Reflect & Connect | Surah Fussilat - Ep.05 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 10/08

Opening Supplications

The Verses of Surah Fussilat

أَمَّا بَعْدُ — Dear brothers and sisters, dear friends, السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ. Alhamdulillah, Allah has gathered us in His house today. We ask Allah, through whatever issues and problems we've come with to the masjid or listening from our homes, through the barakah of the Qur'an, that He remove our worries and concerns. We ask Allah through the barakah of the Qur'an that He illuminates our hearts with the nur of the Qur'an.

We ask Allah through the barakah of the Qur'an and the dars of the Qur'an that He makes us amongst those who always turn to the Qur'an in times of ease, in times of difficulty, and always find the solutions to their problems in the book of Allah. May Allah save us from committing any disobedience — such a disobedience that would deprive us of being beneficiaries of the book of Allah. Ameen Ya Rabbil Alameen.

The Disbelievers' Strategy Against the Qur'an

Allah mentions the disbelievers — we ended on this verse last week. The disbelievers knew that what they believed was something very contrary to the teachings of Islam, and that if people were to listen to the Qur'an, they would be affected. And so they tried very hard for people not to even get connected with the book of Allah.

And so they would say: don't listen to the book of Allah. Instead, make senseless talk that obscures this message — senseless talk that obscures the message of the Qur'an — so that you may prevail against the book of Allah.

If you look today as well, this type of effort happens now as well. People are coming with various strategies to distract people from the book of Allah. All the latest forms of music that are out there — and where huffadh, instead of going to sleep listening to the book of Allah, are falling asleep and waking up listening to music — that is the effort to misguide people from listening to the book of Allah. And of course when I say huffadh, I'm not saying those who have memorized it are not doing it. I'm saying even those who have memorized it are being misled. So imagine those who haven't even gotten the chance to connect with the book of Allah.

Recently, in one of our ulama groups, someone shared a whole YouTube channel that had thousands of views and thousands of subscribers — horrible lyrics of music, but in which verses of the Qur'an were brought into it. It was so satanic. It was full of instruments and everything else, but they were lip-syncing it with the Qur'an. I have no idea which shaytan would have come up with this idea. Alhamdulillah, it was brought to our attention and many people went to the YouTube channel and flagged it as offensive. SubhanAllah, within three to four hours — even though it had already received like 60–70 thousand views — all the content was removed. This is one of many examples of how the shayateen from humans and the shayateen from jinn are working hard to discredit the book of Allah. Of course they cannot, they will never be successful. But people like you and I — average people on the street — we get misguided.

The Attention Span Crisis and Social Media

Look at where we are today. Even a bayan, a lecture, a talk — a short. First I give a one-hour bayan, then they cut it into 30 seconds. So if you are constantly looking at and listening to 30-second talks, you will not have an opportunity to listen to an hour — you just can't handle it. Because you've made yourself so accustomed to listening to these little shorts that the attention span is gone. And we know, that's exactly the reality, that's exactly what has happened. People cannot listen to detailed answers for anything. They want something quick, short, a quick high, and then move on.

But what's so ajeeb is that even these bayans and talks — many people have started putting nasheeds in the back. Like, wait — am I supposed to listen to the talk or to the nasheed? What else is there to focus on? But they don't stop there. Many times they put actual music in the background of the talk itself. So this is all وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ — the idea is that without people even realizing it, they're becoming agents of shaytan, disconnecting people from the pristine, clean, clear recitation of the book of Allah.

If someone recites Qur'an in a nice, beautiful voice with tajweed, that's not as attractive — unless someone uses the latest musical tunes to make the Qur'an sound like a Bollywood song. Then everyone says, "Wah wah, what a tilawat, how nice!" No, brother — you're thinking about your jahiliyyah era of a Bollywood song, that's why it sounds nice to you. The Qur'an has not been revealed on these tunes. Astaghfirullah. It's supposed to be the book of Allah, not a Bollywood tune.

The Prophet ﷺ mentioned a time will come that people will be so focused on the pronunciation and the tajweed of it — the way you would focus on your shot of an arrow or a spear when you do target practice. That is the level of perfection they will try to achieve in tajweed. However, he said:

The Qur'an will not get past their throats. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 5058; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1066)

The Qur'an will not get past their throat. All the competitions of the world, so much focus on the sound and tajweed and so forth — great, mashaAllah, and we are sitting right now in the center of tajweed here, alhamdulillah, in Darussalam. But understand that tajweed is only a part of it. The purpose of the Qur'an being revealed is that it is supposed to be put into practice. If a person focuses on mere memorization or recitation or making it sound nice, then unfortunately it becomes something else.

The Challenge of Sincerity

Social media makes it so hard to remain sincere. It's so hard to remain sincere. Social media makes it so hard for a person leading salah to be sincere, for a person who is reading Qur'an in front of a crowd to be sincere. When you have a camera right in front of you, and you're leading a crowd, and you're seeing — mashaAllah — how many views you're getting, and each view translates into cents and dollars. It's really hard to be consistent in your sincerity, and to take clips of yourself crying and post them on your status. Social media really makes something which was already hard — sincerity — even much, much harder.

So all of these efforts can be called وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ — to make something so loud, so obnoxiously loud, that the voice of the Qur'an, the message of the Qur'an, gets drowned out.

Dangerous Reinterpretations of the Qur'an

Another explanation the ulama have given of وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ is: to give interpretations of the Qur'an that have nothing to do with the way it was revealed, in the manner it was revealed, in the era it was revealed, with the maqsad of what was revealed.

You may have heard this word being passed around nowadays in many circles: masalih, masalih 'amma, and maqasid-based. Which is a very dangerous term — depending on who's using it and what they're trying to get from it. It can be used in a very problematic manner. The argument goes: the purpose of the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ is to bring certain goodness to the world. And if an interpretation no longer brings goodness, then we have to change that interpretation. If it doesn't help us fulfill the purpose of "world peace," then we have to change the interpretation of the Qur'an and Sunnah. This is the type of rhetoric that is happening at a governmental level from the Middle East. Wake up to that. When someone uses these words masalih and maqasid, let's not fall for it.

The argument is: we should no longer look at the commands of Allah as they have been passed down for the past fourteen centuries. We have to apply a new lens — does it really fit into the modern era? Do we need to tweak it? Because at the end of the day, the purpose is world peace, happiness for everyone, Muslim and non-Muslim. So hey, we're gonna have to start making certain changes and amends to the explanations. That Qur'anic explanation you're listening to on Tuesday nights is from a bygone era. Now we need a new interpretation.

