Final Session: Surah Mumtahinah - Ep.4 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Opening Supplications

The Final Verses of Sūrah al-Mumtaḥinah — Introduction

أَمَّا بَعْدُ — Allah said:

This is the last four verses of Sūrah al-Mumtaḥinah that we are covering tonight, inshāAllāh. I ask Allah in this final session that He allows us to have barakah in our time, to allow us to cover all the most important elements of this sūrah that it would be best for our audience to listen to. May Allah open up the secrets of the Qur'an for all of us.

May Allah allow us to listen to the Qur'an and hear it and understand it as though it is being revealed right now for our own era and time. For indeed the Qur'an most definitely has the answers to all of our problems, and most definitely the Qur'an is timeless, and most definitely the Qur'an has solutions and guidance for our issues. But we simply have to have the guidance to be able to look towards it and to be able to find it.

InshāAllāh we should listen with the niyyah of practicing whatever good we hear, and the niyyah of propagating it to others, as well as the niyyah of finding solutions to our issues in the verses of the Qur'an.

Verse 10 — Testing the Believing Women Who Migrated

In this tenth āyah, Allah says: "O you who believe" — إِذَا جَاءَكُمُ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ مُهَاجِرَاتٍ — "When believing women come to you in a state of hijrah" — when they have migrated towards you in Madinah from Makkah — فَامْتَحِنُوهُنَّ — "Test their sincerity." Imtiḥān means test. So test them, meaning test their sincerity. Why have they come here?

اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ — "It is Allah alone who knows best about their faith." Meaning, you can try your best to test, but the reality — the real answer about who is doing what and whose situation is what — only Allah knows best. We can try our best to ascertain, but Allah knows best. As Allah says:

"Do not claim piety for yourselves — He knows best who has taqwā." It's easy to claim righteousness or piety. Allah is saying, don't do that, because in reality I know who is pious and who is not.

So what do we have to do? We have to test these women who have left Makkah and come to Madinah. We have to see: are they truly believers or not? This is obviously speaking about after Ṣulḥ al-Ḥudaybiyyah. When the treaty was signed, part of the treaty was that those who accept Islam in Makkah and go towards Madinah need to be sent back. And if there is anyone who left Islam, or a non-Muslim who somehow comes there, he needs to be sent back to Makkah. We are not going to allow anyone who became a Muslim in Makkah to migrate to Madinah, and if they happen to come, you have to send them back.

This was of course very one-sided and looked extremely harmful for the believers. So Allah is saying here: now if a lady comes running from Makkah to Madinah, you need to make sure you ask her why she has come. If she has come because she is angry at her husband — a domestic issue — and she left Makkah for that reason, then you have to send her back, because the treaty is such. We can't do otherwise.

However, we have to make sure: if she is coming to Madinah, and the treaty said that people who accept Islam and come to Madinah have to be sent back to Makkah — since she is a female and she is married, and her husband is a non-Muslim — if we send her back, it will not be permissible. That is why we have to ascertain: is she a Muslim and her husband is a kāfir? If so, then this hijrah will nullify their marriage. She will stay here. We will not allow her to go back, because she is not ḥalāl for her previous husband.

But the previous husband may say: I spent a lot of money on this marriage. I gave my dowry, my mahr. What about all that? SubḥānAllāh — this is the amazing justice of Islam. The Qur'an is saying: then you figure out how much money he spent, and you send that money back to the previous husband. Who would do something like this? In the midst of war, in the midst of this situation between the kuffār and the Muslims — the Muslims are forced to sign off on such a horrible, one-sided treaty — and yet Islam is saying that when you are keeping her, you have to ensure that the money the husband spent on her is returned back to him, the kāfir husband.

Why can you not send them back? لَا هُنَّ حِلٌّ لَّهُمْ — they are not lawful wives for them. وَلَا هُمْ يَحِلُّونَ لَهُنَّ — and they are not lawful husbands for them. It is ḥarām. The relationship is ḥarām between the two.

وَآتُوهُم مَّا أَنفَقُوا — Moreover, give the disbelievers whatever they have spent to marry them. Straight from the Qur'an: give them whatever money they have spent.

وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ — Now that the marriage has ended, these women are not going to be regarded as free for all or something. No. They have made hijrah for Islam. They are refugees. We need to take care of them — and we take care of them by getting them into marriage. So you pay your dowry, and the way you would marry any other lady, you have to show them the respect and care and honor, give the dowry, have a proper nikāḥ, and bring them into your marriage. They have now left their husbands and left their city for Islam. The Muslim community needs to take care of them.

Whereupon Allah says: وَلَا جُنَاحَ عَلَيْكُمْ — "There shall be no blame on you if you marry them" — إِذَا آتَيْتُمُوهُنَّ أُجُورَهُنَّ — "once you have given them their full dowry compensation." Ujūr here means dowry, and does not mean anything else that some may misunderstand.

Ujūr has been used in other places — in the fifth juz:

That verse also uses the word ujūr. Some deviant people have misunderstood — or decided to misunderstand — this as money used for a ḥarām relationship, what we would call a temporary marriage. This is where the whole concept of mut'ah comes up in certain circles. But ajr here is not a payment in any other circumstance — ajr here refers to mahr, dowry.

