The Message of The Quran - Part 1_ Surah Baqarah _ Shaykh Dr. Yasir Qadhi

We thank Allah Subhanahu wa ta'alafor every blessing, He has given us.We praise Him for havingrevealed the Quran to us.We thank Him for havingguided us to Islam.We worship Him and we extol Himbecause only He is worthyof unconditional praise.And we send salaat and salaamupon our Prophet MohammedSallallahu alayhi wasalam,the one whom Allah Subhana wa ta'ala choseto reveal his final bookto and send down the bestof all angels, the Angel Jibril to revealto him his chosen speechand we thank Allah Subhanahu wa ta'alafor having gifted us with lifeand for having gifted usthis month of Ramadan.And during this month dearyou brothers and sisters,as has been my habit for the last decade,I'm going to be starting a new series.But this is a seriesthat I am very hesitanteven to begin but I prayed Istikharaand I put my trust inAllah Subhana wa ta'ala.The goal of this projectis very ambitious.It is to summarize the entire messageof the Quran in 30 lessons.And before we begin, I reallydo need to very quickly giveyou a brief methodologyabout the remaining lectures.Obviously, this series iscalled, the Quran in 30 lessons.It is really meant as anoverview, a bird's eye view,a summary, a condensed presentationof the message of the Quran.And is not meant to take the place,not just of the original,nothing can take theplace of the original,but even of any tafsiror any full translation.Rather, my goal in this series is thatthis lecture shouldserve as an introductionand as a motivation foryou to then read the Quran,firstly, in Arabic, thejuz that we're gonna dothe section that we're gonna do,and then Inshalla wa-ta'ala,read the translationof at least one 30th of the Quran.So the goal of this introductory lectureis to entice you Inshalla wa-ta'ala,to give you some backgroundknowledge, so that Inshallahyou can then read the original Arabicand then read anytranslation in your languageso that you have some ideasand some contextualization.And of course, since weare summarizing, of course,we're not gonna go over verse by verse,we're not gonna go over word by word.Rather, we're gonna talkabout motifs and themes,and perhaps one or twoverses, I will contextualizeor point out or maybe correcta common misunderstandingthat might exist.And so do not to make thisinvalid assumption that justbecause I skip over some verses,somehow they are notas relevant as others.Obviously, the entireQuran is equally important.And obviously, we need toread the Quran cover to cover.So this lecture is simply meant,especially for those whohave never read the Quran,or perhaps they are not Muslimyet and they're interestedin the messages over all of the Quran,or perhaps our young men andwomen are teenagers and thosethat they are wantingsome background knowledge.This is really the purposeof the project that I am undertaking.As well, if anybody isaccustomed to listeningto my previous lectures,any lectures that I give,you are typically awarethat it is my stylein other lectures to be pretty exhaustive,to mention various opinions,to go down different tangents.In this series, I will trymy best to really skim overand to really give only one opinion.And what that means is thatsometimes I'm gonna say something,and that's what happensat a beginning level,And it actually is onlyone opinion out of five,and I'm just gonna say it and move on.So please do not assumethat this is the advanceto the exhaustive study,that is for other lectures.And of course this isan ambitious project,I asked Allah Azawajal forhis help and his blessings.And I say even in Arabic,it has rarely been done,where the goal is to justsummarize in just halfour lectures, the entiremessage of the Quran.It's a project that has a lotof pros and a lot of cons,and this is a human attempt from me.So it is bound to havesome errors, some feelings,it is bound to be subjectedto some valid criticismsor alternative paradigms.And for that I ask Allah'sforgiveness first and foremost,and then the readers andthe listeners indulgence.My goal really, my goal is tointroduce a summarized messageof the Quran to anEnglish speaking audience,and especially to our young men and womenwho perhaps haven't read the entire Quran.Perhaps they won't begiven that opportunityor they're not interested right now,through these series of lectures,my goal is to entice them,my goal is to make them feel enthusedto go read the entireQuran cover to cover,and I ask Allah Subhana wata'ala for his blessingsand guidance, and Iask for his forgivenessfor any shortcomings and any mistakes.Now, one other point beforewe get to the recitation,this series is of course in 30 parts,and the division of theQuran into 30 parts,these parts in Arabic arecalled juz the plural is ajza,and in the Urdu or Hindi speaking worldis called para or separa.This division of the Quran into 30 parts,it is a very old division,it originated in Iraq in thesecond century of the Hijra,in the time of the timeof, Tabi'u al-Tabi'unit is not something thatthe Prophet (SAW) didor the Sahabah did, itwas done in early Islamto facilitate readingthe Quran in a month.And so they would divide theQuran into roughly one 30thand they call it a juz so that every dayyou can read one andso that in every monthyou will finish theQuran, and it's useful.However, these divisionsare not divine in nature,they are done by committeesor groups of peoplefrom the past, and it justkind of sort of stayed on.Therefore, in my 30 lecturesthat I'm gonna be giving,while we will be going, bit by bit,we are not going to actuallybe doing specifically one juz.It'll be around a juz, sometimesI'll go little bit more,sometimes I'll go little bit less,sometimes I'll do the entire surah,if it's like a juz and a half,I'll just summarize the entire surah.The point is that we will be progressingthrough the Quran bit by bit,but not necessarily exactlyat the marker of the juz,rather, I'm gonna try my bestto summarize as many surahs as I can,because the surah or thechapter is what is divine.That is what