You'll see a lot of this. For example, inheritance laws — the ones mentioned very clearly in the Qur'an. The argument goes: well, that worked when families used to live together, when women had extended family support systems. Now families live disconnected from each other in different countries. So we're going to have to tweak the inheritance law. You've heard this, right? This is becoming very mainstream. The laws of inheritance from the Qur'an are being called outdated — going against the purpose.

And when you open that door up, you have individuals who say all hadith need to be thrown out except for a few hundred mutawatir hadith, because hadith is being misused by terrorists and misapplied. So we've got to undo the entire preservation of hadith and come out with a new selection. It's happening right now. It has been happening for the past six years. And it's going to be rolled out within a few years. Within the next generation, we will lose everyone who saw an era in which the full corpus of hadith was accepted.

I'm serious. Think about it — this generation's 12 and 15-year-olds have never seen a pre-LGBTQ era. Anyone below 30 has never seen a pre-smartphone era. Anyone below 40 has never seen a pre-internet era. Similarly, just think about that world in which you have never known an era where the full hadith literature was accepted. All you have is the book of Allah and a few select hadith — which you can then manipulate as you wish and prove from it whatever you want.

For example, you've heard this explanation: whenever the story of Lut is mentioned in the Qur'an, certain people say, "Well, that was rape. That was not consensual." Where are they getting that from? They will give interpretations of it. I just read before Maghrib — subhanAllah — that 3% of high schoolers now identify themselves as trans. Ajeeb era we're living in. SubhanAllah. Allahu Akbar.

The Purpose of Attending a Dars

So وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ is basically modern-day tafsir on the condition that it is not rooted in tradition — where a person is trying to give explanations of the Qur'an where you walk out saying, "I don't need to change. This is amazing. I love this deen. I love this tafsir, man. I can be as I am, judgment-free zone. I already thought I was going to Jannah, but coming to the tafsir has really proved it — I absolutely don't need to make any amends to my life. Just continue doing whatever I am doing. It's all about good intentions. It's all about being a smiling good citizen. Just being cheerful."

That is وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ. New interpretations of the Qur'an where you never feel you need to change. This is the modern era of ilm — where lectures and talks are supposed to give you a good feel. "Alhamdulillah, man, I just feel pumped up." Why do you feel pumped up? "Because I don't need to change anything. It gives me an ego boost that I'm on the right path."

When the purpose is supposed to be: every single time we come to any dars — whether someone is reading Fadha'il-e-A'mal in the corner, or you're attending a bayan — you're supposed to say: Ya Allah, this is where the deen is — where I am.

What is demanded from me, and where am I? Astaghfirullah. The likes of Abu Bakr, radiyallahu anhu, is saying, "Nafaqa! Nafaqa Hanzalah!" Abu Bakr says, "I'm a munafiq too." What? Because when I sit with the Prophet ﷺ, I'm at another level. When I go home, I'm not at that level. So I must be a hypocrite. You all know this hadith. Meaning the likes of Abu Bakr, radiyallahu anhu — when they sit in Rasulullah's ﷺ gathering, they feel that they're in big trouble. They need to change. That's how deen is supposed to be.

You're not supposed to attend a dars and feel like everything is fine and I've got no changes to make. Every single dars that we attend — myself as a speaker, if I am speaking or listening — I need to walk away saying, "Ya Allah, what did I just say? What did I speak about? What do I need to be? Ya Allah, tonight I make the intention that I am going to make amends. I'm going to change." That's how it's supposed to be.

But what you'll see instead is the make-you-feel-good round of applause — everyone's standing up. We have turned our masajid and conferences into something resembling Southern churches — standing up, giving a round of applause, hallelujah. That's what's going on at conferences. Everyone's excited, riling up the crowd. A good feeling, once in a while, fine. But let's get to where the world is. What's going on? What's happening across the world? Where are we headed? Let's get down to business and figure out: what are the major sins I'm involved in that I need to repent from? What are the fara'id that I'm neglecting? What aspect of the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ have I neglected?

So this is the effort of the shayateen from humans and the shayateen from jinn — constantly trying to make us deaf to the true message of the Qur'an. We ask Allah that He allows us to get to the true message of the Qur'an and not get carried away.

The Warning Against Diverging Paths

When you come towards Islam, you'll get invitations from every direction. Did you know when you come out of the Haram Sharif, what happens? You have people coming, "Aja aja, come come come!" — I want to shave your head. There's a line of people, barbers waiting. Come this side, come this side. If you went to Pakistan, India — everyone is pulling you. You go to Europe, you go to Turkey, wherever — everyone says, "Come come, fish market, gold market, come here!" Everyone's trying to get the customer in. Allah says when you go towards the deen, you're going to find a lot of different paths. Don't follow those small, diverging paths. Otherwise you're going to lose it. Follow the straight path towards Allah, and close your ears to all the other sound that you're going to hear.

So وَالْغَوْا فِيهِ is a very important portion of this ayah — protect yourself from the senseless, useless talk that obscures the message of the Qur'an. All of those different types of discussions today are trying to make us either not hear the Qur'an or get a wrong interpretation of it.

The Punishment of the Enemies of Allah

Allah says: therefore We shall most definitely make those who disbelieve taste a severe torment — in this world and the next. أَسْوَأَ means the very worst. The very worst of that which they ever did. Meaning Allah will ensure that these shayateen who were distracting us from the book of Allah will get a punishment in this world, and of course in the Hereafter. So you don't worry about them. Right now you've got to worry about yourself. Do not allow yourself to get distracted from the message of the Qur'an.

That is the recompense of the enemies of Allah — the fire. Anyone who turns the people away from the Qur'an, he is nothing but the enemy of Allah. That is a really harsh, powerful label Allah is placing on him. أَعْدَاءُ اللَّهِ — how can a person ever succeed if he becomes the enemy of Allah? There is no chance. For them therein is the abode of eternity. خُلْد means forever, eternity. They are going to have to suffer in Jahannam, not for a little bit, but forever.

And this is not ظُلْم — this is not oppression — that they are staying there forever. This is a proper recompense that matches their sin.

They know — they have yaqeen — that this is the words of Allah, yaqeen that this is the book of Allah, yet they refuse to entertain it and disavow it because of their stubbornness and their hatred towards deen. Remember last week — we talked extensively about the intimate companions who are constantly pushing a person towards sin. The power of bad company takes the very best person and brings them down. That's why people start off good before they get into politics. But it's very hard once you get into politics to remain good, because you're surrounded by evil. So people may have good intentions, but unfortunately the company we keep ruins us.

The People of Hellfire and Their Regret Over Bad Company

Those who disbelieve shall say — now everyone is in Jahannam, suffering, burning. When you're suffering like that, what do you want to do? You're just so angry: "I'm here because of my bad friends." Think about how many people today were great, but they went off track — even though they had the best mom and dad, they went to the best Islamic schools, they went to the best hifz school, they studied the deen, they were connected with the masjid during childhood. And now they're completely off track. Allah forbid, may Allah guide them back, whoever those people are. But when you look at them, you wonder — how did they end up in that situation? Again, because of their bad friends.

Allah forbid, if they die without tawbah, what's going to happen to them in Hellfire? They're going to be really upset about the people who misled them. Very upset. And so they will say: "O Allah, show us those who led us astray — from the jinn and from the humans. We want to place them beneath our feet. We're in Jahannam, burning top to bottom, in unbelievable, unmatched torment. But at least allow us to feel a little bit of happiness by having these people below our feet, so we can stomp on them."

In another place, Allah says that the people who were misled will beg Allah:

"O Allah, give this person who misled me — I'm in Jahannam with him — please give him double punishment. And curse him a very big curse, because he misled me." And Allah's response is:

"Guess what? I'm not only going to give him double — I'm going to give you double too. Both of you get double punishment." So this is the repeat message of the book of Allah: stay away from bad company. Cut it. Cut it. Cut it. This is it.

The Importance of Choosing Good Company

All of you sitting here today — many of you are different from the ones who were here last week. Every week, mashaAllah, we have new faces. But think of yourself: if you are surrounded by people who, for example, never come to any dars, never come to the masjid besides Jumu'ah — that is the reason why you're not able to make it. Because you're not sitting with people who remind you.

But if you are surrounded by individuals who are connected to their local masajid — who go for Isha, who go for Fajr, who will take you to the many beautiful programs happening in our amazing city — then alhamdulillah, you will always find yourself in the house of Allah. No one is saying don't have company, don't have friends, don't enjoy tea. No. Have it — but just choose the right crowd. That's it. This is the appeal I make to everyone.

Choose the right crowd. The reason we have destroyed ourselves is because we're keeping company with people who make us ghafil — who make us heedless. Always find people who are above you in the deen, who can uplift you. Then insha'Allah you'll be in good shape.

And by the way, for the madrasa students who are sitting here — you have to get the resilience. You cannot stay in the madrasa your whole life. One day you've got to leave. When you go back, many of you say, "How am I going to handle myself when I leave?" You have to know that out of a hundred people, 99% might not be for you. That one guy you've got to stick around with — that's the type you build contacts with. Just as million-dollar deals are made at the golf club — you've got to go where the right people are. Same thing in the matters of deen. If you want to get somewhere, you have to be connected with people who are, if I may use the word, elite in the deen — connected with Allah.

And if you're wondering, "I'm going to stay in Darussalam and I changed so much — when I leave I'll be like this" — no, you won't. Because just like you changed in such a positive manner since you came here, within one week you can lose all of that. Because to build a beautiful garden is much harder than having weeds and thorns grow. You just have to simply stop fertilizing it, stop watering it, stop removing the weeds — within weeks your entire garden will be ruined. So similarly, to lose what you gained by coming to the masjid or seminary takes weeks. Even less. One week.

What happens in Umrah and Hajj? People go, and say, "Oh my God, I'm sleeping three hours a day, I'm doing 10,000 durood sharif, 5,000 istighfar, all my salahs in the masjid, I've never prayed this much tahajjud." How long does that last? From the airport, he goes to sleep, wakes up at 10 AM, misses Isha, misses Fajr. It doesn't last. Because you didn't make a lifestyle change. You just went on a high. Those highs don't help.

Brothers go out in the effort of da'wah and tabligh, they go for four months. MashaAllah, an amazing high. But how many of them sustain it? Because of one simple reason: we do not know how to choose the right company. And that's what destroys us. When you stick around with people who are not more motivated than you, no matter what experience you're coming back from, you're going to lose it. Just understand that. Write that down.

You have to make a lifestyle change — not a one-off "I'm going to go to this program and come back changed." No. Your spirituality requires a lifestyle change. And so this is what these people of Jahannam are speaking about — since we did not make a lifestyle change, we were surrounded by evil people who destroyed us.

The People of Istiqamah and the Angels' Glad Tidings

This is the flip side of the people who are not surrounded by evil company — mashaAllah, those who are in the right place. What do they do? The number one thing: قَالُوا doesn't just mean lip service. They don't just say it — they have studied, they have watched, they have looked, they have researched, and they have come to realize that definitely there is no religion besides Islam, no deen besides Islam, no way of life besides the Sunnah. And indeed our Lord is Allah. That رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ is coming through conviction.

The Name "Rabb" — Our Most Intimate Name for Allah

رَبٌّ — Rabb — is this beautiful name of Allah that is so encompassing. It is the name of Allah that we can connect with the most. Because Rabb is that most caretaking, nourishing Lord that provides us everything we need, at our needed time, at the given time — whatever is required at any given time, Allah is providing you and me that. That's our Rabb. When a person understands Allah to be his Rabb, he will feel contentment. If Allah is my Rabb, Allah will take care of everything.

You know when you have a "Made in USA" or "Made in Japan" product — all of a sudden it must be a great product. A money-back guarantee, a 10-year best-in-the-industry warranty. These things give us conviction that this thing won't go wrong. When a believer truly believes رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ, similarly, he can sit back and relax. He says, Allah will take care of all my needs. Because I've handed over myself to Allah. As is mentioned:

Islam is not about whimsical wishes, and it is not about outward adornment. Rather, it is what settles into the heart and is affirmed by one's actions. (Al-Tabarani; also attributed to Ibn Mas'ud, radiyallahu anhu)

Islam is not about slogans. Islam is what's inside the heart, and what actions confirm that this person is a true believer of Allah. So when a person says رَبُّنَا اللَّهُ, he has complete trust that whatever he is going through, Allah is aware of it. And Allah was here before I was here, before any human was here. Allah knows what the world is now. Allah knows every possibility.

Contentment with Allah's Decree

Someone was asking me recently, "If there's one thing you could change in your life, what would it be?" And I said, I don't have an answer for that. How could I answer? I know how my life is now, and I have absolutely no idea how it would be if it were different. How are you supposed to know? "I wish I married that person. I wish I took that job." You don't know where that route would have taken you.

