SURAH BAQARAH THE COW VERSES 21-39 O Mankind, not O Asians, or O Malaysians. O Mankind. All of you.

Worship your Lord, don t worship society, don t worship people or your friends and what they will say about you. Worship Allah, like on CNN they have this Egyptian girl s interview and they ask her why do you wear hijab and she said I want to look pretty in the eyes of Allah . Thats spiritual liberation. Worship your Lord who created you and those before you. Why should we worship people? Why did he create us in order that you may become Allah conscious. See the whole purpose of ibadah, the whole purpose of obeying Allah is to develop that quality or sensitivity to Allah that feeling of being aware that God is with us. Allah is watching us. Allah goes on to tell us more about what he has done for us Who has made the earth a resting place for you, and the sky as a canopy and sent down water from the sky and brought forth therewith fruits as a provision for you then do not set up rivals to Allah while you know. When everything we are getting is from Allah, why is it that we chase people, why is it that we follow our own desires. And if you are in doubt as to that which we have sent down to our slave then produce a surah of the like thereof and call your witnesses beside Allah if you are truthful. Allah says if you think this Qur an can be bettered or this Qur an can be surpassed then produce a better Qur an like the people that say that the Qur an is backward or that the Qur an should be revised or certain portions should be deleted, Allah says alright if you are full of criticism, then make good your claim, produce a better surah than this Qur an but if you do it not, and you can never do it. Think about it, 1400 years ago this book was revealed, no one has been able to surpass this Qur an, forget surpassing, they haven t even been able to come up with a surah equal to the Qur an. Then fear the fire, whose fuel is men and stones prepared for the disbelievers. Allah says since you cannot challenge the Qur an then either start obeying Allah or be prepared for the outcome which awaits the disbelievers and those who disobey Allah. And give good news to those who believe and do good deeds. In the Qur an we find iman and good deeds go together. Iman alone is not enough and good deeds alone are not enough they both go together. For them there will be gardens under which rivers flow. Every time they will be provided with a fruit therefrom they will say this is what we were provided with before ad they will be given things in resemblance and they shall have therein purified mates and they will live therein forever. Indeed Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable even of a mosquito or so much more when it is bigger than it. Allah describes the attitudes towards the Qur an. We just started our journey through the Qur an. Allah warns us that here will be some examples in this Qur an which we might not understand instantly like people say I don t understand the point of this, why has Allah said this over here . Allah warns us as for those who believe they know that it is the truth from their Lord. This is a warning. When you read the Qur an and if you can t understand something instantly our instant response it should not be a critical one, it should not be a mocking one, it should be one of acceptance and humility. By it he misleads many and many he guides thereby. And he misleads thereby only those who are disobedient to Allah. If you think about it, only those people who don t want to obey Allah will be

trying to pick faults in the Qur an. You know I would like to obey Allah but i don t understand that bit in the Qur an and until I don t i m not going to act upon it. Allah says its just an excuse that they face because they are disobeying Allah. How are they disobeying Allah. Those who break Allah s covenant after ratifying it. What is Allah s covenant? We know from the Qur an that before creation, all the spirits were gathered together and Allah swt asked all of us Am i not your Lord? And we all affirmed balaa, indeed you are our Lord . Now we might not bear conscious memory of this pact so when we came into this world Allah swt sent the Prophet pbuh to remind us of this pact and when we say La ilaha illallah we are actually reaffirming that pact which we have already taken. Allah says those people, who are the fasiqeen who are those who disobey Allah - who break La ilaha illallah who don t follow the commands of Allah alone, they are busy following their own desires and they break that which Allah has ordered to be joined. What is this in reference to? People who cut ties of relationships. Prophet Muhammad pbuh said Deen is wellwishing . Beautifully both the rights of Allah and the rights of other people upon us. Someone who hurts Allah will inevitably end up hurting or injuring the rights of other people aswell. Someone who is disobeying Allah, who is not listening to Allah is not just harming Allah s rights, he will end up violating human s rights aswell. And they create mischief in the land, they create disorder, corruption wherever they go. It is they who are the losers. How ironical- people who pride themselves on their sophistication when they say I do not need the Qur an, we do not need Allah and they think they are really sophisticated. Allah says it is they who are the losers. Now we have read about the fourth category of mankind. Now lets stop, take a look. Which category do we come under? Everyone should be worried about themselves rather than passing judgment on others. Are we the muttaqeen or is it the kafireen or the munafiqeen or god forbid the fasieqeen. Allah asks us, how can you disbelieve in Allah, how can you disobey Allah seeing as you were dead and he gave you life and then he will give you death and then again will bring you to life then to him you will return. How does man get the temerity to disobey Allah when it is Allah that is the source of his life and the source of his death. It is Allah that created for you all that is on Earth then he rose towards the heavens and made them seven heavens he is the all knower of everything. Now Allah tells us the most beautiful story of our creation, the story of Adam AS. See right in the beginning of the Qur an, Allah swt tells us about our ancestor. Remember when your Lord said to the angels Your Lord..it is a moment of intimacy with Allah, bonding with Allah. Indeed i am going to place generations after generations on earth. They said will you place those who will make mischief therein and shed blood while we glorify you with praises and give thanks and sanctify you and Allah said i know that which you do not know. Now when Allah swt announced to the angels that I am going to create man on earth, Allah meant by that that man will be given free will, will be given the choice of obeying or disobeying Allah. Now the angels instant response was why do you need man when we are there for your ibadah. Allah swt says i know that which you do not know. Now from this we learn that Adam AS and his subsequent descendants were going to fulfil a purpose which was deeper than that of the angels. What was the need for man when the angels were doing Allah s tasbih all the time. Allah says i know that which you do not know.

