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JIQ: Young Professionals

Rashed Hasan/MyLLife Team

2/8/2025

Session 7: Summary and Discussion

Surah Al-Maidah (v. 83 - 120) & Surah Al-Anam (v.1 – 111)

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What We Read and Process We Followed

Session 7 Assigned Reading:

Chapter 5: Repast (Surah Al-Maidah) – v. 83-120 (end)
Chaptere 6: The Cattle (Surah Al-Anam) – v. 1 - 111
A total of 148 verses - 1 hour at regular pace

~40 verses each weekly – dedicate 30-45 mins for reflective and deeper reading each week
Consistent routine and building weekly rhythm

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Context and Relevance

Chapter 5 Context (Revealed in late Madinan time – after Makkan Conquest)

Named after last supper of Prophet Jesus with his followers (apostles)
Affirmation of monotheism and denial of Trinity
Denial of special privileges to Jews or wholesale salvation for Christians
A good chapter to share with Christian friends/neighbors

Chapter 6 context (Revealed in Late Makkan – before immigration)

Focus more on inner dimensions – world around you should impact your assessment of reality
See God’s sign in the heavens, the earth, rain, vegetations, fruits, seed germination, creation of living beings from dust/mud/water..
Our senses are temporal and subject to error, but God’s vision permeates all and perfect!

Note: ( I have compiled all verses in the Qur’an that mentions Jesus/Mary in one document – happy to send if you are interested. It is also in my Volume 4 Appendix C)

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Range of Topics Covered

Surah Al-Maidah (beyond what was covered in Session 6)

All promises/oaths should be fulfilled. Expiation by feeding poor, fasting, freeing person in bondage/debt
Prohibition against drinking, drugs, gambling, fortune-telling, practices of idolatry (deception)…be ever cautious against evils
Being in the right path (taqwa) is the best protection – you protect yourself and God protects as well.
True followers of all prophets are muslims! (vs. Muslim as we call ourselves!)

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Range of Topics Covered

Surah Al-Anam (Spiritual focus)

Doubt in God’s presence and creation – heaven, earth, human from dust/clay/water, seed germination, growth of vegetations, varieties of fruits, ripening…
Miracles – a Qur’an that one can touch, Angels one can speak to – may not be sufficient to achieve faith
Afterlife will be proof enough but too late – even the Prophet cannot bring miracles
Things we take for granted – our sight, hearing, voice – can be taken away!
God takes your soul away each night
Natural calamities, mutual discord – all are a form of trials
God’s command – “Be” and it becomes
Prophet Abraham’s legacy – in our prayer (initiation on the prayer rug)
Made us from a single soul
Success = faith untainted with injustice
God’s vision vs. human vision

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Conversation…

Any verses that resonated with you and why?
Observations/Reflections you want to share
Questions you want to explore/ask

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Surah Al-Maidah:Highlights (v. 83 - 114)

God will not hold you accountable for minor and casual oaths you might make, but He will call you to account for deliberate oaths that you make…
O People of Faith: Intoxicants, games of chance, the practice of idolatry, fortune-telling, etc., are loathsome and the Devil’s work.
Say: “Good (pure) and bad (unclean) are not the same, though the presence and abundance of bad may please you.
O People of Faith: Do not ask for (undue details) of things (regarding rules or guidance), to prevent such details from becoming burdensome for you.
O People of Faith: Take care of your soul by being responsible (taqwa). If you are on the right path, the endeavors of those who err will not harm you.
Remember when I[God] inspired the disciples of Jesus: Believe in Me and My Messenger, to which they all replied: “We believe and do take our testimony that we submit to God (as muslims).”

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Surah Al-Maidah: Highlights (v. 115 -120 )

God replied: “Surely I am sending (as I always do) such repast as you asked for, but if afterward any of you continue to deny the truth, then I will inflict punishment like the one that has not visited anyone on the earth before.”
God said: “O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you tell people: ‘Take me and my mother as two gods beside God’?” He will reply: “O God, Your Glory is limitless; how can I say something that I have no right to say?

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Surah Al-Anam: Highlights (v. 1 - 24)

May ALLAH, Who created the universe and the earth, and intertwined light and darkness, be praised. Yet those who deny such reality wish to equate others to God.
It is God Who created you all from clay and assigned a term (to each), a term that is only known to Him; still you are in a state of self-doubt.
Do they not see and reflect how We removed generations before who were established on the earth in ways that were not given to you—an abundance of rain from the sky and waterways flowing in the midst of them. Yet We destroyed them for their deliberate sins and bring in their place another generation (to see how they behave).
If We had sent down to you a writing on a paper that you can touch, and they could touch it with their own hand, it would still lead those who deny the truth to say: “This is nothing but a manifest illusion.”
Moreover, if we had made the messenger as an angel instead, we would have made him appear as a human, and they would still be confused the same way.

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Surah Al-Anam: Highlights (v. 25 - 41)

If God lets a misfortune touch you, there is none who can remove it except He; if God provides you with good fortune, then you should know that God is ever powerful over all that exists. God alone is Supreme above all His creations; God is Wise, and God is Aware!
If you could witness when they will be made to stand before the fire, they would say: “Could we be sent back? We would then certainly not deny the message from our Lord, and we will be among the believers.”
Lost indeed are those who fail to prepare to meet their Sustainer God. That meeting comes to them suddenly, and they will say: “Too bad for us that we neglected such a meeting!”
The life of this world is but a play and a sport (unless one makes good use of it), and the life after death will be better for those who act responsibly. What is it that you fail to understand?
If their denials are really unbearable for you, then perhaps you should seek an opening into the earth or a ladder to climb to the sky to try to bring them a sign, whereas, if God had willed, He would have certainly brought all of them to His guidance.

