The Light

This surah teaches the believers the manners of dealing with each other.

It is haram to have romantic relationships outside of marriage.

We should not spread false accusations or wrong information about people.

We should not believe everything we hear.

Muslim men and women are ordered to be modest.

We should ask for permission before entering people's homes.

Allah promises to support His faithful servants.

The faithful are guided by Allah's light, whereas the wicked are lost in darkness.

Allah has perfect knowledge and power.

Everything in the universe praises Allah.

Hypocrites are criticized for disobeying the Prophet (ﷺ).

Muslims should always respect and honour the Prophet (ﷺ).

One of the companions, named Marthad ibn Abi Marthad (R.A.), used to know an indecent Makkan idol-worshipping woman before he became Muslim. Later, when Marthad (R.A.) accepted Islam, he asked the Prophet (ﷺ) if he could marry that woman. Verse 3 was revealed, telling Marthad (R.A.) that he shouldn't marry that idol-worshipping woman. {Imam At-Tirmidhi}

It's important to note that Islam opens the door for people to repent. Those who sinned in the past and then changed their ways will be accepted by Allah and the rest of the Muslim community, as long as they are sincere.

After the Battle of Uhud, where the Muslims had been defeated, some tribes thought that the Muslim community in Madinah had become weak. Those tribes started to prepare for attacks on the city. The Prophet (ﷺ) had to lead campaigns to stop those tribes from reaching Madinah. During one of those campaigns, he was joined by his wife, 'Aishah (R.A.). Back then, women usually traveled inside a structure that looked like a small tent on top of a camel. After a short break on the road, the caravan left the camp, not knowing that 'Aishah (R.A.) was not inside. She had gone to look for a necklace that she had lost. By the time she came back, everyone was gone, so she had to wait there alone. Shortly after, a companion named Safwan (R.A.) came and realized that she had been left behind, so he escorted her to the caravan.

When 'Aishah (R.A.) was falsely accused and the rumours started to spread, one of the companions, named Abu Aiyub Al-Ansari (R.A.), discussed the situation with his wife. He asked, "Don't you hear what people say about the Prophet's wife?" She replied, "It's all lies." He then said, "If you were 'Aishah (R.A.), would you do something like that?" She said, "Impossible!" He commented, "By Allah! 'Aishah (R.A.) is better than you, and it's even more impossible for her to do that." She then said to him, "If you were Safwan (R.A.), would you do something like that?" He replied, "Impossible!" She commented, "By Allah! Safwan (R.A.) is better than you, and it's even more impossible for him to do that."

According to many scholars, verse 12 came down to teach the believers that they should have reacted like Abu Aiyub (R.A.) and his wife. {Imam Ibn Kathir & Imam Al-Qurtubi}

A man came to the imam after Jum'ah to tell him something that he had heard about another community member. The imam told him, "Before you say anything, let's run the Triple Filter Test!" The man didn't know what that test was. The imam explained that the test was made up of 3 simple questions to filter out what the man was going to say. The imam said, "The first filter: are you absolutely sure that what you've heard about that person is true?" The man replied that he wasn't sure because he had just heard it from someone else. The imam then said, "The second filter: was it something good that you heard about that person?" The man replied that it wasn't.

The imam then said, "The third filter: is what you want to tell me going to be beneficial to any of us?" The man replied, "Not really." The imam responded, "If what you want to tell me about that person is not true, good, or beneficial, then what is the point of sharing it with me?"

The Triple Filter Test is very important, especially when we deal with people. We can use this test when we share: rumours about our friends without verifying the information; conspiracies (false or misleading pieces of information) on social media without double-checking to see if they are true; or statements (hadiths) from the Prophet (ﷺ) without making sure he actually said those words.

Verse 12 teaches us a great Islamic concept called `husnu az-zann`, which means to think well of others. For example, we should think highly of Allah. When we pray, we trust that He will answer our du'a. If it isn't answered right away, we trust that Allah has a better plan for us when the right time comes. If we do something good, we trust that He will give us a great reward. If we pray for forgiveness, we trust that He will forgive us. If we leave this world, we trust that He will shower us with mercy and give us Jannah.

