Overcoming the Evil Within | Khutbah By Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Overcoming the Evil Within

Al-ḥamdu liLlāh, Allah has blessed you and I with this beautiful gift of having a perspective on the world and on their events and on life. A perspective that is rooted in, of course, pure divine guidance. A person who leads a life that is based on the teachings of the Qur'ān and the teachings of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, he has something which no one else has.

(Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 3127)

Rasūlullāh ﷺ has taught us: be wary of the foresight of a believer. Because when he sees, when he looks, when he ponders, he is not looking through his mere eyes or his binoculars. But instead when he sees, he is seeing with the light of Allah. Allah opens up to him things which are not open to someone right next to him — who may be much more educated, much more experienced, much wealthier and so forth. But that nūr of īmān opens up things like no other.

Walking in the Nūr of Allah

Allah speaks about this — that a person:

The one whom Allah allows to accept Islam, and Allah opens his chest towards Islam — where he feels content with the teachings of Islam, where he feels happy with the teachings of Islam, where he feels in line that what Islam teaches us is part of my fiṭrah, is part of my innate nature. These are the most logical teachings. These are the most logical explanations. This is the most logical and correct way of life.

When a person reaches that state, what happens? فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِ — he is walking in the nūr of Allah. And so now when the nūr of Allah is present, my friends:

When Allah unveiled just a small portion — one small, minute amount of His tajallī, of His nūr — on the mountains. When Mūsā ﷺ asked:

"O Allah, allow me to see You." Allah said: wait, I am going to allow a portion of a nūr, a small amount of nūr, to manifest itself in the mountains. فَإِنِ اسْتَقَرَّ مَكَانَهُ فَسَوْفَ تَرَانِي — if those mountains can stay put, then you shall also soon see Me in this world.

What happened? فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّىٰ رَبُّهُ — this entire mountain range, when Allah manifested some aspect of His nūr, جَعَلَهُ دَكًّا — it made this entire range into dust, pieces. وَخَرَّ مُوسَىٰ صَعِقًا — and wherever Mūsā ﷺ was standing, watching, just merely seeing the explosion, seeing this entire mountain range turn into rocks and pebbles, he fell down unconscious.

فَلَمَّا أَفَاقَ — he is not you and I; he is Kalīmullāh, the one who speaks with Allah. قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ — when he regained consciousness, he said: "Glory be to You, O Allah! You are above and beyond anything anyone can ever think. I ask forgiveness for simply even asking this. I didn't know that this is, subhanAllah, what I was asking for. How can I ask to see You in this dunya?" That's why He said لَن تَرَانِي — you're not going to be able to see Me in this world.

This is the nūr of Allah — what it does to a mountain range. So فَهُوَ عَلَىٰ نُورٍ مِّن رَّبِّهِ — when you walk in this world in the light of Allah, what's that supposed to mean? What can stand up against you? What could confuse you? What could create obstacles for you when you have the help of Allah directly with you? This is one of the greatest gifts that a believer can achieve from Allah and receive from Allah as a response — as a gift for his īmān — that Allah gives him this special nūr.

The Power of Perspective

My beloved friends, it's all about the perspective. How you understand things. When a person understands what situation he is in, this is where the problem arises — and quickly we can solve the problem.

If the room is filled with smoke, qadarAllāh, and you're sitting there — you woke up to a room filled with smoke. We have no idea where the fire has started. We have no idea how to control it. We don't even know where it is. But if a person is blessed enough to be able to figure out immediately that I had left the oven on, or the stove on, or some explosion may have happened in the water heater — and he's able to figure out where the source is — he can direct the firefighters there, he can himself take care of it, and in no time can actually save the whole house and save the whole building. But if a person lost in this smoke is not able to connect the dots and cannot understand what is happening, then he may lose everything. SubhanAllah.

This is the barakah of the nūr of Allah — that in the most difficult of situations a person understands what's going on.

The Mukhlisīn: Lanterns in the Dark

And I am reminded of a hadith where the Prophet ﷺ mentioned regarding the mukhlisīn — the sincere people, the people who truly love Allah and who do every good deed only for Allah's sake, not for ostentation, not for show. They are not doing things to impress people. Their goal is only to impress Allah. And they are people who many times are unknown amongst the people. They may not even be respected amongst the people. They're not even appreciated amongst the people. People may close their doors on them because they're not well-known, they're not famous. They do not have maybe the charisma, they don't have the show. But they are people whose hearts are connected with Allah.