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Surah Al-Anam: Highlights (v. 42 - 58 )

But most of them are oblivious (to such signs)—there are no animals on earth nor birds that fly on two wings but that are creatures and communities like yourself.
While they were negligent of what they were told to be mindful about, We opened up the gate of all things—so that joy and abundance seemed permanent to them. Then We seized them suddenly, and they found themselves in utter despair.
Say: “Have you considered this possibility—If God were to take away your hearing and your sight, and harden your heart, who is there besides God that can bring these back to you?”
We (God) do not send messengers except as the expounders of goodness and to warn;
Remind them with this revelation, those who recognize that they will be gathered in front of their Sustainer—where they will have no protector and no one to intercede on their behalf—perhaps this will make them mindful of their responsibility (Taqwa).
Say: “If I were empowered to fulfill your demands, the matter would have been settled already between you and me.

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Surah Al-Anam: Highlights (v. 59 - 68 )

With God is the knowledge of what is unknown—none knows but He. He knows what is in the land and what is in the sea. Not a leaf falls but He knows, nor is there a grain in the deep darkness of the earth or a thing green or dry; all are clearly defined and documented.
He is the One Who takes your soul away as you sleep at night, and He knows what you accomplish during the day. He lets you rise each day so that your appointed term for life can be completed. Eventually all of you will gather back to God, and He will inform you of the end results of your lifelong pursuits.”
ALLAH has dominion over His creation, and He deploys preservers (guardian angels; see 13:11) over you; when death comes to one of you, Our Messengers (angels) cause his death, and they never fail.
Say: “God has the power to send a torment from above or from under your feet or to confuse you with your mutual distrust and disagreements so much so that you suffer the violence of others.”
When you come across those who indulge in vain talk regarding Our message, do not engage until they move into some other discourse. Should you forget, then do not continue with such evil folks after you have realized your lapse.

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Surah Al-Anam: Highlights (v. 69 - 91 )

Such people who take guidance for mockery and sports and who are beguiled by the life of this world should continue to be reminded, lest an individual life come to nothing for its actions;
Say: “True guidance comes from God, Who has inspired us to submit to the Sustainer of the Universe—to maintain constancy in prayer and to be mindful of our responsibilities (taqwa); it is to Him that we will all be gathered.”
God is the One Who has created the universe and the earth in truth. Whenever He says: “Be,” it comes into existence. His words define the truth,
he said: “O my people, I am clear of all that you worship besides God. Indeed, I have accepted and oriented myself wholly to the Originator of the universe and the earth, being truthful, and I do not associate anything or anyone with God.”
Those who believe in God and do not taint their faith with evils of inequity will have security and are properly guided.
They fail to understand and acknowledge God the way God should be acknowledged, when they say: “God has revealed nothing to a mortal.”

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Surah Al-Anam: Highlights (v. 92 - 98 )

Ask: “Who revealed to Moses the Book, which is a Light and a Guide for people; yet you consider it a bundle of paper to claim it but ignore and conceal much of it;
This (Qur’an) is a blessed Book that We have revealed; it confirms all that came before it, and with it you may inform and inspire people of this Mother of Towns (Makkah) and all around it. Those who have firm conviction in the Hereafter do believe in this book, and they are ever vigilant over their services to God.
(On Resurrection Day, God will say): “You have come back to Us (God) one by one, just as We created you in the first instance, and you have left behind all that We gave you.
It is God Who enables grains and seed kernels to germinate. He brings back life from the dead, and He causes death to those who are living. This is your God; how is it that you turn away from such truth?
God is the One Who brought you forth from a single soul and defined for you a term limit and a place to rest.

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Surah Al-Anam: Highlights (v. 99 - 111 )

It is God Who rains down water from the clouds and causes such water to bring out new growth in all living plants (and vegetation), turn those into lush green foliage, and then produce flowers and grains in clusters, dates from the spathe of date-palm in dense clusters hanging low, and gardens full of grapes, olives, and pomegranates—God and, yet different. Look at the fruits—how they come forth and ripen. This is how We detail the message for those who wish to believe!
Therefore, serve God—in His care is all that exists. Human vision cannot behold God, whereas God envisions all vision. God is truly Subtle and Aware!
Insightful evidence has already arrived from your Sustainer; therefore, whoever can envision it, it is for his own good, and who remains blind to it will have its consequence.
Follow the truth that your Sustainer has revealed—there is no god but God and remain undeterred by those who subscribe to polytheism. If God had willed, they would not practice polytheism.
Even if We have angels descend on them, let the dead speak to them, and assemble all evidence in front of them, they would not believe unless God wills (according to their merit); most of them are steeped in ignorance.

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Session 8: March 8^th (Sat at 11AM)

Link to reading – https://myllife.org/read/monthly-quran-readings.html/title/session-8
Weekly rhythm – each week (reading/reflections)
Perhaps keep a journal, if that is helpful