Surah An-Najm

Episode 4:

Ayah 3:

٣ ‫َو َما يَنطِ ُق َع ِن ْٱل َه َو ٰ ٓى‬

Allah is now going to speak to us about a claim about the prophet salallahualahiwasallam “a negation”...

There are three negation so far...

‫صا ِح ُب ُك ْم‬
َ ‫ض َّل‬
َ ‫َما‬
‫َو َما غ ََو ٰى‬
‫َو َما يَنطِ ُق َع ِن ْٱل َه َو ٰ ٓى‬

There are concepts muffassirun talk about that sound really technical and difficult....my job is to try to
make that stuff easy for you....this is gonna be one of thoes concepts but it is an important one... It
happens in the Quran a lot..... So, I will run you through it briefly...

There are three kinds of speech...

There is different ways of describing speech but in Balagha, one way in i’lmul maa’ni, you an do it is –
there are three kinds of speech...

 Speech to a neutral person..

 Speech to a doubtful person..
 And speech to an opponent...

Neutral, doubtful and opponent..

Khitab ibtidaee

Khitab tawlabi

Khitab inkari

That’s the Balaghi terms... But who cares!!! 😁😁😁

Okay... Now what does it means???

If I say, you and I are taking a walk and I say – “The weather is nice today...”

Then you are not a opponent... I didn’t have to do any extra layers in my speech because you are like –
“Yeah... It is niceee....”

Because you are neutral...

Again... If I say – “what are you doing nowadays???”

You answered – “nothing...”

These are neutral speech...

There is no intensity in the speech... It is normal level ...

Then... There is doubtful... Like..

“hey... Is the class starting today???”

“No...”

“The class is starting tomorrow...”

“No... Is this today or tomorrow??? 🤔🤔🤔”

If somebody does that “what are they???”

They are doubtful...

And when they are doubtful, you gotta add a little something to get rid of their doubt...

So you say – “No.... It is definitely starting today...”

I added what word???

“Definitely...”

So, you added “one extra stressor”.... “one extra emphasis...”

So, for neutral speech – you need no emphasis...

For doubtful speech – you need one emphasis...

Somebody says – “the class is not starting today....starting three days from now....”

And you say – “Listen Stupid... Wallahi I am telling you THE CLASS IS STARTING TODAYYYYY😠😠😠”

What did you do???

You said “stupid” to street the point...

You said “wallahi” because you committed a sin and then you remembered Allah...

and then you added definitely and you slammed your hand...

You needed more than one stressor...

When do you need more than one stressor???

When you are talking to someone who disapproves or rejects your statement... They are an opponent
now.. They don’t agree with what you are saying...

Do you understand this???

This is a basic, the building blocks of Balagha studies...

When you are reading the Quran –

 Is there zero emphasis???

  Is there one emphasis???
 Or, is their more than one emphasis???

And that might tell you –

 Is Allah talking to a neutral audience

 or a doubtful audience
 Or an opposing audience...

But this is the building blocks... Then it gets more complicated, because if you are super good at this, you
might be talking to somebody who is opposing you...but you are talking as if they are neutral like...

Somebody says – “I am gonna kill you... I want to destroy you...”

And you are like – “your not...”...and you are totally calm...

You know, what that is???

You are so confident that they have nothing... You don’t even have to respond to the opponent as an
opponent... You are responding to them as if they are “as much as non-threat as a neutral one”...

You understand???

So you could mix and match sometimes for special reasons...but this basic dichotomy of neutral,
doubtful and opponent is very helpful and it is a big part of the study of the Quran... Because through it
we get a lot of meaning of how is Allah communicating..

Remember... The same strands are right there...

Right???

The same concepts are presented... But how are they being presented... Who are they being presented
to???.... This is important....

The reason I brought that up is –

The word ‫ َما‬and the oath in the beginning are double stress…

Allah is talking to opponents…

From the style of the speech, it is clear that Allah is talking to “opponent”…

Opponents who are saying – “He is lost… he has an agenda… he has got ‫ضاَل ْل‬َ …..he has got ‫…غَو ٰى‬.”….
َ
That’s they are claiming him to be… and he (Allah) is responding with an oath which is already a stress –

‫َوٱل َّنجْ ِم ِإ َذا َه َو ٰى‬

Then –

‫صا ِح ُب ُك ْم َو َما غ ََو ٰى‬

َ ‫ض َّل‬
َ ‫َما‬
There is two ‫ َما‬there… right???

