Make Our Homes Our Cave: Surah Al-Kahf | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Make Our Homes Our Cave: Lessons from Surah Al-Kahf

أسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

For all those that made it online, we apologize for the slight delay. We just finished our Maghrib Salat here in Michigan, and we're starting back up.

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم. الحمد لله وصلي على رسول الكريم، أما بعد.

So normally we cover specific surahs of the Qur'an that are unknown to many, or that are hidden, and people have not heard of them, or that people have not spent too much time trying to understand them, and so on and so forth.

Also today is the first time we're doing this without having an audience, so it's a little different. And Allah bless all those that normally come, and hopefully you're able to watch. We didn't want to stop it because people were coming, and hopefully it was beneficial. So insha'Allah we can continue to benefit people, and everyone is staying safe and healthy in their homes, insha'Allah ta'ala.

So in today's session I chose a story that perhaps is not as uncommon, or not as hidden. It's a story which perhaps many of us know — and that is the story of Surah Al-Kahf, the story of the people of the cave. Not the entire surah of course, but the specific story of the people of the cave.

I was thinking to choose this specific story from Surah Al-Kahf because in a time and age, in the specific current climate that we are in right now, where there is a fear, there is an uncertainty, there is this form of phobia — a fear brought on by the coronavirus that we are living within — and everyone is fairly stunned. This in itself is what we call a bala, it's a calamity, it's a test, it's a fitna.

The Prophet ﷺ taught us this surah — Surah Al-Kahf — and he told us that this surah can be used to protect ourselves from the greatest fitna and the greatest calamity, which is the calamity of Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal. But it's not limited to that. This surah can be used for every calamity, for every hardship, for every fitna, for every bala — and amongst those difficulties is a difficulty that we're living in right now.

So I would encourage and advise all of us to make it a practice in our homes to make sure we are reciting this surah, and insha'Allah it protects us and it protects our communities and our families.

The Four Themes of Surah Al-Kahf

Nonetheless, this surah has four main themes, and in this surah Allah speaks about four challenges of a human — the four challenges that humans have in this world.

The first challenge is the fitna against our iman — the challenge of protecting our own faith. And that is the greatest challenge, because if everything else falls but this still remains strong, then we've won; we've made it and we've won against all odds.

The second challenge that human beings have is the fitna of wealth — the challenge of wealth, the challenge of dunya, the challenge of money — and that's discussed in a different story in this surah about the two friends, one of whom was wealthy and had a beautiful garden.

The third challenge is the challenge of knowledge — of how knowledge should be a means of our protection, not a means of our arrogance, not a means of our fall, but rather a means of our rising in the eyes of Allah. And it can go both ways.

And the fourth challenge that Allah speaks about — the fourth challenge that humans can have in this world — is the challenge of fame and power. And Allah refers to that in the story of Dhul-Qarnayn.

Today we will be speaking about the first one: the challenge of iman, and in light of the story of the sleepers of the cave — the seven sleepers of the cave.

The Story of the People of the Cave

While I was thinking about preparing for today's class, I thought to myself — you know, let's use this story and let's see how we can create a different twist to it for our own selves and our own lives based upon what is happening to us right now. And the thought that crossed my mind is that it's fairly interesting that many of us right now are in our homes, we can't leave our houses, we're quarantined, we're stuck. And you know, in those times where we're most hidden are the times in which Allah brings the greatest miracles — the times in which we're allowed to create some type of relationship with Allah. And I'll bring that from within this surah, from this story itself.

So Allah, بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم, speaks about:

"When these few youngsters took refuge in the cave and said: Our Lord, grant us mercy from Yourself and facilitate for us our affair in the right way."

Historical Background

So they were youngsters. To give a backstory of what was happening at this time — some mufassirun like Ibn Kathir and Imam Qurtubi, quoting Ibn Abbas and other sahabah like Ikrimah and other tabi'un, mention that this took place between year 150 and 250 after Isa ﷺ was raised. At this time, the Christians that were there were muwahhidun — they believed in the oneness of Allah — because Christianity, the concept of the Trinity, was only introduced post-350. That's when the people of Rome and Constantinople, and Constantine himself, decided to accept the religion of Christianity, and he diluted it with some of the pagan beliefs that were fairly common amongst the Romans, putting those two together — and that's what created what we see now.

But prior to that, for those 300 years, Christianity was in its true sense of Islam — of tawhid, of muwahhidun, not Trinity but tawhid. So these people, in this era, were living as true Muslims, true believers of Allah.

