"Because Allah Loves You" | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Because Allah Loves You

Allah refers to the blessings that cannot be rejected. For example, He talks about the stars, the sun, the ecosystem. He speaks about the water flowing and the ships being risen in the water. He speaks about the undeniable blessings. He begins the entire surah with the thesis. This is the first point that we can reflect on.

The Uniqueness of Ar-Rahman

He says, Ar-Rahman. Ibn Abbas says the reason why this surah begins with Ar-Rahman is that this is the only name of Allah that comes as a stand-alone in the Qur'an. All of Allah's sifat and His qualities come as tandem — they come in pairs. You will hear غَفُورٌ رَّحِيم. You will hear عَزِيزٌ حَكِيم. You will never hear a name of Allah alone.

Ar-Rahman is unique in that sense. It's the reason why Allah begins this surah with Ar-Rahman, which comes from the root letters of Rahim, which means to show love, to show mercy, and to show compassion. All of these words can be included in Ar-Rahman.

The reason why Allah begins with this is to show us and to inform us that all of these undeniable blessings — that not even a disbeliever can deny — are simply due to His love for us and humanity. Ar-Rahman. You want to speak about how the system of the moon and the sun revolve, and how the earth continues to exist, and how the solar system functions, and how the water brings life to the earth, and how fruits and vegetables grow from the water and are cultivated — Allah is saying: it's because I am Ar-Rahman. It's my love for you that I've given you this blessing.

Entitlement: The Cancer of Gratitude

The quickest way to lose gratitude is to feel entitled. Entitlement is a cancer of gratitude. Never can a person who is entitled ever be grateful — it's not possible. A son or a daughter who feels entitled to what their parents get them will never be grateful for the car the parent bought. They will always say, "I thought you were going to get me a better car." You buy the son or daughter a phone — "I thought you were going to give me the new phone though."

Entitlement is a cancer of gratitude. If this is how we see our children to be, imagine how we should be with Allah. Ar-Rahman. Allah is saying: you have health? It's because I love you — that's why you have it. Not because you deserve it.

Qadi Iyad would say:

He says: that which allows me to feel honorable and a sense of presence within my life — that which gives me a reason to wake up in the morning, sharaf, it gives me sharaf and increases my sharaf — to such an extent that أَطَأُ الثُّرَيَّا, that I feel like I can fly and reach the stars, that's how excited I become. That which gives me that feeling of himmah is not looking at my bank balance in the morning, not looking outside at what's happening in the weather. That which gives me that feeling is بِأَنْ دَخَّلْتَنِي فِي قَوْلِكَ يَا عِبَادِي — the fact that You have included me in Your call of يَا عِبَادِي, "O My slave." The fact that You have made me Your slave.

His Giving Is Mercy, His Taking Is Wisdom

Ar-Rahman — Allah is saying that every blessing we have in our life is because Allah loves us. How can I, as a slave of Allah, feel that when Allah takes something from me it's a problem? It's not. It's His mercy. Imam Muzdalifah would say:

That Allah's giving is His mercy and His taking is His wisdom. When He gives, it's because of His love, and when He takes, it's because of His wisdom.

Allah refers to the story of Zakariya (peace be upon him), who for 40 years supplicated and asked Allah for a child. 40 years. Finally, after 40 years, Allah gave him a son in Yahya (peace be upon him). Allah, when He begins and prefaces the story of Zakariya, says:

"Remember the love and the mercy of your Lord upon His slave Zakariya." How? That I gave him a child. Imagine we ask Allah for 20 days, or 1 year for something, and Allah gives it to us — and we say "About time, Ya Rabb!" Allah says: no, no, no — that was also My rahmah. That was My rahmah. Every aspect of good that we have in our life isn't because we are talented. Not because of what we have — it's despite what we have. Allah oversees and overlooks all of our flaws and still gives us that blessing. And none of us can deny it. It's because of Ar-Rahman.

The Greatest Blessing: 'Allamal Qur'an

Then Allah begins and He highlights the blessings based upon their greatness — based upon the greatness of the blessing and the reliance that the dunya has upon that blessing. For example, He talks about the sun and the moon — we all rely upon it. But what does He begin with?

The greatest of all blessings of Allah — in Him being Ar-Rahman — is that He has endowed us with the ability to learn the Qur'an. عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ — He's taught us the Qur'an. Allama, the doer in this is Allah. Allah gave all of us the ability. In Surah Al-Qamar, Allah continuously repeats the verse:

"We have made the Qur'an easy to remember. Is there anyone here to remember it? To reflect upon it?" The greatest blessing is عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ — that He has given us the ability to learn the Qur'an. It doesn't matter how old we are, how young we are, what gender we are, if we're parents or children — there's not a single person who is a Muslim who should ever stop their journey with the Qur'an.

