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Transcription of Surah Al-Ikhlas Part 1

Speaker: Nouman Ali Khan
Note: I have just written (Arabic) at several
places where there was a lot of Arabic.
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Once again for all of you that are watching
and listenning we are beginning our study
of Surah Al Ikhlas Surah Ikhlas is a Surah
that follows in the Mushaf Surah Lahb that
we completed last time and In the
introduction of this Surah few things need
to be said first and foremost what connects
this Surah to the one that comes before it is
Even the style of the Surah you know the
Sajaa' of the Quran what I mean by that is
the syllables with which words end there's a
certain rythmic pattern so we had (Arabic)
you see that pattern and then the final
syllable was (Arabic) then here (Arabic) so
the rhyme pattern actually continues from
a stylistic point of view also there's this
cohesion and there's continuity Additionaly
of course there are several things connect
to this Surah to the last In the previous
Surah there was a departure from you
know what Allah (AZJ) said before he dealt
with the enemy of Islam exclusively you
know when He dealt with the Kaafiroon He
told the Messenger (Arabic) He told the
Messenger to talk to them When it came to
Abu Lahb the Messenger wasn't even
involved He didn't even tell the Messenger
(AS) to address Abu Lahb He didn't say
(Arabic) No No No Allah will deal with Abu
Lahb directly Himself it is as though Allah
(AZJ) took on himself the offence against
the Messenger (AS) Now We learned from
the historical context that Abu Lahb is one
of the individuals that pre-occupied and
concerned the Messenger (AS) a lot And its
not easy to forget about him because he
lives next door and he is constantly making
trouble and nuisance so its not someone
you know a trouble maker you see in the
battlefield and you wont worry about him
till the next time you see him on the
battlefield until then there's no problem
thats not the case with Abu Lahb but since

in the previous Surah Allah (AZJ) has dealt

comprehensively and conslusively with Abu
Lahb Now the Messenger (AS) is told to
change his focus not worry about it
anymore because that problem is not for
you to solve Allah has already solved it so
what should you be worried about you
should be worried about two things the
concern for yourself the tawheed of Allah
and the concern that you should be
teaching it to others the tawheed of Allah
stay focussed on target and remain
focussed on the goal itself which is
teaching the people (Arabic) So Allah tells
his Messenger (SAWS) in this Surah (Arabic)
its going back on the agenda with which the
Seerah of the Messenger began (SAWS)
Another very interesting comment that we
are gonna expand upon when we
InshaAllahu Taa'la get to Surah An Naas but
I'l give you some hint to it now you know in
the Fatiha in the introduction of the Quran
the first ayah of Fatiha Allah (AZJ) (Arabic)
there are two parts of it He introduces
himself as Allah Alhumdulillah and then He
describes himself as Rabbil Aalameen at the
end of the Quran we find these two things
Surah Al Ikhlas is the Answer to the
question who is Allah its just about Allah
and about Rabb there are two Surahs
(Arabic) they are both about .. what initiates
in the Fatiha is even beautifully concluded
at the end of the Mushaf aw well so now
that the attention of the Messenger (AS)
has been directed towards this call of La
ilaha IllAllah the other thing that you may or
may not recall we talked about it a few
weeks ago what connects this Surah to the
previous is that if you look at the last seven
Surahs they were all about the Seerah of
The Prophet (SAWS) they were all about the
Seerah (Arabic) was about the Seerah
(Arabic) was about the Seerah you know
Surah Quraish was about the Seerah every
single one of those Surahs had something
to do about the life of Messenger (AS)
which concludes with Surah Lahb Surah
Lahb is pretty much the historical journey
comes to an end the victory is guaranteed
and Abu Lahb is served up the worst enemy
of the Messenger and of Allah has been
destroyed now when there's a conflict that

goes on for a long time people forget what

they were fighting about this conflict that
was happening between the Messenger
and the Quraish is going on for a long time
so in a conflict as soon as the victory is
guaranteed it is important you remember
what is it that you are fighting about to
begin with what was the agenda of the
conflict what started this battle it wasn't
about land it wasn't about control it wasn't
about teritory the only thing it was about
continuing and fulfilling the legacy of
Ibrahim (AS) which is what tawheed Ikhlas
sincerety so we are coming back to the
agenda itself in Surah Ikhlas so the other
thing.. this is something more subtle but
deserves a lot of attention you know in the
Prophet (AS) sunnah sometimes he would
pray and he would combine two Surahs in
his Salaah like he would make for example
surah A'la and Ghashiya he would put them
together in many of the Sunnah prayers
Similarly he would take two surahs that are
together like Al Falak and An Nas he would
take them together and recite them one in
one rakah the other in the other rakah
things like that and usually when he pairs
Surahs together you find them paired
together in the Mushaf also So you find
them next to each other in the Quran and
you find the Messenger (AS) reciting them
one after the other in the prayer makes
sense So he pairs them in the Salaah and
Allah pairs them in the Mushaf but there's a
unique Sunnah of the Prophet (AS) this is
pretty much for every two Sunnahs are the
most recurring recitation of Quran the two
sunnahs of every fard prayer even the two
sunnahs of going at the Haram when you
are making Umrah and Hajj when you go to
the Haram for the first time two Rakah
you'd make there he would recite Surah Al
Kaafiroon and Surah Al Ikhlas so the first
rakah Al Kaafiroon the next rakah Al Ikhlas
right so this is a unique Sunnah because in
this Sunnah the Messenger (AS) is reciting
one Surah then skipping a few and then
going to another Surah Surah Al Kaafiroon
and Surah Al Ikhlas are not together they
are apart after Kaafiroon came (Arabic)
then in the Mushaf there's (Arabic) and
then after that you have Surah Al Ikhlas so