Allahdemarcated, Surat Al-Baqarah,Surah Aal-Imraan, Surat An-Nisaa,that is from Allah subhanho wa ta'ala.And as for these juz markings,they're somewhat randomand there's no problem with them,but the meanings are notmarked by those 30th,it's just a random pointwhere one 30th of the Quran finishes.And one of the things I wasvery eager about in this seriesas well is that because theQuran is the Arabic, eternal,uncreated divine speech ofAllah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,no translation will evertake the place of the Quran,and it is necessary thatwe get even just a glimpseof the beauty of the original,and therefore I'm gonnatry my best Inshallah,that every single day,we're gonna begin our serieswith at least around 10minutes of recitationfrom our Qari Hafiz Sajjad,our Qari here in Dallas,and it's only going tobe a 10 minute selection,and Insha'Allah, the therecitation and the surahand the verse is gonna be on your screen.I strongly encourage andrecommend you to follow alongthat recitation and thento listen to my summary,and then later on inthese nights of Ramadan,when most of us are lockeddown, this is the Ramadan,this is gonna go down in historyas the COVID-19 Ramadan, the Ramadanwhere we spent more time with our familyand more time with the Quran.So the goal is, after this lecturethat you then read theentire juz at least,and then read a translation,so that Insha'Allah,throughout this whole month of Ramadan,you will not only read the Quran,you would have had yourfirst, maybe some of you,your first understandingfor the entire juzthat we're going to be doing a tafsir of.And with that, I'm gonnaask Qari Hafiz Sajjadto recite a selection and ask youto follow along Bismillah Rahman Rahim.(reciting ayahs from the Quran)So this juz is of coursethe beginning of the Quranand we begin with SuratAl-Faatihah, The Opening.And what a beautiful surah it is.Allah Subhanahu wa ta'aladescribes Surat Al-Fatihahas being the seven oft-repeatedverses, Sab'ul Mathani.And Subhanallah, there is nothing inthis entire world that isrecited anywhere near the amountof times that Surat Al-Fatihah is recited.No prayer, no literature,no piece of any statementof any man that is recited as much asthis verse or these versesfrom Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.Every practicing Muslimrecites Surat Al-Faatihaharound two dozen times a day.There are a billion Muslims in the world.Multiply that by 365 days of the year,multiply that for the last 14 centuriesuntil the day of judgment,there is nothing in allof humanity's historythat is recited or has been recitedas much as Surat Al-Faatihah,and that is why Allah callsit Sab'ul Mathani, theseven oft-repeated verses.And Surat Al-Faatihah summarizesour entire purpose of life.We began by praising Allahunconditional Alhamdulillah,and He is the Lord, the ultimate Lordof all of the creationsand we are remindedof His most essential characteristics;He is compassionate, He is merciful.We're reminded that there isan ultimate day of judgment,that this life is notgonna end with our death,but we are going to be resurrectedand that Allah Subhanahuwa ta'ala will judgeus when He resurrects us.And then we are, toldwhat is our purpose here?What are we supposed to do?iyaka na'abudu wa iyyaka nasta'inYou alone, Oh Allah,are we going to worship,and you alone are the onewho's helped we will seek.There is no object in thisentire creation that is worthyof our veneration, ourworship, our servitude,besides you, Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.And no one is there that canhelp me, that can guide me,that whom I can ask besides you.And that is why we worship Himand we seek His help alone,and what is the most importantaspect of help that we want?"Ihdinas Siraat Al Mustaqim"We want to be rightly guided,we want the straight path.This world is full of paths,Allah tells us in the Quran,"Don't follow the wrong paths."There's so many miss-directions.There's so many evil ways,we don't want to go down those ways.We want to go down the straight path,the path that will take us to the pleasureof Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala,the path of the righteous,the path of the prophets,the path of the martyrs,the paths of those who havechosen piety over impiety,that have chosen to worship Allahover living a vice full life.And Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala reminds usby telling us how to askHim, we are given hope.He has spoon fed us thisis what you asked me,because the one who will respondwhen he tells you how toask, then your trust in him,and your optimism for having your answerwill be even higher.So we asked a lot to be guidedto the straight path,"Ihdinas Siraat Al Mustaqim".Which path is that?Siraat Aladheena an'amta 'alayhimIt is the path of thosewhom Allah has blessed,whom Allah has favored,because we don't want the pathof those who intentionally go astray.Those who know the truth and then decideto not take that path,hence they are cursed,hence Allah's anger is on them.Nor do we want the path ofthose who might be sincere,but they're not doing the research.They're not reflecting enough,they're being a little bitnaive, and they're just goingbecause other people are going,they might deep downinside have an elementof sincerity, but we are not cheap.We don't just go where thepeople go, we don't wanna gowhere the people are leading us astray.And that is the path of Daall-leen,where even if theintentions might be good,but they haven't donetafakkur and taddabur,they haven't contemplated, andhence they still go astray.And by saying, Ameen, the meaning of,Ameen is an affirmationof all that has preceded,the meaning of Ameenis to say, Oh Allah allthat I have heard, I wantthis Oh Allah, grant it to me.And so this surah servesas an introductionto our relationship between usand Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.Who is Allah and what is ourjob and our goal in this life?And that is the worship of Allah,and that is constantlywanting to better ourselvesby finding the right