Ṣãd

This surah tells the Prophet (ﷺ) that Dawood, Sulaiman, and Aiyub (A.S.) were tested and honored by Allah.

The idol-worshippers are doomed for believing in false gods, calling the Prophet (ﷺ) 'a magician, a total liar,' and for claiming that this world was created without purpose.

The believers will be rewarded in Jannah (Paradise) and the disbelievers will be punished in Hell.

Shaytan has always been an enemy to humanity since the creation of Adam (A.S.).

Shaytan was not forgiven because of his arrogance with Allah.

We should be humble and ask Allah to forgive us when we do wrong.

Evil leaders and their followers will be mad at each other in Hell.

The Quran is Allah's final message to the world.

The idol-worshippers were mad because important people like 'Omar and Hamzah (R.A.) started to accept Islam. So, they pressured Abu Talib (the Prophet's uncle) to convince him to stop calling people to believe in One God.

The Prophet (ﷺ) was called for an urgent meeting with the idol-worshippers at the house of Abu Talib (who was on his deathbed). When the Prophet (ﷺ) arrived, Abu Jahl quickly took the spot next to Abu Talib's bed to stop the Prophet (ﷺ) from influencing his uncle.

Abu Talib then said to the Prophet (ﷺ), 'Your people are complaining that you disrespect their gods. What do you want from them?' He replied, 'I want them to say just one thing, which will make them rule over the Arabs and non-Arabs!' When they said, 'We will say whatever you want,' he replied, 'I want you to say, 'There is no god (that deserves worship) except Allah.'

The idol-worshippers became extremely angry, protesting, 'What? How can one God take care of everything?' Then they left, full of anger. They said to each other, 'Stick to your gods. We never heard of this 'One God' stuff in Christianity (with the belief in 3 gods). This man is not concerned with your guidance; he just wants to have power over you.'

If they said that Allah is the only God that deserves worship, this would mean they would have to abandon all their gods which they kept around the Ka'bah, and lose their authority and special status in Arabia. If other Arab idol-worshippers stopped coming to the Ka'bah, the Makkans would lose their businesses.

They would have to obey Allah when He says 'Do this' and 'Don't do that.' Because they were spoiled and arrogant, they didn't want anyone to tell them what to do, even if it was Allah Himself.

They would have to treat everyone as their equal, including women, the poor, and their servants. They would also have to stop abusing others—the rich abusing the poor, the strong abusing the weak, and so on.

Because they benefited from corruption and abuse in society, they rejected Muhammad (ﷺ) as a prophet, even though they loved him as a man. They knew that he was honest and sincere. This is why Allah tells the Prophet (ﷺ) in verse 8 that they don't question his honesty; they question his message.

They assured him that they came to seek his advice. One of them said that his business partner had 99 sheep but wanted to take his only sheep to complete 100. Eventually, Dawood (A.S.) ruled that the one with many sheep was not fair to his partner who had only one.

The verses do not give a reason why Dawood (A.S.) asked for Allah's forgiveness, but scholars believe it was because he should have been more available for judgment. He also had some evil thoughts about the two men, and perhaps he considered punishing them.

Either way, he was forgiven and blessed with authority in this life and great honor in the Next Life.

The most important things a Muslim can do are the obligatory acts of worship—the 5 daily prayers, fasting in Ramadan, `zakah`, and `hajj`. Sometimes, helping someone with a need may generate more rewards than an optional act of worship.

For example, if your parents ask you to go to the pharmacy to buy them medicine, this could give you more rewards than praying two `rak'as` after `Zuhr` salah.

'I'd rather help someone with their needs than retreat at my masjid here (in Madinah) for a month. Those who swallow their anger, Allah will cover their faults. And whoever walks with others to secure their needs, Allah will make this person's feet secure, when others' feet will slip (on that Day).'

He went to play in the backyard for a few minutes then quickly got bored because his brother and sister weren't there to play with him. Then he saw a bird and wanted to play with it, but the bird said, 'I can't play with you; I'm busy building my nest.'

He then saw a bee and wanted to play with it, but the bee said, 'I can't play with you; I'm busy collecting nectar.' He then saw a squirrel and wanted to play with it, but the squirrel said, 'I can't play with you; I'm busy storing up food for the winter.'

Hamzah then realized that everyone had a job except him. He realized that his job was to go to school, memorize the Quran, and pray `salah`. Of course, he could always play in his free time.

According to verse 27, some people think the universe was created without purpose. This isn't true. Everyone and everything has a purpose.

The purpose of the sun is to give us light. The purpose of rain is to give us life. The purpose of trees is to give us oxygen.

Our purpose is to worship Allah. Everything on earth has been created to serve us so we can serve our Creator.

Everyone is tested in a different way, even if they are very rich and powerful like Prophet Sulaiman (A.S.). The verses below do not give us details on how he was tested, so scholars have offered different explanations.

Some scholars say that the following Hadith may be related to his test: One day, Sulaiman (A.S.) said that each of his wives would give birth to a boy who would mature and make sacrifices in Allah's cause. He forgot to say 'In-sha-Allah.'

As a result, only one of his wives gave birth to a deformed, dead baby that was put on Sulaiman's (A.S.) throne to remind him that nothing can happen without Allah's permission.

So he prayed to Allah for forgiveness.

One day, he got very angry with his wife because of something she said or did, so he pledged to give her one hundred lashes if he became healthy again.

