System v2.0
أعوذ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ
We seek refuge in God from Satan. He's after us. We are his main targets.
He doesn't care about the people who are out there drinking and gambling. They are disobeying God. He doesn't care about them. He doesn't bother with them. He's after us. God tells us so in the Quran.
It says "I will sit on their straight path, the right path."
We seek refuge in God from him.
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Our teacher tonight is Dr. Sabahi and his assistants are Dan, Ali and Amir.
No way!
And we started with Sura...
97. No, sorry, sorry.
95.
95.
Hey, I was just checking.
No, no.
I was just...
I was just checking.
(unintelligible)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Their assistants are on the ball.
In his (unintelligible)
Edip.
أعوذ بِٱللَّهِ مِنَ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ ٱلرَّجِيمِ
Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
The Suras that we're covering tonight are, start with 95, The Fig or Al-Teen.
And this consisted of 8 Ayas, overall. And one of the short Suras of the later, the latest parts of the Quran.
When I was looking at this Sura and the previous Suras that we covered,
I realized that there are quite a few Suras that God starts with
different things that He's swearing by them. And I tried to see what are those and thus far,
we have covered up to Sura 93 which was "The Forenoon," which is the one that God starts with
[93:1] By the forenoon.
And then,
[92:1] By the night.
And then, I went back and tried to check, see what other Suras God has done this.
At least the ones that I came up with, there were 12 Suras that God starts with
the swear to different things. And I tried to see whether there is any relationship or
why, why is God doing this and what is He trying to tell us.
There were some of them that one starts with the Sun, the Moon, with the Bright Star, Sky, the Earth, Galaxies, all the things that
we see around us. We see the sky and... around us. And then, there is, there are others that God uses to changes that we see during the
every 24 hours, by the Dawn, the Forenoon, the Day, the Night, the Afternoon and the Dusk. And then,
we have Sura 100 that is the Runners, which is a subject by itself. And we have a Sura The Town.
And we have in Sura 91, we have "the soul." It's something that we don't see. The things that we had
up to this point, these are the things that we see and God is swearing by them. But by "the soul" or "even and odd"
and "Promised Day" and "witness, and witnessed." These are the things that I found, they could reveal the latest parts of the Sura,
the Suras of the... since 80, I think it is Sura 81.
And if you look at those Suras, the only Sura that God has given a plant's name and also starts with
starting by the fig and the olive, this is the only Sura that we have.
So, there should be something significant, I guess, about these two plants that God is swearing to.
And overall, what I understand from this is that
God is telling us to look around and look at what is going on around us and try to see what are the changes
and try to understand, try to use our intelligence, try to see and try to understand what is going on
and see the signs that are all over the place. So, with that I go back to Sura 95.
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
[95:1] By the fig and the olive.
[95:2] By the Mount Sinai. [95:3] And this honored town (Mecca).
And this honored, sorry.
[95:4] We created man in the best design.
In the new copy that we have Aya 5 is missing. So, I took it off the old copy. So,
[95:4] We created man in the best design. [95:5] Then, we reverted him into lowliest of the lowly.
[95:6] Except those who believe and lead a righteous life; they receive a reward that is well deserved.
[95:7] Why do you still reject the faith? [95:8] Is GOD not the Most Wise, of all the wise ones?
So, we go back to verse
[95:1] By the fig and the olive.
There is a footnote here that is saying that fig, olive, Sinai and Mecca,
they symbolize the prophets, Adam, Jesus, Moses, Abraham and Muhammad.
Which since there is not more in the footnote, I guess Dr. Khalifa is the one who can explain what he means by that, I don't ...
From the town, I know it relates to Muhammad, Ibrahim. And Mount Sinai, it may relate to Moses, but fig and olive how that relates to
Adam and Jesus, then, he can explain to us, what does it mean?
Well, amazingly, it is universal that the fig leaf or the fig tree, it is, reminds us of Adam and Eve in Paradise.
They covered themselves with leaves of Paradise, whatever. But, universally, this seems to be related to Adam and Eve, the fig.
The olive, Mount olive and Jesus are connected.
And Mount Sinai and Moses, Mecca with Abraham and Muhammad.
Yeah.
So, this represents the one and the same message that came to us through different messengers, from Adam to Muhammad, from the fig to Mecca.
OK. So, after the first three verses, God says,
[95:4] We created man in the best design.
What is the meaning of that is something that we can think of.
What is, what is the best design? What is the best design that God does? Because
man is different from the rest of the creatures.
The only difference is that he has the brain and he can think and he can make decision.
And God has given us that design and then we have decided to make a decision. We made a decision and then went along
and then, God tells us that He created us in the best design and then reverted us to the lowliest of the lowly.
And then, this is, this is one step the best design, the second step is the lowliest of the lowly.
So, we start on the high, we go down to lowest and then, there is a chance for those who believe and lead a righteous life
to receive a reward that is well deserved. So, it is up on us. God has given us the chance to change ourselves from the lowest of the lowly
to go, to do something that we can get out of that lowliest of lowly and then go to a place that is better than the lowliest of the lowly.
Ask my senior assistant, Hamid to talk about fig and...
to talk about fig and olive, I guess, that is referred to tell us what is the significance of these plants that, you know, some botany work, I guess.
Well, I guess, Rashad, basically, I mean,
I just have few other information, few other information that may not be as relevant but just information regarding the plants themselves.
One of the things that's most common is that figs and olives are very common in almost every part of the world.
Everybody's nourishing on them and they're both very good source of nutrition especially fig
I mean, I mean, high consumption of sugar and (unintelligible)
and especially in parts of the world where I come from,
(unintelligible) vegetables.
(unintelligible) are a very good source of iron.
Another plant that provides good source of, it's very good source of laxative.
(unintelligible)
especially olive and (unintelligible)
(unintelligible) and tried to eat my figs (unintelligible) threatened your life.
I thought about it.
They have a fig tree here. They're the sweetest figs in the world.
Oh, really?
Hamid walked by and saw the figs and I read his thoughts.
You thought (unintelligible).
That's right. Every time I passed, I thought (unintelligible)
I had guards on (unintelligible)
And another thing I have to explain, figs are, certain figs are (unintelligible) figs that they...