there's some unique connection that the

Messenger himself makes in his prayers
between surah Al Kaafiroon and Surah Al
Ikhlas that should be.. that deserves
attention and its interesting that from a..
from a literary point of view that
relationship becomes very very obvious and
I am gonna try to highlight that relationship
to you before we get into this Surah itself
you see when Allah (AZJ).. when we discuss
Surah Al Kaafiroon itself at the end of surah
Al Kaafiroon it was clear that the
Messenger has his deen and it should never
be confused with the deen of the Kuffar
they are too very very different things even
though they are worshipping at the same
House the kabah even though when they
call on Allah (Arabic) if you ask them who
created the Heavens and the Earth even
they will say what they will say Allah the
Messenger is calling to Allah even the
Mushrikoon are calling to Allah so it seems
like yea they have a lot in common but
Surah Al Kaafiroon made it clear No no no
these are two very different religions
there's no.. you are kaafir and I am certainly
not engaged in the worship and slavery of
what you are engaged in the worship and
slavery of now that distinction that
distinction is made in Surah Al Kaafiroon
and explained further in (Arabic) thats the
deen that will win and which deen will lose
the deen of Abu Lahb (Arabic) in other
words the central Surah is Al Kaafiroon if
you wanna visualize a pyramid at the top of
the Pyramid is Surah Al Kaafiroon and the
two offshoots of it are (Arabic) and
((Arabic)) right so that the two next surahs
are a continuation or a corolary of that
central discussion of Surah Al Kaafiroon
now the same thing happends with Surah Al
Ikhlas Surah Al Ikhlas is about tawheed and
what are the two kinds of attacks that can
corrupt a persons tawheed these are evil
influences from the outside or from the
inside where are these mentioned the
central position that of Surah Al Ikhlas then
you have surah al Falak then you have Surah
An Nas so you have one central Surah and
two corolary Surahs the same way you had
that Tri Surah connection before them now
if you look at both cenral Surahs you find

something else you.. notice in Surah Al

Ikhlas the word Allah is not mentioned not
Ikhlas Surah Al Kaafiroon (Arabic) no
mention of who no mention of Allah and
even when the Messenger says I.. who I
worship he just says Ma 'Abud he doesn't
say Allah (Arabic) he doesn't say Allah he
just said Ma A'bud right (Arabic) but he
doesn't mention Allah explicitly so what it
does Surah Al Kaafiroon it creates a
queston he keeps saying (Arabic) twice it
comes in Surah Al Kaafiroon what amazing
an entity it is that I worship he doesn't
mention Him by name so what question is
created well who is it that you worship ?
That question is created and where is that
question answered when that question is
created in Surah Al Kaafiroon where is it
comprehensively answered in surah Al
Ikhlas So the two are actually rhetorically
very beautifully connected of course the
other thing that connects them that is
(Arabic) is very obvious that one begins
with Kul and after a couple of skips this one
also begins with Qul these.. they both begin
in the same way and of course both of them
you know the Sahabah would give these
the Surahs that they loved alot and they
would repeat a lot they would give them a
lot of nicknames so surah Al Ikhlas has over
20 nicknames and one of those nicknames
is Al Maqashqish its a strange word in
Arabic but thats one of the names they
gave it (Arabic) means that which removes
diseases you know you know they would
say for example ((Arabic)) The arabs would
say what that means is the patient.. the
disease is completely gone no sign of it left
and that's what they call Surah Al Ikhlas why
because it removes the disease of shirk
by the way of all those nicknames Surah Al
Kaafiroon also was given the same
nickname the same nickname because what
they thought of what the Sahabah thought
of when they thought of Surah Ikhlas is the
same thing they thought of when they
thought of Surah Al Kaafiroon why because
both of them are talking about denying
Shirk both of them are against shirk one
from positive reinforcement the other
negative reinforcement surah al Kaafiroon
is also about the tawheed of Allah (Arabic)

this also about tawheed so that also

connects these two remarkable surahs
together now one of the few you know few
nicknames we wont go through all 20
nicknames but atleast some of the titles
that are given by the Sahabah to this
beautiful Surah we should make sure we
appreciate at least some of them here's one
(Arabic) fard means individual this one the
Surah that makes sure that Allah is only
always to be understood as One and never
to be thought of any anything more then
(Arabic) that which purges the concept of
Allah from all false concepts removes all
misconceptions misinformations about
Allah (SWT) in one shot this is (Arabic) then
the Sahabah would name it of course
easiest one this one you can appreciate it
too (Arabic) the one that unifies the
attributes of Allah as one and expresses
Allah as one and only (Arabic) meaning if
you don't know this Surah you don't really
know who Allah is (Arabic) means to know
someone to be acquainted with someone
so this is a Surah for one to be acquainted
with Allah SWT it was also called Surah As
Samad Samad of course we will discuss
linguistically in more detail later on but the
Surah which and its called this because this
is the only place in Quran where this word is
used and its used for Allah AZJ and no
derivative of this word from that root in
verbal form and nominal form it's not used
anywhere else in the Quran this is the only
surah that has the word samad in it so
another name of it surah samad surah al
Ahsas the Surah of the essence the core the
essence of something the essential the
most basic core component they would say
this is the assas of the entire deen this is
the core of the mission of the Messenger
SAWS then ofcourse the name I gave you
Al Muqashqasha or Muqashqisha rather and
this is the one that purges disease purges
sickness and you know that which is
supposed to.. which causes the body harm
this causes the heart's harm and the hearts
have been cleansed now and this disease
has been removed another very beautiful
and interesting comment about the the
word assaas why the Sahabah would call
this Surah surah AL ahsaas there's a hadith

of the Prophet AS (Arabic) the heavens and

the earth are founded upon (Arabic) the
tawheed of Allah and the way this is
comment..
this
hadith
has
been
commented on by Inshar.. what you find is
that so long as there are people on the
face of this Earth that are declaring
Tawheed Allah AZJ allows the heavens and
the earth to continue and the heavens and
the earth to exist and when you know when
people do shirk on this earth and they say
Allah has taken a son or they say things that
are inappropriate about Allah look at the
wording of Allah Himself (Arabic)
SubhanAllah it is almost not exactly but
almost as though the sky would tear open
and the earth would rip crack open and the
mountains would collapse when people say
Allah has taken a son when people say that
that is about to happen that is about to
happen so the Messenger says the only
thing keeping things intact is what Arabic
and when we don't say that what happens
and now look at the signs of the last day
one of the signs one of the things that
happends before the last day comes
everybody who says (Arabic) everybody
who says (Arabic) then what happends to
them they are gone they're people of
(Arabic) are gone before Allah AZJ brings
about the collapse of the skies and the
Earth right so this is a very powerful
concept and a very powerful surah and its
central to our appreciation of this deen and
of course this idea of had there only been
shirk this is mentioned in other places in
Quran for example (Arabic) had there been
any other any others to worship and obey
other than Allah then the heavens and the
earth would have been corrupted and there
would have been conflicts between them
because if you had multiple Gods look at
any religion that has multiple gods by the
way there's forms of Hinduism that have
multiple gods greek mythology had
multiple gods right when you have multiple
gods you know what the mythology
includes gods fighting with each other the
god of love fighting the god of war the
father god fighting the son you find this
kind of mythology all the time and this is
only natural when you have two people of

