Everything Ends Except Allah's Face - Surah Ar-Rahman

The Reality of Our Mortality

Last time in this Surah Ar-Rahman series, what have we done with Islam? We've turned Islam into consumer religion. And when somebody's having a hard time, then somebody's going through a psychological issue, somebody's going through a traumatic issue, or jinn. Jinn.

We slapped out on everything. How come jinns are only in Egypt and Pakistan? How come there are no jinns in China? There's no jinns in New Jersey. There's no jinns in Florida.

The only jinns are just when you go there. The jinns don't know how to cross the sea. How come they don't get no jinns? French people don't have any jinns. But the moment you become Muslim, jinn problems.

So we've developed this kind of superstition. And we've superimposed it onto our religion.

Is there such a thing as that waswasa coming from shayateen? Yes. Is there such a thing as possession? No.

Once again, everybody. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. But inshallah, we're going to have I think an exciting session. We have a lot of things to learn today.

Hopefully get to the mid-30s of the surah. There are two portions. Essentially, this is the heart of the surah in one sense.

The Primary Audience and Structure

Because the primary audience of the surah actually is the people who don't believe. And they are being scared of the consequences of their disbelief. Their takdheeb.

تُكَذِّبَان تُكَذِّبَان تُكَذِّبَان

So that's why this is at the very core, at the center of the surah. So in a sense, we're about to reach the center of what's going on. And then everything around it, what's remarkable is the surah is at the center, there is something scary.

And all around it is rahmah. All around it is mercy. So you saw so far, there's the mercy of Allah and how He guided us.

And there's the mercy of Allah and the loving care of Allah and the way He made the world. And then right after the center, we're gonna see the rahmah of Allah and two different distinct levels of jannah. And then here we are right in the middle and that's where the scary part lies.

Everyone on Earth Shall Cease to Exist

So before we... We're not there yet. We're almost done with this first section about this world. And it's coming to conclusion with two statements or three statements rather.

The first of them is كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ Everyone on this earth shall cease to exist. Everyone on it shall cease to exist or shall demise. This is a statement not about the destruction of the world because of the word من.

This refers to people. So if this was كُلُّ مَا عَلَيْهَا If the من was a ما, then it will refer to all species will die and all mountains will be destroyed. And all the seas will be done.

Which will happen. There's a stage for that that's coming. But this is not talking about that.

This is talking about human beings ceasing to exist or perhaps even the jinn ceasing to exist. So this is كُلُّ مَن عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ Now, this is why Ibn Ashur is saying that this is why the word من was used because it's used particularly for those that possess intellect.

Understanding the Arabic Language Structure

So one cool feature of the Arabic language is you can use words like you know in English we use the word they, right? You can use the word they for books and you can use the word they for people like they're expensive. You could be referring to books, right? Or they're broken. Could be referring to computers. So you can use the word they for human and non-human things, right?

But in Arabic, you can use certain pronouns for things that possess or beings that possess intellect. So Allah, angels, jinns, human beings have certain pronouns. And then non-human or inanimate objects or concepts, they have different pronouns. So you can actually separate between them.

But in English translation, they all come out as they. So there's an interesting distinction between what happens in the Arabic language and what happens in English. And sometimes these things really affect what people understand from a translation, right?

So كُلُّوا مَنْ عَلَيْهَا The word من is for possessors of intellect. Now some of you might say that does not include my cousin. That's a separate problem. But generally speaking, this is for human beings, jinns.

The Word "Faan" - Analysis

And that's what it's referring to. Anyway, so everyone on it is bound for demise. We're gonna dig into this statement that Allah Azza wa Jalla has made by going to the most interesting word in this ayah, which is فَانٍ.

Arabic students will notice here that فَانٍ looks majroor with a kasra. It's not, it's fi mahall raf'. So فَنَا يَفْنَا فَنَآءً فَهُوَ فَانٍ Like هَدَى يَهْدِي هُدًى فَهُوَ هَادٍ هادٍ is mabni.

