Surah Al-Kahf | Part 8 Ayahs 29-31 | Mawlana Ahsan Syed | Weekly Tafsir

Surah Al-Kahf | Part 8 | Ayahs 29–31

بسم الله والحمد لله والصلاة والسلام على حبيب الله سيدنا ومولانا محمد ابن عبد الله وعلى آله وصحبه ومن والاه أما بعد

Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says in His glorious Book, after seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan:

Recap: Keeping Company with Those Who Remember Allah

In the last ayah that we covered last week, Allah said to the Prophet ﷺ that you should adopt the company of those who remember Allah day and night:

Adopt the company of those individuals. The command Allah gave to the Prophet ﷺ was that he should adopt the company of those who remember Allah day and night — individuals who recite the Qur'an, who understand the Qur'an, who are there to learn the Qur'an, who try to get closer to Allah through the guidance of the Qur'an. Mufti Hassan, mashallah, said it very beautifully: many of us know a couple of surahs of the Qur'an and that's the extent of our knowledge of the Qur'an. Those are the surahs that we read in the prayer; maybe if Allah gives us tawfiq we know the translation, maybe we don't — but that's the limit of our knowledge of the Qur'an.

The fact of the matter is the whole Qur'an is revealed from Allah and the whole Qur'an serves as guidance for mankind. And of course, a person will not be able to truly understand and appreciate the Qur'an without the guidance of the Prophet ﷺ, because the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet ﷺ.

Ayah 29: "Say, the Truth is from Your Lord"

Allah commanded the Prophet ﷺ: be with them. If you want to know what the truth is, if you want to know what falsehood is, if you want to know the right path, the path that leads to Jannah, the path that leads to Jahannam — everything is laid out and clarified. And so now the next ayah begins with: qul — a command: say, O Muhammad ﷺ — al-haqqu min rabbikum — the truth is from your Lord. Every single thing that you are bringing, it is all the truth and it is coming from your Lord. Everything is clarified. In Urdu there is a statement: doodh ka doodh, pani ka pani — every single thing is clear and separated. If you want to know the right path, here it is. If you want to know what the path to Jahannam is, here it is — we've clarified it for you.

So now: fa man sha'a fal yu'min — whoever wants, let him believe. Wa man sha'a fal yakfur — and whoever wants, let him disbelieve. Now, for those studying Arabic: you know that fal yu'min is coming from li yu'min and fal yakfur is from li yakfur. The lam there is for amr — a command. But the command sometimes comes to order the person to do something and sometimes the command has a different meaning. In this case, the meaning is not: "you are free — if you want to believe go ahead, if you don't, no problem, it's all good." That is not the meaning here.

The best example I can give: sometimes when parents get upset and their child keeps insisting on doing something they've been told not to do, the parent says, "Okay, go ahead and do it." Any individual who understands knows that's not permission being given — that's a warning, that's a threat. "Go ahead and do it — you'll see what will happen afterwards." That is what is happening here. Fa man sha'a fal yu'min wa man sha'a fal yakfur — and how do we know that's the meaning? Because of what follows: inna a'tadna lil-zalimeen nara — indeed We have prepared for the wrongdoers, for the transgressors, a fire. That is the dalil, the evidence that fal yakfur is not an option in the sense that "go ahead, there's no repercussion." No — there will be repercussion.

Hukum Takweeni and Hukum Tashri'i

Here I want to add a side point. The command of Allah is of two types. One we call Hukum Takweeni and the other is Hukum Tashri'i.

Hukum Takweeni is that command of Allah that runs the universe — the command of Allah that happens where no one has a choice: the way we're born, how we look, what happens in the universe, rain coming down and so on and so forth. These are all part of Hukum Takweeni where we don't have any option or any choice. Calamities that befall us — sometimes we do not have control over them.

Then you have Hukum Tashri'i — that command which Allah directs to His servants: "This is what I command you to do." In that, human beings have the option — they have ikhtiar. Ikhtiar in the sense that you can choose to follow that command or you can choose not to follow it. But it's not optional in the sense that there are no consequences — it is a choice where Allah has given you the freedom to decide, however it is made known that if you choose this, this is what's going to happen, and if you choose that, this is what's going to happen. That is your choice. That's why if you follow the command there is reward, and if you don't follow the command there is punishment. The reward and punishment exist because the human being has a choice. Otherwise if there's no choice, there would be no need for reward and punishment.

