The Everlasting Deeds - Dr Ahsan Hanif

The Everlasting Deeds

إِنَّ الْحَمْدَ لِلَّهِ نَحْمَدُهُ وَنَسْتَعِينُهُ وَنَسْتَغْفِرُهُ وَنَعُوذُ بِاللهِ مِنْ شُرُورِ أَنْفُسِنَا وَمِنْ سَيِّئَاتِ أَعْمَالِنَا مَنْ يَهْدِهِ اللهُ فَلَا مُضِلَّ لَهُ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلْ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ نَبِيَّنَا وَسَيِّدَنَا مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ

أَشْهَدُ أَنَّهُ بَلَّغَ الرِّسَالَةَ وَأَدَّى الْأَمَانَةَ وَنَصَحَ الْأُمَّةَ وَكَشَفَ الْغُمَّةَ وَجَاهَدَ فِي اللهِ حَقَّ جِهَادِهِ حَتَّى أَتَاهُ الْيَقِينُ فَصَلَوَاتُ اللهِ وَسَلَامُهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّاسُ اتَّقُوا رَبَّكُمُ الَّذِي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ وَخَلَقَ مِنْهَا زَوْجَهَا وَبَثَّ مِنْهُمَا رِجَالًا كَثِيرًا وَنِسَاءً وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي تَسَاءَلُونَ بِهِ وَالْأَرْحَامَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَانَ عَلَيْكُمْ رَقِيبًا

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَقُولُوا قَوْلًا سَدِيدًا يُصْلِحْ لَكُمْ أَعْمَالَكُمْ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَمَنْ يُطِعِ اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ فَقَدْ فَازَ فَوْزًا عَظِيمًا

أَمَّا بَعْدُ، فَإِنَّ أَصْدَقَ الْكَلَامِ كِتَابُ اللهِ تَعَالَى وَخَيْرَ الْهُدَى هُدَى مُحَمَّدٍ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ وَشَرَّ الْأُمُورِ مُحْدَثَاتُهَا وَكُلَّ مُحْدَثَةٍ بِدْعَةٌ وَكُلَّ بِدْعَةٍ ضَلَالَةٌ وَكُلَّ ضَلَالَةٍ فِي النَّارِ

The Far-Sighted Vision of a Muslim

It is from the etiquettes of the Muslim, it is from the way that a Muslim should be, that the Muslim male or female has a far-sighted vision for themselves. If you were to look throughout the Quran, the book of Allah and the sunnah of his Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, you would find that one of the things that we're encouraged to do, one of the ways that we're encouraged to be, one of the examples that we take from the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is that the Muslim should be someone who has a vision, someone who is far-sighted, someone who doesn't just look for the short-term gain but rather they also keep in mind the long-term gain.

And that is why over and over again in the Quran and the sunnah we're reminded of death. So that you put your life into perspective and you know that each and every single day as you go out to earn your bread and butter, as you go to work, as you go to school, as you go to university, as you go shopping and to visit your family and all of those other things that you do on a daily basis — in the back of your mind, you also know that this is only a means to an end. And so when you work and when you study and everything else that you do, you know that everything you do must be in accordance with the Shari'ah. It must be pleasing to Allah. It must conform to the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم because then it becomes a means to your end. You don't just look for the short-term gain.

Otherwise everyone would steal and everyone would cheat and everyone would lie because there is a greater short-term gain to be achieved. But the Muslim knows that this isn't the end but rather there is another life that they have to go to. And that's why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — many actions that he did within his sunnah — he did with this in mind.

When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was in Medina, from the people of Medina were hypocrites. And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was given revelation by Allah and he knew by individual names who those hypocrites were. He knew that so and so and so and so were hypocrites. But he never informed any of the companions with the exception of one, Hudhayfa ibn al-Yaman رضي الله عنه. And even Hudhayfa he took an oath from him that he wouldn't tell anyone else. Nor did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم kill those hypocrites even though they were harming Islam, even though they were enemies of Islam. Nor did the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم expel them from Medina. And when he was asked about this he said, because I don't want the other people to think that Muhammad is a man who kills his own companions صلى الله عليه وسلم.

When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم went to Mecca in the conquest of Mecca and he conquered Mecca, he said to his wife Aisha, our mother رضي الله عنها, he said that were it not that your people, the people of Mecca, were new to this religion, I would have demolished the Ka'bah and I would have built it upon the foundations of my father Ibrahim عليه السلام, and I would have given it two doors just as he gave it two doors. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم didn't touch the Ka'bah. He didn't want people to think that this was some different type of religion — not the religion of Ibrahim — or that the Muslims didn't hold sanctity, didn't honor the Ka'bah, and were demolishing and messing around with the sacred sites of Allah.