It is not – ‫صا ِح ُب ُك ْم ولَ ْم َي ْغ ِوی‬

َ ‫لَ ْم يَضِ َّل‬
Because ‫ لَ ْم‬is not extra stressed but ‫ َما‬is…

And then…

٣ ‫َو َما يَنطِ ُق َع ِن ْٱل َه َو ٰ ٓى‬

Now, the common translation of this is – “He does not speak from desire….”

We are gonna tear that apart… we are going to go a lot deeper than that in order to understand this…

‫ يَنطِ ُق‬first of all, is used for “eloquent speech”… “well put together speech…”…

The secondary meaning of it is “tightening something or gathering something together….”

 Gathering your thoughts together…

 Gathering your words together
 Every word is – gathering letters together…

But when you coherently gather your thoughts and words and ideas together then it becomes ‫ ُن ْطق‬which
means “coherent speech”…. So, that’s the word ‫ ُن ْطق‬and this is a side note about it…

And he never says anything based on what we said “desire” so far… but we will dig into “desire” later…

One more beautiful iltifaat ( Iltifaat (iltifāt) denotes that there is a sudden switch during speech to address a person or something
present or absent. It is a grammatical shift for rhetorical purposes. )

‫هَّٰلل‬
This is Imam Fakhruddin ar-razi… we love razi and our team ُ ‫رَ ِح َم ُه ٱ‬...

So, I am just gonna read this to you and I will translate it... Because he just deserves it...

So, ‫ – مَا ضَ َّل‬what he is saying is...

‫ = ضَ َّل‬is past tense..

‫ = َو َما غ ََو ٰى‬is also a past tense…

But he (Allah) didn’t say =

‫َو َما َن َطقَ َع ِن ْٱل َه َو ٰ ٓى‬

He (Allah) says - ‫َو َما يَنطِ ُق َع ِن ْٱل َه َو ٰ ٓى‬

For those of you who know even a little bit of Arabic, that is Mudawri (present tense) … isn’t it???

So ma’di….ma’di….then Mudawri

(ma’di means past tense)

So, he (Allah) switched from the past tense to the present tense…

Why did he do it???

Razi says – “and using the future tense and the present future tense all of a sudden, is extremely
beautiful here…”
Razi continues – “because he (the prophet salallahualahiwasallam) wasn’t even lost when he was a kid…
he wasn’t even lost when he was small and you are worshipping all those idols… he is never been lost…
his entire life, he has never been, not even after becoming the prophet, he has never been actually been
misguided and he has never been on the wrong path…. ‫صا ِح ُب ُك ْم َو َما غَ َو ٰى‬
َ ‫ض َّل‬
َ ‫… َما‬..”
Razi continues – “And the time he saw the angel… and the revelation came even then he wasn’t lost….
And even now when he is speaking and he has been sent as a prophet to you as a witness over you….
even now he is not lost….”….

So, this is from “then to now”….

As if Allah is saying – “his past is proof of the truthfulness of his present…”…..right???

The character of the prophet salallahualahiwasallam speaks for itself….. His track record speaks for
itself…

And that’s the evidence that is being presented…..

“He was never lost anyway and now more than not being lost….he is a guide and protected from
misguidance and guiding others towards the right way……”

So, that is just from the present tense usage of the word ….

Then…. There is an interesting discussion among the scholars about this ayah – “Does this refer to the
“Quran” or is this talking about “the Quran and the sunnah”???”

Because it says – “he doesn’t speak from desire…”

And the next ayah is going to say – “it is nothing but revelation….”

That is all it is… it is revelation…

So does that mean “it is “only revelation” when the prophet salallahualahiwasallam is reciting the
Quran, or everything the prophet says is “revelation” or is the answer even something else???”

The first thing we are going to look at the early commentary… so, this from At – tabari…

He is saying and the ayah is saying that Muhammad salallahualahiwasallam does not speak this
Quran from his own feelings…. The Quran is nothing but Revelation from Allah that he is giving to
prophet Muhammad salallahualahiwasallam…

So, tabari opinion is – what is this ayah is talking about???

“The Quran….”

This ayah is talking about the Quran specifically…

Tabari continues…

 Tabari is saying – He (the prophet salallahualahiwasallam) doesn’t speak from his own feelings…
 Allah givees to jibril…
 jibril gives to Muhammad salallahualahiwasallam
 and Muhammad salallahualahiwasallam says what Allah tells him to say…
So, it is not coming from him… that’s the point…

So again, the indication seems to be they (tabari) are thinking this is talking about the Quran…
‫هَّٰلل‬
Then we get to ibnu a’shur  ُ ‫ َر ِح َمهُ ٱ‬, more contemporary scholar, the author of al-Tahrir wa'l-Tanwir....

He says – here Allah denying any involvement of ‫و ٰى‬,, َ ‫ه‬........we

َ haven’t defined‫و ٰى‬,,
َ ‫ َه‬yet.... Any
involvement of, what they tanslate as “desire”... There is no involvement of it in the Quran or anything
else in which the prophet salallahualahiwasallam is guiding people... But he adds a clause – “Guiding
people”...

So, I want you to understand this properly...

We have to distinguish between “the role of the Quran” and “the role of the sunnah of the prophet
salallahualahiwasallam...”

I know we use the phrase “Quran and sunnah”... “Quran and sunnah” all the time... But this an intricate
issue that I want you to understand somethings about at least...

There are instances in the life of the prophet salallahualahiwasallam, where he took a decision when no
revelation came... He just made a decision..... He decided to free captives in Badr... Right???

He freed them....

Then the revelation came – “why did you free them???”.... They should have been executed...

The question is – Allah could have revealed before to execute them.... But Allah chose not to reveal it...
And then he let them go and then he revealed it.... Right???

What’s the point of doing that???

The point of doing that is to show that the prophet salallahualahiwasallam makes his own decisions
sometimes and the only one that has the right to correct him is Allah...

Because even though he is the prophet but he is still at the end of the day the servant of Allah... So Allah
will do that...

At Tabuk, when Makkah was conquered and wee were about to engage with the Roman Empire, some
hypocrites came to the prophet salallahualahiwasallam and said – “we can’t go to battle... It is too much
fitna for me... I am just going to end up getting married on the way... So I can’t do it... Can I not go to
battle???... Because too many women are interested in marrying me and I am just not going to make for
a good warrior.... I am a lover, not a fighter basically....So what do you say???....😁😁😁"

The prophet salallahualahiwasallam said –“ stay home…”

And if I was the commander of an army, I would ask the guy to stay home too because that is clearly a
liability on the battlefield…

If the lover boy would go to the battlefield, he would definitely say-

“ why we can’t just love each other 😂😂😂 (Ustadh mimicking the lover boy and joking sarcastically…)
So it is a good military decision to keep that guy at home… because he is hon a cost lives on the
battlefield…

Allah afterward revealed – “May Allah forgive you… why did you give him permission???”

Now, in those moments, did the prophet salallahualahiwasallam give him permission based on
revelation or on based on his own decision???

It is clear, he made his own decision….

Now, there are other instances…

The prophet salallahualahiwasallam asking the sahaba to set up their camp, the military camp at
Uhud….he picked a place… and the sahaba said – “is this from revelation or is this opinion???”

The sahaba asked this question!!!

Which means that sahaba are very clear that they also know that sometimes the prophet
salallahualahiwasallam is expressing his own opinion, other times it is revelation… and then he (the
prophet salallahualahiwasallam) said – “no… this is opinion…”

And they said – “if this is your opinion then we dare to disagree… we think this is a better position…
(meaning another position than the prophet salallahualahiwasallam choose) ”

That happened….

The prophet salallahualahiwasallam came from Makkah, described famously as “a valley that has no
vegetation”… he comes to Madinah where people are growing dates… so, the prophet
salallahualahiwasallam sees some date growing practice which is a little strange to him… so, he asked
the planters – “why did you do that???”…. the planter said – “so we get a good crop…”

The prophet salallahualahiwasallam said – “I don’t see the point in doing that….”

They thought this is revelation from Allah, so they changed their farming practice…. There was no crop
that year…

And they said – “ya Rasulallah you told us this and he said – “you know your world better… I was just
saying that….”…..

And he wasn’t giving them revelation..

So, the distinction of Ibnu A’shur here is really valuable…

Why is it valuable???

Ibnu A’shur is saying – “when the prophet salallahualahiwasallam is giving spiritual guidance,
religious advice, the distinction between right and wrong, that is never based on ‫ ه ََو ٰى‬....”

That is not based on empty feeling...

But the interesting deeper meaning of ‫ َه َو ٰى‬that I want you to know....

‫ ال َه َواء‬is actually emptiness between any empty spaces...

A coward is also called ‫ال َه َواء‬. If the guy has no heart, it is empty inside the heart… there is no courage
inside in his heart, then he is also called ‫ال َه َواء‬, a coward…

A bottomless void like one of the names of hell is )‫او َبة ( َفُٔا ُّم ُه َهاو َية‬
ِ ‫ … َه‬because it keeps going and going and
going… it is bottomless…

And falling to a lower place is also ‫ َه َو ٰى‬and from it we get the meaning of love actually...

I don’t like the translation “desire” for ‫ َه َو ٰى‬actually… the closer meaning is actually “love”… but it is
different from ْ‫“ حُب‬hub”…

So, what is the difference between ْ‫ حُب‬and ‫ َه َو ٰى‬...???

ْ‫ حُب‬is used in the Quran in good ways… positive ways… actually positive and negative both ways…

)3:31( ُ ‫ُّون ٱهَّلل َ َفٱ َّت ِبعُونِى يُحْ ِب ْب ُك ُم ٱهَّلل‬

َ ‫ِإن ُكن ُت ْم ُت ِحب‬
O Prophet, If you sincerely love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you....

So, love is used in great ways in the Quran...

The word ‫ َه َو ٰى‬is actually used for –

 lower loves...
 Animal loves...
 Empty loves...
 Whims...
 Things you love that don’t really have substance and meaning... For example, if you say –
 “I looooveee this tik toker.... 😍😍😍”.... That’s ‫ َه َو ٰى‬.....
 “I loooovveee that song... Ohhh my god...” that’s ‫ َه َو ٰى‬...
 “I loooovveee Messi... That’s ‫ َه َو ٰى‬....”

There is love we have that don’t have substance... They are empty within... Those are called ‫ َه َو ٰى‬....they
are whimsical... They are not substantive... There is no depth to them...

What is being said about the prophet salallahualahiwasallam is – “He doesn’t let temporary feelings,
moods, appetites...he doesn’t ever make a decision based on them... He doesn’t do this at all... And he is
not doing this right now...

‫ َو َما يَنطِ ُق‬in nahw and in maa’ny could also mean – “as we speak right now, this is not his feelings
talking…..”

Because the previous ayah was what????

Your ‫صاحِب‬
َ is not lost… he is not corrupted…..
No….. This is not him (the prophet salallahualahiwasallam), defending himself…

You can think that – ohhhhh, he feels bad that you call him these things, so, he is defending
himself….But, this is not coming from him… this is coming from Allah…
Because if somebody insults you and you decide to defend yourself that doesn’t come from someone
else… that comes from you…

But now Allah is saying – “Noooo… even that is not coming from him… he is not defending himself…. I
AM DEFENDING HIM….”

It is very beautiful inside the meanings of ٣ ‫َو َما يَنطِ ُق َع ِن ْٱل َه َو ٰ ٓى‬

By the way, ‫ َه َو ٰى‬is a kind of love that over takes a person... And empties them of all other feelings..

Now, this is imam fakhruddin ar – Razi again, talking about ‫ َه َو ٰى‬-

He says – yes... ‫ َه َو ٰى‬means love but it is secondary meanings have to do with falling and being low... So,
it is loving lower things... Lesser things... And when someone loves things that are the kind of love they
have is ‫ َه َو ٰى‬, makes them a lowly person and the prophet salallahualahiwasallam is not a lowly person...

So this not, what it is associated with him (the prophet salallahualahiwasallam) ..

Ibnu A’shur on ‫ َه َو ٰى‬- this is really important...

He says – ‫ َه َو ٰى‬means you love something and it is irrational... Like you can’t explain a good reason and
you are actually denying common sense to love it...

“stupid love is ‫ َه َو ٰى‬....”

(Ustadh started to joke like a stupid boy with stupid boy...)

“but I just love it....”

“Why???”

“ I don’t know... I just do....”

“I can’t explain it....”

That’s ‫ َه َو ٰى‬..... You can’t explain it because it is ‫ َه َو ٰى‬....

(Our Ustadh is a Genius when it is a time to do mimicking 😁😁😁)

(Ustadh saying – these voice I work on them... This is part of my preparation for the lecture...😁😁😁)

So, the idea of ‫ َه َو ٰى‬is – the prophet salallahualahiwasallam, he never desires something without it
having meaning... Of course, he desired to marry ummahatul mu’menin... But it was never based on
something empty... There was always a purpose behind things that he loves..

There is really a interesting statement about our prophet salallahualahiwasallam..

We talked so much about “Being like the prophet salallahualahiwasallam” and taking inspiration from
him... May be we should take inspiration on “Curbing ‫ َه َو ٰى‬and Checking in my own heart... I need to
check in myself that how many ‫ َه َو ٰى‬departments have I opened inside my heart...”... Like things that I
am loving and I am obsessed with that have really no substance.... And I have no logical explanation
except “I like it....”....that’s it.... And in fact it is even harmful...

And that the question you and I have to ask ourselves...

The End of discussion of episode 4

‫َج َزا ُك ُم هّٰللا ُ َخيْرً ا‬