Reflect & Connect | Surah Fussilat - Ep.04 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 10/01

Opening Supplications

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah.

O Allah, send peace and blessings upon our master Muhammad and his family. O Allah, open my heart, ease my affairs, and release the knot of my tongue, so that my words may be understood.

Glory be to You, there is no knowledge for us except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, All-Wise. O Allah, teach us what benefits us, and benefit us with what You have taught us, and increase us in knowledge and action.

O Allah, enlighten our hearts with Your knowledge, and use our bodies for Your obedience, and enable us to do what You love and are pleased with — from speech, action, intention, and guidance. You are capable of everything.

O Wahhab, O Wahhab, O Wahhab. O Fattah, O Fattah, O Fattah. O Jabbar, O Jabbar, O Jabbar.

Recitation from Surah Fussilat

Allah Almighty said in the Qur'an — after I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytan, in the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate:

صَدَقَ اللَّهُ الْعَظِيمُ

Respected elders and brothers, mothers and sisters, dear listeners. السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ.

The Qur'an Will Speak on the Day of Judgment

Let us please come close together. Brothers in the back, in the lobby, make your way forward. Sisters as well, I encourage you to please sit together as much as possible. And let us renew our intentions. We are here only for the pleasure of Allah. We are all here to benefit from the Book of Allah. We are here for the Qur'an to speak to us.

Allah says:

On the Day of Judgment it will be said: هَٰذَا كِتَابُنَا — this Book of Ours is speaking against you in the most truthful manner. إِنَّا كُنَّا نَسْتَنسِخُ — indeed we used to write everything you used to do. So that day will come when the Qur'an will speak to you and I. Before that day comes, we'd rather present ourselves to the Qur'an in this world. Let the Qur'an do the talking and we listen, so that tomorrow we don't have to suffer. Because Allah Himself is saying, the Qur'an will speak to us on the Day of Judgment.

And as always, we should renew our ṭalab and our desire in front of Allah. O Allah, grant me the best of both worlds through the barakah of the Qur'an. Allow me to be able to find solutions to all the situations I'm dealing with, and all the problems that I'm dealing with. Most definitely the answers are in the Book of Allah, and we simply have to be able to find them.

So with that sincerity, with that zeal, all of us sit here, and through the ikhlas and sincerity of those who are present here and those who are listening online, we ask Allah — through the barakah of that — that whatever is being shared here, may these words go as far as where the sun rises and the sun sets. And wherever Allah's creation is alive, may Allah allow the words from here to go to that deepest part of the world. May it become a means of revival of Islam. May it become a means of Rasulullah's ﷺ prophecy being fulfilled.

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 17182; also recorded in Sahih Ibn Hibban)

Indeed, Allah will ensure that this deen reaches wherever the night and the day come — wherever the sun rises and the sun sets, this deen must reach there.

Allah's Power Beyond All Means

If you think about it, brothers, this is going to happen. Either you are going to be chosen, and I am going to be chosen to be the distributor, or someone else is going to be — because it is going to happen. So look how people are fighting one another for distribution rights of something, because they know a lot of money is to be made. We all should have this huge desire that we want to become the distributor of Allah's deen. And because Allah's deen will definitely flourish and go all over the world, who Allah will choose to be the distributors is in His hands. So each one of us should present ourselves to Allah. Say: Ya Allah, please make me from amongst those who will be chosen as Your distributor.

One of the things we learn from our teachers and mashayikh: whenever a person speaks to a crowd, or even a small audience at home, every time when we speak, we should always be thinking and making niyyah that — Ya Allah, I am speaking in front of three people, two people, four people, five people. Guess what? It is definitely more than Ibrahim عليه السلام speaking in front of an empty vast desert. And Allah said:

Proclaim amongst the people for Hajj — there is no one there — proclaim amongst the people! يَأْتُوكَ رِجَالًا — they will come to you, don't worry. They will come walking. وَعَلَىٰ كُلِّ ضَامِرٍ — and they will come from far off places, on such animals that have become emaciated because of such a long journey. يَأْتِينَ مِن كُلِّ فَجٍّ عَمِيقٍ — they are going to be coming from the deepest, furthest parts of the world.

Ibrahim عليه السلام didn't see anyone — there was nobody sitting there. Don't worry about it. Allah will make your word reach wherever it needs to. It is mentioned in books that at that time, those who were not even alive — who were in the عَالَمُ الْأَرْوَاح — for those people for whom Hajj was destined, they responded لَبَّيْك to the statement of Ibrahim عليه السلام. Allahu Akbar.

This is the power of Allah, that Allah will take your words and He will propel them as far as He wants to. No sound system, no Bluetooth, no social media has an effect to the degree that Allah — without means — can do. Yes, Allah does work with means, and Allah also works without means. But a person should have that belief.

The Prophet ﷺ at Hajjatul Wida' is speaking to 124,000 plus or minus Sahaba, without any mic system. How are those Sahaba hearing it? And how is he saying:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 105; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1679)

Those who are present here need to propagate it to those who are absent. And how is that khutbah — the last khutbah — word by word, in almost every person's home today? There is no microphone system, no Bluetooth, no relay system. This is Allah's qudrah.

And let us take it one more step further. Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه, giving a bayan — in the middle of his khutbah, he says: يَا سَارِيَةُ، الْجَبَلَ، الْجَبَلَ — O Sariyyah, look behind you, the mountain, the mountain! There is no Sariyyah رضي الله عنه sitting in front of him — he is giving a khutbah in Madinah. Weeks or months later, the army comes back with Sariyyah رضي الله عنه as the head, and they say: يَا أَمِيرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ, on such and such day we were in the battlefield, the enemy was ambushing us from the back, and we would have definitely lost the battle and lost our lives — if it were not for us miraculously hearing your voice. Hundreds and hundreds of kilometers away, without any radio broadcasting system, he clearly heard Umar al-Khattab رضي الله عنه's voice: O Sariyyah, look behind you, look towards the mountain. And sure enough, when he turned around, he saw the enemy coming from behind to ambush them. Alhamdulillah, they got alerted, and Allah granted them victory.

Beloved brothers, it is so important to reflect on this. Because we have cyber warfare going on. We have all sorts of attacks happening. People's electricity being shut. Communications being shut. Internet being shut. Allah is showing us that if you just depend on the means, you are going to be in big trouble — because we are seeing with our own eyes what happens when means are pulled out. If you depend on means, you are not going to last. You depend only on Allah, and you use your means as long as you have them. And if the enemy takes them away, we were never banking on them in the first place. We banked on Allah's amr, on Allah's command. And that yaqeen is what is needed today to survive.

The Crisis of Faith — Where Is Allah?

The tests are only getting started. The challenges are only increasing. Every week we come with a new challenge across the globe, and in our own homes. And our conviction in Allah has to remain firm. Allahu Akbar.

Every gathering I go to, I get asked: "Sheikh, does Allah still exist? What's happening in Gaza? Where is Allah? If all the stuff you're saying is nice and dandy, how come Allah is allowing this to happen?" إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ. If this is the iman of us, honestly, how can we expect Allah's help when this type of question can arise?

Recently I was speaking to the youth. I said, subhanAllah, you should ask — but don't ask where is Allah's help. You should ask yourself: how come we're not destroyed? Why do we deserve to live? What have you and I done to deserve to have three meals today, and to sit here comfortably in this beautiful environment and listen? Why didn't Allah punish us today? That is the question. Why is Allah being so forbearing? Is Allah being kind to us because we deserve it? Or is this part of istidraj? Is this Allah simply letting the noose loose — until we think we're relaxed — and then Allah pulls the noose around our necks?

The question is: what changes have come into my life this past year? We are coming to the one-year anniversary this week — October 7th. What changes have come into my spouse's life? My children's life? My siblings' life? My cousins' life? The way I do business? The way I spend? The way I spend my weekends? The way I spend my money? What changes has this one year brought into my life? That is the serious question. And once you figure that out, then we can move on to everything else.

The Life of the Prophet ﷺ — A Lesson in Patience

Reflect on the sunnah and the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ. There is no one more beloved to Allah than His Habib Mustafa ﷺ. Not the people of Lebanon, not the people of Gaza, not the people of India, not the people of Kashmir, not the people of Afghanistan, not the people of Syria — no one, from past, present, or future. No angel, no jinn, no human being. That is our aqeedah, that is our belief.