One sahabi heard a tabi'i saying, "Oh, if we were born during the time of the Prophet ﷺ, we would carry him on our shoulders and would never have allowed his feet to touch the ground." So the sahabi scolded him and said, "Don't say this. How do you know if you were born during the time of the Prophet ﷺ, where you would be? Would you be with Hamza, or would you be with Abu Jahl? Would you be with Abu Lahab, or would you be with Abu Bakr as-Siddiq? Would you be with Umar al-Khattab, or would you be with Utbah?" How do you know? Do we have an answer? Of course not. So don't even wish you were born in a different era. Allah brought you into this day and age, in this place, in this country. Stop wishing anything else.

The proper belief is that you are resigned to Allah and completely pleased with His predestiny. Because Allah made this choice for you. Imagine your dad buys a brand new car and gives it to you — he buys you a Lexus — and you say, "I wanted a Beamer." What type of ingratitude is that? When Allah chose something for us, we have to accept it. That's it. Allah's choice. Not your dad's choice. Not your mom's choice. Allah's choice.

Once the Prophet ﷺ got a little upset with the Sahaba and said, "Remember — I am your share of the Prophets and you are from my share of nations. You could not have gotten another Prophet, and I could not have gotten another nation. Meaning — we're stuck with each other, so let's just be happy." The idea is that certain things you cannot change. You can't choose your parents, your siblings, the place you find yourself in. So a person needs to be pleased with what Allah has given. And that's part of believing in Allah to be your Rabb.

As they say:

It is not possible to have something better than what it is right now. (Attributed to Imam al-Ghazali, rahimahullah)

It is not possible to have something better, because Allah created the very best. As the ulama have mentioned:

Belief in predestiny removes overwhelming sorrow and sadness.

When a person loses money, loses his job, loses his marriage, loses his child — the one who constantly says, "I wish I could have done that differently..." I sometimes see people speaking like this and I think, I can't imagine the level of stress they must have. Constantly looking at everyone: "If I married her, how my life would have been. If my son married her, how nice his life would be. If I had that job, how nice my life would be." That is horrible. Instead, believing in destiny is one of the big blessings of Allah upon us — that no matter what is happening, we say: it's all part of Allah's plan, and Allah is wise.

A Hadith on Strength, Seeking Help, and Not Despairing

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2664)

A strong believer is better and more beloved to Allah than a weak believer — and there is good in everyone. The strength we are talking about here is everything: physical strength, spiritual strength, emotional strength. Being strong is good. However, there is good in everyone. Not all five fingers are the same. We don't know who has what level of iman. Just work on your own self at the moment.

Then the Prophet ﷺ said: be greedy over that which is beneficial for you. Be greedy. Yes — greed is good in certain places. When you have an opportunity to come to the front row, go for it. When you have an opportunity to listen to or meet a scholar, jump for it. Don't shy away. Be greedy over that which benefits you. Number two: وَاسْتَعِنْ بِاللَّهِ — seek assistance from Allah. That's the only one who can assist us in all our situations — worldwide problems and our own domestic issues alike.

And if something afflicts you, do not say, "If I did this differently, the outcome would have been different." Don't say that. Rather say:

Indeed Allah decreed, and He did what He willed. For indeed the word لَوْ — "if only" — opens up the door of shaytan to play with you. My dear mothers and sisters, and brothers as well — don't fall into this trap. As soon as you hear your spouse, your sibling, your daughter or son saying that — stop them. Say, don't bring this "if only" into our business. The Prophet ﷺ said it will open the floodgates for shaytan to start playing tricks.

The Power of Dua in These Times

My beloved brothers, I want to point one thing as a reminder to myself — may Allah give me tawfiq and may Allah give tawfiq to all of us. We have a hurricane that's coming towards Florida. A hundred years, Tampa has not been hit by a hurricane of this level. But Allah is قَادِرٌ مُطْلَقٌ — Allah is the most powerful. He can change it in any direction, He can control it, He can lessen its strength. It's all the qadar of Allah.

Then you have the horrific continuous bombardment and killing of people. Today an announcement was made — regarding Lebanon — saying: if you don't stop, just look at the devastation of Gaza, we're gonna have to do the same thing to you. And the world is watching. No one is saying anything. The Muslims are not saying anything. Astaghfirullah al-Adhim.

What do we do? The biggest, most important tool that a Muslim has — that puts us way ahead of any non-Muslim — is the power of dua. The power of dua is endless. Crying in front of Allah, extending your hands, and begging Him, whether you are in Mecca or Madinah, whether you are at the Aqsa, or whether you are in the comfort of your suburban home — it doesn't make a difference. Crying in front of Allah in dua is the most powerful amal. That is what will really bring about Allah's mercy.

There is nothing more powerful than begging and seeking Allah and crying in front of Him. This is the time for me and for all of us here to spend at least a few minutes every single day just crying in front of Allah. If you cannot cry tears, just try this: keep your hands raised, don't move your lips, don't move your tongue — let your heart speak to Allah. If you need to get in the mood, just watch the news, just watch a few clips of slaughtered, mutilated little children, unborn babies, women, kids — Allahu Akbar. Maybe that will shake us up. And then make dua to Allah, not only for them, but for the entire ummah.

What dhulm is happening there is one thing — but the dhulm I am doing and you are doing by being silent, not even having the time for two extra rakat of salah and five minutes of begging — that is an even bigger dhulm. We have to knock hard on Allah's door and say, "Ya Allah, we're knocking and begging You to please stop all of this suffering, these natural disasters, and everything else." The power of Allah — who doubts it? Allah simply needs to intend it, and as soon as He intends it, all of this — from the winds to the storms, to the earthquakes, to the enemies of Islam — will not be able to make a single move. That is what the deen teaches us. That is what the stories of the Qur'an teach us. But we have to get the attention of Allah — and that is through dua and crying.

Let's make niyyah. Every day let's renew our intention. We're in the month of October. The nights are longest. Fajr is the latest now. So if a person were to wake up at 5 AM, insha'Allah he can pray a nice long tahajjud and make dua. If you fear you can't manage that, then split it up — pray two rakat before you sleep, and spend five minutes on your bed with your hands raised in front of Allah.

Honestly — how are we going to face any of these people on the Day of Judgment? How are we going to face Allah? How are we going to face the Prophet ﷺ? And how are we going to face these hundreds of thousands of innocent people who will say, "Okay, you could not come. You could not help us physically. You could not help us with money. But what stops you from simply making dua for us?" What answer are we going to give?

Are we not hypocrites? How do we even look at ourselves in the mirror and brush our teeth every day, comb our hair, when we know we are not even spending five minutes making dua? MashaAllah, some of us are — of course. But definitely the majority are not. Otherwise the help of Allah would have been in a whole different place.

