Preserving Faith in the Face of Trials | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | MCA

Opening Supplications

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

The Opening Verses: The Trial of Faith

Allah says:

Beloved brothers and sisters, dear youngsters, elders, and guests of the house of Allah — Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

Today's topic, as was mentioned by the MC, is the importance of understanding and preserving faith in the times of difficulty and fitna that we are going through. I want all of us to renew our intention. We're here only to please Allah.

We're here listening with the intention of practicing immediately whatever khayr and good we hear. Of propagating to others whatever we can. And even if we cannot immediately practice on something, if it's something that others can benefit from, let's make niyyah of passing on the message.

Additionally, we should also, at this beginning of our talk, use this moment to ask Allah — who is well aware of our hidden conditions, well aware of the condition of our hearts, well aware of our actions of the day and the night, both private and public — He knows the diseases, physical as well as spiritual, that we are going through. We ask that Allah, who knows all of this, allows us to hear and share such things that would be a benefit to us in our current lives, that would serve as a shifa and a cure for the various types of difficulties and diseases, especially spiritual, that we may be suffering from. And we ask Allah that He allows us to leave this gathering in a state that our sins have been forgiven, replaced with good deeds, and that our faith and our heart is rejuvenated. Ameen, Rabb al-'alameen.

The Hadith of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman on Trials

Today I would like to go over one hadith of the Prophet ﷺ on fitan — on trials. And there are many hadith on this topic, to the extent that there are entire chapters dedicated to the issue of trials and tribulations, especially the ones that come after the demise of the Prophet ﷺ, all the way till the end of times.

We know that one of the most prolific narrators of the hadith of fitan is Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman, radiyallahu anhu, who says that while people used to ask about good things, he used to ask the Prophet ﷺ about bad things — in order to protect himself from the evil of those bad things. So let us go over one of his narrations that he shares with us from Rasulullah ﷺ. It is mentioned in Jami' al-Tirmidhi.

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2861; also narrated in Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 231)

This hadith is speaking about the war that is being fought on the hearts. This is talking about the battlefield in which the heart is the battlefield, and forces of falsehood and forces of truth are fighting over this real estate. This real estate is called the heart.

So as I say, it's not the battle of the land as much as it is the battle of the minds and the hearts. And this is such an important hadith to reflect upon, to think about in the time that we're living in.

This Is Not New: The History of Persecution

There are people across the globe who are being persecuted because they're Muslim, and who are being persecuted because they want to practice their faith. It's not something new. It's been around since Islam has been around. Since Islam began, it's been there — that people who practice their faith, and people in the past nations as well who followed the path of the prophets, were persecuted. And many times to the extent that the prophet himself was murdered, the prophet himself was killed, mercilessly. That's just the history of the truth.

Allah has made the battle real. The truth and the people of truth — Allah wants them to struggle. It's part of our journey. It's part of the journey from the story of Adam. It's part of the journey from the very get-go, Qabil and Habil. It was Qabil who killed Habil. Oppression and murder started right from the very beginning.

And those who are oppressed — it seems like at times there's no recourse, no day in court, because the courts are also rigged. Many times in the past, and today as well. But this is why we have to have firm belief in the Akhira, in the Day of Judgment — that those who are oppressed will definitely have their day in court in which justice will be meted out. And that is the court of Allah.

This world is not a place of justice. It's not a place where people always get what they deserve. Many times the oppressors continue to thrive while the oppressed ones continue to diminish in strength and power. And it's fine, because we already know that this is not the end. There is a place called Maliki Yawm al-Din — the Master of the Day of Judgment — who will ensure:

Whosoever has done an iota of good deeds shall see its reward. Whosoever has done an iota of evil shall see its punishment. That has to come.

To the extent, as you are all well aware of, that even a horned animal that hit a defenseless, unhorned goat — Allah will give an opportunity before He turns them both into dust. He will give them the opportunity to avenge themselves. It's going to come.

The human beings will wish that they could have become soil. But they're not meant to become soil. They're not meant to become dust — they're either going to go forever into Jannah or forever into the Hellfire. But those other creations of Allah that are meant to become dust — Allah is so just, so just, so just, that He says: before you're going to become dust for eternity, I want to make sure that the record is set right. SubhanAllah. What's the point? It's dust. Finished. Over. Game over. They're already dead. Allah is going to raise those animals back again and then give them the opportunity to avenge themselves. Allahu Akbar. Imagine the justice of Allah.