But when you study Rasulullah's ﷺ life, even very superficially: from among 7 children, the Prophet ﷺ had to witness the death of 6 of them — 6 out of 7. There is nothing more powerful and painful for a father or a mother than to carry the body of their dead son or daughter. And this is what the Prophet ﷺ had to do — not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, not five times, but six times. Compare the ummah's grief with the Prophet's ﷺ grief.

From the very first day he proclaimed the shahada, the boycott and the difficulty began — not only for him but for anyone attached to him. The Prophet ﷺ is walking by Ammar ibn Yasir's home and sees them one by one being tortured. And all he has to say at that time is:

(Al-Hakim al-Mustadrak, Hadith 5650; Al-Bayhaqi, Dala'il al-Nubuwwah)

O family of Yasir, be patient — your appointment is in Jannah. That is all he has to say. There is nothing more I can tell you. And yes, the first martyr of this deen — Sumayyah رضي الله عنها, the mother of Ammar — was a lady. The first one who gave her life for Islam was a lady.

All the way until the day the Prophet ﷺ passes away — what happens? His sword and his shield are left as collateral at the hands of a Jewish person, because he does not have enough money for his own home. He didn't want to put any pressure on his Companions. So he takes his sword and his shield and he gives it to a Jewish person and takes a loan from him. This is how he passes away. There is no section of that life where the Prophet ﷺ is living it up and enjoying it.

So our Nabi ﷺ — who we firmly believe is the best creation of Allah, more blessed than the Arsh, the Kursi, and the Ka'bah; Jibril, Mika'il, Israfil, Izra'il, and everyone after them — if he had to go through so much difficulty, then why should a person now be doubting Allah's existence when he sees what is happening? It is because we have not understood the deen. We have not understood Allah's wisdom, how He does things. We have not understood the relationship of this world to the next.

The Prophet ﷺ says: if this entire dunya were equal to a wing of a mosquito, Allah would not have given one disbeliever — not a glass, not a jug, not even one sip of water. But the fact that Allah is giving the disbelievers endless amounts of power and strength tells you and I that in the eyes of Allah, this dunya is zero, zilch, nothing. And it is the system of Allah from day one that the Sahaba had the least amount of things, and Rasulullah ﷺ had the least amount of things.

When Umar رضي الله عنه enters the Prophet's ﷺ house, the Prophet ﷺ is lying down on the floor on a straw mat. When the Prophet ﷺ sits up, Umar رضي الله عنه looks at his back and sees the marks of the straw mat, and he gets emotional. He says: Ya Rasulullah, Qaysar and Kisra have so much — what is going on here? And the Prophet's ﷺ very famous reply: O son of Khattab, are you still in doubt? Why are you comparing us to what the disbelievers have? Yes, they have a thousand years' worth of looted things, and your Nabi has got nothing. But understand — Allah gave them dunya, and Allah gave us akhira. That is it. You just have to be patient, and you will see what is going to happen.

The Prophet ﷺ passed away without eating bread and meat together on the same day — never. And he would routinely go into his home, ask Aisha رضي الله عنها if there was anything to eat — if there was something, he would eat it, and if there wasn't, he would say: إِذَنْ أَنَا صَائِمٌ — then I am fasting. And that is why Aisha رضي الله عنها said: the first bid'ah to come into this ummah was to have more than one food item while eating.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2052)

One of the best condiments, the best salan, is vinegar. A house that has vinegar in it is not a hungry home.

Extravagance and the Condition of the Ummah

Imagine a person goes to a wedding today and there are four items — biryani, nihari, a fish item, and a chicken item. What will they say? They will say: "Can you believe it? He invited us to a banquet hall and served only four dishes, and only one dessert. You have to have at least twelve items, at least ten desserts." And on top of that, taking loans for it. On top of that, being indebted. Already crushed in loans, and taking more loans — why? Because of what the people will say.

Honestly, Allahu Akbar — Allah is Halim, that is why He is letting us go. The type of nonsense our community is involved in, while the ummah is suffering overseas without anything, and here we are trying to impress one another — getting deeper and deeper into loans, so much israf, such waste and extravagance that doesn't stop. And then we wonder why Allah's help is not coming.