وَلَا تُمْسِكُوا بِعِصَمِ الْكَوَافِرِ — "And do not hold on to the bonds of marriage with disbelieving women." Kawāfir is the plural of kāfirah — disbelieving women. 'Iṣam refers to the bonds. So: you have become a Muslim and your wife has not — the same situation applies in reverse. Don't keep them in your marriage. Let them go. If they are not willing to accept Islam, let them go.

وَاسْأَلُوا مَا أَنفَقْتُمْ — "But ask for the return of what you have spent on them in dowry," because they are the ones who are causing this separation. They don't want to accept Islam. So now, because one is Muslim and one is not, we are forced to separate. It is the right of the husband that this money be returned back to him.

What do you see here? The justice. Whether husband is Muslim or wife is Muslim or not, whoever is Muslim, whoever is kāfir — the rights are very clear. Your not accepting Islam, or accepting Islam, or being on either side of the whole battle, does not allow anyone to oppress you. This is something so beautiful about our deen. The fact that we establish justice regardless of who the person is.

وَاسْأَلُوا مَا أَنفَقْتُمْ وَلْيَسْأَلُوا مَا أَنفَقُوا — "Ask for the return of what you have spent on them in dowry, and let the disbelievers ask for what they have spent." See — both. وَاسْأَلُوا مَا أَنفَقْتُمْ is speaking to Muslim husbands. وَلْيَسْأَلُوا مَا أَنفَقُوا is speaking to non-Muslim, kāfir husbands. Whoever, because of religion, has had their marriage separated, has a right to ask their spouse to return the dowry they had given.

ذَٰلِكُمْ حُكْمُ اللَّهِ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ — "That is the decision of Allah, that is Allah's judgment, that He has adjudged between you." وَاللَّهُ عَلِيمٌ حَكِيمٌ — "And Allah is All-Knowing, All-Wise."

The Background — Sabab al-Nuzūl

Let's focus a little on the sabab al-nuzūl — the background of this verse. The mushrikīn of Makkah, when they signed the truce with Rasulullah ﷺ, agreed upon the following: whoever comes from the people of Makkah to him, he has to send them back. And whoever from the people of Madinah comes to Makkah, we are not going to send them back. They wrote this down.

So Subay'ah bint al-Ḥārith al-Aslamiyyah came to the Prophet ﷺ after the signatures were done, and the Prophet ﷺ was still there in Ḥudaybiyyah. Her husband, who was a disbeliever, came and said: "O Muḥammad, give me my wife back — for indeed you had agreed that you would return to us whoever comes to you from us. And the ink has yet to dry on this document."

There are two ways to look at this. One is: can she be grandfathered in? The document is so fresh, we have barely had a chance to lift it up and show it to the people. She has come as a Muslimah and wants to join the Muslim ranks. This didn't just happen to her alone — it happened to a number of Companions who came at that time. But the Prophet ﷺ said: even if the document is fresh, it makes no difference. And on the other hand — how dare we break an agreement we have just agreed upon.

When the Prophet ﷺ came to the male Companions who had come, he sent them back. They were crying and very, very frustrated because the people in Makkah were torturing them. But the Prophet ﷺ said: "I cannot do anything. We have agreed upon it, you have to go back." But when he came to this female, whose husband said, "I want her back," the āyahs were revealed about that. Allah is asking Rasulullah ﷺ to now do imtiḥān — to make sure that she has come for the right purpose.

Lessons — Vigilance in the Era of Nifāq

What do we see? We see that many times people will use the name of Islam to fulfill their own objectives. Islam is just a front. This happens all the time. And so we need to ensure that we don't become amongst those people who get deceived by people who are using Islam as a front.

We are in the era of nifāq. You have people who will try to join a WhatsApp group, join a masjid committee, join a masjid itself — all sorts of different people. And we don't know what type of intentions people have. Sometimes it is purely for materialistic things: I want to promote my business, or I want to get married — or not get married — finding women in the masjid, using the opportunity in the name of doing things in the masjid to look at the opposite gender and build relationships. This happens a lot.

People come with wrong intentions to the house of Allah. Wrong intention joining a youth group. Wrong intention joining a volunteering group. But then there are people who have much more sinister plans — to harm the Muslim community, to cause disruption and disunity.

We are now pretty much reviving back to 24 years ago, when 9/11 happened. The type of unbelievable surveillance and setups that were done in masājid is something very, very well-documented and very well-reported. I would encourage the youngsters who were not around — who were either babies or born after 2001 — to go and read those articles. They are not on some random websites. You will find them in the New York Times, NPR, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times. All these will have articles from post-9/11 — 2004, 2005, 2006 — when things started coming to light about what type of entrapment was being done.

Some of these stories are — sad and funny at the same time. Some of them were FBI agents who did not get paid enough, or who did not get whatever was promised to them, so they became rogue and came in and gave a whole report: this is what I was hired to do, and this is what happened. And their intention was not to care about the Muslims — they were just angry because they did not get what they were promised. So you have very interesting reports. Honestly, this is something you should read — especially right now, with all that is happening. The level of dedication to Fajr — the agent is not even Muslim, but he will talk about how he would be there before the imam for Fajr prayer. Being more Muslim than the imam. That was something very much a part of their script: to act overzealous and over-pious.

MāshāAllāh, the majority of our crowd is youth, and hopefully many who are listening are also youth. We fall into this. We look at someone who seems so excited and we just drop everything. "Brother, why don't you just move into my house tonight? Half of my money is your money. Everything is yours. Alḥamdulillāh." Why? Because they seem so sincere. But we need to not be so gullible. Allah has given you the nūr of īmān. You have intelligence, aql. Use your brains. Understand when you should lower your guard and when you should not.

