Day 39
Having Taqwa of the Fire
TLDR:
Day 39 of Be Qur'anic examines ayah 24 of Surat al-Baqarah, which warns of the inescapable consequences for those who reject the Qur'an and fail to produce a comparable surah as challenged.
It introduces the concept of taqwa as a protective fear, urging disbelievers to fear the Fire fuelled by humans and stones (idols).
This serves as the Qur'an's first explicit warning of Jahannam, providing a stern reminder to obey Allah out of gratitude or, alternatively, to avoid punishment. The ayah appeals to different human motivations—some adhere to rules out of a sense of right, while others do so to avoid penalties, akin to obeying traffic laws.
Welcome to day 39 of Be Qur'anic, where we take short passages from the Qur'an daily, extract practical lessons, and apply them to our daily lives to become more Qur'anic.
InshaAllah, today we continue our study of Surat al-Baqarah, and we are now at ayah number 24, which reads:
"And if you are unable to do so, and you will never be able to do so, then fear the Fire, which is fuelled by mankind and stones, prepared for the kafirun, the disbelievers."
This ayah is a continuation from the challenge in ayah 23, where Allah challenges those who do not believe in the Qur'an, who do not believe in what We have sent down to Our slave, Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, to produce a surah like it and call upon all your experts.
Now, if you can't do it, if you fail in this challenge, then fear the Fire. Have taqwa of the Fire. We've spoken about the word taqwa early on. The word taqwa literally means a protective kind of fear. It's the kind of fear when you see something dangerous, you try to protect yourself from it.
You see a fire; you run away. This is the literal meaning of taqwa. Here Allah is using that literal meaning: have taqwa of the Fire, protect yourself from the Fire. From the beginning, when we started reading the Qur'an, Surat Al-Fatiha, up to this point, this is the first threat of Jahannam in the Qur'an.
This is the first encounter with Allah's threat. Initially, Allah mentioned that we have to worship Him. Why do we have to worship Him? We worship Him out of gratitude, out of love for Him, because of the kindness, the mercy, the compassion that He has shown us.
So, in return, we worship Him, we obey Him. But there are people who may not be moved by such concepts. Those concepts may be too lofty, too high for them. So now, Allah is bringing it down a notch, saying that if you don't do it, then there is punishment.
This is naturally how humans behave. Let's look at a simpler example. While you're driving, there are rules. There are speed limits to obey. There's a traffic light for you to stop.
And there is a good reason behind those laws: to keep everyone on the road safe. Now, you can have those lofty ideals that if you drive according to the speed limit, then your reaction time is going to be better.
People get into fewer accidents. You stop at a red traffic light. You obey the traffic rules; everybody is going to be safer. Those are lofty ideals. Not everybody is going to be moved by that. Some people are, so they are going to obey the traffic whether or not there are police around them.
But some people need punishment. They are moved by, "if you don't do this, then there is a fine". So, this is another group of people, the first group of people who are 'taqarrabu ila alladhi khalaqakum', "draw near to your Lord Who created you, the earth for you, the skies and so on".
You are motivated by gratitude. If you are not motivated by gratitude, then there is this other tier below that: you are moved by trying to avoid danger or trying to avoid getting into trouble.
This is another tier of human beings. In this ayah, Allah explains the fuel for Jahannam. The ones that burn in Jahannam are mankind and stones. Mankind are those who reject belief in Allah and His Messenger.
Stones are the idols that are worshipped on earth. They are going to be thrown together. Allah is going to throw the idols in Jahannam and tell those people who worshipped the idols, "Now go ask for help from these rocks and stones".
I am just going to end with a story about traffic laws and also the different types of human beings. This person was driving really fast and passed through a speed trap set by a policeman and then the police stopped him and fined him.
But the police asked him, "Didn't you know that the speed limit here is 60 km per hour?" He said, "Yes, I do." Then why didn't you obey the speed limit? "But I didn't know you were here." So, there are people that would obey the laws because they know that it is good for them.
But there are people who will only obey if they know that there is punishment if they don't obey. This ayah is addressing those types of people.