Part 2 - Surah Kaf, Cause of revelation, Dr.Yasir Qadhi

Youtube link:http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=weogDrkxZhc

Part 2.1-Cause-of-Revelation, Dr-Yasir-Qadhi

Recap:

-The primary theme of this Surah is to show that Allah swt protect all those who turn to him for protection. 

-It has many blessings in it. 

Discussing the name of Surah:

-The name Kahf is mentioned by Prophet Muhammad SAW . 

- And, it has similarity with the theme. 

-Cave  symbolically represent protection. It is where Allah swt protected Prophet Muhammad SAW & it is where Quran revealed. 

-And,it is similar to theme(Protection)  that Allah swt has discussed in the Surah .

Narration From Tafseer:

Ibn Kathir has mentioned the reason for the Surah to be revealed is that....

-Quraish never heard even a word from the book of people till Prophet Muhammad SAW started to preach. 

-Hence, when they consulted with the elders, the elders advised them to go to Jews from Yathrib,  and to ask from them on ...

1) what is Prophet?

2) And, how we will know on who is the Prophet. What are the signs of true Prophet?

-So,they went  all the way to Yathrib which is medinah. And, they told them that there is a man from them who claim to be a nabi and inquire them on how to find out if he is telling the truth or not.

-They informed them to test Prophet Muhammad SAW with three questions:

1) What is the story of young men who fled with seeking protection of Allah.  

2) What is the story of the King who Alah blessed with east to west( all the parts of the world)?

-The story of Dhul Qarnain

3) What is ru'uh(soul)?

They said that the third question is a trick question. And, they said that anybody answers it,  is not the Prophet. 

They informed that first two questions, he should know about it but not the third question.   The reason is that nobody knows what is ru'uh.

So,  delegates went to Quraish and informed them. And, they all went to Prophet and told him to answer to all this questions if he was truly a Prophet. 

Prophet Muhammad SAW is accustomed to Jibreel(as) coming in a certain time of a week to inform him about the revelation.  And, the time of the week ,was the next day .Hence, Prophet Muhammad SAW was expecting for Jibreel(as) and informed them to wait till the next day.

Prophet Muhammad SAW did not say 'In Shaa Allah', he was confident that it is going to happen. 

-Instead, of  next day, it was delayed.  Some records says that it was delayed for 3 days, while some says 15 days.

-And, Quraysh were happy because Prophet Muhammad SAW promised to tell them next day, but nothing is happening. 

-And, then Jibreel came with Surah Kahf and Surah Israa

-And, the answers for this questions were given in those Surahs. 

1) Question about young men

-The answer lies in the first part of Surah Kahf.

2) Question about Dhul Qarnain

-The answer is in the end of Surah Kahf

3) Question about Ru'uh

-Surah Israa , we can learn it from the Bani Israel

-"They ask you about Ru'uh"

-"Say, this Ru'uh is from Allah’s command and you have not been given any knowledge except for a small amount"

-Meaning that , we don't know about ru'uh. 

-And, scientifically till today, when they talk about ru'uh, scientists will say that it is beyond human understanding.

Part 2.2 -Surah-Al-Kahf-Part-2-Theme--Cause-of-Revelation---Dr-Yasir-Qadhi:

Interesting things about Surah Kahf:

1) If we have to count the words of Quran(some scholars,  MashAllah have done that), Surah Kahf is in the middle of Quran. 

-And , the words that are in the middle ,

"Be lat'eef"

lat'eef it has many meanings...

-being discreet,merciful, kind

2) It begins with the same things as the first part of Quran, that is ALHAMDULLILAH. The beginning & middle part of Quran begins with ALHAMDULLILAH

Al-Kahf : 1

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلٰى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتٰبَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عِوَجَا ۜ

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance.

Al-Faatiha : 2

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعٰلَمِينَ

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, Lord of the worlds 

3) At the end of Surah Israa , we can see that story is linked with the beginning of Surah Kahf.  

