Surah Kahf Recitation & Jumu'ah Khutbah | Mufti Minhajuddin Ahmed | 8/22

Recitation of Surah Al-Kahf

The khutbah began with the recitation of verses from Surah Al-Kahf, covering the story of the two men and their gardens, the parable of the life of this world, the Day of Judgment, the story of Iblis, the story of Musa and Al-Khidr, the story of Dhul-Qarnayn, and the closing verses of the surah.

Khutbah: Reconciling Struggle and Ease on the Path to Allah

The Qur'an: Free of Contradiction

Allah says: Do you not ponder? Do you not reflect? Over the message of the Qur'an? Over the meanings of the ayat? Over the revelation of Allah? Do you not make tafakkur? Do you not make tadabbur? Do you not contemplate? Do you not think and reflect? And if you do so, you will find that there is no contradiction in the message of Allah.

And if this word came from anyone besides Allah, if this was not a revealed word of Allah, but rather if it was fabricated by any human being, and it was a human speech — then you will find many contradictions in it. So one of the proofs that the Qur'an is the word of Allah is that there are no contradictions in His message and what it conveys.

And conversely, on the opposite side, one of the evidences that the previous heavenly scriptures — which actually originated from Allah — have been tampered with, changed over time, and corrupted, is the presence of such contradictions. In the Old Testament and the New Testament, in their current form, there are so many contradictions which have crept in over time. And "crept in" may give the indication that it happened organically — it didn't just creep in over time by itself, but rather it was falsely attributed towards Allah, actively done, corrupted by those who were given the responsibility to preserve the sacred texts of the past.

This is the Old Testament and New Testament, but not the Final Testament. The Final Testament, the Qur'an al-Karim, Allah has preserved it. Allah says:

Verily, We have sent this Qur'an down — one of the names of the Qur'an is Al-Dhikr, the source of reflection, a reminder, admonition, and advice. This Alif Lam is referring specifically: this Qur'an is a source of dhikr of Allah, it reminds us about Allah and the purpose of our existence. We have taken upon Ourselves the responsibility to protect it.

And with respect to the previous heavenly scriptures that also came from Allah — which we believe in, in the original form they were revealed — Allah says that the scholars of the Jews and the Christians were given the responsibility to protect them, but they failed in that. And Allah says in very explicit, unambiguous terms:

Destruction upon those who write the book — they come up with paragraphs and concepts, with their own hands they write it. Then they say, "Oh, this is the revealed word of Allah." So they are writing it with their own hands, they are creating it, then they say this is from Allah. And why are they doing that? The Lam of Ta'lil tells us why — to make some paltry gain in this worldly life, to make some extra money on the side, they are distorting the wahi of Allah.

In any case, this Book of Allah is the revealed word of Allah, and one of the reasons and one of the proofs is that there are no contradictions in it.

The Apparent Contradiction: Struggle vs. Ease

And having said this as a muqaddama, as an introduction — subhanallah — to the ayat that I recited in the beginning: those who are paying attention to the ayat may notice that, wow, it seems like there is a contradiction. And this is known as an apparent contradiction — ta'arud wahimi, apparently contradictory ayat.

Allah, when He says that there is no contradiction in the Qur'an, He conditions that statement upon tadabbur and tafakkur. He says: Do you not ponder and reflect? If you ponder and reflect, you will find there is no contradiction. Allah did not say: Do you not read the translation of the Qur'an? Do you not just read the meanings of the Qur'an? If you just read the translation, you will not find a contradiction. He didn't say that.

So not finding a contradiction is conditioned — it is conditional to a person making actual tadabbur and tafakkur, by those who understand the Qur'an, who learn it from teachers, who learn it back from Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, mutasannad. And if a person just picks up the translation and starts reading it, then he may say, "Oh, there are some contradictions here." So this is not a ta'arud haqiqi, this is not an actual contradiction. This is ta'arud wahimi — apparently contradictory words, contradictory conclusions you may reach. But there is a way to resolve that apparent contradiction — to make tatbiq, to reconcile the two.

Subhanallah. And there are many different ways the tatbiq can be done. Like right now, we are here in the masjid — if there are two statements, one is زيدٌ في البيت, Zayd is at home, and then there is another statement, زيدٌ في المسجد, Zayd is in the masjid. So these are two jumal khabariyat, they are two statements giving khabar, giving news of a fact. And it may seem like they are contradictory, quite obviously — because one is bayt, his home, and one is baytullah.

وَأَنَّ الْمَسَاجِدَ لِلَّهِ فَلَا تَدْعُوا مَعَ اللَّهِ أَحَدًا — the masajid belong to Allah. So, is he in his home or is he in the home of Allah? They are contradictory. How are you going to reconcile this? Very easy: at 8 o'clock in the morning he was at home, and at 1 o'clock he is in the masjid. They are different times. One came earlier, one came later. He was at home after Fajr; at Jumu'ah time he is in the masjid.

In the same way of reconciling this contradiction, we can apply it to the ayat that were quoted. And, at the end of the discussion, it is not just an academic discussion — there is an actual take-home lesson for us that should not only impact our perception of reality, but our actions as well.

The Ayat of Struggle and Mujahada

On one side, there are so many ayat and so many ahadith that talk about sacrifice and mujahada. So Allah says:

Those who make sacrifice and struggle against the nafs ammara bissu', against the shaitanic temptations from outside, against the environment, against negative peer pressure — you have to go against all of these things. And there is an element of struggle involved. It's hard. It's sacrifice.

Sacrifice with your wealth, sacrifice with your life. Struggle. So there are so many ayat indicating this. And everyone has heard them before, many times. Struggle in the path of Allah. How much? As far as it's comfortable for you? If you keep within your comfort zone, then by definition, that's not even mujahada. How is it mujahada if you're not struggling? Mujahada is a struggle.

Not at your comfort level. So all of these ayat indicate difficulty, hardship, and sacrifice.

The Ayat of Ease and Contentment

And then, on the other hand, we have another set of ayat that say:

Allah intends ease for you. Allah does not want difficulty for you.

Allah did not reveal this deen to put you into difficulty. And Allah speaks about hayatan tayyiba — a life of contentment and happiness. And then somebody may say, "Well, perhaps that's referring to jannah, not this dunya. This dunya is just struggle, struggle all the time." No — this is referring to the dunya. How do you know it's the dunya? Because of the context:

Whoever does righteous deeds — and there is no gender pay gap from Allah — whether male or female, wa huwa mu'minun. This is the hal, the waw haliya: in such a condition that he is a true mu'min. So the righteous actions are a proof of the true iman in the heart. He has true iman and belief in his heart, and he is proving it through his actions — not for name and fame or for show. But al-imanu ma wakara fil qalb, the iman has penetrated the depth of his heart, and saddaqahul amal, the actions coming out from his body parts are testifying to that true faith inside.

Then Allah says with emphasis — with the lam and nun of tawkid — فَلَنُحْيِيَنَّهُ حَيَاةً طَيِّبَةً: We will surely, most definitely grant him a hayatan tayyibah, a life of happiness and contentment and satisfaction and ease. Doesn't sound like sacrifice, sounds like a very enjoyable life. And this is referring to this worldly life. That's why the ayah continues: وَلَنَجْزِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْرَهُم بِأَحْسَنِ مَا كَانُوا يَعْمَلُونَ — and after that, there will be another great reward and a jaza for their actions in the akhira as well. So the hayatan tayyibah is here, and then there is a jaza al-hasan in the akhira.

So somebody will say, you also have ahadith — if you want to bring them into the equation — where there are ahadith that indicate struggle, and there are ahadith that say ad-deen-u-yusrun, the deen is easy, the deen is there to make your life easy. So the question could be: which one is it? And the answer is already given above. When someone said, "Zayd is at home" and "Zayd is in the masjid" — which one is it? Both are true. One is the former, one is the latter. One is earlier, one is later.

Two Stages on the Path to Allah

So there are two stages in the suluk ilallah — in travelling towards Allah — at an individual level, at a family level, at a community level. Every single individual in their own path towards Allah, if they adopt this path and make the suluk ilallah and are in the struggle to reach ihsan and to become a beloved slave of Allah, there will be a struggle. And a person will have to engage in this mujahada against his nafs. This is an internal mujahada against the nafs, and there will be external factors as well that will be making his life difficult that he will have to face and combat.

But if a person has istiqamah — by the tawfiq of Allah — he continues to struggle in the day and beg from Allah at night for guidance, for tawfiq, for hidayah, and he does not give up; he perseveres with steadfastness — then, subhanallah, all of the ayat and all of the ahadith that speak about ease and comfort will all begin to apply for a person. Where? Right here in this earthly life. As mortal human beings, in this temporary world, in this darul farar, before reaching darul qarar.

This is darul farar — the place that is running away from us and we are running away from it. It is going to end. And then there is darul qarar, which is the permanent abode. This is fani, that is baqi.

Everything in this world that we have and hold so dear to us is fani. And what Allah has kept in the akhirah — that is permanent. Subhanallah.

That's why Allah says — what in the world is wrong with you? This is a no-brainer. What you are doing makes zero sense. How dare you make such a major mistake as to prefer this worldly life, whereas the hereafter is far better — in quality, it is khair, and in quantity, it is forever. So why are you preferring this worldly life?

