright books Now what do we mean by upright books?

So we are talking about the book already and what do we mean when we say in it are upright books?

Some scholars say that this means there are upright surahs And the books are referring to the different surahs that are in the Quran.

Some scholars say it is the verses in the Quran.

Other scholars say it means the laws or the ahkam that are in the Quran.

So we have different laws or different rulings in the Quran.

And these are referred to as the different books that are within the Qur'an, so the different rulings that we have inside the Qur'an, and these are upright rulings, they have no mistakes in them because they are coming directly from Allah.

Okay now we come to verse 4 وَمَا تَفَرَّقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِنْ بَحْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةِ and the people of the scripture differed not until after there came to them the bayyinah.

Now notice at the beginning of the surah we talked about 2 groups of people we talked about people of the book and mushrikeen, idolaters.

But in this verse he's only highlighting people of the book.

So he's saying that the people of the scripture differed not until after there came to the bayyinah.

So Allah is telling us now the bayyinah came, the clear proof came.

The Prophet ﷺ came with these verses, with the Qur'an, and that was the clear proof that came to them.

Some people said, oh, this is the messenger that was mentioned in our previous book, so we believe in him because we were waiting for him to come.

We knew he was coming, so we believe in this message.

And then others didn't believe, and so there was debate that was happening amongst the people of the book, whether they should believe, they shouldn't and so on.

And so this is why specifically in this verse we're talking just about the people of the book.

The people of the book that fell into division amongst themselves.

So after the bayyinah came or after the knowledge came, division happened.

And then the next verse says وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِيصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاءَ وَذَلِكَ دِينٌ قِيِّمَةٌ While they were not ordered but to worship Allah, making their submission exclusive for Him with no deviation, and to establish Salah and pay Zakah, that is the way of the straight religion.

So Allah now in this verse is telling us that He didn't ask them for a big thing, he only said just worship Allah exclusively, just worship Allah, making religion purely for him or exclusive for him, so associate nothing else with him.

So he's only asking to worship him and him alone, Hunafa.

Now this word Hunafa means with no deviation.

So avoiding what is false and gravitating towards the truth.

In the Quran, we see that Ibrahim alayhis salam is described as Hanifan.

So it's the same word that is used in singular form for Ibrahim and it's because he avoided what was false and gravitated towards the truth.

He was in a community, his father and his people, they were performing shirk, they were in disbelief and he gravitated away from that and gravitated towards the truth and that's why he's described as hanifan, so he avoided shirk and gravitated towards the truth And so in this verse the same word is being used saying that they were not commanded but just to worship Allah exclusively and to deviate away from shirk.

And then وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ And to perform salah وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ And to pay zakat.

Now these 2 things interestingly enough they are mentioned many times together in the Quran.

Salah is our connection with the creator and zakah is our connection with creation.

So 1 of them connects us with Allah directly and the other 1 connects us with the people and our communities.

And the 2 together provide a beautiful balance because when you have the 2 together then you are inclined towards doing good and more good and doing things for the sake of Allah and for others as well and it promotes goodness in the communities and the other thing is that both of them help us detach from the dunya.

If we look at our prayers, 5 times a day we stop everything we are doing in this world and we take a pause, put everything to the side and turn to pray to Allah and Allah alone.

So we take a moment to disconnect from everything that is going on in the dunya, from what we are racing towards and chasing in this dunya, and we turn towards Allah.

So we put a pause 5 times a day to turn towards Allah.

And then when it comes to zakat, when it comes to charitable giving, we are detaching again from the dunya because we are giving part of what we have, part of our wealth to others.

So we detach ourselves from our wealth, from greed, from wanting to consume more and more and more, from becoming self-centered.

It gives us a way to give to others and connect with others and detach from material things in this world.

So again, it is a reminder to us not to get too attached to this dunya.

So in both cases, if we have both scholars say, then you have the core.

Because then you are detaching yourself from this world and detaching yourself from the pleasures of this dunya and focusing on what is more important, doing things for the sake of Allah and doing things for the sake of others and when you have these 2, Salah is considered to be the peak, the best physical form of worship and Zakah is the best form of giving your wealth or helping others, charitable giving.

And when you have the 2 together, scholars say the core is then good and then therefore more good stems from that.

Because if you have those 2 things and you have them correctly and strong, you have a good connection with the Creator and you have a good connection with charitable giving, then all other good deeds as well will flow from that insha'Allah.

So we ask Allah to make us of people who establish prayer and also are charitable in our giving, insha'Allah, because when that is strong, when that is good, then insha'Allah more and more good will flow from that as well.

وَذَلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ And that is the right religion, meaning the upright religion.

So if we follow these things then we are balanced.

Now we end the surah with understanding what is the fate of different groups of people.

So in verse number 6 he tells us إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَا خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أُولَٰئِكَهُمْ شَرُّوا الْبَرِيَّةَ Verily those who disbelieve from among the people of the scripture and idolaters will abide in the fire of hell.

So he's telling us that those who stick to their disbelief and don't follow belief in 1 God and establishing prayer and so on, but are committed to disbelief, then their ultimate return or their ultimate end is a fire and they are considered the worst of creatures.

And then he tells us on the opposite side إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ هُمْ خَيْرُ الْبَرِيَّةِ Verily, those who believe and do righteous deeds, they are the best of creatures This is another interesting point Those who believe and do righteous deeds These 2 also are mentioned many times together in the Quran.

Belief is something internal in our hearts and then we act upon that belief through our actions so وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَةَ and then they do good deeds.

So the ones who believe and follow through by doing good deeds, then those are the best of creatures.

We can't just have belief but then it doesn't translate into action.

True belief will translate into action, so we'll do good deeds as well inshallah, and those are considered the best of creatures.

And it's interesting that he says here the best of creatures, not just the best of people, but the best of creatures.

So amongst everyone, whether it is people, angels, whatever it is, they're considered the best of creatures.

So he elevates the status of these people amongst all of creation.

And then the last ayah continues and says جزاؤهم عند ربهم جناة عدم تجري من تحتها الانهار خالدين فيها ابدا رضي الله عنهم ورضوا عنه ذلك لمن خشي ربه Their reward with their Lord is eternal gardens underneath which rivers flow.

Allah will be pleased with them and they will be pleased with him.

So the reward for these people who believe and do good deeds, they follow through, establish their prayer, they pay zakah, it's not a lot of things that he's asking us for but in return he's giving us so much, he's giving us an unimaginable reward if we are of the people that stick with these things and that ultimate reward is Jannah under which it's eternal gardens under which rivers flow And not just that, they will abide therein forever It's not even a temporary reward for the temporary limited things that we are doing It is an endless, infinite reward for everything that we have done if we follow through these so whoever follows through these specific actions then they gain the ultimate reward insha'Allah may Allah make us of these people who gain this ultimate reward and not only that he says Allah will be pleased with them and they will be pleased with him.

The ultimate thing is having Allah pleased with you.

And in return, of course, we will be pleased with him too because what we are getting we will be so content with and so happy with.

So the 1 who will attain this reward are those who have fear of Allah.

And what that means is they follow through with good actions, they fulfill their obligations because they have that God consciousness in their heart.

So they follow through with their belief, with their good actions, with their prayers, with their zakah and so on.

So this is the ultimate ultimate reward and this should be a motivation for us, this ending of this surah, this last verse should be a motivation for us to seek the pleasure of Allah because that is the ultimate reward.

Whatever we are chasing in this dunya, we are chasing, it's a temporary thing and it's never perfect.

Whether we are chasing money or we want to have a nice home, you want to have a nice car, there's always different things that we want but those things are all limited and those things are all flawed in some way.

Maybe you have a house but then 1 day a pipe bursts maybe you have a car 1 day you get a flat tire maybe you have a job the next day you lose your job and so on.