And there was a king at that time. Ibn Abbas narrates that his name was Daqiyanus. Regardless of what his exact name was, he was a king of that area — near Jordan, Bayt al-Maqdis, Palestine, that same region — and he decided that nobody could worship anything but idols, and that they had to take him as their supreme leader. And he forced people to start worshipping idols. And many of them — it wasn't difficult for them because Christianity, i.e. Islam at that time, was not a religion that people were strongly attracted towards regardless — so people were easily pushed towards worshipping idols and taking him as their supreme leader.

The Significance of Youth

These few youngsters were also called and summoned by this king, Daqiyanus. And some accounts tell us that these seven people were actually amongst the noble families of that era — they were not just seven youngsters running around, but people who were recognized, reputable, and credible. They had something to lose: their reputation, their family, their status were all on the line.

These youngsters were called to the king's court. And notice how Allah says al-fityah — they were youngsters. And it's very interesting that Allah has made our entire life important, every minute of our life important, but has given special significance to those that are still in their youth.

We can find that from many prophetic traditions where the Prophet ﷺ mentioned:

(Sunan at-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2416)

The feet of the son of Adam will not move on the Day of Judgment until he is asked about five things — one of them is فِيمَا أَفْنَاهُ, about his life and where he spent it, and another is عَنْ شَبَابِهِ فِيمَا أَبْلَاهُ — about his young age and how he used it. If Allah is already asking us about our entire life, why is it important to specifically mention they will also be asked about their young age? This shows that in our youth, Allah has put a lot of barakah and a lot of potential.

Allama Iqbal, the great poet, says: "Jabrool bidar hoti hai jawanon ki nazar se, nazarati hain unku apni manzil asmanon mein." — That when youngsters are able to light the candle within themselves and understand their potential — not just their potential in socializing or playing sports, but their potential in life and to make a difference and create a change — that the greatest individual is the one who can bring benefit to people.

(Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, Imam al-Tabarani, Hadith 6026)

"The best of people are those who are most beneficial to people." That's what we have when we're young. That's what Allah was informing the Prophet ﷺ through the hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 660; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1031)

There are seven people that will be under the shade of Allah on the Day when there is no shade except His — and one of them are the youngsters that protect themselves at that age.

The Choice Before the Youngsters

So these youngsters came in front of the king. The king said to them: "You have a simple choice — do you believe in these idols and take me as your supreme leader, or do you worship what you're already worshipping?" And these youngsters said that they were going to worship the one Allah that they were already worshipping.

So the king said to them: "I'll give you some time. Think about it, sleep on it, and when you come back tomorrow, there are no second chances." And we've seen these things happen in the past. This is not the first time. Allah also refers to this in قُتِلَ أَصْحَابُ الْأُخْدُودِ — when the king of Yemen decided to kill all the believers and throw them into trenches filled with fire. This has happened throughout the history of Islam — not necessarily the religion of Islam that we know from the Prophet ﷺ alone, but for us إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ — since the time of Adam ﷺ, every religion gearing us towards the tawhid of Allah is Islam.

Nonetheless, these youngsters go back and talk amongst themselves: "What are we going to do? This is going to get rough. Should we just cave in? What should we do?" So one of the youngsters says: "You know what, let's just go to a cave and rest there. No one's going to find us, and we'll wait it out. When we wake up, hopefully this thing has calmed down, and then we'll find a way through this difficulty."

The youngster said that his uncle used to take his sheep and his herd to a specific cave. It wasn't a random cave that they just stumbled upon — it was a cave that the uncle of that youngster used to normally visit, so he knew where it was and knew it was well hidden. "Let's go to that cave specifically and rest there, and from that point we'll see what happens."

The Du'a of the Youth and the Importance of Making Du'a for Iman

So these youngsters decide to go to this cave. Prior to the part mentioned in the Qur'an, Allah doesn't mention those details — because the things that are not mentioned in the Qur'an are not the critical points. It doesn't matter what the king's exact name was, it doesn't really matter which cave they went to — but these things are mentioned in tafsir so we can understand and get a better depth of what happened at that time.

So these youngsters go and they make a du'a:

"Oh Allah, facilitate for us an easy, an intelligent way out of this." And it's important — at these times when looking for guidance, when looking for ease, when looking for protection of iman — even when it's something you assume should be natural, even when you think: "I'm not trying to commit a sin, I'm not doing this for dunya — I'm doing it for Allah, I'm trying to protect my iman. Why do I even need to make du'a for this?" But iman is the greatest treasure, iman is the greatest asset, therefore the du'a for iman should always be made.