So there's a ya muqaddarah which that means is this is actually in the... It's the subject of the sentence. So كُلُّوا مَنْ عَلَيْهَا is mubtada and فَانٍ is the khabar. That's what's happening here.

Anyway, that's a grammar geek out on the side. Now the word فَنَا, let's dig into what that means. It's again one of those words that's not used anywhere else in the Quran. It's only found in this surah, right?

And فَنَا الدَّار is if you have a really large property like an acreage and the fine ends of the periphery, like it's too far and wide, that would be called the فَنَا of it. فَانِي, this is the same word that's being used here, is used for a really old person. So a very aged person is also called a فَانِي.

So هَرِمَ أَشْرَفَ عَلَى الْمَوْتِ هَرِمًا Like someone on the verge of death. You know like they say the English expression, he's got one foot in the grave already, that kind of person. Or a person at the ICU and it's looking bleak, those kinds of people would be called فَانِي.

So the essential meaning of this root is something that starts losing its essential purpose or function and is on the verge of ceasing to exist. So on the verge of death.

Connection to the Sea and Death

So now Allah makes this statement, كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ to describe or to talk right after he mentioned the sea. You notice that? Like in the previous ayah he mentioned that there are large ships that sail and now he says everyone's on the verge of death. And what's remarkable about that is people at sea are the closest to death. Right?

And sailors, if you talk to sailors, they are very aware all the time of death. Because they're actually, every time they look on the edge of their boat, they're looking at the jaws of death. Right? And so from that Allah actually transitions into this. There's another interesting connection between the two.

The one who's traveling is actually traveling towards a destination. At sea you're traveling on a long journey towards a destination. And Allah now right after that uses that as a segue to talk about, well, everybody's headed to the same destination on this planet, which is death.

Allah's Design in Creation

So now if you combine this with what's happening from the beginning of the surah, we saw in the design of the skies, Allah likes order. Right? There's a symmetry that Allah likes. Then we saw in the design of the earth, Allah likes beauty.

And He creates things with beauty. Now we're seeing a third dimension. It's a really important dimension.

Allah has created things in this world, including ourselves, designed to die. Like we're designed to die. The body was made to actually age. The body was made to finally cease to exist. Everything that...

In surah Yasin, Allah says, whoever we give age to, we start reversing them and deteriorating them in creation. So you're a baby, you're cranky, you can't control your bowel movements, you can't sleep properly, and then you become a mature adult.

And as you start aging and aging and aging, you get cranky again, and you can't control your bowel movements. And then you have bad sleep cycles. All the things that used to... Somebody has to help you all the time.

You know, somebody has to do something for you because you can't do it yourself. There's a transition that's happened. And of course, some people even scarier, there are people that reach the age of senility, and that state, they start getting senile, or they start developing diseases like Alzheimer's and other kinds of diseases where they can't remember things.

And they start losing a sense of self. And children have a lesser sense of self. They have an underdeveloped sense of self. And you start seeing age-old adults developing childlike behaviors. You have to say things to them over and over again. No, no, no, put that down, put that down, put that down.

And you might have to talk to an elder that way. And sometimes people have to take care of the elderly, and they have those kinds of symptoms. And they feel really guilty that they're talking down to the elder in this way because if they won't, they won't take the medicine, or they won't change, or they won't get up and things like that.

So they have to treat them like a child almost sometimes. But that's actually part of the design that Allah made. And that's why the Prophet ﷺ asked refuge from old age.

The Non-Believer's Argument

But there is a design in that. Now this gives an argument to a non-believer. And this is important because the Quran's audience, actually a good audience of the Quran is non-believers. It's not just believers. The Quran was sent to humanity. And the non-believer easily argues, What kind of God is this? He makes broken products.

Right? He's supposed to make a body that should last. And here you have skin deteriorating, eyesight's getting weaker. Your teeth are starting to fall apart. Your bones start getting more brittle. Everything's starting to decay, decay, decay. I don't like this.

When human beings design something, they design something to last. They make a Rolex. Or they make a car. They want it to last forever. Or they make buildings. They want them to last forever.

We, in our... That's why I put at the bottom, the human desire to design eternal things. We have that desire. In fact, we pay more for things that last longer. Right? Durability is one of the things you look for when you construct a house, when you buy a watch, when you buy clothes, when you buy shoes, anything, right? Technology, everything. We look for durability. We look for sustainability, right? And then the question then comes, Well, how come God doesn't, you know, like that in us?

So, now Allah is giving us the answer to that question. In fact, human beings try to create things that are timeless. But the fun fact is they can't. Right? We just can't.

And the only things that are timeless in this world are the things Allah created. At least for now timeless, like pearls and diamonds and things like that, that Allah created. Those things are timeless.

Gold is timeless. Fine, you can have gold from 10,000 years ago and it's still gold, right? But if human beings construct a building from 10,000 years ago, you see what it looks like now. Even though it was, the crib to be at when it was made.

You can have the car of the year that somebody drives by and he's like, What? 20 years later, that car is usually driven by someone who's about to be a serial killer or something. Like he bought it from a junkyard and he's gonna use it for some crazy stuff, right?

So it's the thing that was associated with prestige, right? And as I age, I notice these things more. Like when I was in high school, 1875, there were cars that people used to be like, What? I'm a Mitsubishi Eclipse. Now if you see one of those things, you get worried. Like who's driving by the neighborhood? Why do they have this car? Why is it still alive? So human beings wanna design things that are eternal, but they can't.

And Allah could design things that are eternal, but He doesn't. In fact, He designs things that are in this world that are more eternal than us, right? And in it, there's also a lesson. So some young woman received a pearl as a gift, right? And she's now a grandmother and she's gonna give that pearl to her granddaughter as a gift. And one day that granddaughter can become a grandmother herself and she'll give that to her granddaughter.

The pearl didn't age, but the generations have aged and it's being passed down. You see that? So Allah is giving us a hint that Allah has the power to design things that last. But He deliberately designed you and me not to last in this world.

The Human Desire to Defy Death

So, كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ And this is meant to be, this is how we're supposed to be, we're supposed to exist. Now what's happened in the world because there's lesser and lesser faith in God and the people are lesser and lesser inclined towards religion. And there's this idea that people that follow religion are pre-modern and stupid and all this other stuff, right?

So what's happened is we are now looking for ways to figure out how to not die or at least pretend that we're not dying. So let's get Botox so we look younger, right? Let's do all kinds, let's stretch your eyeballs out and the skin out so you look like, I'm really happy right now. Wow, that was a really moving moment. Okay, good night, I'm going to sleep.

And you thought you came to study tafsir. Anyway, so the point is that human beings have this desire to defy aging. And it's a huge industry, age-defying creams, eat these foods and you won't age, do this and you'll reverse the effects of aging, and it's an entire... What does that show you? The human desire for eternity.

Not just in the things around them but even for themselves, right? And then we... And billions and billions get poured into this. It's interesting, I was talking to a doctor who, because he's an oncologist, he deals with patients that are dying all the time and he keeps up with research on some of this stuff. I'm no scientist, I'm nowhere near, I'm allergic to science, but I will tell you some things.

The Science of Death Built Into Our Bodies

I'll tell this to you in very layman terms. This is basically a lumberjack having a conversation with a scientist and then the lumberjack presents this in his words, right? That's what I'm going to present to you. So essentially in our cells, there's actually a component that is designed, it's essentially the death chemical.

There's a component in our cells that's designed to kill us. And there's an inhibitor, like a block, that keeps it from being released to kill the cell. And that inhibitor, as we age, it weakens.

And more and more of this toxin that is killing us starts getting released into the cell until the wall that's holding it back, the inhibitor, that completely deteriorates and the cell, what happens to it? It dies. And that's actually our death. Our death is actually... So essentially, the thing that will kill us is already there since we were born.

And it's interesting that Allah says in surah Al-Mulk, He created death and life. So He can test. You would think He would say He created life and death. But actually the mechanism for death was already there.

