Surah Al Maidah: Fulfilling Our Promises | Divine Reminders with Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Surah Al-Ma'idah: Fulfilling Our Promises

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Raheem. Alhamdulillah wa nassallu alayhi wa rasoolil kareem, amma ba'd. So today, alhamdulillah, the two brothers, Nur Huda and Idrees, recited the recitation of Surah Al-Ma'idah.

The Theme of Surah Al-Ma'idah: Purity

Surah Al-Ma'idah, Allah speaks about how to purify ourselves. And that purity is earned through physical purity and is also earned through ritual purity. The physical purity, Allah reflects that through the food that we consume.

In order for us to be physically pure, what we put inside of our body has to be pure. Therefore, Allah speaks about the multiple types of foods that we are allowed to eat and that which we are not allowed to eat. Then Allah speaks about ritual purity in the form of wudhu.

Allah explains the process of wudhu and why that is something which is a form of purifying ourselves physically. But in the beginning of this surah, Allah tells us why and how we can complete these forms of purities. And in this surah, Allah speaks about this — how He starts this surah. This is something that Allah continues throughout the theme of the surah.

Awfoo Bil-'Uqood: Fulfill Your Covenants

O you who believe, fulfill your covenants and your vows that you have made. Awfoo bil-'uqood — complete your vows and your covenants.

And what does 'uqood actually mean? 'Uqood means a knot. A naqt means a knot. For example, a naqt is a union between a husband and a wife. A naqt is a transaction between two partners — or a buyer and a seller. It's a naqt. You've knotted yourself into that transaction.

Similarly, what we call our belief system is called aqeedah. The reason why it's called aqeedah — it's a few different understandings: understanding Allah, the belief in the angels, the belief in the akhirah. All of these points are knotted together and we have to believe in them.

So Allah is saying, fulfill and complete your vows. Complete your promises. And when you complete your promises, then and there you will find the help of Allah. And by doing so, you'll find it easy to eat halal — because you're not lying to people, you're not bribing people, you're not cheating people. You're not looking for an easy way out for money. Rather, you're fulfilling your vows. You're not lying.

Allah speaks about the people that used to cheat when they would scale and weigh — the nation of Shu'ayb (alayhi salam). When they would weigh and scale their goods, they would cheat people. Allah is saying: Awfoo bil-'uqood — be truthful in your covenants, be truthful in your transactions.

This means be truthful to the people around you when you are dealing with them. Be loyal to your spouse. Be loyal to your children. Whatever haq that they have upon you, make sure you give it to them. And lastly, be loyal to your relationship with Allah. And by doing so, you need to have ritual purity.

And that's why Allah says:

Make sure we are in the state of wudhu. That brings a completion of our relationship with Allah. Because with wudhu, we're able to pray our salat.

The Example of Bani Israel: A Nation That Broke Its Covenant

Now, we move forward in this surah. And Allah gives an example of a nation that made a similar vow and covenant like us — but they broke their vow. And what was the outcome of them breaking their vow?

When Musa said to his people, Bani Israel, that remember the blessings of Allah. There are six times in the Qur'an where Allah starts an ayah with saying وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَىٰ لِقَوْمِهِ, and all six times bring numerous lessons and morals. But we'll just stick to this one because it's in the surah.

Where he says to his nation, remember the blessings of Allah upon you. Which blessings?

He made within you prophets and kings — which is a rare combination. He lists seven blessings that Bani Israel were given that have been referenced in this ayah. And this is a covenant that they made with Allah. So Allah helped them in these seven ways. So when we make a covenant with Allah, Allah also helps us — until we break that covenant.

The Seven Blessings Given to Bani Israel

Number one: Allah split the sea for them.

Number two: Allah destroyed their enemy, Fir'aun.

Number three: أَنزَلَ عَلَيْهِمُ الْمَنَّ وَالسَّلْوَىٰ — He sent them food from the skies and the heavens.

Number four: He took out water for them — sweet water from rocks. When Musa (alayhi salam) hit his staff on the rock, there were twelve springs that came forth.