Many examples we find in the Quran and the Sunnah of us being people of far sight and vision. And you can apply this to many, many aspects of your life. And I don't have time to go through all of those aspects. But from those aspects is what is mentioned also in the hadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم — the famous hadith:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1631)

When the son of Adam dies, all of his actions stop and cease except for three: a continuous charity, beneficial knowledge, or a righteous child that makes du'a for you. These three things are part of your long-term vision. That when you die, your good deeds continue to accumulate. Even though you're buried within your grave six feet under, those good deeds continue to accumulate. So that, by the mercy and grace of Allah on Yawm al-Qiyamah, you will see the benefits of those deeds and you will take a share of that reward.

The Two Verses: Al-Baqiyat al-Salihat

There are two verses in the Qur'an that I want to present to you in today's khutbah. Two verses that speak about a concept in our religion in line with this far-sightedness that every Muslim should possess. And those two verses — one in Surah al-Kahf and the other in Surah Maryam — they speak about the Baqiyat al-Salihat, the everlasting good deeds.

Allah says in Surah al-Kahf:

Indeed wealth and children are from the adornments and the beautifications of the dunya. And indeed the everlasting good deeds are better in the sight of your Lord in terms of reward and in terms of the hope that you should have.

Allah then says in Surah Maryam:

Indeed Allah increases the guidance of those who are guided. If you are guided and Allah blesses you with guidance and you use that guidance towards good and you follow that path that Allah has made easy for you, then Allah increases your guidance with further guidance. And indeed, the everlasting good deeds are better in the sight of your Lord in terms of reward and they are better in the sight of your Lord in terms of your end — in terms of your longer, greater vision. When you return to Allah, it is these actions, these everlasting good deeds, that will make your scale of good deeds heavy on that Day of Judgment.

What Are the Everlasting Good Deeds?

What are these everlasting good deeds? The scholars of tafsir have a number of interpretations. Some of them said that it is the five daily prayers. These are the actions that continue to benefit you in this life and they will benefit you in the next life. And we know that our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said that the first thing that the person will be asked about on Yawm al-Qiyamah is the prayer. And if it is correct then everything else is easy. And if it is not correct, then everything else will be more difficult.

Other scholars of tafsir said that it refers to good speech — speaking good, having al-kalam al-tayyib, being good in your mannerisms, in your etiquettes, in the words that you use. Others from amongst them said that it refers to any good deed — any good deed that you do for the sake of Allah, any good deed that you do to earn the pleasure of Allah. It is from the everlasting good deeds. And this seems to be the strongest of the opinions from amongst the scholars of tafsir — and Allah knows best — and it was chosen by the likes of Imam al-Tabari and others, that all of the good deeds that you do for the sake of Allah are from the everlasting good deeds.

However, the majority of the scholars of tafsir say that this verse refers to four statements:

SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illAllah, and Allahu Akbar. And the reason why the majority of the scholars of tafsir chose this opinion is because the sunnah is replete — numerous — with many examples of how the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم spoke about the virtues of these four simple statements, four simple words.

The Hadith of Uthman: The Five Prayers and the Baqiyat al-Salihat

Al-Harith, who was the freed slave of Uthman ibn Affan, says — in what is collected in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad — that we were one day sitting with Uthman, and the time for the adhan came. So Uthman asked that some water be brought so that he could make wudu. So he made wudu in front of us and then he said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 444)

Uthman رضي الله عنه, after making wudu, said that I saw the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم make wudu just as I made wudu, and then he said to us: whosoever makes wudu as I make wudu and then he stands and he prays the Dhuhr prayer, then Allah will forgive him for everything between the Fajr prayer and the Dhuhr prayer. And then if he prays Asr, then Allah will forgive him what is between the Dhuhr prayer and the Asr prayer. And then if he prays Maghrib, Allah will forgive him for everything between Asr and Maghrib. And then if he prays Isha, Allah will forgive him for everything between Maghrib and Isha. And then perhaps that person will sleep, and then if he wakes up in the morning and he makes wudu and he prays the Fajr prayer, then Allah will forgive him for everything between Isha and Fajr.

And then the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said: these are the good deeds that extinguish the bad deeds. They said: O Messenger of Allah, these are the good deeds that extinguish the bad deeds — so then what are the good deeds that are everlasting? He said صلى الله عليه وسلم: it is to say La ilaha illAllah, and SubhanAllah, and Alhamdulillah, and Allahu Akbar, and La hawla wa la quwwata illa billah. And that's why some of the scholars of tafsir say that from the everlasting good deeds, in addition to those four, is also to say لَا حَوْلَ وَلَا قُوَّةَ إِلَّا بِاللهِ.

The Hadith of Abu Hurairah: A Shield from the Fire

It is also collected in Sunan al-Nasa'i on the authority of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه that our Prophet said صلى الله عليه وسلم:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, al-Sunan al-Kubra, Hadith 10624)

The Prophet said صلى الله عليه وسلم to his companions: save yourselves from the Fire, save yourselves from punishment. They said: O Messenger of Allah, is it because of some enemy that will come and attack us? He said: no, rather save yourselves from the Fire by saying SubhanAllah and Alhamdulillah and La ilaha illAllah and Allahu Akbar. For indeed these four will come on the Day of Judgment before you and behind you — in front of you and behind you — and they will save you, and they are the everlasting good deeds.

These two ahadith of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم explicitly mention that the everlasting good deeds, or from the everlasting good deeds, is to say these four simple statements — these four simple things that even perhaps the youngest child within our families will have known and memorized. And for many of us, for decades now, we are familiar with these four:

And each one of them has a tremendous reward. But why? And how often have we said them? How often have we practiced and implemented these ahadith? And it is amazing, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, that sometimes the easiest of deeds — what seems to be theoretically the simplest of actions — are the most difficult to apply and implement. And you have probably noticed this: sometimes it is easier for people to go and make Umrah and Hajj and save money and give charity than it is to simply say four statements.

And there are many reasons for this. From them is the distance between our hearts and between our Creator. And from them is that we don't know the meanings of these four statements, nor do we appreciate the gravity and the meaning of what is implied within these four.

The Meanings of the Four Statements

La ilaha illAllah — There is No God But Allah

When a person says La ilaha illAllah — none has the right to be worshipped except Allah — to affirm with love and with certainty and with fear and with hope and with trust and with conviction that no one, nothing, has the right to be worshipped except Allah and Allah alone. And that Allah therefore is perfect in all of His lordship: perfect as a Creator, perfect as a Provider, perfect as the One who decrees good and bad, perfect in His decree of life and death, perfect in everything that He does. That Allah is perfect in all of His beautiful names and all of His lofty attributes. That Allah is perfect in His powers and abilities and in everything that He does.

When you say and you understand and you know the meaning of La ilaha illAllah, you understand why it is one of the heaviest statements — if not the heaviest statement — within our religion. It has such a tremendous reward.

SubhanAllah — Glory Be to Allah

And then by necessity, when you acknowledge that Allah is perfect in every single way, it leads you on to SubhanAllah — to glorify Allah — because as Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah رحمه الله and others said, the meaning of SubhanAllah, to glorify Allah, is to free Allah from every imperfection, every deficiency, every evil, and every trait which is in any way deficient.

So why wouldn't you worship Allah? Why wouldn't you praise Allah? Why wouldn't you turn to Allah and Allah alone? Why wouldn't you make du'a to Allah? Why, when you have problems in your life — when you have problems with wealth and children and family and all of those other issues — why doesn't it lead you back to these four statements? Allah is perfect in every way and He is free from every deficiency. He doesn't sleep, doesn't become tired, isn't hungry, doesn't need water or drink, doesn't need company, doesn't need a wife or a child or a partner. He is free from every deficiency. So why then would you turn to your friends and your family and to everyone else before you turn to Allah, instead of turning to Allah first and foremost and then taking the halal means in the dunya?

Alhamdulillah — All Praise Is Due to Allah

And when you know that this is what SubhanAllah means — that Allah is perfect in every way and He is free from every deficiency — then how can you not praise Allah? How can you not say Alhamdulillah? How can you not say that all glory and all praise belongs to Allah and Allah alone? And when you praise Allah, it is not like praising someone else. It's not like when you compliment someone and you say he has a nice car, or he has a nice house, or he's wearing nice clothes. When you praise Allah, you do it with that servitude, you do it with humility and humbleness, you do it with love and hope and fear of Allah.

And that's why Allah says:

All praise is due to Allah, Lord of everything that exists. There is nothing more greater, more beloved to Allah than your praise of Him. And that's why Allah praises Himself in the Qur'an. Surahs of the Qur'an begin with the statement Alhamdulillah, and other surahs of the Qur'an end with the statement Alhamdulillah. And when the people of Jannah will enter into Jannah, their final call will be الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ — all praise is due to Allah, Lord of everything that exists.

And when you praise Allah — when you praise Him when you wake up, you praise Him when you sleep, you praise Him when you eat and drink, you praise Him as you leave the masjid and enter the masjid, as you leave your house and re-enter your house — when your life revolves around the praise of Allah, you then acknowledge and understand:

Allahu Akbar — Allah Is the Greatest

Allahu Akbar — that Allah is the greatest, that there is nothing greater than Allah, that there is no power, no might, except with Allah and Allah alone. So why then would you not grovel before Allah? Why then would you not humble yourself before Allah? Why then would you have any pride or arrogance when it comes to placing your forehead on the ground five times a day in sajdah, acknowledging this greatness of Allah — great in all of His names, great in all of His attributes, great in everything that He decrees?

And then when you understand this and you know this, then anything that comes upon you in your life — be it good or be it bad, be it a calamity, be it a source of joy or happiness — you know that your affairs are in the hands of Allah: Allah who is all perfect, Allah who is free of all deficiency, Allah to whom all praise belongs, Allah who is greater than everything. And that is why when the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم had calamity befall upon him upon calamity, when they went through hardship after hardship, all of those times they knew that none of this mattered — why? Because their affairs are in the hands of Allah, their trust is upon Allah, their reliance is upon Allah and Allah alone. And so therefore everything becomes easy for them.

You know that Allah is the One who controls everything. So why then wouldn't you trust in Allah? And that's why, my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, four simple statements that don't take more than a few seconds to roll off your tongue — that don't take much time for you to utter and to say — yet so vast are these meanings. And I've only touched the surface. If you were to go and study them and understand them and attach your heart to them and apply them in your daily lives, then you would understand why in so many ahadith the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم spoke so highly of just these four statements, and why the scholars of tafsir — the majority of them — said that they are the everlasting good deeds.

The Most Beloved Speech to Allah

Our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم in a hadith in Sahih Muslim on the authority of Samurah ibn Jundab رضي الله عنه said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2137)

The most beloved of speech to Allah is four: to say SubhanAllah and Alhamdulillah and La ilaha illAllah and Allahu Akbar. It does not harm you whichever one of them you begin with. It doesn't matter which order you begin with, so long as you say them, so long as your life revolves around them, so long as you apply and implement them in your daily lives.

Everything else doesn't matter, everything else becomes easy for you. And that's why the problems that we face in our lives — be they at an individual level, be they at your family level, be they as a community or society, be they at the level of the ummah of the Muslims — sometimes the solution is much easier than we think. Sometimes the problem is not all of these external factors, but me and you and our attachment to Allah.

And that is why the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and the companions رضي الله عنهم أجمعين — even though they were weak, even though they were few in number, even though they didn't have wealth, even though they didn't have armor and weaponry, even though they didn't have horses and camels upon which they could fight — Allah gave them victory and He made them inherit the earth. Why? Because the strength that Allah was looking for was not the strength of those materialistic means, but the strength of their hearts, the strength of their Iman, the strength of their Taqwa in Allah.

And sometimes it is us that change our priorities, sometimes it is us that don't have that vision, that far-sightedness, to understand the simplest of issues.

The Seeds of Paradise: The Hadith of Ibrahim

Our Prophet said صلى الله عليه وسلم in the hadith of Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, collected by Imam al-Tirmidhi in his Sunan:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3462)

The Prophet said صلى الله عليه وسلم: I met the Prophet Ibrahim عليه السلام on the night of the Ascension to the Heavens — the Night Journey, the Isra and the Mi'raj — and he said to me: O Muhammad, give my salams to your Ummah and inform them that Jannah — Paradise — is fertile soil and that its water is sweet water which brings about vegetation, and that it is a field, and that its seeds are SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illAllah, and Allahu Akbar.

So not only does it help you in this life in terms of your affairs, in terms of your issues that you deal with on a daily basis — it is also one of the means of your salvation in Jannah. It is what you plant. The seeds that you plant now in Jannah — and that fertile soil — you will reap that reward, you will harvest it on the Day of Judgment. You will come and you will take the benefits from it.

More Beloved Than the Entire World

And that's why our Prophet said صلى الله عليه وسلم in the hadith of Abu Hurairah in Sahih Muslim:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2695)

That I should simply say these four things — SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illAllah, and Allahu Akbar — it is more beloved to me than everything that the sun rises upon. Why? Because the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم understood the value, the meaning, the gravity of these statements. To us it's just simple words that we utter — they don't have any value, they don't have any meaning, they don't have any impact on our hearts, and that's why we take them so lightly. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said it is more beloved to him than everything in this world — your money, your cars, your families, your children, your houses and every other type of wealth — why? Because he understood the meaning that these four had.

