Surah Al-Imran, verse 92:

Translation: Never will you attain the good *reward+ until you spend *in the way of Allah + from
that which you love. And whatever you spend indeed, Allah is Knowing of it. (92)
Asalamu alaikum Quran Weekly,
Today I want to share with you ayah number 92 of Srat li `Imrn. In this juz Allah says,
You will not reach ( Lan Tanl Al-Birra) youre not going to reach goodness until
you spend (
att Tunfiq Mimm Tuibbna) until you spend from which you
love. Very famous ayah, people quote it all the time. The nuance I want to share from this ayah is
that ( Nl) is used when youre traveling and you cant wait to reach your destination. Thats
what ( nayl) is, something becoming accessible finally. The Arabs were familiar with this idea
because they traveled in the desert and they were desperate to reach their destination. Not
being able to reach your destination can be lethal because there is nothing to survive on in the
desert.
The same is true of a sea voyage. When youre traveling in the sea and youre lost or you cant
find the land that youre supposed to reach, obviously the supplies you have to get buy,
especially drinkable water is very limited so you have to reach in a particular time in order for
you to survive. So Allah uses the word that is used for surviving a journey and getting
somewhere safely in time. But what He adds is really awesome. He says the word ( Al-Birra)
as opposed to ( Al-Khayr) or other words used for goodness. And ( Al-Birra) in Arabic is
closest to the word ( Al-Barr). And ( Al-Barr) actually means land. So when you hear
(Nl) then you immediately think ( Al-Barr). Youre not going to reach land, right? But Allah
says youre not going to reach goodness and the idea of words that are similar in phonetics to
use them in this kind of wordplay suggests that Allah wants us to think of the imagery.
The idea of think of yourself as out on sea, unstable waters, storms, and you dont know when
youre going to reach and you finally reached the island where you are safe. What does that say?
Allah called ( Al-Barr) and ( Al-Birra) are similar. Reaching land is like reaching goodness.
Stability, being in sin and being in a time of your life which is not good is like being out at sea or
living in a turbulent lifestyle. So you will not reach that safe land (
att
Tunfiq Mimm Tuibbna). Can you imagine a boat that is leaking or it is too heavy or it has
taken on too much of a load? What do you have to do for this ship to survive? You have to drop
the excess, dont you? In order for you to survive Allah says, You will not reach land, in this case
goodness, until you spend from that which you love. You might have to drop things off this ship
that you love. And Allah says you have to spend things that you love.
It doesnt just mean giving sadaqah (charity) to the masjid. It means you might have to spend on
relatives. You might have to give up some of the luxuries that you have in life and think of your
neighbors and think of other people that are in suffering around you. And you might have to give
more and more and more of the things that you love; not the leftovers, not the second hand
clothes, not the stuff that ( Il an tughmid fh) if somebody handed it to you,
you would squint your eyes before you took it. Not that stuff but the stuff you really want for
yourself. Eid is going to come soon. Youre going to go shopping. When you go shopping and you
buy that shirt and those clothes or that jewelry or whatever you get for yourself or for a cousin,
get the same kind of thing that you would have loved for yourself to give in sadaqah. To give that
in sadaqah, that is real ( Birr). That is when you know you have attained some kind of
goodness.

What a beautiful ayah and what beautiful imagery to explain to us that we in this journey think
that everything we need is on this ship but Allah is telling us in order to survive this journey you
better let go of some of these things that you really, really love if youre going to get all the way
to goodness.
May Allah help all of us reach goodness and make us of the people that are called
(Al-abrr). (
Wa M Tunfiq Min Shayin FainnaAllha Bihi `Almun)
Anything you spend, Allah knows really well about it. You never have to announce it. Allah
knows what you spent. So keep it as a secret between you and Allah and dont post on Facebook
After listening to this lecture I donated my favorite shirt or whatever. Dont do that. Keep it
between you and Allah because Allah says, whatever you spend Allah knows about it

( FainnaAllha Bihi `Almun).
May Allah make us of those who reach that goodness and reach that safety.

Wasalamu alaikum Quran Weekly.