path.Of course Surat Al-Baqarah,which we'll now move on to,Surat Al-Baqarah is of coursenamed after the famous storyof Musa telling hispeople to sacrifice a cow.And by the way, the names of the surahsthey are not necessarilydivine, the names of the surahs,we don't really have to read insymbolic or imagery ormetaphorical language.No, it's just a marker.Sometimes that marker was givenby the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,and sometimes the companionsjust decided to name a surah,so it's, the names of the surahs arefor convenience's sake, simple as that.And of course, Surat Al-Baqarahis the longest surah of the Quran,and it contains thesingle most blessed verseof the Quran and that is Ayat al-Kursi,Allahu la ilaha illahuwa, Al-Hayyul-Qayyum.It also has the verses that were givento our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,when he went on the night journey,and Allah Azawajal gifted him directlyfrom under the treasures of His throne,He gifted him something unique.And that is the last twoverses of Surat Al-Baqarah,the Aman-Ar-Rasool sectionor the last two verses.Also Surat Al-Baqarah has the last versethat was ever revealedin the entire Quran,the last verse that was ever revealed,and that is, Wataqu YawmaTurjaona Fihi ilAllah"Be conscious"of the day you shall return to Allah."That was the prediction that Allah toldto our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,that you will be returningback to your Lord.Surat Al-Baqarah is of course,the surah that was first revealedwhen the Prophet (SAW)migrated from Mecca to Medina.It is an early Medani revelation.And this is important becausethe styles of the Quran,they vary from Mecca to Medina,the content of the Quran varies whenit was coming down from Mecca to Medina.The style of the verses, the languages,even sometimes themetaphors that are employed,so it helps us in understanding the Quran,to know where the Quran or which portionof the Quran was revealed where.Also Surat Al-Baqarah hasbeen praised very highlyby the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.Now, does this mean that some sectionsof the Quran are more blessed than others?Yes, actually that is the case.Some sections of the Quranare more blessed than others,even though the whole Quranas a whole is of course,infinitely more blessed than anythingthat any human can say.The Quran is the speech of Allah.And therefore compared to us,the superiority of the speechof Allah over our speech,is similar to thesuperiority of Allah over us.However, within the speech of Allah,certain sections are morepowerful than others.Certain surahs are moreblessed than others,even though the whole Quranis powerful and blessed.And so Surat Al-Baqarah in particular,there are many blessings about this surah,of them is the famous hadiths al-Bukhariand Muslim that our ProphetSallallahu Alaihi Wasallamcommanded us to recite the Quran,and then he said the Quranwill come as an intercessor forthose who recited and thenout of all of the Quran,he said, iqra'u Al-Baqarahta wa Al'Imran"Recite the Surat Al-Baqarah,and Surat Al'Imraan."And then he called them,Zahrawain, the two bright surahs.So he called the Baqarahand Al'Imraan, lamps,illuminating lights, and hesaid, "On the day of judgment,"these two surahs in particular,"they will come like two massive clouds"or two massive flocks ofbirds in ranks pleading"for the one who hasrecited these two surahs."So out of the whole Quran,He then said, "ReciteBaqarah and Al'Imraan."And then He said, Iqra-ul Baqarah,"Recite Baqarah."So then He emphasizedBaqarah over Al'Imraan,and then He said, Iqra-ul Baqarah,Fa inna akhdahu barakah"taking it is gonna be a blessing."tarkuhu hasarah"Leaving Baqarah is goingto cause you a source"of grief and regret."And wa la yastat'eeu hul batala"An evil can never overcomeor confront Surat Al-Baqarah."So these beautiful phrasesof our Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam,"Holding onto Baqarah will bring baraka."Baraka means Allah'sblessings, Allah's favors,and he told us, "Not recitingBaqarah will give us hasra."and hasra means grief, we're gonna be sad.So when we're sad, recitingBaqarah will eliminate the griefbecause by not recitingBaqarah we'll become sad.Therefore, when we aresad, if we recite Baqarah,we will become cheeredup, we will become happy,and our Prophet (SAW) said,"Evil can never conquer Surat Al-Baqarah."Surat Al-Baqarah, of course,because it is so long andbecause it came down inthe early Medina phase,because of its length,there's hardly any topicthat it does not discuss.You can really say Baqarahsummarizes the entire Quran.And it begins by discussingthe three main categories of mankind.All of mankind can be dividedinto three simple categories;those who believe, thosewho choose, not to believe,and these are the Kaffir,and then those who pretend to believe,and these are the hypocrites,and this is the broad category of mankind.Also Surat Al-Baqarahmentions every single aspectof our creed, what we believe.Every aspect of theology ismentioned in Surat Al-Baqarah.In particular, so manyverses about belief in Allahand the proofs of Allah's existenceand the proof of Allah'sultimate dominion and control.Allah says through the Baqarah that,(speaking in foreignlanguage) "O, mankind,"worship your Lord who createdyou and those before you,"who made this earth a vast land"and who made the skiesa towering adornment,"so do not take partners"alongside Allah, worship Allah alone."Allah says in Surat Al-BaqaraWa-ilahukum ilahun wahid,"Your Lord is one Lord,your God is one God,"la ilaha illa huw thereis no God other than Him,"He is the Rahman, the Rahim."And then Allah says, "Lookaround you in the creation"of the heavens and the earth."In the creation of the heavens and earth.In the alternation ofthe night and the day.In the ships that sail in the oceansfor the benefit of mankind.In the rain and the water,that Allah sends downfrom the skies, and it revives the earthafter it had been dead.And it scatters all amongstall types of creatures,in the