Surah Al-Hadid—Allah Scolds The Prophet’s Companions
By Hisham Abu Yusuf | 2026-10-07T17:48:10.590628+00:00 | Topic: Khutbah | Masjid: Hisham Abu Yusuf
Surah Al-Hadid — Allah Scolds The Prophet's Companions
People, this life is play, it's amusement, it's the competition between people to gather objects, trinkets, status items, promotions, money, houses. This is play, it's a circus. But there is something greater than the circus that you can aspire to.
It is the pleasure of Allah. It is such that in this surah, this is probably one of the only surahs in the Qur'an where Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala scolds the Prophet's companions. Because the surah is revealed in Medina.
After they got comfortable, and in fact some of the narrations say they started joking around too much, and they got really comfortable, and they had an army, and they had wealth, and they had protection, and their hearts started to become hard. They started to find it difficult to give up things for the sake of Allah. So Allah revealed in this surah:
Hasn't the time come for the believers' hearts to be softened when Allah's name is mentioned? This is the surah — it scared the believers in Medina.
Because Allah is saying to them: guys, what time is it? It's time for your hearts to soften. All this time your hearts are hardening now? No, now is the time for your hearts to soften for my sake. So Allah is asking in this surah, he's asking the believers to give themselves up for his sake.
Their lives, their wealth, their energy, their families — whatever they consider beloved to them — Allah is saying: if you truly are someone of لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ, if Allah matters to you and nothing else, show me what you can give for me. This is why one of the greatest verses in the Qur'an is when Allah says:
Some people are willing to give themselves for the sake of Allah. And Allah is most merciful to his slaves.
All of this — before Allah tells the believers, "you have to give everything up for my sake, are you ready?" — he starts by reminding them who he is. You will never be able to give up something for the sake of Allah. Whether it's your wealth, whether it's your life, whether it's your time, whether it's your energy.
You will not — until you know who are you giving things up for. Who are you sacrificing it all for? Who is the one all of this is for? You will not be able to until you know who that is.