 Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Wa-salaatu wa-salaamu ala Sayyidina wa nabiyina Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa salim. Ya Rabbana laka alhamdu kama yambagi lijalal wa jihika wa adhimi sultanik. Allah maya mukalliba al-kulubi wa al-absar, thabbit kulubina ala dinik. As-salamu alaykum everybody. We are insha'Allah starting a new series of Tafsir in this sessions which will start today and it will last until December 22nd every Tuesday at 1.30 Pacific time insha'Allah till 2.15. We're going to have a Tafsir session where we'll be covering Surah Yasin, Surah Al-Rahman, Surah Al-Waqa and Surah Al-Mulk insha'Allah. So Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim let's start insha'Allah. We always start reciting Quran by A'uzubillahi min al-Shaytan al-Rajim, Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. So we start by, I seek refuge with Allah SWT from the outcast, from the cursed devil. So the devil is prevented by this statement, A'uzubillahi min al-Shaytan al-Rajim. The devil is prevented from affecting our religious affairs or from hindering us from adhering to what we were commanded or even luring us into what we were prohibited from. So we want to be safe, we want to seek refuge with Allah SWT who will guide us, who will guard us against shaytan. And then we start with Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim in the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful. And the reason we start with the Basmala, we say, Sayyidina Muhammad SAW said, كل عمل الله يبدأ بسم الله فهو أبتر, أبتر أي مقطوع. So every action that does not start with the name of Allah SWT with Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim, then it is missing some reward. So say Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim so that the action that you are going to do you are about to do would get easier for you. Because you are not going to do the action with your strength but with the strength of Allah SWT. So say Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim so you can get the help and the strength from Allah SWT. Now what's the difference between the two words, ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim? Both words are derived from ar-Rahman, from mercy. And both words show mercy. But ar-Rahman shows mercy to the Muslim and to the non-Muslim. And that will be in both the dunya and the akhia. This is the ar-Rahman of Allah SWT by nature. A mom would care about her child, this is ar-Rahman. We would care about each other so this is ar-Rahman. So people, whether they are good or bad, they have ar-Rahman inside them. But ar-Rahim shows extra mercy to those who believe in Allah SWT. And Allah says, وكان بالمؤمنين الرحيمة. He didn't say وكان بالمؤمنين الرحمن. No, وكان بالمؤمنين الرحيمة. So that's why we start with عوض بالله من الشيطان الرجيم. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. Before going into Surat Yaseen, we will start with a few words about Surat Yaseen. The sahaba, رضي الله عنهم, the companions of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, believe that Surat Yaseen saves from evil. Surat Yaseen envelops us in Allah's blessings. And also gives or grants us what we need when we read it for that intention. And some of the friends of Allah, some of Ahlullah, they read 41 times of Surat Yaseen for anything that they believe they need help from Allah SWT. Whether to get benefit or to abstain from any harm that might happen. And if we look at Musnad Imam Ahmad, it was reported that the companion, غضيفu بن الحارث was on his deathbed. And he asked the people who were around him, is there someone who memorized Surat Yaseen? And a tabiri with the name Saleh said, yes, I do. So غضيف, رضي الله عنهم, said, recited. And Saleh, رضي الله عنهم, recited it, started to read it. And when he reached Ayah 40, غضيف passed away. Saleh commented at that time. He said, our elders used to say, if Surat Yaseen is recited over a person who is on his deathbed, then it makes the death easy for him. And actually this Subhanallah explains the saying, اقرأوا ياسين على موتاكوا. It's not after they die, but it's while they are dying. If you know that a person is dying, read Surat Yaseen, and it will make his passing go smoother. And there are so many hadith on the narrations, so many sayings on how Surat Yaseen is so special. Some of these narrations are not so authentic, so we are not going to go in that direction. But these are the most important things I wanted to start with. So بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم, Surat Yaseen. Surat Yaseen is a Surah of the middle Meccan Suras, the middle Meccan Age. So what does this mean? We know that when we say Surah is Meccan Surah, it means that this Surah was revealed before the migration of Sayyidina Muhammad, from Mecca to Medina. So it was revealed before the Hijrah. And normally the Meccan Suras have some common characteristics. So they have short verses, and they are rhyming in eloquence, and they focus and they concentrate on the Aqidah, building the strong Aqidah of the Muslim. Because we know Mecca Suras were revealed at the beginning when Islam was first spread. So this was the period that the Muslims are new to this religion. So these Suras build the strong, the sound, the perfect Aqidah, creed, and