So that is the akhirah, the reward is there. But in this darul fani, this darul ghurur, in this dunya, a person will also begin to have an enjoyment and a satisfaction when his nafs reaches nafsul mutma'innah.

The Nafs: From Ammara to Mutma'innah

So when we start off this journey, there is a lot of sacrifice. Because our nafs is ammara bissu'.

One thing is that the nafs could be taking us in the right direction. No way. The nafs is not going to take us in the right direction. Or maybe it's just on the sidelines letting you decide where to go? No. It is ammara — not just amir, indicating or pushing you to do something wrong. It is beyond amir; it is ammara. It is mubalaghah — very emphatically pushing you, urging you, persuading you, grabbing you by your hand and taking you in the wrong direction.

Ammara to amir is like allama to alim. If you have an alim, mashallah — great scholar. Then from alim you have a greater scholar: allama. So likewise you have amir — the one who is commanding you, giving you the amr. But then you have something much stronger than amir: ammara. This is a sighatu mubalaghah of this word, expressing the superlative degree of commanding. So the nafs is really pushing us in the wrong direction.

Obviously there is going to be a huge struggle. There is going to be a huge struggle to make mukhalafa of this nafs, to go against this nafs, and to be able to subjugate it and conquer it and make it subordinate. That's what the ayat of mujahada are referring to. Subhanallah. Hardships and difficulties.

But once a person persists in this path and conquers — bi'idhnillah — nobody can do this on his own. It's only with the fadl of Allah. Whatever khair we are able to accomplish in our lives, we always make nisba of it to Allah. Whatever sharr we end up doing, we attribute that to ourselves. You know, this is like a standard template in surah al-iftitah when writing fatawa — the teachers taught us, and it's part of the template. Just like you have to start with bismillahirrahmanirrahim and alhamdulillahirabbilalamin:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1894; also narrated with "al-hamdulillah" in various wordings)

Every important matter that does not start with bismillah or alhamdulillah is incomplete, as you have cut it off. Likewise, part of the template is that at the end, we write: in kana sawab fa min Allah — if anything I have written is correct, the tawfiq that guided me to write the correct response is wholly and solely from Allah. Not from my education, not from my intelligence.

"I amassed this fortune through my own intelligence." Whose statement is that? Qarun's. He attributed his wealth to his own intelligence: "I did not inherit some oil wells in my desert kingdom and become rich overnight. I am an astute, intelligent investor." So we don't attribute to our own ilm. Because what kind of ilm do you have if you can't figure out that your ilm is given to you by Allah? Everything you have is from Allah. Whenever Allah asks us to spend, He says:

From that which We have provided, they give some of it back. In any case: in kana al-sawab fa min Allah — if it's right, it is from Allah. Wa in kana al-khata' fa minni — if it's a mistake, it is from me, wa min nafsi, from my nafs. And if you really are desperate to spread the blame, you can throw in: wa min al-shaytan al-marid — and the rebellious shaytan, yes, he's part of it. All three of us made the mistake.

Anything good happens from Allah, and anything bad happens from your nafs.

The Sweetness of Worship After Perseverance

So those who make it — by the tawfiq of Allah, by the permission of Allah — they will begin to have an enjoyment in this worldly life. So performing salah, making wudu, getting up early — these are difficult things. Isbagh al-wudu' 'ala al-makarih — even the hadith uses the term makarih: it may be challenging. This comes in the context of cold, freezing weather when you have to make wudu with cold water because you don't have hot running water. That is called isbagh al-wudu' 'ala al-makarih — making wudu when it is difficult. Getting up from the bed is difficult. Giving zakat and sadaqah is difficult.

So these things are initially difficult because the nafs is in control — it is ammara bissu'. Then it progresses to lawwama and then mutma'innah and radiyah mardiyyah. When it gets to the final stages, subhanallah, that which was a challenge becomes a means of enjoyment.

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 4985; narrated by Abu Dawud on the authority of Bilal)

"O Bilal, give us comfort by calling the adhan so we can enjoy the salah." Subhanallah.

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 3940; also reported in Musnad Ahmad)

"Verily the coolness of my eyes has been placed in salah." So now a person has the halawa of the munajat — enjoys the sweetness of speaking to Allah. What has transpired? That nafs ammara has been subjugated, and subhanallah, a person is in the state of يَا أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الْمُطْمَئِنَّةُ — in a state of itminan with Allah. The nafs condition has been elevated by Allah.

So this is how we can very easily resolve this apparent contradiction. And as I mentioned, this is not just a theoretical discussion — it has actual implications for us. We are all going through different struggles in our lives. This is just one manifestation when it comes to ibadah, but it also pertains to mu'amalat, it pertains to mu'ashara, and all the other aspects of our existence and our lives. There will be a struggle in the beginning, but if you continue with that struggle, then subhanallah, there will be amazing futuhat and khuyur from Allah.

