the truth is from you

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Ayah 60

الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ

The truth is from your Lord, so do not be among the doubters.

الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ – the truth is from your Master, then don’t become from those who fall into doubt. That’s an oversimplified translation of the ayah. In these three ayahs, there’s actually sort of a mirror composition. The first of these ayaat, ayah number 58, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: ذَٰلِكَ نَتْلُوهُ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ الْآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ – that is what We’re reading on to you from the revelations, from the ayaat and the wise mention, meaning it’s the idea that whatever story has now come to you is part of revelation from Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is the one telling it. And of course skip one ayah and Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) reinforces that idea by saying: الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ – the truth is from your Master. In other words, an equation has been created between the ayaat and the wise mention, and الْحَقُّ that the revelation is in fact the truth from your Master.

The other interesting thing here is that the 58^th ayah is about the word of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) meaning revelation. The 60^th ayah is about the word of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), which is revelation; the truth comes from your Master is about revelation. And in the middle you have: ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ, another Word of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى): كُن فَيَكُونُ, it’s actually couched between the two. So we’re learning that there are two kinds of Words of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) – the Word of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) that is revelation, and the Word of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) that becomes His creation.

The Word of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) that’s revelation is Qur’an, it’s Torah and Injeel before it, those are the Words of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). And the creation is every time Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says كُن something comes into being, that’s also a manifestation of the Word of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). So we share something with revelation in that the origin of both of them is a Word from Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). Interestingly enough, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says that everything Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) made has ayaat in it. Most of the time in Qur’an Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) doesn’t say that the tree is an ayah or the mountain is an ayah. He says that there’s an ayah in it. That’s an interesting way to phrase that, because if you say there’s a treasure in the mountain, you have to dig inside the mountain and find the treasure. But also, even though inside the creation, there are ayaat, revelation itself is not, there are ayaat in the Book. The book itself is ayaat: بَلْ هُوَ آيَاتٌ بَيِّنَاتٌ (29:49) – the Book itself is revelations.

There’s also a very subtle way of describing something that if we ponder the creation of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), we will find in it ayaat of revelation. So we’ll find the correspondence with, when we discover something in what Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has put in the world around us, as we contemplate it, will actually find the confirmation of what Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) has revealed to us in His Revelation. So those ayaat, the ayaat inside of creation will lead us to these ayaat, the ayaat of revelation. And it’s the reverse also, the ayaat of revelation keep pushing us to contemplate the ayaat of creation.

It’s the ayaat of revelation that tell us: أَفَلَا يَنظُرُونَ إِلَى الْإِبِلِ كَيْفَ خُلِقَتْ ‎﴿١٧﴾‏ وَإِلَى السَّمَاءِ كَيْفَ رُفِعَتْ ‎﴿١٨﴾‏ وَإِلَى الْجِبَالِ كَيْفَ نُصِبَتْ ‎﴿١٩﴾‏ وَإِلَى الْأَرْضِ كَيْفَ سُطِحَتْ ‎﴿٢٠﴾ (Surah Al Ghashiyah), it’s the ayaat of revelation that make me want to look at a camel or look at a tree or look at a bird or look at the mountain, or look at the sky. So there’s this constant circulation between the ayaat of revelation and the ayaat of creation. That is the life of a believer. Our life is constantly circling between these two sets of ayaat. What that means is that a man or a woman, is never ever free from remembering Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). Either they are lost in these ayaat (the ayaat of the Qur’an), or they are lost in the ayaat that are to be found around them. So there’s never any opportunity for not being reminded. So that’s kind of a subtle part of the organization of this concluding ayaat.

Something that is really unique is that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) describes the Qur’an here as الذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ, ذَٰلِكَ نَتْلُوهُ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ الْآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ. There is no other place in the Qur’an that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) describes the Qur’an itself as الذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيم. There are lots of places in the Qur’an that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) describes the Qur’an as حَكِيم (Hakeem), wise, lots of places where He describes it as ذكر, a remembrance, a reminder, a mention. But He never combines those two words together except here. So this is unique that in this place in the Qur’an Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is giving it a name, a description, the Qur’an itself or revelation itself is being given a description that’s otherwise not given anywhere else.