We are taught to make the du'a of اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ 17 times a day. Who makes this du'a? Muslims make this du'a. We say: "Oh Allah, please continue to guide us. Keep us steadfast on this guidance. Don't deter us from the correct path." Seventeen times a day — because we believe that guidance can increase. And اهْدِنَا doesn't mean "make us Muslims." اهْدِنَا means: "Oh Allah, take my hand and take me to the finish line."

If I'm driving outside and I'm in a random city, and I ask someone for directions, one way of guiding me would be: "Continue straight, take a right, take a left, and you'll find your destination." Another way is the person says: "Hey, just follow me. Follow my car. I'll take you to your destination." That's what اهْدِنَا is — follow my car, I'll take you where you need to go.

So making du'a for iman is very important. And that's where the majority of our du'a should be kept. Consider this du'a:

This du'a has three portions — two portions are for the akhirah and for the protection of our iman. They make this du'a, and Allah guides them towards this cave.

Three Hundred and Nine Years in the Cave

Allah says: "We kept them in this cave for a number of years — then We raised them so that We might make known which of the two groups was most precise in calculating the time they had remained."

Allah says they stayed in this cave for 309 years. And after 309 years of complete confinement — it's interesting where we find some of the greatest miracles of Allah taking place when people were alone. Miracles of Allah are not created in the open; they're not created when everyone's watching. If that were the case, why would Allah send Wahi down to the Prophet ﷺ when he was alone in the cave? He was all alone — in his cave, his kahf, his Ghar Hira — in complete isolation, away from the world, making his spirituality his main objective, figuring out how he could fix himself.

Allah Strengthens the Hearts of Those Who Stand Firm

وَرَبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ — when a person decides to believe, and when a person decides to make an effort in protecting their iman, Allah right then and there gives them more strength within their iman. Allah gives them more power in their iman. Allah doesn't take power away; Allah gives them strength.

Once they make the intention to stand up for Fajr, Allah makes that intention come true. Once they make the intention to give money in the path of Allah, Allah makes that intention come true. You know how they say the intention is the main part — that's completely true. The mentality is more important than the actual action. If the mentality is wrong, then the action doesn't mean anything.

You can have the best name on the back of your jersey, you can be the best basketball player there is, but if your mentality doesn't align with the team you're playing for, it doesn't work. When people are hiring employees, they look at the resume, but they also look at that person's mentality — does his mentality align with our vision, does he or she fit with our core values? If they don't, we can't accept them regardless of how skillful they are. So the mentality comes from the intention.

A person can be praying salat but praying for the wrong reasons — the action is there, but the mentality was wrong, therefore there's no reward. Another person can have the right mentality — "I wish I had enough money to spend in the path of Allah, I wish I did" — the mentality is there, but they don't have the means. Allah will still give a reward for it.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6491; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 131)

When a person intends to do a good deed but doesn't do it, they still get one complete reward for it regardless. That's the reality of mentality.

So their mentality was set: regardless of what was going to happen, they were not letting their iman down. It wasn't like, at the first whiff of air, their iman was falling.

And as for the munafiqun — يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ — they thought every blow of wind was against them. Believers were not like that; they were able to fight through. So because of that, وَرَبَطْنَا عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِهِمْ — We strengthened their hearts. We gave them more courage, more power, more علوّ الهمة — more ambition.

The Four Stages of Intention: Imam al-Ghazali's Framework

Imam al-Ghazali rahimahullah says that an action takes place after four stages of intention, and after these four stages comes the actual 'amal.

The first stage is what we call hamm. Hamm is the slight thought that crosses through a person's heart — like when you see a billboard and a thought crosses your mind, or when you see a commercial and a thought crosses your heart. That's hamm. That doesn't mean much. It doesn't give us any sin. It's just a thought that crossed your mind; you didn't let it sit, it came and it left. Allah refers to this in the story of Yusuf:

Then the next step — if you allow that thought to sit, if you allow it to grow and boil within you — is what we know as iradah. Iradah is the step where we had the thought and now we want to do it. We don't know how, we don't know when, but we want it. That's iradah.

The third step is what we call niyyah — now we've made intention to do it. We've set out a few parameters of how we're going to do it. The niyyah is set.

