[Music]
in
[Music]
remember just remember Allah sees it all
alhamd
all praise is due to
Allah and may Allah's peace and
blessings be on his last prophet
Muhammad sallallah alaihi wasallam and
on all those who follow the path of
righteousness until the last
day we welcome you dear viewers to
another in our Series in the names of
Allah and in this
series we are looking at Allah's most
beautiful
names not merely to know
them as
names but more
importantly to understand their meaning
so that they can take a special place in
our
lives from the perspective of worshiping
Allah through those names as he
said all the beautiful names belong to
Allah so call on him with
them pray to him through
them on one perspective we would turn to
Allah through his names and on the other
perspective where the names have
relevance in our lives we would seek to
implement them in our daily lives so
this is the goal of the
program in this episode we we're looking
at the 12th name
aljabar the
compeller and this name is mentioned
only once in the Quran and that is in
Surah alash where Allah says there Al
Al the granter of security the guardian
the Mighty the
compeller now the meaning of this name
of Allah this divine by name Al
Jabar is derived from the root of the
term Jabar where this name came from and
that is jab jabber basically means to
force someone or some something to to do
something to someone or to
oneself as Allah told Prophet Muhammad
Sall alhi wasallam regarding his
people's rejection of his
message that's
inah verse 45 you are not there to
compel them Allah informs the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam that he can't
force people to accept the message his
job was only to convey that
message the other meaning of jabber is
to mend a broken bone or to save someone
from
poverty the word Jabar also means
arrogant and proud as in the verse where
Allah has Jesus speak or he quotes
Jesus's speech as a child when people
questioned his mother about this child
when she was not married and he
said he did not make me arrogant and
wretched relative to
allaha this name means the one who
mends who mends and corrects the Affairs
of his
creatures he mends their
hearts as well as the one who compels
his creatures to do what is in their
best
interest with regards to the effect of
this this uh belief in these
names first and
foremost belief that Allah is the
ultimate
compeller who has created certain
characteristics in human beings and in
his
creation which one cannot change one has
to accept as is beyond his or her
control this
should encourage or
uh show the way for the believer to be
more tolerant and accepting of his or
her
circumstance and not to fight and to
struggle especially in those areas which
are Beyond his or her
control but instead one seeks refuge in
Allah from those areas we seek Allah to
protect us from those things which have
been uh which are evil for example is in
them but it is set it is fixed and it is
beyond our control to deal with it so
for example Prophet Muhammad s wasallam
had told us that when we get
married then we should
say in relationship to our wives
oh
Allah I ask you for the good which is
within her and the good that you have
created as an innate part of her
character and I seek refuge in you from
the evil that is within her and the evil
which is a part of her innate
character and Prophet Sall wasallam had
told us additional to that that the
woman is like the bent rib
that you have to accept her you know as
she is to a certain degree you try to
work around the fact that she is from
that bent rib you try to straighten it
you try to force it it will
break so that is a general principle
that uh as a Believer knowing and
reflecting on this name Al Jabar it
should create in us that sense of
acceptance there are other areas of
course in our lives where there are
factors and forces which are beyond our
control so we take the same approach we
ask Allah's help in those areas and ask
him to protect us but you know we don't
uh when we find ourselves unable to make
a change or unable to uh you know get
out of those circumstances what do we do
we don't become frustrated and end up
doing things that islamically are not
acceptable but we are patient so
knowledge of this attribute helps to
develop in The Believer a certain level
of
patience belief in the Divine name
also encourages the
believer to
recognize his or her
responsibility in the choice
of life that though Allah is the
compeller meaning that he compels us to
do certain things all of the things that
he compels us to do are
good whatever Allah has made a
compulsion in our life it is a
compulsion for good we can't use the
fact that Allah is
aljabar as a means of
excusing our decisions to say things
that we have chosen to do Etc it's not
really our fault Allah has forced us to
do it because human choice is well
established this is not something that
uh we can escape or use uh other
arguments to try to get around because
for example in Surah we have Allah
saying there very
clearly say the truth is from your lord
whoever wishes to believe let him
believe and whoever wishes to disbelieve
let him disbelieve so every soul has the
right to
choose the way they want to go in this
life in spite of the fact that Allah is
a
Jabar he is not forcing Us in terms of
our
choices in fact the area one of the
examples of the area in which areas
which he has compelled us is he has
compelled us to know what is right and
what is wrong to have that knowledge
within our souls as he said in Surah as
Shams verses 7 and
8 by the soul and who created it and
inspired it to corruption and piety so
every soul is
forced to know what is corruption and