ذكر is a spiritual thing. ذكر is remembering Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), mentioning Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), rehearsing His Name, doing a istighfar, doing tasbeeh, etc, etc. Hikmah, wisdom, what comes to our mind is not ذكر, what comes to our mind is ilm leads to hikmah; knowledge, learning, contemplating, thinking, analyzing that leads to wisdom. So, you’ve got something that’s sort of spiritual in the word ذكر, and you’ve got something sort of intellectual when it comes to hikmah, wisdom. And they’ve been sort of fused with each other in the phrase of الذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ. And hakeem is becoming an adjective of ذكر meaning that remembrance itself has wisdom in it. Now the thing is, when we think of remembrance, take a step back, I really want you to appreciate what’s being said here, when somebody sits there and says: سبحان الله, سبحان الله, سبحان الله, (Subhan Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)), استغفرالله, استغفرالله, استغفرالله (Astaghfirullah), those azkaar, zikr that we do, or you memorize the dua for waking up, or the dua for going to sleep or the dua for entering into a masjid or the dua you make before you walk into the bathroom or something, these are azkaar that we do. Often times we do these azkaar on our tongues, and sometimes even associating them with maybe a remembrance of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) in our hearts, but we don’t normally associate them with wisdom. We don’t associate them with deep contemplation or thinking or profound truth or common sense.

What Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is telling us especially about this passage that has to do with Maryam (عليه السلام) and then Isa (عليه السلام) is that remembering this is full of wisdom. The first implication, let’s talk about it because the immediate audience is Christian, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) did not tell us everything about what happened in the story of Mary and Jesus. It was one of the most mysterious historical events in world history. And He kept some things ambiguous: إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا – I’m raising you, I’m taking you away. How is he taking him away? Raising you where?  Purifying you from those who disbelieved. Who are these disbelievers? Are these the Israelites or are these Romans? Who are you being purified from? وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ – I’m placing those who followed you above those who have disbelieved. Who have followed you? Who have disbelieved? The Christian claim that they follow him, they’re those true followers. And who are these disbelievers on whom they’ve been placed? There are lots of mysteries. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) deliberately left mysterious. ذَٰلِكَ نَتْلُوهُ عَلَيْكَ – this is what we’ve read on to you, مِنَ الْآيَاتِ –from within the revelations, from within the ayat, And from within the wise remembrance, meaning people are going to remember Jesus, people are going to mention his name. There are people who love him and devote themselves to him, even worship him. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is saying that there is a way to remember him that will not be wise. There’ll be a zikr of him that will not have hikmah. But what I’m giving you is the zikr of him that will have hikmah, it’s going to be الذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ, the way to remember him that will maintain wisdom, because there is a way to be spiritual and you lose track of wisdom.

Now, let’s not think about Christians for a moment, let’s think about Muslims, let’s think about religions in general, sometimes people want to become more spiritually alive, they want their heart to be reactivated. So they want to find some spiritual practice that will lead them there. And a lot of times people will find creative spiritual practices that make them feel really good. And the things that feel better and better are getting more and more, further away from wisdom. So then you end up in practices of the zikr that don’t have hikmah and the worst case scenario of that was actually the unfortunate devotion of the Christian people who so sincerely devoted themselves to the worship of God through the Bible ended up worshiping Isa (عليه السلام) and parted ways from the revelation that contain wisdom, that would never allow Jesus, himself to be worshipped. So zikr remained but hikmah went away, and Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is now putting those two things together, actually this was supposed to always have been الذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ.

Also notice a contrast. The Christians believe that his blood cleanses humanity of its sins. And Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: no, he needed cleansing. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: I will cleanse you from the disbeliever – وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا. They believe that he is a way that humanity will be ascended into heaven. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: no, you’re the one who needs to be ascended. You’re the one who needs saving. I’m going to rescue you. They believe, how they called Jesus, “the Savior,” and the passage is telling that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) saves Isa (عليه السلام). It’s the other way, the Savior is actually Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). This is الذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ. But by extension, what we’re learning from it is that maybe the people won’t go into the extreme of where the Christian people went, those who ended up worshipping Isa (عليه السلام), but maybe there will be other forms of zikr that people will adopt, that are not going to have hikmah in it. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says that when you stick to His Revelation, you will find spiritual strength, but you will never part ways from common sense. Hikmah also, حِكْمَةٌ بَالِغَةٌ ۖ فَمَا تُغْنِ النُّذُرُ (54:5), ادْعُ إِلَىٰ سَبِيلِ رَبِّكَ بِالْحِكْمَةِ (16:125), in the Qur’an, hikmah is not just used for wisdom; it’s also used for common sense. This is the way to remember Isa (عليه السلام) that sticks to common sense.