The fourth step is what we call 'azm. 'Azm is when, regardless of what happens, "I'm still going to do it." "I don't care what they say, I'm still going to do it." That's 'azm — when a person has thought of a thought for so long that they've decorated it in their mind, garnished it to such an extent that now they think it's beautiful, and now since they think it's beautiful, they want to do it, and they've made 'azm for it. 'Azm means nothing is going to stop them. And then comes the actual 'amal.

If we have good 'azm, Allah gives us more strength. It's not enough for us just to want it, or just to think about it. We have to take the next step and say: "You know what, no — this is something I have to do. Regardless of what happens, I'm not going to avoid praying my Salat. Regardless of what happens — it can be coronavirus times ten — my Salat will be prayed. Regardless of where I pray, I pray at home, I still have to pray Salat. Regardless of what happens, my tilawat still has to happen."

Make Our Homes Our Cave

In this coronavirus that we're living in, a reflection that came to my mind is: this is the best time for us to realize — make our homes our masajid. If we can't go to the masjid, don't make our home a theater for our children. Make it a masjid for our children. Don't make our home a place of just laughter and backbiting, but rather make it a home of crying for Allah's help and Allah's nusrah — a place where people are reading Qur'an.

How it was back in the days — where the fathers and the mothers were the teachers, and the children were the students — that was a normal household. Today the parents are at home working, the children are at home doing school online, and everyone's just doing their own thing, and in their free time, everyone's binge-watching their own videos. No. Now's the time where we say: "You know what, let's have our own gathering." There's no excuse of saying we don't have enough time anymore. There's no excuse of saying we're not together enough. Allah forced us to be together.

Imagine if in this difficulty, rather than having one salatul jama'ah in the masjid, every house is having a salatul jama'ah — the father leading the salat, or a hafidh in the family leading the salat — and after salat, praying the sunnah, and after sunnah, sitting down and spending time together reading a hadith, reading some ayat from the Qur'an. Make our homes our kahf.

If we're stuck at home, that's our cave. Make our cave like their cave — a cave through which Allah protected the people of iman. Now is the time where we implement:

"Save yourselves and your families from the Fire." We can't worry about anyone else right now. We can't go to the masjid. Many masajid for now don't allow salatul jama'ah. Many classes we can't go to. Make our homes our kahf and worry about our own families.

It's not enough for us to sit at home and just talk about corona. It's perhaps better for us to sit at home and talk about a story from the Qur'an, or teach our kids. If they can't go to maktab, become their teacher — not just their teacher of math and science, but their teacher of the qa'idah in the Qur'an. That's what we can do at this time.

Nonetheless, that 'azm needs to be made: "Regardless of what happens, there's no masjid for me right now — well, I'll make my home my masjid. There are no classes — I'll make classes come into my house. My house will become..." And this is truthfully what happens. When we lose the masjid, we lose our spirituality. For the sahabah, their houses were like the masjid. The houses mirrored and reflected the spirituality of the masjid — because a masjid was not a place of four walls and a ceiling and a ground, but a place where 'amal were being completed, where 'amal were being done for the sake of Allah. Those same 'amal, if they come into our house, will bring the peace and the love and the spirit and the contentment from Allah.

And hopefully, after insha'Allah sooner or later this corona thing ends, we can keep our homes like that. This is what we call our "off season" — where we don't have much going on. So when the playoffs start and when the world starts running around in the hustle and bustle again, our off season was strong enough to build a good foundation that we can survive throughout the entire season.

The Blessing of Isolation: Where Allah's Miracles Are Born

When Allah uses the word وَإِذِ اعْتَزَلْتُمُوهُمْ — اعْتَزَلَ means to kind of drift away from society, to find some alone time and space. Again, that's why we chose this surah today, because that's something all of us are dealing with right now. We're in our alone space. We have a lot of "me time." What does my "me time" look like? Does my "me time" look like something Allah is happy with?

Of course there's downtime, we can have downtime. But there should be a portion, a part, a small particle of that time which is connected to Allah. When did Maryam ﷺ give birth to Isa ﷺ? Again — when there was no one around, لِلْمَشْرِقِ. Maryam ﷺ would go far out — and this is when she was given the birth of Isa ﷺ. So it's when we find some alone time that Allah brings a true difference into our life.

And that's why the Prophet ﷺ said you can test your heart in three places. Number one — when we're all alone, when there's no one around us. Where does our heart pull us? Where does our heart push us? Imam Ahmad ibn Muhammad rahimahullah would say:

"When we're all alone and we have some form of desire pulling us towards a sin — beware of and be modest of the eye of Allah. Allah is also watching us. And tell that desire of ours that the One who created the darkness and created our eyes and our ears and our hands is the same Allah who is watching us right now."

How is Allah going to bring ease if in all of this free time, in all this alone time, there is not obedience but rather disobedience? They say boredom can lead towards sins. But for us there is no such thing as boredom, because we are never truly alone:

Allah is with us. So we find our enjoyment in 'ibadah.

The second place where we test our heart is فِي مَجَالِسِ الذِّكْرِ — in the gatherings of the remembrance of Allah, like this one, even virtual. And the third is اسْتِمَاعُ الْقُرْآنِ — when we're listening to the Qur'an — because by listening to the Qur'an our hearts should be affected:

The Example of Hassan al-Basri

Someone asked a student of Hassan al-Basri rahimahullah what made Hassan al-Basri so great, so special, so different — that he was at a level all his own. The student mentioned three things.

Number one: مَا رَأَيْتُ أَحَدًا يُشْبِهُ سَرِيرَتَهُ بِالْعَلَانِيَةِ — "I have yet to see anyone in my life whose inner life resembled his outer life more than Hassan al-Basri." It was so in line, so in tune — he didn't have to change to create a persona or an aura in front of people. That was who he was.

Number two: يُشْبِهُ قَوْلَهُ بِفِعْلِهِ — "I've never seen anyone whose statements are so in line with his actions. Everything that he said, he actually did."

And the third thing: "I've never seen a person who finds more enjoyment in his 'ibadah than Hassan al-Basri." Like actual enjoyment — he genuinely enjoyed it. May Allah give us enjoyment in our 'ibadah as well.

That's what happens in the اعْتِزَال — when we're alone, we're able to make that type of connection with Allah.

When They Awoke: Purity and Reliance on Allah

So after all those years, these youngsters wake up — and it's like college students waking up after a deep sleep. They ask one another:

"How long have we been here? We've probably been here for a day — maybe half a day, not that long." Then:

"Send one of you with your silver coin to the city and let him find which food is the most pure and bring you provision from it." Notice — even in this dire situation, with people looking for them wanting to kill them, they still looked for the most pure food. He didn't say find halal food — halal is one standard. He said find food that's not just halal but free from all doubts and completely pure. Despite these difficulties, they maintained the highest standards.

I must say that in today's time, I see people hoarding — and hoarding is something which is not allowed in Islam. Neither is raising prices for things. Both exploitation and hoarding without need are haram in Islam. Rather, for us, we should buy what we need and go to the houses of elderly people and give to them. Buying 50 bags of rice and taking them home is not something Islam encourages. We take what we need, take the correct measures, and leave the rest to Allah.

Allah's Protection of the Sleepers

I didn't mention earlier how Allah also mentions the way He protected these sleepers in the cave. It's actually very beautiful — they were in the mouth of the cave, and whenever the sun would come over them, Allah would move its rays away and shade them, so they wouldn't be overly heated. But at the same time, Allah still had some sunlight on them so they could live, because you need sunlight to live. So Allah explains how He protected them — they didn't feel any excessive heat, nor did they rot away in complete darkness. Allah's protection was perfectly calibrated for them.

The Honoring of the Sleepers and the Lesson of Izzah

Going back to the story — they get caught, and Allah exposes them. But at that time, the king who was ruling was a righteous king, and that king brought them forward and honored them, gave them a lot of respect and a lot of 'izzah.

And that's what we believe as well — whosoever does good, Allah gives them a good life in this world. Allah gives them 'izzah. There is 'izzah in the obedience of Allah. Allah says in hadith qudsi: "Don't ever fear anyone else as long as My kingdom is there — and My kingdom will never fall, will never perish."

The gold standard for us, your brothers and sisters, is to make Allah happy — and despite any difficulty that comes our way. And there will be difficulty; Allah says of course there will be challenges like this. This is not the time to ask, or perhaps mention, or make negative comments about how Allah can allow these things to happen. Rather, this is the time to turn towards Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ, whenever he was in any difficulty, would rush towards salah. And even for the people of the cave — they turned towards salah and they started praying to Allah, and Allah opened up their minds and gave them sharh as-sadr, gave them ilham on what to do.

This is the time for us — not to make negative comments against our religion or against our Allah, but rather to turn towards Allah. I saw a post that mentioned — I believe Dr. Abdullah from Zaytuna — he said: "I want to think that it's not that we are locked out of the Haram, but that the Haram locked itself away from us." So we have to clean ourselves up. We have to spiritually dig deep at this time and find ourselves in isolation in front of Allah.

The Appeals We Should Have for Ourselves

There's not a time in which it's easier to pray Tahajjud — because we're working from home, our classes are from home, so we can sleep in a little bit more, and Tahajjud becomes easier. The appeal we should have for ourselves is not just how much money we can give people — that's easy. How many of us will wake up for Tahajjud and ask Allah to bring ease? How many of us will make our houses into masajid and pray salat in jama'ah in our homes if we can't go to the masjid? There's no cop-out of that. How many of us will make sure there is a time allocated in our home to recite some Qur'an?

These are the appeals we should have for ourselves — not just "how many of us will go out and help," though that's also important. Our deen is a balance between integration and isolation. Allah told the Prophet ﷺ to go out and help people, but at the same time to give himself strength. Right now, since we can't go out, it's a time to give ourselves strength. Because normally we spend so much time with people that we truly forget about ourselves. We forget who we are. And we don't want to be amongst those who forgot Allah — so Allah made them forget about themselves. It's time to at least understand who we are and connect ourselves to Allah.

How Many Were They? And Say InshAllah

The last part of the story is completed by Allah saying: some say there were three and the dog was the fourth. Some say there were four and the dog was the fifth. Some say there were seven and the dog was the eighth.

"Say: My Lord knows best their number. None knows them except a few." The mufassirun have come to a consensus that perhaps if there was a number, it would be seven — and that's the number we normally refer to. But Allah truly knows.

And Allah also ends this discussion with an important reminder — before He ends, He says: Don't say that you're going to do something tomorrow except by saying insha'Allah. Not that we're going to end up sleeping 309 years and wake up — but everything we say we should say insha'Allah with it, even if it's something very simple and seemingly a given. Because Allah's mash'iah — Allah's will — allows it to happen.

How many of us were planning to go for 'Umrah? Tickets were booked, planes and hotels were booked, visas were there — myself included. A lot of us were going for 'Umrah, and — boom — it's gone. We were supposed to have a conference on April 4th — what happened to that? And many other things. This is a perfect example of this ayah being displayed — except if Allah wills for it to happen, it will happen. And Allah's will is greater and more powerful than anything else.

Conclusion and Lessons

Insha'Allah, Allah gave us understanding of the story of these seven sleepers and will allow us to take lessons from it. The lessons that we take from it are:

First — we make 'azm to protect our iman, and to protect it at our young age, so it can stay strong when we become older. It's not an excuse to say "I'm young, I have more time." It's a blessing to say we're young. It's a blessing to say that we have more time. This time can be maximized. The ripple effect that I can create in my community, if I put my mind and heart to it, is beyond imaginable.

Second — we take some time out for ourselves, alone, and connect ourselves to Allah. And that's the time that we have right now. Our houses become masajid. Our houses become maktabs, madaris, institutions. If we're staying at home, it's not just for fun and games — it's for actual improvement and progression in the eyes of Allah.

Insha'Allah our houses can become like that. Allah bless you all and give us strength in this difficult time. Allah allow us to see the light beyond this darkness and beyond this difficulty. And hopefully this comes and goes through our worship, our duas, and our seeking of forgiveness. We believe that our 'amal do create a difference in this world — they do make a difference.

So hopefully we can rectify our own selves. I'm not saying it's our fault — but we can take some more ownership by doing more 'amal. Think of it this way: if a company falls, it's not about whose fault it is among the people — everyone takes the loss. So we make an effort to take ownership by doing better. That's the best we can do.

And of course — taking the precautions we've been told about: staying clean, keeping our distance from people, making sure we're washing our hands, not shaking hands. We've already seen that in the news 100 times — but how many times have we seen that we should also be making du'a in Tahajjud? We should also be reading some Qur'an, reading Surah Al-Kahf, reading Surah Yasin. This will help. Both ends are important. Doing one thing and not the other will not bring the help of Allah alone — both are needed, and together they will bring Allah's help and Allah's qudrah.

May Allah protect us all. Allah bless you all. Jazakallah khair for tuning in, and insha'Allah we'll see you all next week.