The Prophet ﷺ, when speaking about such people, said:

(Referenced in various narrations regarding the mukhlisīn; see al-Munāwī, Fayḍ al-Qadīr)

"Those people are the lanterns in the era of darkness. Wherever they are, every deep, dark fitnah and trial, it gets moved by their presence." — or as he ﷺ said. They're walking with what? With a lantern. They don't have lights pointing at them. They don't have security with them. They don't have huge followers online — or maybe zero followers. But subhanAllah, what they have that no one else has is a heart that is gifted with the nūr of Allah. Not only are they able to walk in the light of that, but their mere presence shows the light to others.

Imagine you're going hiking at night, or camping at night, and one person's got a flashlight at the front. When he shuts that off, it's complete pitch dark. You can't see even your own hand.

Layers of Darkness

As Allah says:

There are layers of darkness — not the darkness of the night literally, but Allah compares it to the darkness of the night. We're speaking about the darkness of kufr. We're speaking about the darkness of hypocrisy. We're speaking about the darkness of sin. We're speaking about the darkness of materialism. We're speaking about the darkness of hedonism and nihilism. We're speaking about the darkness of all the other -isms besides Islam, that creates so much darkness in a person's life.

He is so utterly lost. Allah says in the Qur'ān — multiple layers of darkness. Allah gives an example: you're at sea. It's a very deep sea. It's not a lake. It's not a pond. It's the deep part of the ocean. يَغْشَاهُ مَوْجٌ مِّن فَوْقِهِ مَوْجٌ مِّن فَوْقِهِ سَحَابٌ — you have a continuous flow of massive waves crashing on you, on your boat, on your little dinky boat, one after the other. And when that ocean wave crashes — tens of feet high — it barely finishes before another wave overtakes the previous one. So it's one wave, on top of that another wave. And then on top of that, a dark night. You've got no stars. You've got no moon. مِن فَوْقِهِ سَحَابٌ — Allah says it's a completely cloudy night. So now you don't have the light of the stars or the moon. It's a stormy, dark night. Clouds have taken over. You're in the pitch dark of the deep part of the ocean and you're being hit with these huge waves.

How dark is it? Allah says it all: إِذَا أَخْرَجَ يَدَهُ — when you take your hand out — لَمْ يَكَدْ يَرَاهَا — you can barely see your own hand. Right here, you can't see your hand. That's how dark it is.

Allah says: وَمَن لَّمْ يَجْعَلِ اللَّهُ لَهُ نُورًا فَمَا لَهُ مِن نُّورٍ — if Allah does not give you nūr, then no one can give you nūr. If you are devoid of the nūr of the heart, then no amount of education from the best universities, no zip code in the world, no group of friends and consultants, no loving parents and children and spouse — nothing can give you direction in life if Allah allows you to fall off. You'll have everything, but have nothing.

Because what is it to lose your mental capacity? You and I have probably seen it. Unfortunately — may Allah grant shifā' to all those who've lost their mind, genuinely who are suffering psychosis. You see a man who is so, mashallah, talented, is wealthy, is educated, has so many resources. But if you've interacted with someone who's going through a situation like that, you cry — you say, Ya Allah, what is going on? I've interacted in my field with such people, subhanAllah, who are just like that — who are on top of the world in certain areas, but then they're suffering a mental breakdown. And they're crying, and they have no idea what to say, they don't even know what they're saying, they don't know what they're doing. And you look at that and say: what happened to this man? One amr of Allah, and Allah chooses to make you lose your grip over your mind, make you lose your grip over your mental capacity — it's gone. That wealth is of no good, the beautiful spouse is of no good, the beautiful children is of no good, the house is of no good, subhanAllah.

Similarly, when Allah allows the heart to fall into ẓulmah and darkness, all of the material things of the world, my beloved brothers, give you no benefit — not only in the hereafter; we're talking about in this dunya, a person is completely, completely lost. Because he is missing that nūr.