Another implication of this ayah: ذَٰلِكَ نَتْلُوهُ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ الْآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ, in the beginning of the Surah, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) said: إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَخْفَىٰ عَلَيْهِ شَيْءٌ (3:5) – nothing is hidden from Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), nothing is a mystery to Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا فِي السَّمَاءِ (3:5) – nor in the earth nor in the sky. I love that phrase. In the beginning of Surah Al e Imran, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: nothing is a mystery in the earth, nor in the sky. And you study the story of Jesus, a few ayaat later, and what do you find? A mystery of what happened on the earth and what exactly is going on up in the sky. And He says: there’s nothing mystery to Me nor in the earth, nor in the sky. And He says: هُوَ الَّذِي يُصَوِّرُكُمْ فِي الْأَرْحَامِ كَيْفَ يَشَاءُ (3:6) – He fashions you in wombs the way He wants. And of course, this is a story of a womb and how he was fashioned the way He wanted, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) wanted, but He even made you how He wanted, you didn’t know. مَّا أَشْهَدتُّهُمْ خَلْقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَلَا خَلْقَ أَنفُسِهِمْ (18:51) – I didn’t make you witness how you were made. You’re so worried about the mysterious birth of Jesus. Do you know about your own mysterious birth? That’s what Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: I didn’t make you witness how you were born – وَلَا خَلْقَ أَنفُسِهِمْ, so why don’t you wonder about that? The point is that Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) decided that He is going to only mention parts of the story that you will need to remember for the purpose of wisdom, meaning there is wisdom in telling some things and there’s wisdom in not telling some things. ذَٰلِكَ نَتْلُوهُ عَلَيْكَ مِنَ الْآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ actually means this is the only part of the story of Jesus you must focus on, because everything else will take you away from the actual wisdom of the story. The wisdom of the story was that resurrection is real, that we will stand in front of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), إِنَّ اللَّهَ رَبِّي وَرَبُّكُمْ فَاعْبُدُوهُ ۗ هَٰذَا صِرَاطٌ مُّسْتَقِيمٌ – Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is my Master and yours, worship Him alone, this is a straight path. That’s the essence of the story. That’s the wisdom of the story. We forget that wisdom and we get caught in historical debates. فِيمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ, the same passage that will say: in things that you disagree about, I will decide eventually. But the parts that you need that are actually wise for you to focus on are the ones that I mentioned in Qur’an. Look, the Biblical account is going to be way more detailed than the Qur’an brief passage. But Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: this one passage has what those that will not, this has hikmah in it, remember this and it will have hikmah in it; Subhan Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). So this is the kind of the connection of zikr and hikmah that needed to be highlighted.

الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ – the truth comes from your Master. Now the word حق which is commonly translated as truth, has several meanings in Arabic, also in the Qur’an, it can mean purpose: خَلَقَ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بِالْحَقِّ (6:73) – He created the skies in the earth with purpose. حق also means right: حَقٌّ مَّعْلُومٌ, لِّلسَّائِلِ وَالْمَحْرُومِ (70:24, 25) – a known right. To be deserving of something comes from the same origin. حق also means reality: أَلَيْسَ هَٰذَا بِالْحَقِّ (6:30) – people on Judgment Day will be about to be punished, and they used to mock, “What Judgment Day,” and when Judgment Day comes, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) turns to them and says: أَلَيْسَ هَٰذَا بِالْحَقِّ – is this real or what? Is it still fake? And they say: بَلَىٰ وَرَبِّنَا (6:30) – of course, it is. It’s real. So حق is purpose, to be deserving, and reality. It’s those three things. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ – the real story, the truth of it, and purpose comes from your Master meaning the story isn’t just truly what happened, but I’m telling you what you need to know for a particular purpose. There’s a purpose in telling the story this way and purpose will come from your Master.

