The Climax of Jannah and Allah's Blessed Name

Last time in this Surah Ar-Rahman series, there are people who fought their desires, right? And for them, the ultimate climax of heaven is that they no longer have to fight their desires. Then there are people who just worked, and worked, and worked, and worked. They just wanted to do ihsan.

Their focus wasn't fighting their desires or getting away from the haram. Their focus was, Ya Allah, life is short, I gotta do more before I die.

فَالحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ أَمَّا بَعْدُ

Everybody, once again, السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

The Final Relaxation in Paradise

We're almost at the end of the surah. Allah is going to give us the climax of this second level of Jannah by describing people now reclined again, sitting back again. And as I told you, it seems that the people of Ihsan, the ultimate reward for them is that they finally get to relax and not have to worry about pleasing their Rabb anymore.

It also seems like a fitting conclusion to where the entire discussion of Jannah started. It started with they're afraid of standing in front of their master and it ends with they are sitting back relaxed. So there's this really beautiful beginning and end to this entire conversation about Jannah.

The Meaning of Rafraf

Now this description takes another turn. Allah says عَلَى رَفْرَفٍ خُضْرٍ so اتَّكَأَ means to lean back and this is another variation of this verb, اسْتَوَكَّأَ like أَتَوَكَّؤُ عَلَيْهَا وَأَهُشُّ بِهَا عَلَى غَنَمِي with Musa alaihis salaam when he leans on his stick sometimes and اتَّكَأَ is to completely lean back so your back is relaxed and you can put your weight on whatever cushion you're sitting on or couch you're sitting on so they're going to be sitting on a رَفْرَف رَفْرَف is actually delicate silks so the last time we saw اسْتَوَكَّؤُا on the inside and now we're seeing delicate silk materials on the outside so this is basically your mattress cover your cushion cover your couch covers that's what's being described as very delicate materials and it's also something that's shiny so it's got some kind of a level of sheen like you can think of it almost like a velvet like a thin velvet is the kind of seating that Allah is describing but again the color comes back رَفْرَفٍ خُضْرٍ it's green velvet so really interesting again this description of Jannah the second levels of Jannah were described starting with lush greenery and now you're sitting in greenery

I also think of seating as you know how we talked about bringing the inside out so you're surrounded by greenery and then your seating kind of matches the decor of the outside you know when we think of interior design or design in general we have to decide whether we're designing for the inside or the outside and the materials differ so you cannot use delicate materials outdoors because the weather elements will destroy those materials so you have to have tougher weather resistant, water resistant wind resistant, that kind of stuff outside, it's not going to go bad if you take your most expensive sofa from the living room and put it in the backyard it's going to be 3 days before it's destroyed covered in dust and all of it but Jannah is a different you know, different life we're outdoors, we're surrounded by greenery and waterfalls and all of it and now we've got these cushions and of course this can also be describing the cushions that are inside of those tents that were just described you know so the idea of حُورٌ مَقْصُورَاتٌ فِي الْخِيَامِ can be reinforced by مُتَّكِئِينَ عَلَى رَفْرَفٍ خُضْرٍ but it seems like this is some special other kind of seating where they're just seated and maybe they're ready to entertain other guests because the idea of رَفْرَفٍ خُضْرٍ is actually maybe kind of living room area where they're going to talk to somebody else but Allah doesn't mention any other company what's interesting though is the very next ayah Allah will talk about Himself so there's a subtle hint whose company is about to take place it's Allah's company

Now the thing is we when we enter into Allah's company we enter into Allah's company with a very formal demeanor we stand before Allah, we hold our hands we humble ourselves, we come before Allah in the clothing of Hajj and we say لَبَّيْكَ اللَّهُمَّ لَبَّيْكَ but in Jannah you get to be relaxed in the company of Allah this is new, this is a new experience with Allah that we haven't had before because you've already met Allah's expectations and now you get to be with Allah in this much more relaxed fashion مُتَّكِئِينَ عَلَى رَفْرَفٍ خُضْرٍ

Abqari - Things Never Seen Before

So عَبْقَرِي nowadays in modern Arabic عَبْقَرِي is used for a genius but that's modern Arabic العربية الفصحى المعاصرة وليس هكذا في لغة العرب يعني منذ قديم so العبقر والعبقرة من النساء المرأة الفارة الجميلة very beautiful, uniquely beautiful stunningly beautiful woman was actually called عَبْقَرَة similarly الطنافذة الثخان واحدها عبقرية والديباج very exotic imported rugs that have embroidery from another land those were also called عَبْقَر so right now we see a woman, the beauty of which you've never seen before or rugs, the design of which you've never seen before because it's coming from outside it's imported, that's عَبْقَر

