Surah Al Anfal: The 5 Qualities of A Believer | Divine Reminders with Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Surah Al-Anfal: The 5 Qualities of A Believer

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَنُصَلِّي وَنُسَلِّمُ عَلَى رَسُولِهِ الْكَرِيمِ

Today, the Qur'an finished the recitation of Surah al-A'raf which we spoke about yesterday, and they began the recitation of Surah al-Anfal. Surah al-Anfal was revealed after the battle of Badr.

In this surah, Allah revealed it to explain and to direct the Prophet ﷺ how he should deal with the spoils of the war that came from this victory. But the main theme of this surah is not limited to that. Rather, the theme of this surah also discusses some of the great features of believers — that regardless of what happens, if there's a win or there's a loss, or if there's spoils of war or there's no spoils of war, they're doing whatever they're doing for the purpose of Allah. And they have characteristics that define them as true believers.

Signs That Identify Us

Everything in life has signs and has symbols, and through those signs and through those symbols, we're able to identify things. If we see a person wearing a white coat in a hospital, we can identify through that that person must be a physician. If we see a person wearing scrubs, they're working in a hospital. If we see a person wearing a big turban, perhaps they're a scholar. So there are signs that we identify people through, and those signs are generally present within our societies. We look for them, we see them, we search for them, and we identify through them.

What are some signs of believers? Believers are not people that are affected by wins or losses, or that are affected by wealth or commodities that come their way through a victory. But rather, believers have some essential qualities that are innate within them. And Allah, in the beginning of Surah al-Anfal, lists five qualities that every single one of us should possess.

And I want everyone to learn this. There are five qualities that Allah speaks about in the beginning of this surah, directing us to understand the fact that victory or loss, spoils of war or wealth or commodities, does not affect us.

The Five Qualities of a True Believer

Quality 1: Hearts That Tremble at the Mention of Allah

The first quality: verily believers are those individuals who — when Allah is mentioned around them, when the name of Allah is mentioned, when the greatness of Allah is mentioned around them — their hearts shake out of yearning and fear. There's a balance of yearning towards the love of Allah and meeting Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ explains in a beautiful hadith that whosoever loves to meet Allah, Allah also loves to meet him or her.

"Whoever loves to meet Allah, Allah loves to meet him." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6507; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2683)

So their hearts are yearning to meet Allah, and within their hearts they have some fear of Allah.

Quality 2: Iman Increases When the Qur'an Is Recited

When the verses of Allah are recited around them or are recited in front of them, their iman increases. They are refueled with an injection of iman because they're hearing the Qur'an being recited.

And this was the case for the Prophet ﷺ, the sahabah, and everyone around him. The Prophet ﷺ, whenever he would have a larger span of not receiving wahi, he would yearn for that wahi. He would search for that wahi. He would look up in the sky, and when Jibril ﷺ would come down, he would ask Jibril: "Why don't you come down to me more often? I'm waiting for wahi. I'm waiting for it." And Jibril ﷺ would respond to him by saying: "We don't come down when we want to come down. We come down when Allah tells us to come down. So it's not our choice." So even the Prophet ﷺ would search for that divine revelation to create solace in his heart.

So when the Qur'an is being recited — زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا — iman increases.

There's a narration by the Prophet ﷺ where he explains how we can tell whether we have a heart which is alive or dead. And in the surah prior to this, Allah explains that these are people — قُلُوبٌ لَا يَفْقَهُونَ بِهَا — they have hearts but they cannot take any form of lesson through that heart because it's a dead heart. A dead heart doesn't do us any benefit.

The Prophet ﷺ explains that the best way to test your heart — the first place to test your heart — is فِي خُلْوَةٍ, when you're all alone, or in isolation. And at that time, where does your heart push you towards? Number two, فِي اسْتِمَاعِ الْقُرْآنِ — when you're listening to the Qur'an. When you listen to the Qur'an, where does your heart take you? Does your heart get excited? And it doesn't mean that you have to understand it — just knowing that these are the words of Allah is enough to instill love in our heart for Allah. And number three, in the gatherings of the remembrance of Allah.

The second quality is that the Qur'an, when it's recited, increases them in their iman and allows them to recognize the greatness of Allah.

Quality 3: Tawakkul — Complete Trust in Allah

وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ — they're always trusting Allah. They know Allah has their back. So win or lose — Badr we won, or if we lose in Uhud — we know that Allah has our back and we have complete trust in Allah.

Tawakkul comes from the word wikala, wakil — where you make someone else responsible for your transaction, you make someone a wakil. So Allah is saying that tawakkul in this sense is to give guardianship — which Allah already has — but to willingly give our guardianship to Allah.

Allah is the best guardian. Allah is the best protector.

These are three internal qualities that nobody can see except for us. We know we have it, or we know we don't have it. No one can come to us and say, "Hey, you don't have tawakkul," or "Your heart does not shake when they hear the name of Allah," or "Your iman does not increase when the Qur'an is recited." We know that.

This is why Imam Abu Hanifa would say that the greatest faqih of a person is himself or herself — فَقِيهُ النَّفْسِ. We know where we rank.

When a sahabi asked the Prophet ﷺ, "What is a sin?" the Prophet ﷺ responded:

"That which eats you up inside — that which bothers you internally. You know it's wrong. And because you know it's wrong, it's a sin. And you don't want people to find out about it." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2553)

Quality 4 & 5: Establishing Prayer and Giving in Charity

They establish their prayer and they spend in the path of Allah. Mufassir Imam al-Qurtubi explained that establishing prayer and giving zakat doesn't just refer to praying and giving zakat, but it refers to all types of worship. Because ibadat and worship are of two types. One is the physical worship, known as badani ibadat. And one is mali worship — the worship of wealth, that is, worshiping Allah through giving our wealth. So it refers to all the different types of worships that fall under these two categories. But the greatest manifestation of these worships is praying salat through physical ibadah and giving our zakat through monetary ibadah.

The True Believers

These are the true believers who are not affected by what happens. These are the true believers who have these five qualities:

Number one: Their heart — something happens to them when they hear the name of Allah. Like a beloved when they hear the name of a beloved. There's a feeling that engulfs and immerses their heart. Number two: زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَانًا — when they hear the Qur'an, their iman increases. Number three: They have complete trust in Allah. These are three internal qualities. Number four: They pray salat. Number five: They give charity.

Three Great Rewards

Allah says: what will we give to them for these five qualities? We give them three great virtues, three great rewards.

Number one: They'll have a status in the eyes of Allah in this world and in the akhirah. Number two: Allah will bless them with His mercy. And number three: Allah will continue to sustain them in an honorable way, without making them disgraced or humiliated in this world.

Closing Reminder

May Allah give us the ability of identifying these five qualities and bringing them into our lives, into our children's lives, talking about these five qualities. The more we speak about them, the more conscious we become about them, the more we understand that we need to have them in our lives. The more we ignore them, the more it will seem that we don't need them. So may Allah make us amongst those that can instill these qualities into our lives.

Surah al-A'raf has a very lengthy discussion of the story of Musa ﷺ. I was going to speak about it, but I chose not to because I'm sharing a link here — a talk given by Ustadh Ubaidullah Evans in our Miftah Circle in Toledo, in September. He goes through the story of Musa in a very detailed, meticulous manner, and I think you will benefit from this discussion. So I think it will be rather better if you watch this, and insha'Allah it will serve as a reminder about the story of Musa ﷺ.

JazakAllah khair for joining. May Allah bless you all. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.