Rasoolullah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) is going to recite these ayaat to Christians. Do you think Christians will just listen to this and not counter-argue? They’re going to have thousand other questions. And when you have these questions and criticisms coming, for every question, the answer goes in different directions. And guess what happens when you go in different directions? You lose your purpose. And Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) tells His Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم): الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ – purpose, reality, truth comes from your Master. Don’t get distracted now. Don’t get caught up. This is why similarly in Surah al Kahf: فَلَا تُمَارِ فِيهِمْ إِلَّا مِرَاءً ظَاهِرًا – don’t engage in debate with them, except in what is absolutely clear and obvious. You don’t have anything inferior. When they come to you and say that what about this, that hasn’t been addressed? What about that, that hasn’t been addressed? You just have to say, you don’t have to impress anyone, because you have something they will never have: الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ, what needs to be told and the ultimate reality is in possession of your Rabb, it comes from your Rabb. Once you have that, فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ, this is commonly translated: then don’t become from those who fall into doubt. The phrase, فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ occurs several times in the Qur’an, الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ ۖ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ that came in Surah al Baqarah, it came in the context of the Ka’bah being the original house of Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) built by Ibrahim (عليه السلام) and the Jews were skeptical about that,

Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ ۖ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ. Then you find it in this Surah that we’re looking at now. Then in Surah Al An’aam. أَفَغَيْرَ اللَّهِ أَبْتَغِي حَكَمًا (6:114) – should I find someone else to do verdicts other than Allah (سبحانه و تعالى), وَهُوَ الَّذِي أَنزَلَ إِلَيْكُمُ الْكِتَابَ مُفَصَّلًا – and He’s the One Who sent the book down onto you, separated, opened up meaning little by little, وَالَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُ مُنَزَّلٌ مِّن رَّبِّكَ بِالْحَقِّ – and those who We gave the book to before, the Jews and the Christians, the knowledgeable among them, they know that it’s sent down from your Master, بِالْحَقِّ – with purpose, with truth, with the real story,  فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ – don’t become from those who fall into doubt.

Over and over again, engaging with the People of the Book, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: don’t fall into doubt, don’t fall into doubt, don’t fall into doubt. And says: the truth comes from your Rabb, the truth comes from your Rabb. Why did he keep saying this over and over again? Because they will quote Bible, they will quote the Torah, they will give you verses, they will give you passages, read this, read this, read this and Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is saying: wait, what they have has some elements of truth in it. It may have some حق in it, but it doesn’t have الحق. You cannot judge your Book by what they say. But your Book can judge what their book says. Your Book is the مُهَيْمِنًا over theirs. So study their Book, fine, let them quote, but their book will not determine whether this is true or not. Because الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ and the Qur’an is from your Lord, the ultimate truth has come to you. Yes, they have scholars, they have people of long tradition, they have huge volumes of scholarship and here you have a Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم) who before this couldn’t even read: وَمَا كُنتَ تَتْلُو مِن قَبْلِهِ مِن كِتَابٍ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُ بِيَمِينِكَ ۖ إِذًا لَّارْتَابَ الْمُبْطِلُونَ (29:48). Fine, he couldn’t even read, how’s he going to compare with all these scholars of tradition of years and centuries and centuries of scholarship?

Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) says: all you need is one thing on your side, الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ. This is one of the most powerful ayaat of what I consider intellectual confidence. You know, a student walking into a professor’s classroom. And this happened to me (ustadh) actually, as a true story. When I was first learning some things about deen, Islam, I was really excited; I didn’t know what orientalist studies were. I didn’t know Western academics on Islam, I didn’t know “this animal” existed. And there was a course introduction to Islam in my college, I was like, “Hey, I get credit. And I learn Islam. Sign me up.” So I signed up for this introduction to Islam and (the) professor’s an Iranian fellow, Zoroastrian originally, but an agnostic, doesn’t believe in any religion; and PhD in Islamic Studies, knows Arabic really well, knows Persian, knows Hebrew. And the entire course is about how Islam is a myth. The whole 40 hour course is about how Islam is a myth, how the Qur’an is fake, how the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) never existed. His theory was that the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) never existed actually, he is an Arab legend. And some Christians were going through the desert, and they thought that a good way to convert these Arabs will be to say that Abraham built this place, and that’s how the Ka’bah happened. And this guy is a PhD, and I (ustadh) don’t know Arabic, and he’s quoting stuff I don’t even know, it’s just passing over my head. He’s a lot smarter than I am. He’s a lot more knowledgeable than I am. He’s more respected than I am and there’s no way I can say something to him that is going to make me feel more academically capable. At this point, I’m a freshman in college, so I’m like 19 years old, and here’s this academic giant by comparison. I have one thing in my head, الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ – truth is from your Rabb, you can have whatever PhD you want. This is all a lie. It doesn’t make sense to me. And here’s why it doesn’t make sense because there’s something pegged inside this revelation is the truth. When that pegs inside you, then these credentials and these papers and their big words, you’re going to see through it. “Show me the argument itself. Don’t cover it up with the facade of your credentials, or how much you say you know, or what books you’ve read, show me what the argument is, go get to the evidence itself, get to the point, get to the purpose.” And that’s what Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is getting to, cut through the fat, الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ. People when they don’t have clear thinking are like, “But this person, they know so much, but they’re saying this.” Because they know so much they’re right? Or because they’ve got something to say? We look at not at what’s being said, but actually the backbone of who’s saying it and the package that comes with them.

That’s what’s being cut away by Our Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم) in these ayaat when Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) tells him: الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ. Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) also says: فَإِن كُنتَ فِي شَكٍّ مِّمَّا أَنزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ فَاسْأَلِ الَّذِينَ يَقْرَءُونَ الْكِتَابَ مِن قَبْلِكَ (10:94) – If you’re in any doubt about what We’ve sent down to you, ask those who read the book for much before you,لَقَدْ جَاءَكَ الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ  – absolutely the truth has come to you from your Rabb, فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ – don’t you dare become from those who have fallen into doubt. One of the benefits of this ayah, I wanted to read from Imam Alusi (رحم الله), (Meaning of an Arabic phrase) people have mentioned that there are two interesting benefits that come from this phrase, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) is telling His Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) don’t fall into doubt. What benefit could there be? When the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) would hear from Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) Himself, “Don’t fall into doubt,” he’s already not in any doubt, but when Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) Reinforces him this way that he gets a second wind and he’s been given a boost in confidence and he becomes more firm than he ever was even before – light on top of light, نورعلى نور. He says: when everyone else listens to these words, Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)’s Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) is being told that don’t you dare fall into doubt, when Allah (سبحانه و تعالى)’s Prophet is being told that then how can any believer after him think that I can mess around and ask I don’t know my own Book well enough. The first part of this is: الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ, if I don’t know my Qur’an, and I’m going to go talk to Christians and Jews and other people of other religions and start challenging them and whatever, and think I’m not going to fall into doubt. If Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) tells his own Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم) that the truth comes from your Master, therefore don’t become from those who fall into doubt. And how can anyone after the Messenger of Allah (صلى الله عليه و سلم) be unaware of their own Book and think that they can engage others and not fall into doubt? How do you think you’re immune from that?

So this is a very powerful reality that we’re being told that don’t be overconfident, “I want to do dawah man,” okay, great. You want to do dawah? How much Qur’an do you know, how much Qur’an have you studied? How much have you internalized? How much of that الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ do you have before you start shaking everybody else up? الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ, فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ. And this is not, even the Jews who have scholarship and all of that, it’s the Christians and people think that I was talking to Christians, that’s easier, man. They’re like, three in one, one in three, that’s easy. I could handle that one. I got this. Have you really got this? You got this because it’s not that simple and it’s not that easy. And they have centuries of theology behind them. And they’ve got some brilliant philosophers behind them, and some very intelligent people. It’s not like you can just hold your water and stand your ground. It doesn’t work that way.

Now let’s dig into the word مُمْتَرِينَ and we’ll call it a day. The first thing I want to say is how Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) shows honor to His Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم). At first glance when you read the ayah it sounds like it’s a criticism: don’t become from those who fall into doubt. The thing is, when you say to someone: فَلَا تَكُن مُمْتَرِياً, it means don’t become skeptical, don’t become doubtful. When you say that don’t become from those that are doubtful, you added a from and then you added another group, people that are doubtful, then actually it creates a distance between you being skeptical, you are just leaning towards, you’re paying more attention to, you’re being associated more with those that are falling into doubt, even if you yourself are not in doubt. This is the Messenger (صلى الله عليه و سلم) being told not that he’s becoming skeptical but that he shouldn’t even pay attention to these people, and being counted among those or be associated with them. So it’s actually almost alleviating him and absolving him of the assumption that he will himself ever fall into doubt, by the phrasing مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ as opposed to مُمْتَرِياً, that’s the first thing I wanted to highlight.

The second thing is that the word مِرْية  (mirya), for doubt Qur’an uses ريب, Qur’an uses شك, Qur’an uses مَرَج, and Qur’an uses مِرْية, these are different words for doubt, each one of them having their own flavor. Our job today is to understand something about the word مِرْية, which is the origin of the word مُمْتَرِينَ, إمترا يمترى إمتراءً فهو ممتر this is from مِرْية in the Arabic language. Now, the word مِرْية actually originally means something that is tough on the outside, but it’s got fluid inside and it’s about to burst. The imagery is of something that is about to burst and it’s got fluid on the inside. So they use the word مِرْية for clouds, that other clouds squeeze against and then they burst and it starts raining. They also use it for a camel that is not lactating  but it’s forced to lactate, it’s squeezed out of it and it starts giving milk, so that’s when the word مِرْية is also used. So, something weak, it couldn’t hold its ground, when you squeeze it a little bit or you tampered with it, then it started giving away. And from it came the idea of مُماراة (mumaraat) meaning arguing with someone who you see as weak and you want them to start exposing their weakness, and you’re trying to poke holes in their argument or agitate them to the point where they basically burst. So the idea of someone being falling into doubt, because someone’s agitating them or attacking them, that’s actually called مِرْية. The idea of doubt, which is an abstract idea, Arabic takes abstract ideas and gives them concrete images, like something that easily bursts, that’s the image here. If you compare this to the word صدق (sidq) which is truth, actually in the original meaning صدق actually means tough, solid, rigid, unbreakable surface; the opposite. Or يقين (yaqeen) actually means something that is fully solid from the inside, meaning not just the outside look solid, the inside is solid. And by contrast, the word مِرْية is something that is liquid on the inside, and if it’s agitated, it’s ready to burst. Now from it we get, (meaning of an Arabic text) when somebody argues with you, and they say a few things and you start getting messed up inside, like you thought you were really confident and you heard two things, and you’re like, “I don’t know, I’m getting a little…, I’ve got some questions. I’m having some doubt.” You know, you have these videos online, like, if you watch this ten minute video, you will no longer be Muslim, 50 million hits. And guess who those hits are from? Not non-Muslims, Muslims. And guess what most of the Muslim said, “Oh, yeah, I could watch it. Nothing is going to happen.” And then مِرْية happens, “Huh? Ooh, oh, that’s in the Qur’an. Oh, that’s what that is? That is a good question. I should go ask an imam. I should go ask somebody else. Let me Google this. Let me find some other websites that poke holes in my religion. And let me collect those questions.” Your foundation was so weak that some videos, some people saying one or two words, all of a sudden you start bursting, your doubts come out. You thought you had a foundation you didn’t. Where’s the foundation? The foundation is one phrase in this ayah: الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ. When that foundation isn’t there, then obviously one video, you don’t have to watch all 10 minutes, three minutes, you are done, إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ, no problem. This is فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ, the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) being told, don’t let them play this game with you, don’t let them come to you and say: what about this? What about this? What about this? And what about this? And they can ask all kinds of weird question. You’re like, “I never thought about that. Actually if you take a step back, you can almost always say, “What kind of question is that? What are you even talking about?” But the people who are very good at مِرْية, they can take you around and round in circles and if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll go round around in circles until you pop, like the cloud pops and it starts raining and your faith is gone. He just wants you to keep asking, poking question, this is the secret to it. People who do that, they don’t have truth. They just want to make sure you stop believing that you have truth. Let me (ustadh) say that to you again, I will give you a silly example and it’ll make it clear. Imagine a car company that’s not very good, some low end car company, and they’re trying to compete with a high end car company, BMW or something. They can’t talk about how great their car is. So what are they going to talk about? “Now, you know, there is a recall on the BMW this year, and they had this and this and this,” and they’re just poking at. And then the person goes about to buy BMW says, “Fine, I guess I should not buy my BMW. That doesn’t make your product any better because you don’t actually have a product. But you just wanted to tear that one up. Or you have a terrible restaurant, and across the street from you is a much better restaurant, and they’re getting all the sales. No matter how much you advertise once people eat your food, they are like, “Was that food?” And you don’t blame yourself for bad quality? Who do you blame? The successful restaurant across the street, so all your effort and energy is going to go into fake profiles, fake ratings, there was cockroach in the meal, there was this or that, one star, half a star, don’t go here, etc. Why? You don’t have anything of substance, so all your effort is somehow poking a hole, here (to other restaurant).

Our Deen is substance. We don’t have to spend time criticizing Christianity. We don’t have to expose the contradictions in the Bible or we don’t have to spend time talking about the mistakes in Hinduism or Buddhism or Taoism, you don’t have to do any of that. What do we have to do? If you have the right product, all you have to do is to talk about your product. People that are at the top of an industry, the best car companies, do they spend time talking about how terrible the bad car companies are? They don’t, because their product speaks for itself. That’s the mentality of الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ – the truth is from your Rabb, focus on the truth, don’t worry about the falsehood. The falsehood will become clear as falsehood as the truth rises. جَاءَ الْحَقُّ as a result وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ, إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا. Falsehood was meant to fall apart anyway; you don’t have to make sure that falsehood also falls apart. It’s by definition meant to fall apart. If you understand that, our approach to what we consider dawah changes completely. So many people focus on, “Hey, you’re Christian. Let me show you the mistakes in the Bible. Look at this, look at this, look at this contradiction; see.” They don’t love Islam anymore, because you did that. They just hate you. (They think) “You spend time with my book, just insulted. You don’t have anything better to do.” When I (ustadh) am listening to Christian talk radio on several FM stations in Dallas Metroplex, you know what I’m discovering? They don’t have much to say from the Bible. That’s why they’re spending so much time on how terrible Islam is. فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ – don’t fall into this trap, then them criticizing you and saying, “What about this? And what about this? What about this criticism and that criticism, and that criticism?” Those criticisms are actually in and of themselves a testimony that this is the truth, that this is powerful. The fact that they had to do that was because they saw that there are people around them that are leaving camp and joining. “Why are you joining that there are problems with it? No, no, no, let me show you what’s wrong with it, don’t go that way.” This is الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُن مِّنَ الْمُمْتَرِينَ, Subhan Allah (سبحانه و تعالى). So, until you and I have a basis, we’re going focus on the wrong thing. I (ustadh), by the way, part of our team, we study the Bible. We don’t study the Bible to find contradictions, mistakes or disagreements or whatever else. We study the Bible because Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) spoke to people that believed in the Bible. He spoke to them like in Surah Al e Imran, he spoke to people who read the Bible, who were devout with it or who studied it a lot. And if we’re going to talk to them, it’s probably better for someone like me to know, what did they know? What did they believe? And how did Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) teach them otherwise? What did Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) say? How did Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) disagree with them? What language did He use? So that I can help better connect with them not to argue or debate with them, but just to let them see, here’s where we disagree, and here’s why we disagree. Now you decide. That’s up to you. This is الْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ, let the truth speak for itself. You don’t have to win an argument or defeat someone in debate and all of that; you don’t have to do any of that stuff. That’s not for us to do. May Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) give us a clear and proper understanding of His Book and may Allah (سبحانه و تعالى) never allow us to become of those who fall into doubt.