You get figs in the industry two times in a year, twice a year.
And olives every other year.
In some parts, they don't, they don't just, they don't even bloom one year.
(unintelligible), but very very (unintelligible)
Olives are wind pollinated.
They grow, pollinated by (unintelligible)
(unintelligible)
Does everybody know that the olive oil actually reduces the cholesterol?
Because unlike any other fats, all other fats increase your cholesterol. Olive oil actually reduces your cholesterol.
Yes, olive oil contains a lot of... (unintelligible) in the olive oil is not pure oil. It's not (unintelligible) lipid. There are lipid molecules, not fatty acid but diluted with other chemicals
(unintelligible)
Can I add another thing here is the, Dr. Sabahi's excellent explanation
that I think touched on spiritual design, this design. And I just want to mention the best physical design as well of the human being
which we tend to take for granted. For example, here is 24 ounce of (unintelligible) mustard right here.
I will try to pick it up with 4 fingers. See, God designed it so we have a thumb.
So, if my design was just with 4 fingers, Naghmeh, watch me pick it up, right?
How, how will you pick it up without this? So, this is the physical design that God did.
No way.
Yeah that's very awkward, isn't it? It's very difficult.
We take it for granted that it goes like this, this thumb. Also, we took for granted that we walk on one leg. Did you know that?
Huh?
At any given moment, we walk on one leg. Now, if you design something, you will not design it to walk on one leg, see.
You're always on one leg. You don't realize that but there is some little fluid in your ears that keeps your balance.
And if it's messed up, you can't walk.
You don't, you don't think about it. We take it for granted.
But you're always on one leg. When you're walking, you're always on one. And normally, if you think about it, will you design
something yourself, you won't design something that goes on one leg.
But this is the perfect design that God gave to the human beings.
Dan.
Well, actually, I wasn't gonna (unintelligible)
I should have, I should have stopped him.
Sorry about that I thought you said something else.
No, you (unintelligible) my words.
(unintelligible)
(unintelligible)
Actually, when I look at this verse, I think about I've been in the... when our souls
before we came here and then He created the best possible way to move, come back to this life.
He created us, as you said, fingers and things like that. Our soul, I don't know if this is true will be, basically is not... it's low.
It's lower than what it was before we came here. We started in the ground. It's up to us to make
it grow in this life like in line six,
[95:6] Except those who believe and work righteous; they enjoy a well-deserved recompense.
So, we have this kid and, and his soul is so pure but he's, he's starving.
It's up to us what we grow to make our, to feed our soul by praying, by following the commandments and things like that.
Then, we start growing and growing and if you don't do that, people might...
How can I say it? People sometimes people may, may think that they have a good life like, for example, people
who think that because they're getting money, they are... they have, they have the best, like some, for example,
some movie stars. They will have money, cars, everything. Their souls don't have anything. They're, you don't know
if that they, they have a really good life or not. It's up to us to actually make it grow.
But everybody starts from, from the bottom. So, nobody can say "well, I had an advantage", no, no.
Everybody can agree now. And...
And we just, it's just when, when a person actually believes in God that he (unintelligible), I mean,
there's only one god. Some might, some people might be pushing to some other direction, but for some reason
I only see everybody, you know, (unintelligible) always before they even turn to that path, I would
see everybody stopping in that path where everybody meets. And not being able to see
the right path from the wrong path, he's just walking to the wrong one. I don't know, for some reason,
I just feel everybody, you know, kind of when equal, in equal points in this kind of when they're waiting
and then, he finds the right path. So, I feel that I mean this is up to us to watch what we're doing. So, everybody
I feel that everybody starts from, from a point that God made it that way and we wouldn’t have come to believe,
And you know, that's why.
Very good.
Yes.
(unintelligible), will you hand that to me?
Oh, yes.
You commented.
(unintelligible)
He was mentioning about man's the only one who has a brain. He has to think or make decision or improve his choice and this (unintelligible)
Other animals, they didn't have a brain, I mean, they had a brain but they didn't have a decision,
or the capacity or to think.
Well, a tree would grow as tall as it possibly can. And if you take a redwood. Redwoods grow as high as they possibly
can knowing that it doesn't realize, you know, the sky, how, how the sky is "Oh, is it unattainable? Is it unreachable?"
It will grow as, as tall as it possibly can and it seems to me that man is the only one who does not
develop or to try to achieve (unintelligible).
You were mentioning about something about the olive and the fig trees, the fig, you have this twice a year how could that be possible?
I mean, I don't know much about irrigation of those kind of trees like something like water irrigation of vegetables, like
you water every day, you have this (unintelligible) times a year. Those trees kind of (unintelligible) back home (unintelligible)
(unintelligible) it will be summer, not during. It's like doing the harvest in summer, but loose their leaves in
in fall and winter and they're doing in spring and they harvest (unintelligible).
How can you do it twice a year?
It must be a (unintelligible) variety.
No.
Most of the trees do that. Now, one of, one of, one of the crops is not edible.
It's just a variant for the next, some people (unintelligible)
Oh, Oh, Ok, so they pick them green (unintelligible).
Some people (unintelligible).
Yeah.
But...
It's only one crop a year.
Yeah (unintelligible) When the next crop grows from base of that one.
That's what makes the (unintelligible).
It pollinates itself (unintelligible), carries it to the male that pollinates itself inside (unintelligible)
Because with the olives, because my, as far as my understanding, the olives get harvested every year, not every other year.
There's, they have got something called alternate bearing that crop's very heavy one year and very light the next year.
So, this actually happens in synthesis, but we don't notice it.
You keep harvesting from different trees. These individual trees will do that.
But, you know, one tree will be heavy. The next one will be light. And then, they alternate next year. So, he's getting into botanical particulars.
I don't know about (unintelligible). when I read, when I studied botanics (unintelligible).
Today, of course today, with genetic engineering, they could make olives that are the size of a pear.
And they could make it.
(unintelligible)
I mean, I would’ve (unintelligible) my mouth, (unintelligible) are weird.
Yes.
I didn't say all of them. I didn't (unintelligible) I didn’t generalize it. I said in certain places.
Yeah, I understand. It's just what I'm saying is these kind of trees, it's not like water-irrigated everyday like (unintelligible).
those things, they, they go water, you know.