I have seen this in action — people being misled, people talking to people they shouldn't. That is why I am telling you: we get excited. You are traveling somewhere, someone comes up and says, "MāshāAllāh, you are Muslim! I always wanted to be a Muslim." Alḥamdulillāh. Then they start talking — what is your view on politics? What is your view on this organization? Come on. This is very obvious. Why are you engaging with this person? Say assalāmu alaykum and move on.

This has been going on for a long time. I'll tell you how bad it is — there are too many incidents I can share. One incident I was told about: a Pakistani brother came to my sheikh, repenting and crying. He said, "I have committed so many sins, I don't even know what to do." He said that he was in America and some issue arose with his immigration, and he bumped into law enforcement somehow. So they came to him and said: "Listen — if you don't work for us, we will deport you, your wife, and your kids back to Pakistan right now. We may even throw you in jail and send your wife and kids back without you." So he said, "Fine. I don't want to go to jail and I don't want to be separated from my family. What do I need to do?"

So they asked him to wear a mic and go to a certain masjid. They gave him a full script — a full script of what to say, who to target. "Go say salām, get to know them — you are Pakistani, go talk to another Pakistani brother." And eventually, every conversation was to be led towards Muslim grievance, problems against Muslims being perpetrated, "What should be our solution?" — and of course the solution was to be steered toward something involving arms and more. Even if the guy said no — just keep pushing, pushing, pushing. And if you see a little bit of leeway, you supply him with everything he needs, record it all, and send it to the handlers.

SubḥānAllāh. He said: now he is crying to my ustad — "I cannot believe it. These guys were literally innocent people who had nothing to do with any violence. They never even dreamed of it. They just came here like most other immigrants, to earn a living and have a better life. That is all. But I was forced to entice them to say things and lead them into things they never even wanted to say — and have it all recorded. And now three to five people are sitting in jail with life sentences." He came back to Pakistan, but the pain of what he did was so heavy on his heart — because of him, five entire families were ruined, the husbands in jail for Allah knows how many decades.

This is one of thousands of incidents out there. So the Qur'an — that is why — is telling you to be careful. Who is coming for what? Do not be blinded. Do not be simple-minded. In a respectful manner, do your own research and do not fall for everything.

I am saying this because we are already in the midst of 9/11 times two. What type of effort has already begun and will continue to happen in this country is something that will remind me of the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ, where he said: before the end of times, there will be fitnah that will come back to back.

(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Fitan wa al-Malāḥim)

"Each fitnah will make the previous fitnah look insignificant." Raqqaqa means thin, small. He said each fitnah will be so bad it will make the previous one look like child's play.

The believer will say: "This is it. We are destroyed. We are not going to make it out." But Allah has plans. We will eventually make it out — some will. And then they will take a sigh of relief, only to find a new fitnah — and this one will be much worse than the previous one. And he will say, "That was nothing — this is where I am going to go down."

We have definitely formally entered into an era of fitnah now. Whatever is happening in Rafah and Gaza is a massive fitnah. But don't think this country and the Muslims of this country are not in a fitnah too. Very serious things are happening.

So my beloved students, my youngsters — please be smart. Do not take down yourself and your entire family with some foolish act, by befriending someone you shouldn't, by texting someone you shouldn't, by saying something you shouldn't, by being emotional. This is not the time to be emotional. You have emotions? I have emotions too. We all have emotions. Take those emotions to the musallā. Pour your heart out. Rivers of tears in front of Allah. This is what we need to do.

There is a hadith that is mentioned: a time of fitnah will come —

(Referenced in various collections of narrations regarding the trials of the end times)

"No one will be saved from that fitnah except for the one who begs and supplicates to Allah the way a drowning man begs Allah for help." Imagine a person drowning in the midst of the Pacific Ocean — the ikhlaṣ of that person, how he will be begging Allah for safety. That is how you have to cry. If you want to be saved, otherwise everyone will fall into fitnah.

This is high time for you and I to start crying — for not only the people of Rafah and Gaza, but for all of us. For our īmān. For us not to cave in. Because it is going to be very challenging. Before, it was enticing to give up the deen: "Come here, this is ḥarām fun." Now it is not enticing — it is intimidation. "If you don't give up your deen, this is what is going to happen." May Allah protect us.

Last week I also mentioned that at many of these university protests, there are people who are not Muslim, not pro-Palestine, not anything — who are coming and putting themselves in the middle of the protest and saying inflammatory things. And because of that, it becomes used as a proof against all of them, they all get arrested, and the whole thing is destroyed. So who is amongst us doing what? We don't know.

The key rule is: when it comes to your love and your relationship with people, have moderation. Sayyidunā Alī radiyAllāhu anhu's statement is beautiful:

(Attributed to Sayyidunā Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, radiyAllāhu anhu — narrated by al-Tirmidhī and others)

"Love your friend with moderation — it may happen one day that your friend turns into your foe. And have your animosity also in a moderate manner — because one day things may change and he may end up becoming your friend." Don't share everything with everyone. Because that person may end up turning against you. And you can't take back words.

Like the case of Hind — the mother of Muʿāwiyah radiyAllāhu anhu — who mutilated the body of Ḥamzah radiyAllāhu anhu. And yet this person eventually accepted Islam. Tables turn. Our deen teaches us moderation in everything, including the issues of relationships.

At the end of the day — اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِإِيمَانِهِنَّ — Allah knows the īmān. Your job is to make an apparent judgment. Nuwallis sarā'ir lillāh — we leave the hidden secrets to Allah. What does that mean? You judge based on what you see. After you do your research, you judge.

For example, someone is wearing a cross. What are we going to do? We are going to judge them to be a non-Muslim. But we don't know — maybe there could be some specific reason why he was wearing a cross for that specific moment. That is not our problem. Naḥkumu bil-ẓāhir — we pass judgment based on what meets the eye. This is Sayyidunā ʿUmar radiyAllāhu anhu's statement: wa nuwallis sarā'ir lillāh — we leave the secrets of the bosom to Allah. Allah knows best.

My dear friends, we are living in a time when people say "don't be judgmental." But a person has to, if you are coming at me with a gun, obviously I am going to judge you to be someone who is dangerous and armed. That is how we live in the world — we must make assessments based on what meets the eye. Yes, it could be a toy gun, yes, it could be a water gun. But if it looks like a real gun, you had better act like someone is attacking you with a real gun. So when someone is acting like a disbeliever, it is not against your deen to think that that person is a disbeliever. It is rather the smart and correct thing to do.

The Justice of Islam in Matters of Marriage Across Religious Lines

فَإِنْ عَلِمْتُمُوهُنَّ مُؤْمِنَاتٍ — "If you find them to be believing women, do not send them back to the disbelievers." This is a big issue nowadays. Many females want to marry non-Muslim men — a serious issue in the community. It seems like Muslim men have run out. What about you brothers? Are you sitting here? All these young men, māshāAllāh, who need to get married. But this is Shayṭān who allows you to not look at the amazing unmarried women around you, and instead look towards the kuffār.

This is not permissible. One issue is: can a non-Muslim lady stay in the marriage of a Muslim man? If they are mushrik — no. If they are Kitābiyyah, following the actual religion of Christianity or Judaism, it would be permissible. Because there would be a good chance that the environment would become a means of them accepting Islam. The husband was, at least once upon a time, the leader of the household — so the wife would more likely listen to the husband and accept Islam. That was why it was permissible.

Now we have an environment where a born Muslim is not even able to remain Muslim. Men have no say in the household. And people are not even practicing Christians and Jews anymore. They have changed, morphed, watered down their religion, brought shirk in it, brought materialism in it. So these types of marriages — my dear brothers, please speak against them. Do not allow this to happen between Muslims and non-Muslims. Yes, if someone wants to accept Islam, by all means — but that should be done beforehand.

Now, those brothers and sisters who want to get married to revert people — always remember: if you want to marry someone who is weaker in the deen, who is just starting out — okay, it's fine. But make sure you are like a tow truck, strong enough to pull them out too. If you yourself are struggling between īmān and kufr, ḥalāl and ḥarām, everyday in and out, and then you marry someone who is also lower than you in deen — that is doing injustice to your future generation of children, besides doing injustice to your own selves. We need to find a partner who is strong.

MāshāAllāh, many of the revert brothers and sisters are incredibly strong, alḥamdulillāh. But then you should also be equally strong as a born Muslim. If you don't care about ḥalāl and ḥarām, please do not ruin the life of a revert who gave up all that ḥarām and kufr to accept Islam. I have met so many revert sisters and brothers — unfortunately mostly sisters — who have been deceived by marrying born Muslim men and women who are not practicing the deen. And they say: "I spat out all that culture, all that ḥarām, and I came to accept Islam properly. And now you don't want to pray, you don't want to fast, you don't want to be a good Muslim husband." For what?

So all young men and women: do not oppress a revert sister or brother. If you don't have the deen to embrace a revert who needs someone to help them, then at least stay away and don't harm them. Because when you get married to them without being a good Muslim, you not only break their heart, you make them start doubting the beauty of this faith. They say: "I married you solely because I thought you were a practicing Muslim. And here you are, doing every ḥarām that I myself decided a long time ago to give up."

Since we have this large group of brothers and sisters who have accepted Islam in the past six months — alḥamdulillāh — it is part of our responsibility to help get them married. We need to work on that. MāshāAllāh, we just had a reverts' luncheon here — sixty reverts came, the vast majority from this past year. So that is a concern. We need to assist them to get married too. And we also need to ensure that we protect them from those trying to simply use marriage to obtain passports and visas.

ذَٰلِكُمْ حُكْمُ اللَّهِ يَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ — since this is Allah's decision, it cannot be averted. And Allah knows best what He is doing, and Allah is All-Wise in His decisions.

Verse 11 — Justice for Husbands Whose Wives Left for the Disbelievers

وَإِن فَاتَكُمْ شَيْءٌ مِّنْ أَزْوَاجِكُمْ إِلَى الْكُفَّارِ فَعَاقَبْتُمْ — Moreover, if any of your wives have fled to the disbelievers, and in a campaign thereafter you believers overcome the disbelievers — فَآتُوا الَّذِينَ ذَهَبَتْ أَزْوَاجُهُم مِّثْلَ مَا أَنفَقُوا — then you are to give those individuals amongst you whose wives have fled the like of what they spent on them in dowry.

SubḥānAllāh — the tale of justice continues. Someone's wife left Islam, or did not accept Islam, and joined the disbelievers. A battle happens, and in this battle the Muslims obtain some spoils of war. From those spoils, make sure you give a portion to that husband who fought with you — whose wife went and joined the enemy — because he spent money on her and she ran away. Who should pay this back? From the spoils of war, give him a chunk equivalent to how much he spent on her. Warriors will get their shares — but this husband is also someone who actually lost his wife to the disbelievers, and that should be compensated as well.

وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ الَّذِي أَنتُم بِهِ مُؤْمِنُونَ — "Fear that Allah in whom you are believers." This is very beautiful. We are people of īmān — we already believe in Allah. How can it be that a person believes in Allah and does not have God-consciousness in him? If you say you believe in Allah, then make sure you also have the fear and taqwā of Him as well.

Verse 12 — The Bay'ah of the Believing Women

يَا أَيُّهَا النَّبِيُّ إِذَا جَاءَكَ الْمُؤْمِنَاتُ يُبَايِعْنَكَ — "O Prophet, when the believing women come to you pledging allegiance to you." Before going over the translation, let us talk about what happened.

In Fatḥ Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ sat on Mount Ṣafā. فَبَايَعَ الرِّجَالَ — He took bay'ah at the hands of the men. They all came and took bay'ah — that we are now making tawbah, and we are going to become true believers. Then the time came for the women to take bay'ah — they came to pledge allegiance to Rasulullah ﷺ. This verse is speaking about that moment.

The question arose: how should we do the bay'ah? Should we shake hands the way the men did? It is mentioned in the Tafsīr Naẓm al-Durar of Imām al-Biqā'ī rahimahullāh, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr al-ʿĀṣ radiyAllāhu anhu:

(Referenced in Tafsīr Naẓm al-Durar by Imām al-Biqā'ī, on the authority of ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr al-ʿĀṣ radiyAllāhu anhu)

"When the Prophet ﷺ would take a pledge of allegiance from women, he would ask for a bowl of water to be brought. He would place his hands in it, then pull his hands out. Then the Prophet ﷺ would have the women place their hands into that bowl of water — the water that had touched the hands of the Prophet ﷺ. And this was how his bay'ah would take place."

Sayyidatunā ʿĀ'ishah radiyAllāhu anhā says:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Aḥkām; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Imārah)

"The Prophet ﷺ never touched a lady's hand ever." The Prophet ﷺ never allowed his hand to touch a lady's hand ever.

The Conditions of the Bay'ah

The women came lined up and started taking the bay'ah — the pledge. However, Hind had her face covered because she knew the Companions would recognize her. She had her face covered so she wouldn't be identified.

What are they pledging allegiance on?

First — عَلَىٰ أَلَّا يُشْرِكْنَ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا — that they are not going to commit shirk.

Second — وَلَا يَسْرِقْنَ — they are not going to steal.

Third — وَلَا يَزْنِينَ — nor shall they commit zinā.

Fourth — وَلَا يَقْتُلْنَ أَوْلَادَهُنَّ — nor shall they kill their own children.

Fifth — وَلَا يَأْتِينَ بِبُهْتَانٍ يَفْتَرِينَهُ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِنَّ وَأَرْجُلِهِنَّ — nor shall they come forth with a calumny they forge between their own hands and feet. That means: to claim that a child belongs to someone else — to say "this child is not from this husband but from someone else," fabricating a story. The hands — what is in front of the hands? The stomach and the womb. And what is in front of the feet? The private part. So: do not use the womb and the private part to come up with a false story about whose child this is. That is a major sin.

Sixth — وَلَا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — nor shall they disobey you, O Messenger of Allah, in any rightful matter.

If they are ready to do all of these things, فَبَايِعْهُنَّ — "then accept their allegiance." وَاسْتَغْفِرْ لَهُنَّ اللَّهَ ۖ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ — "And seek Allah's forgiveness for them. Indeed, Allah is All-Forgiving, All-Merciful."

Hind bint ʿUtbah at the Bay'ah

What happened here: Rasulullah ﷺ gathered the men, finished with the men, and then the women came. Hind had her face covered because she knew the Companions — if they saw her, it would be all over. Ibn Isḥāq mentions that Hind bint ʿUtbah herself acknowledges:

(Sīrah Ibn Hishām)

Hind says: "I fulfilled my desire of vengeance against Ḥamzah radiyAllāhu anhu at Uḥud." After Waḥshī threw his spear and killed him, she went to the body, cut open his stomach, pulled out his organs — his kidney, his liver — chewed them, and then made a necklace out of the pieces and put it around her neck. And then she went on to mutilate the body of Ḥamzah radiyAllāhu anhu, Sayyid al-Shuhadā — his nose, his ears.

When Shayṭān and vengeance come into a person, what does a person do? Allāhu Akbar. This is something beyond what we can imagine — a lady doing this because of anger towards Ḥamzah radiyAllāhu anhu. But that type of person who committed the most hideous, vicious crime, Allah decided to give her īmān. This is an amazing thing. Who Allah guides is entirely His choice.

What a test for our Prophet ﷺ — to see someone who hurt his beloved uncle so much, and now she is being blessed with Islam. And the man who threw the spear — Waḥshī — Allah gave both of them Islam. Allāhu Akbar. Something to marvel at:

Allah cannot be asked why He did what He did — why He gave Hind and Waḥshī Islam and did not give Abū Ṭālib or Āzar Islam. He is Aḥad al-Ṣamad. He doesn't need anyone. Everyone needs Him. He cannot be asked why He does what He does.

So many times you think: why is my life going in this direction? Why did this happen? Look at someone else — she seems to have such nice things happening to her even though she doesn't do XYZ. I do all of this, and look at my difficulty. My dear brothers: honestly, just thank Allah that you have īmān. Otherwise, if Allah had placed you in the rank of Abū Ṭālib — you do everything for Islam, but without īmān, then what?

What about all those people who were born in Muslim homes, memorized the Qur'an, spent time in a madrasah — and now in their thirties have become open atheists? Tons and tons of ex-Muslims. So whatever issues you and I are going through — and all of us are going through issues — let us never criticize and object to Allah's decisions. If Allah allows us to pass away quietly with īmān, alḥamdulillāh, we are the luckiest people. No matter what difficulty we go through — the difficulty will all be returned to us in full in the Ākhirah. We will get full reward for it. The biggest blessing, alḥamdulillāh, is that we already have īmān.

One very big lesson we learn from the story of Hind and Waḥshī: hidāyah is exclusively His. You cannot say "I want to give hidāyah to this person" or "I don't want hidāyah for that person." Allah will give hidāyah whether you like it or not, to whoever He wants. Number two: all the Islamophobes roaming around our streets today — you should never give up on them. You don't know who, after everything they have done, Allah may cause to accept Islam. The doors of Allah are open. Who are you to close Allah's doors? If Allah has opened up the doors of hidāyah, you and I cannot close them.

So instead we should be making this du'ā: Ya Allah, guide the ummah. Guide those people who are like this. I heard my teachers make this du'ā: "Ya Allah, whomsoever You have, in Your knowledge, hidāyah written for — please give him hidāyah now. Whoever is even harming the believers, if hidāyah is meant for him, give him hidāyah now. And if hidāyah is not destined for them, then Ya Allah, remove their thorns from our path."

So Hind, with her face covered, began responding to everything the Prophet ﷺ said during the bay'ah. I mean, just reading it makes your blood boil — you are speaking to the Prophet ﷺ, you should quietly repent. But she was that type of fiery lady. She had something to say for everything.

Stealing? "Which honorable lady would ever steal? What kind of statement is this?" Zinā? "Which honorable lady would commit zinā? A'ūdhu billāh — an honorable, free woman would never commit zinā." When it came to the issue of taking what belongs to you without the husband's permission, she spoke up: "My husband" — who was Abū Sufyān — "is stingy. He doesn't give me spending money." Behind her niqāb she said: "I have been taking money without his knowledge because he doesn't give me anything to spend on myself."

Rasulullah ﷺ recognized her. Because she was complaining about Abū Sufyān — she was criticizing her husband. He said, "Are you Hind?" And then look at what she said — "Forgive whatever happened; may Allah forgive you." She was telling the Prophet ﷺ: "Forgive and overlook whatever happened, and may Allah be kind with you." Then Abū Sufyān said to her in front of everyone: "Whatever you took in the past, I now make permissible for you."

And then the Prophet ﷺ said to her:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-Nafaqāt, Hadith 5364; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Kitāb al-Aqḍiyyah)

"Take from his wealth, in accordance with norms, that which is sufficient for you and sufficient for your sons."

Then when it came to "do not kill your children," she said: "Don't kill your children, you are telling us this — رَبَّيْنَاهُمْ صِغَارًا وَقَتَلْتُمُوهُمْ كِبَارًا — We raised them when they were young, and you killed them when they reached old age." Meaning: "You killed my son in Badr. You are telling me not to kill?" SubḥānAllāh. And Nabī ﷺ, the ḥilm of Rasulullah ﷺ — so patient, listening to her. ʿAjīb.

Then regarding falsely attributing a child to someone else — Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Ṭalāq; referenced also in Musnad Aḥmad)

"Any lady who attributes a child to a tribe that he is not from — she does not belong to Allah in the least, and Allah will not allow her to ever enter Jannah." It is a very big crime to falsely attribute a child to someone. And:

(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Ṭalāq; referenced also in Musnad Aḥmad)

"And whichever man falsely denies his own child — looking at him, knowing it is his child, but for some reason says 'this is not my child' to avoid trouble — Allah will hide His face from him, and Allah will embarrass him in front of all the people of the first generations and all the latter generations." You try to protect your face after committing zinā by saying "this is not my child"? Allah will embarrass you in front of the entire creation on the Day of Judgment. So this is also a very major sin that Rasulullah ﷺ made them all repent from.

Then: وَلَا يَعْصِينَكَ فِي مَعْرُوفٍ — "And they should not disobey you in any good that you command them." Hind had something to say about this as well. She said: "Well, if I was going to disobey you, why would I have come here in the first place? I came here because I came to listen."

And so Allah says: if they do all this, فَبَايِعْهُنَّ — "then accept their allegiance" — and then seek forgiveness for them from Allah. There are two things: one is Allah accepting our own seeking of forgiveness, and number two is Rasulullah ﷺ seeking forgiveness for us. In the fifth juz, Allah says in Sūrah al-Nisā':

"If they, after oppressing themselves and committing sin, come to you and seek forgiveness from Allah, and the Prophet seeks forgiveness for them — they will find Allah most willing to accept their repentance, Most Merciful."

This āyah and the āyah here both tell us that there is an aspect of Rasulullah ﷺ seeking forgiveness for us — which is something we should really look forward to. Here I am reading from Tafsīr al-Shaʿrāwī. ʿAllāmah al-Shaʿrāwī rahimahullāh mentions that this is equally applicable for those who were alive during the time of Rasulullah ﷺ and those who come afterwards. Many ʿulamā are of this opinion — that these āyāt are not specific to the Companions, but rather anyone who goes to Madinah al-Munawwarah, stands at the grave of the Prophet ﷺ, says salām, and says: "Ya Rasulallāh, I have come to you seeking forgiveness from Allah and asking you to seek forgiveness on my behalf as the Qur'an has said" — that the mercy of Rasulullah ﷺ is not specific to the Companions but is general, going beyond his generation.

As you may have heard — Rasulullah ﷺ was once in a graveyard after completing a burial, took a stick and was putting it in the sand, thinking. He was asked: "What is it, Ya Rasulallāh?" He said: "I am missing my brothers. I wish I could meet my brothers." They said: "Ya Rasulallāh, are we not your brothers?" He responded:

(Musnad Aḥmad; referenced also in al-Mustadrak of al-Ḥākim)

"You are my Companions. My brothers are those who will come afterwards and will believe in my message without having seen me." So there are so many virtues and faḍā'il for you and I — for those who remain steadfast in the deen after Rasulullah ﷺ has left.

When Rasulullah ﷺ was speaking about who has the best īmān, they said the angels — why would the angels not have the best īmān? He said because they see the unseen; there is nothing surprising about their faith. Then they said the anbiyā — and Rasulullah ﷺ said: why will you not have īmān when you can see waḥy and revelation descending in front of you? And then: who has the best īmān? The best īmān will be of those people who come much later, who will believe in him properly with all that Islam wants them to believe — and without any sight of revelation, angels descending, none of that. Pure īmān bil-ghayb. Pure belief in the unseen. That is our era right now.

On another occasion the Prophet ﷺ said: a time will come that is very difficult to practice Islam, and people will fall into great fitnah. Yet they stay firm. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Kitāb al-Fitan, Hadith 3058; Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Kitāb al-Malāḥim)

"Whoever retains Islam in those times will get the reward of fifty people." The Companions asked: fifty from amongst who? "From amongst you, O Companions." SubḥānAllāh. And there is also a narration, though a weak one:

(A weak narration; referenced in various compilations of aḥādīth regarding the end of times)

"You are living in a time when if you leave even a tenth of what you have been asked to do, you will be destroyed. And a time will come when whoever does even a tenth of what he has been ordered to do will gain salvation." Why are all these virtues mentioned and many more? Simply because it will become very difficult. Most people will not be able to do it.

You know when there is a bar of gold — whoever can lift it gets to keep it. Worth a hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, a million. Anyone sees that and says: "That is easy, let me go lift it." But obviously the reason they are willing to give it away is because it is nearly impossible to do. That is the whole point. So this is what you are seeing — the rewards are so many, but the reason all these virtues are there is to tell you how hard it will be to simply stay away from ḥarām and do the basics. If you just do one tenth, you are successful.

Look at our ummah. SubḥānAllāh, just basic, basic things. Wearing ḥijāb — just covering the hair and having loose clothing — that is a farḍ. What percentage of the females of our ummah in this neighborhood, in our own families, is following it? SubḥānAllāh. Why? Because if you go to school wearing it, people might call you a name. So many just take it off. Many parents themselves take it off their children. This is why I am trying to tell you: understand that so many rewards are promised because it is going to be so challenging. We ask Allah to give us strength and to make us among those who are able to stay steadfast.

Sending Salām to the Prophet ﷺ in Madinah

Another thing I want to remind you of is what was just mentioned about Rasulullah ﷺ seeking forgiveness for us. This should be done when a person is present in Madinah al-Munawwarah at the place where you say salām, with the belief that Rasulullah ﷺ can hear your salām and is also responding to your salām.

"O Allah, allow our salām to reach him and allow his response to reach us." Āmīn, Rabb al-ʿĀlamīn.

Verse 13 — Do Not Take as Allies Those upon Whom Allah's Wrath Has Fallen

The last āyah: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ — "O you who believe, you shall not take as allies people upon whom Allah's wrath has come."

You remember — this entire sūrah, which we have been covering in four sessions — we are finishing up the last āyah — it is the same topic. Al-walā' wal-barā' comes back in the last āyah. لَا تَتَوَلَّوْا قَوْمًا — you shall never take as allies people — غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ — people upon whom Allah's wrath has come.

قَدْ يَئِسُوا مِنَ الْآخِرَةِ كَمَا يَئِسَ الْكُفَّارُ مِنْ أَصْحَابِ الْقُبُورِ — "They have indeed despaired of the reward of the Hereafter, just as the disbelievers have despaired of ever seeing alive again the inhabitants of the graves." Meaning: the way the disbelievers think that once a person dies, you will never see them back again — there is no belief in the Hereafter, no Ākhirah. They have no belief in it. That is why they live the way they live.

Similarly, any people who are attacking the Muslims are doing so because they think Allah is not there to help them. They think the blood of a Muslim is like water — spill it and you won't have to pay anything. A bottle of water costs a dollar, but a liter of Muslim blood is worth zero to them. That is the belief. That is why they are doing what they are doing. Allah ʿazza wa jalla calls them غَضِبَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِمْ — Allah is angry at them. They have earned Allah's wrath.

And such a group — make sure you do not ever take them as allies. What an ajīb āyah to be discussing today. When exactly what Allah is telling us not to do is what is happening within the leadership of the Muslim community. The very same people who are continuously bleeding us to death, destroying us, killing us — we see what is happening.

Let us not be confused. The disbelievers would never be able to harm the Muslims if it was not for the Muslims themselves backstabbing the Muslims. There is absolutely no doubt about this. The reason they have been able to do what they have done is because of our own breaking of our ranks. Because of us becoming materialistic. Because of us looking at small sums of money, our positions, our power. That is what has enabled the kuffār to do what they do. So if you ever want to fix the problem, you have to start from within your home. If we don't fix our houses, if we don't fix the īmān within our hearts, nothing will happen.

Four Types of Relationships — An Important Distinction

There are four things that our honorable ustad Muftī Raḍā al-Ḥaq would explain. I think it is a very nice time to share this. Four types of relationships:

Number one: Muʿālāt — from walī, to take someone as your caretaker, your ally — someone you work hand-in-hand with, heart-to-heart with, someone you are super closely connected with. This should be reserved for believers only. This type of relationship is for believers with believers. That is what this whole sūrah has been talking about — walā' is only with believers, not with disbelievers.

Number two: Muwāsāt — simply being nice, fulfilling the rights of others, being cordial, having good character. This is with everyone. This is permissible with everyone and should be done with everyone. Look at the level of justice we studied today — the mahr money is returned back to the kāfir. So muwāsāt — having good character and akhlāq — we need to do this with everyone.

Number three: Mudārāt — when you are being nice to someone simply to protect yourself from their harm. Sometimes you are in a situation where you know this person has the ability to harm you, fire you, or cause you material or physical damage. So in that case, a person may, in order to please them — even if they are the worst type of people — act respectfully. In Urdu we say: if you want to get something done, you have to make a donkey a father. Meaning: if you have got to get some work done, sometimes you have to treat even a person who acts like a donkey with the respect you would give your father — because he is sitting at the gate you need to pass through. So this is called mudārāt. Being nice to someone not because they deserve it, but simply to protect yourself from their evil.

Number four: Mudāhanah — from duhān, the butter or the oil. Buttering someone up. Meaning, you are kissing up to people and compromising your principles to get some benefit out of them. Compromising your principles to keep your job. Compromising your principles to keep your place in university. This is not permissible. Mudāhanah is something we cannot do.

So to summarize: Mudāhanah — compromising your principles — not permissible. Mudārāt — being nice to someone to protect yourself from their evil — permissible. Muwāsāt — being cordial and good-charactered with all — permissible. Muʿālāt — giving yourself fully as an ally from the heart — reserved for believers only.

The Four Types of Bay'ah

Also — one point I want to mention is the bay'ah that took place here of the women and men. There are different types of bay'ah.

Number one: Bay'ah al-Islām — someone is becoming a Muslim, pledging allegiance upon Islam. That is what was happening here.

Number two: Bay'ah al-Jihād — which happened in:

on the occasion of Ḥudaybiyyah. That is called bay'ah al-jihād.

Number three: Bay'ah al-Tawbah — also included in this āyah here. Because they did not just pledge to avoid shirk. They also pledged regarding sariqah, zinā, qatl — all these major sins. That is called bay'ah al-tawbah. You may have heard of someone having a mentor or a sheikh and taking bay'ah. That is simply this — a person making a commitment: "I shake your hand that I will never smoke again. I will never commit XYZ sin." You are making someone a witness and a mentor to assist you in getting rid of your bad habits. That is what that bay'ah is about. It should not be misunderstood as anything beyond that.

Number four: Bay'ah al-Khilāfah — where a khalīfah is decided, and the leaders of the tribes line up and take bay'ah of obedience at the hands of this khalīfah.

So there are four types: bay'ah al-Islām, bay'ah al-jihād, bay'ah al-tawbah, and bay'ah al-khilāfah. In this āyah, you have bay'ah al-Islām and bay'ah al-tawbah taking place.

Conclusion

Alḥamdulillāh, here we come to a conclusion of Sūrah al-Mumtaḥinah. We ask Allah to accept, and to make it a means of finding direction for all of us in these very challenging and difficult times. We tried our best to explain the difficult verses. We hope Allah forgives us for any mistakes and grants us tawfīq to remain students of knowledge.

InshāAllāh from next week, we will be starting a new sūrah. We will announce it during the week, inshāAllāh, for the next month or so until the summer comes in.

As a reminder for those who are listening online — this weekend is our annual retreat, starting on Friday at 6 PM, and it will also be live streamed. We have an outstanding lineup. The full schedule has been shared. We have parallel sessions for ʿulamā, students of knowledge, parallel sessions for girls, for women, for youth, there is babysitting and childcare. Lots of different amazing topics are being discussed. This is going to be a groundbreaking retreat inshāAllāh — about Islam and artificial intelligence. We hope to see all of you there in person. The event is free. The masjid is open for iʿtikāf. If you need hotels, please visit the website and book from there.

We are also starting a new program — the candlelight conversation that used to happen in Ramaḍān. This is the first time alḥamdulillāh that we are opening it up and doing this every other Wednesday. The first inaugural event will be tomorrow, between Maghrib and ʿIshā — open to the whole community. Myself, brother Rafi Bashir from the community will be hosting, and we will be talking about the AI revolution and what it means for us all. There will be snacks after ʿIshā. Please spread the word.

JazākumAllāhu khayran. Assalāmu alaykum wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh.