ان هي الا اسماء سميتموها انتم واباؤكم ما انزل الله بها من سلطان ان يتبعون الا الظن وما تهوى الانفس ولقد جاءهم من ربهم الهدى

إِنْ هِىَ إِلَّآ أَسْمَآءٌ سَمَّيْتُمُوهَآ أَنتُمْ وَءَابَآؤُكُم مَّآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ بِهَا مِن سُلْطَـٰنٍ ۚ إِن يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلَّا ٱلظَّنَّ وَمَا تَهْوَى ٱلْأَنفُسُ ۖ وَلَقَدْ جَآءَهُم مِّن رَّبِّهِمُ ٱلْهُدَىٰٓ

In taraweeh, you feel something special in the ayaat of sujood. Your knees want to buckle at that point and the sajdah then takes you to a special place of inner peace that you don't want to come out of. 

Yesterday the imam read surah an-Najm. This is another surah that is near and dear to my heart. Like al-Hashr it is strongly Seerah focused. It is extremely powerful with a high tempo throughout, consisting of short ayaat that pack a punch and it ends with the command to prostrate to Allah. 

This surah is a direct address and a warning to the Quraysh who relentlessly abused the Prophet ﷺ. Who assaulted him. Who called him a liar. Who slandered him. Who hurt him in every way. 

In the beginning of the surah, Allah vindicates the Prophet ﷺ and the miracle of Isra wal Mi'raj in some incredibly powerful and moving ayaat. 

"[The Prophet’s] own heart did not distort what he saw. Are you going to dispute with him what he saw with his own eyes?" (53:11-12)

Then Allah procedes to chastise the Quraysh for their idolatory with the tempo of the ayaat continuing to build and build. 

"They have no knowledge to base this on: they merely follow guesswork. Guesswork is of no value against the Truth."  (53:28)

And by the end Allah is speaking to the Quraysh directly. 

Whenever the Prophet ﷺ got new revelation, he would convey it in public. The Quraysh at times like this would call their comrades in kufr to gather around, howling in laughter and slapping each other on the back in mockery. 

I like to stop and imagine how the Prophet ﷺ must've felt whenever I go over the Seerah. It makes me appreciate what he endured in his mission to convey the message which has reached me today 14 centuries later. I feel grief when he would feel grieve and I feel happiness when he smiled. 

And just thinking about him being abused, slandered and ridiculed by the very people that he was responsible for is very upsetting but it also shows just how much internal strength that he had and this deeply inspires me. 

If I was being ruthlessly ridiculed like he was I would probably have wavered. But he was the Messenger of Allah to humanity. This was his job, the most important job in the world, and he had to do it. The way he stayed patient and dignified inspite of all the hardships he had to endure is truly inspirational.

So as he stepped up to recite the latest revelation, the believers were looking on eagerly and the pagans began gathering around in order to heckle at him. 

This time however, the smirks were wiped off their faces as the surah had them absolutely dumbstruck. 

The didn't know what hit them. Especially the last 20 ayat which are in the form of hard-hitting rhetorical questions. 

They are reminded about Allah, the creation, life and death, the Day of Judgement, the peoples of old whom Allah destroyed. Each ayah striking a blow onto their hardened hearts. 

Finally, with the whole surah building up to a crescendo, the final verse being a verse of prostration meant that the Prophet ﷺ and the believers all fell prostrate to Allah. 

This time, remarkably, the Quraysh, the same ones who used to heckle and mock, all fell into sujood aswell. You can only imagine just how powerful and beautiful the recitation of the Prophet ﷺ must have been to have penetrated their hearts. May we can get to hear his blessed recitation in Jannah! 

Just picturing that scene of Makkah gives me goosebumps: pindrop silence as everyone in the vicinity of Ka'bah, Muslim and pagan, is in prostration behind the Prophet ﷺ. 

Whenever we perform the sajdah at-tilawah perhaps the traces of heedlessness within us can be banished for good, unlike the Quraysh who turned back to their old ways after this incident.


#najm
#seerah
#prostration
#taraweeh
#ramadan

(I've relied here on Sh. <a href='/YasirQadhi'>@YasirQadhi</a>'s Seerah ep.16. You can find it on Youtube or any standard podcast platform)

Instead, prostrate to Allah and worship ˹Him alone˺!

Salah's Reflection on Surah An-Najm:62

#LiveByTheAyah

Lessons from Surah Najm 

1. Don’t follow inherited assumption while true guidance is Quran and sunnah reached you
2. Assumption can never replace truth
3. Avoid major sins and shameful deeds despite struggling with minor sins
4. No one is going to take burden of your sins
5. You will only get your rewards according to your own strive 
6. Re-creation is only in the hands of Allah so don’t let your iman shake, out of grieving that you have no child.
7. Count blessings… is there any blessing from Allah that we can doubt?
8. Don’t be heedless listening or reading Quran rather fear the warning 
9. Improve the quality of your worship specially prostration.
10. Reminder every moment, we must return to Him and face account and the day is not far.