At, the end of Surah Israa. ....

Al-Israa : 111

وَقُلِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِى لَمْ يَتَّخِذْ وَلَدًا وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ شَرِيكٌ فِى الْمُلْكِ وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ وَلِىٌّ مِّنَ الذُّلِّ ۖ وَكَبِّرْهُ تَكْبِيرًۢا

And say, "Praise to Allah, who has not taken a son and has had no partner in [His] dominion and has no [need of a] protector out of weakness; and glorify Him with [great] glorification."

While, the beginning of the Surah Kahf begins by ...

Al-Kahf : 1

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلٰى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتٰبَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عِوَجَا ۜ

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance.

Both is saying to praise Allah swt,and they are linked together.

Tafseer-Surah-Al-Kahf-Part-2.3-Theme--Cause-of-Revelation---Dr-Yasir-Qadhi--10th-July-2013

Al-Kahf : 1

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلٰى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتٰبَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عِوَجَا ۜ

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance.

Al-Kahf : 2

قَيِّمًا لِّيُنذِر

َ بَأْسًا شَدِيدًا مِّن لَّدُنْهُ وَيُبَشِّرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ الصّٰلِحٰتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا

[He has made it] straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward

Alhamdu:

-It is a beautiful word. 

-There is other words in Arabic used for thank you, shukr etc.

-However, this word has specific meanings.

Madeha:

-The word madhee-ha means flatter.  And, most of the time madheha is used in a false sense , to impress someone.

-Madhe-ha can be done for truth and falsehood.  

-Madeha can be done to get favour from the one you are doing Madeha to. 

-Madeha could be lie , false or could be truth. 

Shukr:

-This is only done if something good has been done to you.

-If, somebody does good to you, you say "shukran".

-Shukran is an exchange.  

Alhamdu:

-As, for Alhamdu it has nothing to do with shukr.

-You are praising someone because they are worthy of praise. 

-So, hamdu is broader and specific

-Hamdu is broader because it does not matter to what goodness you have received.  

-Hamdu is specific as you have to praise only the one is worthy of receiving praise.

-It is because of the other person/one & not because of you.

-It is different from Madeha, as madeha can be used so that you could receive something from the person.

-Alhamdullilah, used only for the one who is worth of worship.  

So, why do we praise him here?

-It is because he is the one who have revealed upon his Abd, the Quran.

-Quran is so powerful of miracle and Allah swt is worthy of praise due to Quran. 

-Just because we have Quran , we should say Alhamdulillah. 

-This is the most beautiful blessing that Allah swt blessed the world with & we are thanking , praising Allah for sending the Quran.

-Allah swt has  mentioned in other verses as well

"All blessings to the one who has revealed Furqan"

-So , we praise Allah for revealing the book.

 Tafseer-Surah-Al-Kahf-Part-2.4-Theme--Cause-of-Revelation---Dr-Yasir-Qadhi--10th-July-2013

Al-Kahf : 1

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ عَلٰى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتٰبَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عِوَجَا ۜ

[All] praise is [due] to Allah, who has sent down upon His Servant the Book and has not made therein any deviance.

Ala Abdihi:

-Allah swt mentions the recipient of the book.

Abd:

-it is commonly translated as a slave.  

-However, the real meaning of Abd is not slave. The real meaning of Abd is worshipper. 

-The reason is that highest praise of any human will be worshipping Allah. No human will be exalted unless he humbles in front of Allah. 

-The more you humble in front of Allah,the more honoured you are. 

-The one who has achieved the height of humble in front of Allah, it is our Prophet Muhammad SAW. 

-So, when Allah says my Abd, this is highest praise that Allah can give to any creation.  He is saying this is my worshipper, he has worshipped like no one has worshipped me. 

-And, if you noticed , our Prophet(saw) is being referred as Abd in the most honoured places of Quran. 

-For example , in Surah Baqarah, our Prophet saw is being defended .When Allah swt praises him with the greatest gift given , Israa Mi'raj, he uses the word Abd to refer Prophet Muhammad SAW.  