The Companions' Question: When Will Allah's Help Come?

So the world is a place where the people of the truth have to struggle. It's not easy following the truth. There was a time when the Companions were going through so much oppression, so much injustice at the hands of the disbelievers, that they went to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "Ya Rasulullah, when is the help of Allah going to come? We are going through so much hardship in Mecca. We cannot keep this up any longer."

The Prophet ﷺ was leaning in the shade of the Ka'bah. When he heard the Companions saying this, he sat upright — as if to say: Are you really going to throw in the towel? Are you feeling overwhelmed already? And then, what was his method of consoling them? He started reminding them of what the previous nations had to go through. A man would be asked to forsake Islam, and when he said no, he would be thrown into a large pit of fire. A person would be asked to leave Islam, and when he said no, iron hooks would be brought and he would be de-boned — boneless human flesh. A person would be asked to leave Islam, and when he said no, his feet would be tied to two different camels made to run in opposite directions, splitting his body in half. Or an axe would be put to his head.

For what? Simply because people said: we want to follow La ilaha illallah. From the past nations — not even from this Ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ. This is our history. Anyone who wants to be a follower of Islam has to be willing to take difficulty and struggle in his life.

As the Companions heard this, they realized what Rasulullah ﷺ was saying. And then the verses were revealed:

Do people think that they will be left alone merely on the fact that they say they are believers? Because I'm a Muslim, I shouldn't be touched? No — it's not going to work like that.

Wa laqad fatanna alladhina min qablihim — indeed, We put the people prior to this Ummah into fitna. Fatanna — We put them into trials and tests. What is the purpose? Wa la ya'lamanna Allahu alladhina sadaqu — Allah wants to make it apparent who are the truthful ones. Wa la ya'lamannal kadhibin — and Allah wants to make it apparent who are the liars. Liars in what? Those who say: I love Allah, I love Rasulullah ﷺ, I want to be a real Muslim, I do everything for the sake of Allah. Allah says: I'm going to bring about such trials and tests that those who are honest will stay till the end, and those who are liars — who simply do the talk but don't want to walk the walk — will say: I'm out.

The Sunnah of Allah: Trials as Purification

Beloved friends, this is not just what's happening today. This is thousands of years of human history. This is the system of Allah. This is the sunnah of Allah — that Allah brings down trials upon humanity to sift the 24-karat gold from all the rest. The gold from all the other elements.

This is what fattar is — a goldsmith that purifies the gold, separating it from the other elements. In order to get pure gold, how many tons and tons of soil have to be mined and sifted? And then once you do find that gold mixed with rocks and other alloys, it has to go through a process of extreme heat for all the other things to melt away, so that pure gold remains.

This is what Allah will do with humans. Muslims and non-Muslims living together — and within the Muslims you have hypocrites, strong Muslims, and weak Muslims. All together. And so Allah brings about test upon test upon test to separate those who honestly and truly have in their heart of hearts the love of Allah and the love of Rasulullah ﷺ and the belief in the Hereafter, from all those who are willing to be Muslim as long as it's convenient. And as soon as it starts getting tough, they say: I'm out. This is what human history tells us about the type of trials Allah brings upon the Ummah.

The Rising Incline: When Simple Things Become Difficult

Allah, who knows us best and who knows what Jannah is prepared for us, has destined for the Ummah, as we get closer to the Day of Judgment, that the price of Jannah — if I may say it — is going to get more expensive.

I was shocked to see the gas price today — it was over $6.20 at one gas station we were passing by. Inflation is not just hitting the gas tanks and the price of milk and bread and everything else in between. In reality, if I may say it like this, the price of Jannah has also increased.

What do I mean by that? I'm not saying we have to do more than the Sahabah. No. But rather, to do even a small tenth of what they did is becoming harder and harder. Think of it like a treadmill. One style is to increase the speed. But another style is to keep the speed low, and instead increase the incline. That's where we're at right now. The speed has perhaps gone slower, but the incline has increased dramatically.

