Islam, Atheism & How to Hold On to Your Faith - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Opening & Introduction

Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem.

Whenever we sit in gatherings of knowledge and dhikr, we're encouraged to sit together the way we perform salah. And when we stand for salah and prayer together, we stand shoulder to shoulder. Whenever we sit in gatherings, also we should do the same.

Allah Ta'ala says:

My respected brothers and sisters, dear friends. Today's discussion here with the youth is, as the topic was mentioned, on atheism.

Three Things to Cover Today

What would I like to cover? Well, this is number one. I want to highlight the importance — basic importance — of us realizing how blessed we are to not suffer what others are going through. Having doubts in a person's faith, leaving the fold of Islam — these are some of the greatest punishments, challenges, diseases you can ever imagine. So if we're sitting here and we're not going through that, you have to realize and acknowledge that you are super blessed. That's what I want to cover.

Number two, I want to highlight the fact that not everyone is as blessed as you are. Not everyone is as lucky as you are and as I am. And to understand that there are people who are going through a lot of difficulties with regards to their faith. I want to highlight some of the possible reasons why that's happening.

And number three, share with us inshallah some hopefully remedies of that situation. These are the things I want to cover with Allah's tawfiq inshallah.

Point One: How Blessed We Are to Have Iman

First, starting off with the first point, which is obvious, we know that. But guess what? Unless and until we don't hear it again and again, until I don't speak about it, we're not going to be thinking about it. I don't think about it that often until I speak about it. And what is that? Speak about the fact that you and I are just beyond lucky. There are no words to describe the jubilation, the happiness, and the genuine excitement we need to feel in our hearts and minds every time and every day, including today at this moment, for being a Muslim.

And this is what's going to be on the tongues of those people — inshallah, us and others — on their way headed to Paradise. And Allah has made it such that everyone who's going to Paradise will have to cross over Hellfire. Allah says in Surah Maryam:

There's not a single one of you but that he or she will have to enter Hellfire. This has been decided and set in stone upon Allah. Allah has decided it, put it upon Himself, that He's going to make sure that every one of you, before you get to Paradise, you have to take a tour of Hellfire.

Now the scholars explain in two different ways. Some say وَإِن مِّنكُمْ إِلَّا وَارِدُهَا means that you will come by it and cross over it, just cross over it and enter. And others have explained وَإِن مِّنكُمْ إِلَّا وَارِدُهَا means actually go through it — enter, not just on top, not just go around, but actually go through it. Because the next verse Allah says:

That those who have taqwa and God-consciousness, نُنَجِّي — We will give them salvation and We will save them. وَنَذَرُ — and We will leave الظَّالِمِينَ, the oppressors, the sinful, فِيهَا — within it — جِثِيًّا — begging on their knees. جِثِيًّا means to be on your knees; they'll be on their knees begging. So the fact that Allah says He's going to pull some people out and He's going to leave others there, that means people have to go through it, go in it. So that's a very plausible possible tafsir that everyone has to go.

Now the question is, why are we going through Jahannam before going to Paradise? Now, when we say going through Hellfire, that does not mean that the believers will be burnt or suffer. But Allah wants us to simply see. Look at what others are going through. Look at what your friend, or someone else who was very close to you — look where they are today.

And this will actually happen. When people are in Paradise, they'll be missing some of their friends. And they will say, "Hey, where's so-and-so? I haven't seen him for a long time in Paradise." So someone will say, look around. After looking around, you can't see him. So why don't we try next door? What's next door? The Hellfire.

This comes in Surah As-Saffat:

فَاطَّلَعَ — he will peek over. فَرَآهُ فِي سَوَاءِ الْجَحِيمِ — he or she will see their friend in the midst of Hellfire. So he'll be speaking to him from the top and his friend is down there. قَالَ تَاللَّهِ — he'll say, "By Allah!" إِن كِدتَّ لَتُرْدِينِ — "I swear, you were so close to deceiving me and taking me down into Hellfire with you." وَلَوْلَا نِعْمَةُ رَبِّي — "And if it wasn't for my Lord's blessing upon me" — لَكُنتُ مِنَ الْمُحْضَرِينَ — "I would have definitely been present, burning with you right now inside." Allah saved me from following your tracks.

So Allah Jalla Jalaluhu wants the people of Paradise to see Hellfire. Wants to see the people in Hellfire. And the purpose of this is to primarily gain more appreciation and gratitude to Allah for the Paradise that they have. That's natural. When you see people going through difficulty, then you appreciate what you have.

The Example of Hajj

Alhamdulillah, I was blessed to go for Hajj. When you go for Hajj, perfect example just comes to my mind right now. People in Mina, in the tent. In the tent, it's 120 degrees outside. They have the AC running. But how much can the AC do? So people are waking up around 9 o'clock out of the heat, sweating. People wake up and say, "It's so hot, man, it's so hot." I say, "Yeah, you want to cool down? You want a strong AC?" They're like, "Yeah, for sure." "Why don't you go for a little walk? There's a special place." "So where?" "Just leave this tent, take your slippers, and go for a 5-minute walk and come back."