Brother, Allah will do something if you do something. And I don't speak to you — I speak to myself. What has happened since October 7th of 2023 till now? What changes have come into my life? Ask yourself: have you become a little more simple? Have you started spending less on extravagant things and started giving in the path of Allah? When those changes are made, then you can say: Ya Allah, I did this for You. Please Ya Allah, help the people of Gaza. O Allah, please help the people of Lebanon. O Allah, help the people of Sham. But if I have got nothing done, if I haven't done anything for Allah, to just sit there and say, "Where are You, Allah?" — إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ.

The Prophet ﷺ in the night of Badr spent the entire night in du'a — after being the Nabi of Allah, after a decade and a half of sacrifice. All night du'a, until Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه had to come and say: Ya Rasulullah, enough, you need rest, tomorrow is a big day, you have really proven your point to Allah. He said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1763)

O Allah, if this group of my army — 313 people — if they get destroyed today, then You may not be worshipped again.

Now I have to ask myself: have I proven my point to Allah? Honestly, I am screaming at myself right now. May Allah forgive me. May Allah forgive us all. We have done such a poor job — crocodile tears. We say we care about the ummah, we say we care about those who are overseas. But when it comes to my own life, what changes have I made? If those changes are not made, how can I expect anything from Allah?

Nusrah and help does not come by slogans. It does not come by waving a flag. It does not come by burning tires. The nusrah and help of Allah comes through sifat, through attributes, through qualities. When those qualities come into our life, then you will see Allah will bring about assistance.

What We Must Do — Tawbah and Sacrifice

My brothers and sisters, roll up your sleeves and get ready. This isn't the beginning of the end. Lots of challenges are going to come. This should not come as a shock — I am not some great prophesizer, I am just telling you what the hadith says, and you know what I am saying is true. The Prophet ﷺ has already warned us of every era being more difficult than the previous one. If you are going to cave in now, then imagine what your kids will do. Imagine what your grandkids will do. Will they even be able to retain their Islam?

This is not the time to cave in. This is not the time to give up. This is not the time to get depressed. This is the time to roll up our sleeves and stand in front of Allah. Use all the means available, but at the same time we have to say: until I do not cut out 100% sin from my life — until I stop watching haram, listening to haram, speaking haram, harboring grudges and hatred, spending in haram, spending in israf — make tawbah from extravagance, make tawbah from riba, make tawbah from show and ostentation, make tawbah from cheating and lying in business — until we do not make tawbah from these things, we cannot expect the help of Allah to come.

And remember one thing: Allah will raise people on the Day of Judgment based on their intentions. A bomb may come and kill thousands of people, but remember — each person will wake up in a different manner on the Day of Judgment.

So — just like the women of Gaza, till today, are going to sleep every single night tightening up their jilbabs and their scarves, because they don't know if they're going to see dawn — we have to be ready. Have I spent my day in such a manner that I am proud to meet Allah? Ya Allah, alhamdulillah, I spent my day beautifully — I am ready to meet You. This is the question each one of us has to ask.

And did you not see those amazing clips of these women who have lost every single male member of the family — some of them have lost four sons — and in the process of grieving, they are saying: "Inshallah, we too will very soon join the ranks of our sons." Who says that? Only the one who knows they are on the right path. They know they are not committing haram. That is the call for all of us right now. We have to immediately repent from haram. And we have to make lots and lots of istighfar.

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3502)

O Allah, grant us such yaqeen that will become a means of making the difficulties of this world easy upon us. What a du'a of the Prophet ﷺ! That is what is happening in Gaza. How are they able to handle it? Because they have yaqeen. You don't get pricked with a thorn without it being written by Allah. They have that conviction, and that conviction allows them to clench their teeth and say: bring it on, whatever it is, we are ready for it. SubhanAllah.

Tafsir: The Gathering of the Enemies of Allah

Allah says: And the Day when the enemies of Allah shall be assembled before the Fire of Jahannam — فَهُمْ يُوزَعُونَ — and thus they shall be duly marshaled. What does يُوزَعُونَ mean? You know when you have prisoners of war, their hands are cuffed, their feet are chained together, and they are taken off the bus and marshaled into a prison or dungeon. This is what is going to happen on the Day of Judgment: all the disbelievers from across the globe will be tied up together, raised up in front of Allah, and paraded towards their Hellfire.