The Prophet's Own Struggle

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam did not have a struggle with his nafs, but because this is sunnatullah — this is the way of Allah — he was not exempt from outward struggles in his life. He didn't have to fight against ma'aasiya and sin, because he is the Nabi of Allah. But he had outward struggles in his life. You have the mushrikeen of Mecca torturing him. His uncle Abu Talib passed away. He was boycotted, thrown out, had to leave, had to flee his city of Mecca, the place of his birth.

How much mujahada? And Allah did not come to his defense — when the whole powers of the heavens and earth are under His control. He could have, but the Prophet had to go through that struggle. Even Al-Habib, even Al-Mustafa Al-Mujtaba — the chosen and selected one, the beloved one — he had to go through a struggle too, isn't it?

So let us pick up any page from the chapters of Meccan history of seerah and we'll see struggle. Then, in the beginning of Medina as well. But towards the end of his life, Allah came to his defense — you know, like in Surah Al-Hujurat: if somebody just spoke to him loudly and said, "Ya Muhammad, come out and answer a question" — they weren't coming out to threaten him or to hurt him, they were just Bedouins who came to ask him a question, but they were impolite.

These mushrikeen of Mecca were attacking him, torturing him, pelting him in Ta'if — there was no wahi saying, "Don't pelt My Nabi." Don't throw the intestines filled with filth of a camel on his back. Don't strangle him when he's doing sajdah by the Ka'bah. There was no ayah about that. The best creation of Allah, in the best place, performing the best ibadah, in the best position of that ibadah — sajdah. There was no wahi about that in the beginning stage, because that's the struggle stage.

But at the end of his life, what do we see?

How dare you raise your voice? Don't even speak loudly to him. Same Allah — He's not tolerating anyone speaking loudly anymore. Why? Because it's the later stage. So we all have to go through the former stage, then we get to the later stage. May Allah make it easy for us to continue on this path and to reach that later stage before we die.

Announcements

Our brother Samir Qadri returned to Allah this Wednesday night. May Allah shower him with mercy, forgive his shortcomings, and grant him the highest ranks in Jannah. His Janazah salah will be after Jumu'ah at MCC, North Elston Avenue, Chicago at 1:05 PM. The burial will be at Rose Hill Cemetery.

And my dear brothers, also pass the donation boxes. Sadaqah given on the day of Jumu'ah carries greater reward with Allah.

We have our Tafheem Program, Saturdays and Sundays. This is an important program for our working adults and full-time students who can come and study deen on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 o'clock to Dhuhr. This semester, on Saturdays, we have: the History and Development of Fiqh, Introduction to Uloom Al-Hadith, and Aqeedah. And on Sundays, we have: Fiqh of Salah, Tafseer of the Surahs of Salah — the surahs that we recite in our prayers, their meanings, implications, and tafseer, so we can focus when we are praying — and Tazkiyatul Qalb, Purification of the Heart. Subhanallah. This is a great program. If you have been hearing about it but never enrolled, try it for at least one semester and benefit.

We also have our weekly programs: Tuesday night Tafseer — we are currently covering Surah Abasa. Thursday night: Salawat and Seerah Dars. And Saturdays, Team Fajr: we have a new series — Lives of the Companions. We finished the 99 Names of Allah, and now we are doing the lives of the Sahaba. And for sisters' programs, there is a series on the Seerah for sisters, Sundays at 12 PM. There are also part-time Hifz classes being offered now, and other programs including Riyad al-Salihin, Quran Tarjuma Tafseer, and Quranic Arabic. Please visit the website for more details.

Tonight there is a program of Da'wah Brothers for the students, after Maghrib. All the youth and students are requested to participate and benefit. Please bring your children if they are not here.

Please also save the date for our Annual Seerah Conference, September 19th and 20th — Friday and Saturday. The topic this year is: How did the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam deal with people? — with parents, with children, with neighbors, with the rich, with the poor, with kings and paupers, with new Muslims and non-Muslims, with sinners and those who do good deeds — all the different categories of humanity, how the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam dealt with them. Very practical for us.

Helping Hand volunteers are here to raise funds for wash projects, including washroom units in Gaza and solar-powered drinking water systems in Pakistan. Please visit the table and donate generously. They also have an event on Saturday, September 13th at 6 PM at Waterford Banquets and Conference Center in Elmhurst: "Give Water, Give Life." Subhanallah — we should participate in this as well. A great opportunity for sadaqah.

And also, specific du'a requests for our beloved brother Dr. Abd al-Sameer who lost his daughter; brother Muhammad Amir Hussaini; brother Abrar Ahmad; and for all our brothers and sisters suffering throughout the world — in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Burma, and the entire Muslim Ummah.