So SubhanAllah, these brothers go take their slippers, go for a walk for 5 minutes. They go to the bathroom or they go outside to the streets. 5 minutes later they come back, drenched in sweat. And they come into the tent. They're like, "Wow, SubhanAllah, man, this is so cool." Of course — they just went outside where it was much more hot than inside the room with the AC and the shade. And all of a sudden that same temperature now feels so much cooler.

Some people are complaining about the food — not enough variety. So you tell them to go for a little tour outside on the streets of Mina. And you see entire families eating off the garbage, eating leftover rotten food. Today, as of 2018. They have no tent, they have nothing besides a piece of cardboard for three days that they lie down on. Entire family — husband, wife, four kids — on the streets of Mina for five days. When you look at that, you come back and say, "Astaghfirullah. How dare I complain about my food?"

This is natural human fitrah. When we see people in a situation that is more difficult than ours, we begin to appreciate a lot more what we have. And that's why the Prophet ﷺ instructed us: when it comes to the matters of deen, look at the people who are higher than us, so you don't become complacent. But when it comes to the matters of dunya, look at people who have less than us, so you can become appreciative of what you have.

The People of Paradise Looking Down at Hellfire

So when the people of Hellfire are there, and the people of Jannah are looking down, Allah Jalla Jalaluhu says what these people will say:

"All praise belongs to Allah that guided us towards this faith. And we would have never been able to gain guidance had it not been Allah Azza wa Jalla who showed us the path."

Dear students, my dear brothers, I hope my words are getting to you. I hope you're thinking about what I'm saying. The fact that we're sitting here is huge. It's a tawfiq from Allah. And Allah, He turns on what I call the light. If the lights are switched on, no one can make it dark. This is what He means:

Whoever Allah guides, no one can mislead. And whoever Allah allows to go astray, no one can guide.

So you have a roommate, college mate, high school mate who's your best buddy — a Christian, a Jew, or an atheist — and you've been trying to bring him to the masjid, trying so hard. Like recently, last weekend, a young 10th grader told me he's trying to speak to a Hindu classmate of his who's always asking about religion. He said, "I was telling him, we worship Allah. How do you worship idols?" And the classmate says, "We have to worship something tangible. God is not tangible. Your Allah is not tangible. You can't touch, you can't feel. I worship idols because you can feel them."

So the 10th grader told him, "Wait, man, that makes no sense. You carve the idol — some person, some factory, maybe 3D printing nowadays — they made an idol for you, and you're worshiping it. It was not even existent a week ago. On order they made it. You bought it. You bought your God. That doesn't make sense." Then the classmate responded, "No, I'm actually not worshiping the idol. I'm worshiping the spirit which is inside it." So then the 10th grader said, "But the spirit — do you see it? No. Does it speak? No. But you believe it's there. You have a problem with my one Allah that you can't see, but you have no problem with tens of spirits supposedly within these idols."

And he's like, "Man, why does my friend not get it?" That aspect which you all think is so obvious — why don't others get it? By the way, my dear brothers and sisters, it's not so obvious for others. What's obvious to you is not obvious to them.

You know what the example is? Without my glasses right now, I can't see anything. I can't read what it says on the clock. I can't read anything. Now you don't wear glasses. You look at the clock and say, "Why can't you read it? It's 2:30, it's written right there. Why can't you see? It's so obvious." And I'm telling you, it's obvious for you, it's not obvious for me. That lens is put there from Allah. When Allah opens your heart and puts the nur in your heart, then haqq and truth becomes apparent, and falsehood and batil becomes apparent.

So do not take for granted what you have today, which is iman and belief in Allah. Allah Jalla Jalaluhu speaks about this in the Quran. He says:

Allah is the giver of light in the heavens and the earth. And Allah guides whoever He wishes to His light. And on the other hand, the disbelievers — Allah says:

Whoever Allah does not give light, they will not get light. No one can give them light. And He tells us an example of how dark it is when you don't have the nur of iman:

It's like layers of darkness in a deep ocean. A wave comes. On top of that, another wave. On top of that is a dark cloud which doesn't allow any moonlight or stars to shine. You're in the midst of an ocean on a dark stormy night, with clouds all around, no light from stars or moon, and on top of that you have layers of waves and you're underneath them. It's so dark that إِذَا أَخْرَجَ يَدَهُ لَمْ يَكَدْ يَرَاهَا — when you take out your hand, you're barely able to see your own hand. You cannot see the hand. And then Allah says, whoever Allah does not give light, there will be no light for him.