As the Prophet ﷺ said: اسْتَعِنْ بِاللَّهِ وَلَا تَعْجَزْ — seek the assistance of Allah, and do not feel helpless. If you are seeking assistance of Allah, you don't need to feel helpless. The power you will get through dua is amazing. How many of us have sat and prayed two rakat in a corner of the masjid, cried for 30 minutes, and then after you finished crying — your chest is hurting — how does it feel? It's like: done, khalas. Like a little kid who cried to his mom, and the mom says "okay, okay, I'll take care of it." When you cry in front of Allah, the feeling that "my issue has been heard" — done. Received. And now I don't need to worry about it. Allah will take care of it. Honestly, that's how it is.

The Blessing of Difficulty — Keeping Us Close to Allah

I think about the hadith — of how Allah, at times, puts someone through difficulties, and does not remove that difficulty because He wants to continue to see this person begging Him for His mercy. Allah knows that as soon as He were to take away that difficulty, He would lose this person. It is that difficulty that brings him to the ground every night. It is that difficulty that brings him to sajdah every night. It is that difficulty that brings him to his knees every night. So the fact that Allah does not remove that difficulty is, in reality, a blessing. Otherwise we would not be doing this durood sharif, this salat, this istighfar, this khatmul Qur'an — for what? "I've got this issue." Yeah. If Allah solved that issue, we would forget Allah. That's how we are. We see how it is.

And so the hadith mentions:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2664)

If something afflicts you, don't say, "If I had done something differently, the outcome would have been different." Don't say that. Rather say: "Allah decreed, and He did whatever He wanted." For indeed the word "law" — "if only" — opens up the door of shaytan to play with you.

The Love of Allah Behind the Love of Parents

Dear brothers and sisters, the level of love that parents show to their kids — the likes of which is none. You see it in the hospitals. Go look at little children who are sick — parents say, "We'd rather be sick and dying of cancer than see our kid going through any difficulty." That love is unparalleled. But when you look, if you have ma'rifah of Allah, you will see that behind the love of the parents, in reality, is the love of Allah — that Allah is the one who has miraculously put this almost junoon, this almost-craze, unmatched love into the hearts of parents for their children.

The Prophet ﷺ saw a starving lady who had two daughters. He gave her a date. She split the date in half and gave it to her kids, and stayed hungry herself. The Prophet ﷺ was touched by this — that this is the love of a mother for her kids. And then it immediately reflected on how the love of Allah is even greater. SubhanAllah.

If Allah loves His servant, He puts His love for him into the hearts of the creation. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2637)

So the fact that moms and dads, husbands and wives, love each other so dearly — this is part of Allah's love. What is mentioned in Surah Taha regarding Musa alayhi salam:

I placed your muhabbah — Musa alayhi salam was a little magnet for love. Asiya looked at him and fell in love. The mom loved him. Asiya — Fir'awn's wife — said, "No, we have to keep him. We cannot let him go like that." So when a person truly trusts Allah, and especially in this era of ajeeb uncertainty that we are going through, all of us need to stop second-guessing ourselves.

Are we on the right deen? Are we following it properly? Are we doing too much? No, my friends. If there's anyone who could second-guess themselves — astaghfirullah, I'm just giving an example — it would be the people of Gaza. They could have said: "Being in Palestine and saying 'Ashhadu an la ilaha illallah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan Rasoolullah,' praying five times a day — this doesn't seem to be helping. Should we switch sides?" Anytime, of course — if any of them were to switch sides, they could easily get saved, become a traitor. But who is becoming a traitor amongst them? Who is wishing to change sides? Who is saying, "I'll give up my land, my identity, my religion — give me a flight to America?" No. So if there's anyone who could sit there and second-guess themselves, it would be them. But look at the level of strength they have, mashaAllah. So why should today's Muslim in America, with all the comfort we have, sit there and say, "I don't know what's going on?" You know what's going on. Just do what you're supposed to do and leave it up to Allah. Trust Allah — Allah will take care of you.

Allah's Perfect Wisdom in What He Gives Each Person

Whatever situation Allah placed you in — understand that if He had given you more than what you have, how would you have changed? There are many who are poor — had Allah given them wealth, they would have completely changed. And there are many to whom Allah has given wealth — had He given them poverty, they would have changed. It is mentioned:

Indeed there are some servants of Mine for whom only poverty is right — if I were to make them wealthy, I would destroy their deen. And there are some of My servants for whom only wealth is appropriate — if I were to make them poor, I would destroy their deen. (Al-Tabarani, al-Mu'jam al-Awsat; also reported in similar wording in other collections)

So there are certain people — all of us — for whom we need to understand that the circumstances Allah has kept us in are perfect for us. That does not mean don't work. Work hard. But when you don't achieve whatever your goals are, don't think, "That's why I have a miserable life." No. Alhamdulillah. There is wisdom in that. You just don't know.

Remember that story that came popular a few years ago — of a lady who came from Syria, 50–60 years ago, arriving with her family. Her husband had already arrived in America and was in California. The family came later and arrived on the East Coast. They were taking a domestic flight to California. The issue arose at boarding because the little girl had a scarf on. Someone said, "Just take it off." The little girl said, "No, I'm not taking it off. Absolutely not. I'm not going to sell my deen in the first hour of landing here." And so they got delayed. People got upset. They missed the domestic flight. And subhanAllah — only later on did they realize that that flight had an accident, and everyone on board died. That one hukm of Allah — that one decision of this young girl to not give up — saved the entire family. So just do what you're supposed to do. Fulfill the commands of Allah, and understand that insha'Allah, at the end, it will be good for us.

Istiqamah — The Name of the Game

ثُمَّ اسْتَقَامُوا — after saying Allah is Lord, then they have istiqamah. Istiqamah, dear brothers and sisters, is the name of the game. This is the most difficult thing and this is the most important thing. You've heard the hadith — madrasa students say this all the time:

The most beloved action in the sight of Allah is that which is done consistently, even if it is little. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6464; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 783)

And I think that's the problem today. We have these bouts of extreme excitement where we go all out — reading this much, praying this much, doing this much dhikr — and then we slump down. That doesn't work. You don't need to have these huge bouts. Stay focused, do it at a minimum. Staying away from haram is the minimum. Doing the fara'id is the minimum. But just stay consistent. And you will find this in our elders. Someone said to one scholar, "Sheikh, they say you're a big buzurg, a big pious person. But I never saw any miracles — no pot of gold appearing from nowhere, no flying through the air. So what's this?" He famously said, "Have you seen me missing any sunnah since you stayed with me? Have you seen me miss any fardh or commit any haram?" The person said, "No." So the sheikh said, "Well, that's it. That's called istiqamah."

And Mawlana Abbas, our honorable Ustad, would always say:

Istiqamah is more virtuous and more powerful than a thousand miracles.

