WEBVTT

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In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

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"The Gentle Commentary on the Profile Cards

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of the Surahs of the Noble Qur'an,"

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by Dr. Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn 'Umar Nassif,

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may Allah preserve him.

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Surah at-Takathur.

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In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful.

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All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation,

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and peace and blessings be upon the seal of His prophets

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and messengers,

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and upon all his family and Companions.

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We continue with our gentle commentary on the profile cards,

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and we arrive at Surah at-Takathur.

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I have three reflections regarding it.

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The first reflection concerns whether it is Madinan

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or Meccan.

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The book states

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that it is Madinan according to the preferred view.

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The "preferred view" here refers to

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the book relied upon for this section of the work,

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or rather for this section of the Qur'an.

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For the first part of the Qur'an,

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up to Surah al-Isra',

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he relied on an academic thesis from the Islamic University,

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and for the second part, I relied on the thesis that completed

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the project of verifying the Meccan and Madinan surahs

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at the Islamic University.

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In the second section—

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and this surah falls in the second section—

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it is deemed Madinan according to what was preferred.

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Meanwhile, regarding the chronological order of its revelation, you will find

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that it was revealed after Surah al-Kawthar

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and before Surah al-Ma'un.

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Scholars note that this ordering is based on it being Meccan,

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as it is considered the fifteenth surah revealed.

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This is the well-known view:

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being fifteenth in revelation

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means it could not have been in Madinah.

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In truth, this issue

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requires further research

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to reach a definitive conclusion.

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That is because the researcher

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whose thesis I relied upon,

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may Allah preserve him,

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examined this issue

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and favored the view that it is Madinan

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based on the words of Imam as-Suyuti,

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which themselves require scrutiny,

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especially since he might be

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bound by a prior consensus.

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Thus, Imam as-Suyuti's

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evidence may not be sufficient.

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In any case, it requires

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an independent study;

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perhaps someone will undertake it—

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a specialist in Tafsir

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or Qur'anic sciences—

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who can investigate the Meccan or Madinan status

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of Surah at-Takathur

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with an exhaustive study

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on this nuanced issue.

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As for the second reflection,

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it pertains to the condition

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described in this surah

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in a severe manner,

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which is *at-takathur* (rivalry in worldly increase).

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We also notice that it is a surah

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with a single unifying theme,

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and this theme is an incurable

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disease that afflicts humanity.

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This ailment has been described

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in a truly alarming way,

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as He says: "Competition for worldly increase diverts you,

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until you visit the graveyards."

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Visiting the graveyards has not yet occurred;

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people have not yet died.

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The standard expression would ordinarily be:

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"Competition will divert you,

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until you visit the graveyards."

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Yet He used the past tense

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to signal that once a person

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is afflicted by this disease,

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they rarely break free from it;

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rather, it persists

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with them until they visit the graves.

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This visit to the graves,

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while the sickness still grips the person,

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is an almost inevitable outcome,

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except for those whom Allah protects.

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As for the third reflection,

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it concerns the cure.

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I emphasize that the Qur'an is a healing:

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it does not merely identify the disease,

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but also provides you with the cure.

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So what is the cure?

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The cure lies in His saying:

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"If only you knew with the knowledge of certainty..."

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This conditional particle "if only" (*law*)

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requires an apodosis (a conclusion),

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which the scholars have inferred, saying:

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“Nay, would that ye knew (now) with a sure knowledge!” (102:5)

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"Competition in worldly increase would not have diverted you."

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Thus,

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desisting from this distraction

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comes through the knowledge of certainty.

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And the knowledge of certainty

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was interpreted by some of the Tabi'un

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to mean

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that one knows that Allah

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will resurrect him after death.

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A person's knowledge

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that Allah will resurrect him after death

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is an indispensable knowledge for every Muslim.

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Yet we find many

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Muslims who are diverted by rivalry in worldly increase.

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So what is the core issue?

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The issue is that this knowledge

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must become a deeply rooted certainty

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within the soul,

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firm and established,

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actively impacting one's behavior.

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This cannot happen merely by knowing of

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the Resurrection,

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rather than deeply internalizing it.

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You know it conceptually, but you must truly understand it;

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there is a vast difference between simply hearing information

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and studying it,

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pondering it,

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and delving deeply into it

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until it begins to govern

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your actions—only then

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will rivalry in worldly increase cease to divert you.

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I ask Allah to enlighten our insight

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and grant us success in doing

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what He loves and is pleased with.

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And Allah knows best. May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our Prophet Muhammad

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and upon all his family and Companions.

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And all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation.