Today we will start a new Surah of the Qur’an; we will elaborate on Surah An-Nasr, or the so known Iza jaa-a, which most of you know by heart. If you recall, in the lecture before this we mentioned that surahs that are found by the end of the Qur’an are those that have descended to the Prophet (PBUH) in Mecca. They are brief and are dedicated to the faith and belief in Allah Almighty. Surah An-Nasr descended to the Prophet (PBUH) while he was in Medina, but it is part of the brief chapters and those found in the end of the Qur’an. On top of this, this surah has a characteristic because it descended while the Prophet was based in Medina but was in Mecca at the time of the descend, in the last Hajj (Hujjat al-wada); during the Farewell Pilgrimage.
In fact, the farewell pilgrimage counts a very special occasion especially for what occurred after. Most of you have heard about the hutba / sermon of Prophet (PBUH) during the farewell hajj. It is a hutba that can be considered as a sermon, declaration of human rights; a declaration which deserves to be part of society and imagine this was conducted in the year 630/ 631 of our era (VII century), by the Prophet (PBUH). If you read the words of the Prophet (PBUH) during his sermon (you can read this online) you will note that nowadays most of the institutions and world organizations function based on the social justice called human rights; the human rights are essentially based on this sermon of the Prophet (PBUH) and it is one of the first of its nature in the human history.
And the An-Nasr Surah descended while the Prophet (PBUH) was on his farewell hajj, Haj Hujjat al-wada. It is still considered a surah of Medina because at that time the Prophet (PBUH) was based in Medina. It is called An-Nasr since Nasr in Arabic means succor, help, assistance. The chapter begins with the term of succor. Allah Almighty speaks about the help, assistance that He offers to people. I will give you an example with the first people who became Muslims; when the Prophet (PBUH) begin to call into religion in Mecca, the people of Mecca were not ready to receive his message and opposed him. The first contradiction aroused because they were not ready to accept the social aspects. They were not ready to make such profound and committed changes in the society of Mecca. Second, they contradicted him because there, there was a person, a young man who wanted to change the mindset and social behavior in Mecca. Thirdly, there, there was a person who was degrading all other beliefs, habits, traditions that existed in Mecca hitherto and he sought to replace them with new customs.
Socrates was also punished by his people for this matter. Throughout history, all wise men who have sought to bring some changes in society, have been accused of ruining the future young generations by speaking of matters which were not discussed until that point. This is an example where wise and good people were noticed throughout history. Socrates was punished with murder and the accusation was based on facts that he spoke of things which people were not used to hear, and second because he “ruined” the new generations. This applies to the other prophets as well,
those who have called in religion among their people; and the people have answered: “we have found our ancestors believing in this way, despite you coming up with new rules”. Whereas in religion, in faith and society the fake interpretation and mimic is the most dangerous thing.
Fake imitation ruins society, and religion. The second half of the XIX century, after 1850’s, saw a move in Ijtihad, even in the Islamic world. Ijtihad means intellectual, religious Islamic exertion to seeking solutions, which regarding the Qur’an and Prophet’s (PBUH) sunnah gives the opportunity to the Muslim population, having lived in different historical periods, to live according to their rules. After the III / IV century this path of ijtihad, intellect and mental exertion in religious context has been interrupted among Muslims (it is said that after Abu Hanifa, after Imam Al-Shafi, after Ibn Hanbal and after Imam we are not able to execute mental and logical thinking to find solutions; they have been our thinkers and have been thinking on our behalf, and we don’t have the right to think about religious matters). Despite this, living conidiations have been changing and one of the matters which is still nowadays outdates among Muslims (mainly reasons of it being outdated) is precisely this: closing the door to this Ijtihad. Muslims were not allowed to articulate their needs and this need to be served a Qur’anic and Sunnah solution in regard to the living conditions of that time. We are facing the same issue in our society nowadays as well. Movements that took place by the end of the XIX century, by Jamaluddin Afghan, Muhammad Abduh, Qasim, through the codification of the first laws in the Ottoman Empire led by Ahmed Jawdat Pasha, was intended to let society move, have a movement in society and avoid creating a static environment. Even from the religious aspect when we think of water, if the water is still, not movable in a tight space, the abdest will not clean the person; it will not purify the person. The same thing goes for the mind; that’s exactly for what the Prophet (PBUH) was accused. He appeared with a new mindset and resultantly faced different consequences and repercussions among the Mecca society. This could be faced by anyone throughout history. We have said before that prophets, each one by himself, are archetypes to society. From one hadeeth we know that there have been around 124,000 prophets, but why aren’t all of them mentioned in the Qur’an? Why does the Qur’an only mention 28 of them? They have been chosen since they provide an example for our daily life; therefore, only those 28 are mentioned in the Qur’an and they are samples for us on which basis we need to act in life. And the Prophet (PBUH) is one of them. There is one ideology of thinking, especially in societies that are not very flexible, societies that have slowly begun to rotten that supports the type of thinking such as “do not touch, do not move, do not act on that; this is not your business, do not intervene, this is someone else’s business” and this is where significant and absolute stagnation begins. This doesn’t mean that the new trends are always good, but everything that has a chance to answer our life needs and problems (including religion) can be useful to us; if religion is mainly found on our book shelves but not practiced in life then we have a significant issue here. The responsibility is not only on those who do not practice it, but it is moreover a responsibility of those who cannot articulate religion in that way that people can breathe with it, and cope with it. This is exactly what the Prophet (PBUH) practiced when he represented Islam as religion; the people of Mecca begin to contradict him and one of the ways to prevent him was the isolation of Muslims in one neighborhood of Mecca known in the history of Islam as the “boycott on Muslims”;
others could not have had any relationship whatsoever with those who became Muslims. During this time, one of the accompanied people of the Prophet (PBUH), turned to the Prophet (PBUH) and said: “when will the help (victory) of Allah Almighty arrive?” The Prophet (PBUH) answered: “don’t doubt it, because Allah’s (PBUH) succor is approaching”.
And Surah An-Nasr speaks of a kind of assistance and victory that Allah Almighty provides to the Prophet (PBUH). What is most important is to also know that no adherent has the right to think and believe that he is a believer and believe that his success comes from himself only. The maximum strive is done by the person, but the assistance is always from Allah Almighty. Surah An-Nasr confirms and points out one maker of thought, it tells him: “When the victory of Allah has come and the conquest”; “And you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes,” (An-Nasr, 1-2). This tells us that we are speaking about a phenomenon that turned to the Prophet to tell him that he will be the one striving to invite people to religion; he will do his job, but they will be involved only when the help and victory of Allah Almighty arrives. / fat’h (victory) (there are certain meanings of the fat’h and nasr word which we will elaborate later). This verse does not refer only to physical involvement, but it refers to something metaphysical that has impacted people for them to enter in groups in religion of God just like they did after the final farewell pilgrimage of the Prophet (PBUH). This verse is strategically profound; it is profound in its human structure (before we go into this, I will say a few more words regarding this chapter in general).
It is said that Hz. Aisha (transmitted by Buhari) confirmed that after this surah descended (this is one of the surahs that descended in the end, it is one of the chapters that belong to Medina period, it descended during Hujjat al-wada hajj; after Hujjat al-wada hajj the Prophet (PBUH) walked hither hakk / he passed away; he transferred from this world to the other). When the Prophet (PBUH) was conducting namaz he would always read “Praise be on you my Lord and you are the merciful, forgive me my Lord” (this is a prayer that the Prophet (PBUH) read and undoubtedly it is recommended for each person to read and say; if this is a prayer by the Prophet (PBUH) this is then the best prayer to pray to Allah Almighty). He then turned to Hz. Aisha “Allah Almighty descended this surah to me and informed me that he is calling my by His side”. In another transmission the Prophet (PBUH) told Hz. Fatima: “through this surah An-Nasr, Allah Almighty informed me that death is near, but the first person from the family that will join me will be you”; and it is true that 6 months post the Prophet’s (PBUH) death, Hz. Fatima passed away as well. Another transmission says that this surah has descended in Medina after the battle of Khaybar (the battle of Khaybar was between the Muslims and Jews in Medina and it was 2-3 years before his death; Allah Almighty says that He informed the Prophet (PBUH) during this battle that he will bring independence to Mecca and people in groups will go in the religion of Allah Almighty). Nevertheless, An-Nasr surah (this is a mutual thinking of all scholars), is the last descended surah to the Prophet (PBUH). If we accept that surah An-Nasr descended during Hujjat al-Hujjat al-wada, then the Prophet (PBUH) lived 80 days post this descend; but this is not the last verse because after this surah there have been other verses, but as surah that descended to the Prophet
(PBUH) and gave a message for something else more than just independence, since its not about giving victory independence to Mecca, but it talks about other victories; it talks about the penetration and involvement of Islam as a religion and other future generations, and this was the victory which Allah Almighty gave to the Prophet (PBUH). If you read the An-Nasr surah, you will note that each verse of this chapter ends with two letters: Elif and Ha; the rhymes of the verses of Iza jaa-a, is by these two letters. Elif is a symbol and metaphor of Allah Almighty; it is a symbol and metaphor of standing up, on foot, straight up without fear on the path of Allah Almighty. Ha, is a symbol of the Prophet (PBUH); when the Prophet (PBUH) is metaphorized with letters in Islamic literature he is symbolized with the letter Ha; this is simultaneously a symbol of sajdah. If both these letters stand by each other this then tells us that for a person to succeed, he needs to bow to Allah Almighty. Meaning that the Ha needs to bow down to Allah Almighty in order to receive the assistance of Elif, and both of these letters create the An-Nasr surah; they bring the help and victory of Allah Almighty. This is one Qur’anic teaching of life that continues till the day of Judgement and in the spiritual, essential and metaphysical aspect of the An-Nasr surah, Allah Almighty conveys to us how we can cope with His assistance. Fakir has told you several times that we don’t speak about liberation, offensives, megalomaniacal thoughts that we should take over the world…Fakir speaks to you about liberation of thyself; for dominion with oneself. There is one important matter that each and everyone of us needs to have in mind. Perhaps the whole world can be wealthy, but if you are poor and have no use of that wealth, then what’s the point; perhaps the whole world might be poor, but if you are have bread on your table, that you are secured. The same thing applies to religion. A lot of people think that Muslims should only multiply on quantity basis. The Prophet (PBUH) has not done this on this basis whatsoever. Today I came across another saying by Mohammad Abduh (he is one of the people who have reconstrued the Islamic thinking of the XIX century); I don’t use the term “reform” because reform means to give a new form; there are no new shapes, forms here; we only have rebirth, renewal, tajdid; we cannot change the structure of ibadah or namaz. Several times we have said that it is not right to claim that I will conduct ibadah as I wish, or as I think it is best, God should be worshiped as He has requested it from us and this has no alternations. This is also supported by Mohammad Abduh who has been involved and influenced the change of the educational system in Egypt; all imposed ideologies find it difficult to penetrate the population. Only when those ideas and ideologies go through educating people from within society, only then we can create conditions for building solid long-lasting institutions. And this is precisely what the Prophet (PBUH) did; the Mecca period was in such state. As long as the as’habs of the battle of Badr were not there (the accompany of the Prophet (PBUH) during Badr) the establishment of Medina was not possible; the emawit, abassid, Osman or seljuk tribes would have not existed either. The battle of Badr for instance was a small battle which if we analyze it nowadays this might resemble a battle of a neighborhood (300 people fought against 900), but metaphorically and symbolically, this is a significant symbol of what took place there. That’s why religion and Allah Almighty, especially through the An-Nasr surah tell us that when we will seek victory, we will experience this assistance to victory within us, and then Allah Almighty will enable us to assist others as well. At this stage, the world is
experiencing an anomaly which is very significant yet very dangerous and this anomaly is that people are not well informed in every subject and yet in a very irresponsible manner take responsibility to interpret profound and serious matters, especially those religious ones. Nowadays there are many people who consider themselves dai (da’wah – callers in religion, act of inviting people to religion). Under no occasion in history has one been able to become a Dai without a diploma / ijaza (and I am not speaking about university or school diploma). There have been many as’habs accompanying the Prophet (PBUH), but who did he take to Yemen? Muadh Ibn Jabal, the latter was told: “You will go to Yemen” and he replied: “Ye,s Ya Rasul Allah”. The Prophet asked him: “how are you going to conduct your duty there, how are you going to judge? How will you behave with people?” and the reply he receives from Muadd Ibn Jabal was: “Ya Rasul Allah, I will behave according to the Qur’an”. Then the Prophet (PBUH) asked him: “but what if the matters you will face in that society, will not be found in the Qur’an, then how will you react?” the reply he receives is: “then I will act according to the sunnah, by your hadeeth Ya Rasul Allah”. The Prophet (PBUH) continues, “and what if you don’t find it there either (this tells us that new cases might appear that have not been mentioned hitherto), then what will you do?” and Muadh Ibn Jabal replied “I will try to apply my own thinking by relying on these two fundamentals of religion”, and then the Prophet (PBUH) sent Muadh Ibn Jabal to Yemen. He sent him to Yemen and gave him ijaza to call to religion, because this person possessed intellectual and traditional capacity, he also had rational and traditional capacity, aql (reason) and naql (tradition), to call to religion. Nowadays people will read two verses and think that is enough to call to religion; this is not possible. One might think this is okay, but others should not listen to him because surely if one goes into calling in religion people need to assay his background and capacity on this field, both that traditional and rational, both aql and naql capacity. What is even more important (I am sharing this with you too), it is not our duty to invite others to religion, and maybe you have noticed how most people seek to just add the number of their followers. We don’t want to have many followers (jamaat); we want to have as many people who will truly listen to us, as many people whom we will influence; people who will listen and say: “we have listed and respected”. Societies in general need such people, people who will transfer this brave concept to themselves and their families. Several times I have mentioned that if we only succeed to orient one person to religion, for this person to serve God, this is enough for us for Jannah, we don’t need more than this (of course not to become a reason either for that person to walk away from religion). It is very common for people to think that they are calling into religion, but they become a reason for another 100 people to walk out of faith, because their methods of calling are inadequate, and they don’t count this at all. They think they will not be called to responsibility for being a reason for someone to walk away from faith. And why is this so? Because these people have deleted the heavenly dimension of religion.
The other day one of our colleagues here asked me about zakah (I will give zakah for my wealth but I don’t know in which form I need to give it) and he has asked one person, a second one, a third one and a dozen of other people and this tells us that he has a religious tendency and this is good, but you don’t ask 100 people about this. If you are sick and have some health issues with your kidney and if you go to 100 doctors you will become even more sick; you need to pick a
doctor whom you think is the right one for this matter and tell him: “yes, I listened and have respected your word”. If you think that by asking 100 people, we will gather more information, this is not religious at all, because becoming an adherent is not about gathering information, but instead we should enrich and fill our day with ibadah, deity, and not only words.
The help of Allah Almighty reaches the religious ones, ibadah, ubudiyet, and the deity towards Him “but we have talked about religion until the early morning…” only those discussions that end with certain successes are considered ibadah. Even in the surah An-Nasr Allah Almighty says: “when the assistance, victory of God approaches “, meaning that this nasr / this help of Allah Almighty is an assistance that remains steady, ready and waits for the person to open the door and welcome it. Rudbar, is one famous sufi, his whole life he has prayed to Allah Almighty, had showed deity and done ibadah, he has strived to be a good man in his society, and one day he got asked: “don’t you have hope in the help of Allah Almighty, hope that Allah Almighty has accepted you in His presence, has made you an evliya?” He sufi answered: “No, I am still not in among those who have been welcomed in the presence of Allah Almighty, but I am standing at the doorstep, and if this door opens I will be the first one to enter, because I am constantly standing in front of the door”. He is trying to tell us that oftentimes people don’t focus to see what is behind the door, but it is also important to stand right by the door, because once that door is open you will be the first one to enter. Nasr, contains this element; the assistance of Allah Almighty contains this element; if we look at it from each aspect of life, each step of life, if we look through the lens of help, lens of deity towards God, we will grasp the help of Allah Almighty, but it is also important to know what we seek from Him. Ataullah Iskandar says “Dear Lord, help me so I can be the best at showing deity to You”. The best prayer hither Allah Almighty is for Him to enable us to be able to reach Him, and this is the most courageous prayer a creature can say. I am speaking now about general principles and I don’t want to go into specific examples, but this does not only refer to prayers, namaz; as you know the last element is namaz. Meaning that if one person says he is an adherent, we don’t even talk about namaz, it is understandable that he needs to conduct namaz… and if we limit religion within walls and keep it isolated, this is not alright (we are here now because we are adherents, if some of us go out of here, lie, bribe etc then this is not alright and this is not called religion).