بَارَكَ اللهُ لِي وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقُرْآنِ وَالسُّنَّةِ وَنَفَعَنِي وَإِيَّاكُمْ بِمَا فِيهِمَا مِنَ الْآيَاتِ وَالْحِكْمَةِ أَقُولُ مَا تَسْمَعُونَ وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِجَمِيعِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِنْ كُلِّ ذَنْبٍ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Second Khutbah

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ عَلَى إِحْسَانِهِ وَالشُّكْرُ لَهُ عَلَى تَوْفِيقِهِ وَامْتِنَانِهِ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنْ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللهُ وَحْدَهُ لَا شَرِيكَ لَهُ تَعْظِيمًا لِشَأْنِهِ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ نَبِيَّنَا وَسَيِّدَنَا مُحَمَّدًا عَبْدُهُ وَرَسُولُهُ الدَّاعِي إِلَى رِضْوَانِهِ صَلَّى اللهُ وَسَلَّمَ وَبَارَكَ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَإِخْوَانِهِ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا أَمَّا بَعْدُ

There are many ahadith in the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم that speak about the virtues of dhikr in general and that speak about these four in particular — these four statements: SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illAllah, and Allahu Akbar. And there are many more ahadith that I could narrate were it not that our time is short in this Jumu'ah khutbah.

Many ahadith speak about different virtues of these four statements, and I will leave you with one final hadith about how not only these four statements are statements that we should be continuously repeating, continuously saying — but that we should be teaching our own children the importance of. Because as every generation goes and the next generation comes, they become just that more distant from Allah, that more distant from the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, and they lose the meaning of some of these issues or statements that we as Muslims should be repeating on a daily basis.

Don't take anything in this religion as light. You don't know — perhaps the salvation will simply be because of your attachment to these four. And if you understand them, I don't only mean your attachment in terms of repeating them, but understanding and acknowledging their meanings, applying them into your lives despite whatever situation may come upon you.

And that's why in our religion, our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم or Allah in the Quran didn't detail every single aspect of your life that you're going to face. You don't find every single job described in the Quran or the sunnah, or every single situation that you're going to come across on a daily basis — because that is too much information. And the Quran — its beauty, its miracle — is in its eloquence and in its comprehensive nature. So therefore we have principles. We know what we need to do. The answers are there for those who seek, and for those who go and research and study.

The Final Hadith of Sahih al-Bukhari

Our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said — in what is collected by Imam al-Bukhari in his Sahih as the final hadith in all of Sahih al-Bukhari, the hadith by which Imam al-Bukhari concluded his book — and if you look at Sahih al-Bukhari, he began with the hadith of intention, and the scholars said that it was as if this was an introduction to his book: purify your intention, make it sincere for Allah. And then he ended with this hadith, and this hadith is about the dhikr and the remembrance of Allah:

There are two statements that are extremely beloved to Allah, extremely heavy upon the scales, yet extremely light upon the tongue: and it is to say SubhanAllahi wa bihamdihi, SubhanAllahil Azim.

And as I said at the beginning of this khutbah, even though most of us already know this — most of us know that these are statements that are virtuous, that these are adhkar that we should be making — very few people will be able to do so on a daily basis. Why? Because it's not just a theoretical exercise. It's not just verbal statements that you utter from your tongue. But rather it is dependent upon your attachment to Allah, it is dependent upon your attachment to Allah, the adhkar of Allah, the knowledge of Allah — all of these things are a light that Allah gives. And Allah does not give His light to those who sin, to those people who don't even pray five times a day, to those people who don't place their trust in Allah, to those people who look in other places other than the sunnah of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, to those people who turn to others before they turn to Allah.

Conclusion and Call to Action

So my dear brothers and sisters in Islam, the message from this khutbah today, from this minbar, is the Baqiyat al-Salihat — those everlasting good deeds. And I would ask that each and every single one of you go back to your homes, you look at those two verses in Surah al-Kahf and Surah Maryam, you look at their tafsir, at their meanings, you research the virtues of these four statements — SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illAllah, and Allahu Akbar — and you look at practical ways in which you can involve them in your lives.

After understanding the gravity of the meanings and the comprehensive nature of those meanings, ask Allah by His most beautiful names and lofty attributes that He makes us from amongst those people who are dhakirin — who remember Him in times of ease and in times of difficulty, that Allah makes our hearts full of Iman and Taqwa and He brings us closer to Him, and that Allah allows us to be from amongst those people who take and reap the virtues of these four statements.

The Prayer: Surah al-Zalzalah

The following verses were recited during the prayer: