This Common Habit Could Wipe Out Your Good Deeds | Surah Al Kahf: Finale

The Danger of Spiritual Numbness

This idea of escapism — this idea that a kafir, a disbeliever, an unbeliever is not just somebody who rejects Islam, who rejects Iman, who rejects the belief in a higher power. It's not just somebody who rejects. It's somebody who knows it's true and then they reject it.

One of the dangerous things is Allah earlier on in the surah, He addresses the believers. How dangerous is it for somebody to be reminded of Allah's signs and then to turn away. You turn away from Allah's reminder, slowly but surely, slowly but surely, you reach a point.

This is the point that he is talking about. You reach a point where the reminder stops benefiting you. Your heart has become hard.

It's rusty. It's like a rock. Nothing can penetrate. You are spiritually numb, spiritually empty. This is the situation that a believer can reach and this is the dangerous situation Allah is describing at the end of the surah.

The Biggest Losers — Those Who Were Deceived

And then Allah describes a group of people — and this group of people, you and me might be amongst them. These are the people who were deceived in this life. They got attached to their wealth. They got attached to their power. They got attached to their knowledge. They got attached to what the majority of people were doing, and because of that they compromised their worship of Allah. They compromised their loyalty to Allah. They compromised on their values.

Due to this, Allah describes these people. What happens if you don't listen to what He is telling you in this surah? What happens if you get consumed by this world and all of its shiny objects? Allah says: Shall I tell you who are the biggest losers?

The biggest losers? Those people — all the while in this world, they thought they were doing good. They thought they were going to be fine on the Day of Judgment. They thought that they worship. They thought that their assistance of their family, they thought that they work — they imagined it was all for the sake of Allah, but they lied to themselves. And they will only find out this on the Day of Judgment.

They were deceived. They deceived themselves. They thought they were working for Allah but really they were serving themselves. They thought they were earning for the sake of Allah but really they were obsessed with their money. They thought that they were being obedient to Allah but really they just could not speak truth to power.

These are the people — the very antithesis of this surah. May Allah never make you one from amongst them. The people who thought they were doing good, they were fine. They thought they were safe, but they are not safe.

These are the people — they pretended to believe, but really deep down they had no shred of belief in Allah or in His meeting. Otherwise their lives would have been very different. Allah takes all of their deeds and He makes them zero in one go. These are the biggest losers. Their good deeds became zero. They didn't even realize.

They don't even need to be accounted for on the Day of Judgment. They don't need a scale. They don't need a weighing. They don't need to be asked — because they are zero. They are the biggest losers.

And when we realize this — this is the consequence of being deceived in this world. This is the ultimate consequence. If we become cheated by these four things, we will become the biggest of losers.

The Opposite Outcome — The Highest Rank in Jannah

But there is an opposite outcome for those who stood their ground, for those who came to Fajr, for those who are sincere, for those who gave up their time for the sake of Allah, for those who — despite all the obstacles, despite the majority opinion, despite the wealth, despite the power — they stayed true to Allah. There is another outcome for them.

Those who believed and they did good deeds — this is one of the only times in the Qur'an Allah doesn't just say you will have paradise. He says you will have the highest rank in Jannah. Where you will be relaxing with the Prophet ﷺ and with Ibrahim and Musa and Isa and Sulayman and Harun and Dawood and Idrees and Dhul-Kifl — and you will be relaxing with the righteous and the martyrs. What great company to have.

If you can just overcome just a few years — just a few years of deception, of lies, of this world, of these tests, of this trial — just a little bit. You're nearly at the end. This life passes quick. On that day you will say it passed by in a flash.

This world, this life is so short. We should never get consumed by it. Just a little bit longer — hang on, we're nearly at the finish line. Once you get over the finish line, Allah has in store for you what is greater and more beautiful than you can ever imagine.

The Closing of Surah Al-Kahf — Two Final Commands

Allah ends this surah by asking the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to say two things. Tell them, O Muhammad ﷺ: I am just a man. I'm a man like any of you, but the difference is that I receive revelation from Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ is reported to have said the person who holds the Qur'an in their heart is almost like a prophet, except that they don't receive revelation — but it's there with them. Look at the honor of somebody who has memorized, understood, and acts on the Qur'an.

The Inexhaustible Words of Allah

Allah ends the surah with this point. Qul — O Muhammad ﷺ, tell them: if all the seas in the world, billions and billions of liters of water, if that was the ink and the trees were the pens and they had to write everything Allah had to say — the sea would have finished, it would have dried out before the words of Allah would have finished. And even if we were to give them more and more, the words of Allah are invaluable.

In this world where everyone is trying to advertise to you, every billboard is trying to sell to you, every snake oil salesman is trying to deceive you, to cheat you — buy something you don't need — the only thing, the only signal in this noise, the only peace in this storm is كَلِمَاتُ اللَّهِ — the words of Allah. If you hold on to this, nobody can ever take you away from Him. Nothing will consume you in this world, nothing will take you away from Al-Firdaws — but you need to hold on to these words more than you hold on to any words that you have ever heard.

Hope and the Secret to Meeting Allah

Allah ends this surah by giving hope to all of us. After we have seen — after we have been pained — we have seen the suffering of the man of two gardens, we have seen the lesson that was learned by Musa, we have seen Dhul-Qarnayn walk across the earth — all of this we have seen. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala then gives us hope.

He says: if you would like to one day meet Allah, then make sure you do the right deeds in this world. Make sure you fill your life with those deeds. And don't make anything equal to Allah. Don't make your wealth equal to Allah, don't make your hobbies equal to Allah, don't make your spouse equal to Allah, your teachers, your boss, your partners — don't make your interests, don't make the popular opinion, don't make power or status — nothing should be equal to Allah in importance in your heart.

That is the secret to meeting Allah. If you want to meet Allah, Allah has to be the most important element in your life. And if you want to be saved from the fitna of the Dajjal, make sure you don't get deceived by this short life.

It is only a few moments. But the best part of these few moments is that we get to meet people like yourselves.