changing of thewinds in the seasons,in the clouds that are moving around inbetween the heavens and the earth.In all of these signs aremiracles for people who reflect,for people who understand.Allah is saying, "Do you need any evidence"that there is a higher power?"Look at this beautiful world around you."There is hardly any aspect of it,"except that it is screaming the existence"of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala."This surah also tells usto believe in the angels.And in particular, out of thewhole Quran, it is this surahthat mentions the twomost powerful angels,that Allah says is Surat Al-Baqarah,man kana Aaduwwan lijibreelawa Mikaal "Whoever is an enemy"to Jibril and Mikail has takenAllah as an enemy as well."And therefore Jibril and Mikailare mentioned explicitlyby name in this surah.This surah as well tells us to believein the previous prophetsand in their revelations.In fact, on the veryfirst page of the surah,Allah tells us that the believersare those who believe inwhat has been revealed to you,and what has been revealedto those before you.Waladzina min qablikum Sowe are told that we arenot the first nation, our Prophet saysAsma'u is not the first prophet, no!The one who created the first mankindalso sent the first prophet before us.So a part of our theology isthat our theology is not unique.It is not new, it goes backto the beginning of time.We are also told in the surahto believe in the prophets.So many prophets are mentioned,we're gonna go over someof them in the next few minutes.And so we are told of the historiesof previous nations as well.In this surah as well, we aretold about the resurrectionand the judgment and thelinks to the previous lifethat we had with our next life.Allah says in the Quran,"Kayfa takfuroona billah",In Surat Al Baqarah"How can you reject Allah?"How can you deny the existenceof Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala?How can you not worshipGod when you didn't exist,and He created you and He gave you life,then He is the one thatwill cause you to die,and then you shall return to Him.So all of the main pointsof our creed, our belief,are very clearly mentioned in this surah.As well Surat Al-Baqarais a unique surah as well,in that it tells us every singleone of our rituals by name.It tells us the Five Pillars of Islam.It tells us of course,that the righteous arethose who practice these pillars.In fact, that is the veryfirst verse of Surat Al-BaqaraThalika alkitabu laraybafeehi hudan lilmuttaqeenAllatheena yu/minoona bilghayb"They believed," there has to be belief,wayuqeemoona assalata,wa yu'tunn Az-Zakata"So the righteous are those who"they are following theserituals after their belief."wamimma razaqnahumyunfiqoon"And they spend from the money"that we have given unto them."So we are told of therituals, the Salah, the Zakat.In this chapter as well,come to the famous versesof fasting, the famous verseswe hear every single Ramadanwhere Allah Subhanahu wa ta'alasays, "O you who believe,"fasting has been prescribed for you."This is the month of fasting,it's mentioned SuratAl-Baqarah, the month of Ramadanis mentioned in Surat Al-Baqarah.Surat Al-Baqara tells usthat fasting is nothing new.Actually, every generation, every nation,every prophet was given sometype of fasting as well.His ummah was also giventhe commandment to fast.We are not the first to fastand then Allah tells us,the purpose of the fast is a higher goal,that we can be conscious ofAllah, the purpose of Taqwa.So the fasting is mentionedhere in Surat Al-Baqarah.In Surat Al-Baqarah as well,we have the command to perform the Hajj.Allah says in Surat Al-Baqarah,Wa'atimmu alhajja wal umratalillah"Fulfill the commandment"to do Hajj and fulfill the commandment"to do Umrah for the sake ofAllah Subhanahu wa ta'ala."So all of these ritualsare explicitly mentionedin Surat Al-Baqarah.But rituals is not theonly aspect of our faith,theology is not the onlyaspect of our faith.In this surah as well, welearn about the prohibitionsof alcohol, about theprohibitions of gambling.Allah says in the Quran, alcohol,there might be somebenefits, there is some good,I'm not denying it, Allah saying,"Yes, there's some pleasure in it,"that it makes you feel good," yes.But then Allah says, "But theevil of it, the filth of it,"is much more than thebenefit that comes."Allah says in the Quran thatgambling as well massive,it's not, it's a wasteof our money and time,Shaytan wants to causedivision between us,Shaytan wants to wasteour money by gambling.So Allah prohibits for us alcoholand alcoholic drinksand all types of drugs.And Allah forbids us from gamblingand other aspects as well.And this shows us that the Quran hasto shape our morality as well.Those who believe in thisbook, it's not good enoughto simply have abstracttheology, I believe in God.Rather, the Quran is gonnashape your personal moralityas well, your ethics as well.It also tells us SuratAl-Baqara, that morality aloneis not good enough, no.Islam is more than just theologyand rituals and morality.The Quran is coming Surat Al-Baqarahis coming with veryspecific personal laws.There are many verses in Surah Al-Baqarah,about marriage, about divorce,about living our livesin accordance with veryspecific guidelines.In fact, in Surat Al-Baqarah,we are even told abouthow we divorce if we haveto get a divorce even thoughit's not encouraged overall,but if a divorce is gonnatake place Surat Al-Baqarahis telling us that be gentle,be kind, "bil ma'aruf"do it in the best manner.Surat Al-Baqarah is telling us that evenif a divorce must takeplace, then gift each otherand especially thehusband should give a giftto his wife, wamatti'oohunnagive them a giftat the parting and SuratAl-Baqarah is telling us that evenafter the divorce takes place,how long can the lady waitbefore she remarries another person.These detailed laws, it'sliterally explicit four monthsand 10 days, it comes as anumber, arba'ata ashurin wa'ashrait literally informs ustherefore that one who believesin Allah, there are lawsthat need to be