The Believer's Light | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed | Anchored by the Quran 2022

The Believer's Light

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds. And the end is for the righteous. And peace and blessings be upon the most honored of the prophets and messengers. Our master, Muhammad, the Prophet of the worlds, whose name is written in the Bible and the Torah.

Allah, the Almighty, said in His book, after He sought refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan:

And whoever desires the Hereafter and strives for it while he is a believer — those are the ones whose striving is appreciated.

And Allah, the Almighty, said in another place:

Say, "Shall I inform you of the losers in their deeds — those whose striving is lost in the life of this world, while they think that they are doing a good deed?"

And the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

Verily, the world is a present offering, from which the good and the bad will eat. Verily, the Hereafter is a truthful term, in which a just king will judge. And whoever does an atom's weight of good, he sees it. And whoever does an atom's weight of evil, he sees it. — (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2742)

The Fear of Missing Out

My dear brothers, sisters, elders, and youngsters — there is one commonality, one common attribute, that every single human being shares. Regardless of the different backgrounds that we come from, our ethnicities, the different types of places that we have hailed from and come to America, the age differences, the demographical differences — there is a commonality that each and every one of us share. And that is the fear of missing out. We genuinely fear missing out on something.

When there is an airplane that is leaving and we're supposed to catch that flight, we fear that we will miss that flight. A child that sees his father or mother leave the home — even that child, despite his tender age and his lack of maturity, still feels a sense that they are missing out on something, and hence they wish to also leave with their parents. This is a norm in life.

The norm, the innate feature of every human being, is that we don't want to miss out on something good. And we have coined a term for it, which is literally called FOMO — the fear of missing out. Business ventures, opportunities — when a friend joins or buys a stock, and we find out later that it went up, and we're like, oh man, I wish I also purchased that stock. Or someone joins a business and the business grows and we say, I wish we were able to join that business.

This is a natural feature that every human being internally holds — that we fear that we will miss out on something good. If this is true with the temporary blessings of life, if this is true with the temporal benefits of life, then should this not also hold true for the benefits of akhira? Should this not also hold true for the blessings of jannah? Should this not also hold true for the happiness of Allah — that we fear that we will miss out?

The Response Time of the Sahabah

Ibn al-Qayyim says that despite the many differences between us and the sahabas — and there are many — he pinpoints and says there is one unique difference between us and them, and that was that these individuals had the quickest response time. Because they did not want to miss an opportunity of goodness. They did not want to miss an opportunity that would bring them closer to Allah. So they had an instantaneous response time.

There was no glitch. There was no delay in the command of Allah being upheld. There was no deliberation over whether or not it fits within the rationality of my norm, or whether or not it looks nice in front of people, or whether or not it is accepted by so-and-so individual. If it was something that the Prophet said, there was an immediate acceptance of it — body, soul, and heart. Instantaneous response time.

And this is what made them sahabas. They did not put the command of Allah through a funneling system that allowed them to implement it. Rather, they set their funneling system to be such that whichever command came from that source, it was accepted without any secondary thought. And this is what made them different.

All these sahabas are great. They are all unique. But there is a reason why we call Abu Bakr, رضي الله عنه, the greatest. It wasn't because he was the first companion. It was because he responded the quickest. And he became the Siddiq. He wasn't given the title of "the Truthful One" because he accepted that the Prophet went for Mi'raj. But he was given the title of Siddiq because of how quickly he accepted the fact that the Prophet went for Mi'raj. And from that moment on till the Day of Judgment, there are sahabas that are great, but no one can come close to the greatest of them all — and that is Abu Bakr, رضي الله عنه, because of his response time.

My dear friends, brothers, and sisters — what is our response time when it comes to the commandments of Allah? How long does it take for us to internalize something that comes from a pure source and will only bear pure benefits? Because the reality of everything in life is: the input will equal the output. And if the input is pure, it will only bring outputs that are pure. If the input is Allah's command — regardless of how it looks and how people perceive it to be — the input is the command of Allah, and the output will always be ease and contentment. If it is not in dunya, it will be in akhira.

What is my response time after gatherings of knowledge — conferences upon conferences, Ramadans upon Ramadans, umrahs upon umrahs — where is my response time at? How much more do we wait?

The Hypocrites and Their Delay

Ibn al-Qayyim, rahimahullah, then states that the greatest difference between a hypocrite and a believer was also their response time. The hypocrites would also pray salat. They would also join in gatherings of goodness. But they would be the last ones to join. Allah says:

These were people who were proud to be in the back — not because they wanted to be unknown, but because they chose to respond very slowly. They chose to stay in the back. And there is a difference between عَجَلَ and سَبَقَ. We know that الْعَجَلَةُ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ — that hastiness is from Shaytan. That doesn't mean being quick towards a good deed is from Shaytan. That is from Allah. Allah highlights the quality of those who are sabiqun:

There were some people who did not rush in doing the act of goodness but rushed to reach the act of goodness. Those who delay in getting to the act always rush in completing the act. Those who rush towards the act always complete the act with consistency and with excellence — because this is the nature of life. The sahabas would come early and pray slowly. The munafiqun would rush and come at the end and they would pray quickly.

