An-Nasr Surah
06.01.2014
For several weeks now we have been talking about the An-Nasr surah, one of the most meaningful chapters of the Qur’an. The entire Qur’an is meaningful but this chapter in a comprehensive, yet abstract manner contains some important Islamic aspects, especially on the relationship between people and Allah Almighty. We have said that surah An-Nasr has descended to the Prophet (PBUH) when he settled in Medina, but at the same time this is considered a Meccanian surah since during the moment of descent the Prophet (PBUH) was in Mecca, during Hajj. The Mecca chapter (short chapters) discuss the social expansion of Islam but not to a large extent, they mainly discuss the relationship between people and Allah Almighty. Hence this surah is such, and it should remind us from previous times that Allah Almighty says: “When the victory of Allah has come and the conquest, And you see the people entering into the religion of Allah in multitudes, Then exalt [Him] with praise of your Lord and ask forgiveness of Him. Indeed, He is ever Accepting of repentance” (An-Nasr, 1-3).
There are several surahs that start with “subhana” in the Qur’an (for instance Al-Isra Surah and some others) and the first surah Al-Fatihah begins with hamd / gratefulness which simultaneously is a synonym of tasbih. Another matter which we will discuss tonight falls under the same category, astaghfar. The Arabic language has a special characteristic and has a unique grammatical order not found among other languages. In the verb used by Allah Almighty asking us to conduct Tasbih, He uses the second category of verbs in a command form, in the Arabic language this is known as Babu’t-Taf’ili. The same order could have been given in another form of verbs, as a decree or call for action, but instead in this surah the secondary type of verbs was used because in the Arabic language, they have a transmitting message; passing on a message, meaning, from one to another.
This tells us that tasbih, alike the connotation of the verb that is transmittable, has the power to transmit positive energy from one person to others. Maybe some of you have read the autobiography of Capitol Hill who talks about how he became rich and within that book he highlights one significant point. He says: “the one who seeks to become wealthy, resonates a special energy from himself”. According to him this is the energy of the rational thinking / the mind; this energy gets transmitted in the outer world and out there seeks similar energies and joins them. Henceforth, if this desire of his is authentic he then comes across people who are truly on the same path. The same goes for people who are adherents, religious and who seek to experience religion in their lives. It is a positive energy that is emitted from them and this emitted energy dwells in the air until it comes across other similar energies that are on the same path. This is why the verb used here is part of the secondary type of verbs. God still knows better but I am saying this as a reference to a commentary of the Qur’an, Al-Kashshaaf by Al-Zamakhshari, who mainly dealt with the analyses of words, with the grammatical analyses of the words of Qur’an. Whereas Istighfar, when it is said “Wastagfirh” is used under the tenth group of verbs. These types of verbs are more passive and do not have the meaning of transferring, instead they deal with the person itself. In other words, when one person is exalting Allah Almighty his energy is being transmitted to others too, but when he seeks repentance (wastagfirh, means, “seek repentance, forgiveness from Allah Almighty”), then this type of energy is encompassed, it is mainly within the person. It is so because Allah Almighty in the Qur’an says: “and know that Allah intervenes between a man and his heart and that to Him you will be gathered.” (Al-Anfar, verse 24). It is in our chests that millions of thoughts and temptations appear (sometimes these thoughts can be so invasive that we are not able to perform during the day, especially the negative ones) and Allah Almighty is aware of all of this, hence Istighfar is more of a personal friendly bonding with Allah Almighty. The Prophet (PBUH) conducted his tasbih with his As’habs, whereas he conducted Istighfar in solitude. As a ummat of the Prophet (PBUH) for us it is almost impossible to image how he conducted teube 80 times a day (he sought repentance even if he didn’t have sins; he was innocent / ma’sum), and he conducted Istighfar towards Allah Almighty, without anyone else being present. Istigraf is a phenomenon, representation of bond between the human and Allah Almighty (this is what our Prophet did), whereas tasbih, hamd, exaltation of Allah Almighy are elements of the prophethood of our Prophet (PBUH). Therefore, istighfar is very significant. Istighfar again is another element that distinguishes Islam from other religions; we don’t conduct Istighfar only for our sins, but also for the negligence when we could have committed to a good deed. This too is considered a lack of commitment to Islam, in Islam. In other words, when we are capable of doing a good deed, but instead we don’t commit to it or we ignore it, this too is considered an act from which the person needs to seek repentance from Allah Almighty. Resultantly and this is how, istighfar has played a huge role in increasing the bond between the Prophet (PBIH) and Allah Almighty. In Christianity this is different, people are born with the inherited fault; sin transmitted from one generation to another, because according to them the father of humanity, Adam, made the sin in heaven and was descended upon earth. Now people inherit his sin from one generation to another, until it was made necessary for “God” (God forbit) to sacrifice himself through Jesus (to Christians Jesus Christ) and erase this sin made by the father of humanity, Adam (this is what the Christian mentality aspires to). In Islam, seeking repentance is not because the person is considered guilty (from a philosophical angel this is a very important matter). According to Islam, which is also supported by the Prophet (PBUH) “ “Kul-lu meuludin juuledu ale’l-fitreh…”/“Each child is born in complete purity, it is born with a pure nature” In most cases it has been translated “born in Islam”, but this is not its meaning, the true meaning is, born in a pure nature, which this pure nature is surely coherent and in harmony with Islam. According to Islam we are not born with a sin, but also istighfar does not only refer to seeking repentance, but it is a type of repentance for situations and things we could have done better. Samsi Tabriz, one of the shaikhs on the road of love in Tasawwuf, when he had met Mawlana, he had asked him several questions among which he asked “why did the Prophet (PBUH) conduct teuba 80 times per day?” the answer that he got, which determined on whether he would accept the other as Darwish, his own Murid, Mawlana, was that the Prophet (PBUH) changed 80 spiritual positions during the day and this is why he conducted Teuba 80 times per day. In some cases, the more spiritual positions we undergo the clearer things become to us, and oftentimes people laugh and become sad about how they used to feel before this awakening. You can analyze this from the physical aspect of life, for example when you were 10 years old you might have thought differently about a specific matter, and now when you are 20 years old you think in a completely different way, and you even feel like laughing about the way you used to think. The same goes for spirituality, when you are 10 years old spiritually you thought differently than when you turned 20 years old; there is maturity, development, and this is the istighfar the Prophet (PBUH) conducted.
