From Darkness to Light | Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed | Miftaah Graduation Ceremony 2024

From Darkness to Light

As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu. Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim. First of all, the students who spoke throughout the evening and then Shaykh Abdullah.

Next time, maybe next year, we don't need you guys to praise Miftaah that much. Praise your family, your brothers and sisters. Miftaah is trying, we're trying our best — we have this little humble effort that we're doing here.

May Allah accept. May Allah accept all of you. Seeing you students coming here and graduating, inshaAllah we'll see you throughout the years. You're not leaving. We have Miftaah advanced class that you can come to for free inshaAllah. We have Miftaah Seekers, we have madrassa, we have so many different institutions that you can benefit from.

The Four Phases of a Person's Life

Allah in this verse speaks about four phases of a person's life.

Phase One: The Potential for Life

The first phase He speaks about: wasn't there a time where you were dead? What that means is — wasn't there a time where you were just a seed that had the potential for life? A seed is dead, but if you plant it, it can grow. So there was a phase in our life — for the students that came to Miftaah, and many of us, we may be in that phase right now — where each and every one of us has that potential for life, has a potential for growth. None of us sitting here — it doesn't matter if we commit sins, we miss salah, we don't know Arabic, our grammar is terrible, whatever it is.

But this is the reality of a human being, from the One who shaped the human being. He is saying that it doesn't matter what your situation is, you have the potential of life. You have the potential of growth. Many people, thousands of people, can benefit from you, whether you like it or not, whether you know it or not.

As Iqbal says: life is like the oyster shell. Not every oyster shell develops pearls, but there are a few lucky oyster shells that when a drop of water goes into the shell, a pearl is developed from it. But every oyster shell has a potential of developing a pearl. So every one of us sitting here can become a pearl.

So we had that phase of our life, and a lot of us are going through that phase right now. Remember — Allah has given you a potential. The sahabah were in that situation as well. The Prophet ﷺ saw the potential in them. That same Umar ibn al-Khattab who was holding a sword to assassinate the Prophet ﷺ is now defending the Prophet ﷺ. That same Abu Mahdura رضي الله عنه who was mocking the Adhan — literally mocking the Adhan.

The Prophet ﷺ saw a group of young children who were imitating Bilal's Adhan, and they were mocking it. The Prophet ﷺ called them over. He said, "Come here, what are you doing?" And they all looked down — scared, like children who've gotten into trouble. He said, "What were you doing?" They said, "No, we weren't doing anything." He said, "No, no — repeat what you were doing."

Abu Mahdura was a little child. He said, "I was just saying a few words." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Repeat it." He said, الله أكبر، الله أكبر. "No, the way you were doing it before — do it that way." And Abu Mahdura, this little child, was embarrassed because he was mocking the Adhan. But the Prophet ﷺ asked him to repeat these words over and over again.

Abu Mahdura says: the Prophet ﷺ put his hand on my head, right here, and he made du'a for me. And this child right there accepted Islam. Then he asked the Prophet ﷺ, "Please allow me to give Adhan." And this person became the Mu'adhin of Mecca. He used to give Adhan all the time — and he never cut that hair from the front of his head, because the Prophet ﷺ had touched it.

Many years later, Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan sent someone to tell him, "You're old now, you should stop giving Adhan and give it to somebody else." The man came to inform him. Abu Mahdura took his sword out and said, "I'm not stopping the Adhan. That position the Prophet ﷺ gave me — I'm not giving it to anybody else." So everyone has that potential. That's the first phase.

Phase Two: Enlightenment — Coming Alive

Then Allah says the second phase is the phase of enlightenment — that Allah gives you life. You know what that means? It's like when you wake up in the morning, but the room is still dark. You open your eyes — the room is dark, you cannot see things properly — but your eyes open up. The seed initially comes out from the darkness of the soil. That phase is another phase of our life. Many of you students came to Miftaah for three years, one year — hopefully that phase took place as well. That right now you just started waking up. When you start waking up, things don't look clear at that moment.

Phase Three: The Light of Iman

Then Allah says وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا — the third phase. In this example, the lights of the room turn on. Your eyes are open, but the room was dark — what can you see? But Allah says, "And then We gave them light." The lights turn on and now you can clearly see the difference between right and wrong.

Aren't there people in the world whose eyes are open, but they're living in darkness? Their eyes are open, but they cannot see the oppression in Gaza. Their eyes are open, but they cannot see the difference between respecting or disrespecting their parents. So Allah says the third phase is وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ نُورًا — that Allah now opens up their eyes and then turns the lights on around them. Now they can see everything with the light of Iman.

You know this verse — نُورٌ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ — do you know what that means? It's the meeting of أَحْيَيْنَاهُ and وَجَعَلْنَا لَهُ النُّورَ.

Allah speaks at the beginning of this verse about the purity of the nature of a human being — كَأَنَّهَا كَوْكَبٌ دُرِّيٌّ — that inside each individual is actually a good person. No matter how bad you are, deep inside you are a good person. You're like clear glass. But even if you leave a glass on the shelf for too long, it catches dust. And of course if you use it, it gets dirty. Two ways: you had a pure nature but maybe you never made effort, so now there's dust on the glass of your heart. Or you committed sins, so now it became dirty — and you have to clean it.

So that inner purity — mixed with this oil that is so pure and so radiant that before it even touches the flame it is already radiant — when this pure form of oil, which in this ayah represents wahy and ilm, when this pure form of knowledge enters into a pure heart — boom! It's نُورٌ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ — light upon light.

Now this man, this woman, is so powerful — and this power and strength does not come from their physical strength or their physical body, but from their inner strength. Right now Mahmood — this child who was in that accident — he was just on the phone, he's not on the phone anymore, alhamdulillah. Imagine: two weeks ago, Friday night at 12:30, they were in an accident and two of their brothers passed away. And these two children were in a car that was engulfed by flames.

Mahmood says: while he was sitting in the car, looking at those flames, he thought he was going to die. He said, "I remembered my father — he always calls me Ghazawi." Ghazawi is a way Palestinians call someone who is strong. And he says that made him get out of the car and endure his pain. He got out, and then his brother Adel was half in the car, half out. May Allah give both of them shifa — say ameen.

These two children — when you go to see them in the hospital — they're little kids. Adel is 11 years old. His lower body is injured and Mahmood's upper body was burnt. Physicians who are here know that one of the worst things you can go through is burns. And what do you think is giving them strength? Their bodies are so tiny — but it's their Alhamdulillah, their InshaAllah, their MashaAllah. What do you think is giving strength to their parents, to their families? It's all iman. It's that noor. That noor gives you strength.

So that's the third phase. You start looking at things differently. Completely differently.

Phase Four: Walking Among People with Light

And the fourth phase that everyone has to go through is يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ — he walks with it among people. Once you have that potential, your eyes open up, the room becomes lit with light — now what happens? Do you stay in your room? Do you just sit there? Things are clear now. You know what's right and what's wrong. You know there's oppression taking place. What do you do now? يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ.

You go to Mecca. Allah revived your heart. Now you can see things clearly. Do you end up staying next to the Ka'bah for the rest of your life? Or do you come back from Mecca with that noor and spread it all over the world? That's what Allah is saying: he walks, or she walks, with it among people.

Three Qualities of Walking Among People with Noor

What's interesting is that there are three characteristics of a person who walks among people with noor.

First: Imagine you're at a campsite and it's dark. When the power goes off and someone has a flashlight — what happens? Everybody is attracted to the light. So in this world of darkness, when you're walking among people, the first thing that happens is people are attracted to you. Maybe you don't know Arabic properly. Maybe your knowledge is not strong enough. But if you're going through these phases and you're walking among people, people will be attracted to you — to your clothes, to your akhlaaq, to the way you speak, the way you behave. This is the first form of da'wah. Your good deeds should be attractive. Because Islam is beautiful. Allah is beautiful. And every deed in Islam is beautiful. Islam is not just purposeful, but it is also beautiful.

Second: يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ — a person no longer lacks confidence. They're confident to walk around their college campus and their workplaces living like a Muslim. Miftaah students who are sitting here — mashaAllah, I love the fact that the students are sitting here wearing turbans, sisters came up with full abayas and hijabs — but that's only the first phase. That's not where it ends. يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ means that as you're confident here on the Miftaah campus, you're also confident to do it on your college campus. You're confident to pray salah on time.

Third: يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ means that now this noor that Allah gives you — you have the potential to also give it to others.

Walking Toward Those in Need

These are the four phases that Allah puts all of us through, and many of us have been given the opportunity to go through them. SubhanAllah — once you have يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ. Shaykh Abdullah went last week — two weeks ago — to Lexington. Now, when you hear that someone passed away, you know you can call them and give them sabr — that's good. But the other way of doing it is to get in the car and go there. Yamshi. Once you go there and sit with them, the noor that Allah has given you, you transfer it to them. They feel comforted.

I was at the children's hospital and I asked the nurse: "Can I walk around to the other rooms where there are kids and maybe see them?" She said, "That's HIPAA — you can't do that, they're children." I said, "Well, I'm a clergy." She said, "I can't let you do that." I said, "Maybe you can just walk me through the hallways." So on the same floor of the burn center, she took me to the next room. Not inside — she was just guiding me — and she said, "This is an 11-year-old child whose entire body was burnt." I asked, "How long has he been here?" She said, "Three weeks." I said, "How is he going to do?" She said, "It's not looking good." I said, "Has anyone visited him?" She said, "His mother came three times. In three weeks." The only visitor this 11-year-old child had was his mother, who came three or four times.

The room next to this child — Room 225 — Mahmood and Adel had hundreds of visitors in just a couple of days. What's the difference? These people had iman, and it was the noor of iman that attracted each other to each other. Because we know we have to يَمْشِي بِهِ فِي النَّاسِ — we have to take it and comfort people. In that other child's situation, the mother is a single mother, and nobody else came.

I thought about that for a moment. SubhanAllah — Mahmood and Adel, these two kids in the hospital, are getting so much comfort, just because their teachers, their brothers, their fellow students — all these people are coming to see them. But this young child, nobody is coming to see him. How is he feeling? Ayub alayhi salam — 18 years, no one visited him. 18 years. It's difficult.

So Allah gives us this iman, this noor, so we can always be there for others, help them, and comfort them. Walk with this noor to guide the world.

May Allah make us among those who understand their potential. May we get enlightened through iman. May Allah give us the noor of iman, and then may we take this noor and walk among people.

Jazakallah khair. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.