الفاخر من الحيوان والجوهر this is actually also a very exotic animal can be called عَبْقَر a very exotic jewel can be called عَبْقَر ظلم عبقري مال عبقري رجل عبقري كامل في صفتيه أنه لا نظير له a person, a man could be called عَبْقَرِي money could be called عَبْقَرِي a crime could also be called عَبْقَرِي something you've never seen the likes of before something that you've never seen anything like it before it's not perfection, it's unheard of, unseen unimagined you're seeing something you've never seen before that's called عَبْقَرِي

So now there's an evolution in the language you saw some kind of palm trees you've never seen them before some kind of pomegranate you've never seen them before previously you saw there's some kind of fire you've never seen that kind of fire before so some kind of fire, we don't know what kind of fire that is now we're seeing beautiful, exotic things and by the way, just because something you've never seen before doesn't mean it's good

There's عَبْقَرِيٍّ حِسَانٍ together actually suggests now you're going to see things you've never seen before but actually those things are more beautiful than you've ever seen before

Also عَبْقَرِي interestingly in Arab mythology in Arab poetry عَبْقَر was considered the land of the jinn the world of the jinn and why is that important because they thought jinns live in another world so if you brought something from there then you brought it from the land of the jinn so if you see an imported item then they'll call that item عَبْقَرِي

So Allah is describing now that we are in a part of Jannah where we're seeing things that nobody's ever seen before and there's a beauty that's never been experienced before it's a really profound way of ending the conversation about Jannah because it's actually taking us from the things that we could kind of imagine you can imagine waterfalls you can imagine fruits, you can imagine couches you can imagine green cushions you can imagine that stuff but by the time you get to عَبْقَرِيٍّ this is now a different category

And it's also, it's عَبَاقِر عَبَاقِر is the plural عَبَاقِرَة but it's not used, حِسَان is plural the adjective is plural it's unique because in Arabic if the noun is singular then the adjective should be singular but here the noun is actually singular but the adjective is plural so it's an unusual rhetorical device that's being used here as if to suggest that each item will have multiple dimensions of beauty maybe the smell, maybe the sight maybe the color, maybe every time you look at it from a different angle a different beauty of it comes out and what are these items? are they food items? are they lamps? are they palaces? are they people? what are they? we're not told we're just told there's an untold kind of multi-dimensional beauty waiting for you as you sit back on these couches

See previously you saw fruits and the fruits came down to you when you sat down, right? but fruits are still something ma'aloof, something you know I know what a fruit is but now you're sitting back and you're like woah woah you're just looking at these new beautiful experiences and of course beyond all of those experiences is going to be the ultimate beauty إِنَّ اللَّهَ جَمِيلٌ يُحِبُّ الْجَمَالَ right? so he's going to expose himself and we're going to get to meet Allah Azza wa Jal himself in this remarkable way

So فَبِأَيِّ آلَاءِ رَبِّكُمَا تُكَذِّبَانِ

The Blessed Name of Allah

Then finally تَبَارَكَ اسْمُ رَبِّكَ ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ this ayah, very heavy very powerful conclusion to this surah

تَبَارَكَ is, let me just roughly translate it for you, so in easy english not really that easy english translation would be blessed is the name of your master, blessed is the name of your master ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ, the possessor of, jalal means greatness glory and al ikram means generosity the owner of greatness and generosity right? so Allah's greatness will of course be manifest when the connection to what we just heard, Allah's greatness is finally manifest when we actually meet with Allah and his generosity is being manifested throughout with all these different dimensions of his generosity that have been talked about, but we have to kind of take each piece of this at a time

The Meaning of Tabarak

The word تَبَارَكَ comes from the word birka, which is when water settles, or when a camel sits down and it won't move that's actually called birka, when something gets settled and stays, the thing is, when you go somewhere exotic, and we've all been to some vacation somewhere that's not our normal, right? when you go somewhere exotic you know you can't stay there forever it's temporary, right? and now we're at the height of exotic but this is not a temporary stay, this is, this is permanent, this is permanent

It's also interesting that we saw gardens opening up, more gardens opening up more gardens opening up, and you're exploring more and more, but now you're sitting and the world around you is changing you're not even going anywhere, you're just in the same place, and your scenery keeps on changing, right? so there's this idea that there is you're settled, and more and more is coming out, so al-birka again something for the camel to sit down

The other meaning, the important meaning of baraka, is ثبات واستمرار مع لطف من ذلك البركة المحركة إنما النماء والزيادة something that's settled and something that keeps on growing

I like to, when I'm teaching this kind of vocabulary to kids, just so they understand the concept of baraka, you know, you guys ever play Jenga blocks? right? Jenga blocks, the taller the tower gets, the more unstable it gets right? now imagine a set of Jenga blocks, the more it grows, the more stable it gets that would be baraka, it's something that's stable, and gets more and more stable, and keeps on growing also because anything else, the more it grows, the more unstable it gets, right? and that's the human experience, empires grow and as they grow, they get weaker from within, the Roman Empire grew too big to be sustainable they couldn't supply their military and their governorship, the resources they needed they got stretched too thin, they broke apart, right?

