Study Guide May 2022

Seerah Section:

• All prophets (a.s.) received the official stamp of being a prophet at the age of forty. Everything that happened in a prophet’s life before then, was to build and prepare that prophet for the duty that they will undertake.
•  Our Prophet (ﷺ) went through different experiences as well. He was orphaned at a young age. This was a difficulty that he endured and the loss was painful, but there were many other close people that were going to enter his life that he was going to lose later.
•  He was a shepherd. This taught him patience and to be always on the lookout for the herd. His chest was split open, and his heart was purified. This was done for many reasons, such as adding wisdom and making it stronger and able to bear the weight of Wahi.
•  While growing up, his personality was such that he disliked acts of sin. He never drank wine, never worshiped idols, never lied, never stole, never hurt anyone etc.
•  When he was nearing the age of Prophethood, he started to enjoy being alone. He would often travel about three miles outside of the locality of Makkah, climb a mountain, and then would worship Allah in a cave. The name of this cave was Hira. He would take barley and water with him and would meditate on the existence of Allah (SWT). He would praise and glorify Allah(swt), and when his supply of food would run out, he would return home, restock, and then go back.
•  As the time of being crowned a prophet drew nearer, the blessed Prophet (ﷺ) started to experience dreams. The dreams would often be about events that would happen the next day. He would wake up and would see all the events of the day precisely unfold like he had seen them in the dream as clear as one can see the sunrise on a bright day. In some narrations it is also found that during this time he would hear trees and stones saying to him “Assallumalaikum Ya Rasulullah.”
•  One day while he was meditating in Hira, the angel Jibrael (a.s.) came to him (some narrations say that he was holding a cloth with the verses written on them) and commanded the blessed Prophet (ﷺ) “Read!” The blessed Prophet ﷺ ,either seeing the fabric or not and being commissioned by such a mysterious figure for the first time, responded by saying that “I cannot read.” This was true that the blessed Prophet ﷺ was illiterate.
•  The fact that blessed Prophet ﷺ was illiterate has many points of wisdom. For example, the Quran was meant to be and still is the greatest literary miracle in the history and future of mankind. No one has ever come close with a verse to challenge the Quran in its style, its wording, and its depth in meaning. It simply cannot be possible that a person who never learned how to read or write and did manual labor their entire life, all of a sudden claims Prophethood and recites such verses which are above and beyond human ability to create.
•  After the Prophet (ﷺ) had tried to excuse himself by informing the angel that he could not read. The angel Jibril (a.s.) squeezed him tightly. This happened three times, refusal and then squeeze.
• Scholars explain the reason why the Angel squeezed the blessed Prophet ﷺ is that the blessed Prophet ﷺ was a human being. For him to receive Wahi (the weight of the final book of Allah i.e. the Quran) he needed to be prepared so the effect of the squeezing was that it gave his heart angelic spiritual strength which made it easier for him to receive revelation later on.
•  After this incident happened the fourth time the blessed Prophet began to recite the opening verses that were recited to him by Jibrael (a.s.) of Surah ‘Alaq
•  That was the official first commandment of the Quran which was to “read”. That is the wisdom of Islam that it encourages all of its followers to study, to gain knowledge, and to learn. By learning more and more about our deen we learn to appreciate our deen more and we become better Muslims. That is why you should always study this study guide.
•  After this experience, the blessed Prophet ﷺ had experienced something new and was scared about what just happened. He returned to his wife in a frightened state and was scared for his life. He also felt really cold and asked her to cover him in a cloth. Sayyidituna Khadija supported him and assured him that Allah would not waste him and that he was so kind and cared for everyone so well that Allah would never waste him.
•  Sayyiduna Khadijjah (r.a.) had a cousin who was a Christian scholar experienced in the scriptures of Christianity. His name was Waraqah bin Nawfil. He was a very old man. When the blessed Prophet ﷺ described his encounter, Waraqah rejoiced and assured him that the being that he(saw) encountered was the same angel that came to Musa (a.s.) and explained to him that he is now a messenger of Allah. He also foretold him that a day would come in which his own people were going to exile him. When, out of shock, the Prophet ﷺ asked “Will they really do that?”Waraqah replied in the affirmative, saying that all Prophets receive hostility when they spread their message.

Tafseer Section of Surah Ghashiyah

• This Surah can be divided into five parts; The groups on the day of Judgment, A description of Jahannam, A description of Jannah, a commandment to observe the creations of Allah, and an assurance to the beloved Prophet ﷺ.
•  There will be two main groups on the Day of Judgment the believers and non-believers. Allah begins the verse of illustrating that the faces of the disbelievers are humble, fearful, tired and exhausted. Iman is a crucial key element to the acceptance of all good deeds. Unfortunately, there are many people in this world that strive so hard to do good. Allah rewards them in this world. However, since they did not obey the primary commandment of Allah which was to believe in Him the way the blessed Prophet ﷺ commanded them to believe in Him. Their deeds will not be counted for in the hereafter that is why they get rewarded in this life.
• The second group is the believers, their faces will be of pleasure and joy that they will now be rewarded for their patience, effort, and sacrifice that they made in the worldly life.
• Verse number six draws a picture of the food that the people of Jahannam will eat. It is called Dharee’ ضريع. It will be a grass type of plant which will be thorny, smelly, and poisonous. Even animals do not go near this type of plant.
•  Verse number eleven describes that in Jannah no one will ever hear any rude, lewd, and disturbing speech. There will be no accusations, no insults, nothing offensive. This description is an important point that the people of Jannah will not verbally hurt each other. That means if we want to be the people of Jannah we need to make sure we control our tongues.
• Verse fourteen teaches us an essential etiquette that the people of Jannah will find the drinking container placed right next to the place where they can receive the item that they wish to drink. Many times we do not put things back in the place that we took them from, this makes it difficult for others to use the item that we borrowed because they will have to look for what we didn’t put back. That means we should be considerate of others.
• Allah then used the most common things that the Arabs were acquainted with to show them that how can you deny that Allah will recreate you while He can do everything else for you in the best way possible. Allah commands them to look at the camel. It’s big, it can carry a large load, it can store water for days, and it has special knees that allow it to kneel all the way down making it easier for the passenger to mount on and off. Look at the earth, the sky, the mountains, everything is so perfect that it has to have a creator. If the creator can do all of that, then surely he can bring you back to life.
•  Lastly, Allah concludes with a message to the Prophet ﷺ telling him not to grieve, if they do not accept the message, all you were supposed to do was warn them. Everyone’s account and judgment will be done by Allah (SWT) Himself.