Allah mentions in another place in Surah Maryam:

Then We are going to take out from every single group, and We are going to find out and raise that person who was most disobedient to Ar-Rahman. So just as you have representatives at conferences — the president, the defense minister, the prime minister — Allah will collect the most disobedient, the greatest of tyrants, the most oppressive and arrogant of people, and gather them all together on the Day of Judgment.

The disbelievers will be dragged in groups towards Jahannam — until when they come to it, everyone is going to try to have an excuse. Who doesn't have an excuse for any situation? Money is tight. Prices are up. Inflation is high. Jobs are scarce. Family is getting bigger. Too many invitations. We all have excuses for why we are not following the deen. So on the Day of Judgment, people will similarly try to give excuses to Allah. But:

Today We shall seal their mouths, and their hands will speak to Us, and their feet will testify about what they used to do. Allah will say: I don't need to hear from your tongue. Today, Allah is using the method — we have cameras, we have keystrokes that are saved, we have history that can never truly be deleted. That paper trail, that digital trail, that is how you catch people. You can say all you want, "I didn't do this" — but the proof is right here. Allah is using what we might call modern-day security measures to remind us of what will happen on the Day of Judgment. Just because we don't understand His qudrah and power does not mean that Allah is not fully in control, and that on the Day of Judgment we won't come face to face with what we have done.

The Testimony of the Limbs

A person's ears, a person's eyes will testify — from the senses, the ears and eyes are the major ones. And then جُلُود — skin — is all-encompassing: the whole body. That skin that was used in any type of sin — the hand is included, the feet are included, the private parts are included, the tongue is included. Wherever there is skin, all of them will begin to speak up. You think of the skin as lifeless, but Allah says:

When the people of Jahannam are put into the Fire and their skin is cooked, Allah says: We will consistently keep on replacing them with new skin. Why? So that they may taste the punishment. The Qur'an is making it very clear that the pain sensors are in the top layer of the skin. When the skin gets burned away, Allah wants to make sure they continue to feel that pain — so the skin is replaced with new skin — non-stop. And the word ذَوْق means taste — so they may continue to taste that powerful, painful torment of Jahannam.

Then the disbelievers and the sinners will begin to address their own skin. They will say: why did you bear witness against us? They are not asking how are you speaking — they are asking why. Because each man said: why are you committing haram? Because I enjoy it. I love the feeling of silk. I love the feeling of holding a non-mahram's hand. My ears love listening to this. My taste buds love it. My private part likes this. My feet like walking towards this. Every single thing we do is to fulfill the desires of each of our limbs. And so the man is shocked — I did this for you, and now you are testifying against me?

What is the skin's response? It says: listen, it is not in my hands. I have been given the truth serum. It has been injected into me. I have to talk. I am on non-stop autopilot. Even if I want to shut my mouth, I cannot. أَنطَقَنَا اللَّهُ الَّذِي أَنطَقَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ — that Allah who has given the ability to speak to all things has today given us the ability to speak.

The Speech of Creation — From Ants to Whales

What are the things Allah has given the ability to speak? Allah says in Surah An-Naml that a small ant spoke to the rest of the tribe:

O ants, enter into your homes. Let not Sulayman عليه السلام and his army trample over you, while they are not aware. Look at the amazing intelligence of this ant — the ability to communicate, and the ability to give an excuse on behalf of Sulayman عليه السلام. The ant has concern for its fellow ants. It is speaking in such a beautiful manner, and it is also speaking on behalf of Sulayman عليه السلام: don't blame him and his army — they simply don't see us, it is not their fault, we need to move out of their way.

And in Surah An-Naml, there is the bird, the Hudhud, which talks — أَحَطتُّ بِمَا لَمْ تُحِطْ بِهِ وَجِئتُكَ مِن سَبَإٍ بِنَبَإٍ يَقِينٍ إِنِّي وَجَدتُّ امْرَأَةً تَمْلِكُهُمْ وَأُوتِيَتْ مِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَلَهَا عَرْشٌ عَظِيمٌ. And what is very interesting, Hudhud says:

I found them worshipping the sun besides Allah. And then it says: why are they not prostrating to that Allah who is able to take out something hidden — a seed or some other grain hidden anywhere in the heavens and the earth? Hudhud was a bird with a very long beak that would actually put its beak into the ground and be able to take out worms. And this bird is recognizing Allah in the most magnificent manner — it studied its own body, its own existence, and recognized Allah through it. That human beings, after studying biology, instead of becoming the greatest muwahhid, are becoming atheists today — that is not how it is supposed to be.

