Embracing The Weight Of Steadfastness: A Divine Command

The Weight of Responsibility

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

I'm sure all of us can relate to a time in our lives where we were given a responsibility. We were given a burden, and on first glance, that burden seems such that it's just an insurmountable, impossible task. And it's a burden, it's a responsibility that blows you off your feet. At some point you felt a responsibility, whether it was your first day of class — as I'm sure many of you have felt — coming into the first year thinking that by the end of the year I'm expected to know Arabic, speak Arabic, write Arabic.

Maybe it was your first day of hifz, struggling on Surah al-Mutaffifin, knowing that one day I have to be a hafiz of all 30. Maybe it was something with your family, suddenly becoming responsible for a family member. But a burden that you consider completely beyond you, a burden that completely staggers you.

The Surah That Aged the Prophet ﷺ

On one occasion the Sahaba asked Nabi ﷺ — they said, Ya Rasulullah ﷺ, your hair's gone gray. You're starting to show white hair. And so Rasulullah ﷺ said: Surah Hud and the other surahs, the sister surahs of Surah Hud, have made my hair gray. They've given me this age. As other narrations mention those other surahs. But the point is that this surah was very difficult — it was a burden on Nabi ﷺ.

And so what is in the surah? We start the surah — there is a brief discussion of the aqidah, the basic aqidah, and then that segues into the discussion of those that accept those aqidah and those that don't accept those beliefs. What is the condition and the description of those that accept iman? And what is the description of those that do not accept iman? There's a whole page that discusses the qualities and the halat of those people that are non-Muslim.

After that, Allah goes into story after story after story, exemplifying those conditions. That these kuffar — they were invited. Da'wah was given to them.

Nuh ﷺ comes to his people. He gives them da'wah, he calls them. They deny him. And so Allah sends down His 'adhab and destroys them. The next qawm comes. The da'wah is given. Denial, destruction. Da'wah, denial, destruction. Again and again and again, story after story. Qawm of Nuh, qawm of 'Aad, qawm of Saleh, qawm of Madyan, qawm of Lut. Again and again. Fir'aun at the end. Destruction, destruction, destruction, destruction. 'Adhab after 'adhab.

It's a difficult read, Surah Hud — in the sense that it's very heavy on the heart. There's a small break in the middle where it talks about Ibrahim ﷺ and the good news he receives regarding his child. But beyond that, it's difficult to go through.

The Ayah That Caused the Gray Hair

Near the end of the surah, Allah then comes back to discussing the kuffar — that you're going to come to a point where you've given them the da'wah, you've given them everything you can. And after that, if they don't want to accept, that's on them. But there are guidelines for you, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

And so Allah, I just want to read from one passage in which Allah says:

Rasulullah ﷺ is now given this responsibility: you, O Rasulullah ﷺ, you have to stay on the straight path. Forget what everyone else is doing. You have a responsibility to yourself. فَاسْتَقِمْ — there is shaitan out there, there is nafs in here. But you have to stay on the path that Allah has guided you towards.

وَمَن تَابَ مَعَكَ — and those that also accepted with you, the Sahaba that made tawbah from their kufr, from their shirk, they also have that responsibility of staying on that straight path. وَلَا تَطْغَوْا — and don't you transgress from our guidelines. Don't come out of our boundaries. We have guidelines, we have a lesson for you, we have everything planned out. وَلَا تَطْغَوْا — don't transgress from what Allah has guided you towards.

And so this is an incredible responsibility. You yourself have to stay on the straight path. You have to ignore everything that's going on around you. إِنَّهُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ بَصِيرٌ — everything that you're doing, Allah is keenly aware of it. And so don't you dare step out of bounds.

Ibn Kathir al-'Ayni — who we know as the famous mufassir of the Ummah — actually mentions that it wasn't the whole of Surah Hud. It was this ayah. It was this ayah that caused that stress to Nabi ﷺ that aged him.

Allah is keenly aware of every single thing you're doing. And so you have this incredible responsibility that's put upon Nabi ﷺ — insurmountable, as we mentioned, that blows you off your feet.

How to Fulfill This Obligation: The Guidelines

Thereafter Allah mentions a few ayahs that explain how you can best fulfill this obligation. كَمَا أُمِرْتَ — O Messenger of Allah ﷺ, you have to do this as you were told. There's no leeway for laxity. There's no gunjaish. You have to do it. Allah commanded it — go for it. But with that, Allah gives some nasihat on how it can be done.

First Guideline: Do Not Incline Toward the Oppressors

Allah mentions: don't incline towards those that have oppressed. You have your deen, you have your religion. Don't start to stray and go in towards the other direction. And this لَا تَرْكَنُوا is the same as the other ayah on zina:

Allah doesn't say don't do zina. He says don't go close to it. Don't take any step in that direction. وَلَا تَقْرَبُوا — don't even go close to that direction. Forget about the sin. Nothing on the path should be in your life.

And so in the same manner Allah says, وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا — He's not saying don't become the الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا, don't become the oppressors. He's saying don't even incline towards them. Don't even feel any sort of comfort with them.

We often hear the hadith:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4031)

If you resemble a people, then you are amongst them. And it's very serious if you stop to think about what Allah is saying. You want to resemble a people, you want to be like them? You want to be like the kuffar? On the Day of Qiyamah, if you think that you're going to be raised as a Muslim — you spent your life doing everything that a kafir does — don't kid yourself. مَنْ تَشَبَّهَ بِقَوْمٍ فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ — if you're going to act and behave and speak and eat and dress like a non-Muslim, then know that you will be raised فَهُوَ مِنْهُمْ. That's who you are.

And so لَا تَرْكَنُوا — don't incline towards them — includes all those things we mentioned: your clothes, your food, your manner of speech, your vocabulary, your mindset, your priorities, your choices. All of the things that we do have to be completely different from what the kuffar do. And that's actually matlub in shari'ah — that you actually, not just avoid what they're doing, but you should actually be going the other direction. You have a loyalty to Allah, you have a loyalty to righteousness.

Because if you don't — وَلَا تَرْكَنُوا إِلَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا فَتَمَسَّكُمُ النَّارُ — if you incline in that direction, then the fire is not just going to be on them, it's going to catch you as well. You won't be away from it.

And so many times when we say "I'm not making an effort to resemble them, I'm not trying to be like them, it just ends up happening" — that's not enough for us. For us, for people that want to be amongst the Muslims, not only are we trying to avoid the resemblance to the kuffar, we're actually trying to resemble the people of khayr. We're trying to resemble the awliya, those that are close to Allah. And so it's not enough to just say, "I wasn't trying to resemble them." You have to actively avoid it.

When the Sahaba would say to Nabi ﷺ, رَاعِنَا — they would say that word — it's an expression of love and a desire for nasihat and talab for khayr. They're asking Nabi ﷺ because they want goodness. In their language, رَاعِنَا is from ri'ayah — to take care of us and guide us. But in that time, living alongside the Jews, in their language it meant something else — something derogatory. And so the Yahud would also repeat those words with the intention of that derogatory meaning.

And so the Sahaba were saying it — not with the intention of resembling the Yahud. They had good intentions. But because it resembled something negative: لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا — don't say it. What you're doing is good, but it's resembling them. So get out of it. لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انظُرْنَا — say something else. You can achieve the same purpose with an alternative.

And so that's very important as a Muslim. It's not enough to say "I wasn't trying to be like them." You have to actively find alternatives. Actively live your life as a Muslim. We're talking about istiqamah — staying on the right path. This is step number one.

وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاءَ ثُمَّ لَا تُنصَرُونَ — where Allah says that if you do end up going in that direction as mentioned, there is that fire. وَمَا لَكُم مِّن دُونِ اللَّهِ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاءَ — and you won't find any help on that side. We have accepted Allah as our one Rabb, as the one who is in control of everything. If you go astray, if you find yourself somewhere else, know that you won't find anyone else. You won't find any help. ثُمَّ لَا تُنصَرُونَ — when it comes time for Allah's decision to pass, you won't find anyone else to protect you. You won't find anyone else to help you.

Second Guideline: Establish the Salah

Thereafter Allah continues, and so the next guideline mentioned in these ayahs:

Allah says to establish your salah at all times of the day. وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ — at all times of the day, in the portions of the day, in the portions of the night. And so our salah is going to be the second source of us staying on istiqamah. The second source of our islah.

But when is that islah going to happen? Our salah — we all pray salah. And we all have some difficulties that we go through. We might have sins in our life, we might have deficiencies. Is the salah not enough? The salah will become enough when you pray salah as the Quran has told you to pray salah. And I don't mean in the sense that you're reading four rak'ahs for Dhuhr and two rak'ahs for Fajr — because that's not what the Quran talks about. The Quran talks about أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ — establish your salah.

And so when your salah is enforced in the manner that the Quran mentions, that's when it will fulfill its purpose. And the purpose mentioned in this ayah is back to that istiqamah — it will keep you on that path, on condition that you enforce your salah. You don't just pray your salah and get it over with. You enforce it. And enforcing it and establishing your salah will entail all of the sunnah, all of the wajibat.

Particularly what's mentioned directly in this ayah — أَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ طَرَفَيِ النَّهَارِ وَزُلَفًا مِّنَ اللَّيْلِ — pray your salah on time. There's a reason to it. There's a reason why Allah specifically mentions the times. You're supposed to pray your salah on time. There's no reason to delay. And that delay will cause the salah to not fulfill its purpose. You're not praying the salah as it was meant to be enforced. You're not establishing the salah anymore if you're not praying it on time. And the purpose of that salah was to give you that istiqamah, to give you that islah, to reform yourself. If you're not praying the salah as it's meant to be prayed, you're not reforming yourself — you're not going to have the benefits of istiqamah.

Allah continues: إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّاكِرِينَ — know that not only will salah continue to guide you, continue to keep you on the good path, but it will actively remove your sins. إِنَّ الْحَسَنَاتِ يُذْهِبْنَ السَّيِّئَاتِ — good deeds in general will continue to cleanse a person. We know that:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 233)

The five times salah, the Jumu'ahs — they are kaffarahs, they are expiations for everything that is taking place between them. And all of the sins, all of the mistakes that happen on the path.

And so in these two ayahs that we've mentioned — we've mentioned لَا تَرْكَنُوا, don't incline towards them, and we've mentioned salah — in this you have the main fundamentals of Islam: your iman and your 'ibadat. It's your dedication to Allah and your expression of that through your action and your behavior. And so these are your two fundamentals. This is where your istiqamah is. ذَٰلِكَ ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّاكِرِينَ — Allah mentions: this is a guide and a lesson for those who are willing to remember and take that lesson.

Third Guideline: Sabr — Patience

And then Allah continues — and that monumental task, right? We talked about this in the beginning. Incredibly difficult. It's not going to be easy. It was never meant to be easy.

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2822)

Jannah was surrounded by difficulties. If it was easy, it wouldn't be a test. That wouldn't be the purpose for which Allah created it. And so Allah has created the dunya such that it will be difficult. There will be a need for sabr.

There is a need for sabr — sabr in the sense of sabr 'ala ta'ah. There has to be a level of patience when you have to do what you have to do. You have to wake up early in the morning. That's sabr 'ala ta'ah. Allah commands you to do something — you have to be patient and go forward with it.

Sabr 'ala ma'siyah — you have to have patience in avoiding sin. There will be times when people will be tempting you, shaitan will be tempting you, and the nafs will be tempting you. There is a sabr, a patience, of avoiding sin.

And sabr 'ala al-masa'ib — there is sabr of calamities. When Allah sends difficulties your way, when life comes with its tribulations, with its turmoil — that's sabr as well.

The difference between patience in the sense that non-Muslims take it, and sabr, is that sabr has the addition of dhikr Allah. You can be patient on something that is afflicting you, but if you're not thinking about Allah, if you're not doing it for Allah, it's not sabr. Sabr requires that additional step where I'm patient, I'm doing what I have to do, but I'm doing it because I remember Allah. I think about Allah. I'm conscious that Allah has put me in this situation. That Allah has given me this responsibility. That Allah has sent these guidelines for me. And I have to fulfill them to the best of my ability.

Fourth Guideline: Forbidding Evil — Nahyi 'anil Munkar

We'll finish off on this one last ayah, where Allah says:

Allah says that in the nations before you, there should have been more people — فَلَوْلَا كَانَ مِنَ الْقُرُونِ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ أُولُو بَقِيَّةٍ — there should have been more righteous people, more good people, يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْفَسَادِ فِي الْأَرْضِ — that prevented evils and sins and corruption from taking place on this earth.

This specific quality Allah highlights near the end of this discussion of istiqamah, of staying on the straight path — because this particular quality is what's going to help you stay on that path. In the sense that if you are prohibiting evil, if you are doing nahyi 'anil munkar — يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْفَسَادِ فِي الْأَرْضِ — if you have that quality of pushing back against evil, you'll always have a level of safety. If you're vocal, if you're active in pushing against evil, it's not going to be so easy for you to fall into those very evils, is it? If you're active in talking against kufr, you're not going to end up tashabbuh bil kuffar. If you're active in speaking about the importance of salah, you can't go home and not attend the masjid.

And so this nahyi, this da'wah, is what's going to help you. All of those anbiya came with that da'wah. Now we're at that middle stage where we can choose whether we deny or we continue to accept that da'wah.

Du'a and Closing

May Allah give us the tawfiq to be amongst those that accept the da'wah. May Allah make us amongst those that ذِكْرَىٰ لِلذَّاكِرِينَ — accept the message and the remembrance from Allah.

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