It's almost wild.
Yeah.
Yeah, it's like they grow in the wild (unintelligible).
She asked a... She is. No, she asked a question.
Yeah. First, first life is not about, this life is about particular souls (unintelligible).
From what I understand it's like chemists like we put things in steps. There are 3 steps. You were first created
the best design which I, I looked through my notes and I think there's another chapter that... chapter 87, God mentions that
[87:1] Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High. [87:2] He creates and shapes. [87:3] He designs and guides.
So, He says that He designed us the best design.
So, there's something like, like the angels. We were the best like the rest of the creation among the best.
And then, based on what Rashad has quite frequently discussed that we made the decision to
give it a try, see, go with Satan, give it a try and made that decision. So, we went to the second step which is the lowliest.
We came down, we left that high level of life and then when we came down to see what it's like here.
And then, see whether we can fight with Satan and succeed and go back to, try to reach the high level again. And I think the third step
is when you try to change, to get away from Satan, to lead to the right path and succeed in getting back to the high life, to get to Heaven. This is the way I see it.
Two questions. In Sura 4, there's no reference to Maryam eating a fig, eating some fruit (unintelligible) specific...
Dates.
Dates
That's what's all brought back to my, in terms of the time when Jesus was born.
Secondly, what is the meaning of "we" in verses 4 and 5? God says,
[95:4] We created man in the best design.
And says,
[95:5] Then, we reverted him...
Does it really imply participation of angels, other forces in creation of man in the best design, Satan's involvement that is born to the lowest abode?
Dr. Sabahi just explained it very well, but also reverting lowliest of lowly applies also to this life as far as the disbelievers are concerned.
We read in Sura 6, God says they are worse than animals.
The disbelievers and idol worshippers are worse than animals.
Because they made a stupid decision not to be with God.
The intention of dropping verse 5, of course, was not intentional.
We're going to fix it. It's Edip's fault. I have to blame somebody.
We will fix it, we'll have it develop these stickers and we'll...
Now that we just, we discovered here ...
Yeah. No. This is actually, I'm glad you brought this up. There's a lesson from God to teach us that the Quran
is not the ink and the paper. It's not the physical book. We have a verse number 5 in Arabic, drop out,
Sura number 2 and verse number 5 in English in this Sura, drop out. So, we have 2 verses,
they dropped out by mistake, one Arabic number 5, one English number 5 and the 2 false verses removed.
We have mathematical proof that verse 5 in Arabic, and verse 5 in English and other ones dropped out
belong in the Quran. But they have no evidence that the two false verses belong in the Quran. Are you following me?
Yes.
There's evidence on the wall there, all this long number, 12692 numbers
they glued every verse in the Quran but not the two false verses.
And that number is divisible by 19. If you include the two false verses, the whole thing collapses. We don't have anything.
As it is, we have a fantastic miracle now. So, God is telling us that you remember that you are living in an age of books, see?
This is probably a very primitive thing that a hundred years from now, they will laugh at us. They'd show movies
where people looked in a book like this. Cause a hundred years from now, there'll be probably no books.
So, this is not the Quran. It's not the ink and the paper. When the prophet Muhammad went to the Highest Heaven to
receive the Quran, God didn't give him a book. "Here's a book, the Quran." Quran is in the heart.
And obviously, God is making the point that because they say that "falsehood cannot enter this book, so how come the Quran has the two verses entered in it?"
They forget that the Quran is, is written in many different ways.
And a lot of people (unintelligible) printed it with the Suras mixed up, rearranged the verses. And
they added things and dropped things, but this doesn't mean that God did not preserve the Quran because the Quran is not this physical book.
And we're having this demonstration with new translation. So, we will fix it. We will add the verses. After we receive the book,
we will add these two verses that dropped out by mistake. Also, we write the Quran in the computer electronically, so
what is, what is that? So, the Quran is in the heart.
We know exactly what... we know exactly every letter that belongs in the Quran and anything
strange is added to it, we know that, too. If anything drops out, we know that.
And that's... this is obviously God's will to teach us this lesson. The ink and the paper is not the Quran.
Back to Dr. Sabahi.
OK. One more comment before I go to Sura 96.
The plants are overall one of the most amazing chemical factories that exist on the, on the earth.
For a while I was, before coming to US, I was involved with research on plants and
drugs that are derived from plants. And as a chemist, I was amazed to see how complex
these molecules are that you can take from a plant. As an example, what I can tell you now is that the most effective cancer research
and the most effective compounds or agents, if you call them,
against cancer thus far are the ones who have origins from plant materials. And China is one of
the leading countries in that respect. Because they invest a lot in natural products research.
And recently, there was a symposium. So, what happens is that the plants as time goes
by, they synthesize these things and you don't need too much chemistry to understand that the only
chemicals that are available to the plants are carbon dioxide, nitrogen from the ground and water.
So, you have carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen, these 4
basically nature elements and some phosphors and other things that come from the ground. And this plant as you seed it and it grows,
starts to put these things together. And then after a while, you take it to chemist, you know takes the leaves goes to lab
and tries to extract these chemicals out of it and then spends a lot of time, years maybe,
to see what is the structure. It started being one nitrogen, one oxygen, one hydrogen, billions of this in small pieces,
and then this plant has put these together to gigantic molecules, all that patched together.
That's, first of all, human beings have a lot of trouble to identify
what the structure is because the definite structure of the plant is something that you need to know as a
chemist or as a pharmacist. So, after they find the structure of the things, have they know the potency, they
try and say "OK. This is effective against this infection or cancer or whatever."
Then, they wanna make you buy it so that they can introduce it to the market and give it to people.
So, should they go and kill all the plants?
No, the chemists come into play, say "OK", they're gonna synthesize it, do this thing that the
plant does slowly. It's designed to do it. And so, they do it in the lab and start. One of the the third grade synthetic
chemists that was here a few month ago. He said they have been working for 5 years.
I mean, they have been, a group of top-notch scientists, working to synthesize the molecule that would be, has been shown,
has been tried from the plant, and has been shown that it has the potency against cancer, very active compound.
So, it took them at least five years and they had one step to do and that is the difference was the molecule that they were
synthesizing, was like the right glove of your hand that you can't put on your left hand. There's a difference.
