Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim.

In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. All the praises and thanks be to Allâh, the Lord of the 'Alamîn . The Only Owner of the Day of Recompense. You (Alone) we worship, and You (Alone) we ask for help. Guide us to the Straight Way. The Way of those on whom You have bestowed Your Grace , not (the way) of those who earned Your Anger, nor of those who went astray .

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64: (Al-Taghabun)- Loss and Gain

(Mutual Loss and Gain)Section (juz') 28Number of Verses: 18

Sūra al-Taghābun (Arabic: سورة التغابن) is the sixty forth sura of the quran. It is a madani sura located in juz twenty eight. This sura is named al-Taghabun, because in verse nine of this sura, the day of judgement is mentioned as Yawm al-Taghabun (Day of Regret). Some of the topics discussed in this sura are the hereafter, the creation of human being and some moral instructions such as trust in god, desirability of good loan and avoiding stinginess.

Two of the famous verses of Sura al-Taghabun are the verse fifteen which introduces properties and children a cause of human's trial and the verse seventeen which describes giving in the way of God as giving loan to God, which God counts and rewards for it as several more times. About the merits of recitation of this sura, it is transmitted from the prophet (s) that sudden death will be away from a person who recites Sura al-Taghabun.

The blessed Chapter, revealed in Medina, has eighteen Verses and the designation of the Chapter derives from making mention of the Day of Resurrection in the ninth Verse as the Day of Mutual Loss and Gain (taghabun).

The Arabic word taghabun denotes mutual defraud and gaining personal benefits. The point is that on the Day of Resurrection, everyone aims to save oneself and put the blame on others. The blessed Verses of the Chapter in question bear stylistic resemblance to Chapter 57 (Surah al-Hadid) and they seemingly constitute a summary of the latter.

The blessed Chapter opens with Divine Unity and proceeds with warning people against watching their deeds and according attention to the Day of Resurrection and closes with urging people to expend in Allah's Cause and turn away from mundane attachments.

It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (as) that whoever recites Surah al-Taghabun in as a part of his religious obligations or on other occasions, he will be amongst the people of Paradise on the Day of Resurrection provided that he acted upon Qur'anic and Islamic Injunctions.

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Benefits

This Surah has 18 ayaat and it was revealed in Madinah. It is narrated from the Holy Prophet (S) that the person who recites this Surah will be safe at the time of his death.

Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq (a.s.) has said that if a person recites this Surah in the faraa'idh (compulsory prayers) then on the Day of Judgement this Surah itself will intercede on his behalf until he is allowed to enter Jannah. It is also narrated that one who recites this Surah will be protected from the tyranny of the rulers.

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Lessons

The following is a summary of some of the most important points and reflections brother Nouman mentioned in this .

Introduction

This surah can easily be divided into several parts.

The first of them is the idea that the skies and the earth declare Allah's perfection.

But human beings, {among you is the believer and among you is the disbeliever} ()

{He created the heavens and earth in truth and formed you and perfected your forms; and to Him is the [final] destination.} ()

Allah imposes on us the favor that He did by designing us in the remarkable way that He did the human being.

Allah's Control and Knowledge

You will notice that in this first passage, there are two attributes of Allah that are at the opening and at the end, which complement each other.

At the opening, {...He is over all things competent} ()

So He has complete control.

And at the end, {...And Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts.} ()

So Allah's control, and Allah's knowledge.

These two things are talked about when we talk about trust and reliance on Allah.

Why?

Because Allah knows what you are going through. And Allah is capable of changing your circumstances. And whatever you are going through is happening because Allah is allowing it to happen.

When bad things happen to people, they start questioning Allah and say "If He is All-Powerful, how come He is not changing my circumstances?" They in fact question "He is over all things competent."

And then on the other side of the "pre-destination problem" is "if Allah already knows what I'm going to do, how is it my fault?"

And Allah actually established first of all both of those as realities, that Allah is in fact knowledgeable of whatever goes on inside the chest, and He is in fact in complete control.

These two attributes, once again, the purpose of them is to establish one powerful dimension of our faith, and that is reliance on Allah and trusting Allah ...

Things that in my life are within my control; what I eat, how I sleep, how I deal with people, what I say ... They are things which are in my control.

And then there are things that are beyond my control.

There are aspects of my health that I can try to take care of, but again health and sickness are in Allah's hand ultimately.

Life and death is in Allah's hands.

Whether you are living in a city that is enjoying good weather, or you are in the middle of a tornado or an earthquake, that's not in your hands.

Whether you are driving perfectly on the road, that is up to you, but someone else comes and rams into you, that's out of your control.

There are things that we have to relegate to Allah; they are just beyond us.

That is an aspect of our faith that is highlighted in this beautiful surah.

A Call to Faith

In the next passage of the surah, you've got this interesting dichotomy.

Allah will talk exhaustively about those who disbelieved in previous nations.

{Has there not come to you the news of those who disbelieved before? So they tasted the bad consequence of their affair, and they will have a painful punishment.} ()

Also {Those who disbelieve have claimed that they will never be resurrected...} ()

So the disbeliever is talked about over and over again.

Therefore, if you look at the consequences of those who did not rely on Allah and thought that they were invincible, and that they are not going to be brought to question, as a result of learning about their accounts, you should renew your faith:

{So believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Qur'an which We have sent down. And Allah is Acquainted with what you do.} ()

This is one of the unique places in the Quran where the Quran is described as light...

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Hadiths

According to some other traditions, when the Noble Prophet (S) was prostrating in his prayers and Husayn (as), while still a small child, sat on the Noble Prophet's (S) shoulders, he did not impede him from doing so and such conduct reflects the exalted ranks of these two Imams (as).

The blessed Verse 16 draws a conclusion by saying:

"Fear God Almighty as much as it is within your capacity and listen to and obey His Injunctions and expend in His Cause since it would be better for you."

The blessed Verse opens with an Injunction, as per which the believers are supposed to refrain from committing sins, since fear of God Almighty mostly reflects refraining from committing sins. Then, the blessed Verse proceeds to say that believers are supposed to listen to Divine Injunctions as the preliminary of obeying God Almighty.

Particular emphasis is laid on expending in Allah's Cause as one of the most significant Divine Trials making mention of the point that such things will be all to their benefit (khayr), though the word encompasses a wide semantic range. The emphatic expression reflects that those who save themselves from avarice and covetousness will be saved.

The Arabic word shuhh denotes both niggardliness and avarice and we know that these two vices are amongst the worst impediments to man's deliverance, since they impede man from expending in Allah's Cause and doing righteous good deeds.

Man may save himself from these two vices and achieve happiness through seeking Divine Grace from the bottom of his heart and striving toward the purification of one's self. It is narrated from Imam Sadiq (as) that whoever pays the alms tax guarantees his happiness.

It is worthy of note, however, that it solely includes one of the instances of refraining from niggardliness and avariciousness rather than encompassing all its semantic scope. It is also narrated from Imam Sadiq (as) that he circumambulated the Ka'ba from night to morning invoking God Almighty at all times to keep him from his niggardliness and avariciousness.

One of the Imam's companions asked him:

"May my soul be your ransom! I just hear this invocation of yours tonight. Why do you not make another invocation?"

The Imam (as) replied:

"What is worse than niggardliness and avariciousness since God Almighty says:

'And whoever is delivered from his own covetousness, then, they are the saved.'"

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