followed.And these laws are for our own bettermentand our own good as well.The laws don't just dealwith our personal lives,our marriage our divorce, no.Surat Al-Baqarah alsolays down the foundationsfor the concept of Islamic Economics.Multiple verses in Surat Al-Baqarah dealwith Islamic financial conceptswhich are very differentand unique to those found inother traditions and cultures.Allah encourages us towrite down contracts.Allah encourages us to be specific.In the Quran, Allah Azawajalwants there to be witnesses,that people know, don'tdo things in secret,have the contract, letpeople know wheneveryou're gonna agree about a business,about any type of thingabout a loan, then,uktubuhuAllah is encouraging us, "Write it down,"don't just let it ambiguous."And if you're able to have witnesses,so that everybody knows,because we don't like ambiguity.We don't want problemsto come, deceitfulness.We don't want the opportunityfor shaytan to bring any typeof acrimonious hatred betweentwo people because of money.So one of the ways thatwe get out of this isthat we're very clear inour business guidelines.What exactly is each partner gonna do?How much profit he's gonna be given,Allah wants us to be very clear.And then in Surat Al-Baqarah,Allah Subhanahu wa ta'alaalso lays down one of the biggest sinsin our religion and the biggestcardinal sin when it comesto finances and that is interest.Surat Al-Baqara says thatAllah has forbidden interest,and Allah has allowed buying and selling,Allah has allowed free markettrading, generally speaking,and Allah has forbidden interest.And then Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala says,"Whoever legalizes interest,whoever thinks that interest"is good and he wants to take it,"he might as well be declaring waragainst Allah himself.From all of this we learn that our faith,our religion, the religion of Islam,it's not just a private matterthat between me and Allah,I believe in a God and I believe,it's not even a personal ethical that,"Okay, in my own personallife, I'm not gonna drink"and I'm not gonna do gambling."It's not even in my interactionswith others on a small basisin my marriage and divorceand inheritance, no it'smuch more than this.Islam aims for thebetterment of human society,Islam wants cultures to flourish.Islam wants its peopleto live ethical livesand for the civilizations ofits peoples to become strong.And that will only happen whenthey have an entire systemof life, not just in their theology,not just in the rituals, intheir ethics, in their norms,in their values, in theirinteractions with others,in their marriage and divorce.And how they give their property away,in their business transactions,and in their personal matters.This is what the entirereligion of Islam is.So we are given the crystalclear picture that Islamis not just a personal faith, not at all.Islam is an entire way thatis meant to empower us,to improve our souls, to bring about lawsthat will better societyand to cause positive valuesto be prevalent while minimizing evil,while covering up corruptive factors,greed, gambling, drugs and vice.We don't want to promotethat type of stuff.It's not healthy for mankind.So the Quran, SuratAl-Baqarah is coming withthis civilizationalmessage that Islam is morethan just an abstract series of beliefs.Also, Surat Al-Baqarah is oneof the main surahs that mentionsso many previous prophets and Subhanallah.We can give many lecturesjust about this issue.Look, for example the story of Adam,which is the first storyin the Quran and of course,it's the most appropriatestory to begin with.It is the story of our origin.Where do we come from?Where does this beautiful creationof Allah Subhanahu wata'ala originate from?Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala created us,and Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala created theoriginal man and his spouse,and from the two of them, all of us came.And in the originalstory, the Adamic story,we learned so much ofthem, is the divine gift,the mystery of language,of intellect, becausewhen Allah teaches Adamto speak, to teach someonethat person has to haveintellect to learn.Also, eloquent speechindicates that the onewho is speaking is one of intelligence.And so by reminding usthat Allah gifted man,the "'alama hul Bayan" asSurat Ar-Rahman tells us,But in Surat Al- Baqarah"WaA'allama adama al-asmaakullaha"Allah taught Adamthe gift of human speech.Where does speech come from?To this day, linguistsand psycho-analysts,they are debating, "Whatis the origin of speech?"Because it's very, very uniqueamongst all of the creationof this world, we are theonly species whose speechis eloquent, we can talkabout history and physicsand metaphysics, we can wonderand pontificate aboutthe meaning of nature.We can pass down our traditionsto future generations,we can write that whichno other species can do.So we are a unique species.Where did this come from?Allah says in the Quran,"WaA'allama adama al-asmaakullaha"so the Adamic story,it tells us the beautyof that gift of languageand that gift of intelligence.Also, in the Adamic story,we learn that we arenot the only creation, thereis another creation as well.And that is the Iblis orthe Jinn, or the shayatin.They are also here, weare not the only creation.And we learn here of the oneof the main morals and lessonsof that story of AdamAlayhis Salam is that yes,all of us are sinful.Adam was a sinner, Iblis wasa sinner, but the sinner thatwill eventually be comingback into the mercy of Allah,the sinner that will eventuallyregain the Rahma of Allah,is the sinner who acknowledges his sin.The sinner who says,"Rabbana zhalamna anfusana""Oh Allah, I committed the sin."We are sinful and if youdon't forgive me Oh Allah,"then there is no hope,I will be destroyed."The sinner who then becomes arrogantand that is the sin of Ibis,the sinner who says, "It's not my fault,""aba was takbar" he became arrogant,that sinner has no chance of repentance.The essence of our religionis humbling oneself in front of Allah.Allah doesn't care how