Allah says: why do you not ponder within your own selves? Your own body is the biggest billboard of the existence and power of Allah. But when the perspective is wrong, when the vision is wrong, then the most obvious signs unfortunately lead a person — instead of towards Allah — away from Allah.

You Cannot Erase Your History

And moreover, you yourself did not bother to conceal your godless ways so that your ears, and your eyes, and your skins would not bear witness against you. Rather, you thought that Allah did not know much of what you were doing in life. These limbs are speaking to us and saying: you did not take us seriously. You did not understand that we are all part of the security apparatus of Allah. You just took it so lightly. You talked whatever you wanted, did whatever you wanted, thinking no one was watching. Every single thing is being recorded. And you forgot the fact that your limbs are not yours — your limbs belong to Allah, and they are waiting their chance to speak. SubhanAllah.

The only way we can make them forget is through tawbah. When a person does true tawbah and istighfar, it is mentioned that Allah will make all those things that witnessed to sin, forget — including the very angels. Allah can make the wall forget it, the carpet forget it, the ceiling forget it, every human being there forget it. So we should not lose hope. But if we neglect istighfar and tawbah, and if we are not remorseful, and instead continue to give false excuses for our sins, then we have no one to blame besides ourselves. May Allah grant us the ability to repent.

O Allah, allow us to see the truth as the truth and inspire us to practice on it. O Allah, allow us to see falsehood as falsehood and inspire us to stay away from it.

False Assumptions About Allah

But that was merely your assumption which you ignorantly assumed about your Lord — that Allah did not know, that everything was just going to go out the door unrecorded. You thought everything would just disappear. SubhanAllah.

What was the assumption? That Allah is غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ — so He has bigger matters to attend to, why should He care about me? I've heard people say: "Brother, if I'm not going to go to Jannah, who is Jannah for? I said la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah." This is also the deception of Shaytan. Allah is غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ — for whom? For the one who repents. But for the one who doesn't repent? We should not have this sense of absolute fearlessness that Allah is necessarily going to have to forgive us regardless of what we do.

أَرْدَاكُمْ — it has brought you your doom. What has brought you your doom? Your خُشْفَهْمِي. This is called حُسْنُ الظَّنِّ بِاللَّهِ فِي غَيْرِ مَحَلِّهِ — having good expectations from Allah in the wrong place. I expect you're such a nice ustad, you're going to give me 100 marks. But you never showed up to the exam. And then you didn't prepare. What basis is that?

That is why the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2459; declared Hasan by al-Tirmidhi)

The wise person is the one who takes account of himself and works for what comes after death. The fool — عَاجِز — is the one who follows his desires and then has false hopes from Allah. Rasulullah ﷺ says: he is a fool.

The Fire — No Escape, No Relief

Allah says: even if they have to be patient in the fire, still the fire of Hell shall be an eternal dwelling for them. And should they seek to return to the world to make amends, they will never be allowed to do so. In this dunya, a person says: just do sabr, just be patient — and it works. In dunya, sabr works. But in the akhira, sabr doesn't work. Allah says:

You choose — be patient, or don't be patient. It is not going to make a difference. The Hellfire's intensity is not going to decrease. The level of pain inflicted is not going to decrease.

Allah — through His angels — will tell the people of Jahannam sarcastically: you are asking Allah to kill you? No. Ask Allah every day, multiple times — guess what? You are never going to die. Keep on saying, do sabr. You can do sabr all you want. Shaytan, Iblis, is with you inside. And Iblis himself will say:

I cannot save you — sorry, I am out. And you cannot save me. We are both stuck in here, burning together. You listened to me — I already knew I was coming here. It is a shame on you. You did not have to come here. But you decided to listen to me, and here you are with me. Astaghfirullah al-Azeem.

One second of ghafla, one second. You see on the road — a person for one second is distracted from driving, and he is gone. How long does it take for an accident to happen? Less than a second. Similarly, one second of heedlessness in this dunya and a person can end up as a partner of Shaytan in Jahannam.

The Danger of Bad Company

Thus We have designated for them intimate companions — قُرَنَاء, real close friends. What do these friends do? They make their companions oblivious to the Day of Judgment, and they make the evil they have done in the past seem fair and acceptable.

Such friends who say: commit sin now and we'll repent afterwards. I was with a young couple in Hajj. MashaAllah, they had gotten married two or three years ago, and they were there for Hajj. They told me that as they were leaving for Hajj, family members said to them: why are you going for Hajj right now? You have barely even committed any sins yet — you're still so young. You've got to go enjoy life, and then when you're 60 or 70, go perform Hajj. These are uncles and aunts saying this. This is the type of friendship that says: come on, no one's watching here, no one's gonna know. Just for one night. These nights don't come back again.

These are the people who make you numb to the repercussion of sin. Just one puff, just one drink, just one investment — you make tawbah afterwards. This is what is destroying us, because we surround ourselves with such قُرَنَاء who sit there and make us numb to sin, and make it feel like: it's okay, you'll repent afterwards.

This is why so many of the masjid-going crowd is committing so many sins — they have one foot in the masjid, one foot outside. They want to keep everyone happy. Remember Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه. His son Abdurrahman said: O my beloved father, I saw you in Badr and I saw you in Uhud, and I could have taken you out, but you are my father and I let you go. And the father told the son: O my dear son, you are lucky you did not come into my scope. Had you come, I would not have let you go. That is Abu Bakr Siddiq — the one buried next to the Prophet ﷺ, the closest to him. He said: I don't care. You're my blood, but if you're on the wrong side, you're on the wrong side. And that is how he became Abu Bakr Siddiq رضي الله عنه.

Choose your sides. Are you with Allah? Are you with the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ? Make du'a for them — no one is saying to go on a battlefield and hurt anyone. All you have to say is: thank you for the invitation, but I'm sorry I can't join that gathering.

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 1098; also in Sahih Ibn Hibban)

We cannot obey the creation if it entails disobedience to Allah. And this starts by being able to simply say: if haram is taking place at a wedding, I am not going to be there. I am not telling you to go grab the mic from the DJ and say, brothers, this is all haram. Just simply say: I am going to have to skip it. Right now, we simply have to make sure that we ourselves do not get drowned. If you don't know how to swim, don't try to go save other people's lives right now.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4833; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2378)

A man will follow the religion of his friend — so let every one of you look carefully at whom he befriends. Not of his classmate, not of his teacher, not of his parents — but his friend. My dear students, my dear young men and women who are listening — ask yourself: who are your friends? You must latch onto people who are ahead of you in the deen, not below you or equal to you. When you sit with them, you feel: oh my God, I am not doing enough, I need to do more. That is how we get motivated.

Imam al-Ghazali says: الطَّبْعُ يَسْرِقُ بَعْضُهَا مِن بَعْضٍ — nature steals from one another. If you say, I am a good, muttaqi person, but you sit around with the wrong crowd, then before you know it, their habits become yours. That is just the fitrah. That is how we are.

Then suddenly the word of doom comes to pass against them, as it did with those disbelieving communities of jinn and humans that passed away before them. Because they continued to hang around with bad company until Allah said: the word of doom passed against them. إِنَّهُمْ كَانُوا خَاسِرِينَ — indeed, they were all losers, and they are not going to go to paradise. May Allah protect all of us from having these words pass against us.

Broadcasting Sin — A Serious Warning

Shaytan has not only deceived the ummah to not hide sins from their own limbs — he has deluded humanity to broadcast their sins on social media, on Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok. Brother, isn't it enough that we have sinned privately? Why would we put this online? Today so much of social media is the broadcasting of people's sins. Now all these people become witnesses to the sin on the Day of Judgment.

The Prophet ﷺ says: people will be forgiven, but Allah will not forgive the mujahirun. They said: Ya Rasulullah, who are the mujahirun? He said:

He spent the night while Allah covered his sin, but he intentionally decided to uncover what Allah had covered and expose it to the world. That person Allah shall not forgive. Because now he is challenging Allah — all those people who post haram on social media, what are you doing? You are challenging Allah. Unless and until a person also repents from this sin.

For Allah's sake, let us not post haram. There is a lot of haram happening at weddings — don't post that online. Don't make videos of the haram that goes on and then put it on YouTube. People do not regard haram as haram today — that is the real reason. No matter how deep a person is in sin — as long as he thinks: okay, this is a sin, I need to get out of it — there is hope. But when a person thinks what they are doing is right and is proud about it, then getting out of that becomes very, very difficult. May Allah open up our eyes to our condition.