Wealth Without Nūr

When we saw, not long ago, the files came out — and certain aspects of American society and world society have come to light — that this is not just one person, this is a whole group of people across the entire globe. But what is something worth noting here is: when is anyone sitting here going to have multiple private islands? When is anyone of us going to have yachts? When is anyone of us going to have kings in their pocket because of blackmailing? Who is going to have that type of power and wealth? But subhanAllah, look at the interviews of the people who spoke with him. What did they say? That this was like speaking with the devil — that you felt so uncomfortable even looking at him in his eyes. What was that?

Just the fact that none of us would ever want to trade lives — to say, "I want a couple of private islands, I want a couple of yachts." No, even an average disbeliever would say, "No, no, I don't want to be like that." This is:

Worse than, subhanAllah, livestock. This is شَيْطَانُ الْإِنسِ — the shayṭān from among humans. Why would we want that? Immense amount of wealth, immense amount of power, my friends, does not make you into even a human being — much less into a servant of Allah, much less into a loving, caring husband, a loving, caring wife, or a loving, caring child or young man or woman.

SubhanAllah, the deen of Allah is why we have what we have. Wallahi, if it wasn't for the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, we would also be doing what animals do — we'd be worse than the animals. Animals don't unnecessarily attack one another, don't unnecessarily prey on the little ones, especially from their own group. Well, we as human beings, when you are devoid of īmān, devoid of the light of īmān, there is no limit to how low a person can stoop. No limit.

Allahu Akbar. Allah says: then We flip it. The person who chooses to turn his back to Allah — Allah turns him back, pushes him away, and he doesn't just fall low. Asfal — he becomes the lowest of the low. He becomes someone that I would say even Shayṭān says, "Wow, I'm impressed. I never imagined that you could go so low."

Shayāṭīn of Jinn and Ins

Yes, there are people who are truly agents of evil. Allah says:

The shayāṭīn of jinn communicate with the shayāṭīn of ins. They communicate and instigate them to do what they need to do. Allah says:

Yes, they are evil. Yes, they are your enemy. But understand that they're not alone. They're not working in a vacuum. Behind them are the shayāṭīn of jinn that are instigating them, teaching them what to do.

Allah says:

Indeed, We have deputed — We have created — for every prophet an enemy: shayāṭīn from the humans, number one, and shayāṭīn from the jinn. Not just for you and I — for a prophet who is a chosen servant of Allah, who is dedicating his life to connect people with Allah. Allah says: I have deputed them as the enemy of every prophet. The Qur'ān is saying: if you're a prophet doing the work that Allah has sent you with, you better be ready. You're going to have a shayṭān — not only from the jinn, but number one, a shayṭān from the ins. A human shayṭān that's going to come at you to stop you from the work that you're doing. That's the test. That's where the ajr is. That's where jannah lies.

Shayṭān: A Means Toward Jannah

In reality, if it wasn't for Shayṭān, none of us would be worthy of this jannah. Think about it. It is through Shayṭān that, subhanAllah, we came into this world. And it is through Shayṭān that we're getting an opportunity to get our spot back into jannah. What I mean by that is: Allah has released him upon us, and Allah wants us to prove to Him that we love Him more than we love any of the shayāṭīn — of ins or jinn. That we trust in Allah more than we trust in any shayāṭīn. That we fear Allah more than we fear any shayāṭīn. And that our connection with Allah triumphs any other connection.

That's the test. Shayṭān — of ins or jinn — will ask us to do something. Allah asks us to do something. There's a conflict between the two commands. We have to prove it to Allah that I will always give preference to Your command over what Shayṭān — of ins or jinn — will ask me to do. And it is through this conflict, and then through us giving preference to Allah's command over Shayṭān's instigation, that you and I, inshallah, will be worthy of Allah's mercy — and thereafter, Allah's jannah. So if you think about it, Shayṭān has become a means of what? Our jannah. He got us out, and then inshallah, we just stay strong in this battle, we go right back in.

The Qur'ān and Sunnah as Our Guide

My beloved brothers, this perspective of understanding how the world works around us — you don't need to go sit and binge-watch YouTube videos on the back-end running of the world, and this and that. The Qur'ān and Hadith tells us. SubhanAllah. If you want to spend a little bit of time reading here and there — I don't deny that reading is one of the most important things to do — but sitting there watching endless things: a lot of brothers just sit there and watch stuff, and then at the end they're more confused. They said, okay, you watched 3 hours last night, what's the take-home point? "Oh, the world is falling apart and we are completely controlled." No, my friend, that's a useless take-home point. The Qur'ān never taught us that.

