1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,200 In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. 2 00:00:03,200 --> 00:00:08,199 A summary of the Tafsir of al-Tabari. 3 00:00:08,199 --> 00:00:12,789 Abridged by Dr. 'Aqil ibn Salim al-Shammari. 4 00:00:12,789 --> 00:00:16,280 Surah al-Najm. 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:22,149 In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. 6 00:00:22,149 --> 00:00:25,550 By the star when it descends. 7 00:00:25,550 --> 00:00:29,350 “Your comrade erreth not, nor is deceived;” (53:2) 8 00:00:29,350 --> 00:00:32,500 And by the Pleiades when they set. 9 00:00:32,899 --> 00:00:37,500 Your companion, O people, has not deviated from the truth, nor has he strayed from it. 10 00:00:37,500 --> 00:00:40,899 Rather, he is upon uprightness and correctness. 11 00:00:40,899 --> 00:00:43,100 He has not become misguided. 12 00:00:43,100 --> 00:00:46,829 Rather, he is rightly guided and sound. 13 00:00:46,829 --> 00:00:50,829 “Nor doth he speak of (his own) desire.” (53:3) 14 00:00:50,829 --> 00:00:55,880 “It is naught save an inspiration that is inspired,” (53:4) 15 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,880 Muhammad does not speak this Qur'an out of personal desire. 16 00:01:00,079 --> 00:01:04,079 This Qur'an is nothing but a revelation from Allah, revealed to him. 17 00:01:05,209 --> 00:01:08,209 He was taught by one intense in strength. 18 00:01:08,209 --> 00:01:11,810 He, the angel, stood poised. 19 00:01:11,810 --> 00:01:14,810 While he was in the highest horizon. 20 00:01:14,810 --> 00:01:18,409 Then he approached and descended. 21 00:01:18,409 --> 00:01:22,209 And was at a distance of two bow lengths or nearer. 22 00:01:22,209 --> 00:01:26,209 “And He revealed unto His slave that which He revealed.” (53:10) 23 00:01:26,810 --> 00:01:30,250 He taught Muhammad, peace be upon him, 24 00:01:30,250 --> 00:01:33,250 this Qur'an—meaning Gabriel, peace be upon him. 25 00:01:33,650 --> 00:01:35,650 He is intense in his faculties, 26 00:01:35,650 --> 00:01:37,849 possessing physical health and soundness, 27 00:01:37,849 --> 00:01:40,450 free from defects and infirmities. 28 00:01:40,450 --> 00:01:42,650 Then he, the one intense in strength, stood poised, 29 00:01:42,650 --> 00:01:46,650 while your companion, Muhammad, was at the highest horizon of the sunrise. 30 00:01:46,650 --> 00:01:51,849 This occurred when the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, was taken on the Night Journey. 31 00:01:51,849 --> 00:01:56,250 Then Gabriel approached Muhammad, peace be upon him. 32 00:01:56,250 --> 00:01:58,250 Gabriel descended toward him. 33 00:01:58,250 --> 00:02:01,650 At a distance of two bow lengths or closer. 34 00:02:01,650 --> 00:02:06,049 Then Gabriel revealed to His servant, Muhammad, peace be upon him, 35 00:02:06,049 --> 00:02:09,319 what his Lord had revealed to him. 36 00:02:09,319 --> 00:02:13,639 The heart did not deny what it saw. 37 00:02:13,639 --> 00:02:16,240 The heart of Muhammad did not deny 38 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:19,639 what he saw; rather, he confirmed it. 39 00:02:19,639 --> 00:02:23,439 What his heart saw was the Lord of the worlds. 40 00:02:23,439 --> 00:02:27,039 He saw Him with his heart, not with his physical eyes. 41 00:02:27,039 --> 00:02:28,439 It has also been said: 42 00:02:28,439 --> 00:02:31,639 Rather, what his heart saw—and did not deny—was 43 00:02:31,639 --> 00:02:34,710 Gabriel, peace be upon him. 44 00:02:34,710 --> 00:02:38,310 “Will ye then dispute with him concerning what he seeth?” (53:12) 45 00:02:38,310 --> 00:02:41,909 And he certainly saw him in another descent, 46 00:02:41,909 --> 00:02:46,110 at the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, 47 00:02:46,110 --> 00:02:51,560 near which is the Garden of Refuge. 48 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,759 Do you dispute with Muhammad, O polytheists, regarding what he sees, 49 00:02:55,759 --> 00:02:58,759 of the signs of His Lord that Allah has shown him? 50 00:02:58,960 --> 00:03:01,960 He saw Gabriel in his true form twice: 51 00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:04,159 at the Lote Tree of the Utmost Boundary, 52 00:03:04,159 --> 00:03:07,900 near which is the Garden of Refuge for the martyrs. 