These different things that we are chasing are things that first of all are temporary and second of all are things that are flawed.

They have flaws, they have errors, they're not perfect.

So anything we chase here is never going to be completely perfect and we're never going to be completely satisfied with it.

Things that we chase in this dunya come with a lot of stress and worry and anxiety and problems and issues and so on.

So it's not perfect but the reward with Allah is perfection.

It's a reward where we will be completely content and completely pleased because there's no flaws in his reward.

There's no errors, there's no pipes bursting or flat tire happening or you losing your job or you not having wealth.

It's all contentment, everything you want.

There's no worries, there's no stress, there's no anxiety.

So why is that not the thing that we are chasing?

So just as a reminder to us inshallah and as a motivation to us inshallah to strive to work towards being of these people who establish prayer, who pay zakah, who follow through their iman with good actions and so on and really focusing on that, trying to detach ourselves from the dunya as much as possible and insha'Allah striving to be of these people who Allah is pleased with.

May Allah make us of these people, ya Rabb, and may we attain his pleasure and in return be pleased with him as well and be pleased with everything that we are given, insha'Allah.

And that brings us to the end of Surat al-Bayyinah.

I hope that it was a beneficial dive into the surah.


Speaker 0: As-salamu alaykum and welcome back to Deen and Chai, a casual space to talk about Deen over a cup of chai or coffee or any beverage you'd like. Today I have an iced latte and today we're going to take a dive into Surat al-Bayyinah. So we're going to go through verse by verse and analyze each verse in this surah and have a discussion about it insha'Allah. We have a hadith on this surah where Imam Ahmed recorded from Anas bin Malik that the messenger of Allah ﷺ said to Ubay bin Ka'b, إِنَّ اللَّهَ أَمَرَنِي أَنْ أَقْرَأَهَا عَلَيْكَ لَمْ يَكُنِ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَامِ Verily, Allah has commanded me to recite to you those who disbelieve from among the people of the scripture now This is in reference to this surah that we're going to talk about. This is surah al-Bayyinah.

So the Prophet ﷺ is telling Ubayy that Allah has commanded me to recite this surah to you. Now Ubayy was surprised and so he asked, Allah mentioned my name to you? So he wanted to know that Allah specifically mentioned my name to you? And then the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, said, naam, yes. And then Ubayy cried.

He couldn't believe that Allah had directly Mentioned him to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam that Allah had commanded the Prophet to recite this surah specifically to Obay So he cried from the emotion of realizing that or hearing that from the Prophet ﷺ. So that's a little bit of a background of this surah. Now we're going to go verse by verse insha'Allah and let's start with the first verse. So the first verse says لم يكن الذين كفروا من أهل الكتاب والمشركين منفكين حتى تأتيهم البيّنة Those who disbelieved from among the people of the scripture and idolaters were not going to leave until there came to them the bayyinah. So in this surah, in this verse, we see 2 groups of people being mentioned.

Those who are the people of the book and those who are idolaters. Now the people of the book, this refers to those who have previous divine books that were brought down to them. And we as Muslims believe in these previously divine books in their original form and the prophets that came down with them like Prophet Jesus, Prophet Moses and so on. And so this is in reference to the groups of people that have believed in these scriptures that have came before them. Now the idolaters, the mushrikeen, this refers to people who are worshipping other than God.

So people for example who are worshipping the idols at that time or worshipping other things like the sun, like animals, like other things at that time. So this covers 2 groups of people. So distinguish between these 2 groups of people. And there are different opinions as to how do we actually, what do we actually take from this verse or how do we actually interpret this verse. So this verse is saying that those people who disbelieved from these groups of people so there were people who were idol worshippers or there were people who were people of the book who amongst them disbelieved in this message in the Quran or in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and it says that they wouldn't stop their disbelief until al-Bayyinah came to them.

