Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed Post Fajr Talk (Sunday 10/26/25)

Husn al-Dhan: The Power of Good Thoughts in Allah and His Creation

Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | Post-Fajr Talk | Sunday, October 26, 2025

يَا وَهَّابُ، يَا فَتَّاحُ، يَا اللهُ، يَا وَهَّابُ، يَا فَتَّاحُ

Whatever Allah opens for people of mercy, no one can hold it back. Allah speaks the truth.

Respected elders and brothers, my dear honorable scholars, أَلسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

Alhamdulillah, first of all, it's such a joy to be here this morning and to be performing Salah here. I was just telling Shaykh — I think maybe it's about 15, 16 years ago I came here and had Jumu'ah. Coming back now and entering this masjid, it looks very, very different than what it looked in 2009 or 2010 when I came here last.

So mashallah, it's beautiful to see, but the imam is the same. Alhamdulillah, Shaykh, the things have moved on, but alhamdulillah, the foundation is the same. May Allah preserve our Shaykh and give barakah in his health, his wealth, his 'ilm, his 'amal, and the nur that he's providing to this community. Allahumma ameen.

This reminder, first and foremost, is for myself and for all of us. I ask Allah to allow me to benefit from my own words. And I want all of us, inshallah, to hear something which will rejuvenate our iman and allow us to leave this gathering in a state that we are closer to Allah than we were when we entered His house. Allahumma ameen.

The Foundation of Husn al-Dhan

Beloved brothers, Allah has made one concept — one foundation in this deen — that having good thoughts, Allah has made husn al-dhan — having good thoughts — as a foundation of immense, immense khayr and goodness in this world. That having good thoughts is a key to open the doors of goodness with the creation of Allah as well as with the Creator.

The gates open through husn al-dhan. The gates open through having good expectations and good thoughts.

When a person has good thoughts about some of the creation — let's speak with that first. What does that mean? That a person is thinking: I'm speaking to someone, I have a request from someone — inshallah this person will listen to what I have to say, inshallah this person will be receptive. I saw someone doing something wrong, I'm going to inshallah try my best in a very nice manner to remind him not to do something wrong — this person will be receptive to that. When I have a request for some need of mine, I'm going to present it — inshallah this person will be receptive to that.

When we begin to communicate with one another and speak to one another and reach out to one another on the basis that this person will be receptive to what I have to say, then we'll see that people actually will be receptive. This husn al-dhan that we're having is actually, in essence, directed towards Allah. We're saying: Ya Allah, I am presenting a message to somebody, or I'm requesting something from somebody. O Allah, I have good expectations from You that You will turn the direction of his heart, and You will soften his heart, and my words will have an effect.

The Lesson of Musa and Fir'awn

Allah is sending Musa (alayhi al-salatu wa al-salam) and Harun (alayhi al-salatu wa al-salam) — Musa who was raised in the palace of Fir'awn — being sent to a tyrant like none other. We haven't seen a tyrant like that who actually claims divinity for himself by saying:

And he is so intoxicated in his power. Allah already knows that Fir'awn is not going to accept the message of Nabi Musa. Allah already knows the condition of Fir'awn and what will happen. Yet, when He sends Musa and Harun, He tells them:

Ensure that both of you, when you speak to him, you speak to him in a very soft manner. Speak to him in a soft manner — لَّعَلَّهُۥ يَتَذَكَّرُ — he may take heed. أَوۡ يَخۡشَىٰ — he may end up having some sort of fear of the future, fear of Allah Himself, fear of the akhira, and your words will have an effect on him.

Allah knows that he's not going to. Look at how Allah ensured that Nabi Musa and Nabi Harun go into the palace optimistic. They go into the palace expecting that maybe he will listen. Because we want a Nabi to go with the right perspective. We don't want a Nabi to write off anybody. By writing off anybody, you are unnecessarily closing a door which should not be closed. Go in with a positive mentality that inshallah something will happen.

Now you're making an effort — but who's the one who's actually going to make things happen? That's obviously Allah. That's why I said in these relationships, we're actually looking towards Allah.

So Allah tells them:

In your journey in speaking to Fir'awn, ensure that you do not become lax when it comes to remembering Me. You're entering that palace, but the entire time make sure your heart is turned towards Me, your tongue is moist in My remembrance.

And then the du'a to be read at that time is mentioned:

O Allah, expand my chest. O Allah, make my affairs easy. O Allah, untie the knot in my tongue — so that they, the entire palace, can understand my speech.

We know Musa (alayhi al-salam) had a speaking impediment. But still, subhanallah, Allah is sending him, and He's asking him to make this du'a. So we're speaking and we're giving da'wah, however our own attention is not towards the person we're speaking to — our attention is towards Allah. And: O Allah, You make these words effective.

Guidance Belongs to Allah Alone

What is so amazing is that the prophets have been sent explicitly for one job:

The job of a prophet is to guide people. The job of the prophet is to show the path towards goodness, righteousness, towards paradise. This is the maqsad and the bi'atha — this is the purpose of prophethood. Such an important role — that the closest beings on the earth to Allah, which are the prophets, and at the top, Rasulullah ﷺ. This is not an ancillary thing. This is the foundation of his work, which is guidance.

Yet Allah is telling the Prophet ﷺ in the Qur'an:

Indeed, you cannot guide whomsoever you love. But it is Allah who guides. Meaning: the closest being to Allah, the prophets of Allah — in regards to their maqsad of bi'atha, the purpose of being sent, which is guidance — Allah is explicitly and uncategorically saying: Your guidance is not kept in your hands. Even that I have kept with Myself.

Something really deep to reflect upon. That if something so central to the theme of prophethood, so central to the theme of those who are closest to Allah — that Allah has reserved for Himself, and He says that I am the one who gives guidance, you cannot choose who gets guided — then my friends, the rest of the discussion: who's going to open the door for you, who's going to give their daughter to your son, who's going to get you accepted, who's going to allow your son to get accepted into their school, who's going to allow you to get a job, who's going to get you a promotion — how can any of these things be in my hands? And how can any of these things be in the hands of any creation? When the greatest need of ours, which is hidayah, Allah has exclusively kept it with Himself, the rest of these things are small things.

That is why every single day, and in every rak'ah, we're constantly asking Allah not only for guidance, but to remain guided.

Your Effort Is Nothing Without Allah's Will

So when a person understands that my words and my effort, my letter and my email have no effect — Allah does. What an amazing verse in Surah al-Anfal:

Allah is saying to Rasulullah ﷺ: You did not throw when you threw, but Allah threw. What is that supposed to mean? That Allah, in one breath, is mentioning that Rasulullah ﷺ threw — but then Allah is also negating it. Meaning, Allah is negating the effectiveness of the Prophet ﷺ throwing soil in the face of his enemies. This throwing of some amount of soil that fits in your hand, in the face of the enemy, is not something that can blind people for such a long time that all of you can leave and walk out and not even realize anything is happening. This is not something that can cause such immense blindness on the battlefield. What happened? How did this handful of dust bring about a situation as though it was a desert storm, a sandstorm? This is Allah making it effective.

Right now you throw something or I throw something — it means nothing. Even Nabi ﷺ's throwing is being called ineffective unless Allah makes it effective. So all the efforts that I do every day, that you do every day to get things done — raising our kids, educating our children, speaking to our spouse, getting things done at home or outside of the house — we put so much effort. But then when we don't see solutions, where is our attention at that time? Are we focused on Allah? Or are we focused on something else? That's the question.

My dear friends, this is the gist of what we're saying here. A person needs to have husn al-dhan with Allah. A person needs to have husn al-dhan with Allah — that I made the effort, but:

Ya Allah, my job is to ask — acceptance is upon You. I did the work, but reliance is upon You. I made the du'a — acceptance is upon You.

The Wisdom of Umar ibn al-Khattab on Du'a

Umar (radiyallahu anhu) reported — he said something so beautiful:

He says: I do not carry the burden of wondering whether my du'a is going to be accepted or not. Rather, I carry the burden and the worry: am I supplicating to Allah enough? He says: when I have been inspired to ask, I know that my du'as will be accepted.

And Allah says:

Supplicate to Me, and I will accept your prayers. This is the deal. You simply ask, and I will give.

How Much Time Are We Dedicating to Du'a?

Why do we see today — and I'm asking only ourselves, not looking at other people — what amount of time in any project you have: you're trying to renovate your kitchen, you're trying to pay off your house, you're trying to get your son through college, you're trying to get your daughter to be more practicing — whatever project you're working on, let's ask ourselves: what percentage of that is dedicated for du'a? What percentage of time I'm putting into a project am I spending asking Allah?

We won't be motivated to spend enough time unless we actually believe Allah is فَعَّالٌ لِّمَا يُرِيدُ — that He is the doer of everything that He wishes to do, and Allah is عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيۡءٍ قَدِيرٌ — Allah does as He wishes and He is all-capable of doing whatever He wants. Until I don't firmly believe that Allah is سَمِيعٌ بَصِيرٌ — that He listens and He watches, He is خَبِيرٌ لَطِيفٌ — He is well aware of what I do, He is absolutely aware of all the subtleties — that I have to present my case to Him, and most definitely He will listen to that. If a person is not convinced, my dear friends, he won't be able to take out the time.

And this is something I want us to ask ourselves: how much time after Salah, how much time after Jumu'ah, how much time at Tahajjud time, how much time before we go to bed, how much time before any interview, before any project, are we sitting there asking Allah?

A Father's Certainty in Allah

One of our visiting guests who came to see us — an elder in his 70s — was telling us: my father, subhanallah, was not a scholar. But I used to go to him whenever I had issues. I used to tell him: Abu, I have this issue, make du'a for me. And he said, my dad used to look at me and say:

I will not leave Allah until I get you what you want. He said: the conviction — I started crying when he said it — the way he said it, subhanallah, it was just amazing. I will not leave Allah until I get you what you want.

He said: that level — number one — connection with his son. Anything you want, done. You said it, done. Number two, more importantly, is the trust with Allah. What do you think? I have an amazing relationship with Allah. I spend a good half hour every single day speaking with Him. I've been speaking with Him for 50, 60, 70 years. I sit and speak to Allah. There is an amazing relationship here that has been cultivated over decades. I have been watering this relationship.

You don't just water the relationship through begging. Of course, that's a huge part of it. But obviously the quality of our salah, the quality of our sadaqah, the quality of our other ibadah, the quality of our akhlaq, the quality of our patience, the quality of our shukr — that when a person raises his hand, he asks.

The Villager at Tahajjud

Recently, I was traveling in India, and I was in a masjid in the location where I was staying. It is a very common practice for people to come for Tahajjud to the masjid — an hour and a half, two hours at night before Fajr. And it's a village. There are barely any lights. It's all mud streets, no paved roads, nothing.

There was an elderly person who was regularly coming at night, 2 or 3 a.m. As I was in that masjid reciting Qur'an, this elderly uncle — in his 70s or 80s, a simple, simple villager — he was speaking to one of my travel mates about Allah. We had just met him. He said, where do you come from, son? And he started speaking about Allah passionately. And it was just amazing, because how often do we hear people speaking about Allah passionately? Just like that. Not in a khutbah or a talk, but just hey, assalamu alaikum — and because:

If you love something, you mention and speak about it a lot. So this person — you could see he loves Allah — he just couldn't hold back and just met a stranger and started speaking about how amazing Allah is.

I was reading from the Mus'haf, reciting Qur'an, and I overheard this conversation. I said: this is amazing. I put my Mus'haf away and went and greeted this old man. I felt like he was a special person. And I said: please pray to Allah for my own rectification, for my own islah, for Allah to change the direction of my heart towards Him.

So I just told him. He looked at me and said: okay. He went back to the front of the masjid, grabbed the tasbih, sat down facing the qibla in the front row. It was 10:30 in the morning. And he sat there, raised his hands. And then, my dear friends, he started crying with such a high voice, with such a high pitch, that those who were resting woke up. Those who were reading Qur'an in the masjid stopped. Everyone was wondering what happened. Did someone pass away? It was so loud. Facing the qibla — like an on/off switch — subhanallah.

Just like that, the next five or six minutes: begging Allah. And I am just bewildered at what's going on. After that, he gets up, puts his tasbih back, comes back, shakes my hand — he's done. He says: I asked Allah. I don't know what to say. I am just flabbergasted. And then the fact that he comes and says: I asked Allah — and he's done.

This level of love with Allah, and this level of connection with Allah, and this level of yaqeen with Allah, and this level of husn al-dhan with Allah — that really moved me.

Hey, we could also do that. But not only are we maybe not inspired to do that, but if we were to somehow do that, how often do we stand up and say: done, khalas, alhamdulillah, I asked Allah, He's going to give it to me? That husn al-dhan is what opens up the doors.