So now, to do the very basics — simply praying, fasting, eating halal, earning halal, staying away from riba, staying away from looking at haram, listening to haram, thinking of haram, engaging in haram, buying and selling haram — those simple, simple things have become increasingly more difficult. To simply be nice and dutiful to your mom and dad, to be dutiful to your spouse, to be loving and caring and fulfilling the rights of our children — simple things of the past — now all have become seemingly more challenging and difficult. Because of the fitna around us. That fitna is what I'm talking about — the incline going up.

Respect for Parents: A Forgotten Obligation

Think about the elders with the white beards, the elder sisters and brothers. When your mom and dad in the 1960s, 1950s, 1940s, or 1970s told you to do something — even if you didn't like it — it was: okay, we listen and we obey. Could you ever imagine grunting? Could you ever imagine puffing and pouting? Could you ever imagine slamming the door on your parents? Could you ever imagine speaking under your breath? Could you ever imagine giving a back answer? Impossible. Even if someone didn't pray salah, they wouldn't say stuff like that. But subhanAllah, today you have people who not only pray salah but maybe even memorize a large portion of the Quran or all of the Quran, maybe they're regular on the speaking circuit — but when it comes to the akhlaq and character toward their parents, it's below the dignity of a believer.

The way parents are treated today. The way children are treated today. The way our siblings are treated today. Just keeping a straight face — not pouting, just listening to what your parents are saying — it becomes so difficult.

The Quran says: don't say uff. As the scholars say, if there was a word in the Arabic language lighter than this in expressing dislike, Allah would have used it here. This is the lightest term in the Arabic language to express dislike — and Allah is saying you don't even say that. You don't even make that sound. And yet people are slamming doors, saying "forget it, I'm going to my friend's house." All of those things are strictly prohibited.

When it comes to our elders who are getting older by the day — what's going on is that children, sons and daughters in our community, mashAllah all very well educated, all professionals — it wasn't some random angel that came from the heavens and paid for their tuition. It's the same mom and dad who did three jobs and ran around the city from pre-K all the way until their kids graduated from medical school, from computer science school, from master's programs, until all the kids started earning six figures. And their kids can afford expensive private schools. But these parents who brought this material success to five, six, seven of their children — cannot figure out how to take care of their elderly parents in old age, and instead unfortunately place them in an adult care facility. In a nursing home.

And they'll tell you: "Brother, this is not overseas. My wife works, I work, we all work. We're paying top dollar — we're not putting them in any random nursing home. We're paying extra money to ensure it's a five-star." Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un.

Your mom and dad don't need a ten-star. They don't need a fifteen-star. If you live in a one-bedroom apartment, they'll stay there with you. They'll sleep on the floor. But they want to stay with you. But no — those six, eight, ten children with a combined household income in the millions, each family bringing in three or four million between husband and wife — yet that amount cannot give one little room to the elderly parents. It's the nursing home. And it's happening more and more.

And what is it that awaits our elders there? The last moments, the last hours, days, and months of the lives of those who worked so hard to feed us halal — spent watching random TV channels. I remember one person telling me he went to a nursing home to visit an elder, and the entire time a Christian evangelical channel was playing in the room. This is how we want our elders to die — listening to this?

One of my students, I arranged for him to go lead Jumu'ah in a nursing home. There were three elderly uncles who gathered together for Jumu'ah. And he would tell me: "This is the most powerful thing that can happen to me every week — just seeing the condition of our community. Three elders just lying there. No son coming to take them for Jumu'ah. No daughter coming to take them for Jumu'ah. And there's one random madrasa student who's driving 30 minutes, and alhamdulillah, at least getting their Jumu'ah done." But they were in such a pitiful state, just waiting for someone to come and visit.

This is a major problem. But the answer of the kids? "Well, this is a new era. We are simply in a different era. We all have to work. We don't have the luxury of staying at home." And they give you twenty-five excuses. So we have unfortunately found excuses for every single grave act of disobedience of Allah and Rasulullah ﷺ by saying: "We are in challenging times."

The Excuse of "The Times Have Changed"

You're right — you know what's different? The incline has gone up. And you have decided to jump off the treadmill because it's too difficult. That's what's happened. When anyone decides to leave the deen and blames the era, blames the time, blames their country and community — that's not going to work.

You know what's happening in certain countries where hijab has been banned, niqab has been banned, then jilbab was banned, then loose clothing was banned — and thousands and millions of school-age children are forced to go to school but cannot dress in a normal Islamic, or even modest, manner. I want us to remember that can happen here too. It's happening in Europe. If Allah forbid that test were to come to our community, what would your kids do in college, in high school?

That's a question every father and mother should ask themselves. What would you do if your children were not allowed to wear the hijab going to school tomorrow? What would you do if you were mandated to study certain types of material completely against fitrah — not against Islam only, but against nature itself — with no ability to opt out?

I've spoken about these issues in detail in some communities. At the end of such talks, most people say: "Wow, this is food for thought. I'm worried. I don't know what to do." And then there are some who say: "Brother, that's very nice. Great, thank you for sharing. But we live in this dunya. We don't live in a vacuum. We have to earn money. We have to send our kids to school. Otherwise, how are we going to survive?"

If that is your knee-jerk response — to say we have to survive and we cannot survive unless we do what everyone else is doing — then honestly, you've copped out. We have to call it what it is. Not to point fingers, because I could be next. As they say: do not rejoice at someone else's misfortune, because Allah may have mercy upon him and instead you will be next to fall into that same ditch. So when we see someone falling and failing in their faith, we can never make fun of them, nor pass disparaging comments — but it is a wake-up call. If all the houses one after another are being robbed, shouldn't you be afraid that your house may be next?

What Was Once Unthinkable Is Now Mainstream

We are now living at a time when what was just two decades ago regarded as completely haram, absolutely unacceptable, absolutely against fitrah and nature, absolutely against what it means to be a human being — and certainly against what it means to be a Muslim — is now being widely accepted. And what used to be regarded as common courtesy, common etiquette, common haya, common modesty, is unknown now. Now if you say something about it, the response is: "Why are you being an extremist? Why are you being a fundamentalist? Why are you being so harsh? The deen is easy. Don't judge."

As someone said: these are the same people — when Dajjal shows up with the word Kafir written on his forehead, the same brother will say: "Just don't judge. You never know what he's going through. Maybe he just wrote it on there." SubhanAllah. But that's the type of mentality where slowly it's all becoming the norm.

Remember the verse of the Quran — Allah says in Surah al-Nisa:

Remember those people — Allah says in Surah al-Nisa, the fifth juz: when the angels come to take the lives of those who were oppressing themselves — meaning they were sinners, and sin is an oppression not against Allah but against ourselves, because we are making ourselves worthy of the Hellfire — the angels will say: "Fima kuntum?" — What's wrong with you? What were you thinking? What kind of life did you lead?

Their answer will be: "Kunna mustada'afina fil-ard" — sorry, we were oppressed, we lived in a different time, an era far removed from the era of the Sahabah. That's why the stories of the Sahabah weren't examples for us — they're not from this era. The Prophet ﷺ was not from this era. We're from a new era where we must do what others have done. Christianity has been reformed, Judaism has been reformed — well, how can Islam not be reformed? All the rules that were in the book for 1,400 years — we did what everyone else did, because we were oppressed.

So this excuse that we give to one another — some people will try to give this same excuse to the angels at the time of death. And Allah says in the Quran: they will be told — alam takun ardullahi wasi'atan fatuhajirum fiha? — Was not Allah's earth wide enough that you could have migrated? Your dedication and commitment should have been with truth, not falsehood.

Fa-ula'ika ma'wahum jahannam — Allah says: these people who try to use this excuse, their resting place will be the Hellfire. Wasa'at masira — what a horrible place to go back to. Let us remember this verse the next time someone says: "Why don't you just adapt to the time and place you live in?" When you start watering down the deen, making something explicitly impermissible into halal, or making something explicitly halal into haram — you cannot do that.

The War on Hearts and Minds

What we are facing is not physical torture. What we are facing is that our hearts and minds are being bombarded from everywhere. The educational system, among many other things, creates skepticism within our children and youth and young adults — especially skepticism around the understanding of truth. Morality and truth have been made subjective.

I had one student recently — he was speaking about this in one of my classes. He told me he took an undergrad class on ethics. The teacher started off the very first class by asking the students: "How many of you believe incest is acceptable or should be legal?" There was one person in class who raised their hand. Everyone else said: "No way." Then, within 45 minutes, the discussion began — that all of these aspects of morality, what we regard as morally right and morally wrong, these are all from a pre-modern era. And the moral values of the pre-modern era cannot be applied in a post-modern era. Our ethics and value system must change. She went through some mental gymnastics, and in 45 minutes she asked the question again — and a large majority of the class raised their hands and said: "Well, after your introduction on this topic, we actually now agree this should be permissible."

