Lessons from Surah Baqarah: Part 2

 

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Do not even go close to fornication. It is indeed a shameful act, and an evil way to follow. (17:32)

And We said, “O ’Ādam, dwell, you and your wife, in Paradise; and eat at pleasure wherever you like, but do not go near this tree, otherwise you will be (counted) among the transgressors.” (2:33)

• Allah told Adam and Hawa to not even go near the tree in Jannah, similarly, Allah tells the believers to not go near zina. He is aware of the nature of man, of how if we remain in a certain environment long enough, we start to grow soft towards it: first we surround ourselves with it, then we start to rationalize it, last we start doing it

• Man is fallible, and will continue to make mistakes, however, as believers, it is upon us to keep repenting for our sins. Accept your weakness in not being able to obey the commands set down by Allah, repent, and make dua to have istaqama, rather than rationalizing or justifying your sins

• We must be very careful and dutiful of the promises and pledges we make, especially the pledge we took to spend our life according to Allah’s commands

• The prophet ﷺ has told his ummah that we will make the same mistakes as the Bani Israel, but we must keep learning from our mistakes and seeking repentance for our sins

• After Musa عليه السلام passed away, the Bani Israel started to forget tawheed and returned towards sin, losing all the honor and prestige Allah had given them for being followers of Musa عليه السلام

• The Jews of Madina recognized Muhammad ﷺ as the Prophet they were waiting for, but they refused to acknowledge and accept him because he was from the descendents of Ismael, rather than Ishaq

…And do not exchange My signs for a small price, and fear [only] Me. (2:41)

• Learning from the conduct of the Jews, we must not barter our deen for worldly success; don’t go after haram for the sake of earning more provision

• The Jews of Madina would, in an insulting and degrading manner, use ambiguous words when talking to the Prophet ﷺ From this we learn that in our daily life we should abstain from speech that might come off as a double-edged sword; another lesson from this is that even a halal action can become a means of sin if employed in a wrongful manner

• Once the Jews had made up their minds to not believe in the Prophet’s message, they kept finding ways to hurt him ﷺ. The lesson we derive from this is that we should not make up our minds based on ego and conceit, not even entertaining reasonable thought

• It does not suit a believer to imitate the Jews by harboring even the slightest jealousy for others. Blessings are bestowed by Allah according to His will, we are not ones to object, question or complain over how He distributed the blessings based on His infinite wisdom

• An effective cure for envy is to make sincere du’a for the one we are envious of

• If someone is envious of us, and it is apparent in their behavior, we should follow the sunnah of the prophet ﷺ and overlook and forgive

• Being steadfast in salah is the cure for one’s love for themselves (arrogance and conceit)

• Those who advise but don’t do so themselves will be punishable on the day of judgment. However this doesn’t mean we seize giving dawah or advising others unless we ourselves are perfect, rather we must take it as a warning and motivation to strive to do what we preach

• Patience entails reminding ourselves at every step that something better will emerge, but this mindframe comes with practice and strengthening our relationship with Allah—work on improving the quality of your salah to achieve beautiful patience

…Then, He accepted your repentance. Indeed He is the Most-Relenting, the Very-Merciful. (2:54)

• When Allah forgave the Bani Israel for their immensely gross shirk, how can we despair in His mercy when we make sincere tawbah. Regardless of their disobedience, their shirk, and their constantly going against His wishes, He gave them sustenance, mun-o-salwa. Keeping that in mind, what makes us think that Allah will not take care of us, will not accept our repentance when we try out best to live a life of submission

• When the ummah of the Prophet commit shirk, all they need to do is to do is sincere tawbah in their heart, make a pledge to Allah to not commit it again, and be steadfast in this pledge. However this was not the case for previous nations, like the Bani Israel were commanded to kill themselves in repentance

• When the Bani Israel committed an act of shirk or disobeyed Allah despite knowing and realizing the truth of the deen, Allah sent difficulties in their life as a result of their sins

• It does not befit a believer that he hordes commodities others may need in time of need, similarly, it is disallowed to horde things in lust, greed, or inability to give to others

"Make haste in giving voluntary charity…” (Tabarani, Razin)

• Whenever Allah bestows us with triumph, victory or grace, the response of a believer should be humility and gratitude, of attributing their success to Allah alone, rather than gloating in their own abilities

• We should learn from the ungratefulness of the Bani Israel that we shouldn't fall in the trap of this world and prioritize it’s facade. We must not choose fleeting moments of pleasure over everlasting peace in the Hereafter

• Allah advises the scholars of today to not follow the example of the Jews and alter the deen in a way to suit their desires. Our deen is complete, it does not need to be changed with modern times

“...Today, I have perfected your religion for you, and have completed My blessing upon you, and chosen Islam as Dīn (religion and a way of life) for you…” (5:3)