We should also think well of people and give them the benefit of the doubt. We should try to find excuses and not jump to conclusions if they make a mistake or fall short of our expectations. If a friend didn't reply to your message right away, this doesn't necessarily mean they were ignoring you. Maybe they just got very busy with an emergency. If they don't like a post you shared on social media, this doesn't mean they don't like you anymore. Maybe they simply didn't see it. Thinking well or bad of others shows who we really are. Good people think other people are good, and bad people think all people are bad.

Once upon a time, there lived a farmer who lost his axe. He thought his neighbour was the thief. His neighbour was acting like a thief, walking like a thief, and talking like a thief. His neighbour's wife looked like a thief too. And their kids looked like little thieves. When he heard them talking, he thought they were talking about his axe. When he heard them laughing, he thought they were cracking jokes about him. When he saw them doing their homework, he thought they were planning their next theft.

Two days later, just as he was planning to go to war against his criminal neighbours, he found the missing axe under a pile of straw in his backyard. Suddenly, his neighbour was no longer a thief. The neighbour's wife and kids became normal too. The man realized that his neighbours were not thieves—he was the thief because he stole their dignity.

A man was waiting at the airport for his flight. He bought a book and a small box of cookies from the airport shops and then took a seat in front of the gate. While he was reading the book, he noticed that the old lady sitting next to him was boldly eating from his own cookies. The man was annoyed by her behaviour. Every time he took a cookie, she happily took one too. Then her flight was called and there was only one cookie left inside the box. She looked at him, split the cookie, put one half in her mouth, and offered him the other half. He snatched it from her hand as she left with a big smile on her face.

Imam Ibrahim ibn Adham was a scholar and a good man. One day, he was sitting with some of his friends when a distant neighbour passed by without greeting them. Ibrahim didn't say, 'Why is this man so arrogant that he doesn't even give us salam.' Instead, he sent an assistant to ask him if everything was alright. The man said that he was stressed out because his wife had given birth and he just realized that they didn't have any supplies in the house. This is why his mind was so busy that he forgot to say salam to the imam.

After hearing what happened, Imam Ibrahim felt sorry for the man and told his assistant to go to the market and buy enough supplies for that man's house.

There was a generous man named Yahya ibn Talhah. His wife complained to him one day, saying, "Your friends are not good people, because they only come to you when you have money, but when you don't have money they never come to you." He replied, "This is a proof that they are good people, because they only come to us when they know we are able to help them. But when we don't have anything to offer, they don't want to become a burden on us."

A man met his teacher at a restaurant 30 years after leaving primary school. He asked if the teacher remembered him, but the teacher said he wasn't sure. The man said, "Do you remember when another student in the same class brought a beautiful watch to school? During the lunch break, the watch was stolen from his bag and he came to you in tears to report his stolen watch. You told us to line up against the wall with our eyes closed. Then you searched our bags, one by one, and finally found the watch in the bag of one of the students in the middle of the line. The thief got very worried that you were going to humiliate him in front of the entire class and maybe get him kicked out of school. But you didn't. You continued with the search till the very last bag before asking everyone to open their eyes and go back to their seats. Then you gave back the watch to the student who had lost it."

The man then confessed, "I was that thief. But thanks to you, nobody knew about what I did." The teacher cleared his throat and said, "Oh, I didn't know who stole it either because I kept my eyes closed when I was searching the bags. I covered your mistake, hoping that Allah will cover mine."

Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (R.A.), 'Aishah's father, used to give money to his poor cousin Mistah (R.A.). When he found out that Mistah (R.A.) was one of the people who spread lies about 'Aishah (R.A.), he decided to stop supporting him. Verse 22 was revealed, telling Abu Bakr (R.A.) to continue giving charity to Mistah (R.A.) and forgive him. Abu Bakr (R.A.) promised to continue his support, hoping to receive Allah's forgiveness and blessings in return. {Imam Al-Bukhari & Imam Muslim}

Allah loves it when people give to those in need. This is why Zakah is one of the five pillars of Islam. A person should pay 2.5% in Zakah if they have money equal to the value of 85 gm of gold and if the money is saved for one Hijri year (355 days). People are also encouraged to give Sadaqah, which includes any amount paid at any time of the year. In Arabic, the word 'Zakah' means to purify and increase. Islam promises a great reward for donating.

The Prophet (ﷺ) said: "Money never decreases by giving charity." {Imam Muslim}

The angels pray to Allah to increase the wealth of those who donate." {Imam Al-Bukhari & Imam Muslim}

This is a true story that happened in Afghanistan many years ago. A restaurant owner cooked a big amount of food for dinner, hoping to sell everything in the evening as usual. Suddenly, there was a wild rainstorm that caused a power outage. The owner panicked because no one would come to the restaurant that night and they couldn't keep all the food in the fridges because the power was out.

After they left, the owner sat down to calculate how much he would lose if he threw out all the food. Suddenly, a big bus came out of nowhere and stopped in front of his restaurant. More than 40 travellers came to buy dinner from him. They ate all the food and he even had to cook more for them on his gas stove. That night, he made much more money than any other night because of the charity that he had given to that lady and her kids.

'Abdullah ibn Ubayy ibn Salul was a hypocrite who lived in Madinah. He used to force his female slaves into illegal relationships so he could make money. Those slaves complained to the Prophet (ﷺ), so verse 33 was revealed to end this evil practice. {Imam Muslim}

There was a hypocrite named Bishr who had a conflict with a Jewish man over a piece of land. The Jew told him, "Let's go to Muhammad (ﷺ) to judge between us." But Bishr refused, arguing, "We should go to someone else, because the Prophet (ﷺ) is not going to judge fairly between us." So verses 47-50 were revealed to criticize this unfaithful attitude. {Imam At-Tabari & Imam Al-Qurtubi}

Like many Madani surahs, this surah talks about the evil attitudes and practices of the hypocrites. The scholars say that there are 2 types of hypocrisy: hypocrisy in belief, which means that a person pretends to be a Muslim but they are disbelievers at heart. The Quran says that these people will be in the depths of Hell and they will stay there forever (4:145).

The Muslim community was always under threat from different enemies, from inside and outside Madinah. Some of the Prophet's companions asked him if they were going to continue living in fear. The Prophet (ﷺ) told them that soon they would live in peace and gain control of huge parts of the world. Within a few years, all of Arabia came under the authority of the Prophet (ﷺ).

Not long after his death, a small Muslim army was able to defeat the world's 2 superpowers (the Roman and Persian empires) at the same time. Muslim rule spread over large parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe—from China in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west, including all of North Africa and some parts of Europe like Turkey and Spain. {Imam Ibn Kathir}

Verse 61 says that it's okay for the blind, disabled, and the sick to not march out with the Muslim army.

Also, some Muslims used to give the keys of their homes to one of those who could not join the army (such as the blind, the disabled, or the sick) or their own relatives and asked them to enter their houses and eat at any time, but these people were shy to do so. {Imam Ibn Kathir}

The following passage came down to correct some of the unacceptable practices of some companions, especially when dealing with the Prophet (ﷺ). While the Prophet (ﷺ) and his companions were digging the Trench to protect Madinah against the Enemy Forces, some hypocrites used to sneak away without the Prophet's permission. Some of them would sneak out of the masjid while the Prophet (ﷺ) was giving the khutbah (talk) on Friday. They would hide behind other companions then slip away when they got the chance. When the Prophet (ﷺ) called for a public meeting, they wouldn't take the invitation seriously. Some of them used to call the Prophet by his name, saying 'O Muhammad!'