Reciting less than one juz' a day for those that know how to recite can be troubling. Those that don't know how to recite — we begin our journey, we start our journey. Allah doesn't look at how much we recite. He looks at how much we struggle. The Prophet ﷺ says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4937; Sahih Muslim, Book 6, Hadith 1862)

Whoever is proficient in the Qur'an will be with the noble, righteous, and honorable scribes (angels). And whosoever stutters and struggles to recite it — because it is not their mother tongue and it is hard for them — Allah will give them double the reward, because they struggled to do it.

Purpose Before Creation

Adam (peace be upon him) was not given his honor and was not presented to the angels to be the greatest of all creation because of his physical stature. Physically, human beings are quite limited. Angels are made from nur, jinn are made from fire — that's why Shaytan said:

"I am better in creation." For 40 days after Allah created Adam (peace be upon him) and his physical body, he was laying there, and the angels and Iblis saw him — and they weren't impressed. "Allah, this is the khalifah?" And after those 40 days, when Allah gave Adam (peace be upon him) the ruh — his soul — Allah says:

He taught Adam the names, and He taught Adam who Allah was. And then Allah goes to the angels and says: "Hey, can you tell me what these names are?"

The angels said:

"We have no knowledge except that which You have given us." Then Allah propped up Adam and said: you tell them what these names are all about — what the Qur'an, what Allah's Wahi is about. Then Adam went ahead and informed the angels. Thereafter the angels made sajdah.

عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ — purpose comes before creation. The next verse is خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ. It is not creation coming before the purpose. No one buys a car that doesn't drive. It's created — physically it's there — but if it can't fulfill its purpose, we get rid of it. The purpose always comes before the actual creation.

So Allah says عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ, then He says خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ. The purpose is to recognize who Allah is. The product is us. The product that doesn't fulfill its purpose is useless. And it's only because of Allah being Ar-Rahman that He gives us time to reflect and to return to Him. So عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ is what allows خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ to be unique.

What would have made more sense to us is: الرَّحْمَٰنُ خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ. Allah says: no, no, no — الرَّحْمَٰنُ عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ — I've given you purpose first. Then خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ — then I've made you physically.

Our physical bodies will rot — except for those who are shuhadā' in their graves. But the Qur'an will still be with us. The Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1464; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2914)

It will be said to the companion of the Qur'an: "Recite and ascend" — not just the hafidh, but anyone who lives with the Qur'an. And you cannot say something is a part of your life if you don't interact with it on a daily basis. Either we listen to it, we read it, we listen to tafsir — something. We sit with our family members at home after 'Isha Salah and open up the Qur'an and read it together. Our homes can become the source of hidayah for the entire neighborhood. Imagine if every family reads Qur'an together and reads the Prophet's ﷺ hadith together — imagine how much nur would fill that community, like Madinah al-Munawwarah.

'Allamahul Bayan: The Responsibility to Teach

خَلَقَ الْإِنسَانَ comes next. Then Allah says — and this is profound:

The third part — first, We taught him the Qur'an. We created him. And then, number three, We taught him the ability to explain things — We provided him the ability to speak clearly and to explain. عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ is connected to the first ayah. This human being has been given the honor of learning about who Allah is, and has also now been given the responsibility of teaching other people who Allah is.

عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ — now the father and the mother, it is their responsibility to make sure the children know who Allah is as they grow up. It is our responsibility — our children, our nephews and nieces — it's not the imam's responsibility. A mother came to Sufyan al-Thawri while she was pregnant and said: "O Shaykh, please tell me a du'a that I can read so my child can become like you." And Sufyan al-Thawri said to her:

"You're too late, sister — you should have come earlier. I would have told you what to recite." The du'as you could have made when the child was in your womb were in your room.

The Tiers of Responsibility

We have tiers of responsibility. What is the first tier? Allah says:

Wherever there is more liability, there is more autonomy. Our autonomy within our family is the highest, so our liability in that is also the highest. So for example, as a father or a mother, if my children are not praying — that's my liability. That's where it starts. It starts at home. It starts within our own family.

Allah says to command your family how to pray. Yes, sending children to an Islamic school or a masjid is going to help — but the environment in the home is what allows a child to truly submit to Allah's command.

There was no madrasa when Isma'il (peace be upon him) was being raised in Makkah al-Mukarramah. There was a mother — Hajar. She raised him upon the oneness of Allah and the submission to Allah's commandment. When Ibrahim (peace be upon him) came back and said "I saw a dream," the son said:

"Do what you are commanded, Father." It wasn't knowledge alone — knowledge of Allah is what creates submission.