Number five: أَنَّهُ أَظَلَّ فَوْقَهُمُ الْغَمَامَ — When they were traveling in the desert, Allah covered them with the shade of the clouds.

Number six: There is no nation that had the combination of kingship and prophethood like Bani Israel — where they had the likes of Yusuf (alayhi salam) being a prophet and a king, and Musa (alayhi salam), Dawood (alayhi salam), and Suleyman (alayhi salam).

Number seven: At that time, Bani Israel was full of scholars and people that were learned. So Allah refers to them as people who were أَحِبَّاءُ اللَّهِ in a sense — they were the beloveds of Allah because there was scholarship within them. And they referred to themselves as أَحِبَّاءُ اللَّهِ. They thought that Allah loves them and they love Allah.

The Command to Enter Baytul Maqdis

So Allah is saying, now go ahead and fulfill your covenant and enter into Baytul Maqdis.

Go enter Baytul Maqdis where Ya'qub (alayhi salam) was originally from. You've left Misr — you had to flee from Misr because you were being persecuted. Now you're coming to a new land in Baytul Maqdis, which was your old land. Enter into it.

And they said:

That there are people in this land that are very strong and tall and large in their build, so we can't go in there. We will not enter into there until they leave from there.

So there were two individuals within this group. One was Yusha ibn Nun — who became a prophet — and the other was Kaleb, who was also amongst the twelve:

From أُثْنَى عَشَرَ نَقِيبًا — the Nuqaba of Musa (alayhi salam) — the close disciples and council of Musa. Like the Hawariyun of Isa (alayhi salam). Like the Sahaba of the Prophet ﷺ. These were the Nuqaba, the close council of Musa (alayhi salam).

Two of them said, let's go and enter. As soon as we enter:

As soon as you enter, Allah will make you successful. But they did not do so. And Allah disgraced them — يَتِيهُونَ فِي الْأَرْضِ — for 40 years they were just going in circles in the same land, until that entire generation had passed away. And the next generation came, and Allah gave them victory in the hands of Yusha ibn Nun (alayhi salam).

The Sahaba Who Fulfilled Their Covenant: The Battle of Badr

This is what happens when we don't fulfill that covenant. What happens when we do fulfill that covenant? That can be found in the journey — in the Battle of Badr — where the Sahaba, the Ansar, like Sa'd ibn Mu'adh and As'ad ibn Zurarah (radi Allahu 'anhuma), said to the Prophet ﷺ that we will not say what the people of Musa said to Musa — that you go fight and we'll wait over here. Rather, we will go with you, and Allah will make us victorious.

The Call to Fulfill Our Promises

Dear brothers and sisters, we have to make sure in this month of Ramadan and beyond:

Whatever types of promises that we have made — with our families, with our friends, with our country, whatever it may be — not lying in the way we do things, not lying in the way that we deal with people. Awfoo bil-'uqood — fulfill those covenants.

By fulfilling those covenants, what happens is that Allah's help comes. And then:

Happens — that our deen actually feels fulfilling to us. Because we're fulfilling our covenant and we're doing our job with Allah and the makhluq of Allah. And that happens through making sure that our rizq is halal, and that our ibadah is being done through a pure manner — through wudhu, and whatever other form of purity that we can bring into our physical life, we should do it.

And by doing this, we're fulfilling our vow with Allah, and Allah's help will come. Not like with the people of Musa (alayhi salam) — with Bani Israel, they broke their vow, so Allah disgraced them in this world.

May Allah protect us from that disgrace and humiliation. Rather, give us the ability of fulfilling all of our vows and knots that we have made with people and with Allah.

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

We will have a more detailed explanation of this in the evening at 9:30 with Mufti Abdul Rahman and Shaykh Abdullah in the daily Qur'an Reflections. So please try to make sure you join that as well. I have limited time so I can't go on for too long, but for everyone that joined, may Allah bless you. And hopefully we'll see you tonight, and we'll see you at 6pm in the Ramadan Immersion Program.

السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