You hear very often: "We're majboor" — we don't have a choice. If somebody has an anger issue and gets mad all the time and says "I'm majboor, I don't have control over it" — no, you do have an option. There are ways, there are steps you can take to help control that anger. Don't give that excuse.

There was one individual who came to a Shaykh with questions — but his actual purpose behind the questions was not to learn; it was to impose his own views and criticize. He said: "If jinn are created from fire, how are they going to be punished in Jahannam? Jahannam is fire and the jinn is created from fire — how will they be punished?" And his second question was: "We don't have control over what we do, so why are we going to be punished and rewarded? If everything is written by Allah, that means we don't have an option — so why am I punished for it?"

So the Shaykh — and although this is not something we would do today; if you have a question you ask and inshallah we'll try to answer — he took some dirt and hit him with it, and blood started coming down. The man said, "What did you do this for?" The Shaykh replied, "I don't have any control, I'm majboor." The man realized: yes, we do have an option. And at the same time, it answered the first question: even though the man was created from dirt, the dirt that hit him caused him to bleed, it caused him pain. So likewise, even though Jahannam is made from fire and the jinn are also made from fire, those jinn that deserve Jahannam will go into Jahannam and Jahannam will be equally tormenting — just as dirt thrown on a person can hurt them.

The reality regarding the jinn is that their more dominant element is fire — it doesn't mean that's the only thing they're made from. Likewise, the more dominant element that the human being is made from is dirt. But Insan also has within him an element of fire — that's where the rage and anger comes from. There's an element of water, an element of air within Insan too. All of these different elements are within Insan, but the most dominant is dirt.

Taqdeer and the Knowledge of Allah

Insan is not majboor in what he can or cannot do — he has the choice. When we talk about the Taqdeer of Allah, it basically means that Allah has knowledge of every single thing that Insan does, and His knowledge is perfect. We, because we are confined to time and space, have no other option but to look at things from within time and space. That is something where Hukum Takweeni of Allah is at work — we don't have control over that; we are made in such a way that we are confined to time and space. Allah created time and space — time and space are creation of Allah. For Allah, there is no such thing as something was, something is, something will be. For Allah it is simply there.

We have to think based on time: something happened in the past, something is happening right now, something will happen in the future — who will go into Jannah, who will go into Jahannam. But in Allah's knowledge it's not something that's going to happen — it's already there. Those who are supposed to be in Jannah, those who will be in Jahannam — they're already there in the knowledge of Allah, because Allah is not confined by time and space. The true reality of what that means, of course, we as Insan are not able to truly grasp. These are our limitations. But if you really think about it: Adam alayhis salam was there, the prophets came, they're gone — but for Allah, it's not like that. It's all in front of Allah. Again, it's a little difficult for us to understand these things, because our mind is confined, our knowledge and our intellect are limited.

So fa man sha'a fal yu'min wa man sha'a fal yakfur is related to the Tashri'i. Yes, you are supposed to believe in Allah, you have been given all the evidences, every single thing has been provided to you. Allah has made those faculties within you to recognize Allah. That's why very often when Allah talks about the heavens and the earth, He also mentions:

Do they not think about this? Do they not ponder over the Qur'an? We have given you the faculty of knowledge for you to recognize Allah — that's what it's there for. It's strange — subhanAllah — I often say, you take any of these subjects, whether it's biology or chemistry: if they're studied and taught with a proper framework they help you recognize Allah. How can you have something so complex within something so simple? There are layers of complexity, yet there is simplicity in it — it's garbed with simplicity. You take Insan — I look so simple: two eyes, two ears, a mouth and nose. But subhanAllah, look at the complexity that goes within it. The ears — there are small little bones within the ears, there's an eardrum, how it takes the sound in. It's a 'ajeeb if you really think about it — how sound travels and how it reaches your ear, how that allows you to hear. SubhanAllah. Your eyes — I don't have a background in these things, but just a little bit that we studied in high school and in college — how the eye functions, how light enters the eye, how it sends that message to the brain, how it's reversed, how you perceive color. It's 'ajeeb, subhanAllah. And all of that, if a person truly ponders over it, they'll recognize: subhanAllah, there's a Creator behind all of that.