equal power when you have two nations of

equal power right two fighters two warriors
of equal power two business people of
equal power two countries of equal power
whats inevitable clash conflicts so Allah says
if there were more than one Elah there
would be conflict in the heavens and the
earth SubhanAllah then ofcourse this is ..
this Surah one of its most beautiful names
also comes from the Hadith of the Prophet
SAWS its called Surah Al Noor the surah of
Light you know in Surah Noor Allah says
Arabic here in this hadith ((Arabic)) and
Allah and his tawheed is that which gives
light to the heavens and the earth ((Arabic))
and this surah it gives light to your heart
((Arabic)) every thing has light for
everything there is a light andd the light of
the Quran is ((Arabic)) and this is a
tremendous gift of Allah you know .. the
Messenger of Allah AS he would say for
example about Baqarah (Arabic) for
everything there's a peak and the peak of
the business Quran is Baqarah but the light
of the Quran is what its Surah Al Ikhlas you
know why this is such an amazing gift that
every man women and child can make a
little bit of effort and memorise this surah
with very little effort and the power of this
surah is so tremendous and so huge and yet
the lesson and the lessons are so massive
and yet it takes you twenty minutes to
memorise and it takes you very little effort
to.. to recurringly repeat it and say it over
and over again and so this will lead us to
InshaAllahu taa'la into I haven't got into the
historical context of this Surah yet which
we'l do now InshaAllahu taala and then we'l
get into how the Sahabah loved this Surah
how much in love they were with this Surah
I mean they loved the Quran yes but there
was a.. there's something special about this
Surah when it comes to the companions of
the Messenger RA now there's a debate
among certain calssical mufassiroon about
the historical context in which this surah is
revealed most call it Maaki but some
legitimate scholars have also given many
many many narrations in which this seems
to be a Madni surah too now why is it called
Makki because there were some.. we alredy
said the Mushrikoon what word for God did

they use even though they did Shirk what

word for Allah did they use they used the
word Allah and here in the Quran Allah is
using the same word for Himself but when
they think of Allah they think of.. you know
ideas they associate with him are not
appropriate thats not what we want you to
believe about Allah so when the Messenger
AS would describe and talk about Allah they
would say well we don't get it we believe in
Allah too so they would say ((Arabic)) give
me attributes give us attributes of your
master describe him to us who is this lord
of yours give us some descriptions you
know is he made of gold is he made of
silver you know.. they and why did they say
that because this is precious to them right
and their gods are made of these kinds of
precious metals and marbles and things like
that so they say well give us some quality
and they are looking for physical attributes
then they would say (Arabic) because the
arabs you know the lineage is very
important so they would say whats his
lineage you know whats his lineage actually
somebody in one narration somebody came
this mushrik came to the Messenger AS and
said well you know everyhing was created
by Allah who created Allah then the
Messenger was furious he was very furious
so the narration goes that Gibreel AS
calmed the Messenger down and gave him
this Surah Gibreel calmed him down and
gave him this Surah (Arabic) right and this is
actually attributed to a.. a similar narration
is given to a yahoodi a jew a member of the
jewish community in the madni era of the
Prophet's life so thats why some people say
its madni others say of course (Arabic) it
should be.. Lord give us descriptions of him
these several of these narrations are makki
So how do we combine both some scholars
made the effort to combine both by saying
perhaps it was revealed twice which
ofcourse is not taken by the majority the
majority has taken the opinion that both
those narrations are correct are sound and
the way to understand them is you know
sometimes the surah would be the
Messenger would recite a surah and this is a
Surah that the people of Makkah the
Sahabah of Makkah have heard many many

many times but when he comes to Madinah

its not necessary that all the Sahabah have
heard all the Quran yet so when they would
hear that same surah being used as an
answer to a question they would think that
that Surah came down at that immediate
time but thats not necessarily the case it is
that this Surah answers this question just
like it answers that question and this
feeling actually even in famous narration
you know the ayah from Surah Al Imraan
((Arabic)) Muhammad SAWS is nothing but
a Messenger Messenger came before him
also this ayah was recited by Abu Bakr
Siddiq upon the passing of Rasulullah SAWS
when Umar ibn Al Khattab just had a
psychological meltdown he said anybody
who says the Messenger has passed away I
am gonna take his head off so Abu Bakr
Siddiq comes and he recits this ayah
Muhammad is nothing but a Messenger
Messengers
came before him (Arabic) too if he were to
die (Arabic) or he was killed (Arabic) are you
gonna turn back on your heels so when
Umar ibn Al Khattab hears this ayah what
does he say it is as though I heard this for
the first time it felt like this surah just came
down it was just revealed even though it
was revealed before it addresses his
problem at that time so that's how we
reconcile the narrations of the.. Makki
context and the Madni concept.. context..
now talking about the love of this surah this
is narrated by Aisha RA (Arabic) Suraiya
rather what happens is he would go he was
on a military expedition some companions
he sent were on a military expedition and
the guy incharge of them the Sahabi
incharge of them every single Salaah he
would lead he would recite something from
the Quran but before he would go into ruku
hw would recite Surah Al Ikhlas every Rakah
right so the Sahabah didn't say anything cuz
thats the guy incharge but when they came
back they mentioned it (Arabic) they
mentioned this to the Messenger (Arabic)
ask him the Messenger says why did you do
this what made him do that ((Arabic)) so
they asked him ((Arabic)) becuase this is the
attribute this Surah is the proper
attributing of Ar-Rahman the Most Merciful