So governments can become too big and fail right? businesses can become too big and fail, they're not able to maintain the quality anymore, that can happen, right? the same way, by the way masajid sometimes get too big and fail right? small community, everybody was getting along and then they got big and mashallah, new kinds of fights new kinds of drama, new kinds of board elections and all kinds of stuff Allah protect our masajid from fitna but like, that happens when there's no barakah, but barakah is something is growing and as it's growing it's also staying stable right? both of those things together

Now Allah is saying you know when we say I hope Allah puts barakah in your work Allah puts barakah in your family we say these things, right? what we're saying is I hope Allah gives your family growth, more enhances them in health and good things and also sustains that goodness but that goodness doesn't make life unstable, right? so both of those things together is actually what barakah means, so now تَبَارَكَ means the thing that possesses barakah in it okay, so when Allah calls his name something that has barakah in it that means when we call on Allah's name when we call on Allah's name, we are trying to bring barakah into anything that we're doing the thing that has the power to bring barakah in anything stability and growth stability and growth is actually Allah's name, and so he says how full of barakah is the name of your master

The Connection to Ar-Rahman

The question though is the name of Allah is Allah and the word Allah has not been used in the entire surah right? but what's incredible I told you this is why the first ayah is a section by itself, what was the first ayah of the surah? Ar-Rahman, and the last ayah of the surah says, blessed is the name of your master, you see how beautiful that is? it's actually now taking us back to ayah number one and saying how incredible is that name, and it's so beautiful that whenever we want something to have blessings, we say بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ in the center of those names is Ar-Rahman and then we do whatever we do to have barakah in it right? so تَبَارَكَ اسْمُ رَبِّكَ how blessed is the name of your master

The name also means the description or the qualities, actually we're going to read through all of these because they're really beautiful insights وَصَفَهُ تَعَالَى بِكَمَالِ الْبَرَكَةِ وَالْبَرَكَةُ الْخَيْرُ الْعَظِيمُ وَالنَّفْعُ تُطْلَقُ الْبَرَكَةُ تُطْلَقُ الْبَرَكَةُ عَلَى عُلُوِّ الشَّأْنِ meaning Allah is now alluding to his greatness that Allah is so great that even saying his name can bring goodness in your life like even just saying his name brings about goodness in your life

You know how people nowadays manifest positive energy you know manifest positivity stupid like call on Allah's name that's positivity don't like you know, if you just believe that the interview is going to go well then it's just going to happen no, you can put baraka in what you're doing like they're talking about all these things that Allah has talked about all they just do is remove Allah from the equation and then talk about it that's all what they do and then people are like, Wasaf what do you think about manifesting positivity can you read Fatiha please that's manifesting positivity you know these fancy new things that are actually not fancy at all and they're not new at all and something so much better has been given to us from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala

The Names of Allah Behind Every Wonder

He's saying it's this name it's as if you know all this time how many more wonders are you going to undermine how many more wonders are you going to undermine and every wonder of Allah is simply a manifestation of one of Allah's names when you see a wonder of Allah you're reminded of one of Allah's names and how blessed it is and how it creates what it creates like Allah is Al-Qadir the one who measures and controls and you see the universe and you see Al-Qadir right you see Ar-Raziq when you see a fruit you see Ar-Rahman and Al-Wadud when you see a baby you see Al-Wadud the loving one the love that a mother has and a father has for their child is actually coming from the source of all love, Al-Wadud you see Allah's names manifest in everything around you so actually you're not just denying or losing out on the wonders of Allah you're losing out on the names of Allah behind every wonder of Allah is a name of Allah and Allah says in the end whether you deny it or not those names are full of blessings anyway

So it's coming back to that same idea the world is going to end and the only thing that's going to remain that's going to stay and continue its power continues only to grow is actually the name of Allah that's the only thing that stays forever which is actually interesting because the last time we heard this kind of concept was وَيَبْقَى وَجْهُ رَبِّكَ So it's the same kind of idea being reinforced at the end with similar language.

إشارة إلى أن أتم نعمة عند الله وأكملاتها ذكر الله تعالى

This is Allah saying, as if Allah saying the greatest blessing a human being can have is to mention Allah's name. Like just to be able to mention Allah's name is one of the greatest blessings you and I can have. You know I talked about this when I was teaching surat al-insan, but it sticks with me.

The Power of Allah's Name Across the Universe

It hits me every time I talk about it. It's like, we just got to keep thinking about it. You know I often say that the universe, the known universe is about 13.9 billion light years.

So that means light, we know how fast light is, takes 13.9 billion years to reach us. From the vast ends of the, and it's still expanding. This is what we know so far.

And the sun is so far from us that the rays of the sun reach us in 8 minutes. I mentioned that before. But this is just the first sky.

How many skies are there? There's 7 skies and Allah is above the 7 skies. And the angels that are doing tawaf around the arsh. All of that is beyond the 7 skies and the first sky, this 13.9 billion years is like a ring in the desert.

Compared to the 2nd sky. And that 2nd sky is a ring compared to a desert in the 3rd. You guys know that hadith, right? So all the way to the 7th.

And we know that the speed of light, as fast as it is, isn't fast enough to cover the distance of the universe. You may be seeing a star right now in the sky, that's already died. Billions of years ago.

But you're seeing its light because it took that long to get here. And by the time it gets to you, the star is already dead. But much slower than the speed of light is the speed of sound, isn't it? I mean there are jets that fly faster than the speed of sound.

They break the sound barrier. When I make dhikr of Allah, when I just say الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ, it's sound, isn't it? And this sound in that very moment travels all 7 skies and reaches Allah. And Allah responds.

That is the power of the name of Allah. تَبَارَكَ اسْمُ رَبِّكَ The way that it reaches to Allah beyond the skies. Because there's a connection between us and Allah that is greater than this entire universe.

So if you just think about that and then think about what does it mean to just mention Allah's name? What does it mean to just do dhikr of Allah? Just the way you think of the words سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ or لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ or اللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ or reciting an ayah of the Quran. It just changes. The universe becomes small compared to the word of Allah.

The universe becomes small. So then, أَنَّهُ تَعَالَى ذَكَرَ جَمِيعَ اللَّذَّاتِ فِي الْجَنَّاتِ وَلَمْ يَذْكُرْ لَذَّةَ السَّمَاعِ وَهِيَ مِنْ أَتَمِّ أَنْوَاعِهَا فَقَالَ مُتَّكِئِينَ عَلَى رَفْرَفٍ خُضْرٍ يَسْمَعُونَ ذِكْرَ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى He says he mentioned all the pleasures of Jannah, he didn't mention hearing. Things to see, things to taste, things to touch, but not hearing.

One of the senses is missing. He says finally they're sitting back and they're remembering Allah, or they're getting to talk to Allah, the ultimate pleasure. Hearing Allah Himself.

SubhanAllah. And what a correspondence. The surah began with us talking to Allah, or Allah talking to us in the Quran, and we're ending with Allah talking to us in Jannah.

This is mind-blowing what's happening inside the surah. So تَبَارَكَ اسْمُ رَبِّكَ ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ تَبَارَكَ بِمَعْنَى عَلَا فَمَنْ عَلَا اسْمُهُ كَيْفَ يَكُونُ مُسَمَّاهُ He says تَبَارَكَ means how high, how lofty, how grand Allah's name. And he says if the name is so grand, how must He be? That's just His name.

And how must He be? And you know in this dunya we get to say His name, but in the next life we get to experience not just His name, but we get to experience Him. We get to experience Him. So these are just some of the things.

بِمَعْنَى دَامَ الْخَيْرُ عِنْدَهُ فَهُوَ إِشَارَةٌ أَنَّ الذِّكْرَ لِاسْمِ اللَّهِ تَعَالَى يُزِيلُ الشَّرَّ وَيُهَرِّبُ الشَّيْطَانَ وَيُرِيدُ الْخَيْرَ وَيُقَرِّبُ السَّعَادَاتِ وَأَمَّا إِنْ قُلْنَا بِمَعْنَى دَامَ اسْمُ اللَّهِ فَهُوَ إِشَارَةٌ إِلَى دَوَامِ الذَّاكِرِينَ فِي الْجَنَّةِ Allah. He says, this word is so powerful that now we know that just by saying this word, all these shayateen that were helping their kuffar friends, those shayateen can't do anything to you because what you have with you is so much more mighty. It's the word of Allah that you have.

And then on top of that he adds, this eternal nature of the name of Allah, the foreverness of Allah's name, the people who carry it, Allah gives them foreverness in Jannah. Right? So there's a connection being made in the lasting nature of Allah's name and the lasting joys of Jannah. They've been tied together just by تَبَارَكَ اسْمُ رَبِّكَ ذِي الْجَلَالِ وَالْإِكْرَامِ.

A Call to Appreciate the Quran

This is our book, guys. It's our book. And you're reading translation, like I don't understand it. I have a hard time relating to it. And that's why, I just, I don't even know.

Stop with the attitude. Stop being lazy. Stop making excuses.

And give the book what it deserves.