Verse 18

● Allāh says: وَلَقَدْ†كَذَّبَ†ٱلَّذِينَ†مِن†قَبْلِهِمْ†فَكَيْفَ†كَانَ†نَكِيرِ

○ Surely the ones before them also rejected and denied, so then how

was My censure?

● Another common theme we find, time and time again in the question, is Allāh

telling Rasool Allah that what he is going through and how his people are

responding to the message, none of this is new

○ This has all happened before

○ If you are struggling, prophets before you have struggled as well

○ If your people are rejecting you, previous communities rejected

their prophets as well

○ If you try your best and your people are still not believing, previous

prophets tried their best and their people still did not believe as

well

● Allāh tells Rasool Allah about the struggles of previous prophets and the

stubbornness of previous nations to console him and remind him that

he is not alone

○ To remove any doubt that may arise as to whether Rasool Allah is doing a

good job

○ Letting him know that, yes, you are doing a great job, do not

measure your success by how many people believe

■ Because previous prophets also did a great job, and they too

did not make everyone believe

■ It’s not you, it’s them

○ The people not believing has nothing to do with you, it has nothing

to do with the Prophet that was sent

■ It is the people who, throughout generations, have been

stubborn and arrogant

● With this information, that previous communities have also rejected

and denied their prophets, the message, the truth, Rasool Allah is given

confidence that he is not alone, it has nothing to do with him, other

prophets went through the same thing

● Allāh then says — now look and see, how severe, intense, and heavy My

censure was of those people, by punishing them for their rejection

○ Allāh is telling RasoolAllah — previous communities rejected and denied

the message, the truth, and their prophets too

■ But look at how I destroyed them, look at how I punished

them, look at how I completely wrecked them

○ Meaning — do not think that your people who reject you and the

message you are bringing are getting off the hook

○ They may have it good right now, but it won’t be for long

○ Do not think that Allāh is not going to handle these people and give

them what they deserve for all that they made you go through

○ Just as Allāh punished previous communities, Allāh will too punish

those who are deserving of punishment from your community

● This is a reminder to not only Rasool Allah , but also to us

○ We too need to remember and reflect upon how Allāh punished and

destroyed previous communities for their wrongdoing

○ Because, as previous verses explained, there is no guarantee that

we are always going to be safe and sound

■ We have to do what we can to ensure that Allāh is pleased with

us and that we refrain from that which displeases Him

● With this reminder, it is prudent for us to look at some examples of

these past nations that rejected the message, the truth, the prophets

that were sent to them and how Allāh punished them

○ One of the earliest communities that we know of that received a

severe punishment were the people of Nūḥ

■ Nūḥ was a prophet and messenger that had been preaching to

his people for 950 years and yet still there were people who

rejected him and his message

■ The Q describes their manner of rejection in vivid detail— وَ†إِنِّى

كُلَّمَا†دَعَوْتُهُمْ†لِتَغْفِرَ†لَهُمْ†جَعَلُوٓا۟†أَصَٰبِعَهُمْ†فِىٓ†ءَاذَانِهِمْ†وَٱسْتَغْشَوْا۟†ثِيَابَهُمْ†وَ†أَصَرُّوا۟†وَٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟†ٱسْتِكْبَارًا

● Nūḥ is quoted to have said — Every time I invite them so

that you can forgive them, they put their fingers in their

ears, they cover themselves with their clothes, and they

persist with mighty arrogance

■ Allāh gives us such a vivid description of just how intense

their rejection and denial was

■ And what happened as a result?

■ Allāh completely wiped them all out with a great flood that did

not leave anybody behind, except for those on the ark of Nūḥ

■ Allāh totally obliterated this community for their

stubbornness, their arrogance, and their rejection of the

message that Nūḥ came with

■ Some of us may be thinking, well, I don’t reject RA and the

message he brought, so I’m good I don’t need to take a lesson

from the destruction of previous nations

● Not so fast

■ Sure, we may accept and believe in RA, but what happens

when we learn something new that seems to go against our

paradigm and framework that society has shaped for us?

● What happens when societal values and Islamic values

clash?

● Which one are we going to give preference to?

● When society has a certain definition of morality that is

in contradiction to Islam’s definition of morality, which

one are we going to accept and which one are we going to

reject?

■ Are we going to be like the people of Nūḥ, who when they

heard anything that went against their societal norms and

values, anything that clashed with their own ideals of right

and wrong, they just turned away and pretended they couldn’t

hear, pretended that they don’t know?

■ Belief in Rasool Allah as a whole is one thing, but belief in the substance

that he brought is another that requires just as much

vigilance, just as much care and concern to make sure that we

have belief in and acceptance of it

○ Another community that rejected the truth and was punished as a

result was the community of Shuʿayb

■ They too rejected the message that their prophet brought, and

one of their key defining features was that they were a

fraudulent, cheating, and dishonest people when it came to

financial transactions

■ They would engage in all sorts of fraud that would resulted in

people being cheated out of their wealth wrongfully

■ Shuʿayb warned them, they did not listen, they did not

discontinue their wrong ways, they even said — are you really

us that we can’t do whatever we want with our money?

أَوْ†أَن†نَّفْعَلَ†فِىٓ†أَمْوَٰلِنَا†مَا†نَشَٰٓ†ؤُا۟†●

■ Then, they were punished with a ṣayḥah

● An aerial blast

○ A boom, a thunderous blast, a fatal blast of noise

■ Again, we may believe in Rasool Allah and the message that he brought,

but are we willing to change our ways and habits to fit that

which RA has brought?

■ Are we willing to do something that may seem detrimental

and harmful to us in this life, something that may not be as

advantageous to us in this life, are we willing to drop all of

that if that is what this religion requires?

● So again, our verse here in Sūrah al-Mulk, verse #18, is reminding not

only RA, but also reminding us, that previous communities have been

met with punishment for their wrongdoing

○ The reason we went through just two examples of previous

communities that were destroyed is so that we can learn from

those stories, so that we can reflect and truly ask ourselves if our

lives and what we do bears any resemblance to their lives and what

they did, and how they eventually earned a terrible punishment

● May Allāh protect us from falling into the ways of the previous nations

that were destroyed for their wrongdoing, and may He help us to believe

in the message that RA down to the tee and follow his way diligently and

obediently