You know, Iqra' being the first revelation — everyone says Iqra' is all about literacy, to be well-lettered. Iqra' doesn't mean to be well-lettered. Because if it meant to be well-lettered, the Prophet ﷺ would have known how to read and write. Even after this revelation, the Prophet ﷺ never learned how to read and write. Iqra' means to be well-lettered about who Allah is — اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ.

So the tiers are: Tier 1 — our own family. Tier 2 — our neighborhood, within our own locality, our friends and family and our relatives — it's our responsibility. A part of Surah Ar-Rahman is to aim to make du'a for our loved ones and to ask Allah to also give them tawfiq. Would we be okay if on the Day of Judgment our siblings or our loved ones are not in Jannah with us? We won't be okay with it. If that's the case, then these nights are nights that we also pray for them. Everyone loves giving advice, but advice is a secondary thing. The primary thing is du'a. The Prophet ﷺ would stay awake all night crying in du'a — not only for Hasan and Hussain, but for the people around him, his own family members, and his relatives. The third tier is the entire ummah.

عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ begins at home with our own family and our relatives. We can't displace our effort where we don't have the liability as much. It starts where the liability is the most, and we make the effort there even though it's the hardest.

The first command of the Prophet ﷺ when he became a prophet was to first guide and command his family to come to Islam. عَلَّمَهُ الْبَيَانَ. Then Allah says الشَّمْسُ وَالْقَمَرُ وَالنَّجْمُ وَالشَّجَرُ وَالسَّمَاءُ — all the other blessings that we always reflect on and look at come later. In other words, as one scholar stated: if the human being fulfills his or her purpose, everything else continues to survive. In the moment the human being forgets his or her purpose, then everything else also ceases to exist.

The Prophet ﷺ says in a hadith:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 148)

The Day of Judgment will not commence as long as there is at least one person in this world who says the name of Allah. So the entire ecosystem of this world relies upon the human being fulfilling his or her purpose. This is why we are called the greatest of all creation — not because we are physically greater, but because the entire creation relies upon us fulfilling our purpose.

If the AC doesn't work in the car, or if the steering wheel is stiff, or the tread on the tires is gone — we can still drive the car. But if the engine isn't working, the car won't move. Similarly, the engine of this entire system is the human being. That's why we're called the greatest of all creation — if and when the purpose of this creation is fulfilled.

The Day We Stand Alone Before Allah

Allah talks about this toward the end of the surah. Allah says: O human beings and jinn, a time will come where I will free Myself just for you. It's like when you go somewhere as a kid and you're messing around, and your father says: "Wait till we go home. Let's see what happens." You think: "Oh God, we know what's going to happen."

So Allah is saying — because in the akhirah there is no other creation except for humans and jinn — Allah is saying: there's no one else that is going to be with us, it's only going to be you and I, and then we're going to talk. He will come to each one of us one by one. When Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) would read this ayah, he would faint. Allah will remove everything else — and it will just be you and Him. Of course Allah is merciful, Allah is the most forgiving — but this is very powerful.

You know, there were people of the salaf who would plan their first conversation with Allah. They would say: "When Allah speaks to me, what am I going to say to Him?" There is a story about Abu Sulaiman — he was traveling, and in tahajjud, he was in sajdah, and for hours he was repeating the same conversation. He said: "O Allah, I know who You are — this is why recognizing Allah is the greatest source of enabling ourselves. When someone recognizes who Allah is, in the power of Allah, in the will Allah can give — they themselves feel at ease." He said: "O Allah, if You on the Day of Judgment — when You speak to me — pursue me because of my sins: 'O Abu Sulaiman, you did such-and-such sins, you're going to Jahannam' — I will pursue You through Your mercy. If You pursue me through my book of sins, I will pursue You through Your book of mercy."

Then he said: "If You were to pursue me for my tawbah — 'Where is your tawbah?' — I will pursue You through Your grace and Your generosity. You don't need me to ask — You can still forgive me." Then he said: "O Allah, if You still decide to throw me into Jahannam, I will still tell the people of Jahannam: I love Allah, and Allah loves me."

The Three Categories of People

Then Allah mentions the three categories of people — the people of Jahannam, the people of the Sabiqoon (the forerunners that we all want to be a part of), and then Allah speaks about the people of Ashab al-Yamin. He describes the beautiful blessings of Jannah and the torment of Jahannam. These blessings are mentioned not because we specifically want that particular blessing, but so that we remain motivated to earn Allah's Jannah.