Get to Know Surah Al-Imran with Brother Nouman

Part 1 – Part 2

Do you want to understand Surah Al-Imran at a deeper level?

Get to Know a Surah of the Quran is a series of videos brother Nouman Ali Khan presented.

The following is a summary of some of the most important topics brother Nouman mentioned in this third episode:

– Surah Al-Imran picks off where Surah Al-Baqarah ended.

At the end of Surah Al-Baqarah, we asked Allah not to put a burden upon us that we can’t bear.

In Al-Imran, the idea of choice is taken further. On the one hand there is choice, but on the other hand there is a profound amount of hope that is being granted inside of this Surah.

– Early on in the Surah, Allah starts a long discourse with the People of the Book.

Some narrators explain that this is in the context of a group of Christians who came to meet with the Prophet, peace be upon him, and wanted to see what this claim is that this man is claiming to be a prophet. They want to know what was all this about.

These were people of religion, they stayed in the Prophet’s mosque and continued their ritual worship as Christians while they engaged in conversation with the Prophet, peace be upon him.

And so, that is one of the subject matters that you will find when People of the Book are being told this is the final testimony, this is the final revelation from Allah, you need to accept this because it confirms what you people have.

And so it takes them back to the story of Jesus, peace be upon him, and retells the story.

– He tells them the story of even Prophet Jacob (Yaqub), and how the Law was mixed with some of his own personal preferences, as mentioned in verse (3:93):

{All food was lawful to the Children of Israel except what Israel had made unlawful to himself before the Torah was revealed. Say, [O Muhammad], “So bring the Torah and recite it, if you should be truthful.} (3:93)

– In this Surah the word Islam is repeated several times, where Islam is the outward manifestation of the faith, whereas Iman is the inward manifestation of the faith, which is repeated several times in Surah Al-Baqarah. And that is one of the aspects of the complementary role the two surahs have.

– The second theme in the Surah is that the clash is intensifying. Now that this Ummah is chosen as the Ummah that represents the truth of God to all of humanity, our clashes with disbelievers also intensify.

So the battle of Badr and the battle of Uhud are mentioned to explain to Muslims how they are supposed to deal with victory, and how they are supposed to deal with loss.

– Finally in this surah you will find a merger, a strange merger, as He told the believers: {So do not weaken and do not grieve, and you will be superior if you are [true] believers.} (3:139)

On the other hand, there was this ideological conversation with the Jewish and the Christian communities, predominantly the Christian group which came and met with the Prophet, peace be upon him.

But by the end, the groups among these that are stubborn in their ways are merged together and are called “those who have disbelieved”.

In other words, the Qur’an in its depiction of those who have truly disbelieved is a depiction of people who after knowing the Truth inside and out reject it.

Allah does not want to make sweeping comments about all the People of the Book, so what does He do in this Surah? He says:

{And among the People of the Scripture is he who, if you entrust him with a great amount [of wealth], he will return it to you. And among them is he who, if you entrust him with a [single] silver coin, he will not return it to you…} (3:75)

Allah also gives good qualities for some of the People of the Book who pray, who have taqwa, who compete in doing good deeds:

{They are not [all] the same; among the People of the Scripture is a community standing [in obedience], reciting the verses of Allah during periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer]. They believe in Allah and the Last Day, and they enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and hasten to good deeds. And those are among the righteous. And whatever good they do – never will it be removed from them. And Allah is Knowing of the righteous.} (3:113-115)

– When you get to the end of this amazing Surah, which is the Surah to recite when Muslims are in tough times, especially the ayat of what happened in Uhud, we have one of the most spiritually profound prayers in the entire Qur’an.

This prayer actually becomes a twin to the prayer which is at the end of Surah Al-Baqarah, in verses 190 to 195.

For more details, and to watch the full episode, please click here.