There's no way you can, you can superimpose your right and left hand,
or to better understand, you cannot put a right glove on your left hand. Have you ever realized this?
That is a concept chemists call it Chirality. And that's one of the most amazing things in creation.
And this is in all the molecules.
One molecule which is the right-handed molecule may be really effective. The left-handed has no potency, no effect at all.
And the only difference is that if you look these are the mirror. If you put a mirror here, this is kind of the exactly this hand's, this is like mirror image of, of... these molecules are mirror images of itself.
But one of them is...has like cocaine had that property.
If you take the same, exactly the same number of carbon, nitrogen, whatever.
But the only difference is that the right glove, it's not the left glove. It doesn't have the same. If you take a kilo of it, you don't get high.
And so, I think when I read that, that plants are such an amazing
creatures and do things that, you know, we take for granted, we don't realize it what it is.
And this is another sign, another one of those signs.
There is a reason that God is swearing by a plant, the fig and the olive that obviously have
significance as Dr. Khalifa mentioned it and also from the chemist point of view.
So, by that I go back, start Sura 96.
Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem
You have a question?
Yes.
Ok.
(unintelligible) to Moses from Adam (unintelligible) to coincide
that man got pretty advanced, that he's intelligent enough to understand
that he can, he can eat the fig off the tree or he can dry it out to eat it later on
with the olive, he cannot eat it off the tree, can you?
(unintelligible)
Oh, yeah. You have to treat it with salt or other chemicals.
(unintelligible)
Unless you live in Libya, usually...
usually people (unintelligible) it with other things.
(unintelligible)
You can always try it (unintelligible) for a reason
(unintelligible)
do grapes, (unintelligible) same thing with olives.
You could (unintelligible).
(unintelligible) without having salt.
(unintelligible)
Well, actually, you have excellent varieties of figs and olives,
Yeah.
They do have in Afghanistan.
Libya.
Libya. Really, we have fantastic varieties of olives in Libya, Greece almost everywhere.
(unintelligible)
Hey Robert, you wanted to say something (unintelligible)
(unintelligible) I remember asking you a question earlier about (unintelligible)
God knew that the human being is going to, the majority of the human being going to Hell will lie
why, why was, why was, what you call a privileged tree, (unintelligible) He knew that majority will go to Hell before
he ever experienced. (unintelligible) true that any civil human being kinda like,
the criminals of our society the human, human race is (unintelligible) creature (unintelligible)
(unintelligible)
(unintelligible)
is that (unintelligible)
Uhum.
That's the...
That's applicable, too. Yes.
Is that...
Well, you see, God gave us the chance that when we blow that chance then we're really bad too. One of the reasons for creating
this world is that the creatures who will end up in Hell will not say "You didn't give us another chance",
or "You didn't tell us how bad Hell is." All these things, all their excuses are being nullified now, here.
So, the creature was given a second chance. He's really stupid, you know, if he doesn't take advantage of it.
You give somebody a key to a treasure and he or she throws it away. Then, you give him or her another chance.
You give him a key, again. You say "there's a treasure in this box. Don't throw the key away. Go open the box." And they still
throw the key away. This really, this really is stupid. So, this is lowliest of the lowly. It's worse than animals.
Here was the answer to the question. Did I get your question right?
Yeah, that was, that answers that question.
What's the other question?
Well, it's just that the same one, well God knew
Right.
of that the human, the human race, in general, was stupid.
You know, that they were gonna take that key and throw it away the second time.
That's right.
(unintelligible)
And I, and I, I know that free will comes in.
(unintelligible)
We can't have a role model.
But I just...
The question is...
Why would He put us in here (unintelligible)
Well, OK. You didn't catch my, my other part of the answer, then.
This is to nullify the, the excuses. So, they will not say "You didn't give us another chance."
No, I got that part. I just didn't understand that the human beings are gonna suffer for eternity,
Right.
and if God knowing this, this will happen, why, why was it, why was he created?
He knew. He knew. (unintelligible)
Yeah. But you see, if we didn't have this second chance and we were thrown in Hell, we will say "You didn't give us another chance."
Now with this invitation in this world, we cannot say this is at all.
Cause now we know.
Yeah.
Still, I think (unintelligible) He knew this, we'd sin in our life why bother creating.
Yeah. Exactly.
Because He knew that but we didn't know that.
It helps but...
Why, why, God is all Merciful. He's All Merciful.
(unintelligible) last chance.
No, no, no.
Second chance.
I understand that, but God knew that we're gonna need a second chance in the first place. Do you understand what I'm saying? God knew that we're gonna go wrong.
So, why would He...?
No, no, no, no, no
there's so millions, so many millions of us are saved.
All the people who died before 40
Yeah, yeah.
and all the people who, there's still millions of us who... So, for, for this
relative few, it was worth it to create all this universe. It was worth the steps.
Ok. That, that, that answers the question.
Yeah, There's still, I mean, think of all the, you and I, hopefully will make it to Heaven.
And think of all the millions who died before 40. They would have been in, in Hell.
But as it is because of the creation of this universe, they are going to Heaven, instead.
So, God's Mercy is saving all these millions of people.
So, the answer, the answer was that to worth it for the few to receive...
I don't feel, a few. If you think of it, if you're asking Mahmood Abib, he'll tell you the majority of Somalians are going to Heaven because they, they all die before 40.
The dictator is killing them before they get to 40 and this is a blessing.
A lot of them (unintelligible)
Right.
Yes.
(unintelligible)
everybody agreed
(unintelligible)
like (unintelligible)
and I can’t explain it but
you know (unintelligible) like we do something and meet someone
we are here to (unintelligible)
go back to (unintelligible)
they're opposed to because (unintelligible)
Under all circumstances. Yes.
(unintelligible).
you know how, you know (unintelligible)
God created this. We, did we come here, we could (unintelligible)
And by His mercy millions of us are being saved who would have otherwise gone to Hell.
So, this seems to satisfy Robert. Ok. This is a good enough reason.
That, that wasn't the answer to the question, the one earlier was, I was satisfied with (unintelligible)
Ok. Question.
When we were...
You can't, you can't ask questions. You have to answer the questions.
I mean, when we were, everybody was over there before we came here, did everybody actually said, when God asked us,
He had in our little corner there, He asked us
Did you... "do you believe in Me or not?" Did everybody say "no" or" "yes" or every said "yes" and He knew that they were not actually not satisfied with Him?
No, we said "we'd like to see a demonstration. Maybe, Satan can do it."
Oh, that's what most people said?
That's what people said.
Let me, let me, let me try to make an analogy of the situation.
Let's say that God is in planet Mars. We were all up there.
This is a whole galaxy, a whole planet.
Then, we made a mistake. This is exactly what we did.
But God said "OK, you guys, you criminals, you made a mistake. I'm not gonna send you to Hell. I'll give you guys another chance."
He put us all on a starship, sent us out here, beamed us down on planet Earth and said
"OK. I'm gonna give you this body for all of you, this number of years. And I'm gonna test you guys.
"And that's you. When you're done with this body, dispose this body. When you come back to Me, I'll look at what you've done."
"Those who redeem themselves can come back and join My Kingdom. And those who don't want to will join their boss, Satan."
(unintelligible).
(unintelligible) if they all consult (unintelligible) so we can discuss all the facts
with the human being created to expose Satan.
(unintelligible).
(unintelligible).
What's this again?
The human being was created to expose Satan.
No.
the reality is more (unintelligible)
That's not relevant.
There's a verse that (unintelligible)
(unintelligible)
And I guess after discovering this point, I can go to the next Sura, Sura 96
Muhammad was going to this cave for praying, and whatever reason he was going there and what is happening in this Sura
which is the first five verses which were revealed to him were the first verses that from the Quran that was revealed to Muhammad.
So, the story's that he, he... one day, he was in the cave and he heard a
a voice that told him to, to read which is the beginning of the Sura
and he panicked and he thought that he's hallucinating and things like that and,
and then he heard the name, the, the order again "read." And story is that he said "I can't read. How can I read?"
And then, Gabriel told him "read in the name of your Lord who created."
So, that's the story that I read, that, although I have heard it before, more or less the same. I don't know how true it is.
It's not true.
But this is the story that I read in a book that this is the way it happened to Muhammad in that Gabriel told him to read and he said "I can't read."
And he said "OK. Read." Then, I'll, I'll go to the Sura now.
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
[96:1] Read, in the name of your Lord, who created.
[96:2] He created man from an embryo.
[96:3] Read, and your Lord, Most Exalted.
[96:4] Teaches by means of the pen.
[96:5] He teaches man what he never knew.
[96:6] Indeed, the human transgresses.
[96:7] When he becomes rich.
[96:8] To your Lord is the ultimate destiny.
[96:9] Have you seen the one who enjoins. [96:10] Others from praying?
[96:11] Is it not better for him to follow the guidance? [96:12] Or advocate righteousness?
[96:13] If he disbelieves and turns away.
[96:14] Does he not realize that GOD sees?
[96:15] Indeed, unless he refrains, we will take him by the forelock.
[96:16] A forelock that is disbelieving and sinful.
[96:17] Let him then call on his helpers.
[96:18] We will call the guardians of Hell.
[96:19] You shall not obey him; you shall fall prostrate and draw nearer.
The first five verses which are, which are the first revelations and as you see in the footnote, the, the code number 19 is
all over those 5 verses and
also the whole Sura which are, which is consistent of 19 Suras, overall. And it is a miracle in itself.
God tells Muhammad
[96:1] Read, in the name of your Lord, who created.
[96:2] He created man from an embryo.
Whatever...
this is, this is embryo which is the translated word for 'Alaq (عَلَقٍ). People have used this in different ways.
The way everyone to his own understanding of maybe the universe, the, the biology or whatever it was or
whatever help they got from God in understanding Quran. They have defined it or interpreted it in different ways.
But what is clear, here God is saying that
[96:1] Read, ...
And
[96:1] Read, in the name of ...
the One who created you
and the whole universe.
And
[96:2] He created man from an embryo.
which I thought a lot about it.
What does, what does that really mean, the embryo? Is that really the physical meaning of the formation of the embryo
in a, in a, an animal, human beings or any animal that leads to, to creation of a human being or a new, a, a new being
or it does refer to anything else? I couldn't come up with anything else unless it's something else from Dr. Khalifa.
This referring to, to, to us, to Muhammad and us, if we limit this Sura to the time
that's one problem that exists is that since this was revealed to Muhammad, everyone tries to interpret
the Sura to exactly the same time and what God gave at the time. But since this is the
book which is for all times and at any time of history that I think people can understand
it in different ways and if you stick with the facts that you do thirteen or fourteen hundred years ago where
you didn't know a lot of things as science moved on then you get yourself into trouble. But what it
means is that God created the man from nothing, something that He knows how He does it and from nothing that
was nobody else can do the same thing that God is doing. And then in verses 2, 3 to 5, He's telling us and
first Muhammad that
[96:1] Read, ...
He's teaching, God is teaching you by the means of the pen and
[96:5] He teaches man what he never knew.
I think if, from these Suras up to this point, I came to the, to the, to the understanding that if we as Muslims
have read Quran and thought about it a little bit more carefully,
I think, we should have been the leaders in science even more and more because there are so many facts that God is
giving us, you know, giving us the light, say "Ok. Look at the sky. Look at the Sun. Look at the Dusk."
You know, one day, sit outside and see how the whole thing changes and think.
But you kept saying that the world is flat. And then, He tells us about the plants.
He tells us about how things, how beings are created and He tells us that He's creating man from an embryo.
So, we took it as "okay. This is God said so. So, don't worry about it." And then, says
[96:3] Read, and your Lord, Most Exalted.
[96:5] He teaches man what he never knew.
So, if you don't read it, that's what I tell Ali all the time, you know, "read your books. Do your homework."
"If, if you don't read it, you'll never know what's going on." But it is true that a very
simple explanation, understanding of the Ayas that I have is that you start reading, God is coming up and teach you.
And also, God teaches by means of pen, it has some other, I guess, some other thing in it.
that people who are dealing with pen have a very great responsibility because those are the people
who can have a great effect on a lot of people who read. So, you can write something that you can mislead. You can write something
that you can lead people. And I have seen that very clearly in the, after revolution or before revolution what aspects
religion is concerned, after revolution in our country. And a simple thing, a simple one sentence
or one paragraph, how that simple one written
document can change a whole nation, a whole, change the whole, in fact the whole, the life of the world.
And that is another indication that God is teaching you by the means of the pen and He teaches you what you never knew but
you have to be a little bit willing to put in a little bit hard work, work on it and then God helps you. And
I think I'll stop at these first five verses and let...
I got something.
Oh, he's so willing to go, so he didn't... Ok.
Let's look at this embryo.
I don't know if we have a translation with a clot, maybe (unintelligible)
I look at the, those 5 ones in the whole thing, yes, the embryo is the start
You know, we were just a clot, an embryo. We started in that. Look at that verse, it says
[96:1] Read, in the name of your Lord, who created
He definitely He created us.
[96:2] He created man from an embryo.
from something. That's where we started.
[96:3] Read, and your Lord, Most Exalted.
Ok, indeed He
[96:4] Teaches by means of the pen.
Oh, like those 5 actually,
The way I look at it the Quran that we start, we will start learning from God. Actually, we got the first step to be taken up.
First time, I, I actually came here, before I came here, my brother gave me a Quran
You know he said, Amin's apartment used to be there. And my brother came here and I was over there waiting for him.
And I said, sit on the couch and started reading it. It felt like, like, you know, after that I felt like myself I was an embryo
that I was something that I, you know, I'm just, I'm just starting. I started reading it and I started
seeing things that I never saw, that I always asked when I used to go to Catholic school and I used to ask questions
They were never actually answered. In there, they, they were there. So, I mean I just felt like I was being born,
like I was being created right and then. For some reason, I mean, I just feel that those five
will be for the Quran, that a person is to read and the person who reads it and God wants him to be
a believer, He will create them right and there into a believer. He's not no longer a normal person
I am no longer a normal person. And I feel like I'm, I'm something, that I'm here because of something.
And I guess, I guess, feel it, I mean, using Quran at what you could, He
teaches us by the mean of the pen. I don't know if 20 years from now, that will
be, you know, go be the same thing, that you know, they can put it in a computer and it will be like computer. Right now,
everything is written down. In, back, back then, it was written down, too. I don't know if it was before.
So, I think that that would, that's what it means what the Quran said.
He wants, we said it, He wants us born right then. That's right.
Well, thank you. Mã Shã Allãh.
(Unintelligible). Let me ask you a question.
You know, I, you know,
KL, Allah, isn't it...
isn’t it also true, the meaning of clot is embryo?
because inside the embryo, I think that you're talking, you're definitely talking in and out (unintelligible)
because they are very close (unintelligible) inside the wall (unintelligible)
And that's a clot. I don't know.
You're thinking of zygote, David.
OK. Well, zygote is still way before an embryo
Right.
So,...
See, zygote is an embryo, also.
No, sir, I'm not sure because
God says,
[96:2] He created man from an embryo.
Right. (unintelligible)
No, an embryo is way out there. I mean like, Dr. Sabahi, according to the, the Arabic here
(unintelligible)
Why would Allah (unintelligible)
I don't know Arabic but I looked up the meanings of 'Alaq (عَلَقٍ). I think one of them is clot. And...
It's not clot. That's not an accurate... the literal word means something that is hanging. Something that is stuck and hangs.
suspends.
You know, the clot though is, is more of a...
(unintelligible)
based on (unintelligible) comes from an embryo
Now, He didn't create an embryo, He created clot, zygote...
You know, I met Dr. Bucaille. You know Dr. Bucaille? He wrote "The Bible, Science, The Quran."
I met him in Algeria.
And he was very angry at the word "clot." Clot is a piece of blood that is like jelly and he said "this is not what the human embryo is."
And he was really angry. I said "sorry, I never use clot again."
They always say some personal opinion, but that's what we were, that's who we are, clot, literally.
Yeah.
No, no, no. The word literally means "something that is hanging."
Right. like, this is a joke about sheets of the walls.
Right.
It's a clot. It's a, it's a blood cells.
Right. It has cells but it's not a clot.
It's a very active, very living group of cells that is dividing very fast.
This...
Clot is not even living, dead blood cells.
Does 'Alaq (عَلَقٍ) means "Leech" too?
Right. Yes.
Not really. Something that hangs.
That (unintelligible). That's exactly
We are with what's the word, parasite
Yeah
(unintelligible) when we first started off.
Yeah, I read, I read in a Farsi translation or a little bit interpretation
that says, maybe, this is because leech and sperm are somehow similarly shaped.
This may be something that God is saying that He created man from whatever is...
So, what happens is, when the zygote and everything attaches to wall, literally buries itself into the...
to the uterus and it literally sucks blood out, just like a leech so I don't think that...
At least the...Yeah.
(unintelligible)
That's right. I don't know. I just wanna, you know...
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah, that's right. Yeah.
It's Ok.
David, technically an embryo is immediately after fertilization of the ova. You have an embryo, technically.
How (Unintelligible).
I know. That's why the zygote, embryo, and fetus, all these are called embryos, technically.
Definition of an embryo is fertilized ova. Is that correct?
You are medical...
Yes.
You are medical...
Zygote.
Yeah. Zygote is an embryo.
Yeah.
Embryo would be the same translation because it covers a wide range
from the zygote to the fetus.
Yeah.
It does translate to (unintelligible) a clot (unintelligible)
No, no, clot is not accurate at all.
Lisa, you said...
What is a clot, David?
Do you have a comment?
What, what is a clot?
I think embryo and clot (unintelligible)
I'm not saying it is zygote.
To me, it's called an embryo. Embryo is a living thing (unintelligible)
Yeah, Bucaille was definitely very angry about it.
See, I think maybe you're being swayed by his personal opinion (unintelligible) we can't (unintelligible)
we can't (unintelligible)
(unintelligible) whole range of humans. Most people don't know very much. (unintelligible)
I, for me (unintelligible) I think clot would be (unintelligible) because that's basically (unintelligible).
That really to me is more of greatness to God that's coming from something (unintelligible) from clot (unintelligible)
But you see, David, there are two things against the word "clot." The first thing is clot is, is a dead object.
Second is clot is not what the Arabic word is.
Yeah.
(unintelligible)
In first translation, I, I was influenced by the general (unintelligible)
I, I thought clot would be accurate but it was not.
Ok.
7 (unintelligible)
(unintelligible)
Let's go back to Dr. Sabahi.
Thank you (unintelligible)
I think if, you did a very good, Dan gave a very good...
(unintelligible) what he said.
How come everybody always, everybody's arguing about one word, one sentence?
How come they don't look at the whole picture, the whole sentence? Everybody is always arguing about the translation of one word.
One word doesn't mean anything. It's the whole, whole picture that is giving.
Then, why we're gonna need (unintelligible) one of these?
Well, because if the translation's done a better way, but
it becomes clot or, or embryo, the way I look at it even though it is the same that it would be clot or embryo, I look at it the
(Unintelligible) would be over there.
I'm looking at the big picture,
the whole picture. I'm looking at the big picture but I'm also looking at, you know,
if I see something or you see something that you think doesn't really fit, then I think we should express it.
You know what I mean? Cause otherwise, why do you even dispute over it?
(unintelligible) the translation.
Cause if I don’t get the big picture and I will get this and I don't need anything more than just this, right now you know
(unintelligible) But this is the big picture I know of.
The change of the translation reflects the growth of the translator.
(unintelligible)) translation now will be different from the one you're gonna get.
Yeah, going back to, to comment on what you said and also to mention what Dr. Khalifa was saying,
I think one of, that's why Arabic version of the Quran is so valuable
and it is so important that if you can read it because one part that we miss is
the music. I don't know how to say it, the music and the way it is written.
Because in Arabic if you read it, you see that every, especially these short Suras, the, the size of the Sura, verses
the way they sound, the music that goes with it, they, they change. It's so so beautiful that you can, you know, in English it's impossible.
And that one word is another thing that makes the translation and things like that very difficult as, as Dr. Khalifa mentioned.
It's something that goes to, to perfection. You know, from these discussions and maybe arguments, you know,
we just learn, move on and maybe later on we find a better word for the thing. But as the Arabic
word is very difficult to put it in one English word and say the same thing that is said there. One thing that I wanted to add to,
Ali, are you volunteering to say something, he (unintelligible) not to call his name, but you wanna, no?
OK. Another picture that you can get the first five verses
[96:1] Read, in the name of your Lord, who created.*
And creation is that the whole creation is involved.
We can look at it as a whole. You don't have to be able to read what is written here like being literate.
You can see and read without moving your lips. You can see these things. So, God is... that's what makes it
so beautiful that even for people who can't read. If you hear it and then, or even if you don't hear it, if you are willing enough to look
at the things that God is telling you. He's telling you that He created and He created these things. So, the whole
creation is a big book, huge book out there that you can go, read it, and understand it. There are a lot of things
that is created from science. That's what a lot of scientists do. They do see a lot of things.
But they read it as you say it in English. You read it in the lines. I think creation is something that we can read
from between the lines if you are willing to, if you pay attention, you will accept the fact that,
you know, one night go out and look at the beautiful sky, if it's not monsoon season, and you can read it and from a lot of other
things that God is saying here. I'm gonna move on, verse 6 and 7
[96:6] Indeed, the human transgresses. [96:7] When he becomes rich.
Whenever human beings feel that they are rich in anything, not money and only money,
you may feel that you're rich in a lot of other things and then that's the time
that you start worshipping yourself or your ego or whatever you have accomplished in the world.
And that's the time that you start to transgress. You start to
move away from God, forget God and go to the wrong path.
So, if God is helping you to get rich and I said in any way that you can be rich
and then you have to be very careful because, as has been said repeatedly, that it is not you.
It is your work, we are working hard, we are putting a lot of effort into it, but God is helping you to become richer
in whatever you're doing, but be careful not to transgress. But God is saying that human beings, this is
a nature of them. They just transgress. But He mentions in 8,
[96:8] To your Lord is the ultimate destiny.
Don't forget. Whatever you get, whatever you accomplish, you have to finally die. You'll die and they put you
depending on where you die, they're gonna put you in a coffin or they just put you in the ground and put a lot of dirt on you.
And there you are and you can't take anything with you down there.
Then, God is again reminding us.
[96:9] Have you seen the one who enjoins. [96:10] Others from praying?
And this is one of the very interesting few verses that comes together and we see very
easily that there was a time that back in my country before revolution, praying was something
that if you did, was something out of civilization.
You were old-fashioned, you believed in something which is not civilized, westernized
and things like that and so people tend to say "why you pray?" If you wanted to pray, at least if you want
to pray publicly, because something that a lot of people who will tell you, will make fun of you, but then after revolution,
it became forced. If you didn't pray, then you were in trouble. There were times that at 12 o'clock, they would bring
you out, everyone was supposed to go to the mosque and pray which was another problem, you know.
Whether you're praying for God or you're praying to show
your boss that I'm a good Muslim because it would have good effects on your salary
or where you go about in the future. But God is asking
[96:9] Have you seen the one who enjoins. [96:10] Others from praying?
[96:11] Is it not better for him to follow the guidance? [96:12] Or advocate righteousness?
Clearly, God is putting in question, question fashion.
[96:13] If he disbelieves and turns away.
[96:14] Does he not realize that GOD sees?
And this is one thing that a lot of people don't realize or they may know it but they,
they try to look the other way.
God, again, is warning us, giving us some warning and cautioning us.
Don't you think that God sees all what we do? And either, you know, whatever you do is wrong, you know, He sees you.
And then in 15, God is getting tough. So, He says
[96:15] Indeed, unless he refrains, we will take him by the forelock.
[96:16] A forelock that is disbelieving and sinful.
[96:17] Let him then call on his helpers.
[96:18] We will call the guardians of Hell.
[96:19] You shall not obey him; you shall fall prostrate and draw nearer.
So, in these last 5 verses, God is telling us story of the people who
go the wrong path and God is telling us what He's gonna do with those and how they're gonna suffer in the
future from what they do wrong and they don't choose the right path which is the right, the path of righteousness and the path of God.