sinful a person is.Our father Adam was inJannah, our Father Adam sawevery single miracle with his own eyes.He experienced what therest of us dream about.And he saw it with his eyes.Still, he committed asin in Jannah itself!He did something thatAllah asked him not to doand Allah, yes, he wassent down to this earthbut Allah forgave him "fataba 'alay"Allah forgave him.If Allah can forgive ourfather, he's our father.It's our flesh and blood,we are his children.All of us are sinnerslike our father Adam.No sinner should ever feelthat, "I am, it's hopeless,"there's no point, Allahwill never forgive me."The sin of Adam, can youimagine, Allah created Adamwith his own hands, Allahbreathed the life into AdamAllah Azawajal gifted Adam his wife Hawa.Allah said you and your wife enter Jannah,eat whatever you want.And he lived in Jannah for eons and eons,more than we can ever imaginehow long he was there,and he still slipped,and that is no problem,and if you repent to Allahbecause our ProphetSallallahu Sallam said,"All of the childrenof Adam make mistakes."All of them like their father Adam did,we too will make mistakes.Let no one ever thinkthat, "I am too sinful".No, we are the sons anddaughters of the first manand the first woman whothemselves were sinners,and they repentedand Allah Subhanahu wata'ala forgave them.In the Surah Al-Baqarah,we also have the storyof Ibrahim as well, andthe building of the Kaaba.And that shows us that not onlythe history of the Kaaba andof Makkah, where the the Prophet(SAW) was born and raised,but also that doing something magnificentor great means nothing, ifAllah does not accept it.Ibrahim built the most magnificent,the most blessed structurethat humanity knows.Ibrahim built the first house of worship.There was no church,there was no synagogue,there was no mosque on thisearth until Ibrahim builtthat first structure, the first housethat was meant for the worshipof Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.And billions of people will come,would come and do Tawaf and worship Allahat that house, Ibrahim did it.And then what did he say?Was he arrogant and struttingand prideful and say,"Look what I did!"Or did he say, as Surat Al-Baqarah says,Rabbana taqabbal minnainnaka antas Sameeaul Aleem"No matter what you do, dearMuslim, never feel a sense"of arrogance and entitlement,no matter what you do,"thank Allah and thenask Allah for acceptance"and ask Allah for forgiveness."We can never ever allow thesin of Iblis to come into us.The sin of Iblis was arrogance.We can never allow that.And the story of Yakub, we learned as wellthat's what should be bothering us,what should be on our minds,Yakub is on his deathbed,he barely has a few minutes left,and his children are all around him.A beautiful picture is painted,that Yakub is on his deathbedand all of his children are around him.And you know, at this pointin time, all of this worldand all that is just secondary to leaves.You wanna leave your childrenwith what is most important,you wanna leave your childrenwith the most important message possible.What was that message?Yaqub says to his children,"What are you gonna worship after me?"What will your religion be?"What will your way of life be?"That's what I'm concerned with."My legacy in you dear children,it is what your religion"and way of life is gonna be."I'm not worried aboutyour money, your careers,I'm not worried about anything else.That's all gonna come and go,we're all gonna leave this world.What are you gonna leave thisworld with, dear children?And the children said, "We willworship your God and the God"of your ancestors, Ibraham and Ishaq."And we will be uponthe religion of Islam."And so Yaqub, died a happy man,because he imparted hisfaith to his children.Dear parents, dear parents,of what use is all your wealthand privilege, if you're notgonna leave the most importantand the most precious thing toyou, and that is your faith,if you're not gonna leave it withyour children before you move on.So we learn this in the story of Yakub.In the story of David, Dawud and his fightwith Goliath, Jalut, welearn so much as well.We learn that no matterhow small your numbers,no matter, how illprepared you are in termsof you don't have thelogistics or whatnot.If you truly, truly haveyour faith in Allah,and you do your best,we're not saying thatyou don't do your best.No, Dawud did his bestwork with whatever he had.Goliath, of course, had his armies,Goliath had his armor,and Dawud of course,he just had a slingshot,that's all he had.He didn't have a sword becausehe was just a little kid.He didn't have the army becausehis armies were different.What did he have?A slingshot.And so "wa kam min fi-atinqaleelatinghalabat fi-atan"katheeratan bi-ithni Allah"How many are the peoplethat are under-equipped, under-prepared,but they have Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.And because they haveAllah, they have victories.And this tell, and thisshows us that no matterwhat our odds might be, ifAllah chooses to help us,then it doesn't matterwho's on the other side,if Allah is on our side,we will be victorious.And that is what we learn fromthe story of Dawud and Jalut.From the story of Suleiman, as well,is mentioned, in Surah Al-Baqarah.And we learn here that hisrelationship, with the blessingsthat Allah gave him, and his relationshipwith the jinns as well.We already mentioned thatthe Baqarah teaches usthat there are other species as well.And a very interestingpoint here that we learnin the story of Suleiman is that,don't expect when you do something right,that everybody is going to praise you, no.Suleiman being the prophet of God,he was slandered till hisdeath and after his deathand false accusationswere made against him evenafter he died, peoplesaid bad things about him.But you see, Suleiman,being that righteous servantof Allah, Allah defendedSuleiman in the Quran.If you have Allah, Allah will defend you,and Allah Azawajal defendedthe reputation of Suleiman,when Suleiman could not speak anymore,he's in the grave, Allah defended Suleimanin