The name of the game is what? Istiqamah. That's it. And you'll see our elders — our asatidh — may Allah guide us to become like them. Their Fajr salah, in the one spot, for three decades, four decades, in the exact same spot. Imagine that. Do they have to stay awake all night? You don't have to stay awake all night. Just pray Isha, Zuhr, Fajr — whatever it is — in a non-stop streak. Weeks turning into months, turning into years. Every Friday, at least come early to the masjid. Every Friday, put in ten dollars into the box. Every Friday, come and read Surah al-Kahf. That's istiqamah. Every Thursday night, read salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ, pray salat al-tasbih — whatever it is. Take something and stick to it. This is where the barakah will come. That's where Allah's assistance will come.

The Nine Ways to Achieve Istiqamah

I want to mention some of the ways we can get istiqamah.

Number one — ask Allah for it. Ask Allah:

Ask Allah for istiqamah.

Number two — try your best to be as sincere as possible. Sincerity will lead to Allah allowing you to continue to be firm. Because there are going to be a lot of obstacles coming your way. Say, the friends you used to have at a certain gathering stop coming. Now what happens? Ikhlas. You say, "I'm not there for the friends. I'm not there for the vibes. I'm not there for the food. I'm there for Allah." That's it. Ikhlas will allow you to have istiqamah. Otherwise: "That masjid — I don't want to go anymore. Why? Because I'm no longer the president. I'm no longer a board member." Ikhlas is missing. When ikhlas is present, it becomes easy to have istiqamah.

Look at Khalid ibn Walid's famous story. When Umar radiyallahu anhu became khalifah, one of the things he did was pull back the leadership of the army from Khalid ibn Walid. He sent a messenger onto the outskirts where Khalid was fighting and said, "Go give this letter to him, in which I mention: O Khalid, you are no longer the general of the army. So-and-so is." In the middle of the battle, Khalid ibn Walid receives a letter from Amir al-Mu'mineen saying, "You are no longer general. Give the flag to someone else." And Khalid ibn Walid — what does he say? He gave the flag to the person whose name was written, and he continued the fight. People were shocked. He said, "What is it? I was not serving Umar. I was serving Allah. I served in the capacity of general as long as I was asked to do so. And when I am no longer asked to do so, I continue to serve." That istiqamah came because of what? Ikhlas.

And by the way — why did Umar radiyallahu anhu ask Khalid to step down? Was it because Khalid was doing a horrible job, losing all the battles? Of course not — complete opposite. He was winning all the battles. The tawheed of Umar and the Sahaba — we can't even understand. He said: the fact that people are praising Khalid and attributing success to him is problematic for my army. You cannot attribute success to Khalid ibn Walid. You have to attribute success to Allah. You cannot say, "If Khalid is here, we're going to win. If Khalid is not here, we're going to lose." No — Allah is with you. Just imagine if Umar radiyallahu anhu were to see us today — how much we worship people, how much celebrity worship there is. If someone speaks about Allah, you're supposed to fall in love with who? Allah. But today people fall in love with the speaker. You're supposed to be impressed by Allah, not by the speaker. But this is the ajeeb era we live in.

Umar radiyallahu anhu said: we don't worry about who is winning. We worry about the aqeedah of the people. We cannot afford people to start attributing success and failure to individuals. Do you think Umar radiyallahu anhu would want us to attribute success to one political party over another? No political party can help us. The only help is from Allah. If Allah puts into one person's heart — yes. But until we do not have Allah on our side, everyone will be our enemy. When we have Allah on our side, then Allah will make them fight to serve us. That's how it used to happen. They came to Umar with the keys of Jerusalem and said, "Please come and take these keys. We want to hand them to you." That is part of our history. When we fear and love Allah more than anyone else, Allah will make the makhluq come running towards us.

Number three — istighfar and tawbah. Seeking forgiveness from Allah:

Repent towards Allah collectively.

Number four — مُحَاسَبَةُ النَّفْسِ — constantly taking stock of your nafs:

Take account of yourselves before you are held accountable, and weigh your deeds before they are weighed for you. (Attributed to Umar ibn al-Khattab radiyallahu anhu; reported by al-Tirmidhi in al-Qiyamah)

Number five — perform salah with jama'ah. Try to be as particular as possible about praying five times a day in congregation. Because:

Salah will hold you back from sin. Don't underestimate the power of salah. Those of us who are involved in major sins and wonder how to get out — just start praying salah. Start praying salah, no matter how much sin you are involved in. If not in one week, then in two weeks. If not in two weeks, then in two months. Sooner or later, that salah, according to the book of Allah, will get you out of that sin. Just don't give up your salah.

Number six — seek the ilm of deen. When you start seeking the ilm of deen, automatically you will start getting to know Allah and His Rasul ﷺ.

Number seven — choose good company, which is what we've been speaking about.

Number eight — try your best to protect your limbs from falling into haram. All limbs — your eyes especially, your tongue especially, and then your ears and everything else.

Number nine — recognize the methods that shaytan uses to mislead you:

O believers, do not follow the footsteps of shaytan. Whoever follows the footsteps of shaytan, shaytan is going to push him towards evil. Just stay away from the footsteps of shaytan, and know how shaytan tricks you. Every single time you slip, ask yourself: how did I slip again? What happened? "Ah — shaytan told me to go there, and in the process of that I forgot my sunnah. In the process of that I forgot my fardh salah. In the process of that I got lazy doing wudu, I went home, I was too tired, I went to sleep, I said I'll wake up in the morning — and I woke up and missed my Isha. Shaytan told me just go over there — and I ended up meeting an old friend who got me back into that same old sin I had given up." So you need to repeat: how did shaytan get to me? Let's not be fools. Yes, we slip and fall. But let's make every time shaytan makes us slip a learning lesson. Say, "Okay, I'm not going to go back down that way." And if we don't do that, we're going to constantly be sinning and constantly crying — maybe crocodile tears — without learning the lesson.

So the one who has istiqamah — then insha'Allah ta'ala, angels will descend at the time of death and tell him: you have nothing to fear of the future, and nothing to grieve of the past. Instead, enjoy Jannah. And Allah says: نَحْنُ أَوْلِيَاؤُكُمْ — We are your friends — in the dunya and in the akhirah. To enjoy the friendship of Allah is something unbelievable. Over there, at the beginning of the dars, we learned about the enemies of Allah. Here we are learning about the friends of Allah. If we have istiqamah, we will enjoy Allah's friendship in this world and in the next.

May Allah grant you and I istiqamah — especially at this Tuesday dars that we have. May Allah grant us istiqamah in many other things as well, because it's a very tough thing. We start something and then end up missing out. We ask Allah not to make whatever we share today a proof against me or against anyone of us, but may He make it a proof for us, insha'Allah.

Questions and Answers

Q: I'm struggling to wake up for Tahajjud and Fajr. Any tips?

SubhanAllah. If you sleep early, naturally. Right now, go home, don't drink kahwa-house tea if you're trying to go to sleep. Go to sleep early. Drink a lot of water. Sleep on the floor. Put on multiple super-annoying alarms. Keep your phone far away from you. Have someone else call you — a spiritual buddy: your spouse, your sibling, another person — to keep on calling you, and you keep on calling them, to make sure you both wake up.

Then recite the last ayat of Surah al-Kahf before sleeping. That's one. Another is:

This ayah from Surah al-A'raf — right before Surah al-Anfal begins — is also very effective. Also make the niyyah of what time you want to wake up. And read 33 times SubhanAllah, 33 times Alhamdulillah, 34 times Allahu Akbar — this is immensely powerful in putting barakah in your sleep.

Q: Why does Allah allow people to put an evil eye and black magic on others?

Why does Allah allow people to get shot by a gun? It's the same thing. It's just the system of Allah — the system of means. The one who commits a murder — that's a fitna for him. That's going to become a major reason for him to go to Hellfire unless he repents. Similarly, the one who puts an evil eye or black magic on people — that's a fitna for him to go to Hell. And similarly, the one who got killed — that's his shahada. And the one who suffered the evil eye or black magic — subhanAllah — every single moment he is suffering, his sins are being forgiven, his status in Jannah is being increased. And if he ends up dying from it, insha'Allah he will die as a shaheed.

Q: Can you explain "It is not possible to have something better than what is"?

The idea is that Allah created something beautiful for us, and so we have this belief that there is no such thing as "if it was something different, it would have been better." There's always wisdom. Allah is wise — Allah does not make mistakes. Whatever He did — from a human perspective — is the most meticulous planning. There's no such thing as a better alternative, because Allah knows all outcomes of all possibilities. And He chose this — whatever is happening, in any situation. So that's the trust we have: this is the best scenario possible for us. And now you've got to figure out — how does Allah want me to act in this situation? Fulfill the command of Allah for that situation, and that's it.

Q: Would it be appropriate for Muslims at that time to think that Allah gave victory to Muslims through Khalid ibn Walid?

If a person says it — yes, it would be appropriate. But you see, when speech gets to the level where everyone is just praising Khalid, and saying "If Khalid is not there, we're lost" — that's what Umar radiyallahu anhu was very careful about. He didn't want that kind of chatter. That's the reason he changed it. This is about aqeedah of the people — we cannot afford people to start attributing success and failure to individuals.

Q: Why am I not able to stay consistent in good deeds?

Dear brother, dear sister — this is a jihad. This is your jihad. This is my jihad. All of us — istiqamah, as I said, is hard. This is our struggle. Don't give up. Every time you end up flipping and falling, do not allow shaytan to push you over. Say, "I'm going to try harder. Tomorrow I'm going to try." As long as you are trying and as long as you are not giving up, you're in good shape. As soon as you become apathetic — "It's okay, one day I come, ten days I don't come, I don't care" — then that's bad. But every single time you slip and fall and you feel guilty about it? Alhamdulillah. Make tawbah and start over again.

Q: What is the Islamic perspective on confidence while avoiding arrogance?

You avoid arrogance while having confidence by attributing your success to Allah, and constantly asking Allah for help. Say you're great at basketball — before you go in, you pray two rakat, salat al-hajah, or you turn to Allah and do dhikr. Say, "Ya Allah, please make me successful in this game." And then if you make a great shot, you don't slam your chest or make all sorts of signs with your hands — that's arrogance. You point towards Allah and say, "Ya Allah, Alhamdulillah — Allah has given me the success." And anytime a mistake happens, you turn and say, "Ya Allah, forgive me. I'm going to work harder." Anytime you do well, immediately attribute it back to Allah.

Q: Allah is most loving and merciful — why is His punishment so extreme?

You're not realizing — what about the disobedience? The disobedience is so extreme. For example, if someone randomly on the street says, "Give me your car," and you say no — okay, that's fine, you move on. Now imagine someone who is an acquaintance. More culpable. Now imagine your sibling. More culpable still. Now imagine your own father — who himself had nothing, and bought this car and gave it to you as a gift — asks to borrow it and you say no. How does that sound? Worse, right?

Now Allah is not your dad who gave you a car. Allah is the one who gave you your brain. Allah gave you your ears. Allah gave you your hands, your feet. Allah gave you every cell. Allah gave you the ability to talk, the ability to eat — every ability, every blessing — all coming from Allah. And now to use those blessings against Allah — there is nothing greater in oppression than that:

Who could be a greater oppressor than the one who lies against Allah? The greatest oppression is to ascribe partners to Allah, to disobey Allah. Hence the punishment matches that. And similarly — no one asks, "I only prayed five times a day for 30 years — how come I get to Jannah forever? That doesn't seem right." No one asks that question. No one asks, "How come I'm getting paradise for eternity when I only worshipped Allah for 60 years?" So it works both ways.

Q: If you're trying to get over a previous sin, can you think you were destined to do that?

No. Otherwise shaytan will also say, "I was destined to do that." You don't use destiny as an excuse for sin. When mistakes and sins happen, you simply say, "Allah, I made a mistake." You cannot use destiny as an excuse for sin. But yes, you can say, "I'm going to come out stronger. I hit rock bottom — now I'm going to come out stronger."

Q: Is there more than dua we can do for Gaza and Lebanon?

The fact that you say it burns your heart is a very good sign. If it's not burning your heart, that's a problem. We need to feel the burn in our heart. And whatever we can do — whether boycotting a certain product — does it really have a great effect? Honestly, probably not. But I'm not going to stop you. That's your effort. By protesting, is it going to really bring some change? Maybe not dramatically. But what else can we do? You have to do something. At least:

We can give an excuse to Allah on the Day of Judgment that we tried. So whatever is in your ability — even if it means putting up something on your WhatsApp status, posting something somewhere, sharing something with co-workers, supporting in any way — go ahead and do whatever you can. Don't say, "This is not going to have any major effect in the grand scheme of things, so let me leave it." What will happen? Your conscience will die. And that will be very bad — where now you say, "It's not my problem." How do you teach your conscience to die? You can't. So act.

Q: How do you teach children to respect their teachers and parents, and have them love going to maktab like they go to school?

