How Quranic Stories Strengthen Hearts: Dawud and Sulaiman

Opening — The Purpose of Quranic Stories

Alhamdulillah, Alhamdulillahi wa kafa, wa salamun 'ala 'ibadihi alladhina astafa. Amma ba'd.

Allah عزَّ وجلَّ says in His noble book — after seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful — "And if you were to count the favours of Allah, you could never enumerate them."

In the Quran, Allah gives us stories of various prophets and highlights certain aspects of their lives. Though the Quran does not speak about each and every single prophet that Allah sent, Allah highlights certain prophets and sheds light into their lives so that it could be a lesson for us.

Allah says to the Prophet ﷺ:

"All that We relate to you of the stories of the messengers — with it We make firm your heart." Because sometimes through listening to human stories, stories of other human beings who are in similar situations as you, gives a person a strength to continue and move forward. We try to find individuals that are like us. We try to look for examples that are similar to ours. And you'll find in your life that whoever you can connect to, you're able to connect to them — why? Because there's some sort of similarity between you and them, and you try to take them as a model to model your behaviour after.

So the various stories that come of the different prophets that Allah mentioned in the Quran were there for the believers, for the Prophet ﷺ — despite all the difficulties that they went through — that know that there were people, there were anbiya before, and nations before, who also went through all kinds of difficulties. They were tested and tried through various different ways.

You have the example of Ayub عليه السلام. Ayub عليه السلام went through illness. Anybody in this Ummah who goes through illness can take an example in the life of Ayub عليه السلام:

"My Lord, difficulty has afflicted me, and You are the Most Merciful of all those who show mercy." A person can take an example in his life, and so on and so forth.

Dawud and Sulaiman — Prophet Kings

Among the examples Allah gives in the Quran is the example of Dawud عليه السلام and Sulaiman عليه السلام — father and son. Father Dawud, son Sulaiman — عَلَى نَبِيِّنَا وَعَلَيْهِمُ الصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَام — anbiya, prophets of Allah, whom Allah bestowed with great remarkable not only talents and mu'jizat but also kingdom. They were not just prophets — they were prophet kings.

"And Sulaiman inherited from Dawud." And the greatest type of inheritance — in fact the only and greatest type of inheritance — that the prophets give to the generation that comes after is the wiratha of ilm. Al-'ulama warathat al-anbiya — those of knowledge, they are the inheritors of the prophets. So Sulaiman عليه السلام inheriting from his father was not just the kingdom — the actual inheritance was the ilm. And Allah bestowed Sulaiman عليه السلام with nubuwwa, with prophethood.

Allah also gave them mu'jizat — miracles. For Dawud عليه السلام, he could mold metal in his hands. And Allah taught him how to make chain mail as armour — when you make the chain mail, make sure that each ring is made evenly and equally to ensure that it's strong. And for Dawud عليه السلام, the wind was subjugated for him — he could travel by air the distance of what it would take a person a month's journey. He would be able to travel that same amount of distance by morning, and the same distance again in the evening.

There was almost like a molten brass, molten metal — a spring that would come forth for Sulaiman عليه السلام, that would be used to mold and make all kinds of different objects. The jinn were subjugated under Sulaiman عليه السلام. The Quran talks about this:

"And We caused a spring of molten copper to flow for him, and of the jinn were those who worked before him by the permission of his Lord."

The Ibadah of Dawud — Sawm and Tahajjud

Yet with all of that, you will find in the hadith that the Prophet ﷺ, when he gives an example of ibadah — when it comes to prayer and when it comes to fasting — he gives the examples of Dawud عليه السلام. There is something known as Sawm Dawud — the fasting of Dawud عليه السلام. He used to fast one day and not fast the other day.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1131; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1159)

And in the prayer too, the Nabi ﷺ mentioned in one hadith that Dawud عليه السلام would sleep for a portion of the night, then wake up and pray tahajjud for another portion of the night, and then he would again go and take some rest.

In Tafsir Ibn Kathir, he mentions a narration that the 24-hour time they had divided among the family — so that not a single moment would go by except that somebody was in the ibadah of Allah. If it's not the father, then the mother; if not the mother, then the son; or if not him, then his wife or the children — someone was always in the ibadah of Allah.

The Ni'mah We Live In — And Our Negligence

The reason why I mention this is because — by Allah's grace — the more I think about it, we're coming to the realisation that we Muslims living here are in so much ni'mah of Allah. So much ni'mah. And very often we just become negligent — we become unaware and we forget.

There are people right now, as I stand and speak to you, there are people right now who don't have water to drink — who don't have clean water to drink, who don't have food to eat. They don't know when and where their next meal is going to come from. They're in a famine. They don't have a roof over their head. They've lost their family — kids gone, parents gone, orphans.

