The   twelfth clip titled "Let's make our Thursdays Quranic" was released

We start from where we left you last Friday and here are ayahs 57 and 58 of Surah Naml:

فأنجیْناه وأهْله إلّا امْرأته قدّرْناها من الْغابرین

وأمْطرْنا علیْهم مّطرًا ۖ فساء مطر الْمنذرین

“So We delivered him (Prophet Lot) and his family, except his wife. We ordained her to be among those who remained behind.”

“Then We poured down upon them a rain [of stones]. So evil was the fate of those who were warned!”

Last Friday we said that the people of the land to which God had sent Prophet Lot, instead of listening to his words of guidance and giving up their unnatural evil acts of sodomy, threatened him for what they claimed his interfering with their way of life, that is, his appeal to them to end their abominable behaviour. The ayahs that we recited to you now, mean to say that after a long respite and after having given the final ultimatum to these unrepentantly wicked people through His Prophet to rectify their sexual practices, God sent unleashed His Wrath upon them. Prophet Lot was told by the angels to leave that land along with his family for safety before divine punishment struck it, but one of his wives, who was in league with the sinners and didn’t believe in God’s words, was annihilated.

From these ayahs we learn that:

1. Cooperation with wrong-doers is considered a sin and entails divine punishment.
2. Relations or family ties with the virtuous does not guarantee faith, which ought to be from the depth of the heart, and whoever is a faithless sinner, will be subjected to divine punishment, no matter how close to any Prophet of God, as was the case of Noah’s rebellious son and wife, and Lot’s wife.
3. Faith, coupled with piety and chastity prevents a person away from divine wrath.

Now we listen to ayah 59 of Surah Naml:

قل الْحمْد للّـه وسلامٌ علىٰ عباده الّذین اصْطفىٰ ۗ آللّـه خیْرٌ أمّا یشْرکون

“Say, ‘All praise belongs to Allah, and Peace be to His servants whom He has chosen.’ Is Allah better, or the partners they ascribe [to Him]?”

After explaining some of the incidents from the life of five of the Prophets of the past in Surah Naml, this ayah addressing the Last and Greatest Divine Messenger, Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), emphasizes praise and Glory of Allah Almighty Who after lengthy periods of respite metes out to unrepentant sinners the punishment they deserve for their disbelief and deliberate disobedience. At the same time, God grants to His obedient and chosen servants whom He has chosen for the guidance of people, an aura of peace which cannot be disturbed by the hardships to which the Prophets are subjected by the rebellious people. The concluding part of the ayah stresses the Oneness and Absolute Authority of Allah, asking mankind to contemplate as to who is better – the One and Only God, or the partners the polytheists ascribe to Him in the form of manmade idols or the weird imaginations of their warped minds. In other words, no material wealth or worldly power can save the sinners from divine wrath, as was the fate of some of the nations of the past, whose accounts the holy Qur’an mentions.

From this ayah we learn that:

1. In addition to expression of gratitude to God for His infinite blessings, the true believers, in obedience to divine commandments, express praise and wish peace for the Prophets, the Infallible Imams, and the Saints, in order to acquire qualities that are deemed positive and constructive.
2. Divine leaders are alive and they receive our greetings. Even God Almighty sends peace and greetings to them.

Now we listen to ayah 60 of Surah Naml:

أمّنْ خلق السّماوات والْأرْض وأنزل لکم مّن السّماء ماءً فأنبتْنا به حدائق ذات بهْجةٍ مّا کان لکمْ أن تنبتوا شجرها ۗ أإلـٰهٌ مّع اللّـه ۚ بلْ همْ قوْمٌ یعْدلون

“Is He Who created the heavens and the earth, and sends down for you water from the sky, whereby We grow delightful gardens, whose trees you could never cause to grow… ? What! Is there a god besides Allah? Rather they are a people who equate [others with Allah].”

This ayah refers to some of the manifestations of God’s Infinite Wisdom and Absolute Power that are evident in the form of various blessings on the earth, such as water the elixir of life and the lush green vegetation as well as trees bearing different kind of fruits. It then asks mankind to contemplate on these bounties of the One and Only God, besides whom there is no deity. It means to say that only God Almighty – and not the imaginary deities whom you worship – has created the heavens and the earth, and sends down rain for delightful gardens with trees to grow. So why do you close your eyes to the realities and the manifest truth? Why do you wander in the dark?

This ayah opens our mind to the proper cognizance of God the All-Merciful,

From this ayah we learn that:

1. Proper contemplation and pondering on the world of nature is among the best ways of acquiring the correct cognition of God.
2. We can plant trees and develop hybrid varieties from what is available in the world of vegetation, but cannot create nature as God has done for our benefit.
3. The orderly functioning of the world and the seasonal cycles are among the proofs of the precise management of God, since a little imbalance in the regularity of days, nights, heat, cold, and rains, would mean sure destruction of life and the whole of Planet Earth.