For the maktab part — all of our makatib should be engaging, interesting, and fun for the kids. I met one kid today at Sunday school. He is driving from 50 minutes away to come. So I asked the dad, "Honestly, do you see value in the Sunday school that you come 50 minutes?" He said, "Yeah, we love this place." Then I met his son — an 8-year-old. I said, "So how was your day?" He said, "Great, I loved it." I said, "What do you like about Sunday school?" He said, "The basketball." And you know what? It's accomplishing something. The kid likes to come. So my point is we have to make our maktab very interesting, well-organized, and enjoyable in this day and age. And we need to make it a reward-based system — parents should give rewards, teachers should give rewards, so they enjoy it.

And for respect — for teachers, parents, and so on — that's going to come through fada'il and stories. When children hear stories of how other people respected their teachers and parents, it naturally creates within them a desire to also respect. Stories like Adab al-Muta'allimin — the etiquettes of students — you can find a PDF of that. Qari Siddiq Banwi, rahimahullah. Or Birr al-Walidayn by Imam Bukhari — if it's in the bookstore, take it home and read it. It's a powerful book — about 70 hadith on the virtues of taking care of your parents. Every one of us who reads it will feel, "Oh my God, we are the worst kids." Reading hadith, reading stories, creating an environment at home — insha'Allah these will make them fall in love with this.

Q: What can we say to someone who says out-loud collective dhikr is bid'ah?

Bid'ah is something when you say the Prophet ﷺ did something exactly like this — and no one is saying that. Just like the Prophet ﷺ did not use PowerPoint slides for tafsir, and didn't have tea ready for people afterward. We just do these things to make it easy for us. Similarly, doing dhikr collectively is something we do because we have a problem of doing dhikr — we don't do dhikr as much as we should. By doing it collectively, we are encouraging ourselves to do dhikr at home on our own.

Now, dhikr can be done out loud. There is no hadith that says you are not allowed to do dhikr out loud. Rather, there is a book in our bookstore downstairs — a whole booklet, about 30 pages, on dhikr — in which a hadith of doing dhikr out loud is mentioned. The Prophet ﷺ himself went all the way to the graveyard and buried a certain Sahabi himself. And of that Sahabi it is mentioned:

He used to raise his voice in dhikr.

And there are many other hadith like that. The book is called Sabahah al-Fikr fi al-Jahri bi al-Dhikr, written by Ibn Abd al-Hadi al-Aqnawi. It is translated and available in the bookstore. I would encourage that person to come take a look at it.

Closing Du'a

O Allah, we ask You to accept this gathering. O Allah, forgive us for our mistakes. O Allah, our flaws that we are aware of, that we are unaware of — done by day, done by night, done once, done repeatedly — that which we have repented from, that which we have never repented from, that which we have done privately, that which we have done publicly, that we have done with friends, that we have done alone. O Allah, from any limb of the body, or with our wealth, or with our time — Ya Allah, whatever mistakes we have committed, grant us the ability to sincerely repent.

Ya Allah, whatever neglect we have shown towards Qur'an, neglect towards salah, neglect towards zakah, neglect towards the rights of one another — Ya Allah, forgive us for that. O Allah, make us leave this world in a state that we owe nothing to anyone, Ya Allah. O Allah, make us such that we have done ihsan upon all those around us. Allow us to lead such a life that everyone has a good view about us, and is very appreciative of our conduct, Ya Allah. O Allah, allow all of our family and friends to be witnesses for us and for our good character on the Day of Judgment.

O Allah, do not allow us to befriend such people who bring us down and bring us away from the deen. O Allah, grant us protection from blind, intoxicated love of materialism. O Allah, grant us protection from immense love for the dunya — immense love for wealth, immense love for fame and name, immense love to fulfill our desires. Ya Allah, grant us freedom from all of those things. O Allah, protect us from the insinuations and whispers of shaytan. Protect us from the attacks of our nafs. O Allah, grant us good company — good company from humans, and good company of the angels.

Ya Allah, we ask You to grant mercy upon all of our brothers and sisters in Sudan, in Somalia, O Allah, in Sham, and in different parts — and more specifically in Palestine and Lebanon. O Allah, we ask You to grant Your special assistance, Your special mercy, Your special help. O Allah, Your angels — millions and countless, billions and trillions — are waiting to help. O Allah, they are waiting for Your signal. O Allah, we ask You to give Your command for them to descend and protect the innocent ones, Ya Allah — to grant victory to the innocent ones, Ya Allah.

O Allah, You are the controller of the hearts. Fill the hearts of the Muslims with strength. Fill the hearts of the Muslims with vigor. Fill the hearts of the Muslims with iman. Fill the hearts of the Muslims with tawakkul and reliance. Fill the hearts of the Muslims with istiqamah. O Allah, fill the hearts of the enemy with fear and awe of You and of the people of deen. O Allah, we ask You to grant us protection of all of our homes, our iman, our children, our spouses, our deen, our dunya. O Allah, whichever part of the world our brothers and sisters are going through difficulty — have mercy upon them. May Allah change their difficult conditions to conditions of ease.

O Allah, many of our students come from the Tampa area and different parts of Florida — who are now sitting their exams and are very worried, naturally, about the hurricane that's coming towards them. O Allah, we ask You to ease their worries, and ease the worries of all the brothers and sisters who are in the path of this hurricane. O Allah, You are the controller of the winds, You are the controller of the oceans, You are the controller of all the forces of nature. O Allah, through the barakah of the a'mal of our brothers and sisters here and over there, through the constant istighfar and tawbah — O Allah, we ask You to divert the path of this storm, and decrease its strength.

O Allah, indeed whatever we are suffering across the globe — at the hands of others or at the hands of nature — indeed it is because of our own sins. We take full responsibility, O Allah. Please allow the ummah to repent properly. Allow the leaders to repent, O Allah. Allow the scholars to repent, O Allah. Allow the average people to repent, O Allah. Allow the young and old, men and women, to repent, O Allah. And grant qabuliyyat and acceptance of repentance, O Allah.

O Allah, so much talking, so much has been shared in the past hour and a half. O Allah, please do not allow this to fall on deaf ears. Do not allow this to fall on deaf hearts. O Allah, whatever has been shared and said — allow the speaker who is most in need of it, and allow all the listeners, to put it into practice. Allow our lives to change. Allow a revival to take place in our hearts and in the hearts of millions and millions of people across the globe, O Allah. Protect this madrasa, this masjid, the student body, the alumni, the staff, the well-wishers, the musallis, and all those who have anything to do with this institution or are listeners from different parts of the globe. O Allah, protect one and all, and allow all of them to become a means of spreading the deen and the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in different parts of the world.

Ameen.