53 00:03:07,900 --> 00:03:11,500 “When that which shroudeth did enshroud the lote-tree,” (53:16) 54 00:03:11,500 --> 00:03:15,099 “The eye turned not aside nor yet was overbold.” (53:17) 55 00:03:15,099 --> 00:03:20,610 “Verily he saw one of the greater revelations of his Lord.” (53:18) 56 00:03:20,610 --> 00:03:23,210 “When that which shroudeth did enshroud the lote-tree,” (53:16) 57 00:03:23,210 --> 00:03:25,810 It was covered by golden moths. 58 00:03:25,810 --> 00:03:27,009 It has also been said: 59 00:03:27,009 --> 00:03:31,210 That which covered it was the Lord of Might and His angels. 60 00:03:31,210 --> 00:03:35,810 The gaze of Muhammad did not swerve right or left from what he saw, 61 00:03:35,810 --> 00:03:39,009 nor did he exceed what he was commanded in the slightest. 62 00:03:39,009 --> 00:03:41,009 Muhammad saw there 63 00:03:41,009 --> 00:03:45,840 the greatest signs and proofs of his Lord. 64 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:49,439 So have you considered al-Lat and al-'Uzza, 65 00:03:49,439 --> 00:03:52,840 and Manat, the third one, the other? 66 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:57,240 “Are yours the males and His the females?” (53:21) 67 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:02,240 That is then an unjust division. 68 00:04:28,199 --> 00:04:32,199 And for Allah is the female, while for yourselves is what you desire? 69 00:04:32,199 --> 00:04:37,199 This division of yours is an unfair and unequal division, 70 00:04:37,199 --> 00:04:39,199 deficient and incomplete. 71 00:04:39,199 --> 00:04:44,959 “They are but names which ye have named, ye and your fathers, for which Allah hath revealed no warrant. They follow but a guess and that which (they) themselves desire. And now the guidance from their Lord hath come unto them.” (53:23) 72 00:04:44,959 --> 00:04:56,959 You have named them, you and your forefathers. 73 00:04:56,959 --> 00:05:01,959 Allah has not sent down any authority for them. 74 00:05:01,959 --> 00:05:05,959 They follow nothing but assumption 75 00:05:05,959 --> 00:05:08,959 and what their souls desire. 76 00:05:08,959 --> 00:05:14,959 “They are but names which ye have named, ye and your fathers, for which Allah hath revealed no warrant. They follow but a guess and that which (they) themselves desire. And now the guidance from their Lord hath come unto them.” (53:23) 77 00:05:14,959 --> 00:05:18,540 These names that you have given them, 78 00:05:18,540 --> 00:05:20,540 namely al-Lat, al-'Uzza, 79 00:05:20,540 --> 00:05:22,540 and Manat, the third one, the other, 80 00:05:22,540 --> 00:05:25,540 are nothing but names you have invented, 81 00:05:25,540 --> 00:05:29,540 you and your forefathers, O you who associate partners with Allah. 82 00:05:29,540 --> 00:05:33,540 Allah has not sent down any proof for you regarding these names, 83 00:05:33,540 --> 00:05:36,540 nor has Allah permitted that for you. 84 00:05:36,540 --> 00:05:40,540 These polytheists follow nothing regarding these names 85 00:05:40,540 --> 00:05:43,540 except assumption and the desires of their own souls. 86 00:05:43,540 --> 00:05:46,540 And there has certainly come to these polytheists, 87 00:05:46,540 --> 00:05:50,540 from their Lord, the clarification that their worship is not appropriate. 88 00:05:50,540 --> 00:05:56,209 Or is there for man whatever he wishes? 89 00:05:56,209 --> 00:06:00,209 Rather, to Allah belongs the Hereafter and the first life. 90 00:06:00,209 --> 00:06:03,879 Or did Muhammad, peace be upon him, desire 91 00:06:03,879 --> 00:06:05,879 prophethood and messengership, 92 00:06:05,879 --> 00:06:07,879 and wish for that, 93 00:06:07,879 --> 00:06:09,879 so his Lord granted it to him? 94 00:06:09,879 --> 00:06:13,879 To Allah belongs everything in the Hereafter and the world. 95 00:06:13,879 --> 00:06:16,879 He gives to whom He wills of His creation what He wills, 96 00:06:16,879 --> 00:06:19,879 and He withholds from whom He wills among them what He wills. 97 00:06:19,879 --> 00:06:25,509 The summary of the Tafsir of al-Tabari.