Overall, if we look at these verses, starts with a lot of people may have for they see it just as
very disconnected, but it is very much connected as you see the whole story of the human being,
the life, the way he's created, the way he transgresses, the way he becomes
stingy, the way he drowns into materialistic things and then, you know,
goes away from God's path and becomes astray and then God is warning us at the end of the Sura that
don't do this. Do whatever is required of you to do
and don't follow the crowd as has been said frequently
and try to stick to what is right which is in the book, in Quran and follow,
follow Him only.
Hamid.
Oh, yeah.
Do you have something?
He'll add something.
OK.
Cause (unintelligible) line 7
[96:8] To your Lord is the ultimate destiny.
Those lines actually remind me of what Dr. Khalifa keeps saying, keeps saying when we wake up every morning,
and you work half of the day by a (unintelligible)
The first thing, I mean, the moment, the thing that you most thought about during the day, if it is yourself.
For some reason, humans tend to always look at themselves but I, like when I came today, I missed work. Somebody's
working for me right now. And they say "how come, how come you come late from your breaks and you're always
"praying? How come you don't work and get money? That's much better for you."
I said "well, that's, actually that's, you think you will do much better for yourself because you don't know what you're saying,
"but I think for me to be there praying, it would be much better for me."
They would look at the woman's, money, themselves, always buying nice cars, buying nice clothes even though they, they don't even know that they, they're like the poorest people in the world.
I mean, I mean just, I mean just, I mean, people will actually see that and plus when they see other
people praying and things like that, they, they make fun of them. Some people, they feel that they're more inferior.
Right now for some reason, Church
even though people say nice things, is going down. The new generation who goes to the churches are offering and
they're not gonna get anywhere with it. They go and try to, you know, go to college and try to become lawyers
and they never wanna see churches ever again. I mean, right here you're showing them that's, that's stupid.
You have to actually do your soul and you, cause if you did that, God's gonna give you everything.
I mean, you're gonna become whatever you want.
Any other comments? We have 2 more minutes like this. Any other suggestions? This is a very... we didn't have
enough time, but it's a very important Sura. And I definitely urge it at least somebody could read it in Arabic
because it is, it is, it is beautiful. I know it is a privilege for people who know Arabic. Cause I don't know Arabic.
I can read it but I don't understand it.
For God says it doesn't matter.
But...
You're right. Arabic, Arabic is beautiful and incomparable and
No, just, just, the way... yeah, yeah, yeah.
extraordinarily excellent literary, very enjoyable, but God says to the believers, it doesn’t make any difference.
So, I guess we will pause for tonight and we will have a number Fãtehahs to read. Today is August 4th. We finished Sura 96.
Next Friday is August 11th, IN SHAA ALLAH, we'll finish, maybe, 97, 98, 99, 100, up to 105, let's say.
Following Friday is August 18th, and we should finish the Quran, then.
And Friday August 25th, we'll have the new translation with us. We'll start Al-Fãtehah.
So, we have to turn it this way.
Ok. The next week, IN SHAA ALLAH, we'll finish up to Sura 105 and we have to help our teachers to do that.
And the following Friday to, we intend to finish so that we'll start Al-Fãtehah with the new translation, IN SHAA ALLAH.
So, our teacher next week will be Dr. Mahmoud Sabahi and his assistants, Dan and...
Me again?
You're so good. You did a very good job (unintelligible). Mã Shã Allãh.
(unintelligible), Rashad.
Yes.
(unintelligible) is an excellent teacher. By the way, he presented to you the chemical isomers.
He made stories of the righthand glove and the lefthand glove
and chemistry about the D and L in isomers of the same compound.
He made it so easy. He's a talented teacher, I can tell you that. So, IN SHAA ALLAH, we'll make use of his talent more often. Philip?
Dr. Khalifa I would like to ask (unintelligible) my wife (unintelligible) an Al-Fateha for her.
She's, her birthday was 31st of July. She's now traveling by herself and
(unintelligible) she has to go to Oregon to take care of some business.
and... so, if we could keep her in our hearts.
(unintelligible)
IN SHAA ALLAH, we will. (unintelligible) the 31st of July?
31st was her birthday.
31st of July.
If that's good.
You have to tell us about this (unintelligible)
I know I didn't.
(unintelligible) very close to you but...
Yeah, it is.
Yeah.
So,...
Ok.
Ok. Our teacher, don't worry...
Yeah, I just...
(unintelligible) more often, but
Lory will be our teacher next week, finish to Sura 105. And then, Ahmad Rayan, IN SHAA ALLAH, will be the following Friday
to finish the, from 106 to 114, IN SHAA ALLAH.
We need to read Al-Fãtehah for Ibi Vasily out there, Ok, when he came (unintelligible)
and Catherine, you forgot that your birthday's tomorrow. Is it tomorrow? (unintelligible)
Catherine's birthday
and Martha is not here so give her in absentia birthday.
Her mother decided to have a party for her, and this, this was the only time they have it,
so she's not here tonight. We read Al-Fãtehah for Philip, Philip and his wife,
Evelyn?
Evelyn.
But, may God be with them
and be with Evelyn, when traveling
We'll read Al-Fãtehah for Maryam. She wants to read it to offer thanks to God and to her father, it was a blessing
(unintelligible) were overdue and because of
Poopak and Maryam, they're so sincere and God loves them showering them with His blessings.
This would be a Fãtehah of thanks. So, for, for Ibi Abib, son of Mahmood Abib and Linda Abib, for Catherine Colton's
birthday, for Martha's birthday, for Philip and Evelyn, for Maryam, we turn to God, and for all of us. All of us whatever
your dearest wishes in your heart, you ask God and He will give you. Al-Fãtehah.
Bism Allah Arrahman Arraheem (1:1) Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil ‘Alameen (1:2) Arrahman Arraheem (1:3) Maliki Yawm Eddeen (1:4) Eyyaka Na’abudu Wa Eyyaka Nasta’aeen (1:5) Ehdina Al-Serata Al-Mustaqeem (1:6) Serata Al-Lazeena An’amta ‘Alayhim Ghayri Al-Maghdoobi ‘Alayhim Wa Laddaalleen (1:7)
Luna made a wonderful strawberry cupcakes.