Aside from this, in many verses in the Qur’an Allah Almighty says (example from the 19th verse of the surah Muhammad): “ So know, [O Muhammad], that there is no deity except Allah and ask forgiveness for your sin and for the believing men and believing women. And Allah knows of your movement and your resting place.”
In another verse that we constantly read in our namaz, Allah Almighty teaches us how to pray to Him “ “Rabbenagfirli ve livalidejje ve li’l-mu’minine jeume jekumu’lhisab”/“ Our Lord, forgive me and my parents and the believers the Day the account is established.”(Surah Ibrahim, verse 41). There is another example of Islamic jurisprudence that has been used by many imams in the past in which it is said “La sagaira mea’l-israr wa la kabaira mea’l-Istighfar” / “no small sin will remain small if that is to be repeated, and no big sin will remain if you seek repentance for it”. This tells us that maybe we don’t take small sins seriously, but if we repeat it and keep doing it, this small sin will not remain small, it will grow despite that it used to be small, and if we have committed to a more significant sin but we have sought repentance from Allah Almighty and we don’t repeat it, then this sin will be eliminated.
Therefore, in Tasawwuf especially one of the most important elements is bey’at (commitment) in from of sheikh. During that commitment the first thing to do, or first level is seeking repentance for the preceding sins, because it is the Prophet (PBUH) who said: “At-taibu mina’dh-dhanb ka men la dhanb lahu” / “the person who repents his sins, is as if he has not committed any sins”. And if this repentance is sincere, which Allah Almighty requests from us and is mentioned in the Qur’an, then we would to be forgiven for them. In another verse it is said: “Ya ayyuga’l-ladhiine amanu, tubu ilAll-allh teubeten nasuha” / “O you who have believed, repent to Allah with sincere repentance” (Surah At-Tahrim, verse 8). Earlier in our discussion I inferred the grammatical order of verbs in Arabic language; the theology of the XXI century is focused on the semantic analyses of the Qur’anic words. For example, it doesn’t directly say “O believers”, but it says “O you who have believed”; it uses two parts to address the believers “ya” and “ayyuha” and then a connection is used “ay-ladhina” and after this the verb of believing is used in the past tense. It is not said yu’minu, but it is said amenu. Fi’lu’l-madi (past tense), expect that it refers to an accomplished act in the past (meaning that from now on the Qur’an will speak to those who already become believers), it also has the connotation of reinforcement / ta-kid.
In Islam when two people get married the imam asks the groom “do you accept to be married to this person”, and the groom is supposed to say: “I have accepted” and not “I accept”. This legal rule is a reinforcement, and at the same time tells us that the action is complete. Teuba nesuha is a unique term of the Qur’an. If we literary translate it, it means conscious repentance, by advice, nasihat / advice (nesuha comes from the same root word of nasihat), but what this really is, is that Allah Almighty takes this repentance (teuba nesuha) to the platform of sincerity and spiritual cleansing. Sufi scholars have divided teuba into three groups: the first one is teuba, second one euba and third one inaba. Teuba means that we repent by words, Eube means we repent by actions, and Inaba means going back to our sins is considered as dying or burning in flame. One thing to have in mind here, according to Islamic religious categorization, is that teuba can be dangerous since people can easy go back to their sins and keep making teuba / repenting but going back to their sins again, that’s why Allah Almighty in the Qur’an says: “Inna-ladhina amanu thumma kafaru thumma amanu thumma kafaru…” / “Indeed, those who have believed then disbelieved, then believed, then disbelieved, and then increased in disbelief – never will Allah forgive them, nor will He guide them to a way.” (An-Nisa, verse 137). This is the element of Istighfar.
Allah Almighty never closes the door of teuba. Oftentimes people turn to the elder who decide to come to mosque telling them: “it’s pointless for you to come to mosque now, all your life you have sinned”. Muslims should not speak with this vocabulary. There are people who never venture to enter the mosque until the day they die. If God has enabled him to make this move, that means there is something good in that. Analyze people in their families: people who used to drink, gamble, commit adultery they committed all these sins but were goodhearted, not ill people and God enabled them to enter the mosque; then there are people who maybe didn’t do such sins but were ill in their hearts, they won’t have the privilege to enter the mosque. That’s why the doors are never closed, they shouldn’t be closed to anyone. Nowadays people turn religious and within several days even become bodyguards to religion, to God. God doesn’t need a bodyguard. I will tell you a story from one of my professors (who has passed away now and may God have mercy on his soul), who wrote “Tasawwuf and Tarikat”, the great Selçuk Eraydin, along with a sheikh of tarikka and a professor in full sense of the word, and also my mentor, Mustafa Tahrall. So, once we were having a discussion with them while I was undergoing my Doctoral studies and they gave me a good example. They said during the 1978/1979 in Turkey one of the professors (I don’t want to mention the name) of Tafsir from Ankara, wrote a comment that contradicted the thoughts of Ibn Arabi. So, Mustafa said to me: “Selcuk and I sat down to write a denial to him. We sat down to write it to him, but we couldn’t write it (two professors couldn’t write it), then tomorrow again we tried to write it, but we couldn’t, and this went on for two weeks. Then one day, Selcuk Eraydin comes to me and says: “Mustafa, let’s leave this matter, last night in my dream I was visited by Sheikh’l-Akbar and he said there is no need for you to protect me, I protect myself, while you should protect yourself.” 3-4 years later that professor gave us a call and asked to meet. He told us “I don’t know any other ashiks (devoted admirers) of Ibn Arabi, expect for you two” (these two professors have published a great number of Ibn Arabi’s work in Turkish) “ I didn’t know to whom to turn to and apologize for my comments and thoughts I used to have, that’s why I came here to apologize to you”.
Religion, the Prophet (PBUH), Allah Almighty don’t have a need for a bodyguard. He protects himself, and we need to protect ourselves. That’s what the element of tauba represents; repentance in personal relation or in privacy with Allah Almighty. Can you guess when is the best time for teuba / Istighfar? The Qur’an says: “Wa’l-mustagfirina bi’l-as’har”; as a category, the best people are those who commit to their Istighfar between suhoor and sunrise. That’s when nobody sees them. The Prophet (PBUH) speaks about 7 groups of people, on his hadeeth, that Allah Almighty will put them under the shadow of His Throne the day of Judgement, in which there will be no other shadow. But this shadow does not only refer to the hereafter. Yeum, in Arabic doesn’t only mean “day”, for instance in the Qur’an it is used as “malik yaumi’d-din” / “The Successors of the day of Judgement” , and despite that we translate yeume as day of judgement, it also means present time, yeume in Arabic refers to “today” our present time. When yeume is used, the shadow also refers to today’s shadow, not only with the hereafter; this tells us that these seven groups of people are under God’s shadow in this world as well. On one of these categories are people who remember Allah Almighty and in the moment of solitude tears fall from their face. This isn’t something only to do when you go to pray at mosque and people praise you for praying there or that you often pray, but also when you will be in solitude and remember Allah Almighty; and tears will fall from your face.
Hence when Allah Almighty says wastagfirh, then He refers to this type of Istighfar / repentance and we need to embed this in our head; initially for ourselves then for the ones around us. We should never act as if we own the keys to Jannat, and to its not ours to decide who will go to heaven or hell. Why do you think our motto is “come, whomever you are, come”. Because our door is not hopeless, it gives hope. In general religions are doors of hopes and we should never close the door on anyone on this world. We should always speak in this manner to people around us, no matter the sins they have committed. In the end of this surah, Allah Almighty says “Innahu kana tewwaba” / “because He is truly an Acceptor of repentance”. Tawwaba is used in a specific form of an adjective (we will shortly go back to Arabic grammar) which in Arabic is called mubalaga ism fail, which means is a hyperbolism, he is greatly, in a great amount acceptance, and not little. There is another verse in the Qur’an (I will finish here) in which Allah Almighty says: “Wa idha sa-alaka ibadi anni fa inni karib…” / And when My servants ask you, [O Muhammad], concerning Me – indeed I am near. I respond to the invocation of the supplicant when he calls upon Me” , “Ujibu da’wata’d-dai” / “So let them respond to Me [by obedience] and believe in Me that they may be [rightly] guided.” (Al-Baqarah, 186). This door is never closed to us, we should constantly seek repentance for our sins and for the good deeds we failed to commit to. Istighfar is not just a process of repentance, as it is in other religions, but it is also an ibadah / exaltation towards Allah Almighty, because simultaneously this Istighfar is part of the ibadah, namaz and so forth.
Thank you.