Loyalty — To Allah Above All Creation

We are trying to keep 99% of the people of the ummah happy while displeasing Allah. It doesn't work like that. That is the bitter bullet you have to bite. Choose your sides. Are you with Allah? Are you with the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ?

I am closer to you than your jugular vein. Allah is closer to us than our clothes, closer than our spouse. And so:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 1098)

We cannot obey the creation if it entails disobedience to Allah. And if you say, you're not even at the level where you can tell someone they're doing haram — fine. Right now, we just have to make sure that we protect ourselves. Not once a week or twice a week — all the time. Only surround yourself by people who are not from this قُرَنَاء — who make you oblivious to the Day of Judgment and who make whatever evil you've done in the past seem okay.

I beg Allah that every one of you today who has listened: make the firm resolve and decision — Ya Allah, from today, anyone who takes me away from Your deen, I am going to distance myself from them. Can you send them a gift? Yes. Can you make du'a for them? Yes. But should you be spending private quality time with them while they are committing haram? No. Should you be accepting invitations where haram is being committed in front of you? Absolutely not. Should you allow them to talk you out of following the deen? Absolutely not. Say inshallah. Make this decision today.

If you don't want to start again next month and next Ramadan exactly where you were three, five, ten years ago — this is the only way forward. You have to put your foot down. The change is by changing your company.

Closing Du'a

O Allah, whatever good has been said, O Allah, make the speaker and the listeners able to put it into practice. O Allah, allow us to propagate it to thousands of people. O Allah, allow these words to ring across the globe. Allow whatever You have inspired us to share today to carry its barakah across the globe. O Allah, allow a change to happen. O Allah, through the nur and barakah of our elders and teachers who have taught us, allow that nur to emanate from this place across the globe. O Allah, allow a true revival of Islam to happen across the globe. Allow the unadulterated Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ to be preserved here and spread from here across the globe.

O Allah, You are the protector of us — of our masajid, our madaris, our deeni institutions, our people, our honor, our iman, our health, our wealth, our homes. O Allah, we ask You for protection. O Allah, have mercy upon the ummah, whichever part of the globe they may be suffering in. O Allah, wherever in the world elections are taking place, allow the results to be favorable for the ummah, favorable for haqq. O Allah, allow the party of haqq to always dominate over falsehood. Allow the truth to become apparent for all of us, and make it easy for us to follow the truth and save us from falsehood.

O Allah, protect us from all the small fitna and the large fitna — the fitna of Dajjal and the smaller fitna that are coming before him. O Allah, grant protection to this institution, this masjid, this madrasa — to all the staff, all the students, all the teachers, all the musallis, volunteers, patrons, and supporters, from whichever part of the globe they may be. O Allah, do not allow our numbers to decrease but increase. Do not allow our iman to weaken but strengthen. Do not allow our himmah to weaken but allow it to be strengthened.

O Allah, all those brothers and sisters who are requesting du'a — those who are sick, those who have passed away recently, those going through difficulty — You know their difficulties, You know their worries, You know their concerns. All those who are begging to stay away from haram — strengthen them. Give them the ability to never go back towards haram. All those who want to repent — make it easy for them to repent. All those who are trying to find spouses — make it easy for every single one who is trying to remain chaste to find a righteous, God-fearing, beautiful, amazing spouse. All those widows and widowers — make it easy for them to find a proper spouse, Ya Allah.

O Allah, save our youth and our adults from falling into any and all forms of zina. Protect all of us from haram transactions. Protect us from misusing our tongue or any of our limbs. O Allah, protect us from having this Qur'an and these durus of the Qur'an be a proof against us — but rather make them a proof for us. Make us amongst those who are blessed to cry in front of You every day. Improve the quality of our salah, our recitation of the Qur'an, our dhikr. Make our children the coolness of our eyes and the coolness of the eyes of the Prophet ﷺ.

O Allah, whatever du'a the Prophet ﷺ had asked for — and whatever he would ask for in this day and age — grant us all those du'as. Whatever things the Prophet ﷺ sought refuge from — and he would have sought refuge from today — we ask You to grant us refuge from all of those things.

وَآخِرُ دَعْوَانَا أَنِ الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