Amr Khaled: If you're lost and can't see ahead.. A Quranic chapter that enlightens your life
If you're lost and confused.. How can your life be enlightened by fearing Allah?
3 verses in the Quran link piety with light in your life
It started with a warning and ended with glad tidings. Surah An-Nur is your guide to the light of your life
Khaberni - Dr. Amr Khaled, the Islamic preacher, has provided a Quranic prescription that illuminates the darkness for everyone struggling with blurred goals and vision in life, by adhering to the fear of Allah and increasing forgiveness and benevolence (worship as if you see him), with your heart before your sight, thus enlightening your insight with light.
And Khaled said in the sixteenth episode of his Ramadan program "Guide – A Journey with the Quran," that there are three verses in the Quran that connect piety with light in your life, which are:
1- "Allah is the protector of those who believe, He brings them out of darkness into the light..." after 40 verses about piety.
2- "With it Allah guides those who follow His pleasure to the ways of peace and brings them out of darkness into the light by His decree, and guides them to a straight path".
3- "O you who have believed, fear Allah and believe in His Messenger, and He will give you a double portion of His mercy and make for you a light by which you walk and forgive you. And Allah is Forgiving, Merciful".
And Khaled said that this light is the flashlight you walk among people with, to see their reality, and it's not mandatory that you be the teacher who makes them see, while you are still inexperienced, but it can be in the form of a consultant for you, to listen to him and increase your life experience.
What does piety do to you?
He clarified that piety fills the gap between the apparent and the hidden, as you fear Him the gap decreases, and makes your vision whole and clear. Forms of piety include: maintaining the five daily prayers, making sure to perform the dawn prayer on time, honoring parents, restraining the tongue from what angers Allah, earning a lawful livelihood, and avoiding prohibited relations.
And Khaled warned that losing vision is what makes life disorganized, dominated by confusion and disarray, and that is what the Quran describes by saying: "Or [they are] like darknesses within an unfathomable sea which is covered by waves, upon which are waves, over which are clouds. Layers of darkness, some of them upon others, when one puts out his hand [therein], he can hardly see it". And he said: the only exit from darkness is through Allah, "And whoever Allah does not make light for, he will have no light."
The verse of light
And Khaled highlighted the most important meanings contained in Surah "An-Nur," which includes a pivotal verse: "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth. The example of His light is like a niche within which is a lamp, the lamp is within glass, the glass as if it were a pearly [white] star lit from [the oil of] a blessed olive tree, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow even if untouched by fire. Light upon light. Allah guides to His light whom He wills. And Allah presents examples for the people, and Allah is Knowing of all things.".
And he detailed the meanings of the verse, as follows:
-"The example of His light": Not Allah's light, but an example of His light.
-"As a niche": A cavity in the wall from which emanates strong light.
-"From a blessed olive tree": The strongest types of oil that give energy is olive oil.
-"Neither eastern nor western": The sun covers it from east to west, resulting in the finest oil.
And he said, "The niche is your chest, the lamp is your heart, and the glass is the piety that lights the light inside you, and the olive oil that lights it is your worship and your connection with our Lord".
Themes of Surah An-Nur
And Khaled clarified that this is why it is called Surah "An-Nur," even though it touched on many other matters.
It spoke about the piety that enlightens, starting with adultery and illicit relations, where 7 verses revolved around this indecency.
It spoke about acts of immorality: "Those who like to spread immorality among those who believe will have a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter. Allah knows, and you do not know."
It spoke about violating honor, and those who slander chaste, unsuspecting, believing women: "Those who slander chaste, unsuspecting, believing women are cursed in this world and the Hereafter, and they will have a great punishment."
It spoke about backbiting and gossip: "When you receive it with your tongues and speak with your mouths what you have no knowledge of, and you think it is a trivial matter".
It spoke about prayer and almsgiving: ""And perform the prayer and give the alms and obey the Messenger so that mercy may be shown to you"".
It spoke about nudity as well as not wearing the hijab: "And not display their adornment except what [ordinarily] appears thereof and to wrap [a portion of] their headcovers over their chests and not display their adornment except to their husbands or their fathers or their husbands' fathers...". And after that came the verse of light: "Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth...", saying in the end that the fear of Allah in these things is what enlightens your lives.
Surah An-Nur is your guide to the light of your life
And Khaled stated that Surah An-Nur started with the most prohibited things that prevent light, namely: adultery, backbiting, gossip, slander of women in particular.
And Khaled confirmed that the fear of Allah is what will illuminate your life, and it was from the supplications of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him: "O Allah, place light in my heart, and on my face, and in my mind, and on my tongue.. O Allah, place light to my right.. my left.. above me.. below me.. O Allah, make light all around me".
Watch the episode:
