2:283 The one who borrows must write. He will write with honesty. The one who gives should not write so as not to create confusion. Allah has taught us to be so careful yet this is normally what people are the most careless about. The one who is giving can be more dubious. He is also told to write everything. Wali here it does not mean father because old can mean older or a bit older. It probably means guardian or inheritor. One lady can remind another. This verse was debated in Pakistan where they regarded two women’s witness equal to that of one man. This is wrong as this verse tells us; it is only in financial matters. e.g. in accidental or other worldly affairs two women are not required. It excludes female financial experts however. It is not two witnesses; one supports the other so that if she forgets the other will remind her. Where oaths are concerned, women’s numbers are not double. So not a case of mistrusting women. They are both doing the same and are not opposing witnesses. Women are respectfully given a chance to make a mistake and to correct it upon being reminded. Witnesses are reminded not to hide but to present themselves. ‘Duoo’ grammatical discussion. Don’t be tired of writing if it is small or long. There was hardly any custom of writing as their memories were far better than nowadays—Arabs knew hundreds of thousands of verses by heart. Huzoor spoke about the writing of deals and stressed its importance. The man who writes must not be pressurised in any way. Allah is teaching us Himself. Great and unique favour of Allah and Islam upon us. Written things must have witnesses with it. Very detailed teaching. 2:284 What is meant by a deal in a journey? Out of your belongings, you can give ‘rehane maqbooza’. This is about sudden needs and does not include major deals. If anyone asks you at Jalsa for a loan, you should ask him for a keepsake. If this teaching is ignored then be prepared for loss. What is meant by ‘aman’? If you regard someone as true and keep the ‘rehan’ with him, he must return it when the money is returned. So when you trust someone and become at peace and rest easy, then he mustn’t change afterwards. Sin will be created in the heart if you hide anything. 2:285 Not every sinner will be punished. If a mistake is made and people repent, then can be forgiven. The real dishonesty is against Allah as He is the Master of all. 2:286 The first to believe and the best belief are that of the prophet himself. All the others were annihilated. All those capable of belief believed. This included the ones who were to believe afterwards. The Promised Messiah used similar analogies about Arabs. Describes potential to believe. It does not mean that we regard all prophets to be the same in status. We believe that they all came from the same Allah so we have to obey them whether they are of high or low quality. If the call is from Allah, then from whichever direction it comes, we accept. Adam was given ‘rooh’ and then he was to be obeyed. No question of who is saying. This is our religion; we hear and we obey. 2:287 Everything on the planet that has ‘nafs’ is given same responsibility as they can bear. If someone says they can’t say five daily prayers but they find time to have coffee five times etc. they have the ability but they just use it elsewhere. Why ‘kasaaba’ for good deeds and ‘iktasaba’ for evil deeds? A good deed whether intentional or not will be rewarded. Huzur mentioned a tradition in which during a meeting of remembrance of Allah a passer-by sat down and Allah rewarded him too. For evils however, Allah will analyse more. If no intention of evil, forgiveness will ensue. In the case of Adam, Allah says that He did not see in him ingrained evil. But do not feel free to commit sin—otherwise it will result in punishment.