Theme of Juz Eight –Aqeedah

The first half of this Juz is the remainder of Surah Al-An’aam, and the second half of the Juz begins Surah Al-A’raaf. Both of these are Makkan Surahs dealing with different aspects of Aqeedah. Surah Al-An’aam revolves around the most important aspect of Aqeedah which is Tawheed, and Surah Al-A’raaf deals with the second most important aspect of Aqeedah which is the belief in his Messengers.

The Surah begins with a warning to follow the message, and then details the story of Adam   and Shaytaan, reminding us of when the conflict between belief and disbelief first began. This is followed by a description of the conversations of the people of Paradise and Hell, focusing on those who accepted the message and those who rejected it.

An interesting conversation mentioned is one between the leaders of the disbelievers and those who blindly followed them (7:38-39). Blind following is one of the major causes of people going astray, and in this Surah, we see the regret that people will have for doing so, but it will be too late. The lesson we learn from this is to abandon blind following of cultural versions of Islam and to return to following the guidance of Allah and His Messenger  

The Surah then details the stories of the perished nations, and this is the first of many Surahs that do so. Each time these stories are repeated the focus is on a different theme. This time, the theme is that people before had rejected this message and they had to face the consequences for doing so.

The stories mentioned in this Juz include the stories of Prophet Nuh   and the flood, Prophet Hud    and the people of Aad, Prophet Saalih   and the people of Thamood, Prophet Lut    and the homosexuals of Sodom, and the Juz ends in the middle of the story of Prophet Shuaib   and the people of Madyan.

Each of these stories should be studied in details, and reflected on in order to gain full benefit from them. Each of them deal with nations who disbelieved, rejected the Messenger sent to them and engaged in different forms of evil, and each story is relevant to the sins prevalent in the world today.

There is a beautiful segment of this Surah which highlights the goals of the Shariah:

“Say: Who is it that prohibits the beautiful things that Allah has made for His servants and the good things He has provided for them. Say: They are for the believers in this world, and only for them on the Last Day. That is how He explains His signs for people who know. Say: My Lord has only prohibited hidden and open immoralities, sins, transgressing without any right, and ascribing partners to Allah for which you do not have any evidence, and to say about Allah that which you have no knowledge about.” (7:32-33)

These two verses contain powerful lessons which include the following:

1. The things of this world are Halal until proven to be Haraam
2. Allah has created the Halal things of this world for the believers to use and enjoy
3. Allah has only prohibited that which is harmful and bad for us
4. There is wisdom behind every Law of Allah
5. Speaking without knowledge about Allah (and His Deen) is listed are Shirk, showing its severity.

So the message to take from this Juz is that Allah is the only one worthy of worship, and He has sent prophets to guide us. This guidance is for our own benefit as it leads us to that which benefits us in both worlds and protects us from that which harms us in both worlds. This is the purpose of Revelations and Messengers.

Source: Themes of the Qur'an by Abu Muawiyah Ismail Kamdar