the Quran "wama kafara sulaymanuwalakinna ashshayateena kafaru".So we learned here thatthose who are being harmed,those who are being slandered,those who are beingoppressed, you need Allah.All of us need Allah, butespecially those because if Allahis on your side, that Alhamdulillah,that is all that you need.And of course, one of the mainconstant themes of this surahis the constant repetition of the storiesof Musa and the children of Israel.It is one of the main motifsof the surah and each one ofthese stories of Moses andthe children of Israel,each one of these has somany lessons and wisdoms.We learn from the successes of the past,we learn from the mistakesof the past, wise indeedis the one who learns fromthe mistakes of others.A lot of these storiestalk about the mistakesof the previous generations.Islam, when this surah revealed,Islam was not yet a global civilization.Within 100 years of theirrelationships Surat Al-Baqarah,Islam is knocking on the doors of China,and Islam is conqueringAndes on the other side.Islam has become a globalforce that shall be reckonedwith for the next 14 centuries.So Allah is telling this Ummah,that is gonna rule the world,don't make the mistakesof those before you.Look at what mistakes they made,look at their personal liveswhen they began questioningeverything, what type of cow?Why do we need to sacrifice a cow?Why does Allah want us to sacrifice a cow?And Allah azawajal says,"There was benefit in you."By doing this good came to you,"but you kept on questioningand questioning."And arrogance as well,the sin of arrogance,when Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala saidto them,"wadkhulooalbaba...waqooloohittatun",just say, that we repent toAllah, and instead of that,they mocked, and they made fun of,and that is something thatbrought about their destruction.And so in every single story about Mosesand about the children of Israel,we learn personal lessons,we learn lessons for thebuilding of Islamic civilization.Also, this entire surah,one of the primary themesof this surah is toprove the truth of Islam,and to mention the relationshipof Islam to other faith traditions.Islam is not coming in a vacuum, no.You have Judaism, you have Christianity,you have the Sapiens, you have the pagans,you have all of these other civilizations,each one is saying, "Weare the correct one."Surat Al-Baqarah tells us, "Waqalukoonu hoodan aw nasaratahtadu"They said, "Be a Christian or be a Jew,"only then you will be rightly guided."And we are told in the Quran that,"No, bal millata ibraheemahaneefa" names mean nothing,"we are gonna follow the characteristic,"we're gonna follow themethodology of Ibrahim,"the one who turned toAllah Subhanahu wa ta'ala."And by the way, one of the main benefitsof Surat Al-Baqarah, interfaithdialogue, the techniquesthat Allah uses when dealingwith other civilizations,how Allah Subhanahu wata'ala addresses them.Look at so many different techniques,at times, Allah appealsto their rationalityand wants them to think,at times Allah reminds themof the past and their history,"O children of Israel","O children of Israel","O children of Israel","Remember the favors bestowed upon you","Remember that I chose you.""Remember when themountain was above you.""Remember when Moses did this and that."So Allah is addressing themwith their own history,telling them something thatfrankly, an Arabian Prophet,who might have been an imposter,I'm saying, would never have known.Only an Arabian Prophet,inspired by the Lordof the children of Israelwould know these stories.These are insider narratives thatan Arabian Prophet wouldnever have been exposed to,because it is something thatis only found in the Jewish sources.Only the Jewish folks would know this.And the fact that theQuran is saying it in suchan explicit manner and tellingthem of their own stories.It demonstrates this prophetis not a false prophet,this prophet is comingfrom the same sourcethat your Prophet Moses came with,this is insider information.This surah as well, it critiquesthis notion of superiority,this notion of us beingbetter than everybody else.Waqaloo lan yadkhula aljannataillaman kana hoodan aw nasaratilka amaniyyuhumThey said, "Nobody can enter Jannah,"nobody shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven,"unless he be followingour faith tradition."And Allah says, "This isyour wishful thinking."This is your desires,no!" "tilka amaniyyuhum"And then Allah lays down the foundationof Islamic intellectual thought,this is Quranic epistemology.qul hatoo burhanakum in kuntum sadiqeenBring your evidences ifyou are telling the truth.We are not a religionthat is based upon whims,that is based upon superstitions,that is based upon desires, not at all!We are a religion that is based upon prooffrom Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala."qul hatoo burhanakum"Bring your evidence,how do you know who is goingto enter heaven and hell?How do you know who is goingto be in the chosen Kingdom?qul hatoo burhanakum in kuntum sadiqeenBala man aslama wajhahulillahiwahuwa muhsinWhoever truly turns his face to Allahand he does good, thatis the one who shallenter the Kingdom of Allah,and names mean nothing.There has to be theultimate devotion to Allah.A person can call himselfMuslim, but not act upon Islam.What use is calling yourself Muslim?So Allah is saying,"Don't praise yourself."Don't say you and onlyyou will enter heaven," no!Did you take a covenant with Allah?attakhathtumAAinda Allahi AAahdanDid you take a signed treaty with Allah,that Allah Subhanahu wata'ala will then honor it?Not at all.Do not speak aboutAllah, without knowledge.In this surah as well,and this is really oneof the main points of thissurah, we see that the religionof Islam as a whole is establishedwith every single aspectof Islam being emphasized in the surah.It's theology that dates tothe very beginnings of time.It's detailed knowledge of historythat no one would have knownexcept the one who knowsall of history, its rituals,its laws, even its calendaris mentioned in the Surat