And now there's some genetic research and cell modification and all that kind of stuff. They're trying to figure out if they can make that wall permanent, right? Or make it last longer. Maybe if it lasts an average of 70-80 years, maybe we can make it last 200-300 years. Every time they try to enhance that wall in any way, it accelerates cancer in the body and people die sooner. SubhanAllah.

Like, you could try. It's okay. We were created inside a cage. And Allah designed this life to be temporary. And in it itself, there's a beauty. In it itself, there's a realization this life isn't permanent.

Accepting Temporary Life

And when you realize that, then the desire for permanence around you, it weakens. You start realizing how temporary everything is, right? Your children are temporary. Like they're not gonna be babies forever. They'll be annoying teenagers one day, right? Then they'll be in their 20s. And then they'll be older. And then you can't possess them the way that you used to be able to possess them.

You can't tell them, come here and they'll just come running. They're out of your control now. They're independent human beings. And it's frustrating to some people because they wanna still remain the way they were when they were 3 years old, even when they're 33 years old, right? They can't let go of that because they have the desire for permanence. They like something, they want that to stay forever. But Allah didn't design life that way.

The same thing happens with us in our lives. There's some part of your life where you were happy or some good thing happened. And you're like, why can't I go back to that? Why can't I have that again? Well, because it's fana. That is dead. You're in a new phase of your life now. It's a new life now.

And you have to deal with the new reality now. You can't keep looking back. This is part of, كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ And eventually there's a death that's coming that's gonna hit all of us.

Now, the thing about all of this, this remarkable reality, is that the benefit of this is that we don't forget to prepare for the permanent life. Okay, well if I'm heading towards death, then good thing Allah created a permanent life where everything I desire, permanence was my desire even in this life. Now I actually get to have it. I get to have ageless youth.

I get to have ageless pleasure. I get to have ageless satisfaction, happiness, joy, contentment. All of those things that I'm running after in this life, and they're always temporary. I get to have them in permanence, right?

A Note on Heaven and Hell

On a side note about heaven and hell, because we don't learn enough about our religion, so one of the consequences of not being well-educated in our own religion, is that we start thinking that when other people talk about heaven and hell, they're probably talking about essentially the same thing we're talking about, right? And so we start subconsciously confusing the ideas we hear from others about their religion with what we have in our religion. Because they're saying heaven, we also believe in heaven. They use hell, we also use hell.

So probably same thing. Or they say God, we also say God. We're probably talking about the same thing. Let me just make it clear. The Quran came to actually purify every concept that was fundamental in any religion. The concept of God had been corrupted.

And Quran came and purified the concept of God. The concept of revelation was corrupted. The Quran came and purified the concept of revelation. The concept of heaven and hell were corrupted. And the Quran came and clarified those concepts. And it's actually some remarkable things that happened in that.

Recently there have been people that have made mockery of the afterlife. And one of the things they talk about, even though our subject today isn't heaven, but I'll quickly mention in passing, that even if you get to heaven, it's gonna be boring. Like, okay, every time you take a three-pointer, it goes in.

There's no challenge. So it's just gonna go... Like, watch this. Now watch this. I'm gonna kick it in. Now watch this with my pinky. Because there's nothing left to accomplish.

Part of human joy comes from adventure. That's where it comes from. Like, if somebody just dropped you on top of the mountain, as opposed to you got to climb the mountain, there's way more joy in climbing the mountain.

Somebody's handed you the game, as opposed to you struggled and almost lost the game and then win the game. There's a different joy in that. We know that. But Jannah seems like it's a place of effortlessness. No struggle. No challenges.

Everything's chill. That sounds like it's boring. Eventually a person will get bored. And this is actually a new concept emerging that why would you want Jannah anyway? It's just gonna be boring. I even met a guy who said, all I wanna do is solve complicated math problems with my life. I was like, your life seems like a complicated math problem.

But anyway. But he says, if I go to Jannah, I just wanna solve problems. It seems like Jannah won't have any problems.