it emphasizes on faith, faith with the wahi, faith with revelation, with the oneness of Allah SWT, faith with death, resurrection, reckoning. It tells the stories of the previous messages. So sometimes if you read it, it's almost all full of Mecca Suras. And you see how the Suras have short verses. And if we look at Surah Tiyaseen, it has fairly short verses, and it rhymes. If you look at the whole Surah, each and every ayahs end either with the letter Meem or with the letter Noon. So this is of the miraculous nature of Surah Tiyaseen. Now if we start with the first ayah, Yaseen. Yaseen is considered one of the forms of al-Huroof al-Muqattah. And al-Huroof al-Muqattah are the letters that would start a Surah, but these letters might not have a meaning. For example, aliflameen. There has been several interpretations. What does aliflameen mean? But there is only Allah SWT all knowing knows what it means. Some people would say, okay, these are just used for as short forms of the names of Allah. Some people say these letters don't have meanings. Some people say that these letters together would mean something. So Yaseen, let's look at these two letters. Yaseen. So we have the two letters Yaseen, as if you are calling Yaseen. So as if Allah SWT is calling Sayyidina Muhammad SAW and talking to him. Because in one of the tribes, this word, Yaseen, means ya insan or man. And this is all the best of creations, Sayyidina Muhammad SAW. And some people say it's an oath that Allah SWT has used. But Allah SWT brought these ahruf muqattah. And if we calculate all of them, aliflameem, aliflameem sahad, aliflameem ra, noon, qaf, yaseen, qaf, ha, ya, a, yinsad. So these are the beginnings of some surahs. So if we take the letters of these letters and we count them, we find that they are 14 letters. And the Arabic language, the alphabet has 28 letters. So this is half of the alphabets. And this has some miracle in it. That Allah SWT is challenging every person to get something that's similar to the Quran. Okay, these are the letters that it's your language. It's not an invention of a new language. It's the language of the Arabs. And the Arabs were very eloquent. So many poets, so many narrators. It's the most eloquent language. So Allah SWT is challenging people to get a similar surah using the same letters. They couldn't, challenging them to get a similar few ayahs. They couldn't. One ayah, they couldn't. So this is these Ahraf Muqatta'a. These are the indication of the miraculous nature of the Quran. And no one can know the exact meaning of these letters, combined letters with no meanings. Allah SWT all knowing only knows what's the real meaning of these letters together, put together. So Allah SWT is talking, let's say, to say the Muhammad SAW, and he is swearing. He's swearing by what? Wal Qur'anil Hakim. When we have a waw at the beginning of the ayah, this waw is called wawul qatham, the waw of oath. So it's used to attract our attention that Allah SWT is going to swear. So he is going to swear by something that's great, about something that is great. So he's attracting our attention. So what is Allah SWT swearing by? Allah is swearing, and this is an oath by the Holy Qur'an, Wal Qur'anil Hakim. So he's swearing by the Qur'an. And al-Hakim means full of wisdom. The Qur'an is full of wisdom, it's full of final judgment, it's full of laws that cover everything. Qur'an is the source of life. It governs everything justly. This is the revelation of Allah SWT. So Allah SWT is swearing by something great, about something also great. So what is he swearing about? He is telling Sayyidina Muhammad SAW, إنكلمين المرسلين. Indeed, you, Muhammad, are from among the messengers. Because we all know that when Sayyidina Muhammad SAW was asked to call for Islam in public, people denied him, people belied him, and some of them said you are not messengers. Some said you are a magician, some said you are liar. But Allah is swearing here. No, you are, you are from among the messengers. علي صراط المستقين. You are on the straight path. So you are a messenger, and you are on the straight path. So the one who follow you will also be following the straight path. This straight path, the end of this straight path is the heavens. And Allah SWT promised, Shaitan promised Allah SWT when he was outcasted out of Jannah that he will surely try to do his best to get people go astray from the straight path. And if you, where does Shaitan come? Where does he whisper? He doesn't whisper for those who go to the bars and for those who gamble. They are already going astray, but he whispers to the people who are worshipping Allah SWT. And that's why we say, Ya Allah, نسألك الصبر على الطاعة. Ya Allah, we ask you to help us to be steadfast while worshipping you. Because Shaitan will never accept to leave people until he deviates them. That's his promise to Allah SWT. And that's why when, every now and then we should say Audhu Billahi Minash Shaitan already, whenever we want to say, whenever we want to do anything, our intention should be directly and clearly, purely for the sake of Allah SWT. Not for our nafs, not for our dunya, not for our anything that we would love. No, it's for the sake, pure for the sake of Allah SWT. So say Audhu Billahi Minash Shaitan al-Rajim and start your action with Bismillah