The Qur'ān already tells you that there are invisible forces designed by Allah to test all of us. But then the Qur'ān and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ did not leave us as orphans. Alhamdulillah, we have the methods of repelling these attacks. We've been taught — going back to that āyah about the layers of darkness — where does that rukū' begin? All of us know from the 18th juz', the very famous āyah:

Allah is the Noor of the heavens and the earth. That's the beginning of that rukū' in the 18th juz' in Sūrah An-Nūr. And Allah has given us īmān, which is:

This is a very deep verse — it will take quite some time to explain it — but in a very short and superficial explanation, Allah is basically giving an example of when the Qur'ān, coupled with the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, is in a believer's heart. When it's in a believer's heart, the example is the highest possible, humanly possible lantern of the highest intensity — with the best fuel, with the best wick, with the best glass covering. It's in a niche. When you put that in, what happens? It exemplifies the light it gives. Allah is giving the example of a human believer's chest — this is like that niche where you place this lantern.

And what type of fuel is it? يَكَادُ زَيْتُهَا يُضِيءُ — just the fuel made out of zaytūn is so combustible that it's almost going to catch on fire without a match. Allah is saying that. That's how combustible, how high quality this oil is, going into this lantern. And then, subhanAllah, the glass surrounding the wick is so strong and so shiny and so filled with light — it's like the stars before we even lit the place up.

Now that's in your heart. When a person has that in his heart and he's walking around, my beloved friends, ẓulumāt — darkness — can't stand a chance. When you want to remove darkness from a room, you don't fight it with a broomstick — you switch on the light and it's gone. When believers walk with īmān — whether it's corporate, whether it's college, whether it's your own business, whether it's at home — when you're walking with genuine love for Allah, fear of Allah, and sincerity in your heart in following the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, then my beloved brothers, you will be the leader.

Allah says: you will be at the top, as long as you have īmān, as long as you have genuine, true trust in Allah. A person — many of us can claim that I'm a believer, I have īmān. But the proof lies in the pudding. And that is the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. That's it. I have to compare my lifestyle, my dealings with my spouse and children, my parents and siblings, my neighbors. I have to look at the way I eat, I drink, I sleep — the way I earn, the way I speak, the way I think. How much does it fall in line with the sunnah of the Habib Mustafa ﷺ? The closer I am, the higher my īmān, and the higher the nūr of my heart, and the better chance I have of repelling the attacks, and the better chance I have of becoming a source of guidance wherever I am.

My beloved brothers, but if I don't, then I may act like a Muslim, dress like a Muslim, seem like a Muslim, think of myself as a Muslim — but that nūr of īmān, subhanAllah, may not be there. And it may end up causing a lot of harm to myself.

The Oppression Within Ourselves

My brothers and sisters, I want to end with this point. Understand that when we speak about problems of the world — we have had many khuṭbas across the country and all over the world, speaking about oppression. Oppression is happening everywhere, yes. It's happening east coast, west coast, and in different parts of the world. Naturally, we must stand up against oppression — whether it's through votes, whether it's through a protest, whether it's through a boycott, whether it's through something else.

But when I were to give a khuṭbah on oppression, immediately our mind always goes toward a nation state oppressing another nation state thousands of miles away or in this country. Yes, that's oppression. We've got to stand up for that. What we don't realize many times is that oppression starts from ourselves. That we ourselves as individuals may be, number one, the biggest oppressors. The biggest oppressors against the commands of Allah, against the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, and then against fellow human beings who are close to us in our own home — our spouse, our parents, our children.

How many times, subhanAllah, we are rooting and speaking about some international issue, while at the same time those who are around us are unfortunately sick and tired of us. They can't speak up because they're scared of the rage that we're going to have. How many wives suffer quietly? How many husbands suffer quietly? And how many suffer not so quietly? How many children are suffering because of their parents? How many parents are suffering at the hands of their children? How many sisters and brothers are suffering at the hands of one another?