And then Allah gives another verse on light:

How about that individual whom Allah expanded his heart? How about that person whom Allah made Islam sensible to, made Islam make sense to, made Islam acceptable and pliable to him or her? فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِ — Allah says, that individual who says, "Yeah, Islam makes sense, it's a great way of life" — that person is walking with the nur from his Lord. You're not just walking down the street like that; you have a powerful light given to you by Allah. That is the light of iman.

The Light of the Believers on the Day of Judgment

You know what's going to happen on the Day of Judgment? When the believers and the hypocrites — who all live together in this world, attend events together, go to school together — but who is a true believer and who is a hypocrite, Allah knows. We don't. May Allah make us amongst the true believers and save us from being hypocrites.

But on the Day of Judgment, you're no longer going to be able to enjoy that mob mentality of "let's all get into paradise together." It won't work. Allah Azza wa Jalla says, that's the day when the hypocrites and the believers will be walking, and it'll be pitch dark. And the light there will not be the light of a flashlight or a torchlight — it'll be the light of iman. So the hypocrites, who are in darkness because they don't have faith, Allah says in Surah Al-Hadid:

The hypocrite men and women will say to the believers, "Can you please wait for us? Don't walk so fast. نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ — We want to take some of your light. Can we borrow some? Because we can't see anything."

So a caller will say, "Alright, this is not going to work. ارْجِعُوا وَرَاءَكُمْ — Go back. You want nur? Don't borrow it from these people. Go back there, there's nur over there." This is actually a setup. It's over. Day of Judgment — no chance to do anything. Time for action is over.

So they turn around and start going to search for that light. فَضُرِبَ بَيْنَهُم بِسُورٍ — A wall will be put right in the middle. As soon as they turn around, a wall will be placed. They're like, "What happened? Where are these Muslims? They're gone." خلاص — separated.

The inside of the wall is mercy. And the outside of the wall — punishment. Hypocrites on one side, believers on the other.

Now they will start speaking, calling out across the wall, crying: "We're stuck here! We're separated from the believers!"

"Were we not with you in the earth?" The response will be, "Yes, but you are the ones who put yourselves into difficulty. You were always waiting for bad things to happen to us. You were looking for opportunities when you could inflict harm. You acted like you were Muslim but deep down you hated us. And your long drawn-out plans — 'when I graduate from college I'm going to do this, when I'm 30 I'm going to do this, after that I'm going to get this job, then I'm going to retire' — your long drawn-out plans deceived you from preparing for this day. Until the command of Allah came, you died. And the ultimate deceiver — Shaytan — he played you."

"Today, no ransom, no money — you cannot buy your way out. Today no amount of money and ransom will be acceptable, nor from the disbelievers. Your abode is Hellfire. It is a horrible place to go to."

Why did I mention these verses? The nur of iman is talked about here — that a hypocrite will not have that nur. Dear students, dear friends, thank Allah a million times every day. Alhamdulillah, for the fact that we have this iman within our hearts.

What the Greatest Scholars Ask For

I have had the opportunity to visit and attend the company of many great scholars who led their entire lives serving Islam, teaching people the deen, answering people's questions — selflessly. Not for 5 or 10 years, but 70 or 80 years. I have met them in their 90s. I visited them in Hajj, in their homes, in their masjids. And I can tell you that every single time I visited any of these amazing people — people I would just wish to be a tenth of — they would always say, "You are a student of knowledge. You are a traveler. Please make du'a for me."

And then they would tell us what they want us to pray. Not, "Oh, my grandson is sick," or "My business should go well." One thing, every single person has asked me the same. All these mashayikh I've visited — ask Allah that He allows me to die on iman. That's all I want. 90 years old, having served Islam for the past 80 years, and the one thing they're asking for is حُسْنُ الْخَاتِمَة — may Allah give me a good ending. They know exactly what they're talking about. Even though they served Islam for years, they know it's not over until the soul comes out and you are in a state of Islam. Anything can happen before that.

The Story of Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal

You've all heard of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, have you not? رحمه الله — great scholar, muhaddith, scholar of hadith, and the founder of the Hanbali school of thought. His time of death came, and as he was passing away, he was going through bouts of unconsciousness. He asked his son to bring him some water. His son brought water and was waiting for his dad to drink it. The father was going back and forth — consciousness, unconsciousness — going through a very difficult time. And he kept on saying something: لَا بَعْدُ، لَا بَعْدُ — "Not yet, not yet, not yet." His son didn't realize what was happening.

The scholars say regarding Ahmad ibn Hanbal that the ummah is indebted to two individuals immensely. If it wasn't for these two individuals, the entire Muslim ummah would not be where we are today. One is Abu Bakr as-Siddiq, رضي الله عنه. And the second one is Ahmad ibn Hanbal. Because of his stance on the issue of the Qur'an being the word of Allah — as opposed to being a creation of Allah — he got beaten mercilessly. All the other scholars had given in. But he didn't change. He was flogged for year after year in prison, and he took his ground.

I just remembered a story. Many times people say, "I want to give up wearing the scarf," or "I want to give up praying Salatul Dhuhr at school." Why? "Because people made fun of me. Someone called me a raghead, or a terrorist." I want to say to you, my friends — these types of excuses, although they are unnerving and they push buttons, we cannot fall for these things. We have to be stronger than that.

Ahmad ibn Hanbal رحمه الله, towards the end of his life, during tahajjud time, his du'a time, he would always be making du'a for a certain person. One of his students said, "Oh Imam, who is this person you always remember so fondly and make du'a for?" So he shared the story. He said, "This individual I'm always making du'a for was actually a very famous criminal highway robber." Then why are you making so much du'a for him? He said, "Because I'm indebted to him."

He said: "One day, after so many times I was sent to prison and beaten and tortured, I didn't change my stance. I was staunch. The king ordered me to be presented in court again. The court was lined up with people, and I was being dragged in shackles in front of the king, to be condemned and beaten again. On the way, a person grabbed me and said, 'Ahmad, you know who I am? I am such-and-such famous highway robber and criminal of this area. I have a message for you — you better not give in.'"

You would never expect this kind of message from a criminal. He said: "I have been imprisoned by the king multiple times and I have been beaten mercilessly for my crimes. And every single time they release me, I go back to my own ways. I haven't changed. Their merciless beating hasn't stopped me from committing crimes. Don't allow their beating to stop you from doing what's right. If I can continue on my path of falsehood despite such difficulty, you who are on the right track — make sure that torture does not push you to abandon what is right."

SubhanAllah. Those were words that gave him amazing strength. And towards the end of his life, he is remembering and making du'a for that person. That thought is very touching in this day and age, when you and I know what we're doing is right. You as Muslims who know you're on the truth — there's no reason to cave in just because someone made fun of you. This is our small test, and you'll be rewarded handsomely by Allah.

After the father regained full consciousness, his son asked him, "My dear father, what were you saying — 'not yet, not yet'?" And he said: "In my state of unconsciousness, going back and forth, I saw Shaytan — Iblis, la'een. He came and stood in front of me and said, 'Oh Ahmad, يَا أَحْمَدُ، فُتَّنِي — Oh Ahmad, you have escaped my grasp. I tried to get you, but you're too smart, too quick to catch.'" And Ahmad was telling Shaytan, لَا بَعْدُ — "Not yet. It's not over yet. Until my soul does not depart my body, you can still possibly deceive me."

That person whom the ulama say the entire ummah is indebted to — look at his last moments, my friends. He's not sitting there feeling content, thinking "I've done so much for Islam, nothing bad can happen to me." No. There must always be that fear. So we as youth — you brothers and sisters who are coming on a Saturday afternoon, who are obviously motivated — you have to understand this and pass it on to others. We need to feel extremely blessed and proud that Allah has blessed us with iman. And don't ever take it for granted. Anything can be taken away.

Point Two: Reasons Why People Are Going Through a Faith Crisis

Let me move on to the next point, which is: what are some of the reasons that people are going through a difficult crisis? Some of them that I want to share today — one is simply not having a deeper understanding of Islam. They don't know what Islam says about issues. And they're asked tough questions.

You sometimes go to grab a cup of coffee, and the person in line will start asking you about religion. And that person is prepared — he came specifically to try to convert you. There is a certain college in Chicago that actually trains people to convert Muslims to Christianity. They will send their students out to public universities, to the students' lounge — the place where we pray Salatul Dhuhr or hold halaqas — and they will go there at lunchtime, with a can of Coke, and strike up a conversation. "So you're a Muslim, huh? Can you tell me a little about Islam?"

What does the average college student know about Islam? Let's be very frank — very, very little. He knows you've got to pray, you don't commit zina, you don't drink. But beyond that — aqeedah? Why? No. Very base-level knowledge. So then they'll say, "You know what hadith is?" "Yeah, something the Prophet said." "Are you supposed to believe in it?" "Yeah." "Well, look at this." And they'll show him a hadith. "You heard of Bukhari?" "No, what's that?" "It's one of the most authentic books of your hadith literature." "Alright. Look at this, it's right here." The guy reads the translation. "Man, what? Never heard of this stuff." "Well, I'm telling you straight out of your book." And that poor boy or girl who has never studied Islamic knowledge traditionally — has never done any 6-month, 8-month, 10-month Islamic course — becomes so confused that he has no answers.

And he doesn't think, "I am simply ignorant. This is not my field." It's like if you come to me and start talking about computer science. I don't know about that. And you say some things, and I say, "Really? Wow, I didn't know that. I guess this whole thing is fake." If I'm not an expert, why would I discard something just because I can't answer your questions? But instead of saying "I don't know, let me go speak to the Imam," people get confused and walk away.

The Student Who Became Agnostic Overnight

This past summer, I had a student who was taking an Arabic intensive course with us. A very good youngster — taking notes attentively all day, asking good questions. One day, one of the teachers told me that this was going to be his last day. It was only a one-month program, and two weeks in, he says he's done. Did he come speak to you? No. So I go up to him at the end of the day. "How's life, man? How's things going?" He says, "Actually, I need to speak to you." He comes into the office, sits down. "This is going to be my last day." "Why? You're such a diligent, hardworking student — front row, taking notes, everything. Why would you stop?" "I'm not interested anymore." "Overnight?" "Yeah. I don't want to take notes. I don't want to study."

What could have possibly happened? He says: "I have decided to become an agnostic." I said, "You're joking. Serious? When did you decide that?" "Last night." "Okay brother, what's going on in life? Let's sit down."

He said: "I spent a couple of hours watching YouTube videos — by atheists and agnostics. And I actually believe what they're saying." "But did you ever come and ask me, or your aqeedah teacher, about these things you saw on YouTube?" "No, I didn't." "Why not?" "Because it was very convincing. Islam doesn't really make sense. I'm not going to go as far as to say atheist, but I just don't know if God exists or not."

So I tell him, "There must be something more going on in your life." This is an important point — a lot of people watching YouTube videos about atheism and agnosticism will not come to a scholar to hear the other side. And for all of us sitting here: don't go on YouTube binging on atheist content thinking, "I want to see what the other side has to say." First, sort out your own life before you worry about the other side. No. Before you know it — if you don't know how to swim, don't try to save someone who's drowning. Instead of one lost life, you'll have two. Don't try to act a hero when you're not equipped. Do not try to debate an atheist or agnostic if you don't know what you're talking about. "But I know what I'm talking about — I've heard some YouTube videos." This is not going to go anywhere. YouTube is not the place where you learn your deen. No one learned medicine from that. No one learned how to do a surgery from watching random YouTube videos.

What do we learn from this story? Number one: don't do that. Number two: how quickly things can happen — overnight he decided to become agnostic. Number three: people in this state don't think, "There might be ulema who have refuted all of this." They get so convinced they don't even want to ask the questions. They refuse to engage.

So then I told the brother: "There must be something else happening in your personal life. Share with me what's going on." Without going into his personal details, I can tell you this poor kid was shaken. I had to go pick up napkins, give him a long hug, wipe down his tears and give him more napkins. What's going on? This whole turn to atheism, agnosticism, leaving the fold of Islam — for most people who have gone through or are going through this, it's more of an emotional issue. Definitely spiritual, but a lot of emotional crisis they're going through in their lives. And this is how they're reacting.

It's not that they actually sat there and studied Islam, studied Christianity, studied Judaism, studied atheism for a couple of months, and then made an intelligent decision to leave the fold of Islam. That rarely happens. And I'm mentioning this not only based on my own experience dealing with Muslims who have left the fold of Islam over my past 12 or 13 years, but also based on conversations with famous scholars around the globe who deal with atheists every day. They said the same thing. The majority of the time when someone in the community is leaving the fold of Islam, it's usually because of some personal problems.

The ending of this story is good. I spoke to the brother for an hour. He gave me some fluffy, full-of-nothing proofs for leaving the fold of Islam. And alhamdulillah, Allah inspired me at that time to say what I needed to say to make him understand. And definitely no one can guide anyone except Allah. That same student who was so motivated — after Dhuhr he'd take out his notebook and write down the hadith. Any du'a I said in class, he'd text me at night: "Can you please send me that du'a?" Such an amazing kid. Overnight, the light went off. And if Allah didn't use me to intercept him before he left the school at 5 pm, I don't know where he would be. Alhamdulillah, within one hour, Allah saved him and brought him back. And not only did he remain a Muslim, he decided to finish the entire summer program. And now whenever we're having a program at Darussalam, he drives up 45-50 minutes to attend. Alhamdulillah, he's keeping in touch.

Other Reasons for Faith Crises

So you need to realize that one major reason why people leave the fold of Islam today is emotional issues. This is actually a very important talk for parents. A lot of times, the reason why people leave the fold of Islam is because the person who represented religion to them — their moms, their dads, their Islamic school teacher, their imam, their Quran teacher — they had a bad experience with them. And now, because of that, they're fighting back. They're being rebellious, angry at their mom and dad or their imam. And real stories — they want to hurt their parents. Like, "Let me hurt my parents where it hurts the most. If I leave the fold of Islam, or at least tell them I have, that's going to ruin their life. And I'm angry at them."

And there are other cases: "My dad is a very practicing Muslim, but he hasn't been a good father. My mom is a practicing Muslim, but not a good mother. My Quran teacher gave me Islamic knowledge, but they weren't a good representative of their teaching. So I hate everything they stand for. Since I hate him and he happens to be a Muslim scholar or teacher, I hate everything they stand for."

So it is super important, as parents and teachers, that the deen we teach must be taught in a very nice manner — with softness and love and kindness. We can never push people away. We cannot use harshness. I was definitely raised very differently than the way I'm raising my children, and I was taught very differently than the way I teach my students. The times are different, people are different, and we need to understand that. If parents and teachers stick to the old ways they grew up with, you're going to have major problems.

Another reason why youth hate Islam — they see their parents as two-faced, with double standards. "I just saw you pray Dhuhr, but when you went home, you were harsh and abusive to mom." They shouldn't be abusive and harsh — but I'm telling you how Shaytan uses that as a reason for them to get out of the fold of Islam.

Our youth care about character a lot. They want to be good role-model citizens. And sometimes the adults and elders don't necessarily give too much attention to that. The kids say, "My dad prays. My mom reads Quran. But she doesn't go to the next-door neighbor and help out. He or she defrauded the IRS. He cuts people off while driving. My parents don't have good character. What's the point of being Muslim and not having good character? I'd rather not be Muslim at all."

Another reason: a person commits sin. Everyone in college is doing it. "How come they commit sin and don't have to feel guilty about it? Because they're not Muslim. And every single day I go back to the dorm, I have to feel guilty about what I'm doing. I don't like that feeling. So I'd rather just say I'm out." This is Shaytan telling them. It's better of course to commit major sins and remain a Muslim than to leave Islam altogether — there's still a day when a person will get salvation. But Shaytan says, "It's not worth it. Just say you're out, so at least you can have fun without feeling guilty."

So a lot of parental and environmental factors are playing into this whole system — of so many youth leaving the fold of Islam. And attending an Islamic school, Sunday school, or even a Hifz school is not sufficient to preserve our iman. With the type of situation that's going on, it really isn't.

Point Three: How to Preserve Our Faith and Iman

Let me go to the third point now. How do we go about preserving our faith and iman? It is both the ilm and the tazkiyah aspect. Ensuring that we gain knowledge about difficult issues — what are the logical proofs of the existence of Allah? Most parents won't be able to tell you, because they were never taught that. They never thought about it. And their Islam is completely fine. Your grandma doesn't have to worry about this. She never thought about it. But our youth are sitting in Starbucks, sipping coffee, and having these so-called sophisticated conversations about the existence of God right after their philosophy class and world religion class.

In that scenario, what you have to do — as young brothers and sisters, in the time we're living in — is equip yourselves with knowledge on these issues. Sound knowledge. What does the Quran say about the existence of Allah? What are the prophetic proofs? What do the scholars say about that? And what are the logical proofs as well? Evolution, of course, is a huge elephant in the room — we can't get around it. If you speak against it, you know you're going to become a laughing stock in your school. But we have to tackle it. These are issues our sisters and brothers need to spend time finding places and courses where they can study and benefit.

The Iman of the Old Women of Maysapur

They say you need to have iman like the old women of Maysapur. This is a saying. What does that mean? They say Shaytan one day came and said, "I'm going to deceive people." So he got an egg and a needle and went to the poor villagers, simple people, and said, "Can this egg go inside the hole of the needle?" The guy said, "No, of course not." He said, "Can Allah make that happen?" Silence. "I never thought about that question." So he goes to the next person. "Can this egg go inside a needle's head?" "Absolutely not. Impossible." "Can Allah do something like that?" Again, that person is stumped.

Eventually he finds a little old lady and asks the same question. When he says, "Can Allah do this?" she responds by angrily taking her own slipper and starts smacking him on the head. She says, "You Shaytan, get out of here. How dare you ask such a stupid, foolish question? That question is nonsensical." And he was indeed Shaytan. This is what even the books of Aqidah mention — that you need to have iman like the old women of Maysapur. They weren't very philosophical. But they had faith.

That is exactly what it comes down to. You can memorize a lot of facts and learn about the deen. And you have to. We must gain the knowledge. But it has to come down to strong faith. Our parents and grandparents, if they don't know logical proofs of the existence of Allah, it's okay — because they're not even considering that Allah doesn't exist. They don't sit there on a Sunday morning sipping coffee and think, "Hmm, does Allah exist or not?" But our youth are doing that.

Work on Your Spirituality

Number two: work on your spirituality. Work on strengthening the belief in Allah. How do we do that? By attending halaqat and gatherings of remembrance of Allah, dhikr and knowledge. But don't keep it dry knowledge. Have a place where you can actually soften your heart.

Every week, my dear students, choose one day of the week where you will get up and pray Tahajjud salah. And if you say, "I cannot get up before Fajr, that's too hard" — then every week, choose one night where you will pray an extra two raka'at before you go to bed in your room. Raise your hands and make du'a to Allah. Cry and beg to Allah. Ask Him for whatever you want. Build your relationship with Him.

We have to build our relationship with Allah Jalla Jalaluhu the way we feel connected with the entire globe through our smartphones. We're not going to feel connected until we speak to Him. Once we did a khatm al-Quran du'a in English in our masjid — in Arabic and in English. And one very well-educated person came to me after the du'a and said, "You know what, man, I'm 30, 32 years old. I had no idea you could speak to Allah in English." Where are you going to get your spirituality if you don't even know you can speak to Him in your own language? That's not your mother tongue, Arabic. How are you expecting to get to know Allah and speak to Him if you're not speaking to Him?

Every single night — ideally once a day, but let's start with once a week — just speak to Allah in your language. Pour your heart out. When you're a little kid, you come home from school and have a debriefing with your mom. She's cooking and you're sitting in the kitchen. "Mom, this is what happened today." You offload. You share. We have to have that venting session with Allah Jalla Jalaluhu. Don't vent on Facebook. Don't vent on Instagram. Don't vent on any social media platform. Vent toward Allah. And He can actually make a difference. He's the only one who can make a difference.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3371)

Du'a is the essence — the marrow — of ibadah.

So: attend gatherings of knowledge, attend gatherings of dhikr, make daily du'a. And if possible, once a week get up for Tahajjud. And if you can't get up before Fajr, do it before you go to bed. In seclusion, make a special, slow, nice wudu. Don't rush through your wudu — try to follow all the etiquettes and sunnahs. Go to a quiet corner of your home, in your bedroom. Put the musalla out. Read the longest surah you know. Go through all the postures super slow. Act like you're on live television, being asked to teach salah to a million people watching you. How would you pray? Allah is watching. Pray super slow. After that, raise your hands. Praise Allah. Send salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ. And then pour your heart out. "Ya Allah, this is what's happening to me."

If you can get yourself to cry, my dear students — wallahi, you will inshallah be from the most lucky of people. The Prophet ﷺ said that from the seven people who will enjoy the shade under His throne will be:

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

A young person who grew up remembering and worshipping Allah. And another category of people who will be under the throne is:

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

A person who remembers Allah in seclusion, and tears begin to flow. Let's get to that level. It's not that hard. We have to give it a try. To be able to speak to Allah in seclusion, pour your heart out — and if you can't cry right now, cry at the fact that you can't cry, and imitate the one who cries. You will feel such enjoyment that you will remember this speech for the rest of your life, if you practice what I'm telling you. Give it a try. Force yourselves, my brothers and sisters. You don't have to be pious. You don't have to have a special name or special dressing. You are Amatullah and you are Abdullah. You are a slave of Allah. That's all you need to know. Just spend a few minutes turning to Allah and trying to shed some tears.

Have a Spiritual Buddy

Another thing I'll tell you to build a relationship with Allah and love for Allah — have a buddy. A spiritual health buddy. Stay connected with that person. Every single day: "Did you pray your Fajr today?" If you don't hear a text by the time Fajr comes, you call them. You keep on calling them until they wake up. And the next day when you meet them, "Hey bro, what happened?" "I fell asleep." "What time did you sleep?" "I was watching something and slept at 1 am." "Obviously you're not going to get up for Fajr if you slept at 1 am. You have to sleep early." This is what real friendship looks like — two people helping one another stay on the right track.

I have students who have come up to me and said, "Can you please put a password on these apps that I waste my time on and that lead me to sin — Snapchat and everything else. Just put in a password so I can't download any apps without going to the store." I'm always helping youth deal with their personal addictions and problems. Well, you can do that amongst yourselves. Be courageous and go to one another. On your way home, talk to your friends, pair up, and do this. Especially staying away from bad websites, apps, and zina of the eyes — help one another.

And once a week, or once a day — however your schedule allows — sit together and speak about the greatness of Allah. Allah is Kind. Allah is Beautiful. Allah created everything. Allah provides sustenance. My mom and dad love me because Allah put love in their hearts. I got into medical school because Allah allowed me to. I was able to get a 3.9 GPA because Allah allowed me to. I'm able to be awesome on the basketball court because Allah allows me to. You speak about all the things that you have and keep attributing them back to Allah. And you will see how that will help you build muhabbah and love for Allah Jalla Jalaluhu.

I think these are some very solid, good, beneficial points. If we were to implement them, we will inshallah not only be able to save ourselves but others as well.

Closing: An Invitation to the Darussalam Winter Intensive

Before we end this program, I would like to invite all of you to benefit from an amazing program that my team is putting together this year for the first time. It's called the Darussalam Winter Intensive, and we're doing it over Christmas break. We've never done this before. Usually we teach all year long and the 10 days of Christmas is our family time. But we know that's when you're all off from school and want to come benefit, and our school's closed. So we've requested some staff to stay back and we're bringing in staff from out of state as well.

InshAllah we'll be doing a faith intensive — four days, Christmas weekend: Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. From 10 am to 6 pm every day. We have one big module that Dr. Shadi Al-Masri from New Jersey is going to be teaching — on atheism and agnosticism, logical proofs of the existence of Allah, logical proofs of the Prophet ﷺ's Prophethood, and evolution. That will be covered over four days.

I have another scholar who is going to be speaking about signs of the Hour. Another scholar speaking about the development of fiqh and the different schools of thought — answering all those questions like, "Why do people pray differently?" And number four will be historical events — from the fall of Muslim Spain to the Crusades and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. And lastly, prophetic du'as — a compilation called Al-Hizbul A'dham. We will be going through two hundred du'as of the Prophet ﷺ. At the end, you'll receive an ijazah in that book as well.

This is open to boys and girls of all ages and adults, of course, during winter break. Please get the details — I will share the flyer with the youth director and imam here, and they can share it with you inshallah. If you cannot come at all, you may be able to register online, but of course it's not the same experience as being in the house of Allah, in a spiritual ambiance.

And second, we have alhamdulillah a summer intensive that we've been running for the past ten years. This year we had 110 students from 11 states — four amazing classes. If you're interested in learning Islamic studies and a little Arabic intensive just for the summer, it's called the Tamheed Intensive. And then we have a one-year program called the Tanweer Intensive Immersion Program — a perfect stepping stone before or between college and graduate school. Six batches of students have graduated, and our seventh batch of 50 students are currently in that program. And alhamdulillah, our first batch who did the one-year program six years ago are now in their seventh year — and after Ramadan we'll have 12 scholars graduating from our seminary. They've spent seven years with us — five from Chicago and seven from out of state.

I would love for you to come visit and see the place. Our YouTube channel is MasjidDiyas. Everything is live-streamed. Our Facebook is also MasjidDiyas. And subscribe to our listserv from our website masjiddiyas.org. And most importantly, pray that whatever I said, Allah allows me to put it into practice and allows you all to put it into practice as well. Share anything beneficial that you heard with others.

Q&A: Parents, University, and the Crisis of Faith

You have such a valid point. She's saying that so many Muslim boys and girls are raised in practicing, humble, good homes, and they've been taught properly by their moms and dads. When they hit university, they start taking classes and get so confused by the material.

My local community college — the College of DuPage, one of the largest in the country with 28,000 students — one parent emailed me and said, "My son or daughter enrolled in this class. Can you please take a look at the course material?" I looked at the book being taught in the class. Astaghfirullah — it was the worst possible thing. It's basically written by such an advanced Islamophobe that he is scared for his life, so he made up a pseudonym. I Googled him — no credentials, and his real name is nowhere to be found on the internet. He's written a book that just spews hate and bigotry against Islam and against Rasulullah ﷺ. And that is being taught at the community college down the street from me.

Now thank God that parent was proactive. They sat with their child — 19, 20 years old — went through the course material together, and said, "This doesn't make sense. We need to speak to the Mufti and see what's going on." And alhamdulillah, I told them, "Yes, you need to drop this class. Please start speaking to the Dean and see — you can't have this type of ridiculous material. It doesn't pass any academic standard. The author has no credentials, and we don't even know who he is."

So I would say: parents have to be involved in their children's education at every level, including college. We have this completely erroneous understanding of university — that we're just sending our sons and daughters to learn how to make money, to become doctors, engineers, lawyers, accountants, and that's it. Absolutely not. You're sending them into the lion's den — not with one lion, but with a pride of lions — and they have to fight their way through to protect themselves.

And I haven't even gone into the issue of fornication and drinking, because that is nothing compared to leaving the fold of Islam. But that's also happening. Boys come to me — and I'm sure girls hopefully go to someone else — and they say: "Every single day I have to pinch myself a hundred times to protect myself from zina. It's in front of me, as available as a glass of water. And I don't know when I'm going to fall. I'm begging my parents to get me married, and they say, 'No, you're too young.'"

And my blood boils when I see that. I know the parents will pay a price not only here but tomorrow — because the Prophet ﷺ said, in a hadith mentioned in Mishkatul Masabih, that when a child commits an act of zina, the parents bear responsibility for that because they did not facilitate marriage for them. Of course if you facilitated it and it still happened, that's a different matter. But today's parents are being stubborn, saying: "I didn't get married until I was 30. I didn't get married until I had my MD or PhD. Why should you?" They don't understand that their children are not living in the same era they grew up in. And I'm sure many of you brothers and sisters face these problems and parents don't understand it. But this is something I've been trying to speak about for the past 15 years.