what is piety so that they are able to
make the choice because if a person
doesn't know if there isn't anything
within oneself to be able to determine
what is right and
wrong then how can we be judged how can
Allah then hold us accountable so
he as Al Jabar has forced each and every
one of us to know the right
righteousness what is righteousness and
what is
corruption and that way we have a
legitimate choice and we are held
accountable for that
choice at the same
time if Allah had willed he could have
forced everyone to believe and that's a
good thing we could say that's a good
thing why didn't he do that just as the
angels all believe and are obedient he
could have done that as he said said
inah verse
31 if Allah had wished he would have
guided all of humankind he could have
done that however when he created human
beings he created beings who were
different from the Angels he wanted
something else he wanted creatures who
would have to choose whether to be good
righteous to obey or whether not to so
that was Allah's
decision
so in spite of that uh we can only say
that human beings choose their own way
in spite of the fact that Allah is Al
Jabar we cannot say that we have no
choice in the matter there were people
who said that a long time ago back in
the 8th Century the first person to have
said it his name was
jam and he was followed by Jah IB safan
in this idea promoting the idea that
human beings have no
choice after the break we're going to
come back and look at this point a
little more deeply because there is
someone today among Muslims who's
promoting this same idea under a new
guys with that dear viewers I bid you
farewell until we come back from the
break
are remember just remember seek strength
from the
[Music]
strong and people need each others needs
colors more than they need to drink and
eat because even regarding what we drink
and eat we may not be able to figure out
which is permissible and which is not
Quran is not preserved in the books only
the S of prophet Muhammad wasallam is
not preserved in the books only but on
the heart in the hearts of men in the
hearts of people who have devoted their
time to seeking knowledge believe and
trust that none could take
place without the knowledge of
Allah when you are weak and the road
seems long remember
just remember seek strength
from
alhamdulillah all praise is due to Allah
and may Allah's peace and blessings be
on the last messenger of Allah we
welcome you back dear viewers to our
Series in the names of
Allah and in the beginning of this
series uh we looked at uh the name
Allah the personal name of God
the greatest name of
Allah along with a series of other
names and we are now on the the 12th of
the names of
Allah we started this particular episode
with
aljabar and prior to the break we're
talking about the idea that Allah has
forced us to do whatever we do that we
don't have any choice in the matter that
we are like
puppets without any real Choice the
choice is
only something which we imagine it
appears that way to us but in fact we
have no choice I mentioned that an
individual way back in the 8th Century
the 8th Century of the Common
Era claimed this the Muslim ruler at the
time executed him he refused to recant
from these beliefs because it led him to
deny Allah's attributes Etc and he was
executed but his ideas continue to
spread through one of his students jaham
IB
safwan and um those ideas are now being
revived by a popular writer by the name
of harun
Yahya he in his writings under the
heading of a very different approach to
matter tries to promote the idea that we
don't do
anything taking a verse from the Quran
where Allah said for
example that you didn't throw when you
threw but Allah threw this was his
explanation that Allah is doing
everything and of course there's the
verse from Surah 96 where Allah says
Allah created you and what you do so he
said we're not doing anything everything
is being done by Allah it is only an
illusion in our minds however Scholars
of the past dealt with this idea they
show that it is false and what it does
is it will ascribe to Allah
Injustice because if Allah is the one
doing everything then it means Allah is
doing
sin and he's punishing those people for
the sin which he did through them Etc
and this is confusion it's
unacceptable so this idea one has to be
careful of this individual who's trying
to promote it it is incorrect he has
gone off the track in this uh matter so
matter is real it is a part of Allah's
creation and the actions that we do are
real and that's why Allah ascribes them
to us if they were his actions he would
ascribe them to himself when he spoke
and said that you didn't throw when you
threw but Allah through is in reference
to Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi
wasallam before the Battle of bad when
he picked up some dust and he threw it
towards the enemy the qures who were on
the other side of the Valley and the
quray later said that they felt dust in
their face in their eyes without seeing
any dust cloud obviously the prophet M
wasallam was not the one who actually
carried that dust to their eyes Allah is
the one who carried it but the throwing
actually was the prophet mallam throwing
but it became miraculous so Allah said
you didn't throw and you threw but Allah
threw this is not uh to be taken as a
general rule for everything that we do
no what we do is our own actions of
course we do it by the permission of
Allah if we want to do something we've
made a choice and we choose to do
something Allah still has to create the
circumstances for us to be able to do it
otherwise we can't do it so it is from
that perspective that Allah says that he
