You Need to Read (Islamic Lectures Collection)

The correct order in which to approach the Islamic way of life

We have to understand what is the basic purpose of our life. Tarteeb (order) is important. What tarteeb the Quran came in.

"La iqraha fiddeen" (Surah Baqarah), comes in the ayah after Ayatul Qursi (the verse of the throne). In Ayatul Qursi, Allah is introducing Himself. No other ayah (verse) is like this. Ulama (scholars) and mufassireen (scholars of Quranic explanation) have written a lot about this. Allah reveals this long ayah, then Allah reveals a short ayah, a Madni ayah, and starts off by saying, "La iqraha fiddeen", there is no compulsion (jabr, zabardasti) in deen (Islamic way of life).

What does Allah mention in rest of Surah Baqarah? Ayat ul Qursi and rest of ayahs like it, are to introduce Allah to the people of Makkah, the commandments come later, in Madni period. Allah took His time when it came to commandments, He was in no hurry at all. If Sahaba karaam needed this thing, that they had to build their relationship with Allah first, then they could obey the commandments, how can we, the people of today, expect to fulfill the commandments without building a relationship with Allah?

Nowadays, people have a lot of questions about deen (Islamic way of life), about the commandments, about legal issues, but few questions about Allah. Interestingly, Allah recognises the importance of this so much, that only 500 ayah of Quran (out of 6000+ total ayah) are legal commandments. The rest of the ayahs, Allah wanted to build a relationship. We have dumbed down the Quran as a book that is trying to restrict our life and make it miserable. That is why it is hard for us to change our life. We do not pay attention to the relationship-building ayahs. People bring out the ayahs of women's dress, of music, and other commandments, but what about these ayahs? People say, why is my choice being restricted? This is not the way I want to come to Allah.

You need to understand, because you will not be able to stay on deen (Islamic way of life) this way. Everyone is stuck on surface-level debates. If in your house you are on deen and the other people are not, for example, whether to dance on a wedding or not, we are stuck on the surface, we are forgetting the ta'luq (connection) between Allah and insan (human). The Quran says, "What is it that has taken you away from your kind and merciful Lord?" We have to bring that ta'luq (connection) back in our life.

[Weekly Spiritual Gathering, talk by Shaykh Arsalan Ahmed, 29.10.2015]