Al-Baqarah.We are told that we look Hilal,or the for crescent for our moon,we are told that Ramadhanis one of the months,we have a different calendar.The relationship of Islamwith all other civilizationsand faith, and all of thisdemonstrates, as I said,that this religion isnot to pick and choose,we don't just say, "Oh, believein God and ignore the rest."No, Surat Al-Baqarahis very explicit that,"O you who believeudkhuloo fee assilmi kaaffawalatattabiAAoo khutuwati ashshaytan"submit yourselveswholeheartedly to Islam,"100% and do not pick and choose,and do not follow the ways of Shaitan.No, Surat Al-Baqarah tells us,"Islam is an entire,holistic way of life."And in order to really be a Muslim,there must be an attempt,we're never gonna be perfect.Adam's story teaches uswe're never gonna be perfect,but our attitude, ourparadigm, our frame of mind,I'm gonna submit as much as I can,wholeheartedly and if I make a mistake,I asked for Allah's forgiveness.And in all of this, we'reproving, over and over again,the surah proves and explicitlymentions that this book,this book,"Thalika alkitabu larayba feeh"it begins by statingthis factual statement,"Thalika alkitabu larayba feeh""This is a book, there is no doubt in it."This is a book that is tellingyou everything you needto know, it is a guidancefor all of mankind.It is a book from AllahSubhanahu wa ta'ala.And in Surat Al-Baqarah,we learn that this surah,it is so confident thatthis book is from its Lord,it is so confident thatyou will have no doubt thatthis surah is divine andtherefore the Quran is divine,that there is a challenge in this surah.And if this challengewere to have been saidby a mortal by any created being,it would have been deemed as arrogancebecause the Quran says "inkuntum fee raybin mimmanazzalnaAAala AAabdina fa/toobisooratin min mithlihi"if you're in any doubt, ifyou're unsure whether the Quranis from Allah or not, ifyou're unsure Surat Al-Baqarahis from Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala or not,and this is the final verseby the way, of a seriesof verses called, the versesthat are challenging peopleto produce something similar to it.There are five such verses,the last of them to be revealedisn't Surat Al-Baqarah.And it is the final, and itis the seal of challenges.Why?Because within thechallenge, there is a boast.And if this boast had occurredfrom a created mortal,it would sound arrogant.But when this boast occursfrom Al Azeeze, Al Mutakabbir,it is not arrogance, itis the ultimate truth.And what is that boast?Bring one chapter similarto Surat Al-Baqarah,or even a smaller surah.Bring one chapter similarto this, with its eloquence,with its beauty, with all of these facets,bring one chapter andcall whoever you want,get whatever help you want,bring all of your teamsand all of your linguistsand all of your scientists,whoever you want, comeand produce one chapter,other and don't get the helpof Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala.And then Allah says, "Fa-in lam tafA'aloo"and if you cannot do it,and then the seal that sealsthis challenge "walan taf'Aaloo""And you shall never be able to do it."Can you imagine if any human says,writes a book or buildssomething and says,"No one will ever dosomething better than this."All of us would say, evenif the project was good,we would say, "What an arrogant person."But you see the Quran saysit and it gets away with it.Why?Because it is not the speech of a human.It is not the speech of a bashar.It is the speech of AllahSubhanahu wa ta'ala.It is the speech of AlAziz, Al Mutakabbir,and Allah azawajal is not, Allah's boastis not a boast that is arrogant for us,it is a boast of truth.And Allah is saying, "How canyou doubt that this book is"from other than AllahSubhanahu wa ta'ala?"How can you doubt it isfrom other than Allah?How can you have these things?It is clearly from Allah,"Thalika alkitabu larayba feeh"and this book, it isso evident from Allah,that I'm even opening thischallenge, and I'm predicting,and I'm sealing the fate thatyou shall never ever be ableto bring something similar to the Quranand that is why Surat Al-Baqarahis really the responseto Surat Al-Faatihah.When we say, "Ihdina assirata almustaqeem""Quide us to the straight path,"that is why the entire Quoranthen begins with Baqarah,because Baqarah summarizesfor us the straight pathof Islam and that iswhy our Prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallamin one hadith he says everything,it has a crown, it has a pinnacle.Everything, it has the creme de la creme,it has that essence or that crown,and the crown of the Quran,or the pinnacle of the Quran,it is Surat Al-Baqarah. May Allah (swt),make us those who recite the surah,who memorize the surah,who act upon the surah.And one final point, dearviewers is that Inshallahthroughout these 30 days,InshaaAllah we'll be doingit at the same timeframe.And I ask that if youcan write down any pointsthat you benefit or anythingand you can put themon social media so that we canInshallah benefit each other,and you can put the hashtag, #yqgemsY-Q-G-E-M-S.If you can put that so that Inshallahthen I'll re-tweet or someof my people on social mediathey will re-tweet as well,so that we can Inshallah makeother people as well benefit.If there's anything thatyou like, just write it downand then help other peopleas our Prophet Sallallahualaihi wasallam said,"The one who benefits otherpeople, will get the reward"of the benefits that they have done"without diminishing theirown personal rewards."So let's benefit others,let's get the reward ofthis month of Ramadan.And please, please, pleaseremind myself and all of you,don't just restrictyourself to this lecture.No, nothing substitutes the original.Read the Arabic and then tryto read some translation,so that Inshallah by thetime this month is over,we have read the Quran atleast once if not more,and we have read at least oneor two translations of it.Jazakum Allahu KhairI'll see you tomorrow night,Inshallah wa ta'ala,Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh