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Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen. Wasalatu wassalamu ala ashrafil anbiya wal mursaleen. Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Tasliman kathiran kathira.
Amma ba’du.
My brothers and sisters, we were talking about the importance of studying Islam systematically. Not randomly. Not on the basis of our own understanding of the Kalam of Allah. The Kalam of Allah was sent, and with the Kalam was sent a teacher: Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ. And this was done for a group of people for whom the Quran came in their own language. They were the linguists of the time. If there was anyone who could have said, “We can understand it by ourselves; we do not need a teacher,” those would be the people. But they did not say that because they understood and realized that to understand the Quran al-Karim, you need the teacher to teach you.
Now, there are people today—and for literally centuries, which is nothing new—who believe that they don’t need teachers. So they do a lot of what they like to call free thinking in the Quran. They take an ayah and then derive their own meanings. And they say, “This is what Allah said.” “This is what Allah means.”
I remind myself and you that we enter this religion by speaking one sentence. That’s all. You believe that in your heart, and then you say it: Ashadu an la ilaha illa Allah, wa ashadu anna Muhammadan Rasool Allah. That’s it.
Words are that important. That one phrase or one sentence is the difference between Jannah and Jahannam. The one who believes that and says it is in Jannah. The one who does not believe that is in Jahannam. So that one phrase—it’s words. It’s only words.
But those words are extremely, extremely important. Similarly, just as we enter Islam by speaking a few words, you can also leave Islam in the same way. By saying the wrong thing, by believing the wrong thing. And when you leave Islam, even though you would have left Islam, even though you are headed there, if you don’t make istighfar and tawbah before you die, then you will end up in Jahannam. There will be no physical change. You will not grow a set of horns or a tail or something. You will be the same way as you were. Nobody else will know except Allah.
And that is why it is so important to be very clear in terms of what we say concerning Allah and His Rasool. In Surah Al-Hujurat, Allah specifically and clearly mentioned in the first two ayat: “Do not even raise your voice above the voice of the Nabi.” Right? Fawqa thawati nabi. Allah said, do not raise your voice above the voice of the Nabi. And Allah said, if you do that, Allah will wipe out your deeds. And you will not even know, just by raising your voice over the voice of the Rasool. Now, if raising your voice—just the volume—can result in completely wiping out all your deeds, what do you say about somebody who speaks against the Prophet? Or who says that the teaching of the Rasool is unimportant, we don’t need it, the hadiths we don’t believe, they are not required? So be extremely careful.
Now, this issue of reflecting on the Quran and free thinking in the Quran: somebody sent me this thought. That we should take one ayah from the Quran every day and think about it, talk about it, and so on. He quoted an ayah from Surah Al-Baqarah where Allah said, “Verily, Allah is not ashamed to set forth a parable, even of a mosquito, or so much more when it is bigger or less than it is. And as for those who believe, they know that it is the truth from their Rabb. But as for those who disbelieve, they know that it is the truth from their Rabb.” Wait, let me rephrase that part carefully based on the text provided. The speaker quotes: “And he misleads many, and many he guides thereby, and he misleads thereby only those who are al-fasiqun, who are rebellious and disobedient to Allah.” Ya yuhdee bihi ilaahu wa ya yuhdee bhihi kathira, wa yuzzilubhihi kathira, waha yuzzalubhihi illa al-fasiqun. Allah mentioned this in Surah Al-Baqarah.
Now, the intention of this may be good—in the sense of an intention of parts that need to be replaced, differing from putting aside time to let us sit and take one ayah of the Quran and reflect on it and talk about it. But as they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And that is why it is very necessary to reflect carefully before suggesting anything to do with the Quran and Sunnah.
So let me… I’m not discouraging anyone from studying the Quran, but I’m emphasizing that it is serious business. It is not your social life. It is not something that you do because in your spare time, because you have nothing better to do. It is necessary to understand that the Quran and study of the Quran comes bound by principles and safety procedures, which if not followed can lead to disaster. Ironically, the Dalil against free thinking and speculating in the Quran—and what passes for reflection by people who are not trained in the ‘Ulum of the Quran—is the very ayah which is quoted, which he quoted in Surah Al-Baqarah, which warns against doing it.
So let me try to explain some of the dangers in this. Allahﷻ, as I mentioned, sent Rasulullah ﷺ, and He said the ayah, Surah Al-Alameen: “Laqad banna Allahu ‘ala al-mu’mineena idh ba’sa fihim rasulan min anfusihim yatlo ‘alayhim ayatihi wa yuzakkeehim wa yu’allimuhul kitaba wal hikmata.” In this ayah, Allahﷻ said that Allah has blessed the believers and conferred a great favor on them when He sent among them a messenger, Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, from among themselves, reciting unto them His ayat—meaning the ayat of Allahﷻ, the Quran—and purifying them from sins, and instructing them in the Kitab, teaching them the Quran, and al-Hikmah, the wisdom and Sunnah of Rasulullah Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. While before that they had been in zulumat, just error. So Allahﷻ called the sending of His Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam a great favor on the believers. He did not call His Kalam a great favor. Instead, He called the coming of the teacher of the Kalam a great favor. Right?
Allahﷻ mentioned in Surah Al-Furqan: “Nazalal furqana ‘ala ‘Abdi liya’lam yakuna lil’alameena nazira.” Allah sent Al-Furqan, the Quran, on His Nabi Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. The Kalam of Allah was sent to the Nabi so that he could warn the worlds—which is the Insan and the Jinn—and warn them from Shirk, and warn them from doing things which will take them into Jannah. So Allahﷻ did not say that the fact that the Kalam is in the language of the people—that that is a great honor on them—but He said that the fact that the Messenger Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is from them is a great honor for them.
Allahﷻ didn’t send His Book in the language of the people, which they could read and understand far better than any of us can do today. And He did not say to them, “Reflect on this on your own and draw your own conclusions.” Allah did not say this. Allah says, “Send a teacher with the Kitab” and told him to do these four things in this ayah in Surah Al-An’am: recite for them the ayat which have been revealed to you; purify them—prepare them to receive those ayat because the Kalam of Allah is not something which will go into a place which is the heart if it is not pure; teach them the ayat, which is the spirit of the ayat, the means, meaning the Ahkaam; and then teach them the wisdom behind these ayat, that is the Sunnah, and teach them how to implement this in their lives. So we are not looking at social activity. We are looking at…
This is a very serious study curriculum, and that is a very important thing to understand. Therefore, we must realize that reflection must be done in the light of acceptance, not in the light of independent thought. We have to accept that we are not the ones who have accepted and recognized tafsir; this recognition comes from someone who has first learned the usool of tafsir. Otherwise, shaitan can mislead a person, raising doubts and questions in the mind that can lead to kufr. I have seen this happening. I have seen people who were very pious, very good, and very knowledgeable with huge knowledge, but somewhere they got deviated, and shaitan took them clean out of the religion. They became murtad. They left the religion, and God knows how many people they also misguided because of their own misguidance, causing others to follow them. So it is very, very important that we go to a teacher and study under a teacher. There is a tendency in some people to say, “This is what my heart tells me,” or “This is what makes sense to me,” or “In my opinion.” Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala warns us against speaking without knowledge, and He called it the worst of all sins because this is the foundation of all evil, all shirk, and all haram comes out of speaking without knowledge. To put forward your opinion in opposition to what Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala revealed or what Rasulullah ﷺ said is kufr.
Allah said: Say to them, O Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, “The things that my Rabb has indeed forbidden are fawahish, which is all forms of promiscuity, shamelessness, evil sins, whether committed openly or secretly; sins of all kinds; unrighteous oppression; joining partners with Allah for which He has given no authority; and saying things about Allah of which you have no knowledge.” The biggest danger of this free thinking and speculation is to say things about Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala and His kalam that are purely out of our own limited understanding. There is no evidence in Islam, from the Sahaba onwards, of free thinking and reflection on the Quran without the guidance of an ustad. So if somebody is doing that, then this is something which is not from Islam, and which is definitely not recommended. I ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to help us, and we will continue more tomorrow insha’Allah. I ask Allah to help us stay on the right path, the path of guidance which Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala gave us, and to follow Rasulullah ﷺ in all that we say and do, so we do not get misguided and fall into the trap of free thinking and “my opinion” and “my heart tells me,” all of which is from shaytan. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala to help us. We ask Allah to protect us from that, to be pleased with us, and never to be displeased. Wa sallallahu ala nabiyyil kareem wa ala alihi wa sahbihi ajmain bi rahmatika ya Rahman Rahimeen, walhamdulillahi Rabbil ‘Alamin.