If I were to tell you that in this area — those who know this area know — there was nothing here. Just last week a brother said there was a dog pound here. And I said, subhanAllah, over time the masjid just came to be. But nobody thinks: "Oh, it must have just come about on its own." Nobody questions it that way. We all recognize: there must have been a lot of thought put into the construction of something so beautiful, something so magnificent. Just for example — the calligraphy that you see within the dome — how much time must have been put in making sure that the measurements are all aligned properly! I remember when I was studying in Elgin, the masjid was being built, and there was a lady who came to do certain designs on the walls and on the pillars, and the amount of time and precision that she was spending — everything had to be completely precise. For someone to say "oh it was just done by itself" doesn't make sense. Doesn't make sense. So here also — the creation that you see, it is created by Allah — and all the faculty is given to you to recognize Allah.

What happens is we get so preoccupied by our worldly affairs. We're just so preoccupied in that that we don't take time to think about these things. That's why sometimes you'll meet individuals who go hiking, who go camping — they're not Muslims — but if you speak to them you'll notice a little difference in their speech compared to other individuals. They have a sense of spirituality. And perhaps if somebody were to just tell them about Allah, maybe that's enough for them to recognize: yes, there is Allah. Just last Friday after Jumu'ah, one individual wanted to speak to me — he had converted to Islam. After speaking to him for a little bit he told me: "I studied all the different religions — nothing made sense to me the way Islam made sense." So sometimes it's just a little push that's needed. And there are different factors when it comes to people accepting Islam. Sometimes what it is, is an individual looks at a person's akhlaq — the conduct of the individual — and says: "If this is how a Muslim is, I want to be like that too."

Those who say Islam was spread by the sword — subhanAllah — lands may have been conquered, but people were never forced to accept Islam. When the people saw — in fact there are narrations that individuals were given the option — and in the farther lands outside of Arabia, many individuals were living within the Islamic government who had not accepted Islam and they enjoyed their rights. In the khilafah of Umar r.a., there were Christians, there were Jews, there were even fire worshippers living in these lands, free to worship. There were certain limitations, but they were free to worship. And look at Imam Bukhari rahimahullah — his forefathers accepted Islam; they were not forced into Islam. The evidence that they were not forced is this: you would not produce people like Imam Bukhari who devoted their lives to the deen from families who were forced into Islam. If you are forced to accept Islam, you're going to have resentment, and that resentment carries on to the next generation. You couldn't produce people like Imam Bukhari, Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Abu Dawud, Imam al-Tirmidhi — who are from modern-day Uzbekistan and modern-day Afghanistan — if their forefathers were forced. No. Their forefathers saw the Muslims, they saw the Sahaba, and that was enough for them.

You see today, for example, in this country — individuals whose ancestors were enslaved — you see that within them even though it's been centuries, even though slavery has been abolished. Those sentiments are still there. They feel it. So similarly, we can understand: these individuals were not forced into Islam. It is a command of Allah that the faculties He has given you — use those faculties to recognize Him. All of these things are there for a person to recognize. And any person who thinks about Allah, who thinks about the creation, Allah says in the Qur'an he'll come to the conclusion and say:

Ya Allah, you didn't create this for no reason. This is not nonsense. This is Your creation. He'll be able to recognize that.

The Fire of Jahannam: Description and Warnings

So fa man sha'a fal yu'min wa man sha'a fal yakfur — inna a'tadna — We have prepared — lil-zalimeen — for the transgressors — naran — a fire. Ahaata bihim sura diquha — indeed We have prepared for the godless wrongdoers a fire whose enclosures shall encompass them from every side. Suradiq in Arabic actually refers to a large tent — and so when you're inside a tent it covers you from all over. That is the meaning coming here: whose enclosures shall encompass them from every side.

It comes in the hadith that Jahannam is surrounded by four walls and each wall is the distance of seventy years. It comes in another narration:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2842)

That Jahannam will be brought on that day — on the Day of Judgment — it will have seventy thousand zimam (chains), and each chain will be pulled by seventy thousand angels. It also comes in the hadith about the description of the fire of Jahannam — the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2591)

Once the fire of Jahannam was lit, it continued for a thousand years until it turned red. Then it was lit again and continued for a thousand years until its color changed into white. Then again for another thousand years until the color of Jahannam became dark. Right now it is completely dark. That is how hot the fire of Jahannam is.

The Food and Drink of the People of Jahannam

In this very ayah itself, in the description, Allah says: wa in yastaghithu — when they seek water. It comes in the other narrations: what will happen is the people of Jahannam, when they're in Jahannam, at some point in time they will be very hungry. Part of their punishment will be that there is no food. So out of that hunger they will ask for food, and so food will be brought:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4323)

Hunger will be placed upon the people of Jahannam, and so finally when they ask, they will be given dari' — a type of plant that is very bitter. They will not be able to eat it because of how bitter it is. So again they will ask for more food, and this time what will be given to them? Food that has thorns in it. But because of the extreme hunger they will have no other option but to eat it. When they eat it, those thorns will get stuck in their throat. When something gets stuck in your throat, you need some water. So they're going to ask for water:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2583)

They will ask for some drink. So hameem — burning boiling water — will be brought to them on iron hooks. When it gets close to their faces, it will burn their faces, it will roast their faces. When the water goes through their stomach, it will cut through and burn everything that is within them — their intestines, their stomach.

Then they will say: call the khazanat of Jahannam — call those who are in charge of Jahannam, the angels in charge. The khazanat will say: didn't messengers come to you with clear signs and evidences and proofs? They will say: yes, they did come. They will say: continue calling. But their calling will have no benefit. Who are they going to call? Finally they will say: call Malik — Malik is the name of the main guardian of Jahannam. His name is Malik. Allah mentions this in the Qur'an as well in Surah al-Zukhruf:

Ya Malik, tell Allah: let us end it, finish it. And so he will respond: No, you will remain here forever. This is Jahannam. It comes in some narrations — al-A'mash said: I was informed that between them calling Malik and Malik's response to them there is a thousand years. And to be very honest, even the thousand years that you see in these ahadith — some muhaddithun say they are there just for you to understand the length of time. Otherwise, will it actually be a thousand years? Allah knows. It could be more. That is Jahannam.

The Water of Jahannam: Molten Brass

And so here: wa in yastaghithu yughathu bima'in kal-muhl yashwi al-wujuh — when they seek water they will be given — yughathu is generally used in the normal sense of bringing water, but here it is being said in a sarcastic tone — they will be given water, but what type of water? Kal-muhl — that will be like muhl. In Arabic the word muhl has two possible meanings. One meaning is molten brass. Can you imagine molten brass? Sometimes you have to really sit and think. We read it, but do we actually realize it? Imagine if there's molten brass in front of you and somebody is asking you to take a sip of that. We can't fathom what that's like.

According to some grammarians and scholars — and this also comes in the hadith — al-muhl in Urdu we call it taljhat, in English we call it dregs — d-r-e-g-s. That is basically the sediment. You know if you're frying something, there's some sort of sediment that settles on the bottom of the pan — that is called muhl. And that happens when you're boiling the oil for a long time. So the idea here is boiling oil — the water will be like boiling oil. It comes in the narrations that when they bring the cup near their faces, their faces will melt just from the steam of that. Just from the steam.

Bi'sa al-sharab — what a wretched drink, what a woeful drink it will be. Wa sa'at murtafaqa — and what an evil place of repose it will be. Again here all of these words are being used sarcastically. Murtafaq literally comes from the word mirfaq — mirfaq means your elbow. Sometimes you use your elbow to recline on, to rest on. So murtafaq is used for a place of reclining, a place of rest. But here Allah is saying: this is your place of rest. What a wretched, what a horrible, what an evil place of repose — that is Jahannam.

Ayahs 30–31: The Reward of the Believers — Jannah

And where Allah speaks about the people of Jahannam, you will always see Allah also speaks about the people of Jannah. So right after this, Allah speaks about the people of Jannah. He says: inna alladhina amanu wa 'amilu al-salihat — inna la nudi'u ajra man ahsana 'amala — indeed those who believe and do righteous actions — indeed We will not waste the reward of one who perfected his actions. No action of yours that is done with ikhlas, that is done with iman, goes unnoticed by Allah. No action.

Doing Everything for the Sake of Allah

I say to the students: anything that you do, do it for the sake of Allah. Any action that you're doing can have multiple intentions, but the primary intention should be for the sake of Allah. For example, you're doing something for your parents — the primary intention should be for Allah, and then yes, part of the hukum of Allah is that you have to be good to your parents, serve your parents, do khidmah of your parents, but the primary intention should be for the sake of Allah.

There are two things with this. Number one: when your primary intention is for the sake of Allah, then the reward will be from Allah. Now are there times where you don't feel like doing khidmah? Anybody who's a child with parents — you know there are days where you don't feel like doing khidmah of your parents, there are days where you don't want to listen to what your parents have to say. But because it's the hukum of Allah, what do you do? You swallow it. When a person does whatever he does for the sake of Allah, he no longer looks at "do I feel like doing it or do I not feel like doing it?" Those of us who are married — you know there are days where you don't want to do the work around the house. But you know these are things you have to do. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3895)

The best of you are those who are the best to their family, and I am the best to my family. Now you have this hadith and you know how the Prophet ﷺ was with his family. So then you think: okay, I know I don't feel like doing this, but it is the Sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ, I have to do it. So even though you don't feel like doing it, you'll do it. Why? Because you made your primary goal and objective the pleasure of Allah.

Second: we are all human beings. We all have weaknesses. We don't have the kind of attention and focus and knowledge Allah has. Sometimes it happens — your spouse does something for you, your parents do something for you, your children do something for you — but you don't notice it. We don't realize it. A student came and brought some water — I did not see which student it was. It's our weakness. We're not able to know every single thing. Sometimes our spouse does something for us and it just goes unnoticed. This is our weakness. So when we do something for someone else, if our primary intention is for Allah, it will never go unnoticed by Allah. It will always go noticed. Even if people are not able to notice it.

What happens is when you make your primary intention the people — you will always be frustrated. "I do this for him, I do this for her, I do this for my parents, I do this for my children" — they don't have the capacity to recognize all of it. But if you do it for Allah, you will never be frustrated. Fine — he or she doesn't notice it. No problem. My Allah knows it.

How much will people notice? At most, anyone who notices will notice it until you are alive and they are alive. We remember and reminisce about those who have passed away. My grandfather rahimahullah — masha'Allah, all the time I remember what he taught me. But after I pass away — maybe I share these stories with my kids, but my kids don't know who my grandfather was. It's gone. Maybe I help some people here, maybe I do something good — people who were directly in contact with me will remember. But the generation that comes later? Who am I to them? I will simply become a gravestone on a plot of land: born this year, died this year. That's all it becomes.

But with Allah, the action that you do will always be remembered. "This servant of mine did this on this day at this time." Allah does not forget. Allah does not forget. So when you do any action, do it for the sake of Allah. And Allah is saying: We are not going to waste it. You do something for Us with iman and you do a good deed — We're not going to waste that action. Part of iman is ikhlas — that you did it believing in Allah and for the sake of Allah. And you did an action that is loved by Allah — that's why it's salih. We're not going to waste that action.

That's why I tell people — I have friends who were in masajid as Imam for ten years. After ten years something happened, the board changed, and they said: wa alaykum assalam, we don't need an Imam anymore, anybody can lead the prayer. One such friend was so devastated. He said: "I'm never going to do Imamah again." I said: look, you did it for the sake of Allah. I know it's painful — as part of being human we want validation, we do something and we want recognition. But your primary focus has to be Allah. You did it for the sake of Allah. No matter that they kick you out, no matter what they do to you — with Allah, your reward is preserved. You may not see it right now. We as human beings want instant gratification, we want the reward of what we do to be given to us right now. But you have to have sabr. Be patient.

That was the previous ayah — you have to be patient. With Allah, every action that you're doing is recorded. On Yawm al-Qiyamah it will come, it will be brought. As Allah says:

He does any good deed, he will see it. He does any evil, he will see it. It will be right there. We may forget. We don't even remember. But subhanAllah — on this day, at this time, you did this. What are we gonna say? What are we gonna say? Ya Allah. Allah protect us. Allah forgive us.

It reminds me — my grandfather rahimahullah used to love the poetry of Iqbal, and there was one Persian poem of his that he loved so much that he had it printed and distributed to relatives. The last two lines were:

Gar tumi bini hisabam na guzeel az nigah-e Mustafa ﷺ — inha biji.

"Ya Allah, if you really have to take my account — if you really have to take my hisab — then ya Allah, please don't do it in front of the Prophet ﷺ." That individual who sacrificed his whole life for the sake of the ummah — and now we're coming in front of him, and he's there watching, in front of the whole creation: "You did this on this day at this time. You did this on this day at this time." You don't even remember. All of that is there. All of that is recorded.

Alhamdulillah, we're living in a time where all of these things are actually realities. Everything that we do — there are cameras everywhere. People say: "How will everything be recorded by Allah? How will everything be presented?" Well, if you read it in a book — you know sometimes people write journals and look back and say "I don't remember doing this." Here: here's a video. You did this. It's not difficult for Allah. On this day you did this — here's a time stamp. Look, you want to see this? This is what you did. Alhamdulillah, nothing is difficult. So any good deed that the person does will not go to waste.

The Meaning of Ihsan

And the word Allah uses here — man ahsana 'amala — ahsana yuhsinu from the bab if'al — ahsana yuhsinu ihsan. One of the meanings of it is to make something perfect, to do something as perfect as possible. And it is true that human beings are not able to reach perfection. However, what is demanded from them is not perfection itself but to try their best — to aim for perfection. That's why in the Qur'an, when Allah speaks about parents, Allah says:

Do Ihsan with your parents — try your best to deal with them in the best manner possible. Why did Allah say ihsan and not repaying them in full? Because you cannot do full justice to your parents. The pain that your mother and father went through for your sake — how are you going to do justice to that? Even if you could quantify it: okay, in a span of X amount of years my father and mother spent this much money — even if you paid it back, it will not be the same. Because the quality of it will not be the same. The dollar that your father spent on you is not the same as you spending a dollar on your parent. The love and affection that they spent on you — you feel like you have to spend it back. For them, they don't even think of it as a debt. So Allah says: do ihsan with them — try your best to surpass, try your best to do as best as you can, because the fact of the matter is you won't be able to fulfill the true haqq of theirs.

Now I know there are cases where unfortunately there are situations of abuse. Whenever we talk about these things we do talk about it in a general sense, and I have to clarify this — because I remember one time I was asked to speak on this topic and afterwards one person came to me and started mentioning stories of what happened to him and others. I said: I know, I understand — when we talk about these things we talk about it in a more general sense. Are there cases where parents have done abuse on their children? Unfortunately, yes. With Allah they will be dealt with. But from our side, at the very least: forgive them. Ya Allah, forgive them. It could be hard. But forgive them. That is also better for us. Sometimes Allah gives you comfort, sometimes Allah gives you contentment in place of that forgiveness.

It comes in a hadith where one Sahabi came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "Ya Rasulallah, such-and-such relative of mine — every time I try to join ties they break it. Every time I try to do good to them they do bad to me." Rasulullah ﷺ said: continue doing good. If what you're saying is true, then they will have to face it on the Day of Judgment. But you are clean, you are clear. That will be reward for you. From your side, you try to do it. So: inna la nudi'u ajra man ahsana 'amala — one who tries to perfect his action, Allah will not waste it.

The Gardens of Jannah

For them — ula'ika lahum jannatu 'adn — these are those for whom there are gardens of everlasting abode. 'Adn here means everlasting, forever. That's something — Allahu Akbar — how do you understand everlasting? How do you understand infinity? Human beings cannot understand. But you will be in paradise forever. Once you enter paradise there's no coming out — you're there forever. And in other places in the Qur'an, Allah says:

Indeed the residents of Jannah they will be occupied in luxury and comfort. No sort of tiredness will come to them. That also shows us: sometimes if a person is living in constant luxury he says "I'm bored, I need something new." There's no boredom in Jannah. Once you enter Jannah you're sitting in your palace and you say: I don't like the color of this, I want to change — it's done. You don't have to hire anybody. You don't have to do it yourself. It's done. Today I feel like eating whatever — you want biryani? All biryani is there. Best biryani. Chicken biryani, lamb biryani. No worry about cholesterol. No worry about diabetes. You eat what you want. Allahu Akbar.

This life — there are limits. Everything has to be done with moderation. Allah says:

Eat and drink — but it has to be halal and you have to take care of your health. I say this first to myself. Once you enter Jannah: oh, no problem. You want to eat as much chocolate as you want? Go ahead. No worries about sugar. You want to eat meat? Red meat? No problem. Whatever you want, as you want it — it's there. This is paradise. Allahu Akbar. You can't imagine.

No human being can even imagine. You start to imagine: okay, this is how paradise may be. Then you have to remind yourself: no, paradise is even greater than that. Sometimes some people ask: "If paradise really has such amazing things, how come Allah talks about fruits that we know — like grapes? Why is Allah mentioning grapes?" The thing is, even the fruits that are mentioned in the Qur'an regarding Jannah are there because Insan naturally is disinclined to things he has no idea about. But things that are familiar — you feel comfortable. Everybody knows apples and grapes and oranges. But you go to the grocery store and you see a dragon fruit: I don't know what this is. Or a rambutan — it's like a lychee. You look at it like: "Oh, this looks like some sort of alien species. My forefathers never heard of this, I don't want it." But for Allah's sake you eat it and you enjoy it, subhanAllah. Different parts of the world have different things. So Allah mentions those things that you're familiar with. Could there be in Jannah things you've never seen, never tasted? Yes. Allah doesn't mention it. Why? Because if Allah mentions something you've never seen or tasted, you'd say: I don't know what this is. But when you go there you'll see — subhanAllah — palaces. It comes in the hadith that one home could be made out of a single pearl — carved into it the person's home — large bricks of gold and silver, rubies and diamonds, gems you've never seen. The shine within them, the illumination within them — nothing in this world can compare.

Each individual in Jannah will be young — no such thing as old age. And when I say young I don't mean the young of today's generation. Today we say young and people have all sorts of pains. No — the young of Jannah. No pain. Nothing to worry about. Rivers flowing beneath them — Allah says tajri min tahtihim al-anhar. What does that mean, rivers flowing? It means they need to have full control over them. Even Fir'aun said the same thing — as it's mentioned in the Qur'an:

"I have full control, I have full dominion over this — even the rivers flow beneath me." But for the people of Jannah, that will truly be the case. Whatever you want to drink — it's presented. And they will be adorned with bracelets of gold. Gold in the dunya is haram on men. Now somebody can say: "Because I've never worn gold in my life, won't I feel some discomfort?" It comes in some ahadith that the gold bracelets that a person will wear will extend to where he used to make wudu. And so your whole arm will be full of bracelets of gold.

It comes in one narration that Abu Hurayra r.a. took the narration literally — and the Tabi'un used to see that when he would make wudu he would make wudu up until here. Although that's not the Sunnah, it was something that affected him so much he made it his practice. And when he was asked why, he said: so that I can increase the light, the illumination. It comes in the hadith that on the Day of Judgment — the Prophet ﷺ was once with the Sahaba visiting the martyrs, the shuhada of Uhud, and the Prophet ﷺ said: "I wish I could see our brothers." The Sahaba said: "Ya Rasulallah, aren't we your brothers?" He said: "No, you are my ashab — you are my companions. My brothers are those who will come later." They said: "Ya Rasulallah, how will you recognize your brothers?" He said: "You know a person who owns a horse that is dark in color and on its forehead it has ghurra muhajjal — a white stripe, and on its feet it also has white — if that horse is put among other horses that are all just one color, one dark color, will he be able to recognize his own horse?" "Yes, of course." He said: "Likewise, on the Day of Judgment the believers — their limbs will shine because of the wudu that they used to perform in the dunya. Their faces will shine, their hands will shine, their feet will shine."

And so in Jannah also it will not feel uncomfortable — that will be the environment. You see, if you've ever seen portraits of the kings of the past, even some Muslim kings — the Mughal emperors, the Turkish Sultans — you see the kind of decor they wore, the kind of clothing. It was part of the environment. When you're in Jannah, that will be the environment — these are your clothes: bracelets and bangles of gold, clothing of green of both sundus and istabraq. Sundus is a lighter fabric of silk and istabraq is a thicker, coarser type of garment. He translates it as fine sarsenet and rich brocade.

Reclining on their ara'ik — ara'ik is the plural of arika. Think of it like a bed or throne that has a canopy on top. They shall recline therein on canopied couches — and they're not small. Oh no — they're top-notch, they're of Jannah. Canopied, reclining — they will not have the sun in their eyes. They will be under shade. Here it's cold — subhanAllah, we feel a little discomfort, our hands are cold. There it won't be so hot that you're sweating, it won't be so cold that you're shivering. It's perfect temperature. Here you have to worry — the husband feels cold, the wife is feeling hot. You have beds with separate temperature gauges now, separate thickness controls. But over there — it's automatic. Don't worry. Everything is already designed to your preference. What you like, what you desire — everything is there.

The Short Life of this Dunya and Striving for Jannah

But this short life that we have — ayyuhal ikhwa, I say this to myself too — you have to follow the commandments of Allah. Even if you don't like it. Even if it's difficult. You have to follow it if you want to see that Jannah. You have to strive for that Jannah. You have to strive for it in this dunya. This is the law of this dunya: if you want to get anything you have to sacrifice. You want to get to the top position — do you sacrifice? That person who is not ready to sacrifice for anything related to this life — what is he going to expect? Not very much.

Except that in this dunya it is possible that maybe you didn't sacrifice, but the people before you sacrificed — your parents sacrificed, your grandparents sacrificed — and because of the barakah of them you're enjoying it. That's possible in this dunya. But in the hereafter, your entry and your admission into Jannah will be based on your actions. No individual will bear the burden of another. There's no idea of somebody sacrificing his blood for you. No — you will be put on the spot. Your actions. You do good. You try to strive.

It is possible that sometimes our forefathers did more — they were able to wake up for tahajjud, they were able to recite more Qur'an. But we tried. We tried. So Allah regarding them says too — those children who didn't reach that level — Allah will even bring the children of the people of Jannah and place them in the same rank. Even though they don't deserve that rank. Why? For your sake. So you strive. We have to strive. We have to work hard.

The fact of the matter is this life is very short. We're here today. We're not going to be here one day. Every day you hear: so-and-so has passed away, so-and-so has passed. One day is going to come where your name is going to be there — it's a reality. That's a fact. No one from any religion can deny it. Even the atheists will have to say: yes, one day I have to die. It's just that they're in speculation about what's going to happen after. Here — al-Sadiq al-Masduq, the Prophet ﷺ, has informed us: this is what's going to happen. And we believe. We have to work for that.

Ni'ma al-thawab — what a wonderful reward, what a commendable reward. And over there, where Allah spoke about Jahannam, He said wa sa'at murtafaqa — here Allah is saying: wa hasunat murtafaqa — what a beautiful place of comfort, what a most excellent place of repose. That is what is awaiting us. So for the time that we're here, we have to work hard. Our nafs tells us to do something against the command of Allah — just control it. Look: I have something waiting. For those who are not waiting for anything in the hereafter, this dunya is their paradise — go ahead, do what you want. But for those who want what is awaiting them there — strive, struggle, sacrifice for the sake of Allah.

Du'a

Allah grant us tawfiq. Allah protect us from the fire of Jahannam. Allah allow us to enter into Jannah without any hisab. Develop within us the love. Give us the tawfiq to sacrifice for the sake of Allah.

Ya Allah, forgive our sins. Ya Allah, whatever sins we may have committed — whether they are small, whether they are big, whether they were committed in front of people or committed in private — Ya Allah forgive all of those sins. Ya Allah, You are Most Forgiving. Ya Allah forgive us.

Ya Allah, whatever our needs may be — whatever our individual needs, whatever our communal needs, whatever this ummah needs — Ya Allah, we ask, we beg that You fulfill all of those needs. Ya Allah, whether we are in financial difficulty or in difficulty related to our families — whatever they may be — Ya Allah we ask that You help us. Ya Allah, give us tawfiq to sacrifice for Your sake. Ya Allah, rectify our intentions. Ya Allah, show us the straight path. Ya Allah, guide us to the straight path.

Ya Allah, allow the rest of whatever our life may be to go in Your worship, to such an extent that when the final minute comes, when the final hour comes, when our soul is being removed from our body — Ya Allah, allow us to die in a state of iman, in a state where we are saying La ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulallah.

Ya Allah, make all the stages that come after — death, the grave, the Day of Judgment — Ya Allah make all of that easy. Grant us Your shade on the Day of Judgment. Ya Allah, allow us to enter into Jannah without any hisab. Ya Allah, accept whatever little we do. Ya Allah, grant us tawfiq to do more.