Hardly remembering Allah. Where Allah also says:

They prayed, but they came way at the end, and they chose to delay themselves. And they were happy missing out on an opportunity of goodness. They were happy missing out on an opportunity to please Allah. These are opportunities that each and every one of us have, and we have the control of our own response time.

The Light of the Believer on the Day of Judgment

Allah paints a unique image and illustrates a picture that depicts the outcome of those that choose to delay and the outcome of those that choose to respond without a glitch — those that choose to respond not by looking at what the command is, but looking at where the command came from. They are able to set the paradigm of their decisions to be the deen of Allah. Now since the point of reference is consistent, the command itself doesn't make a difference. And the moment the points of reference become too many and become conflicting, small decisions become very difficult, because now we have multiple points of reference that we can see as success.

The sahabas saw one point of reference. They saw: does this bring the pleasure of Allah? Does this make our Prophet happy? And that was enough for them to make difficult decisions look easy. They say that greatness is not found in people doing difficult things — greatness is found when people make difficult things look easy. They make it look easy because they are so committed towards doing it. They are so committed to making sure that it gets done, regardless of what barriers they have in front of them.

Allah depicts this image in reference to the outcome of believers and hypocrites. In Surah al-Hadid, Allah says that on the Day of Judgment, where it is complete pitch dark, everyone will be looking for a sense of relief — a light that they can use to guide themselves. And Allah says:

The believers will be given a light, and that light will guide them. What is that light? Allah says:

What is that light that allows us to shine brighter than any other ideology in this world, brighter than any other worldview of this world, brighter than any individual in this world that does not hold this same concept? It is the light that Ibn Abbas says is Iman. When Allah gives a person Iman, He gives them an internal light — and now their decisions become easy because they have light.

What happens to a person if they try to move in a room that is completely dark? Small things become very difficult because it's pitch dark. But however, after some time their eyes adapt to that dark room, and now they're able to move around, they're able to get things done. And when someone says, "turn the light on," they say, "we don't need the light because we can see perfectly fine in the dark room that we are in."

This is the same thing that happens to us. When we say we don't need it because my life is perfectly fine the way it is. I don't need to inculcate this sunnah into my life because my life is flowing perfectly fine — and now our eyes, our body, our limbs, our families adapt to living in darkness.

Allah says We give them light, and through this light, on the Day of Judgment they are able to see. And the munafiqun will come and they will say:

"Please give us some of your light so we can also see, because you are able to see but we can't see. So give us some of your light." And the beauty of light is — regardless of how many candles you light from it, it will never diminish. So they say, give us some light. And as the believers are reaching out, the announcement will be made:

"Move back, retreat, and find your own light. Today the believer's light will not benefit you." And then the munafiqun, after a wall is dropped between them, will call out and say:

And this perhaps is the most alarming part of this passage that Allah illustrates for us. The munafiqun would say: "Were we not with you? Were we not present in those same gatherings? Were we not physically there? So why is it that today you have differentiated between them and us? We were always together." And the response will come, and Allah will say: "Indeed you were with us. Indeed you were always with the believers. However, this is what differentiates believers from those that are known to be hypocrites." Where Allah says:

"You just delayed. You had the opportunity. It was at hand, but you just chose to delay something that was sitting right in front of you."

How many times have we said, "I will change after this Hajj"? "Now I will bring this into my life after that Umrah." Who is to say that we will live till then? Because no one's life is guaranteed till tomorrow. Who is to say that Allah will give us the opportunity to change at that time? Repentance is something that is not premeditated. Repentance is something which happens at the moment when a person feels remorse. Allah's mercy should not be seen to be an empowerment towards sin. Allah's mercy is not a form of empowerment for us to sin. Allah's mercy is a form of motivation for us to seek forgiveness. There is no such thing as premeditating our change. Change happens when the heart believes that it can do it. When the heart decides to make that change, there is no regret in the akhira that will be bigger than the regret of someone that delayed something good. And that delay can never be caught up.

The Story of Abdullah ibn Rawaha and the Battle of Mu'tah

In the time of the Prophet ﷺ, there was a campaign that took place — the campaign of Mu'tah. And many sahabas gathered and they were sent out on this campaign. Amongst them there were three leaders: Zayd ibn Harithah, Abdullah ibn Rawaha, and Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, رضي الله عنهم أجمعين. The sahabas that were a part of this campaign left on Thursday night. And they moved forward to the neighboring suburb and they rested there, and they were going to leave the next day.

The next morning, the Prophet ﷺ sees one of them — his name was Abdullah ibn Rawaha. And he sees him and says, "Why haven't you joined your caravan and your campaign? What are you still doing here? Your entire jama'ah and your group has already left. What are you doing here?" And he responds by saying:

"I just intend to pray one last jama'ah with you." Because the Prophet had already given them the glad tidings of martyrdom — all three of them. When they were leaving and they were crying, the sahabas would say to them, مَا يُبْكِيكَ يَا عَبْدَ اللَّهِ؟ "What makes you cry?" He said, "I have no love for this world, and neither do I believe that I will miss you too much. I am only crying because I heard the Prophet recite:"

"That every single person will have to cross the bridge that hovers above Jahannam. And I don't know what will happen to me when I cross. Will I fall? Will I make it across? I'm not crying because I miss you. I'm crying because I don't know where I'm going to end up." So they knew that martyrdom was set for them. They knew that they were not coming back. So he said, "O Messenger of Allah, I just want to pray one more salah with you."

What a commendable thought. What a beautiful reason. What a justifiable reason — to pray one more salah with the Prophet ﷺ. Sometimes the thought is commendable, but the ends don't justify the means. And the Prophet said to him, "Why are you still here?" He said, "I want to pray one more Jumu'ah with you, and then I will catch up to them." The Prophet says to him:

"If you were to give everything that you have in your life right now, you would never be able to join them and reach them." — (Referenced in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala, account of Abdullah ibn Rawaha)

Not physically — you will never be able to reach the blessings and rewards that they have accumulated because they left before you. We believe that we can catch up because catching up is confined in a realm of physicality — that I can catch up, I can reach that person. But from this narration we know that catching up doesn't mean that we are physically side by side. Catching up means that we will be in the same levels of paradise. Catching up is not seen to be true because of where we are in dunya. Catching up is seen to be true depending on where we will be in the akhira. One night — though it was such a commendable thought — was not enough for this person to stay behind and not catch up to those people who left before him.

Where are we in our response time?

Masjid al-Qiblatayn: Instantaneous Response

With the Prophet ﷺ, there was a time where the Qibla was towards Masjid al-Aqsa for 17 to 18 months in Madinah al-Munawwarah. After that period, the command came that the Qibla is now being changed towards the Ka'bah, because the Prophet ﷺ preferred the Ka'bah to be his Qibla. So Allah says:

Now the Prophet ﷺ, after Dhuhr prayer, tells the many companions that were there at that time — there were about nine Masajid in Madinah al-Munawwarah, nine musallas — he says to his companions that were present: "I want you to go out and inform all of the prayer areas in the masajid that the Qibla has now shifted towards the Ka'bah. So the next prayer they pray, which will be Asr, they should pray towards the Ka'bah." The sahabas go, they are deployed, and they rush towards the different masajid.

One of these individuals that was deployed and went to the Masjid — when he reached the Masjid, the companions had already begun their Asr prayer. They had already started. Now he has two options. Option number one: let me put the Prophet's command through my rational form of reasoning. And option number two: the Prophet told me that the moment I get there, I should tell them and inform them of what the reality is. So he chooses option two. The Prophet told me to tell them — even though they're praying, I will still inform them. And he goes ahead and he says, "O people, Allah has now changed the Qibla from Aqsa towards the Ka'bah."

As he makes this announcement, the people in this Masjid are praying Salat. They're praying a Fard prayer in congregation, in jama'ah. They could have easily said, "We were already praying, we couldn't change. We were too deep in, we couldn't come out. We had already made a decision that we will raise our children this way — we can't change anymore. We have already made a decision that we wish to live a certain lifestyle, and now that certain lifestyle can't be compromised." No decision is too late to change till the akhira. They had already started their prayer. In the middle of their prayer, they chose to change towards the Ka'bah. The Imam did not say a word. The people praying behind the Imam did not say a word. But in that very moment, everyone knew what to do. It was like a fire drill. Because their minds were so well structured together — that if the Prophet is saying something, we don't have to ask twice. We don't have to ask, "Are you sure that the news is correct?" We don't have to ask, "Let me ask the Prophet myself." They were so in tune with each other that at the moment the command came — in the middle of their prayer, where it is impermissible to walk and move — they changed and they faced the Ka'bah.

Instantaneous response time. And hence we have a masjid known as Masjid al-Qiblatayn — the masjid where the sahabas prayed towards two different Qiblahs in one prayer. Instant response time.

There are such people — like those individuals — that due to their response time, Allah gave them the title of رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُمْ وَرَضُوا عَنْهُ. And the reality is: whosoever instills the same response time, Allah will give us the same outcome. That is a sunnah of Allah. Allah's sunnah will never change. Allah's system of giving us and rewarding us will never be compromised. Where we are today, we have more challenges. But if our response time is such that we allow Allah's command to be the priority, we will be given the same reward. Allah's system is the only system.

Allah's System: Effort, Not Just Results

I'll end with this. Allah's system is the only system which is not result-driven. Every other system in this world, my dear friends, is a result-driven system. You go to school and you say to your teacher or professor, "I tried very hard, but I could not complete my assignment." The professor will say, "Well, I tried very hard not to fail you, but I had to fail you." You go to your boss and say, "I tried very hard to get my tasks done — my KPIs, my rocks — but I wasn't able to do it." The boss is going to say, "Well, I tried very hard not to fire you, but you're still fired." Effort is subjective in this world. Results are what are seen as a form of reward.

Allah's system is a system which rewards us based upon effort. It's not result-driven. Where Allah says:

Whosoever makes an effort and intends to live for the akhira — even if they are unable to complete their effort — Allah says their sa'i, their effort, will be appreciated. Their effort will be rewarded.

The Prophet ﷺ said that whosoever reads the Quran, they will be in the elite realm with angels, in the gathering of angels. And the sahabas thought of a question, and the Prophet responded to it before they could even ask: "What about us that struggle with reading the Quran? What about us that don't know how to put the letters together?" And the Prophet said:

Whosoever struggles to read it — because their effort is more — they will get double the reward. — (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4937; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 798)

Because the effort is seen by Allah. The results are a secondary thing. Our responsibility as believers is not to plan out the how — how will we be able to live a life that fulfills Allah's commands? Our responsibility is to identify the why and the what. Why do we want to do it? To please Allah. What do we want to do? To earn Allah's pleasure and to earn Jannah. The why and the what. When we are able to identify the why and the what, Allah takes care of the how.

The People of the Cave

The people of the cave that slept in the cave for 309 years — did they plan out that they would sleep in the cave for 309 years? No. They just said: "O Allah, we wish to protect our Iman. We don't know how it's going to happen. But we know what we want." Allah said, "I'll take care of the rest." For 309 years they slept, and they woke up as heroes. What is the best way to get rid of stress and to run away from problems? Sleep. 309 years they slept. Because they did not focus on the how — they focused on the why and the what. Why are we doing it? What do we want to get done? Allah will manage the how for us.

This is our responsibility — to manage the why and what we want to do, and how fast we want to respond to it. Because today there are opportunities; tomorrow they might not be there. Today we can walk and talk and pray and give charity. Tomorrow we may not be able to do it. So whatever we are doing till this moment — this is not an event in which we are here to accumulate information. This is an event that we hope will create a sense of transformation. That we can leave and say that I need to add certain concepts to my life, in my children's lives, so they can also come closer to Allah. To a point where Allah and the Prophet want to see us.

Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas at Uhud

In the Battle of Uhud, there were certain companions that were so quick to respond to the Prophet that the Prophet wanted them to be around. In a time at Uhud where there was complete chaos — the Prophet ﷺ was looking around and he sensed a companion that was protecting him. And that companion was there fighting off the enemies. Before the Prophet could even look at who it was, he said:

"I hope it is Sa'd, I hope it is Sa'd." — (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4055; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2412 — reference to the Prophet dedicating both his parents as ransom for Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas at Uhud)

"I hope it's Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas. I hope it's Sa'd." And as he turned around, he sees Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas.

My dear brothers and sisters — imagine the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgment saying, "Is that Abdullah or Fatima or Zaid? I hope it's you." And we come forth, and the Prophet embraces us.

Allama Iqbal's Verse

Allama Iqbal says:

He says: "In one night, the people in Lahore were able to build an entire masjid" — those who had the warmth of Iman within them. "However, man — this old sinner that I am — years have come and gone, but I have not been able to become a true person of prayer." He says: "What a message the Amir Faisal gave to the Sanussi — that yes, you carry the name and lineage of the Hijaz, but your heart has not become one that is truly from the Hijaz." He then says at the end: "Yes, the eyes do tear" — and yes, at times when we sit in these blessed gatherings, the eyes tear up, and that is something very beautiful that Allah allows — Allah allows us to cry. But he says: "What is the benefit of these tears?" The brothers of Yusuf also cried when they came to their father:

They cried their eyes out. He says: "What is the benefit of these tears if they are not able to instill a level of change in individuals?"

Closing Du'a

So while we leave this gathering, we all make a promise to Allah — Ya Allah, from this day on, the greatest source of my motivation will be Your happiness and Your pleasure.

"Would that You be sweet to me even though life is bitter. Would that You be pleased with me even though all people are angry. Would that what is between me and You is thriving, even if what is between me and all the worlds is in ruin. If Your love is true, then everything else is easy — and everything above the earth is but dust."

"From it We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will bring you forth once more."

And our closing call is: Alhamdulillahi Rabbil 'Alamin.