Every day when people come and share with imāms and myself the stories of oppression that is happening in their homes — what do we realize? That we have truly scapegoated everyone besides ourselves. We've taken zero responsibility — I, the khaṭīb here, and everyone else possibly — that maybe I am an oppressor in my own home, in my own relationships. It's easy for me to speak and rile the crowd against XYZ. But what about the inner nafs and the inner shayṭān within me? How have I been dealing with my mom and dad, my siblings, my parents? On the Day of Judgment, will all of these people stand up for me or against me?

You know we have a lawsuit culture, right? Everyone wants to make some money. The real lawsuit culture, you and I haven't seen yet. That's going to happen on the Day of Judgment.

Even the mother will want to take her son to court. Even the father will want to take his wife or his son or daughter to court. Because why? Jahannam is standing in front of them. "I can't go there. And if I can get a few ḥasanāt from you and a few ḥasanāt from you — and remember the time you broke my heart, and remember the time you cut me off, and remember the time you swore at me, and remember the time you backbited me — and if I can get ḥasanāt from my own blood relatives and send you to hell while getting to jannah, I'm sorry my friend, sorry my mom, sorry my dad, sorry my kids. Time's up. I'm not going to go to hell at any cost. If I can get my way into paradise, and that means throwing you under the bus, I'm going to do that." That's what the Qur'ān is saying.

Friends are going to be the worst enemies for one another — except for those who have taqwā. We're worried about being sued here. We have to be worried about being sued in the court of Allah tomorrow — where there's going to be no way of recourse, no out-of-court settlements. We've got to sort things out here. We have to make sure that we're not oppressing any of our own family members. We have to make sure that our tongue doesn't hurt the hearts of the people around us. SubhanAllah.

It's not easy. I don't think anyone of us is sitting and attending the Jumu'ah khuṭbah saying, "I'm an oppressor." That is the issue. The nafs and the shayṭān do not allow us to recognize our own flaws and faults.

Du'ā: A Plea for Self-Awareness and Mercy

So I implore and remind myself tonight and today: let us start making du'ā to Allah.

Ya Allah, allow me to become aware of my flaws. Allow me to become aware of my faults. Allow me to become aware of my sins. Oh Allah, allow me to be in the company of the righteous people in whose presence I become aware of my weaknesses and through their presence I can become a better person. Ya Allah, allow me to become a source of mercy for my family and not a source of oppression. Ya Allah, allow me to become beloved wherever I go. Ya Allah, allow me not only to fulfill the rights of others but beyond that, to do iḥsān upon others. Ya Allah, allow me to become a means of positive energy wherever I go. Ya Allah, allow me to be walking with the nūr of īmān in my heart, and allow me to be lighting the lanterns of everyone else around me. Make me a miftāḥ al-khayr — a key for goodness — وَمِغْلَاقًا لِلشَّرِّ — and a lock for evil.

I ask Allah to grant us all protection from the greatest enemy, which is what? Our nafs. Our nafs.

I ask Allah to grant us protection from our nafs. I ask Allah to grant us protection from Iblīs and his army. I ask Allah to grant us protection from the fitnah of Dajjāl. I ask Allah to grant us the foresight to be able to see what Allah and His Rasūl ﷺ would like us to see.

Second Khuṭbah

Allah says:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2630)

"Indeed, this religion began as something strange, and it will return to being strange. So ṭūbā — glad tidings — to the strangers who rectify what the people have corrupted of my sunnah after me."

I say these words and ask Allah for forgiveness for myself and for all of you and for all the Muslims from every sin, so seek His forgiveness.

All praise belongs to Allah, and abundant ṣalāh and salām upon the Messenger of Allah. Allah says:

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 3791)

"The most merciful of my ummah toward my ummah is Abū Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him. The strictest of them in the matter of Allah is 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him. The most truthful of them in modesty is 'Uthmān, may Allah be pleased with him. And the most judicious of them is 'Alī, may Allah be pleased with him." And may Allah be pleased with all the male and female Companions.

O servants of Allah, may Allah have mercy on you:

Indeed, Allah commands justice, excellence, and giving to relatives, and He forbids immorality, wrongdoing, and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

Remember Allah, the Most High, the Most Great — He will remember you. Call upon Him — He will answer you. And the remembrance of Allah is the greatest. And Allah knows what you do. Establish the prayer.