This is our elite education. Some classes may not be as explicit as this, but nonetheless the end result is that people are doubting everything. Issues of truth and morality have all been termed not as objective, but subjective. It depends on where you're standing, where you're looking from. It's all about perspective. Everyone is right in their own sense. It's about living your life to its fullest — and living authentically means living based on what you think is right.

SubhanAllah — this is the craze we're living in. I didn't get a chance to watch this video, but one of my students shared a video about a person who blinded herself because she identifies as blind. And people are doing things of that sort — identifying as a cat, as a werewolf. We know these things are happening. I cannot believe a time has come where I'm speaking about this in a masjid like this, but this is reality. I think we've just heard so much of it that we've gotten accustomed.

The first time I heard these type of things, I couldn't believe it. Last year, one of our female teachers in the area went back to teaching in a public school after many years. On the first day of orientation, they said to her: "We have a case here — a young child who identifies as a cat." She couldn't believe it. This was the first time she'd seen this. She was scolded and told: "You cannot even show surprise." Then she was told there's a special request — that the child needs a litter box. The school district in my neighborhood had to arrange a litter box for this child.

She said: "I'm out" — and left to start teaching in the seminary. This person is in our community, teaches in our area. This is her story. So what we are seeing is that every single thing is becoming part of an era of madness. When I went to South Africa earlier this year and sat with my shaykh, Mufti Ghulam Haqq — the ustad — and shared with him some of these stories, he couldn't believe it. A Grand Mufti who has been answering fatawa for decades said: "If it wasn't for you telling me this, I would never believe what you're saying. I cannot believe a first-world country — with everything it has achieved — is having these types of discussions in its Congress, at its state level, in its schools." May Allah protect us.

The Fitna of the Heart Is Greater Than Physical Torture

The war that's taking place, as I was talking about, is the war of the hearts and minds. And if we think that simply because we're not getting whipped and oppressed physically we're not under a test — there's no bigger fool than us. And this fitna of affecting the heart is a bigger fitna than the fitna of being whipped.

For all those people who have been in Abu Ghraib prison, in Guantanamo, in prisons in Afghanistan, in black sites across the globe — you can read all about it, read interviews, everything is online — for all those people who have been oppressed right and left, I want to ask: how many of them, how many ex-Muslims, have come out from those tortured cells to say, "I'm done with Islam"? How many people from those cells have come out saying, "Because of this physical torture, I have decided to renounce Islam"? I have yet to find even one.

SubhanAllah — isn't that deep? That those people who go to that level of fitna — Allah gives them strength. They know they're going through a fitna and they say: Hasbunallah wa ni'mal Wakil — Allah is watching us, Allah is our caretaker, Allah will be sufficient for us. We will enjoy the Akhira. If this is what's meant for us, then this is what's meant for us.

And on the flip side — you have every third or fourth person in our country, in our community, in our neighborhood, who is driving a $50,000 or $60,000 car at the age of 16, living in a multi-million dollar home, going to college on $40,000 to $60,000 tuition, eating out every night, going on destination trips, destination weddings — every blessing under the earth — and saying: "I'm not sure about Islam anymore. I used to identify myself as a Muslim, but not any longer."

According to some reports from six or seven years ago, the numbers were close to 23% of Muslims born in Muslim homes in this country are no longer Muslim. Yes, we look at the two or three people who take shahada — how many take shahada in your jama'ah, two or three, four? But within that same week, within that same day — how many born Muslims from our community? Go to any university, ask the students: how many Muslims are there, how many show up for jama'ah? If you ask them, they'll straight up say: "I no longer identify as a Muslim. I'm done."

Every day I receive mothers and fathers who come to me asking for help — by text or in person — saying: "How do I deal with my son or my daughter who has renounced Islam? What am I supposed to do? I don't understand." Many of them had memorized the Quran, by the way. Many of them graduated from Islamic schools. Many of them led Tarawih for years. Many of them were youth directors in their masajid. Many of them led khutbas for years. Many of them were MSA presidents. Many of them — their fathers were masjid leaders and imams. I have personally interacted with people from every single one of those subcategories who are no longer Muslim, or whose parents come saying their kids are no longer Muslim.

What is it? It is the fact that we have fallen into fitna. We think we're set, we're enjoying peace and comfort — but what we don't understand is the level of fitna we're actually going through. This is the fitna that doesn't allow the person going through it to even realize he's going through it. So he's just taking it easy, sipping his coffee, while iman is coming out of his heart.

Wake Up: We Are in an Era of Fitna

This is what I want to share with you tonight — to wake up and realize: pinch yourself, wake up your spouse, wake up your kids, and tell yourselves and your families: we are in an era of fitna. Wake up. You can't put on cruise control and just drive through life.

Don't ask what about her, or him, or my mom, or my dad, my uncle or aunt — leave them. You first wake up. Because a vast majority of people are going to fall into fitna.

The number of people willing to say — I am ready to remain firm on Islam no matter how much financial loss I will suffer, no matter how many lost opportunities of growth and progress, no matter how many educational opportunities my children will lose, I will remain a Muslim at all cost — that number of people who can say wallahi al-'azim and mean it is very few. Very few.

Let's not ask that question here, honestly speaking. I just hope I am one of those people — in the middle of the night, in my room, before Allah — who can say: Ya Allah, I am ready. Don't test me, but if you choose, you will find me — with your will — not moving. My loyalty is with the deen. I am ready to pay any price you ask from me, because this world is too short and the Akhira is never-ending. I'd rather suffer a little for a few years compared to suffering for eternity in the Hereafter. You have to tell your children, tell your spouse. The pillow talk has to be about this.

I remember there was a kid from Madinah al-Munawwarah who used to come to Quran class and come for salah. Some months later, I stopped seeing him at the masjid, in Quran class, for Salat al-Fajr. I asked another kid who used to come with him, and he said: "Oh yeah — when people found out he was from Madinah, they started making fun of him, calling him a terrorist. So then he said: 'You know what, I'm not a Muslim anymore.'" And hence he stopped coming to the masjid. I feel bad for him. May Allah guide him, may Allah bring him back. But my beloved sisters and brothers and mothers and fathers — this is just the tip of the iceberg as to how far this fitna has gotten into our community.

And the only way we're going to save ourselves is through Allah's help, through Allah's will. But Allah is not going to help you and I if we don't want to help ourselves. Allah says:

Are We going to force you to follow the deen while you don't want to? Are We going to shove Islam into your heart and your throat while you don't want it? That's not going to happen. You have to show Allah that you want it. Allah guides whoever turns to Him. We have to take the first step and say: Ya Allah, I want You. I need You. And I need help. I don't even know where to start.

Rabbana wa thabbit aqdamana — O Allah, keep our feet firm. Rabbana la taj'alna fitnatan lil-qawm al-dhalimin — O Allah, do not make us a fitna for the oppressors. This is what these du'as mean — asking Allah for assistance and help. That's the first step.

Finding Like-Minded Company and Building Enclaves of Faith

Find like-minded men and women. Say: who is ready? Who has raised their hand at night before Allah saying: Ya Allah, I'm ready — at all cost, my loyalty is with the deen? We need support groups. We need spiritual companions. We need to create enclaves within our communities of people who say: we will follow the deen at all cost.

When it comes to what's happening in the educational system all over the country — it is the time to make homeschooling and Islamic schools and learning centers in our masajid the norm. Alhamdulillah, we are blessed — unlike Europe — where the laws are quite permissive when it comes to homeschooling. We are not mandated to send our children to public school. So every masjid should have a Quran class, a maktab class — and similarly, a learning center. The kids come and enroll in an online school. Parents bring their children here for two or three hours in the morning, two or three hours in the afternoon, shifts — you hire one, two, or three teachers to make sure everything is happening smoothly. You have different grades at the same time or at different times. And for the extra time, recreation, Islamic studies, sports. We have to think outside the box.

We have the options available in this country. So when you speak to people who understand this concern, latch on to them and say: we need to make a co-op. Like-minded moms and dads getting together, saying: we need to all be Ashab al-Kahf — the people of the Cave. What's our cave? Our cave is this masjid. We're going to bring our kids here not just one night a week or for Sunday school, but throughout the week — and have our education here.