al-Rahman al-Raheem. So Allah is saying, إنك لمن المرسلين على صراط مستقيم. If you go back to Surat al-Fatiha, we ask Allah SWT, we all read Surat al-Fatiha every day in our prayers. And we say, إهدنا الصراط المستقيم. Ya Allah, we ask you to guide us to the right path. Some interpretations say that الصراط المستقيم, when we ask Allah to إهدنا الصراط المستقيم, we ask Him to guide us to Sayyidina Muhammad SAW, because one of the names of Sayyidina Muhammad SAW is الصراط المستقيم. So we want to follow Sayyidina Muhammad SAW. تنزيل العزيز الرحيم. So this Quran was revealed by the exalted in might, the merciful. And we know that Quran is the rope of Allah SWT, whoever holds it tight will be guided. It's our connection to Allah SWT. The more we get connected to the Quran, the more our hearts will be filled with the light of Quran and the closer we will be to Allah SWT. And we all know that all the previous revelations were given just once to the prophets. The Torah was given to Sayyidina Musa just once. The Injil was given to Sayyidina Isa in just once, except for the Quran. The Quran was revealed from the, to Sayyidina Muhammad SAW, Munajjaman, which means that it was descended few ayes by few ayes by few ayes and it lasted 23 years until it was complete from the word Iqra until the last ayah. And when the last ayah was revealed, then the Sayyidina Abu Bakr cried because he knew that Sayyidina Muhammad SAW is about to die. The mission is complete. The mission is complete. And when Sayyidina Muhammad SAW was given the choice to live forever or to meet Allah SWT, he said, Al-Rafiq Al-A'la. So we want to get connected to Allah through the book that he revealed to Sayyidina Muhammad SAW. We have to strengthen our relationship with Sayyidina Muhammad SAW by reading about him, by reading about his Seerah, by reading about the Sahaba. And we, by sending Salawat to Sayyidina Muhammad SAW, do it as a word. Every day, 100 Salawat, every day 100 Salawat to Sayyidina Muhammad SAW. Get connected. So what we are doing now is we are trying to understand the Quran, but we also want to be connected to Sayyidina Muhammad SAW. To warn a nation of people whose forefathers were not warned, so they were heedless. What does this mean? And we are talking here about the people of Mecca. The people of Mecca did not receive any message. So from Isma'il SAW, until Prophet Muhammad SAW came, there was no messenger sent to the people of Mecca. And that's why, They were not warned. Their forefathers were not warned. But we know that some of them were good-hearted that they would not accept to worship idols. For example, Waraqa bin Naufal, the uncle of Khadija, radiAllahu anha, he was of the Mwahideen. He was on the Deenul Hanif. He was on the Deenul Hanif. He was on the Deenul Hanif. Certainly, the word has proved true against most of them. Most of them. So they will not believe. So what happened? As I just mentioned, some of them would not accept to worship any idols. But most of them did not believe. They worshipped idols. So those people took another god. And most of them would not accept to leave their god who they are making in their hands. For example, they would make a god of dates in the morning. And during the day, if they got hungry, they will eat that god. And again, they will make another god and they will worship that god. So those people, most of them did not want to leave their gods. Did not want to abandon the gods that their forefathers used to worship. So they belied Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam when he was revealed to. When he was sent to them. So those are the people who were stubborn and they were against the message of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. They were against the message of Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam. And they dissed and for this, those people deserved torment because they denied. They did not believe. They did not want to listen. They persisted in their denial and hostile attitude to the truth even after Allah sallallahu alayhi wasallam to warn them. So what happened? Why? What's the problem with them? So we have put iron colors around their necks. We've put shackles around their necks. So their necks are going up to their chins. So their heads are raised up. Those people who rejected Islam are unable to look at the truth out of their arrogance. So their necks cannot move in the right direction. So their eyes cannot go to the right direction. They cannot see. We put barriers before them and barriers behind them. So the Surat is in front of them but they are not looking at it. They're not following it. So their eyes are covered up. They cannot see. It doesn't matter. It's the same whether you warn them or you don't warn them. Most of them will not believe. There is a barrier. There is a veil on their eyes, a veil on their heart. It's always said that there is a nice example about the veil, that if you have a white paper and someone made a mistake and you put a dot on that white paper. If that person did not do, still far did not repent and made other mistakes. So this dot, this black dot will not be erased but more dots will be next to each other until the whole page is covered with black dots and you will not see the clear white page. So the heart has a veil they cannot see. And