Brief Tafseer: Juz 4 (Surah Imran 92 to Nisa 23)

 

Bismillah Ar-Rehman Ar-Raheem

• The Quran brings guidance, healing, instructions and important lessons. We should rejoice that we can spend time with it.
• The Quran is from Allah, and that's why it is an excellent way to grow closer to Him
• A way for a slave to draw near to Allah is by frequent recitation, attentiveness and comprehension of the Quran
• When we sacrifice our pleasures and wealth to gain Allah's love, Allah loves us in return
• The rope of Allah is the Quran. It has been sent down by Allah for us to make a connection with Allah through it. 
• Birr signifies ample goodness, so we cannot attain it until we spend or do something with real sincerity and faith. We have to give what we love, which may be wealth or finances, but it may be our sleep, time and/or energy.
• The companions of the Prophet ﷺ  relied on the words of the Quran and the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ to maintain their faith in the most toxic of environments. They gave up what they held most precious to them for the sake of their faith. 
• We should keep making du'a that we die on Islam as Muslims, and that our last words are the shahadah. 
• Taqwa, the fear of Allah does not mean quitting on life. It doesn't mean isolation and leaving life.
• you cannot sit and do nothing, you have to live in this world, engage in social interactions and obey the commandments of Allah while doing it all.
• fear Allah wherever you are
• The Muslim ummah is the best people because we are created to spread goodness, follow and show the goodness of the sunnah and commands of Islam.
• this suggests that Muslims should be concerned about the greater good
• be sincere and honest with people even if the truth hurts 
• The nafs does not want to do what is good, that's why it needs motivation, therefore we should remind each other.
• we cannot say 'to each his own' when we see our brothers and sisters doing wrong, however we need to use wisdom to advise them
• we need our Muslim brothers and sisters, so what better way to connect with them but through the Quran
• Reciting the Quran at night is very virtuous and a sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ
• Spending all of our energy and resources on this worldly life if like a storm destroying crops. We waste our efforts on what will one day finish.
• A believer is happy on the blessings of another and sat at their difficulties. But there are some who rejoice at our problems, to them we need to have patience and not believe what they say. 
• set backs do not mean you are a loser, it does not mean you have fallen. Have faith that your time will come, things don't always remain the same.
• Taqwa is not forgetting that you are a servant of Allah, and that we need to do what He has commanded. 
• we should not lose heart when we face new challenges. Allah has granted us success before, He can surely do so again. So we must have sabr and tawakkul.
• Allah guides who He wills, even if it is a person who has gone very far away from guidance, so we should never judge others.
• we have no say in who we deem too far gone or misguided, because it is all Allah's will. Our job is to only pray for guidance
• Love and greed for wealth is destructive. It can force one to disregard the difference between lawful and unlawful.
• We sell so much of ourselves buying the little houses of this world, so we must not make the mistake of forgetting about the house in the hereafter.
• Generosity is a habit, so those who are generous in good times are so in bad times.
• when we spend for the sake of Allah, we show that our love for Allah is greater than wealth
• Heaven is for those who show control over their anger, if they can't it signals a spiritual weakness and/or disease. 
• Trials purify a person, they build their stamina.
• the higher you want to go, the greater hardships you have to bare
• the hardship that came your way is not random, it was chosen by Allah for you to improve you.
• trials shed our sins, so much so that on the day of judgement some people will appear without sins
• We need to check ourselves, why are we striving so hard? Is it to please Allah? 
• Allah does not want us to grieve over our worldly loss. If a person keeps grieving and yearning what they have lost, they cannot move on.
• sadness is natural, but too much if it is debilitating. 
• the Prophet ﷺ used to recite: Allāhumma 'innī 'a`ūdhu bika mina ‘l-ḥammi wa ‘l-ḥuzn, wa ‘l-`ajzi wa ‘l-kasal, wa ‘l-bukhli wa ‘l-jubn, wa ḍala`id-dayn, wa ghalabatir-rijāl. (O Allah, I seek refuge in you from grief and sadness, from weakness and from laziness, from miserliness and from cowardice, from being overcome by debt and overpowered by men (i.e. others). Reference: Al-Bukhari 7/158. See also Al-Asqalani, Fathul-Bari 11/173.
• Gentleness is essential in those who call to Allah. It is important in a household as well. Those who aren't gentle with others, don't receive any gentleness in return, which makes them suffer. Don't wait for others to be gentle with you, be gentle first.

Notes from tafseer with Ustadha Taimiyyah Zubair