JIQ: Young Professionals

Rashed Hasan/MyLLife Team

6/20/2025

1

Session 10: Summary and Discussion

Surah An-Faal (41-75) and Surah At-Tawba (1-99)

What We Read and Process We Followed

2

Session 9 Assigned Reading:

• Chapter 8: The Spoils of War (Surah An-Faal) – v. 41-75
• Chapter 9: The Repentance (Surah At-Tawba) – v. 1-99
• A total of 133 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

Range of Topics Covered

3

Surah Al-Anfaal

• Start with question and an answer regarding what to do with spoils of war
• Cautioned Muslim to justify engaging in conflict – has to be defensive, just cause and not for material gains
• Inspire believers to establish rule of law, to be brave and not to despair
• Provide situational awareness of the first Armed Conflict – the Battle of Badr
• Lays out ground rule for war conducts, aftermath and collective vs. individual benefits or incentives
• Start of formal addressing of “People of Faith” or “Believers” – a sense of community and a faithful community at that
• To follow the directive and leaders
• Not to be arrogant
• Always be mindful of God, know your limitations, and drive to uphold values and principles at all cost
• Don’t retreat, don’t despair, don’t follow the hypocrites

​

Range of Topics Covered

4

Surah Al-Anfaal

• Start of formal addressing of “People of Faith” or “Believers” – a sense of community and a faithful community at that
• To be ever vigilant against your adversaries
• To commit resources and to be steadfast (long term planning…)
• To welcome peace, even if there is lack of trust from the other party
• Aspire to bring good even to the party defeated or captured
• Work to prevent large scale mischief and corruption in the world

Range of Topics Covered

5

Surah At-Tawba (revealed after Makkan Victory)

• Starts with an open declaration that Islam and all forms of Polytheism is incompatible. Any form of hostilities will be faced head on, but peaceful co-existent and existing treaties will be honored
• Offer protection, guidance and access to the revelation whoever is interested and inclined (clear and open demarcation from previous and existing norms)
• Oppose those who actively oppose you, try to deceive you, break promises/treaties and ally with your enemies – they have no respect for treaties, relationship and repeatedly do evils
• The precinct of Kabbah was declared unfit for any who do not believe in God and human goodness
• An open declaration that those who suffered exile, persecution, loss of property and person because of their faith and their constant struggle for truth and justice will finally be rewarded for their long and hard work

​

Conversation…

6

​

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

​

Surah A--Anfaal: Highlights

7

• Let it be known that whatever gains are secured in a war (ghanama), twenty percent of that goes to ALLAH and His messenger (for social welfare and community support), the orphans, the needy and those who are travelers.
• Had you intended to make a direct contact (with the army), you would have found ways to break away, but God intended to settle a matter that needed to be done
• O People of Faith, when you meet your adversary in a battle, be steadfast, be mindful of ALLAH often so that you can achieve your objectives.
• Such consequence (a reflection of divine rule) is because God does not remove a favor that He bestows on people until they become unfit for it by their own conducts. God always hears, and He knows!
• Be prepared against them with whatever forces (effective means) you can muster and horses (people, institutions, tools and technology) stationed to safeguard and to deter the enemies of ALLAH who are also your enemies and others whom you do not know but God knows them. Whatever you dedicate and spend in the cause of God (truth and justice), God will compensate back in full measure, and you will not be wronged (for your commitments).

​

Surah A--Anfaal: Highlights

8

• O Prophet, say to the captives from Badr: “If there is any goodness in your hearts (which God knows), then be mindful that God will give you something better than what has been taken from you; God is Forgiving, Merciful.”
• Those who deny the truth and act unjustly (kafirun) are friends of one another and if you do not (struggle in pursuit of truth and justice), there will be persecution and large-scale mischief in the world!

​

Surah At-Tawba: Few Highlights

9

• Say: “If your family, parents, children, spouses and relative; the wealth and position you have accumulated; trade and commerce whose decline your worry about; the residence you love to dwell in - are all more important and dearer to you than God, His Messenger and the imperative to struggle in God’s way, then wait for God’s command to come to pass since God does not guide those who practice injustice and mischief.
• You should continue to struggle against those who do not believe in God and the Last Day, who practices things that God and His Messenger had guided against, and who do not follow the True Faith, though they have been gifted the books of guidance before - until they agree to pay a tax for protection (jizyah) willingly and once they are humbled (by your struggle and quest for justice).
• O People of Faith, surely many of the rabbis and monks consume the possession of others under false pretext and lead people away from God’s guidance.
• And those (rich people) who build up their gold and silver (wealth) and distribute them not in the service of people will face its evil consequence. Such wealth will be branded on their face, their back and their side to remind them and for them to taste the results of such hoarding and overconsumptions.

Surah At-Tawba: Few Highlights

10

• Exert with unity against the polytheists as they fight you (first) in unity. You should know that God is always with those who act responsibly (muttaquin).
• O People of Faith, when you are asked to struggle in ALLAH’s way (for truth and justice), what causes you to disincline and cling heavily to the comfort of living on this earth? Are you more inclined to the life of this earth in preference to the life to come whereas the life of this earth is miniscule compared to the life to come? If you persist in such refusal, God will make you face its grave consequences and replace you with another people. You can do no harm to God. God overpowers everything and everyone!
• Go forth well prepared, as best as you can and afford (light and heavy) and strive hard in God’s way with your person and with your resources. This is a better way, if you want to know.
• It is only those who do not believe in God and the Last Day and whose hearts are in doubt ask your permission to stay as they become ambivalent in their doubt (about the truth). If they were sincere, they would have made necessary preparations, but God disliked their being part of this effort. So, God held them back, when it was said: “You may stay back with those who wish to stay back.”

Surah At-Tawba: Few Highlights

11

• Charity (Sadaqah or Zakat?) should be directed to (1) meet the need of the poor and otherwise needy, (2) bear expenses for those employed to administer the fund, (3) support those whose hearts incline to (faith), (4) (free) people from captivity and debt, (5) support those who strive selflessly in God’s way (establish truth and justice) and (6) help travelers (away from home). This is an obligation from ALLAH. God is Knowing and Wise! (9:60)
• Hypocritical men and hypocritical women are all alike – they engage in evil, hinder people from good and offer no charity. They have abandoned God; likewise, God has abandoned them.
• (Recall) those before you – they enjoyed the gift of wealth and family and were (even) stronger than you. They took the easy way to enjoy what they were given, and you also did the same as did those of your previous generations and you engaged in idle talk and sporting about life as they did. For such, their life and work came to nothing in this world and in the hereafter and in the end they did not profit from this life.
• Those who have faith – men and women, are each other’s caretakers. They strive to establish what is good, struggle against evil, establish worship of God, take care of the needy and align themselves with the guidance from God and His Messenger.

​

Surah At-Tawba: Few Highlights

12

• From among them are those who made a promise with God: If God gives us from His grace, we will surely dedicate some of it to charity and lead a righteous life. But when He gave them from His grace, they became miserly, forgot their promise and turned away. Therefore, God lets hypocrisy persist in their hearts till the day they will meet God –
• Their wealth and their families (ease of life) should not incline you to them with admirations. ALLAH only intends to have them suffer its consequences while in this world and let their soul depart them while they are still in denial.
• there are among them those who do have faith in God and in the Last Day and consider what they need to spend (for common cause) as a mean to come closer to God and to secure good grace of the Messenger. Indeed, they achieve such closeness (to God) and God will take them into His mercy. God is Forgiving and Merciful!

Session 11: July 19 (Sat at 11AM)

13

​

• Link to reading – https://myllife.org/read/monthly-quran-readings.html/title/session-11
• Weekly rhythm – each week (reading/reflections)
• Perhaps keep a journal, if that is helpful

​