And we here have all the luxuries of the world at our disposal. When we go home at night and we sleep on our beds, we don't have to worry about tomorrow. Although it is a reality — we don't know if tomorrow we're going to wake up or not — but it doesn't even cross our minds. When we go to bed tonight, do we think about where our next meal is going to come from? No. Our fridges and our pantries are stocked full of food. And if you don't have any food, or in fact you don't feel like eating the food at home — take out the phone and order it. The food's going to come right to your doorstep. You want a burger, you want pizza, whatever you want — biryani, nihari — everything at your disposal.

Water — we don't have one tap, we have multiple taps in our homes where you can get water from. We don't need to walk for miles to use the bathroom. No — alhamdulillah, the system is already there. We don't have one bathroom, we have multiple bathrooms in our homes. So much ni'mah of Allah.

What often happens is, when this amount of ni'mah is given, a person becomes negligent — negligent of the type of responsibility that Allah has bestowed on him. When a person is in musiba, when a person is in difficulty, naturally they think about Allah. A person becomes ill, a person has some sort of serious illness that they're dealing with — constantly they're making du'a: ya Allah please, ya Allah help me, ya Allah please grant me shifa. If some sort of harm afflicts a person, he's constantly making du'a to Allah. He calls to Allah constantly, it doesn't matter whether he's standing, whether he's sitting, whether he's lying down — constantly he's making du'a: ya Allah please, ya Allah please remove this.

And when that difficulty is removed from him? The way he walks, he walks as if nothing ever happened to him before. He forgets. He completely forgets.

The Warning of the Idols on the Day of Judgement

On the Day of Judgement, when Allah will resurrect all the people, He will also resurrect the very idols that the disbelievers used to worship. And Allah will have them speak — did you cause My servants to go astray? Did you lead them astray, or did they go astray themselves? Did you misguide them, or were they misguided themselves? They will have no option but to say: ya Allah, glory be to You — You are perfect, there is no imperfection associated to You. It is not for us to take any other god, any other guardian, other than You.

Listen — ya Allah, You gave them so much ni'mah, You gave them so much comfort, that they and their forefathers completely forgot. They forgot the reason why they were created. They forgot the very objective of their creation. They forgot where they're heading to. And they became a people of complete ruin — utter ruin.

Bura — actually from ba'ir — refers to a person whom you advise. You give them advice. For example, in a business transaction, you give them advice and you say: look, I don't think this is a good investment. I'm telling you, these are the reasons why it's not a good investment. But the person doesn't listen to you. And so because he doesn't listen to you, he ends up falling into extreme loss — that's when you use the word bura. Why? Because the anbiya came, the anbiya told them, the anbiya gave them nasiha. They gave them evidences. Yet they still rejected. They still didn't believe.

What is our excuse? What is our excuse? We have water to drink. We have food to eat. What else do you need? We have a roof over our head. We have family around us. But still we're not able to worship Allah. We can't wake up for Fajr in the morning.

The Fitna of Technology and First World Problems

Alhamdulillah, we have ni'mah — but we're not able to help other people. We're not able to help the people around us. Our families are suffering. What are they suffering with? They're suffering with these gadgets. All kinds of depression. The kinds of stuff that we hear sometimes really shocks me. These are the issues that first world countries are facing.

Just this morning while driving I was listening to NPR — they're talking about the lawsuit against TikTok. These are the things that our kids are on. They're saying the algorithm that this app has is designed by purpose, by intent, to make them addicted. In fact, they have on record one of the executives saying something along the lines — and I paraphrase — that "we have to take away their opportunities." What does that mean? The report is there — anybody can find it on NPR, on their website. What opportunities? Opportunities of eating, drinking, sleeping. They shouldn't be communicating. They shouldn't make eye contact with people. These are the things that our kids are addicted to. First world problems.

How much of our time goes by? It should be that when so many facilities are given to a person — you don't need to worry about washing the clothes, you just put it in the washer. Do we wash our clothes by our hands? Does it take us hours? A week? Washing our clothes by our hands? No — you put it in the washer, five minutes. Take it out of the washer, put it in the dryer. Okay, maybe you have to spend some time folding the clothes. That's it.

Food — you're too tired to make food? You just order food, it comes delivered right to your door. Too many dishes piled up? Use the dishwasher. You don't need to go miles to get clean water — open the tap, water comes. You don't have to worry about whether you're going to have electricity tonight or not. Open the switch. Never does it happen in our minds: do I know if I flip the switch, will the light turn on? We don't ever think about that — because it's expected. If I flip on the switch, the lights are going to come on. In the morning it gets hot — open the air conditioning. At night it gets cold — open the heating.

When so much ni'mah is given, the expectation is that you then use that extra time to worship Allah. That's the expectation.

The Prophet's Simple Life — A Lesson in Perspective

One time the Prophet ﷺ was laying down on his bedding — he had different beddings in the different homes. In Aisha's رضي الله عنها home, for example, he had one bedding. In the home of Hafsa رضي الله عنها, he had a different bedding. So one of the beddings he had was a straw mat. As he was laying down, Umar رضي الله عنه came — and as he got up, the marks from that straw mat left an impression on the side of the Prophet ﷺ. And we're talking not about the early Meccan period — we're talking about the Medinan period.

And Umar رضي الله عنه began to tear up and cry: Ya Rasulallah, the kings of Persia, the kings of the Byzantine Empire — they have such luxuries. And you are the Messenger of Allah, and this is the state that you live in?

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4913; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1479)

The Nabi ﷺ came and struck his chest: "O Ibn al-Khattab, do you still not understand? The dunya is made for them — it has been hastened for them. The akhira is what's made for us."

The Weeping of Abdurrahman ibn Awf

One time Abdurrahman ibn Awf رضي الله عنه — from the Ashara Mubashara — this is in later times after the Prophet ﷺ passed away, when a lot of wealth had come into Medina al-Munawwara. As he was about to eat — he was fasting that day — as he was about to break his fast and eat, he remembered the time in which he was living with the Prophet ﷺ, where there wasn't enough to eat sometimes.

And he remembered Mus'ab ibn Umayr رضي الله عنه — he passed away in the Battle of Uhud. There was not enough cloth to cover his body during his burial. So if they were to cover his head, his feet would be exposed. And if they were to cover his feet, his face would be exposed. So the Prophet ﷺ said: cover his face and use some leaves to cover his feet, and bury him.

He remembered those days. He started to weep, started to cry. And he said: I can't eat this anymore. He couldn't eat.

We constantly watch whatever is going on — does it ever happen that we say to ourselves: you know what, I just can't stomach this. I can't eat today. This has bothered me so much. I'm going to wake up tonight in tahajjud and make du'a to Allah. I'm going to make sure that I wake up for Fajr. Let me make some extra du'a. I have so much ni'mah from Allah. These are the things that we have to be thinking about.

A Call to Seriousness — For Ourselves and Our Children

It shouldn't be that we're in a perpetual vicious cycle. What's going to happen to our kids? They're going to become even worse. They're going to forget. If this is our state — that we're living our lives with such negligence — what do you think is going to happen to our kids? They're already addicted to all kinds of — Allah knows what. May Allah protect.

We have to take this seriously, my dear respected brothers and sisters, whoever is listening. We have to take this very, very seriously.

May Allah grant us tawfiq to understand this. May Allah change us, change our lives, change our families for the better, so that we are ready and prepared for the Day of Judgement — when we have to stand in front of Allah and answer to Allah. Alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin.

Announcements

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And again, we always remember our Muslim brothers and sisters — from within our community here and across the globe — whatever they are going through, whether it's illness, death, whatever it may be. Especially those brothers and sisters of ours that are in Palestine. May Allah grant them aafiyah. May Allah protect them. May Allah help them. May Allah change our condition as well. And we say: Alhamdulillahi rabbil 'alamin.

Second Khutbah

Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah. Nahmaduhu wa nasta'inuhu wa nastaghfiruhu wa nu'minu bihi wa natawakkalu 'alayhi. Wa na'udhu billahi min shururi anfusina wa min sayyi'ati a'malina. Man yahdihillahu fala mudhillalah, wa man yudlilhu fala hadiyalah. Nashadu an la ilaha illallah wa nashadu anna sayyidana wa mawlana Muhammadan 'abduhu wa rasuluhu. Amma ba'd.

Allah عزَّ وجلَّ says in His noble Book — after seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

And Allah says regarding the story of Sulaiman عليه السلام:

"This is from the favour of my Lord — to test me whether I will be grateful or ungrateful. And whoever is grateful, his gratitude is only for his own benefit. And whoever is ungrateful — then indeed, my Lord is Self-Sufficient, Most Generous."

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17410)

"Beware of over-indulgence in comfort."

I say this and I seek forgiveness from Allah for myself and for you and for all the Muslims — so seek His forgiveness. Indeed He is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Du'a

O servants of Allah, may Allah have mercy on you — indeed Allah commands justice and goodness and giving to relatives, and He forbids immorality and wrongdoing and transgression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

Remember Allah, the Most High and Magnificent. Remember Allah, the Most High and Magnificent — He will remember you. Call upon Him and He will respond to you. And the remembrance of Allah is indeed the greatest. And Allah knows what you do.

Aqim al-salat. Allahu Akbar.