(Arabic) so I loved to recite with it I can't let

go of it I love reciting this Surah So the
Messenger says ((Arabic)) let him know that
Allah Himself loves him that it is Allah who
loves him back so he loves Surah Al Ikhlas
and loving Surah Al Ikhlas can only mean
one thing it can only mean the love of Allah
right you know one of the mufassiroon AshShaukaani went on to comment the show
of love and admiration that is found for the
Messenger in Surah Al Kausar is found for
Allah in Surah Al Ikhlas the love for the
Messenger SAWS is which Surah Al Kausar
and the love and admiration sincerety to
Allah in Al Ikhlas so when this man this
Sahabi loves to recite Surah Al Ikhlas what
does it illustarte love of Allah and if you
love Allah Allah loves you back Allah AZJ
loves you back so the Messenger tells him
informs him that Allah loves him now he
used to recite it at the end of every Rakah
now here's another recitation by Anas RA
(Arabic) there was a man from the Ansar he
used to lead Salaah in Masjid Quba and
everytime he would start a Rakah after
finishing Fatiha before he would recite
anything else from Quran he would recite
(Arabic) he wouldn't go anywhere else but
(Arabic) first so the other Sahabi recited at
the end and this one is going even further
and reciting it in the beginning (Arabic) and
then he would finish and then he would
recite another one with it (Arabic) and he
would do this in every single Rakah (Arabic)
so the Sahabah spoke to him and they said
why do you do this (Arabic) and we don't
see that you never ever stop doing it you
read it and then you recite something else
we don't think its appropriate (Arabic)
either you read just this one (Arabic) or you
leave it and recite something else so they
said either you just read Ikhlas or you read
something else don't keep combining we
don't think its appropriate he said ((Arabic))
I am not gonna leave it (Arabic) if you want
me to lead Salaah then thats what I am
gonna do and thats what he tells them
((Arabic)) and if you want then I am gonna
leave all of you if don't like it then I am not
leading salat anymore (Arabic) and they
used to see that he was definitely the best
of them he was the most righteous of them

he was obviously appointed by the

Messenger SAWS so they couldn't oust him
just like that (Arabic) and they would also
not like that somebody else would lead the
Salaah ((Arabic)) so they came to the
Prophet SAWS they told him what had
occured (Arabic) so what keeps you from
doing whats your companions are telling
you whats so hard about that for you and
why do you commit yourself (Arabic) why
do you commit yourself in every single
rakah to this Surah (Arabic) he also says I
love it no doubt about it I love this surah his
only explanation he has to keep reciting it
he says (Arabic) your love for it (Arabic) will
get you into Jannah the Messenger tells
him your love for this Surah will enter you
into Jannah and I felt its important that we
go through these few narrations of the
importance and the value that the Sahabah
gave to this Surah and how the Messenger
SAWS appreciated their seriousness about
this Surah then this famous Hadith probably
some narration of it or if not the narration
you probably know the lesson.. the
message that comes out of it you've heard
it before this is narrated Abu Darda
((Arabic)) Quran is very difficult for any of
you to recite the entire or one third of the
entire Quran in one night (Arabic) how can
a third of the Quran be recited in one night
(Arabic) he said that (Arabic) equates a third
of the Quran this is in Sahih Muslim so the
Messenger himslef has given this surah a
value of a third of the Quran there's a lot of
commentary why a third why a third of the
Quran.. I'll give you the gist of it the gist of
it is a third of the Quran deals with the
Attributes of Allah who Allah is imaaniat the
essence of what is deen supposed to be in
terms of Imaan and Surah Al Ikhlas is the
most comprehensive summary of it if you
know nothing else the Quran about
tawheed if you know ikhlas you are ok you
wont fall into shirk this is this gem that
Allah gave us that you don't have to do a
phd in aqeedah to not fall into shirk you can
just really well understand Surah Al Ikhlas
its a gift of Allah AZJ to this Ummah a third
of Quran now you know there are a lot of
academic issues in this surah and I am
gonna skip a lot of them but I do wanna tell

you about on thing that is important the

word Allah we havn't had a comprehensive
discussion about this word ofcourse its
come before but this is a Surah about the
word (Arabic) so we have to have a little bit
of conversation about it in the Arabic
language theres such a thing called (Arabic)
means that a word is based on another
word it came from somewhere else like you
know you may have heard the word alim
alim right it has its (Arabic) its derived from
what word ilm knowkedge right so you
have a word its derived from another word
it has origins or roots somewhere else this
kind of word is called (Arabic) meaning its a
word but it has its origin in some other
word its based on some other word and
that word gets modified and you know
transformed into a series of other
vocabulary then there are words that are
original you cannot trace them back to
another word they are the way they are and
there's no going back these are originals
untraceable words and these are (Arabic)
means you can't go back there's no building
blocks its is what it is you know its like
comparing a rock to a wall to a boulder a
wall is made up of bricks but a boulder is a
boulder its not made up of parts so (Arabic)
is not made up of parts but a ((Arabic)) is
made up of parts I am giving you this basic
introduction
because
there's
a
disagreement among linguists grammarians
people of sarf people of morphology about
the origin of the word Allah is it mushtaq is
it derived from another word or is it jaamid
is it unique by itself you cannot trace it to
another route origin both opinions have
existed in our history both have been
attributed to some very very high level
scholars so we can't say one is right and
wrong I wouldn't go that I far I can as part
of intellectual honesty though I do have to
tell you which one I tend to agree with
more but that doesn't mean that I
completely disregard the other side so I
give you evidences for both the group that
said it is mushtaq that it is derived from
another word that the route origin word
Allah is the word Elah the Elah (Arabic) so
the word Elah if you put Al on it Al-Elah
becomes Allah the Alif gets removed the

Alif gets removed this.. you know.. this harf

of it and the word fuses together and the
word Allah is formed thats the opinion of
those who way its rooted in the the root
letters are hamza laam and ha and from it
two verbs come (Arabic) and (Arabic)
(Arabic) literally means to worship so Ilah is
the entity that is the focus of worship and
obedience thats one meaning of the word
elah but (Arabic) not with a (Arabic) like
(Arabic) but (Arabic) the verb actually is
used in another case its used for a child that
is thristy for the milk of its mother and is
desperately running towards that mother
and from it derives the verbal meaning is
the one to whom people desperately turn
the one the elah is someone you know
(Arabic) actually is the (Arabic) is the one to
whom people desperately turn and so
scholars say that this is the origin of the
word elah the one to worshipped the one
to be obeyed and the one to whom people
turn out of desperation there's nowhere
else to turn but He right These are the
origins of the word Allah the other group
says no this is not the origin of the word
Allah the word Allah is the universal word
for Allah and isnt even limited to (Arabic) it
is the word for Allah in every language and
uses the word Allah.. its the word for
Himself the proper name for Allah that He
revealed to all the Messengers in every
language in every language now on the one
hand it sounds like this is more of a
spiritual thing and thats more of a linguistic
thing but this group also gives linguistic
evidences and atleast I'd like you to know
some of them if the word is based on the
word Ilah then its made up.. its a composite
of two things Al and Elah right its two
things now in the (Arabic) language when
you call someone you use the word Ya like
you could say Ya Walad Ya rajul right when
you call on Allah when you call on Allah
what do you say then Ya Allah Ya Allah now
in the (Arabic) language when you call
someone you cannot use Al like I can't say
ya al walad that doesn't make sense you
can only say what Ya Walad you cannot say
for example Ya Ar Raheem even if you are
calling Allah you
can't say ya Ar Raheem what do you say Ya

Raheem you know ya Quddus ya Salaam

you have to call Allah if you are calling Allah
with (Arabic) with ya then the al cannot be
there this is a principle of Arabic Language
so when we say ya Allah ya Allah clearly the
al is still there and if its still there it must be
there because its not really an Al its part of
the word thats the argument linguistically
made the fact that we use ya and then we
use the word Allah you know that if that Al
really was part of Al Elah then we would call
him ya elah but we would not say ya Allah
so the fact that (Arabic) we use ya Allah in
itself is a linguistic evidence then the
second linguistic evidence is that the word
Allah is not used generically anywhere in
the Quran whenever the word Allah is used
its not used as the One worthy of worship
its used as Allah as his name as a proper
name and the biggest proof of that is the
Fatiha itself you know Allah AZJ says Bismi..
even in the beginning the (Arabic) are
descriptions but the word Allah itself is the
one being described Allah is the noun and
(Arabic) are the adjectives (Arabic) Allah is
the noun (Arabic) adjectives so thats the
second argument that in it of itself its not
used in a generic sense anywhere its only
used in this proper form in this proper form
and then the third when they said who is
your lord who is your master decribe him to
us whenever a question is asked who is he
who do you worship what do you worship
you don't start with a description you start
with a name so this surah begins (Arabic)
can be a description (Arabic) can be a
description right but Allah itself is the
proper name this is the third and then
ofcourse aramaic and.. you know.. hebrew
also have original words the word Allah has
ocured in original forms in their languages
as well in their languages as well so there's
several lines of evidence and the final.. I just
wanna mention it since we are on the
subject is the fact that we call on Allah
saying (Arabic) and thats a unique phrase
and then lam and alif together are never
heavy if you put alif laam with a shadda and
alif you say (Arabic) what do we say when
we pronounce (Arabic) we make it heavy we
break the norm of the (Arabic) language for
this word it defies all principles of the

(Arabic) language so for that reason alone it

is considered universal now that brings up a
side thing I'll only mention it briefly because
we have to get to dars of this surah itsel
and the brief comment is the following if
you say that this word is even beyond the
(Arabic) language then there's the problem
of (Arabic) what that means is when a word
comes from another language into (Arabic)
then you cannot put (Arabic) on it you can
(Arabic) on it the (Arabic) is the e is not
allowed but do you find the word Allah with
(Arabic) in it you do right so for example
(Arabic) there's a (Arabic) on the word Allah
so its (Arabic) its not a foreign word its a
completely arabised word so if it is from
every language and if its.. or its the word
taught to all Messengers even the ones
that were non arab how can it have the
(Arabic) and the response to that given by
the ulema of language is there is there is
only one word that has to be universal to all
languages and that word can only be what
Allah its not a foreign foreign things are
that which is alien to me and its local to you
but what word is local to every language
who is local to every language Allah AZJ so
there's no.. the concept of it being formed
doesn't apply when we deal with the
(Arabic) anyhow so that was a little bit of a
distinction now we begin Qul say this does
two things this ofcourse is a command to
the Messenger SAWS we talked about Qul
before but what does it do two things one
these are lessons for the Messenger and
two these are .. this is teacher training this
is what you go out and say this is what you
need to go and teach the people whenever
you find Qul in the Quran it is a lesson for
the Messenger SAWS and its also what he
must go out and teach what he must go out
and preach he must declare it he can't just
keep it to himself you know (Arabic) No He
is Allah the one or He is unique thats just
for him to know but Qul he has to spread it
he has to get it out there so in from the
beginning there's the message of tawheed
connected with the message of dawah
thats how the Surah begins (Arabic) now
the word hua most mufassiroon say hua is
here (Arabic) meaning even if you don't
have the word hua there the sentence is

complete (Arabic) say Allah is one thats still

a sentence well whats the word hua doing
there the word hi which I am translating as
he a pronoun is used when you are talking
about something thats already known in
other words If I was talking to you right
now and I say you know he graduated from
college out of nowhere I just said to you he
graduated from college what question
would pop in your mind man who you
talking about I don't know who he is but
when there's a he that doesn't even need
to be mentioned who it is ahead of time its
so obvious who the subject is and its so
universally his greatness is so universally
acknowledged that there is no mention to
name him first you can just say he and
every.. like yea I know who you are talking
about this is called (Arabic) because of the
universally known greatness of the subject
at hand you can just say hua and so this is ..
describing the greatness of Allah AZJ that
the word hua occurs ofcourse hua also
because its the answer to their questions
(Arabic) who is he what is he what are his
descriptions and hua that which you asked
about is Allah hu Allah and then there's the
word Ahad now another grammatical
breakdown and if you take hua as (Arabic)
then what happens is (Arabic) those of you
who know little bit of (Arabic) subject
predicate right Allah is a.. I haven't
described Ahad yet its a beautiful word but
we havn't come to that yet another
descripton is that (Arabic) is the first part of
the sentence Allah the word Allah is khabr
and Ahad is khabrsaani what that means in
english translation is Say He is Allah and
then Say He is Ahad there were two
sentences fused into one when you have
two
khabr
thats
what
happends
linguistically two sentences are fused into
one and the way we would translate them
is He is Allah, One and I actually one is really
not a good translation of Ahad but I am
sticking to it for now before I describe
further to you iA so he is Allah one now the
first thing we need to know is the
difference between Waahid and Ahad
Waahid and Ahad the word Ahad is the
word Waahid is you know .. is what one
wahid means one so how come Allah

doesn't say Arabic say Allah is one that

would also mean one you see first of all lets
take it from a negative point of view so you
understand it better in the (Arabic)
language certain words can be used only in
a particular way not in any other way if I say
for example right now (Arabic) no one
there's not one in the Masjid you know
what that means there's not one but there
is two three four five in other words what I
am saying in there isn't just one there may
be even more as opposed to that if I say
(Arabic) you know what that means there's
not a single person in the Masjid there's no
one in the Masjid when you say Waahid
then the meaning would be there isn't just
one in the Masjid there could be more its
not just one so you're saying its not one its
more but when you say (Arabic) then what
are you saying there's absolutely no one in
the Masjid at all Ahad is used negatively
negatively only its not used in a positive
sense its only used not anyone at all
(Arabic) let no one at all commit shirk with
Allah not no one at all so that Ahad is an
absolute negation thats where Ahad is used
its not used in the positive when you want
to speak in the positive you use Waahid
when you wanna speak in the negative you
use Ahad especially the exclusive the
absolute kind of negative thats the first
thing but the thing is in this Surah Ahad is
not being used in the negative its being
used in the positive so its already unique its
not something that normally happends in
Arabic the only other so its.. Ahad is used in
the negative the second place Ahad is used
is in izaafah (Arabic) right would any of you
like (Arabic) in Surah Hujarat would any of
you like would any one of you like that they
would eat the dead flesh of their dead
brother etc right that (Arabic) when its one
of now I am saying (Arabic) that's the
technical term the english term is one of so
one of them one of you one of the muslims
(Arabic) right so (Arabic) when its izzafa
then you can use Ahad when there's a
combination of two then you can used
Ahad by itself its only used in the negative if
you wanna use it in the positive you have to
add something else to it it becomes part of
something else one of or the first of etc etc

the only place in (Arabic) literature where

this word is used in the positive wihtout any
further attribution is Surah Ikhlas thats it
there's nowhere else some oversimplify it
and say Ahad is not used for anyone other
than Allah thats not clear enough Ahad is
used for other than Allah but the word
Ahad in the positive without any izzafah in
it in that way liguistically is never ever used
for anyone other than Allah so now we
know the difference between Waahid and
Ahad a little bit I still havn't clarified it yet
and hopefully before this Salaah atleast I'll
get that much across what is the difference
between Waahid and Ahad the original
word is actually (Arabic) and (Arabic) there
are two variations of it in saf and so that
word what does it mean I am gonna you the
meaning of the word from the dictionary
(Arabic) Wahd means someone who is
individual by himself (Arabic) a person who
is wahd with a wow is someone who is at..
whose tribe and his lineage and his origin is
not known thats wahd but that is used for a
person Allah refuses to even use that
because in the language that can be used
for a person so he uses a word for himself
that
is not used for any person Ahad in the
positive and so the word Ahad is even.. you
could argue its the hyperbolised.. the
enhanced form of the word Wahd Imaan
Raahibal Asfahaani in his famous book
Mufladaatul Quran even went as far as to
say that Ahad is a seperate root from Wahd
you know.. most say that Ahad comes from
the root origin (Arabic) but Imaam Raaghib
says no Ahad is a seperate entity by itself
and I'll give you his definition also he says
(Arabic) there is nothing that can be
compared to an Ahad there is .. its unique
singular sole entity to which there is no
comparison possible and there is no
competitor possible and there is no
antonym or opposite possible there is
nothing possible in terms of any sort of
affiliation with this one the one that has no
second is Ahad the one for whom the
second is impossible thats Ahad now this
Word used for Allah AZJ creates you know
earthquakes in Arab society they have gods
they believe in gods but for their gods

there's also another god I can have my god

and you can have yours and their concept
of Allah they say yea, Allah is there but he
has you know angels he took as daughters
maazAllah or the christian community said
He took a son or the jewish community a
fraction of them not all of them a fraction
of them said Uzair has been taken as a son
of Allah so they attributed sons and
daughters to Allah in hindu tradition what
do they do in some of the Hindu traditions
they say god became the universe so god is
in the bug and in the tree and in the rock
and in the stone and god is running in my
veins all of this stuff right this is similar to
American trascendentalism more recently
in the early 1900s late 1800s right in
american literature also god is in the tree or
in nature or in us etc etc this idea but which
kind of you know .. and if you do that if you
say anything about Allah AZJ that starts
comparing him or pairing him or affiliating
him with anything else what is lost is Ahad
and if you seperate Allah from all
attributions of human beings you seperate
him completely from all attributions that
are shared by any creation then what you
get to is Ahad it is a unique concept of the
oneness of Allah this is the concept that
even Christians don't agree with even jews
don't agree with they don't agree with this
concept they will say (Arabic) fine when you
study their aqeedah when you study their
creed waahid they will not have a problem
what they have a problem with Ahad with
Ahad and here before the Salaah atleat one
part of the word Ahad I want to help you
understand iA because these are things
that have to be clear in our minds and I
don't take a conventional approach to
teaching concepts in aqeedah or theology
but I do want you to have a basic easy to
understand logical foundation that even if
you don't have the technical terminology
you don't fall into categories of shirk one of
the easiest places where people can be
confused is when a word is used for Allah is
also used for us for example Allah calls
himself Aleem knowledgeable have you
ever heard that word being used for a
person also a person is knowledgeable sure
sure Allah calls himself Hakeem full of

