Surah Al Baqarah: The Five Pillars | Divine Reminders with Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Surah Al-Baqarah: The Five Pillars

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَسَلَامٌ يَا رَسُولَ الْكَرِيمِ

The general theme of Surah Al-Baqarah is catered towards three categories of people which are the believers, the munafiqoon and the mushrikoon. Allah in the first twenty verses started off with this introduction where the first three verses were for the believers, the next two were for the mushrikoon and the last thirteen were only for the munafiqoon.

The first chapter that we recited yesterday — the theme that we found within that chapter was more so to do with the internal iman of a person, because iman is in the heart. So Allah spoke about the heart over and over in Surah Al-Baqarah in reference to the munafiqoon, where their hearts were not open towards iman. And Allah explained the purpose, the reason why their hearts were not open towards Islam was because they were unable to accept the Qur'an.

Now when we move on to the second chapter — the same surah — we believe that there is an actual connection and the surahs and the ayat are synced. So they're working together. It's not like a few verses are talking about something else and these verses are talking about something else; they actually work hand in hand.

Iman and Islam: Two Sides of the Same Coin

The first chapter that we recited yesterday, Allah spoke about the imaniyat — having iman in the heart:

That if you believe, believe like those who believed before you — referring to the sahabah رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ.

Now when Allah shifts gears towards the second chapter, we find that there is also a shift in the theme. And the theme is directly related to the first one. The first part of our belief system is to have iman. And that iman is displayed through Islam, through actions. And this is what differed the munafiqoon and the believers. The munafiqoon struggled with these a'mal despite them saying that they believe.

So in the second chapter, Allah calls us towards the four pillars of Islam outside of iman. Iman was already discussed in the first chapter. The four pillars of Islam that manifest our belief.

The Four Pillars of Islam in Surah Al-Baqarah

Pillar One: Fasting (Sawm)

Allah says — number one:

That you must fast. And fast with ihsan — with perfection, with excellence.

Allah says: do it good. Don't just do it for the sake of doing it, but do it in a manner which you can benefit yourself through.

Pillar Two: Prayer (Salat)

Number two, Allah goes ahead and says — speaking about salat:

Protect your prayer. Take care of your salat.

Pillar Three: Charity (Zakat)

Number three, Allah says — speaking about zakat:

Spend your money in the path of Allah.

Pillar Four: Hajj and 'Umrah

Number four, Allah says:

Complete it. Again, Allah is saying: don't just do it because the munafiqoon were also doing it. Allah is saying حَافِظُوا — do it and protect it. Do it in a manner that you never miss it.

وَأَنْفِقُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ — don't just give money. Give it in a manner where there's no ostentation involved and there's no riya involved. Don't just fast — in a manner where you complete the days of fasting by perfecting your inner and outer life.

So all of these are the four pillars of Islam which have to do with our Islam, not with our iman. But iman is the fuel that allows us to display these Islamic traits in our life.

The Conclusion of Allah's Command: Enter Islam Completely

And Allah summarizes this by saying in ayah number 207:

And then there are people who will make sure that in order for them to become complete believers, they will allow their worldly affairs to be compromised. Albeit, we can have both:

In a few verses before, Allah says that there are people who ask for the best of both worlds. But when they collide, and when there's a conflict between them, there are some people who give preference to their iman. And this ayah was revealed regarding Suhayb al-Rumi رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ.

In the next verse, Allah says in ayah number 208:

O those who believe, enter into your religion full-heartedly. Don't enter with one foot in and one foot out, because that was a quality of the munafiqun. So now Allah is explaining the difference between believers and munafiqun.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — if you say you believe, you make sure to submit yourself, your intellect, your life to the submission of Allah. Because the name Islam — and this is in a linguistic perspective — the name Islam:

When Allah told Ibrahim alayhi salam to submit yourself, there was no period of contemplating or thinking or reflecting upon should I do it or should I not do it — قَالَ أَسْلَمْتُ لِرَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. That Islam was Ibrahim alayhi salam saying: I got it, ya Allah, I'm submitting my thoughts, my intellect to your wahi — that what you say goes, what I say has to fit that paradigm, what I say has to fit that domain. Not that what the Qur'an says has to fit what I think.

Because Allah already told us in the first verse of this surah:

There is no doubt in it. It doesn't have to fit what you think is right, it doesn't have to fit your mindset. Yes, if I reflect upon it, it can make more sense to me. If I give time to it, it can open up towards me. But that's not the condition for the Qur'an and wahi to be accepted.

ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً — in this chapter, Allah speaks about all the four pillars that have to do with our actions. And when He describes each and every one of those — I'll say them again:

Number one, fasting — وَلِتُكْمِلُوا الْعِدَّةَ — do it with perfection. Number two, salat — حَافِظُوا عَلَى الصَّلَوَاتِ — protect it. حَافِظُوا means to do it in a manner where you're emphasizing that idea. Number three, spend money in the path of Allah — but don't do it وَلَا تُلْقُوا بِأَيْدِيكُمْ إِلَى التَّهْلُكَةِ — don't do it in a manner where you're compromising your donation or your sadaqah because of ostentation. And number four — وَأَتِمُّوا الْحَجَّ وَالْعُمْرَةَ لِلَّهِ — don't just do Hajj, complete it, making sure that it actually brings a change into your life.

And Allah concludes all of this by saying ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً — enter into al-silm, referring to submission, completely. Don't do it half. Don't just do it for the sake of doing it, but do it for the sake of understanding that there is a benefit for me in doing this.

The Munafiqun: Wolves in Believers' Clothing

In the ayah before this, Allah speaks about people who said they were believers:

And then there were people — Allah is telling the Prophet — that when they spoke to you, you got happy because they made you happy. They said that they are believers, that they have iman. وَيُشْهِدُ اللَّهَ عَلَىٰ مَا فِي قَلْبِهِ — they called upon Allah as a witness to what was in their heart. وَهُوَ أَلَدُّ الْخِصَامِ — but rather they were the worst enemies. أَلَدُّ means those enemies that had شَدِيدُ الْعَدَاوَةِ. Ibn Ashur says that they had the worst form of enmity in their heart for you, but they would make you happy by saying good words.

But the moment you would turn away:

The moment they would turn away from you and you would separate yourself from each other, they would go ahead and burn the land of the believers. And this was revealed — some mufassirun say — about specific hypocrites by name, but others say it was revealed about the munafiqoon in general. That they would come in front of you and say that they believe in you, and they would turn away and burn all those bridges — hypothetically speaking, figuratively speaking.

They thought that they were making a mockery out of Allah. Allah says they're making a mockery out of themselves. And after this discussion, Allah says: you've got to differentiate yourself from those people. And the only way you can differentiate yourself from those people is when you put yourself completely under the submission of Allah.

Ibrahim alayhi salam was not able to attempt to put a knife on his son's neck because he was trying to understand it as much — but rather his heart understood it. And when they submitted to the cause of Allah, Allah accepted it.

A Ramadan of Action and Perfection

May Allah make this a Ramadan in which these four pillars — of course our iman is strong — but our Islam can be displayed through these four main pillars. Our a'mal. Of course we can't go for Hajj or 'Umrah right now, but the other three we should do with perfection. Our salat should not be compromised. Our fasting should be done in a manner where there is perfection being added to it — or at least a pursuit of perfection — in the sense that there is no backbiting, there is no lying, there is no sin; we're controlling ourselves. And number three, we're giving in the path of Allah without the intention of showing off or any form of display of our wealth, but rather for the sake of Allah's pleasure.

And by doing so, we submit ourselves to Allah's deen and Allah's desire, and through that we earn the happiness of Allah.

Making Your Home a Hub of Qur'an

InshaAllah we will be having this on a daily basis on our Facebook Live and on our YouTube page, and our daily reflections on Instagram as well. So make sure that the Qur'an is being recited from beginning to end. InshaAllah we'll have students from our institution who will recite one juz every single day in a very melodious tone, and you can enjoy it.

There's nothing more beautiful than hearing the Qur'an being recited. The way that I encourage my family — and I'm sure that others are doing the same — is when the Qur'an is being recited, open up the Qur'an and sit with your siblings or your children or your spouse and read it along together, so we can finish an entire Qur'an in our house. We're used to finishing an entire Qur'an in the masjid, but the Prophet ﷺ in his 23 years — and specifically in the 10 years in Madinah — finished a Qur'an in his house every single year. In the last year he finished it twice. So it was happening in the house.

So perhaps we can't do it in the masjid — this is a good sign for us to create this sunnah, this practice, within our own household. The masjid does not need a Qur'an to feel like a spiritual hub. Our house needs Qur'an to feel like a spiritual hub.

The Prophet ﷺ said that a house which does not have Qur'an being recited within it is like a dead house — it is devoid of any form of mercy, and it is devoid of any form of barakah and blessings.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2877)

So let's be amongst those people that take advantage of this — where the Qur'an is being recited every single day. And if you don't want to follow along, you can do it on your own, but make sure it's being done in any way, shape or form.

JazakAllah Khair.