The Hadith on Husn al-Dhan

As the Prophet ﷺ said: Have good thoughts about Allah.

And in the hadith qudsi: I treat My servant based on what he expects from Me.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 7405; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2675)

So if we have good hopes from Allah, that means we will lead a life that makes us worthy of Allah's mercy.

The Story of Umar and the Old Man

I'll end with a story. Umar (radiyallahu anhu), one day during his khilafah, is walking with one of his companions making rounds at night. He hears some noises coming from a house. He is the Ameer al-Mu'mineen, he is the imam, he is security — he is everything. So he hears that noise and says: what's going on here? Something is fishy. So he jumps over the wall to see, because if I knock on the door then whatever is happening will stop.

When he jumps over the wall, he sees there is an old man who is drinking liquor — wine — and in front of him is a woman singing. So he scolds him. His companion is standing outside waiting.

So the old man looks at him and says: you're right, I'm doing something wrong, I've done something haram. But you — you've done three things that are wrong.

Allah asks us:

Enter the house through the door — not by jumping over the wall. You broke that command of Allah.

When you enter the house, say salam. You didn't say salam. You didn't even take permission.

Do not spy on people.

What happens to Ameer al-Mu'mineen? It was said of him:

He would stop in his tracks at any verse of the Qur'an. And so right here — not only did he stop mid-air, he started crying. He cried over what he was corrected on. He said: you're right.

So after that, he left the house. And the companion who was standing outside waiting for him — he did not even tell him what happened inside. Nothing. Quiet.

Some days later, some weeks later, Umar (radiyallahu anhu) is sitting in his majlis — his court — and people are surrounding him. And this man comes in, covering his face, trying to hide his identity. Umar (r.a.) catches his glance and sees who is here. He doesn't say anything. After the gathering finished, he called the man over, and Umar (r.a.) whispered into his ear. He said: listen, I don't want you to feel bad. What happened that night — I have never shared it with a single soul. Not even the person who was with me. So you don't have to worry about what people are going to say. No one knows.

The man listened. And then he went to Umar (r.a.)'s ear and whispered: also, I want you to know — after that night, I have given up all haram. Drinking, singing, music — everything. I've given it all up.

The Power of Husn al-Dhan in Our Lives

My dear friends, one of the things you can learn from here is the power of husn al-dhan. That if I'm advising someone, inshallah he is going to listen. If I'm going to cover up someone's fault and give him quiet counsel — privately, not publicly — he is not just going to dismiss it.

Because today, if you see someone doing something publicly wrong and you say: let me just go speak to him — what happens? I see this, as of last night too. Every day people say: brother, he will never listen. What's the point? Everyone's tried. He's not going to listen.

Come on — your words are going to have an effect. Why are we speaking like this? SubhanAllah, have a little bit of good thought. No — if someone goes and speaks to him, he's a good brother, he just needs a reminder. He doesn't even realize it. But you have to not be suspicious of his intentions. You have no right to be suspicious of his intentions. You have no right to play God and say he's not going to accept, he's not going to change. And then he won't change with that type of attitude.

Instead we say: of course he will change. Of course he will listen. Of course he wants to be close to Allah. He just needs someone with kindness, with wisdom and hikmah to give him a reminder.

Husn al-Dhan in Our Marriages

I ask Allah to make all of us amongst those who have amazing thoughts about Allah — husn al-dhan about Allah, husn al-dhan with His creation. This is the key ingredient to make our marriages last long and to be safe from all the fitan today — to have husn al-dhan with your spouse.

Whether you're married for 50 years or whether you're married for 5 years — because as imams are always counseling, it's: nah, she will never listen, he will never listen. That's what we're speaking about. That has to come out of our vocabulary. That has to come off our dictionary. "He will never," "she will never" — inshallah. I tried a hundred times, but guess what? I didn't make enough du'a. You're right. I just kept on giving money or buying gifts, but I've never actually sat there at tahajjud and made du'a that Allah change their hearts.

That's a very important point. So when we have husn al-dhan — that inshallah He will change — as Allah says:

If they both want rectification, Allah will also join their hearts.

Closing Du'a

I ask Allah to allow us to have good thoughts about Him, to grant us full conviction — yaqeen — in asking from Him. May He make you and I from amongst those, and our children, and our grandchildren, and our progeny, from those who take from the hidden treasures of Allah through the power of du'a.

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