So how do we look at this verse? Some scholars go with the interpretation that this verse is Allah saying what these people are saying, meaning that there were groups of these people that were saying that they will not believe in the Prophet's message until a very clear, distinct proof comes to them. And this interpretation is based off of verses in other places of the Qur'an. So in other places of the Qur'an there are verses that talk about people telling the Prophet ﷺ, show us a clear proof, show us something. And show us, for example, a Jannah in this earth, or show us something else.

Basically show us something distinct so that we can believe in you. Show us a very clear proof. So they were challenging the Prophet ﷺ to show them something. Now the other way that this verse is looked at is as a statement that Allah is saying that these people will not stop, their disbelief or the groups amongst these people who have disbelief will not stop until a clear proof comes to them. So there are people who would stop if a clear proof came to them basically.

Now, when we look at the second verse, Allah is telling us what the clear proof that he sent is. So he's saying that these people will not stop until al-bayyinah comes to them, until something clear, very clear and distinct comes to them. So now in this next verse, Allah is telling us that he has given them a clear proof. He has al-bayyinah, a clear, distinct proof that has come to everyone. And that clear, distinct proof is rasoolun minallahi yathluh suhufan mutahharah.

A messenger from Allah reciting purified pages so this messenger means the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم He is a messenger, he is a bayyinah, he is a clear distinct proof, he has come to the people and he is reciting from purified pages. Now the Prophet ﷺ wasn't specifically reciting from pages, He was reciting from memory of what he was taught to recite. But his recitation and his memory was very concrete. The things that he was reciting was very concrete, that was directly from purified pages. So there's no debate in the Prophet's memory.

There's no debate in what he is reciting It is clear and is coming from purified pages and these purified Pages are interpreted to mean that he is reciting What is written down among purified pages up above? Where do we get this interpretation from? In another place in the Quran We learn about these records that are held high above purified pages that are held high above So the verses in other places in the Quran for example that we look at tell us في صحف المكرمة records held in honor مرفوعة مطهرة exalted, purified بأيدي سفر in the hands of scribes or angels كِرَامٍ بَرَرَ Honorable and obedient So we are told in surah 18 in the Qur'an, verses 13 to 16 that the Qur'an is preserved in purified pages and honored pages up above and they are protected by angels up above there's no flaw in them or there's no error in them they are protected up above and protected by angels the third verse tells us فيها كتب قيمة wherein are upright books Now what do we mean by upright books? So we are talking about the book already and what do we mean when we say in it are upright books?

Some scholars say that this means there are upright surahs And the books are referring to the different surahs that are in the Quran. Some scholars say it is the verses in the Quran. Other scholars say it means the laws or the ahkam that are in the Quran. So we have different laws or different rulings in the Quran. And these are referred to as the different books that are within the Qur'an, so the different rulings that we have inside the Qur'an, and these are upright rulings, they have no mistakes in them because they are coming directly from Allah.

Okay now we come to verse 4 وَمَا تَفَرَّقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ إِلَّا مِنْ بَحْدِ مَا جَاءَتْهُمُ الْبَيِّنَةِ and the people of the scripture differed not until after there came to them the bayyinah. Now notice at the beginning of the surah we talked about 2 groups of people we talked about people of the book and mushrikeen, idolaters. But in this verse he's only highlighting people of the book. So he's saying that the people of the scripture differed not until after there came to the bayyinah. So Allah is telling us now the bayyinah came, the clear proof came.

The Prophet ﷺ came with these verses, with the Qur'an, and that was the clear proof that came to them. Now what happened after it came to them? It caused division amongst people. So some people, for example, believed. Some people said, oh, this is the messenger that was mentioned in our previous book, so we believe in him because we were waiting for him to come.

We knew he was coming, so we believe in this message. And then others didn't believe, and so there was debate that was happening amongst the people of the book, whether they should believe, they shouldn't and so on. And so this is why specifically in this verse we're talking just about the people of the book. The people of the book that fell into division amongst themselves. So after the bayyinah came or after the knowledge came, division happened.

And then the next verse says وَمَا أُمِرُوا إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مُخْلِيصِينَ لَهُ الدِّينَ حُنَفَاءَ وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاءَ وَذَلِكَ دِينٌ قِيِّمَةٌ While they were not ordered but to worship Allah, making their submission exclusive for Him with no deviation, and to establish Salah and pay Zakah, that is the way of the straight religion. So Allah now in this verse is telling us that He didn't ask them for a big thing, he only said just worship Allah exclusively, just worship Allah, making religion purely for him or exclusive for him, so associate nothing else with him. So he's only asking to worship him and him alone, Hunafa. Now this word Hunafa means with no deviation. So avoiding what is false and gravitating towards the truth.

In the Quran, we see that Ibrahim alayhis salam is described as Hanifan. So it's the same word that is used in singular form for Ibrahim and it's because he avoided what was false and gravitated towards the truth. He was in a community, his father and his people, they were performing shirk, they were in disbelief and he gravitated away from that and gravitated towards the truth and that's why he's described as hanifan, so he avoided shirk and gravitated towards the truth And so in this verse the same word is being used saying that they were not commanded but just to worship Allah exclusively and to deviate away from shirk. And then وَيُقِيمُوا الصَّلَاةَ And to perform salah وَيُؤْتُوا الزَّكَاةَ And to pay zakat. Now these 2 things interestingly enough they are mentioned many times together in the Quran.

Salah and zakah. Salah is our connection with the creator and zakah is our connection with creation. So 1 of them connects us with Allah directly and the other 1 connects us with the people and our communities. And the 2 together provide a beautiful balance because when you have the 2 together then you are inclined towards doing good and more good and doing things for the sake of Allah and for others as well and it promotes goodness in the communities and the other thing is that both of them help us detach from the dunya. How do we detach from the dunya?

If we look at our prayers, 5 times a day we stop everything we are doing in this world and we take a pause, put everything to the side and turn to pray to Allah and Allah alone. So we take a moment to disconnect from everything that is going on in the dunya, from what we are racing towards and chasing in this dunya, and we turn towards Allah. So we put a pause 5 times a day to turn towards Allah. And then when it comes to zakat, when it comes to charitable giving, we are detaching again from the dunya because we are giving part of what we have, part of our wealth to others. So we detach ourselves from our wealth, from greed, from wanting to consume more and more and more, from becoming self-centered.

It gives us a way to give to others and connect with others and detach from material things in this world. So again, it is a reminder to us not to get too attached to this dunya. So in both cases, if we have both scholars say, then you have the core. Because then you are detaching yourself from this world and detaching yourself from the pleasures of this dunya and focusing on what is more important, doing things for the sake of Allah and doing things for the sake of others and when you have these 2, Salah is considered to be the peak, the best physical form of worship and Zakah is the best form of giving your wealth or helping others, charitable giving. And when you have the 2 together, scholars say the core is then good and then therefore more good stems from that.

Because if you have those 2 things and you have them correctly and strong, you have a good connection with the Creator and you have a good connection with charitable giving, then all other good deeds as well will flow from that insha'Allah. So we ask Allah to make us of people who establish prayer and also are charitable in our giving, insha'Allah, because when that is strong, when that is good, then insha'Allah more and more good will flow from that as well. وَذَلِكَ دِينُ الْقَيِّمَةِ And that is the right religion, meaning the upright religion. So if we follow these things then we are balanced. That is the upright way.

Now we end the surah with understanding what is the fate of different groups of people. So in verse number 6 he tells us إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَا خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أُولَٰئِكَهُمْ شَرُّوا الْبَرِيَّةَ Verily those who disbelieve from among the people of the scripture and idolaters will abide in the fire of hell. They are the worst of creatures. So he's telling us that those who stick to their disbelief and don't follow belief in 1 God and establishing prayer and so on, but are committed to disbelief, then their ultimate return or their ultimate end is a fire and they are considered the worst of creatures. And then he tells us on the opposite side إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ هُمْ خَيْرُ الْبَرِيَّةِ Verily, those who believe and do righteous deeds, they are the best of creatures This is another interesting point Those who believe and do righteous deeds These 2 also are mentioned many times together in the Quran.

Belief is something internal in our hearts and then we act upon that belief through our actions so وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَةَ and then they do good deeds. So the ones who believe and follow through by doing good deeds, then those are the best of creatures. So we have to do both. We can't just have belief but then it doesn't translate into action. True belief will translate into action, so we'll do good deeds as well inshallah, and those are considered the best of creatures.

And it's interesting that he says here the best of creatures, not just the best of people, but the best of creatures. So amongst everyone, whether it is people, angels, whatever it is, they're considered the best of creatures. So he elevates the status of these people amongst all of creation. And then the last ayah continues and says جزاؤهم عند ربهم جناة عدم تجري من تحتها الانهار خالدين فيها ابدا رضي الله عنهم ورضوا عنه ذلك لمن خشي ربه Their reward with their Lord is eternal gardens underneath which rivers flow. They will abide therein forever.

Allah will be pleased with them and they will be pleased with him. That is for him who fears his Lord. So the reward for these people who believe and do good deeds, they follow through, establish their prayer, they pay zakah, it's not a lot of things that he's asking us for but in return he's giving us so much, he's giving us an unimaginable reward if we are of the people that stick with these things and that ultimate reward is Jannah under which it's eternal gardens under which rivers flow And not just that, they will abide therein forever It's not even a temporary reward for the temporary limited things that we are doing It is an endless, infinite reward for everything that we have done if we follow through these so whoever follows through these specific actions then they gain the ultimate reward insha'Allah may Allah make us of these people who gain this ultimate reward and not only that he says Allah will be pleased with them and they will be pleased with him. The ultimate thing is having Allah pleased with you. And in return, of course, we will be pleased with him too because what we are getting we will be so content with and so happy with.

That is for him who fears his Lord. So the 1 who will attain this reward are those who have fear of Allah. And what that means is they follow through with good actions, they fulfill their obligations because they have that God consciousness in their heart. So they follow through with their belief, with their good actions, with their prayers, with their zakah and so on. So this is the ultimate ultimate reward and this should be a motivation for us, this ending of this surah, this last verse should be a motivation for us to seek the pleasure of Allah because that is the ultimate reward.

Whatever we are chasing in this dunya, we are chasing, it's a temporary thing and it's never perfect. Whether we are chasing money or we want to have a nice home, you want to have a nice car, there's always different things that we want but those things are all limited and those things are all flawed in some way. Maybe you have a house but then 1 day a pipe bursts maybe you have a car 1 day you get a flat tire maybe you have a job the next day you lose your job and so on. These different things that we are chasing are things that first of all are temporary and second of all are things that are flawed. They have flaws, they have errors, they're not perfect.

So anything we chase here is never going to be completely perfect and we're never going to be completely satisfied with it. Things that we chase in this dunya come with a lot of stress and worry and anxiety and problems and issues and so on. So it's not perfect but the reward with Allah is perfection. It's a reward where we will be completely content and completely pleased because there's no flaws in his reward. There's no errors, there's no pipes bursting or flat tire happening or you losing your job or you not having wealth.

There's none of that. It's all contentment, everything you want. It's all peace. There's no worries, there's no stress, there's no anxiety. So why is that not the thing that we are chasing?

Chasing instead. So just as a reminder to us inshallah and as a motivation to us inshallah to strive to work towards being of these people who establish prayer, who pay zakah, who follow through their iman with good actions and so on and really focusing on that, trying to detach ourselves from the dunya as much as possible and insha'Allah striving to be of these people who Allah is pleased with. May Allah make us of these people, ya Rabb, and may we attain his pleasure and in return be pleased with him as well and be pleased with everything that we are given, insha'Allah. And that brings us to the end of Surat al-Bayyinah. I hope that it was a beneficial dive into the surah.

And until next time, Asalaamu Alaikum. You

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Tafsir Surah Bayyinah