wisdom wise wise have you ever heard the

word Hakeem being used for a person also
its possible Allah says for example He says
he is .. Raheem Raheem Merciful can you
describe a person as Merciful also Sami'
listening you can describe a person as
listening also Baseer Baseer right Baseer is
someone who can see Allah describes
himself as someone who sees can you use
that word for a human being also yes you
can this is a problem because now the same
word is being used for Allah and the same
being used for a human being now where is
the only word that's only used for Allah and
can never be used for a human being as a
description Ahad thats the word right and
As Samad as we'll see these words are
unshared everything about this Surah is
unshared you will find other attributes of
Allah in other surahs but those attributes
what you learn about them is its possible
that in some way shape or form those
attributes can also be used for people like
Allah's name Rauf compassionate is used in
the Quran for the Messenger (Arabic) so
how do we understand that how do we
clearly understand when a word is being
used for Allah and can also be used for
other than Allah how do we not end up
doing Shirk what I'd like you to remember is
three differences if you rememeber three
things you will never fall into shirk the first
difference lets take one name and we can
use that as a sample and it works for all the
otehr names of Allah AZJ lets take the
name
knowledgeable
Allah
is
knowledgeable we say that the.. if that
name is being used for Allah then that
power that Allah has that knowledge that
Allah has has no beginning and has no
ending the knowledge of Allah has no
beginning and no ending compare that to
my knowledge and your knowledge and the
knowledge of all creation put together
what does it have it has a beginning and it
has an ending so the first difference is its
infinite Allah's it has no.. its timeless
actually no beginning no ending and ours is
temporary timed caged thats one big
difference the second difference Allah's
knowledge has no limits he knows
everything absolutely every.. there's

nothing that he doesn't know as opposed

to your knwledge and my knowledge what
does it necessarily have limits I don't know
whats behind this wall I don't know I don't
know how many heartbeats I have left on
this earth I don't know I don't know what
will happen in the next 30 minutes I don't
have any knowledge I have knowledge but I
don't have all knowledge as opposed to
Allah who has all knowledge so the first
difference was no beginning and no end as
opposed to me the second difference is
there is no limit to Allah's knowledge
whereas any other knowledge will have
limits and here's the third and most
important difference this is the third one
the third one is everything I have every
attribute I.. lets talk about knowledge its
not something I own it was given to me its
not something I had to begin with it was
given to me I didn't I wasn't born with it I
didn't have it it was given to me as opposed
to Allah when we talk about His knowledge
it is His own and it is not what it is not given
to Him by anyone it is His own it is His own
now think of any attribute lets think about
the attribute of power Allah is Al Qawi you
can have a person who is strong he has
some power but the power of Allah has no
beginning and no end but the power of a
person has a beginnig and an end the
power of Allah is infinite it has no limits its
limitless but the power of a human being
has limits and its limited and then the
power of Allah is His own He didn't get it
from anyone else its His own but the power
of a human being comes from whom from
Allah SWT he gets it from Him you keep
these 3 distinctions in mind and you will
maintain what Allah calls Ahad He cannot
be compared He is unique (Arabic) there
will never be any attributions or anything
compared to Him this is the remarkable
lesson inside this absolutely beautiful
stuning word that Allah uses for Himself in
the Quran (Arabic) now you know Allah put
in the word Ahad there is no alif lam but in
the word As Samad there is Allif laam
(Arabic) we don't say (Arabic) we say
(Arabic) now when we say Ahad what do we
say Ahadun we don't say Al Ahad so why
not put Al over there too and why put Al

over there this is a grammatical difference

and has some rhetorical benefits the first
benefit is (Arabic) the arabs would say that
putting the (Arabic) puts an exclamation
mark on the statement he is Allah Ahad just
think about that how amazing that is and
that can be done in ancient (Arabic) with a
(Arabic) so I can't do.. you and I can't do that
it in english so I have to raise my volume
and pound on the podium and mess up the
recording to get that across what Allah is
saying when he says Ahad the power of
that word is manifest in that (Arabic) thats
the first thing the second thing is (Arabic) is
used conventionally for a khabr the
predicate of a sentence and a khabr is used
when someone asks a question and
ofcourse Ahad was the response to a
question who is Allah and it appropriately
answers the question the alif laam is not
there you have to put the (Arabic) there so
what the second benefit of it is it addresses
it its akhbaar its giving the new to those
who seek this news who is this Allah the
thing to know about him is Ahad and this is
the sticking point this is the one that will
get you beatings this is the thing that will
get Bilal RA tortured and the boulder's on
his chest and the only words coming out of
his mouth are what Ahad Ahad those are
the only words coming out of his mouth
this is the point of Contention saying Allah
is not the problem even they accepted
Allah they refused to accept Ahad
SubhanAllah what an amazing word Allah
gave us you know there is one story I have
to share with you this is.. you know a friend
of mine he's gonna hate it cuz he's gonna
watch this and he's gonna hate me for this
but I have to say this good friend of mine
from Arkansas took shahadah I talk about
him all the time actually but I'll tell you
again he.. he was a philosophy major
masters degree in philosophy your typical
upscale he calls himself I was a yuppie white
guy you know his wife is also you know
anglo-saxon if you will right and they lived
in Arkansas she is.. I think doing Ph.d in
Biomedicine he did masters in Philosophy
he was librarian in the university very
philosophical guy you know and he.. part of
his philosophy major was philosophy of

religion so he studied all these different

religions including ofcourse Islam so they
were both agnosts you know what agnosts
are we are not sure if there is a God we are
not sure if there's not a God we are just
chilling thats an agnost so he was an agnost
so he is married to his wife and they have
their first
son when they have their son Triston his
umbilical cord was tied around his neck
several times over right and thats normally
what happens when that happens at
childbirth the child chokes to death but the
child survives he sees this happen with his
own eyes he says there has to be a God
there has to be he says.. the agnost leaves
agnosticism and says there has to be a God
and so what does he do he takes his old
notes he takes the dust off of his notebook
and starts going through his own notes on
world religions so he has taken notes on
Catholicism and Protestantism and various
forms of Hinduism and Buddhism and
Taoism and woah.. there you go Islam. so he
looks at his own notes from years ago on
Islam and he read it his own writing this
tawheed thing is awesome thats what he
had written in his own notes in his own
notes this tawheed thing sounds pretty
amazing and this was his commentary on
Ikhlas and he came to deen SubhanAllah he
is a principal of Islamic School now
Alhamdulillah but you know when you
study world reigions you will think at face
value at face value what will seem like yea
we all believe in one god its all the same
they believe in a merciful god and a
powerful god it will seem to you at face
value that yes we all share one faith but
when it comes to studying Ahad carefully
you will realize how every other religion
and every other world view just starts
falling off to the sides and the only thing
left standing is this deen this (Arabic) this
(Arabic) SAWS its unique even when it
comes to belief in God your co-worker
would tell you yea I believe in God too.. No
they can believe in some god yea but in
Allahu Ahad not yet not yet and we haven't
explored what that really.. I am just looking
at it linguistically right now.. theologically
what does it means psychologically what

does it mean we havent even explored that

yet but we will iA after this Salaah but I
wanna wrap up one thing ia which is tied to
this so that you have something to ponder
over when we make Salaah hopefully the
imaan will grace us with Surah Al Ikhlas this
idea of Ahad one one of the great writers
on Islamic theology in Pakistan actually Dr.
Rafiuddin commenting on this Suran said
something amazing and I really appreciated
it because I think for modern audiences this
kind of stuff needs to be said and heard
Allah created the Human Being with the
knowedge of Himself the Human being
knew already there is this highest ideal
Allah AZJ and not just that there is a God
and He created us and now we can do
whatever we want no He is the Rabb He is
the Master my goal in life is to do what He
wants this is my highest ideal my greatest
accomplishment ever can be that I become
His slave that would be the greatest honour
I can have the Messenger of Allah SAWS his
greatest honour (Arabic) he becomes Abd
of Allah the slave of Allah is a great honour
thats the goal in life and Allah
preprogrammed that goal inside every
single human being but if you lose sight of
that goal it is like this you know you have
this thirst this hunger inside you to fulfill
that goal Allah created you with that but
when your apetite is not filled with healthy
food what do you fill it with if you don't get
the right meal are you gonna say I am not
gonna eat at all no when a person is
starving and there is no food of their
preference or there is no healthy food
there is even filth barks of trees will the
human beings still start chewing on that
when it comes to that they will when you
lose sight of Allah AZJ and that no longer is
your goal then necessarily you will find a
replacement necessarily it is necessary to
have something you aspire towards that is
the mission of your life the one who has
found Allah what becomes.. what happens
to them (Arabic) its very simple for them
the one who has truly found Allah their
Salaah is for Allah their sacrifice is for Allah
their life and their death is now for Allah
the way they live the way they eat the way
they sleep what they wanna do with their

life their ling term goals their short term

goals what are they gonna do with their
kids why are they getting an education
where are they gonna work everything now
is for Allah that is their goal but for the one
who doesn't have that goal they have to
find another goal and in old times they
used to be idols they used to be other
religions you find some other god but in
our times its become far more pathetic now
you have someone who is obsessed with
their body and they are working out 18
hours a day their only goal in life is to just
keep getting buffer and buffer its their only
goal take steroids and look.. stay on top
keep in shape or there is this goal they set
with their trainer I gotta do this many reps
or I gotta do this many pushups or I gotta
get benchpresses this many pounds etc etc
thats their goal that has become their elah
for a person that their life has become
about money have you met people they
cannot talk about anything except their
work they can't yea I work at this company I
do this this this and the moment lose their
job they become suicidal cuz that's all they
ever thought about thats all they ever did
with their life thats all they ever did that
becomes their goal for some people its
their children they live for their children
they do everyhthing for their children day
and night they think about their children
there is no other thought running in their
mind there is no other goal before them
than their children that is all they run after
when you don't find Him you will find
something else and you will run after it and
you will give your life to it and this is a..
there is no exception among human beings
and today it be could even be a slacker and
you could ask me what about a slacker you
know those kids that play 20 hours of video
games a day and don't get of the couch well
what is their goal it is to entertain
themselves it is to fry their brain cells
behind the screen that is their ultimate goal
that is what they want to reach and they
are working hard to attain it everyday right
thats what it becomes these are the
psychological implications of understanding
tawheed it is easy to say Allah is one but is
He One in my life is He the One for me or

do I have some other one that I am running

after or some other thing that I put before
myself. Allah asks this question rhetorically
he says (Arabic) what deluded you from
your gracious master what was so
important to you that you ran after that
you couldn't come after this SubhanAllah
SubhanAllah so when he uses this word
(Arabic) its psychological implications its
implications on our attitude towards Allah
and how we think about our life completely
changes now there is nothing more
important to me than making Him happy
nothing more important to me than Him
being pleased with me nothing more
important to me than He forgiving me
nothing more important to me than He
would talk to me on the Day of Judgement
telling me that I am successful He will look
towards me I will not be from the ones He
turns away from (Arabic) Allah will not talk
to them on the Day of Judgement may
Allah not make us one from those people
these are some of the psychological
implications of just internalizing Ahad just
that word what Allah is saying this is who

Allah is this is what he is supposed to do

And I wanna conclude because its time for
Salaah with the following this is the I can't
qoute Iqbal cuz I am terrible at urdu but I'll
tell you the meaning of the verse OK
though I like the verse myself its poetry but
he says what used to be he is talking about
its a poem about tawheed and he says what
used to be something that burned in the
hearts of men burned in the hearts of men
is now a subject of abstract philosophical
debate thats what he says now what is
tawheed to us to today debates discussions
abstract discussions in you know in
theology that have no end to them no end
to them but what it used to be was
something that burned inside the hearts am
I fulfilling thr rights of Ahad yet am I doing
justice to that Ahad yet may Allah make us
of the poeple of tawheed may Allah give us
in our hearts what burned. the likes of
which burned in the hearts of Ibrahim AS
and the Messenger of Allah and the
Sahabah RA we will continue the dars on
surah Al Ikhlas after the Salaah