-When , defending , raising the status, talking about the Maqam of Prophet Muhammad SAW , in all of this places, Allah uses the word ,Abd. 

Kitaab:

-It has two meanings.  

1) It is book

2) Katb with sukoon means large amount. Kateeba means large group of men who are on expedition.  

The meanings of Kitaab, this book has alot of wisdom, information.  This book has been written down.Both of this meanings apply to Quran. The Kitaab that has been recited and written down..

Walam Yajaallahu iwaja:

-There is no crookedness in the book. 

-This give us proof that the book and risala of Prophet Muhammad SAW are linked together. 

-Why?

Allah is saying that I have sent this book to my Abd. How we will know that this is the book that was sent to Abd?

-We have to examine the book..

-The book is the credentials of the rasool (saw)

How, we will know whether Islam is true? The miracle of Prophet Muhammad? 

-Look at the book.

What is the sign of the book?

-There is nothing strange about this book. 

Al-Kahf : 2

قَيِّمًا لِّيُنذِرَ بَأْسًا شَدِيدًا مِّن لَّدُنْهُ وَيُبَشِّرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ الصّٰلِحٰتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا

[He has made it] straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward

Qayyima:

-It means straight and making other straight

Tafseer-Surah-Al-Kahf-Part-2.5-Theme--Cause-of-Revelation---Dr-Yasir-Qadhi--10th-July-2013

Al-Kahf : 2

قَيِّمًا لِّيُنذِرَ بَأْسًا شَدِيدًا مِّن لَّدُنْهُ وَيُبَشِّرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ الَّذِينَ يَعْمَلُونَ الصّٰلِحٰتِ أَنَّ لَهُمْ أَجْرًا حَسَنًا

[He has made it] straight, to warn of severe punishment from Him and to give good tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward

Qayyima:

-The book is straight and it make others straight. 

-This is similar to the beginning of Surah Baqarah.

Al-Baqara : 2

ذٰلِكَ الْكِتٰبُ لَا رَيْبَ ۛ فِيهِ ۛ هُدًى لِّلْمُتَّقِينَ

This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those conscious of Allah -

First negect the evil and then affirm the positive. Quran has no evil, and there is only positive.  

This book is going to warn the severe punishment from Allah and give glad tidings, good news to the ones who do good deeds , and they will have much more greater reward.

What is this reward?

-It is not explicitly mentioned but the next verse clarifies it.

Al-Kahf : 3

مّٰكِثِينَ فِيهِ أَبَدًا

In which they will remain forever

-They shall live in it ever. Therefore, the reward is Jannah. 

Notice that in these verses, Allah swt combines three fundamentals of Islam:

1) Taweed

2) Risala

3) Akhira

1) Tawheed:

-Allah swt praises himself

2) Risala:

-For revealing the book to the Prophet

3) Akhira:

-The ones who rejects the truth will be punished while the ones who accepts the truth will be rewarded.  

How concisely in a verse that is less than half , three fundamentals of Islam has been summarised. 

Also, do notice that three pilars of Eeman has been referred.  

What are three pilars of Eeman?

1) Loving Allah

2) Fearing Allah

3) Hoping in Allah

In a verses that is less than a half, Allah swt has summarised three pillars of Eeman. 

Loving Allah:

Alhamdullilah, as he is worthy of worship. We love Allah swt. 

Fearing Allah:

And, Quran , has warned about punishment, and we are scared about the punishment.

Hoping in Allah:

Quran talks about glad tidings so we hope for Allah’s rewards. 

Hence , Tawhid, Risala , Akhira , Loving Allah, Fearing Allah, Hoping in Allah are combined in a verse that is less than a half. 

Another point to take note:

-Allah swt never threatens except that he always give glad tidings as well. Never that Allah swt threatenes with punishment except that in the same context, he has good news. 

The Quran always have both of these together. 

-Taghrif( to make scared ), Tabsheer ( to give good news). Quran combines both of these, and we should learn as well that Islam always bring about two emotions.  We call it as a carrot and stick.  We need the carrot which is the incentive and the stick which is the punishment.  Quran combines between both of these. 

Final Point:

Allah swt mentions about Quran being the  ultimate criterion of him , the Prophet, risala, Qiyamah. All are linked to Quran. 

Another reminder that we Muslims always forget and need to be reminded:

The Quran is the ultimate proof of our religion.  If , somebody ask how we know Islam , Prophet is the truth?

-Our response should be immediately to state that it is the Quran. Quran is  the living miracle and it is a miracle in every sense.. in terms of its recitation, hearing, memorization, understanding, implementation.   Quran is the ultimate proof. And, Surah Kahf will bring this up over and over again.

  

Lecture 1: Life Of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, Mufti Menk

Life Of Prophet Muhammad SAW

Lecture 1: 

Lecture 2: 

Lecture 3: 

More parts to be continued...

Lecture-1.-Life-of-Prophet-Muhammad PBUH-Mufti-Menk.

We need to first thank Allah for the gifts that he swt has provided us...
1) Being the Mu'min
2) Being the Ummah of Prophet Muhammad SAW

Importance of Learning the history of Prophet Muhammad SAW:

1) It increases the love for Prophet Muhammad SAW and his maker, Allah swt.

-We will learn on how Allah swt has chosen Prophet Muhammad SAW, and how he has chosen us to be his followers.

-Allah swt has favoured the believers by sending them a messenger from them. Allah swt further says "He (saw) did not utter anything from his desires , everything that he revealed is inspired by Allah swt. "

-We can also see that sometim

e Allah swt admonishes him. It is not because he(SAW) says something from his pocket. It is because Allah swt want us to learn from him so that if we make any error, we will know what to do.  Many of us will be feeling bad, if we receive any admonishment, and by learning from Prophet Muhammad SAW we will learn on how he reacted when he received the admonishment.

-Many of us harp on how Prophet Muhammad SAW is important to us. However, how can he be important to us if we do not learn about him,and his history?

-Hence, after learning the Seerah(history) of Prophet Muhammad & implementing his teachings , we will become better Muslims , to surrender ourself to our master, Allah.

2) Our love for his companions will increase.

-They were ready to give up their lives for Allah. And, in fact many of them did give up their lives for the sake of Allah.

-Allah says in Surah Ahzhab
"From amongs the men/believers, there are men who have fulfilled the promise to Allah/they have been truthful to Allah swt about their promises.

What is their promises?
-They were willing to give their lives for Allah, and some people have already done that,  while others were waiting to fulfill their promises.
-This ayat was revealed during the time of Prophet Muhammad SAW.

-May Allah swt help us at least sacrifice a bit of time , at least to fulfill our Salah.
-We read about people who passed away when  they are in their blessed positions, in their ruku, sujood , when they are in minbar.

However, do we even read our Salah? So, what chances do we have , to die in the position of sujood when we do not even make effort to do sajda. ?

By , learning the Seerah of Prophet Muhammad SAW , we will become regular with our duties to Allah swt. The reason is that we will be able to see how they achieve their success by following Prophet Muhammad SAW .




Allah swt has blessed us in so many ways-Ramadhan, Jumuah, with the Seerah Of Prophet Muhammad SAW.

Importance Of learning the names, places in Seerah of Prophet Muhammad SAW:

-We all know the names of the football players  And, our children may even know the names of  their girlfriends(Astaghfirullah). Or , they may know the history of the top golfer, and we know what has happened to him. Our children will wear the shirts which displays the names of their favourite sport players, and they will wear it even
if it has devil shape in it. Or, they will even cut their hair like a baboon just because their favourite player has the same hairstyle.

-All of these are the Muslim children. However, when you ask them about the names of companions of Prophet Muhammad SAW, they will hardly able to say about them.