whether you warn them or not, they cannot believe. The only people you can truly warn are those who follow the Qur'an. And the Qur'an is one of the names of the Qur'an because it reminds you when you are headless. So you call these people, you warn these people who follow the Qur'an. Whose heart is pure to accept. So you warn those people who follow the Qur'an and those people are reminded by the Qur'an. So when they are headless, when they read the Qur'an, they go back. And this is one of the amazing miracles of the Qur'an. If you feel you are stressed out, just take your Qur'an and read a page, two pages, three pages, read a jizid. And you feel that as if the mountain is not there anymore on your shoulders. You feel relieved. So what happens? You also warn those who fear Allah in private. It's not only we abstain from doing something bad because people are around us. No, the courage is to do what Allah wants us to do and to abstain from what Allah wants us to abstain from when we are alone. And we always have to remember what At-Tusturi said. Allah is with me. He's watching over me. And sometimes people would say, oh okay, this is a small sin. It won't matter. I will do Istaghfar. It's not how big or small the sin is. But look at who did you disobey? You disobeyed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in private. So those who fear Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and those who follow the Qur'an, those are the people who will have the glad tidings the noble rewards who will have generous rewards. So what are these rewards? What are these rewards? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the hadith, I have prepared for my righteous slaves that which no eye has seen no ear has heard and has never crossed the mind of any human being. And the best of the bounties of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the best of the rewards is the gaze into the face of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And we want to be of those whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said, رضي الله عنهم وربوا عنهم. So these are the people whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is pleased with on the day after. So إنما تنذر من اتبع ذكر وخشي الرحمن للغيب فبشره بمغفرته وأجر كريم. إننا نحل نحي الموتى ونكتب ما قدم وآثارهم وكل شيء احصيناه في امامي مبين. So Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala now is talking about those... Allah is saying we shall surely resurrect the dead. We shall surely resurrect them. And we will write down all they sent ahead and their traces. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will have the angels to write all the good deeds that they sent ahead and that whatever good deeds they did and they were forgotten. No people would think about them but also their traces. What is the وآثارهم? وآثارهم means what they leave behind them after they die. So Allah is recording everything. So what does someone leave behind after they die? They leave either good or bad. An example of leaving something good if someone built a mosque. You will be rewarded as the same way as if he was praying in that mosque, the same way that people are praying in this building. And if someone also did the bad thing, for example, he owned a bar, then he will get the sins of all the people who go there also. وكل شيء احصيناه في امامي مبين. There is a record. The record has everything registered in it. So now we move to the story of أصحاب القرية. Who are those people? وضرب لهم مثلا أصحاب القرية اتجاء المرسلون. Now Allah is telling the Prophet to tell them the story of the people of the village. There was a village and two messengers were sent to this village. إذا أرسلنا إليه مسنيني فكذبوهما. When we sent to them to this village, to the people of this village, we sent two messengers. But what did the people do? They denied them. They denied them. فكذبوهما. فعززنا بثالث. So we really enforced and we sent a third one. So the messengers now are three. And they said to the people, we are messengers to you. The people looked at them and they said, قَالُمَا أنتُم إلا بَشَرٌ مِثْلُونَا. They said, you are not but a human like us. وَمَا أنزَلَ الرَّحْمَالُ مِنْ شَيْءِ. And the most merciful has not revealed anything. They know that Allah is merciful. So they said, He hasn't revealed anything. اِنْ اِنْ تُمْ إِلَّتَكْرِبُونَا. So you are but liars telling lies and saying things that are not true. So being honest and telling lies were characteristics. And they were known from early ages. And that's why when Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was the one who, we know the story of the stone. Al-Hajr al-Iswad, the black stone that when they rebuilt the Kaaba, they took the stone and when the Kaaba was rebuilt, they wanted to put the stone back. The tribes wanted to have that honor. So each claim to that, they have to do it. And there was a big issue about it. So one of the wisest people there suggested that, okay, let's have the ruling of the first person who is coming to this Majlis. So the first one was Sayyidina Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So they all accepted saying, جاء الصادق الأمين. This person who came here is the honest, trustee, the one who always says the truth. So these are, these two characteristics are very important. So, So the messengers told them, Our Lord knows that we are messengers to you. وما علينا إلا البلاغ المبين. And we are not responsible of anything except for proclaiming the clear message. We just have to give you the message. You are free to accept or not. We have to give the message to you. We are messengers from God and we have to, to give you what we were ordered to. What was the answer? And the people of the village said, They said, So they said, We considered you, we considered you bad omen. If you don't stop, if you don't desist, we will surely stone you and you will be punished severely. So they now, the first step, they belied them. The second step, they now, they, they are threatening them. قالوا طائركم معكم. So the messengers said, Your omen is with yourself. If you had bad omen then it's you. انذكرتم. You had this, you are saying this because we are reminding you. We are reminding you with Allah. We are reminding you with the day after. We are reminding you with resurrection. We are reminding you with reckoning. Is that why you have the bad omen? بل انتم قوموا مسرفوا. Rather, you are people who transgressed all bounds. وجاء الرجل من أقصى المدينة يسعى. So what happened? This Rajul and there came from the farthest end of the city, a man. He was running, he was coming very fast. Why? Because there was the news where spread that there are messengers and that those messengers had something miraculous. But even though the people would not believe him. One of the things that they did, they healed so many people. And this was one of the miracles that came with them, that they could do. So this person, Habib al-Najjar, came when he heard that those people can cure people. He came from the very far end of the city and he had literacy. He was sick. And he used to worship the idols for 70 years just hoping that they can cure him. So he met the messengers and they asked him to believe in Allah. And he said, I want a sign that you are truthful. And they said, we can cure the sick people. So he said, okay, here I am. I'm sick. Cure me. So with the permission of Allah, they cured him and he believed. So when he knew, when he later knew that the people want to kill the messengers, he came. He came to the people and he said, oh people, just follow these messengers. Because he knew that they were honest, that they were truthful. So the only thing they are asking you to do is to worship Allah SWT, to take him as the warm God, and not to worship anything with him, not to associate anything with Allah SWT. And I'm warning you, you want to kill these messengers? Oh people, just wake up. You cannot kill them. They are truthful. So obey those who ask no wages for you and those who are rightly guided. They are doing your favor. A favor that you cannot reimburse them for. They are saving your akhira. So what happened? And they asked him, are you the people who asked him, are you on their religion? He said yes, I follow them. And why should I not worship Allah SWT? Why? Why? Who has created me? What's there to stop me from sincerely worshiping the one who has created me? And worshiping him alone, with no partner, no associator. Wa ilayhi turja'oon. And to whom you shall be returned? And your deeds will be scaled for you. Everyone is going to Allah SWT, everyone is going back. If your deeds are good, then you will be rewarded. This is what he is telling them. And this is what he learned from the messengers. If your deeds are evil, then you will be punished. Should I take other gods than him? If the most merciful intends for me any harm, your intercession will be of no use to me. What's the matter? Nothing will help me. You people will not save me. No one can save me. Of course I believed in Allah. If I am a loser, then I will be a loser if I don't follow him. He is talking to the people, and it might be understood that he is talking to the messengers. Oh listen to me, verily I believed in your Lord. Bear witness to that. Bear witness to that, that he believed in Allah SWT. When he said so, his people, the people of the village started to stone him, and he died. It said, enter paradise. For whoever is a murderer, there they will be in Jannah. Don't think that those people who died for the sake of Allah are dead. No. They are highly rewarded with Allah SWT. So Jannah is a place for you with all its bounties, with all its provision. He said, I wish my people could know. I wish my people would know how my Lord has forgiven me. Because I sent the truth, because I believed, because I, I stand fast. And placed me among the others. My Lord has forgiven me, and made me of the end ones. Because of my faith in him, because of my strong belief in the messengers, they are truthful. He wanted people to know about his rank, so they would believe and obey. He said, I wish my people knew where am I now? I think we will stop here, inshallah. And we will continue next time, inshallah. So may Allah connect us with the Quran. May Allah give us comprehensive understanding of the Quran. May Allah guide us with the Quran. May Allah enlighten our path with the Quran. May Allah connect us with his beloved messenger, who received the revelation of the Quran. And may Allah bless Muhammad and his companions. Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah. We'll see you next week, inshallah.