Well, here's the thing about Jannah. In a couple of words, Allah solves these things. He says, for example, مَا تَشْتَهِيهِ الْأَنفُسُ وَتَلَذُّ الْأَعْيُنُ They'll keep anticipating new excitements in it forever.

He didn't just say they'll live in it forever. He says they'll keep anticipating new excitements forever. So the freshness of Jannah is a permanent thing. The newness of Jannah is a permanent thing. Now there are other things that actually even though we say we get bored, there are some things that we want to keep the same. If a husband and a wife have a good relationship with each other, which is the exception on this planet.

But if they have a good relationship with each other, at some point, when the husband and the wife are at the best of their relationship with each other, they get a taste of what Jannah looks like, actually. They get a taste of that sakinah. And the true feeling in her heart and his heart is, I wish this feeling that I have right now could be for what? This feeling, I wish this could be forever.

I wish this would never end. Because somewhere inside them they know, challenges are gonna come, problems are gonna come, schedules are gonna come, issues are gonna come. And this feeling is going to start changing, right? So when it's interesting, with things you might start getting bored.

When you find the right kind of companionship and the right kind of tranquility in your heart, then actually even in that there's a desire, I wish this could stay forever, right? And Allah will even address that in the Quran.

The Face of Allah That Remains

Anyhow, now we come to this, كُلُّ مَنْ عَلَيْهَا فَانٍ He says, and the reason of mentioning this right after the blessings of Allah is because now we realize if we're temporary, if we're heading towards ceasing to exist, then all these things that are around us, even if they exist or not, that doesn't actually mean much to me anymore because I'm on my way out. I'm on a journey towards the exit, right?

Such a beautiful continuity in these ayat. The thing is, let me just get to the core of the ayah first, and then I'll tell you some things about this ayah. So, I think I put a translation here somewhere. Here's the translation.

While your nourishing Master's face, that garners reverence and prestige shall remain. I know those are loaded words, but let's think about them for a second. If everyone died, if everybody died, then no human being is left to praise Allah, right? If everybody died, there's no five prayers happening.

If everybody died, there's nobody thanking Allah for His blessings on this earth. They're all gone. Now, let me compare this for a moment.

The Need for Recognition

An athlete, one of the great highs of an athlete is like a world cup or like a world championship, right? The match. And one of the most amazing memories of that is, when they win, what do they see around them? They see the crowds cheering them, praising them, right? And that becomes a permanent memory in their life. The same is the glory of a king when he wins battle or a political party when they win an election.

When you win something, when you accomplish something great, there are people that are just accolading and cheering and glorifying you, right? Now, imagine that same athlete has the same exact kind of accomplishment like a sprinter who beats the world record, right? But he's on an island by himself and beats the world record on his own. And there's nobody else around. Does he feel the same sense of glory that he felt when he's in a stadium at the Olympics? No.

You know why? Because nobody's around to appreciate him. You cannot have glory if there's no one to glorify. How are you gonna have glory if there's no one to glorify? You can't be in your room by yourself, go... You know, like... You've got an issue, right?

So, the word... So, the idea of jalal actually is glorification, to declare the greatness of someone. It's actually used exclusively for Allah. We'll dig into the word in a minute. But Allah says, first, all of you will cease to exist.

And then, the only thing shall remain is your master's face that in itself has glory. It doesn't need your glory or your glorification for it to exist. You know, this is also a disbeliever's argument.

Why does God want me to pray to Him so much? I've even heard some atheists say, God is so egotistical. He wants me to keep praying to Him. He just wants me to keep thanking Him. What kind of person wants me to keep thanking them all the time? Anybody who does that is very self-centered and egotistical and all of it. Why does he need that? Why does he need this kind of validation all the time? Right?

So, they use these kinds of words for Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in their ignorance. But Allah answers this in such beautiful ways.

Allah's Independence from Our Praise

Look, all of you will die and that will have no impact on my glory. It'll have zero impact on my glory. In fact, all of you praising Allah cannot add to Allah's glory. And none of you praising Allah will take nothing away from Allah's glory. Allah isn't just... Allah doesn't describe Himself as Mahmood. Hamd means to praise and thank.

And the one who is praised and thanked is called Mahmood. Okay? But Allah doesn't describe Himself as Mahmood. He describes Himself as Hameed. Hameed. And Hameed actually means that it doesn't have the passive participle. No one's there to praise and he's praised in and of himself.

No one's there to thank and he's thanked in and of himself. And then he adds that word. When Hameed comes, you'll see an association with another word, Ghani. Ghani means free of need, independent. Meaning he doesn't need anybody to praise him. He doesn't need anybody to thank him.

He's independent of that. So, the conversation in this religion is not about what God wants. Actually, it's actually about you. He's not in any need at all. This is different from every other religion. Every other religion.

It's interesting. You'll find something in other religions. You have to give God something for Him to give you something. Like God wants something from you. Like the Vikings have to slaughter one of their own to win in a battle. God wants the blood of one of their children.

Or they want a ram to be sacrificed. Or something to be given to God. Then and only then will you get. You can't get directly. From the beginning of this surah, are human beings giving Allah and Allah giving them in return? Or Allah is giving anyway? Allah is giving anyway. This is a different concept of God.

This is not the concept in other religions. Other religions, if you want something, you better go to God. You better make some special kind of request. Meet these conditions, then He will give you. Right? And that means that God is in need of your... wants some contribution from you before you can have what you want. Allah didn't put it in these terms.

He just... He doesn't need your glorification. وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ ذُو الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ

The Face as Source of Recognition

Then there's some other things to note about this ayah. The face is a source of recognition. If you notice the previous ayah when we talked about ships, right? Ships are a way of recognizing civilizations. And ships spawned entire civilizations as I was saying, right? And before this age, we're in a weirdly different time in world history right now, right?

So there are things that now we think about that we didn't think about before. For the longest time in history, where did your honor and your glory and your status come from? It didn't come from how many TikTok followers you have. Yeah, it used to come from your family. What heritage do you come from? What tribe do you hail from? It used to come from what empire you belong to. Like the Romans were very proud of wearing the Roman emblem.

The Persian Empire had its own pride, right? So you belong to this great civilization. And that's part of your identity. And people used to know the name of their father, grandfather, great-grandfather all the way back. And they used to know all of their stories because their great honorable accomplishments become yours. You take them on. In fact, you even see that in overly patriotic, nationalistic people in any country.

They wave the flag and they talk about the glorious chapters of their history because that's where their honor comes from, right? Especially you'll find this kind of thing in military families. You'll find this thing and the idea of ships has a component of the military in it, right? Because ships couldn't just go on trade without having some level of conquest, some level of bloodshed and conquering, right?

And all of those civilizations, they're recognized from the face. There's a face of that civilization. The face of it is the founder. The face of it is the king. The face of it is the pyramid. There are faces of it. And Allah is saying, all these great civilizations are no longer recognizable because nobody is left to recognize or honor them. Nobody is going to a museum to look at their history.

Nobody is looking at that anymore. The only face that remains is that of Allah. وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ SubhanAllah

Coming up next time in this Surah Ar-Rahman series.

Human beings actually need recognition from each other. Doesn't matter how you pretend you don't, you do. You need your dad to be able to... You want to hear your dad say, I love you or I'm proud of you, son. You need it. You need your teacher to be able to say, good job on the homework. Right? Your boss to be able to say, that was a great job on the project.

Thank you. Or you want to hear a thank you. You want to hear a, I, you know, you exist. I see you. What happens to people in the... They're in a stadium. They're going... And the athlete just goes... Like that. And he just pointed randomly at the Pepsi vending machine. But the guy in the stands, he's like... You know, he just got recognized.

His life has changed. You know, he pointed at me. There's a human need for recognition. And Allah Azza wa Jal separates himself from that. And He says, actually, I don't have that. You do. I don't have the need for recognition. That's one of the things that makes you mortal. That's one of the things that makes you khalq.

The khaliq doesn't have it. You have it. And it's actually Allah's rahmah that He allowed Himself to be recognized. He allowed Himself to be recognized.