-May Allah swt enable us , and our children to learn  about the companions of Prophet Muhammad SAW.

Role models:

"Indeed in the life of Prophet Muhammad SAW , there is a perfect example for those who are looking forward to meet Allah swt. And, those who are looking forward for last day"

How many of us are looking forward to meet Allah swt , Prophet Muhammad SAW and the others?
-Many of us are clinging to earth in a way that we surp the wealth of people, we are creating hatred to our own brothers and sisters just because of some dollars, cents. And, eventually it causes us to cut communication with them due to some monetary reason

We have Prophet Muhammad SAW has a Perfect...
1)  husband
2) father
3) Leader
-Even at times of war, he was being mentioned as just.
-He was merciful even at the times of war.
-Look at the time when he entered the Makkahtul mukharamah, the people of the Quraysh were shocked by the number of Muslims. And, Prophet Muhammad announced to them

"O the people of Quraish,  "O people who have killed my companions and my family, what do you think I am going to do with you all?"

Some of them were silent.  While, others said "You are a good man so we expect goodness from you" . The people became good to Prophet Muhammad SAW as they were in a state of mercy.

Mufti Menk example:
Mufti Menk mentioned when he was in the school, he had schoolmate who was thin, petite, and many people bullied him.  And, during the school holidays , the schoolmate went to gym and he became much more stronger. And, then people who used to bully him became scared of him , and they became nice to him. The reason is that they were in the state of mercy.

Then, Prophet Muhammad(saw) said "you are free & carry on with your work, I carry no retribution to you"- it is the exact thing Prophet Yusuf(Joseph) told his brothers .

How many of us are able to do the same thing to our own Muslim brothers & sisters?. We will find it difficult.  This is the reason that we should read Seerah of Prophet Muhammad SAW.  If read the Seerah of Prophet Muhammad SAW's seerah, it will soften our hearts .

Prophet Muhammad SAW was a judge & da'ee. How did he call people to Islam?

-He called people to goodness.

***Many of his companions memorised the Quran. How did he achieve that?***

-And, do take note that most of them were adults. 

-Nowdays, our children are memorizing the Quran(MashAllah). However, we have to beat them in order to memorize Quran. 

-And, many people think that hifdh(memorization of Quran) means a sheikh is sitting with a big, long stick.

-Where was the stick with Prophet Muhammad SAW ?, yet most of them memorised Quran, and they were adults. 

-It was adult literacy although they were not able to read-

Look at the love of Prophet Muhammad SAW with the people!

**Through Prophet Muhammad SAW seerah, we wil learn the beauty of Quran**.  

-The reasons for revelation as we all know that revelation came seperately and did not come down in a book form. It was revealed for 23 years.  

-As the incidents occur, verses came down. This is why we have to know the incidents in order to understand on why the ayats are being revealed. 

-IF, we know the reasons for it to be revealed,  we will smile while reading Quran as we know the names , places, on why it is revealed, and we will understand that it is a lesson for us. 

**We will learn how he was with his enemies***

- His own people pretend to be Muslims.

- An example: Abdullah Ibn Ubai.. And , Prophet Muhammad SAW dealt with him in a very professional way. 

-He(saw) put him in a corner and he was not able to move in any ways. 

-And, even the politicians will be able to learn from Prophet Muhammad SAW on how he dealt with the people.

*********

"It is Allah who has sent a man who is unlettered & a messenger from them"

-The people were unlettered so Allah(swt) sent a messenger from them.

- It was big deal to read & write at that time. And, Allah says he sent a messenger from them. 

-Imagine a man who is unlettered, in the desert, no phone, no Internet, no television and no fax and no means of communication, yet he change the globe in few years. 

-And, now they are more than 2 billion people who follow the message of Prophet Muhammad SAW. 

ASHADU AN LA ILAHA ILLALLAH WA ASHADU ANNA MUHAMMADAN RASULULLAH." I BEAR WITNESS THAT THERE IS NO GOD WORTHY OF WORSHIP EXCEPT ALLAH AND I BEAR WITNESS THAT MUHAMMAD IS HIS SERVANT AND MESSENGER." 

-Look at the powerful message. 

-Imagine the regulation, customs that he followed. And,.he (saw) went to taeef , and was presecuted. 

***"Whenever , we are in difficulty, pick up the pages of Seerah, and read what has happened to him" ***

-And ,you will learn that he has suffered much more than us.

-And,  this is why Allah swt tells us with the blessed lips of Prophet Muhammad SAW in a hadith that

"Those who are tested the most are the one who loved Allah more"

.And , the next narration says that the ambiyyah tested the most , and then, the ones who closer to them in the example.

So, when you have problems in your life,to ease the difficulties, read the Seerah of Prophet Muhammad SAW. 

It is important to create a thirst in learning the Seerah of Prophet Muhammad SAW ,In order to learn about his character,conducts,beliefs,acts of his worship.

Aisha(RA) asked Prophet Muhammad SAW a question 

"You stand in the night for Salah until your feet are swollen and yet you have no sins,you will be entering paradise.  So, can't you rest a little bit"

Then, Prophet Muhammad SAW replied her

" O, Ayisha, can I don't be a thankful slave to Allah? " 

Prophet Muhammad saw knows the rank, status of him in Jannah but he still wanted to be thankful to Allah. 

Let's be honest...

We do read our Salah, however, we are sometimes, lazy about it. Especially , if you are from a cold country, making wudhu in the cold water is a challenge. 

However, take a look at Prophet Muhammad SAW..

He already knew about his rank in Jannah.  Jibreel (as) used to come when he is praying Salah, and his feet will be swollen.  

-Our feet will be only swollen, when we take long journeys by air etc.

-As, our feet ever swollen before due to Salah? Yet, people complain about praying even for 5 minutes.  It is a test from Allah. 

-If,your feet can swallow even once in your lifetime. Then, you have followed the greatest example of existence.  

**His love ,purity of the heart, love for sacrifice**

Sahabah (ra) , 99 of them were ready to give their lives to build one of them.  

-During a battle, one of the Sahabah needed a water. And, one of the Sahabah had a cup of water and then he saw his brother was in need, so he passed it to him. And,then the brother passed someone in need, so he passed it to him.  And, they did it until they lost their lives in order to save the life of the other man. 

However, nowdays , 99 of us will gather to destroy one man. 

And, this is totally opposite.  May Allah swt bless us so that we will love each other. 

Allah swt praises the ansar,

"The companions of Prophet Muhammad SAW, give preferences over themselves even if they are in dire need"

-Even if they are in a dire need of a particular item, they would still give it to him..

-Nowdays, when we are calculating the zakaat, we will become little bit stingy. And, for sadaqah, we are only giving small figures. 

-It is better to give something other than nothing.  -However, open your heart, spend more. 

-The best dirham is to spend in the path of Allah swt & in which you are fearing poverty. When , you need it but you are still giving as you feel the other party need more. And, this is from you heart.

-We, sometime do not even want to share with our brothers & sisters. May Allah swt grant us understanding.  

How did Islamic nation developed?-It is a lesson for all of us.

Allah swt says when talking about power & authority ,

"Say,  follow Allah and his Messenger. If, they turn away, you are responsible for fulfilling your duty, they are responsible for fulfiling their duty. If, they follow Allah, they will be guided. "

Remember, that the Messenger's duty is only to deliver this message.  And, then , it is up to us on whether we are taking heed. This message is applicable till the end of days. 

"Allah promises those who believe & do good deeds from amongst you, he swt will be granting authority to rule the land like how he did to those before"

**Believe and do good deeds**

"And, then he(swt) will make it easy for you to do the duties of Allah , without any fear. "

Prophet Muhammad's SAW appearance:

Some of his companions, Hassan Ibn Harith (ra) who was a poet and it was reported that in one of his poems ,  

"Prophet Muhammad SAW is beautiful as how he (saw) wished to be created. "

Imagine today, we will be complaining about our appearances.  However , we should thank Allah for our appearance as everyone has a unique identity.  Sometime, when you try to change things, you actually mess things up. No one notices, the small things that is on you. If , you are very worried about your appearances, it means that you are looking at mirror often. Remove all your mirrors , and you will be a happy person :). And, remember, Allah swt has made all of us unique.   

By merely looking at Prophet Muhammad SAW , you will love him. 

Abdullah ibn Salam, ra who was a Jewish Rabbi mentioned that upon seeing Prophet Muhammad SAW , he knew that this is not the face of a liar , he is the truth and nabi. And, then he accepted Islam upon hearing the words of Prophet Muhammad SAW as he knew it was the words of Messenger of Allah.  

Ibn Kathir has mentioned in Tafseer 

"There are signs on their faces, forehead, which is the sign of sujood"

-And, you can see from their faces, whether they are pious. 

Ibn Kathir further mentioned that one of the  mufasiroon  said in one of the tafseer,

" Appearance is connected with Salah. Whomsoever's salah is beautiful at night, their face will become beautiful at the day" Allahu Akhbar. 

People will look at you, and they would be able to see the noor.

People will look at you & they can see the noor if you are pious. 

However, do not have a misconception that fair complexion as a noor. There can be a man who is as dark as charcoal, but he may have complete noor. One needs an ability to recognise the noor.

This is the beauty of Prophet Muhammad SAW ...  

" Your (Prophet Muhammad SAW) beauty is something no eyes have seen,  no woman has given birth to, you have been created against all the physical flaws as though you have been created like how you wanted to be created"

All the Prophets have been good looking, they had good features, all of them had proper health. If, anyone had some defects , for example:Musa's (as) tongue, it is part of test for people.  Musa's (as) hurt his tongue when he was young, he had little bit of stutter.  Even for that, Allah swt sent his brother along with him, and this was the excuse being used. 

What is the wisdom behind this?

Imagine if the ambiyyat were created whereby they are not good to look at, people will say I do not even want to see him( thus they will not listen to the message).

May Allah protect us from people disliking us to look at. For us , whether people like to us or not , it is based on the connection with Allah . 

The condition of the world before the birth of Prophet Muhammad SAW

-Roman empire.  Roman empire was stretched to Asia, Syria(what we know as Palestine today), Egypt, North Africa. And, it had its headquarters in the east, constantinople( what is known today as turkey, Istanbul). 

-The byzatine empire is part of roman empire. 

* Allah swt mention this in Surah Ar-rum. There is a whole surah named after the romans. Romans existed at that point of time. 

Who else were there?

Who else were there before Prophet Muhammad's SAW birth?

-There were Persians of what we know now as Iranians. 

-The bulk of them were fire worshippers.  

-They oppressed their women in a great degree. 

Whereas for Romans, what happened to them?

-When we look at story of Jesus , peace be upon him, we can see how did Roman persecuted him. And , how they were tyrants. And, how evil they were in their wars. They oppressed the working class in a great degree. There were alot of strife. They were dirty people who did not know how to clean themselves.  We can find in the history that the Kings , even in Europe ,were proud about taking a bath once a month in the public.  May Allah swt safeguard us. We thank Allah for sending Prophet Muhammad SAW to us. 

-It is important to mention this, as we will not be able to realise the gift that we have, until we have seen the darkness that the globe has gone through. 

What we see now, many of the times, it is the civilisation brought by Prophet Muhammad SAW-We do not know about this and why?

-They hijacked it , took it and they blame us as the hijackers. May Allah swt help us to open the doors.

The Persians used to worship fire, and many other things. And , some worshipped idols, people(hierarchy) and they were so many different types of confused people. 

If we look at the Romans, after a while when Christianity came down, you find that every king who came , he changed the bible. They will proudly say King James version of the bible. It means that this bible is the version of that king made and he brought it forth. And, then another version came when another man , Pope changed it. That is why, we can see that there is more than 36 versions of bible. The Christians themselves are not able to unite upon one, and we can say this with due respect , as this is the fact. 

So, when things were changing to suit the Kings of the time, they were chaos and confusion, people started to add and subract until they raised Isa(as), to the level of God and they made him part of the trinity.   

The romans or Christian denomination fought with each other , along with coptic Christians in Egypt .. For what reason?

-In order to know who is Jesus(pbuh)? Was he part of trinity ? What happened to him?

-Christians were fighting among themselves because the Kings , Popes were adding something to the bible- This is what we now know as biddah, innovation.  And, that is the cause for war to take place. May Allah protect us from innovations.  

-And, wars took place with Romans and Persians.  And, even this is talked about in Quran. All of these happened for a long time.

- Persians considered to be more powerful .However ,they feared each other. 

-Sometime, one group won while other time another group won. And, this took place for a very long time. 

And, you have Indian subcontinent, where the Hindus and Buddhist(who worships Budhha). Hindus worshipped people in terms of hierarchy, Raman at the top and while others come down. May Allah swt protect us from worshipping people. 

Allah swt has sent Prophet Muhammad SAW to remove people from worshipping people and to worship the Rabb of those people, who have created all of us. We are not supposed to worship the created , we have to worship the creator.  

When, we are putting our head on the ground. Who are we putting for? It is only for the one who made us. The one who made us, we owe him to put our head to the ground for him. May Allah swt accept it from us. 

And, there were other civilisationa around which was mentioned in Quran. 

The previous nation within Arabian Penisula,there is Saba in Yemen, Ad and Thamud who were in Arabian Penisula.  The people of Ad were in a place known as Ahkahf, more to south of Mecca or the south part of Arabian Penisula.  The people of Thamud were slightly to North. 

The Jews,Christians , fire worshippers , budhhist, hindus were present as mentioned previously. 

The people of the Mecca were present at the same time with all these groups of people. So, who were there?

From religious perspective...

-They worshipped idols. They believe in superstition.  Many of us are superstitious even now, we say things like:

Something will happen if ...

If black cat passes,or the owl sat on the roof etc. 

-We still have Jahilliyah within us and Allah says that they were those pagan Arabs who had alot of superstitious beliefs even for small things. 

For example, when women comb their hair, they placed their hair that was fallen off into a bowl.When the wind blows it to a corner,  women look at their hair, they will say things like "someone is doing black magic". This is a typical scenario which is indicating Jahilliyah within us.

Even those who think black magic has happened upon them (in rare cases), how can you help yourself?

-We can learn it from the life of Prophet Muhammad 

SAW as it has happened to him(SAW)

-They used to go to the fortune tellers, even for small things.  People want to tell the future even for small things.

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Funny story of a Muslim Man & fortune teller: 

A fortune teller told a Muslim man that he will be able to tell the future. The Muslim man told him that he doesn't want to listen but the fortune teller insisted.  Finally, he told the Muslim man that he will charge him a small amount , went on to say things like how long will the Muslim man live etc. The Muslim man was not interested.  And, at last, the fortune teller told him to pay him. The Muslim man came to Mufti Menk & told him what has happened.  Mufti Menk said to the fortune teller

 "Since, you claim that you know the future, you should know that I am not paying you "

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For, our difficulties , we are going to the fortune tellers, however , we do not realise that how do these witch doctors work.  They work with Jinns, they call it as spirit mediums, they know how to work, talk with them. 

However, all of these, is prohibited in Islam. And, we need to know this. 

In Shaa Allah, more will be discussed on the Jahilliyah of the people of Arabian Penisula,what they were involved, and why Allah swt chose this nabi to be raised among them. 

In Shaa Allah, we can now realise how gifted we are. Our women are being elevated to the highest level, they are not being conned by what is liberation calling today nor they are being oppressed. They are taught to fulfill the role as a Muslim woman, and this is what we failed to realise when we look at the both extremes.