created us and what we do that the
circumstances for the for them to be
there for them to be uh prepared for us
to be able to act on our Cho choices
then Allah has to create create them if
he doesn't create those circumstances
then you can't do it and this is
something real we experience ourselves
there are times when we make plans we
seek to do certain things and we can't
do it there's sometimes when we seek to
do it and we can so who determines this
is not our determination there obviously
is something Beyond us which determines
whether we're able to implement our
choices or not and that's Allah subh
tala and he is the true creator because
if it was that we in fact for those
people who go to The Other Extreme and
say well we have free will and we can do
anything we want to do you know um you
are the controller of your future you
know you decide what is going to happen
in the future then you become a Creator
yourself because you're creating
circumstances for yourself and that's
not true we're not able to create those
circumstances we do have people around
today motivators you know motivating
speakers who make this kind of claim and
unfortunately even some Muslims say this
also that uh you know we can create we
are we are the masters of our own
destiny no we're not Allah is the master
of our destiny you know that's a false
claim but particularly this idea as I
said that we are not responsible for
what we do this is not true we are
responsible and that's why there is a
judgment that's why there is heaven and
hell you know if there was no resp
responsibility on our part then it would
all be unfair and Allah says very
clearly in the
Quran and your lord is not unjust to
anyone the third point which could be
reflected on with regards to this name
aljabar is that it should give the
believer an
understanding knowing that that it is
something unique to Allah subh
tala that when we transfer this
characteristic to human beings it
becomes an evil
characteristic for allaha to be the
compeller ultimately compelling that's
fine because he only compels us to
good but for human beings now to become
compells where they're going to compel
people to do this and to do that then we
have a danger as people tend to abuse
this they become tyrants so Allah tala
said they sought Victory but the hopes
of every arrogant Tyrant will be
dashed and the prophet wasallam had said
describing a circumstance on the day of
judgment that a neck of fire will
protrude from the Hellfire on the day of
judgment having two eyes which can see
two
ears with which it will hear and a
tongue with which it will speak it will
say I have been entrusted with
three every obstinate
Tyrant everyone who claimed other gods
beside me and the picture makers so the
very first category was the obstinate
tyrants
so this is not a characteristic that we
seek to apply to ourself but in this
case it's a characteristic that we seek
to avoid we recognize it in its
Perfection for allaha and we worship him
knowing that but relative to ourselves
we don't try to apply it because it is a
characteristic which in fact we should
avoid
Prophet Muhammad Salli wasallam used to
use this name or elements of this name
in Dua so we pray by using the name
Abbas related that between the two
prostrations the prophet Sall wasallam
used to
say my Lord forgive me have mercy on me
mend me provide for me me and Elevate me
so this is the way by which we can use
it in prayer there's also another uh Dua
or supplication which the prophet Sall
wasallam taught using an element of the
name uh for the night
prayer uh as aln Malik had related that
he had gotten up for night prayer with
the prophet Salli wasallam and the
prophet Sall wasallam
during his bowing while Bowing in the
night prayer he had said
sub glory be to the owner of majesty
Dominion pride and
Supremacy so this term jabarut which is
specific to Allah tala is a source of
majesty with regards to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala relative to human
beings it is something which they cannot
take on and as we said in the very
beginning that this quality of being the
compeller is something unique to
Allah and the rest of the creation it is
forbidden to them it is a source of evil
it is a the product
of uh
Disobedience because all of those who
act in a way which forces people to do
what is evil naturally there are people
who Allah has given power and they have
abused that power so this quality as we
said is one which we would seek to avoid
so in summing up going back to the
understanding of this name we said that
first and foremost the understanding of
this name should compel the believer to
accept certain things in his
life in the world around him which he is
or she is unable to change Allah has
created
things in that way what he is expected
to do in such a circumstance is to seek
Allah's Mercy through his
protection from the harm that is there
and we seek to have patience to deal
with those circumstances the other point
was that uh we should know that in spite
of Allah being the
compeller we're not compelled to do evil
he does not compel us to do evil so we
cannot blame him for anything he only
compels us to do good so we are
responsible for our own
actions and
finally uh we should also understand
that we as human beings should avoid
this name totally for ourselves and what
it implies with that dear viewers I'd
like to thank you for being with us in
this segment of our program in the names
of Allah
and we hope that you will continue to
follow the program throughout its
various
episodes when you are weak and the road
seems long remember just remember seek
strength from the strong