Juz 3 [Quranic Gems] - Nouman Ali Khan - Quran Weekly

original youtube link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFsYnwI6zEA Ramadan Juz 3 Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 286 Surah Al-Baqarah, verse 286: لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا ۚ لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ ۗ رَبَّنَا لَا تُؤَاخِذْنَا إِن نَّسِينَا أَوْ أَخْطَأْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تَحْمِلْ عَلَيْنَا إِصْرًا كَمَا حَمَلْتَهُ عَلَى الَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا وَلَا تُحَمِّلْنَا مَا لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا بِهِ ۖ وَاعْفُ عَنَّا وَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا ۚ أَنتَ مَوْلَانَا فَانصُرْنَا عَلَى الْقَوْمِ الْكَافِرِينَ ﴿٢٨٦﴾ Translation: ‘Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity. It will have [the consequence of] what [good] it has gained, and it will bear [the consequence of] what [evil] it has earned. “Our Lord, do not impose blame upon us if we have forgotten or erred. Our Lord, and lay not upon us a burden like that which You laid upon those before us. Our Lord, and burden us not with that which we have no ability to bear. And pardon us; and forgive us; and have mercy upon us. You are our protector, so give us victory over the disbelieving people.”(286)’ Asalamu alaikum Quran Weekly, I want to share with you from the third juz, just the last ayah, just some things from the last ayah of Surah Al Baqarah. It is a long ayah that I will be sharing with you, just a few reflections from the first part of this ayah which is ‘لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا’ (Lā Yukallifu Allāhu Nafsāan ‘Illā Wus`ahā) The word ‘تكليف’ (takleef) in Arabic means to be burdened with something and Allah says, “Allah does not burden any individual.” Allah will not burden any single person. ‘إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا’ (‘Illā Wus`ahā) except to that person’s capacity. Which actually means any trials you and I go through in life are actually custom tailored to our capability to manage them. What somebody else is going through may not be something I can handle and what I am going through may not be something they can handle. The gifts we enjoy in life and the difficulties we suffer in life, the hardships and the trials we suffer in life are actually each of them custom tailored to our own individual personalities. So Allah says He does not burden anybody more than they in particular are capable of bearing. ‘لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا’ (Lā Yukallifu Allāhu Nafsāan ‘Illā Wus`ahā). The other thing that is remarkable about this ayah is that there are some things that all of us are equally responsible for. There are commandments of Islam that you can’t say, “well I know you can do it but I cannot. It’s not in my personality.” The five prayers for example, you can’t say well ‘MashAllah you pray 5 times but I can do it during Ramadan but usually it is impossible for me, I am not able to do that”. You can’t make that excuse because there are a few of the commandments of Allah that Allah put on every nafs. He put it on every individual that you have to be able to do it. And there are very, very, very few exceptions to those that have to be very minute cases and even then there are differences of opinion but pretty much they are universal laws. And the major things that are forbidden and the major things that are obligatory on Muslims you cannot make the excuse for yourself that Allah understands that I am not exactly the prayer type. Or I am not a morning person so I can’t really do fajr. That is not going to be the case. Allah burdened us with these responsibilities knowing that every single human being is actually capable of praying 5 times. Every human being, every Muslim is capable of staying away from haram. You are capable of doing these things so when you tell yourself you can’t and when you convince yourself that you can’t then you are actually denying something Allah said about you that you actually can, that you are capable and that Allah would have never given these things for you or me to do if we weren’t capable of doing it. So you have to ask yourself, “Am I being true to myself when I say ‘I cannot’ or is Allah being true when He says, ‘yes you can?” That I wouldn’t have given it to you unless you could have handled it’? This is the really honest to yourself question that you and I have to ask ourselves, especially when it comes to the major commandments of Allah عز وجل, . ‘لَا يُكَلِّفُ اللَّهُ نَفْسًا إِلَّا وُسْعَهَا’ (Lā Yukallifu Allāhu Nafsāan ‘Illā Wus`ahā). And finally, ‘لَهَا مَا كَسَبَتْ وَعَلَيْهَا مَا اكْتَسَبَتْ’ (Lahā Mā Kasabat Wa `Alayhā Mā Aktasabat) I will take half a minute just to share one beautiful thing with you. Allah says, a person will benefit from whatever they earn. They will have for themselves whatever they earn and whatever they earned in terms of sin will go against them. So there are some things you earn that will go for you and there are other things you earn that will go against you. But in the Arabic ‘كَسَبَ’ (Kasaba) which is easier, was used for good deeds, what works for you and ‘اكْتَسَبَ’ (Aktasaba) which is actually harder to earn was used for bad deeds, which is weird because we think sins are easier to earn and good deeds are hard to earn but Allah is actually telling us in the ayah a secret. Sins may be easier to earn in the short term but would you pay for them in the long term? They bring about so many difficulties in what you have earned in terms of problems. The difficulties in your life, so much hardship, because of that disobedience to Allah actually don’t count as something easy. Like stealing may be easy but doing time in jail would be pretty hard, so what you did as an act of stupidity may have been really easy on you at the time but the price you paid for it made it a very difficult and bad thing that you did for yourself. And getting a job and working hard and earning money the right way may be really hard but the hardship you save yourself compared to that which you are doing is pretty easy. The alternative is pretty easy. That is the view Allah wants us to have of good deeds and bad deeds. Good deeds may require a lot more work but Allah will make them easy. And bad deeds may be much, much easier to do but you will pay the price and you will realize how much difficulty they are actually putting on you in in your life. So don’t overestimate the burden that Allah has put on you in terms of responsibilities and don’t underestimate the weight of sin. Do not underestimate or think that it is just something I do, who cares and not think about the burdens and troubles it will bring you tomorrow and especially when you and I stand in front of Allah. بارك الله لي ولكم والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته BarakAllahu Li Walakum, Wa-Salaamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu. Please note this transcript has been edited for readability purposes. If any of this information was good and true, know that it comes from Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala. If there are mistakes we ask for Allah’s Forgiveness and Mercy. - See more at: http://www.quranweekly.com/juz-3-quranic-gems/#sthash.XCcPkmk0.dpuf