Eventually, when Allah gave him back his health, he regretted the pledge he made about his wife. To help Aiyub (A.S.) keep his pledge without harming his wife, Allah ordered him to gently strike her once with a small bundle of grass.

Allah called out to him, 'O Aiyub! Why are you collecting this gold? Have I not given you enough already?' He replied, 'Absolutely, my Lord! But I can never have enough of Your blessings.'

This hadith is very important because some of us remember Allah only if we need something from Him. But if our life is easy, we turn our backs on Him. As true believers, we can never have enough of Allah's blessings. We always need Him in hard times and good times, when we are poor and when we are rich, when we are sick and when we are healthy.

Umm Salamah (R.A.) accepted Islam with her husband, Abu Salamah (R.A.). When the idol-worshippers gave them a hard time in Makkah, they moved to Abyssinia (today's Ethiopia). Eventually, they returned to Makkah, but the idol-worshippers made things even more difficult for them.

When they tried to move to Madinah, her family refused to allow her to go, and her husband's family took away her son. She cried for a whole year. Then one of her relatives felt sorry for her and convinced the family to let her go. Her in-laws gave her back her son, but she was left to travel to Madinah with her son on their own.

They came across 'Uthman ibn Talhah (who wasn't Muslim at the time). 'Uthman (R.A.) said it would be dangerous for her and her little boy to travel over 400 km in the desert, so he decided to escort them for free.

Finally, the family was united in Madinah. But soon, her husband got injured at the Battle of Uhud and died shortly after. Umm Salamah (R.A.) said that her husband had told her that the Prophet (ﷺ) said, 'If something bad happens to a Muslim, then this person says, 'To Allah we belong, and to Him we will return. O Allah! Reward me for this difficulty, and bless me with something better,' that person's prayer will be answered.'

She started to say this prayer, but then she said to herself, 'Who could be a better husband than Abu Salamah?' Later, the Prophet (ﷺ) proposed to her in marriage, to honor her sacrifices for Islam. She said, 'O Prophet of Allah! Someone like you cannot be rejected. But there are three issues with me: 1) I'm very jealous, 2) I'm old, and 3) I have many kids.'

The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, 'I pray to Allah to remove your jealousy. As for your age, I'm old too. And your kids will be like my kids.' She was happy with the answer and agreed to marry the Prophet (ﷺ). She said, 'By Allah! The Prophet (ﷺ) is a much better husband than Abu Salamah.'

'Urwah was the son of Az-Zubair ibn Al-Awwam (R.A.), one of the great companions of the Prophet (ﷺ). One day, while traveling with one of his sons, he started to have pain in his leg. Eventually, the doctors decided to cut off his leg to stop the disease from spreading to the rest of his body.

Soon after, his son got kicked by a horse and died. When he got the terrible news, he didn't say, 'Why? I lost my leg, and now my son! My grandfather was Abu Bakr (R.A.) and my father was Az-Zubair (R.A.). And I'm one of the biggest scholars of Madinah. Why is this happening to me?'

Instead, he prayed, 'O Allah! You gave me seven children, and You took only one. And You gave me two arms and two legs, and You took only one leg. You could have taken everything, `Alhamdulillah` for what You took, and thank You for what You left.'

There is a beautiful hadith in which the Prophet (ﷺ) talks about two people on Judgment Day: one is a disbeliever who enjoyed all the `haram` things, and the other is a believer who went through many tests in life.

The disbeliever will be dipped in Hell for a second, then taken out and asked, 'Have you ever enjoyed anything in the world?' The person will cry, 'No, my Lord! Not one thing.'

The believer will be dipped in Jannah for a second, then taken out and asked, 'Have you ever suffered any challenges in the world?' The person will say, 'No, my Lord! Not one thing.'

So the believer will forget the challenges of being sick, going for a surgery, losing a family member, travelling, studying, being bullied, taking exams, waking up for Fajr, fasting a whole month, standing in `salah`, going for `hajj`, cooking, and raising kids. All the pain will be gone, but the reward in Jannah will be forever, `subhanaAllah`!

According to the Quran, Shaytan was created from fire, and Adam (A.S.) was created from clay. Shaytan was a `jinn`, not an angel (18:50). When Allah created Adam (A.S.), He made it clear that He was going to put him on Earth as an authority.

Since Shaytan worshipped Allah a lot, he was always in the company of the angels dedicated to Allah's worship. When Allah ordered those angels to bow down to Adam (A.S.), Shaytan was standing with them. They all bowed down, except for him.

He protested, 'I'm better than him—I was created from fire and he was created from clay. Why should I bow down to him?' So when Shaytan disobeyed Allah, his name became Iblis (which means 'the one who lost hope') because of his arrogance.

Someone may ask, 'If we only make `sajdah` to Allah, how come the angels were asked to bow down to Adam (A.S.)?' We need to keep in mind that certain things were allowed before the time of the Prophet (ﷺ) but are not allowed for us. In the same way, certain things are allowed for us but were not allowed before his time.

In Surah 34:13, the `jinn` built different things for Sulaiman (A.S.), including statues, which were allowed for him but are not allowed for us.

In the past, if someone did something terribly wrong (like the sin of worshipping the calf in the story of Musa (A.S.)), people were ordered to kill each other if they wanted to repent (2:54). Now if a Muslim does an evil deed, they pray to Allah for forgiveness and do good to wipe out that evil deed.

Also, in the past, certain foods were not allowed for the people of Musa (A.S.) but are allowed for us (6:146).