Recordings › Monday Nights with Mufti Abu Layth 173 · 14 Jul 2020 › Segment 17 of 42
Why does the Quran talk about something as small as the Prophet's dinner guests?
muftis shaytan shaitan shaytaan iblis iblees shayateen shayatin satan koran quraan al-quran mufassir mufasir mufassireen quran commentator sura soorah surat suwar soora chapter ayah aya ayat ayaat aayah aayat wahy wahi wahee adab aadaab adaab mannersWhy would God speak of the Prophet's dinner guests? Micro-transgressions in al-Ahzab
Watch the answer
Open on YouTube at 1:06:38The player starts at 1:06:38, where the answer begins.
This segment1:06:38 to 1:13:29 · 6 min 51 sGeneral teaching
The answer in brief
machinesummary, machine-writtenThey are not trivial: the verse teaches that small transgressions like imposing on people matter, and such etiquettes build a healthy society.
In more detail
A question asks why God would talk about such specific things as the Prophet's dinner guests in Surah al-Ahzab, and whether these are not trivial for the word of God. Mufti Abu Layth says that seen in isolation the question stands, but the verse teaches etiquette: transgressions are not only murder and theft, and lesser, civil transgressions such as imposing on or burdening people also matter and can boil over in society. He cites the verse that Allah is not ashamed to give the example of a mosquito or what is above it, which many mufassirun read as the cosmos, both being equally insignificant to God. He says the verse also shows that even the Prophet felt things he did not express to spare others' feelings, a human experience everyone shares, and that these etiquettes are the building blocks of a healthy society.
Question as read aloud · questioner not identifiedCan you explain why God would talk about such specific things as in al-Ahzab and the Prophet's dinner guests? Aren't these trivial issues for the word of God?
Position stated
Mufti Abu Layth says the verse on the Prophet's dinner guests shows that micro-transgressions such as imposing on people are not to be disregarded, and that these etiquettes are building blocks of a healthy society.
“he also mentions micro transgressions that don't harass people don't become a burden on people unnecessarily don't kind of impose yourself that these etiquettes two are the building block of a healthy society”
Category: teaching
Kind: general teachingTranscript
machine1:06:38 to 1:13:29 · click a time to seek · dotted terms open the glossary
I must be I messaged you on Instagram handsome hound yes you did you did I did respond to you as well Pietra the brass are musty can you please explain why God would talk about such specific things like in al-ahzab and the prophets dinner guests aren't these such trivial issues for the word of God not at all actually because you know you're looking at this from a very different perspective you're looking at it from a very narrow perspective it's
like let's say you look at this verse and Allah says that people you know from one perspective you're just reading that hole so let's say you read this verse and you see that oh the Prophet would feel constricted by some people imposing on him but he was he felt it rude to kind of tell them to go away and so allah is revealing this as revelation so you think well come on you know that worried what is this and that people shouldn't be kind of like looking to the role coolest to do these and
invite us to give us food and invite us to do this you shouldn't you know that this isn't how it should be now from one aspect you're thinking well you know does god really need to say that okay so if you're looking at it like that yes your question stands from the other perspective you will see that actually what allah is telling us is that the theme here is the many aspects one that the beam is here to also teachers etiquettes it is to emphasize that it is
to outline humanity in the sense that you see it's not just vicious transgressions like murdering someone and you know stealing from someone and attacking someone but even transgressions are a low civil level are still not that minor you know they're not to be disregarded these things can become massively burdensome in society you see that it's not just obviously murder in these things matter and Allah has addressed
that in the Quran but even these things matter burdening someone pressurizing people or even hassling someone you know it's not that Allah says in the Quran de la barba la whom Ethel and Allah gives the example of Balaton now is he it's interesting Allah says that he gives the example of a mosquito Balaton and you would think and then Allah goes on to say oh and you would imagine he would say Oh something that is smaller than that you would imagine isn't it that's
the but Allah says farmer fokaha by Alderton whether it's a mosquito or that which is much bigger than that now and this many of them of a serene here say the creation of the cosmos and you think well that's a bit weird because God should have said you know he because a lie saying innings in Allah hilarious that he Allah is not embarrassed of giving an example of a mosquito oh and you would assume it or something more trivial but Allah says or something on a much more grand scale why because the cosmos
oh the mosquito in the sight of God are equally insignificant as far as his existence is concerned oh they are equally significant you understand like it's because to Allah to God it's either it's insignificant it doesn't mean just because this is the cosmos now this is so significant and this is a mosquito but that is a creation of God it has life in it you know it has problems it causes problems as does the cosmos so
you see it's not what Allah is showing here is that when you harass people this is a pig problem because sometimes it's these little things that keep simmering in society that boil over into great events then Allah goes on to show that look by the way it is not that the Prophet you know that you would think that look it is by reading this verse Allah is highlighting one for the Prophet and an example for other people
that come after is that even the Prophet sometimes these things that you know he may be kind of he may be facing which he is not expressing because he doesn't want to hurt the sentiments of some people now you think well okay but that is a cool human aspect that is all of us you know in our lives in my life in your life in everybody's life there's gonna be things that despite if even if we believe that you know we write on something and we have the absolute right sometimes it
hurts our sentiment no it no sorry it worries us that it will hurt the sentiment of others if we challenge them or if we raise these issues so Allah is reminding us to be mindful of when we transgress these kind of micro transgressions so I don't think that that verse is yes if you see from an isolated perspective I feel that yes you're right you could think we'll that so trivial but if you see it in the grand scheme of things it's to show whilst Allah is dealing with murder and this and battles and theft and all of
this he also mentions micro transgressions that don't harass people don't become a burden on people unnecessarily don't kind of impose yourself that these etiquettes two are the building block of a healthy society so yeah I I would definitely feel that
are they mechanics why is there a spanner besides some people's names these people are the mods my YouTube chat you calling for Muslims hoes and devil worshipers is that doing God's work I don't know who's saying that but that is utterly unacceptable right so what is going down they call moderators come on yeah yeah of course mods mods moderators into many
Paragraphs overlapping 1:06:38 to 1:13:29. Full text on the recording page.
Cite this segment
Stable id, transcript version and tier are part of the citation. Every change to a transcript is logged.Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment 2020-07-14-S17, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/a6h5lye4mn8/s/17/ (accessed 1 November 2026)
- APA 7
Mufti Abu Layth. (2020, July 14). Why does the Quran talk about something as small as the Prophet's dinner guests? [Video, segment 2020-07-14-S17, auto-transcribed, may contain errors]. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Retrieved November 1, 2026, from https://muftiabulayth.org/r/a6h5lye4mn8/s/17/
- Chicago author-date
Mufti Abu Layth. 2020. "Why does the Quran talk about something as small as the Prophet's dinner guests?" Video, segment 2020-07-14-S17, auto-transcribed, may contain errors. Mufti Abu Layth Archive. Recorded July 14, 2020. Accessed November 1, 2026. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/a6h5lye4mn8/s/17/
- BibTeX
@misc{abulayth-2020-07-14-S17, author = {Mufti Abu Layth}, title = {{Why does the Quran talk about something as small as the Prophet's dinner guests?}}, year = {2020}, month = {7}, date = {2020-07-14}, howpublished = {\url{https://muftiabulayth.org/r/a6h5lye4mn8/s/17/}}, url = {https://muftiabulayth.org/r/a6h5lye4mn8/s/17/}, organization = {Mufti Abu Layth Archive}, urldate = {2026-11-01}, note = {Segment 2020-07-14-S17, auto-transcribed, may contain errors} }
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