I'm opening up the door for all of you to sit and find solutions. But the idea is: we have to start finding solutions before we lose more people.

The Hadith Explained: Trials Presented on the Heart

Now — after everything I've said in introduction — let us listen attentively to this hadith.

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2861; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 231)

The Prophet ﷺ said: Trials and tribulations will be presented on the hearts — the way a straw mat is laid out, link after link, strand after strand.

He didn't say on the bodies — he said on the heart. What happens in a torture site is on the body. What's happening to us is on the heart.

Ardu al-hasir 'udan 'uda — the way a straw mat is laid out, strand after strand. What does this mean?

First: Just as all the strands of a straw mat are intertwined, so too every fitna will be intertwined with the next fitna.

Second: Just as a straw mat is man-made, so too these fitnas will be man-made.

Third: Just as a straw mat has no gap between its strands, these fitnas will have no gap between them. As soon as you think one has finished, the next one will start.

Fourth: If you were to lie on a straw mat and then sit up — even though you're no longer on it — it leaves a mark on your body. Similarly, even though a fitna has come to an end, it will leave a mark on a person's heart.

For example, one of those three friends of mine who left Islam — alhamdulillah, Allah brought him back to Islam. But there are times when we sit and speak as friends, and all of a sudden he'll say something and in my heart I say inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un — because although he's come back to Islam, that bout of atheism still left behind remnants of that disease and it comes out on his tongue every once in a while. That's the after-effect. People who go through these fitnas — even after the fitna ends, there is a residue.

The Black Dot and the White Dot

Then the Prophet ﷺ mentioned what will happen to people faced with this fitna. He said: Fa ayyu qalbin ushribaha — whichever heart allowed the fitna to soak in, to take it in fully and become completely washed in that ideology — nukitat feehi nuqdatun sawda' — a black dot will appear on that heart.

Every single time we accept the fitna and buy into it — every time someone says, "Thank God there's a mainstream scholar out there who's spoken about what I've been thinking for fifteen years, who's written a book on it, who's done a podcast on it" — because now the nafs has found someone to conform to what it has already been infected with. And why does the nafs say that? Because the nafs has been infected with the fitna. So every single time this infected heart takes on a new fitna, a black dot will appear.

Wa ayyu qalbin ankaraha — and whichever heart refuses to accept the fitna — nukitat feehi nuqdatun bayda' — a white dot shall appear on that heart.

Whichever person, male or female, says: "No — I don't care who says it. I know this was haram growing up. I don't care who says it's become halal." That's what we need right now. We need the deen of our grandmothers — whatever deen they were on 30, 40, 50 years ago. They're not on Twitter, they're not on Instagram, so they haven't changed. But the rest of us — who are on all these social media platforms, reading this article and that article — unfortunately many times cannot even recite Surah al-Fatiha to a level where our salah is valid, yet we're having extremely advanced philosophical discussions about what's halal and what's haram. Discussions that are supposed to be reserved within the scholarly class are now being brought into mainstream discussion among random people who have zero background in Islamic sciences. And a person says: "As long as you tell me it's halal, you're my shaykh." That's exactly what I'm hearing.

The Heart Like Polished Marble — and the Overturned Cup

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2861; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 231)

Until the heart becomes white and clean like polished marble — safa — like a smooth stone that if you throw water on it, it falls straight off. Nothing sticks to it. That's how the heart will become: so clean and smooth that any fitna that comes cannot stick to it, it just falls away. And Rasulullah ﷺ is saying: this man or woman is guaranteed to remain firm until death — no fitna can harm it as long as the heavens and the earth are around.

And the other heart — the one that kept saying "I like this fitna, I like this one, bring it on" — every time the black dot appears, eventually a time will come:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2861; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 231)

The heart will become completely blackened — aswad murbadd — and then become like an upside-down cup — kal-kuzi mujakhkhiyan. Think of a cup: if you pour water into it, it fills and fills. But if you turn it upside down, everything comes out — pour it, pour it, pour it, pour it — until there is nothing left. That is what happens to the person's heart. The nur of iman keeps coming out, coming out, coming out, until a time comes when there is not an ounce of iman left in that heart. Because he kept making every haram into halal, kept taking on every fitna, saying: "Islam needs this reform, Islam needs to adapt."