And Allah taught Adam all the names. Whats names were these? Allah taught Adam AS conceptual thought. In other words Allah taught Adam AS the secrets of the universe. This ayat has awesome implications. We have this concept that if you turn towards Islam, worldly knowledge is haram for you or worldly knowledge is irrelevant. But we learn from this ayat that the first knowledge taught to Adam AS was knowledge of the universe, knowledge of the world as you can call it. Why, why was this knowledge given to Adam AS? To teach us that ibadah is not just prayers, its not just fasting and dhikr thats an aspect of ibadah but another aspect of ibadah is discovering the secrets of this universe so we can appreciate Allah swt s glory even more so understanding of Allah swt is enriched. The angels were fulfilling that aspect they were doing tasbih and dhikr, why then did the need for Adam AS arise? So Adam AS, and his descendants and generations could discover Allah swt s glory by exploring this universe. Then he showed them to the angels and said tell me the names of these if you are truthful . The angels said Subhanaka glory be to you. We have no knowledge except what you have taught us . Indeed it is you the all knower, the all wise. He said O Adam, inform them of their names and when he had informed them of their names Allah said Did I not tell you that I know the unseen in the heavens and the earth and i know what you reveal and what you have been concealing. And remember when we said to the angels Prostrate yourselves before Adam what a moment of honour for all mankind. Why was mankind declared Ashratul makhlooqaat because of this worldly knowledge- when man worships Allah all the more because of that worldly knowledge he possesses his ibadat becomes evenmore precious in Allah s eyes. And they prostrated except Shaytaan he refused and was arrogant and was one of the disbelievers Look at the sequence of the words he refused we think about when we refuse to obey Allah, when we refuse to obey any one of Allah s commands whether it is salat or giving up backbiting or whetever it is. He refused thus he was arrogant, thus he became one of the kafireen. All three are linked. And we said O Adam dwell you and your wife in Jannah this is equality of the sexes here not that O Adam you can go wherever you like but your wife can only go certain places. Both of you dwell in Jannah and eat both of you, freely with pleasure and delight of the things therein and wherever you will but come not near this tree or you will both be of the wrongdoers. Really this sojourn in jannah embodies or symbolises their sojourn in dunya. This is Islamic positive thinking. Everything is halal, everything is allowed, except a few things which are forbidden. Everything in jannah was halal, only one tree was forbidden. The same applies for this worldly sojourn of ours everything is halal, only a few things are forbidden. Why are they forbidden? As a test for us. Shaytaan made them both slip from there and got them out from that in which they were. Again Allah swt negates the concept, the Christian concept of Eve the temptress it wasn t that shaytaan tempted Eve and then she tempted Adam, no Shaytaan made them both slip therefrom and got them out from that in which they were. We said get you down all with enmity between yourselves, on earth will be a dwelling place for you and an enjoyment for a time. Then Adam AS received from his lord, words and Allah forgave him, his Lord forgave him. Indeed it is Allah the one who forgives, the most merciful.

After this disobedience, after Adam AS disobeyed Allah, look at the mercy Allah showed to all of us, then Adam received from his Lord forgiveness ...words...which words were there? Rabbana Dhalamna anfusina wa il lam taghfir lana wa tarhamna lana kuna minal -khasireen . O our Lord we have wronged ourselves and if you do not forgive us and you do not have mercy on us then we shall surely be of the losers. Allah says and then I forgave him. See Allah is teaching us if you make a mistake. If you slip, ask my forgiveness and I will forgive you. As Allah tells us in a hadith qudsi O my slaves you sin day and night but I forgive all sins so ask my forgiveness, I will definitely forgive you . One very important lesson we learn from this story is the difference between man and shaytaan. When man sins and he repents and he turns to Allah, Allah forgives him. Shaytaan also made a mistake but shaytaan did not repent. Now we can think about it whom do we wish to emulate? Adam AS or shaytaan when he was arrogant. Allah says we said Get down all of you from this place then whenever there comes to you guidance from me and whoever follows my guidance there shall be no fear on them, nor shall they grieve. This is a promise of divine guidance. See Allah s rahma upon man. He doesn t say alright Adam because you sinned you are going to suffer for it. Allah forgives him and Allah tells him that for your future generations there will be divine guidance and this Qur an that we are reading today is the fulfilment of that promise. Whoever follows my guidance, not just reads it or recites it once every Ramadan, whoeever follows my guidance, acts upon it, conveys it, no fears and no grief. And Allah says and those who disbelieve and they belie our signs, such are the dwellers of the fire they shall abide therein forever.