Surah ad Dukhan......shaykh dr haitham al haddad, lecture 6; of power, arrogance,greed and zulm

friends, dato and tansri,

the next group of ayat are about kings, sultans, sheikhs, emir and numero uno in general....political or/and hereditary.

peppered all across the globe, mainly now in muslim majority countries, as secular democracies have now shifted several gear up towards accountable  and transparent governance with justice, equality and fraternity.

from timbuktu in the west to ko'diang kedah in the east, from liechenstein in the north to swaziland in the south, these include many players, major and minor shaykhs and emirs and clowns.

none of them can measure up to pharaoh of ancient egypt.
at least in term of absolute power, arrogance, greed and zulm.

in the qur'an  allah directly mentioned pharaoh a record 74 times by name. 
qarun , the quintessential billionaire of all time, one would have thought was the father of all arrogance, i think is just mentioned once.
qarun, like most billionaires, past and present, was also arrogant up to a point [ 'i am there because i am qarun, with masive eq and iq, and connectivity,not because of nep or something!...]
but qarun is not a king or sultan.......arrogance arising from just pure wealth without power is nothing to shout about!

you dont believe me , you ask bill gates or steve job....most want to be in the shoes of donald trump!

pharaoh beat nabi yusuf who was mentioned over 70 time.
prophet moses hold the record: over 140 times.

islam abhors arrogance and zulm, and for those in power, tip toeing away from arrogance and zulm, is easier said than done.

the old english saw things differently and coined the adage: ' power corrupts, absolute power corrupt absolutely'
even when you are a wet in between the ears nine year old you are already brought up with the notion that 'you are always right'.
alas, when you reach 60, you land up with the belief that 'you can never be wrong!'

islam exhorts that you , as a ruler, is to be guided always in action and words by revealed religion and hadith and not be 'epileptic' in blurting  out exhortation and rulings, which is fairly revealing of an empty  and secular mind.

and in your business deal, if  just for example, you are bidding for the power business of your own country, under negotiated 'tender' which is really euphemism for state gift, that extra 2 cent per unit electricity your company might be asking for, may be pittance to you, but to the simple raayat it means giving you and your partner an extra 2 billion rm annually , above and beyond the hefty profit you would have made,which is already a lot.

for all intent and purposes, your bid may win the day by virtue of the clout you hold sway.
but think first.......
is it fair ? 
is it just?

all across the globe, you guys  and your kinds are snouting your dirty noses and fingers in the same trough at which the ordinary raayat are also all fighting for their daily existence.

you people have special position over the rest of mankind. you are gifted with power, money and more power. you are lords of your kingdoms and whatever come out of your mouth, intelligent or unintelligible, even in 2017 , are rules and orders for the rest to follow.
your mere suggestion is already an order for the raayats.

which bring us to the state of their ugama.
they have to know the whole width and  length of their ugama to be able to rule justly.
oftentimes than not, they are quite complete ignoramus in their ugama and when this is so, when their socalled 'muftis'  and 'handlers' fear them and do not give them proper advice, they are in trouble with allah.

they not only land up in an-nar, but at the bottom-most heap of an-nar!
both themselves and their advisors.

in an earlier slot before surah ad dukhan we hear the story of sultan ibrahim of balksh, a nation state somewhere in iran near iraq, circa 730 ce.
he was always drunk 24/7.

as usual at night he used to retire up in the attic of his istana with a special glass ceiling.
he was woken up by a loud noise up on his roof and lo and behold he saw this chap up on the roof, walking in the middle of the night!

" what are you doing up there on my roof!! "
" i am looking for my camel, tuanku....", said the interloper, obviously drunk.
" on my roof!! you are mad and drunk!! "
" you are more mad and drunk than me tuanku!... looking for allah in your istana! with a bevy   of young ladies holding on  and tugging to your trousers  and zippers,and a coterie of muftis and court jesters saying  'yes  sir!, yes sir! ' to your every whims and fancies! "

sultan ibrahim had his moment of ephiphany and muqarabah.
he went on to become a wandering dervish and forsook his kingdom.

that was ibrahim bin adzam, one of the nost famous and most zuhud sufi saint of his time.



dr nik isahak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxkEz69aBng

 commentary by shaykh dr haitham al haddad


.......bani israel   2:41, pharaoh mentioned over 74 times in the qur'an, prophet moses over 140 times , nabi yusuf over        70 times
.........arrogance  and zulm of heads of state,       5:44
.......you are chosen to be the best of nations     12:10
.......... the more signs sent to you, the more you are accountable   17: 12

........dato' , if you do not believe in the day of resurrection, you are not a muslim, period.  25:15

........dato'  and tansri,, most of the questions by non believers are out of pure arrogance and rhetorics!  we need not              respond to them    29: 30

........kafir nations and justice   35:10

.........people of tubba            43: 50

...........people of the qur'an   and the jannah of the duniya    46: 30