The Prophet ﷺ then said what will happen to this heart: la ya'rifu ma'rufan wa la munkiru munkaran — that this heart will no longer recognize any virtue as virtue, and will no longer recognize any evil as evil.

Did I not just tell you about that ethics class — how in 45 minutes something as horrific as incest became acceptable to half the class? Don't think Muslims are not going that way. Based on the words of the Prophet ﷺ, we are headed in the exact same direction. The Prophet ﷺ said this Ummah will follow the footsteps of those who came before them. They said: who — the Christians and the Jews? He said: who else? You're going to follow their footsteps in everything they did. And even if they went inside a lizard hole, you would do the same.

And the Prophet ﷺ — who had the most haya, the most modesty and bashfulness of all people — said something in an authentic hadith that was extremely difficult for him to say, but he said it not for shock and awe, but as a warning: that if the people before us — the Christians and the Jews — were to do something as unthinkable as fulfilling their lustful desires in broad daylight with their own mothers, the Muslims will do the same.

Let that sink in. What could be a sin worse than that? What could be more subhuman — more shaytani than that? Animals don't even do things like that. And the Prophet ﷺ said this in an authentic hadith. That is the direction this blind following of "reform" and "adaptation" is heading — according to the very words of Rasulullah ﷺ. Mark my words.

The Prophet ﷺ then said that this heart will no longer recognize anything good as good or anything bad as bad — illa ma ushribah min hawah — except for that which goes in line with its desires. As long as it matches my desire, I agree. If it doesn't match my desire, I don't agree. Have we not arrived here already? Unfortunately, yes.

Conclusion: Protect the Hearts

This hadith of Hudhayfah radiyallahu anhu — this is something I want all of us to reflect upon. Listen to it again and again and think: we are in the midst of this thick battle, and we have to protect our hearts just as we protect our homes. My beloved fathers and mothers — we have to protect the hearts and minds of our children at home.

Don't think: "I know my kids, alhamdulillah — they're fine. They're innocent kids." No — they're not going to be fine if innocent kids are made to run across the freeway. They're going to get hit by cars. If you're going to send them into the devil's den, don't expect them not to be affected. If you throw them into the swimming pool, don't expect them not to come out drenched. We are surrounded by fitan.

Safety is found in the houses of Allah. Safety is found in institutions of knowledge. Safety is found in the companionship of Ahlullah and Awliyaullah — the friends of Allah. Safety is found in the companionship of the mukhliseen — sincere people. As Rasulullah ﷺ spoke about sincere people — they are going to be masabih al-duja, lanterns in an era of darkness. Through the lanterns that they carry in their hearts, every dark fitna will be removed. Their very presence removes the darkness around them.

That's what we need. Our children and ourselves need the company of the pious. Find them. Look around. Find someone and say: this man or this woman is going to lead me to the Hawd al-Kawthar of Rasulullah ﷺ. I have this belief that this person is a true lover — and not just a lover but a follower — of Rasulullah ﷺ, and if I hold on to this person, inshallah I feel content that he will take me to the Prophet ﷺ.

And if you don't feel that content, then move on. Ask Allah for guidance. What do we tell non-Muslims who are thinking about Islam? We tell them: just say, "O God Almighty, guide me to what is right." Well, the same applies to us. Ya Allah, I want to remain a strong Muslim. I don't want to fall into fitna. I need company. I need good sohba. I need Awliya. I need Ahlullah. I don't even know where they are. Ya Allah, You guide me.

Every single day — if you are sincere in your du'a — then have this husn al-dhann, this good expectation from Allah, that Allah will never let you down. Why would Allah let down someone who is trying to find Him? Why would Allah let down someone who is trying to earn His pleasure? Have this faith and hope in Allah that He will open up the doors.

But we have to learn how to make the proper du'a. We cannot say: Ya Allah, just make Islam whatever I want. No. Do not try to mold Islam to who you are. Rather, mold yourself to the Islam of Rasulullah ﷺ and the message he brought.

And I ask Allah to facilitate that for all of us and make it easy for all of us. If I made any mistakes, I ask Allah's forgiveness. And if I said anything beneficial, I thank Allah for that. I ask Allah to save you and I from the fitan we were warned about, and to make every one of us lanterns of guidance wherever we go. Ameen, Rabb al-'alameen.

Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.