Few days back I read something that was shocking (you that oftentimes scholars have faced many difficult challenges). One scholar who at the same time was shaykul Islam, during the Ottoman Empire, was Shaykh Ibn Al Wafa; one day at the mosque he was discussing about the hadeeth transmitted in the in his book Buhari (a book containing hadeeth of the Prophet (PBUH) that are considered more authentic). He read in some place an occasion where Hz. Ali during a battle got injured by an arrow and his friends waited for him to go to namaz to remove the arrow (this tells us that namaz was his painkiller). After he conducted namaz they removed the arrow and he didn’t feel any pain. Shaykh Ibn Al Wafa had once mentioned in his lecture: “this is real namaz, not the one we conduct, just physically going to sajdah and standing up, this is lame work because we don’t involve our whole being during namaz”. Those who were envy went to the Sultan and said:
“Abu Wafa said namaz is just about its physical conduct and its lame work”, and they hanged him for this word. Let me not get misunderstood, when I said that namaz is the final phase of ibadah, I want to highlight that for an adherent this is undoubtably something he should commit to, but the job of an adherent does not end here. Even in society, in each step we will face namaz, in every challenge and duty we will face this. Drita for example, (an English teacher) will face this in her duties at school, when she will be educating the future generations, in a place where very little importance is given to education. How much will she influence the children whose parent does not care about their education, neither does the school principle care, the schooling system does not care either; but for the sake o God she will succeed to deliver the message of knowledge; and this is where the deity of Drita will be acknowledged. Or for example one Muslim preacher in the mosque, how much will he succeed to deliver the message among the followers when he is faced with people who provoke him in the mosque, or those who are left without homes and others who merely understand religion through the lens of mawlud and hatma; how much will he strive to create successful followers among this group, and for someone in the future to say that this preacher has taught these people these good manners. That’s why several times I have told the students that have come after me, especially the theologians, that the best thing they can do in the mosque is to teach people on faith, to teach them to read the Qur’an and teach them several things on how to experience religion righteously, to plant religion in their hearts. This cant be done by lecturing, even if you are the best lecturer in the world. It wasn’t like this before, but nowadays the nature of lectures which are done by force are not successful. The aim is to be amid society and create groups that will be allies to one another for God’s sake and transferring the matters of religion that can be experienced in the everyday, and not only speak of those utopic manners. Oftentimes it occurs that people (our colleague, but those who become religious as well) when speaking about religion, they speak of it in such a megalomaniac tone, that the person who is not associated to religion says: “I can never become like this, it’s better if I don’t join the group”, and in reality neither the one who speaks is such himself. For example several times I have had the chance to hear people say: “Abu Bakr has given all his wealth for religion” and the other person who is not associated to religion will say “they are asking for my wealth, its better if I don’t start this journey at all”. Yes, Abu Bakr has given all his wealth, but he was Halif, the ruler of the state; he was present; the wealth of Abu Bark and the state were the same, were one. This tells us that we cannot compare a random person to Abu Bakr, from the social position at least. When did Abu Bakr give all his wealth? After he spent 12 years in the presence of the Prophet (PBUH); just standing in his presence for 1 minute is like spending 1000 years without him, and not to mention sharing a stay with him for 12 years, then you don’t need to work for Jannah at all. This is why it is important to transfer the assistance of Allah Almighty through the ways of the Prophet (PBUH); in this way the religious ones and those who seek to transmit religion to others, to their families as well, should consider others as newborns; just like we feed the newborns by giving them small slices of food, religion should be also transmitted in this way, by giving little portions; until that person is raised up and mature (we can’t feed a large portion of meat to a small child because he will suffocate). People who discuss divergencies of religion, polemics / Ikhtilaf, they are not
descent people, and we should refrain from such discussions. There is no reason to talk to people who are not acquainted with religion on madhab or similar tariqahs. I’m trying to say that there is no reason to speak about this to those who don’t have basic knowledge on religion, there is no reason for us to venture into religious polemics. Everyone whose attention is on polemics and divergencies are not descent people. Nobody is preventing us from becoming good religious people, neither madhab nor tariqahs, none of these stop you from approaching Allah Almighty. The road to Allah Almighty does not depend on this factor; it is a matter of sincerity. That’s why if polemics occur in a certain atmosphere where you found, it is better to keep quiet. Polemics and divergencies in general are not elements that lead to a certain revelation, that’s why instead it is better to focus on fundamental matters of religion. Thank you.