Part of The Story of Our Mother Hawwa (Eve) (series completed)
· Lesson 21 of 27
The story of our mother Eve | Episode (21) | O Eve, remember God’s covenant
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
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The story of our mother Hawwa (Eve).
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O Hawwa, remember the covenant of Allah.
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O Hawwa.
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This is the third instance in which the story of our mother Hawwa is mentioned.
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The first is in Surah al-Baqarah.
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The second is in Surah al-A'raf.
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And the third is in Surah Taha.
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Allah has willed that the hadith be about this third section.
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At the beginning of the last ten days.
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Which is the third third of Ramadan.
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And such are the days.
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They pass swiftly without us even noticing.
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The fortunate one is he who seizes them in a way that pleases Allah the Almighty.
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May Allah make me and you, O Hawwa, among the fortunate.
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Allah the Almighty said:
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“And verily We made a covenant of old with Adam, but he forgot, and We found no constancy in him.” (20:115)
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“And verily We made a covenant of old with Adam, but he forgot, and We found no constancy in him.” (20:115)
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"And when We said to the angels,"
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"Prostrate to Adam, so they prostrated,"
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"except for Iblis; he refused."
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"So We said, 'O Adam,'"
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“Therefor we said: O Adam! This is an enemy unto thee and unto thy wife, so let him not drive you both out of the Garden so that thou come to toil.” (20:117)
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“Therefor we said: O Adam! This is an enemy unto thee and unto thy wife, so let him not drive you both out of the Garden so that thou come to toil.” (20:117)
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“It is (vouchsafed) unto thee that thou hungerest not therein nor art naked,” (20:118)
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"'Indeed, it is [promised] for you not to be hungry therein nor to be unclothed.'"
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"Then Satan whispered to him,"
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“But the devil whispered to him, saying: O Adam! Shall I show thee the tree of immortality and power that wasteth not away?” (20:120)
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"'and a kingdom that does not deteriorate.'"
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"So they both ate of it, and their private parts became apparent to them,"
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"and they began to fasten together"
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"over themselves from the leaves of Paradise."
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“Then they twain ate thereof, so that their shame became apparent unto them, and they began to hide by heaping on themselves some of the leaves of the Garden. And Adam disobeyed his Lord, so went astray.” (20:121)
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"Then his Lord chose him and turned to him in forgiveness and guided [him]."
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“He said: Go down hence, both of you, one of you a foe unto the other. But when there come unto you from Me a guidance, then whoso followeth My guidance, he will not go astray nor come to grief.” (20:123)
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"'...each of you an enemy to the other.'"
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"'And if there should come to you guidance from Me,'"
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"'then whoever follows My guidance...'"
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“He said: Go down hence, both of you, one of you a foe unto the other. But when there come unto you from Me a guidance, then whoso followeth My guidance, he will not go astray nor come to grief.” (20:123)
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“But he who turneth away from remembrance of Me, his will be a narrow life, and I shall bring him blind to the assembly on the Day of Resurrection.” (20:124)
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“But he who turneth away from remembrance of Me, his will be a narrow life, and I shall bring him blind to the assembly on the Day of Resurrection.” (20:124)
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“But he who turneth away from remembrance of Me, his will be a narrow life, and I shall bring him blind to the assembly on the Day of Resurrection.” (20:124)
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"He will say, 'My Lord, why have You raised me blind,'"
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"'while I was [once] seeing?'"
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“He will say: So (it must be). Our revelations came unto thee but thou didst forget them. In like manner thou art forgotten this Day.” (20:126)
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"So he forgot it."
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"And likewise, today you will be forgotten."
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“Thus do We reward him who is prodigal and believeth not the revelations of his Lord; and verily the doom of the Hereafter will be sterner and more lasting.” (20:127)
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“Thus do We reward him who is prodigal and believeth not the revelations of his Lord; and verily the doom of the Hereafter will be sterner and more lasting.” (20:127)
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“Thus do We reward him who is prodigal and believeth not the revelations of his Lord; and verily the doom of the Hereafter will be sterner and more lasting.” (20:127)
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At the beginning of this passage
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of the story of our mother Hawwa,
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our Lord, Glory be to Him, mentions the covenant He made with Adam,
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and Hawwa was a follower in that.
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And Adam’s forgetting of this covenant,
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and the consequence resulting from this forgetfulness.
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So what is this covenant that Allah made with Adam?
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Al-Tahir Ibn 'Ashur, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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This covenant is what is clarified in the verse by His saying:
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“Therefor we said: O Adam! This is an enemy unto thee and unto thy wife, so let him not drive you both out of the Garden so that thou come to toil.” (20:117)
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This covenant was after Iblis refused to prostrate to Adam,
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and before Adam entered Paradise.
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Abu Zahra, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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The meaning is the covenant of Allah the Almighty to Adam before Satan whispered to him.
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This covenant is the command and obligation of Allah,
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even if it was not in a realm of religious obligation.
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Every command from Allah the Almighty is a covenant between the servant and his Lord.
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Yes, O Hawwa,
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every command from Allah the Almighty is a covenant between the servant and his Lord.
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Whoever adheres to the commands of Allah the Almighty preserves his covenant,
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and whoever neglects them neglects the covenant.
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The first step in keeping the covenant is the resolve of the heart.
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If you, O Hawwa, are truly resolved from the depths of your heart,
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the effect of this resolve will appear in your adherence to the commands of your Lord.
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Ibn Jarir al-Tabari, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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The root of resolve is the heart's firm belief in a matter.
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It is said that so-and-so resolved to do such-and-such if he firmly believed in it and intended it.
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Among the beliefs of the heart is preserving a thing, and from this is patience regarding a thing.
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For no one panics except due to the frailty and weakness of his heart.
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If that is the case,
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then there is no meaning more profound than what Allah the Blessed and Exalted explained,
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which is His saying: "And We did not find in him resolve," so its interpretation is:
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We did not find in him the resolve of a heart to fulfill his covenant with Allah,
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nor to preserve what was entrusted to him.
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True resolve is the firm determination to act without hesitation.
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So how do you find your resolve regarding the commands of Allah?
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O Hawwa, this does not mean
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that you turn into an angel who never errs.
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Rather, the intent is for the resolve of your heart to be sound.
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So if you fall into forgetfulness, which is the nature of man,
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then hasten to seek pardon and forgiveness,
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just as your mother Hawwa did with our father Adam.
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Al-Sa'di, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"And We had already taken a promise from Adam," and We commanded him,
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and We made a covenant with him to fulfill it.
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So he adhered to it, submitted to it, and complied,
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and he resolved to carry it out.
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Yet, he forgot what he was commanded to do,
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and his firm resolve was broken,
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so what happened to him happened.
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Thus, he became a lesson for his descendants,
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and their natures became like his nature.
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Adam forgot, so his descendants forgot;
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he erred, so they erred.
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He did not remain steadfast on the confirmed resolve,
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and they are likewise.
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But he hastened to repent from his sin,
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and he confessed and acknowledged it,
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so he was forgiven.
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And whoever resembles his father has done no wrong.
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And take note, O Hawwa,
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that the meaning of forgetfulness here
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is the forgetting of the covenant,
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not the innate forgetfulness
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which is the loss of something from the memory.
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The difference is that forgetting the covenant of Allah
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causes you to fall into disobedience intentionally,
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and you are punished for it.
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As for innate forgetfulness,
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the human is not punished for it.
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And al-Tahir Ibn 'Ashur, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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"Forgetfulness"
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is used here to mean neglecting the work
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of the covenant intentionally.
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So what is required of you, O Hawwa,
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is to train the soul to hold fast to the covenant of Allah,
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to adhere to His commands,
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and to control the desires and passions of the soul
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with the constraints of the divine covenant.
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Sayyid Qutb, may Allah have mercy on him, said:
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And the covenant of Allah to Adam
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was to eat from all the fruits
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except for one tree,
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which represents the prohibition that is necessary
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for training the will and affirming the personality,
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and for liberating oneself from the desires and passions of the soul,
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to the extent that it preserves for the human spirit
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the freedom to break away from necessities
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when it so desires,
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so that desires do not enslave or overpower it.
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And this is the scale that does not err in measuring
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human advancement.
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For the more capable the soul is of controlling its desires,
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and mastering them and rising above them,
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the higher it is on the ladder of human advancement.
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And the more it weakens before desire and collapses,
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the closer it is to bestiality and the lower levels.
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And this is the advancement to which we invite you,
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not the false advancement spoken of by the disobedient and the wicked,
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those suffering from psychological defeat,
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those walking in the footsteps of imitation and subservience to the disbelieving West,
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which rebels against the command of Allah.
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We will continue in the next meeting, if Allah wills.
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And praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds.
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The story of our mother Hawwa.