Reflect & Connect: Sūrah al-Ḍuhā | Muftī Azeemuddin Ahmed | 1/20

Background: The Revelation of Sūrah al-Ḍuḥā

One possible reason for the background of this revelation of the Sūrah is that Jibrīl was called the Shayṭān — as if to say, at last your Shayṭān has forsaken you. That is one possible reason for this background, for this revelation of the Sūrah.

Others say that there were two times when the Prophet ﷺ had an inqiṭāʿ — a time when Waḥī stopped, the revelation of Waḥī stopped, for some time. A break in Waḥī.

One happened shortly after the very first revelation:

The Prophet ﷺ was embraced by Jibrīl ﷺ. What was going on? This is ʿajīb. Then he went and spoke to Khadījah رضي الله عنها — and the beautiful story. But he was not giving daʿwah towards Islam at that time; that was just the beginning. Officially announcing Prophethood had not happened yet. And there was an inqiṭāʿ, a time when Waḥī stopped for some time. And then after that, Waḥī started again. There is a difference of opinion as to which Sūrah came next — some say it was Yā Ayyuhal Muddaththir, some say Yā Ayyuhal Muzzammil. But nonetheless, there was a break in Waḥī — that is what I'm trying to get at.

The second incident occurred when the Prophet ﷺ was asked three questions by the Mushrikīn. What were the three questions? What is the reality of the soul?

They asked about Dhul Qarnayn and his story. And they asked about the people of the cave. So Rasūlullāh ﷺ said, "I will inform you the answer — tomorrow." But what did he forget to say? InshāAllāh. So Allah then held the Waḥī back for some days. And then eventually the āyahs were revealed:

Most definitely, never say "I'm going to do this tomorrow" — don't say this — except when you add, by saying, InshāAllāh.

So these are two incidents when Waḥī stopped. Since this is a very early Sūrah, the story of the cave and so on doesn't apply here. More than likely it is this — the story of him not waking up, not being able to pray Tahajjud. However, this Sūrah was already preparing him for incidents like this that would happen afterwards.

The Theme and Purpose of Sūrah al-Ḍuḥā

The purpose of this Sūrah, which has 11 āyahs and is the first of the Qiṣār al-Mufaṣṣal — the short Sūrahs recited, for example, in Maghrib — is to discredit and reject the statement of the disbelievers, who said that Waḥī no longer comes to the Prophet. That he had lost his connection. And then Allah in this Sūrah not only consoled the Prophet ﷺ for what he was going through, but also told him that the future is going to definitely be better than the past. And Allah will eventually most definitely give him what he is going to like. And then Allah reminded him of how He has been with him from day one — hence he should appreciate the blessings that Allah has placed upon him by doing three good deeds. That sums up the theme of this Sūrah.

Recitation of Sūrah al-Ḍuḥā

Let's read the Sūrah together:

It is mentioned in some of the Tafāsīr that it is Sunnah to recite لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ after this Sūrah — and till the end, after every Sūrah. They say the reason for that is when this Sūrah was revealed, the Prophet ﷺ was so delighted that he proclaimed لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَاللَّهُ أَكْبَرُ. So following that Sunnah, we recite this after this Sūrah and all the remaining Sūrahs till the end.

The Oath: Al-Ḍuḥā and Al-Layl

Allah begins the Sūrah by taking an oath — وَالضُّحَىٰ — by the morning sunshine. We mentioned that Allah takes oaths. He can do whatever He wants. He can take an oath on whatever creation He wants. But for a human being, we are not allowed to take an oath on anything besides Allah. Allah takes an oath on some of the largest of His creations to create within the human being the importance of what He is about to say. You care about the sun? You're impressed by the grandness of the sun? The grandness of the moon? The greatness of the sky? The greatness of the mountains? Okay — well, guess what? I'm going to take an oath on that and I'm going to share something. This is what Allah does throughout the Qurʾān.

So here, Allah takes an oath by the morning sunshine. When you think about the morning sunshine, what do we see? It is super bright — SubḥānAllāh, especially since it started after dark, it really hits the eye. Think about what it comes after:

"And by the night as it falls still." So the contrast — the comparison between two complete opposites. Between the bright light of the morning sunshine and the still darkness of the night. Sajā doesn't just mean darkness. It means the night has now fully settled and become quiet and still. SubḥānAllāh.

Think about the connection between what Allah is taking an oath upon and our own soul and body. Allah brings out day and night in the world, and He says if He wanted He could have made it always daylight — and if He wanted He could have always made it nightfall. Where does this come? In the Qurʾān:

In the 20th Juz — Sūrah al-Qaṣaṣ. Say, tell me: if Allah were to make the night forever until the Day of Judgement, who besides Allah could bring light? If Allah chose to keep it 24 hours dark, who could bring light?

If Allah chose to keep it daylight the entire time, who besides Allah could bring you night? What do you do at night? You rest. What do you do in the day? You work. Allah is challenging us — who is there that is going to do this?

We talked about Dajjāl many times, and we will continue to speak about it. But one of the things is that he will have what we say God-like powers. There is a company that has placed satellites and is in the process of completing their work — where they have massive mirrors on those satellites orbiting around the globe. This is an actual service — I am not exaggerating — that you will very soon be able to hire, whereby they use these massive mirrors to reflect sunlight to a certain portion of the earth at a specific time at night. And the opposite as well — to deflect it, so that it is nightfall there. One of the teachers shared the link with me. He was teaching a Ḥadīth and came across it, and I said, SubḥānAllāh.

When Dajjāl will be given the power to apparently control sunlight, and someone sees him doing this — what is he going to say? He's going to say, "Oh, there's God." You understand how big of a fitnah this is? May Allah protect us. May Allah allow us to keep our eyes open right now. SubḥānAllāh. We're not realizing. That's why — don't jump on every new thing. Don't get overexcited over every new technology.

One engineer who works at a very high level told me: his boss, who he used to report to a few years ago, was so intelligent — a Muslim brother. So intelligent that the hardest of problems, he figured out. He said, four years later, he's in a different position where he's managing him. And he said, literally, he can see how unfortunately his intellectual capacity has dropped — it's so obvious. He gives him things and he's sitting there, baffled. What happened to you four years ago? Because of what? Over-dependence on AI. You stop using the God-given gift. AI is a crutch, it is a tool. But if you use a crutch when you don't need one, what's going to happen to your ability to walk? Think about that. SubḥānAllāh.

I was downloading a keyboard to do voice-to-text Urdu, and the person says, you want the AI-powered keyboard — we'll give you all the prompts, you don't have to write anything. But why? I'm warning all of us from falling into stuff like this. You think it's helpful, but SubḥānAllāh, you're going to start losing your gray matter, your ability to do basic things. That's why our elders' generation, when it comes to math — any math problem — by the time we've pulled out the calculator and opened the app, they already got the answer. Because they memorized their multiplication tables and did so much math without a calculator. We think it's faster. No — it's crippling.

Allah is challenging in the Qurʾān: who can? We need to understand where the Dajjāl came from. Who created him? Allah. Allah created him as a fitnah — just as Iblīs is a creator of fitnah, Dajjāl has been created as a fitnah by Allah. It is a test. That is what you have to understand.

The Interplay of Ḍuḥā and Layl in Our Lives

Allah has created life that is not in a constant state of Ḍuḥā. There is a mixture between Ḍuḥā and Layl. You're not always going to have a high in your life — it's just not meant to happen. And if you always have a high in life, you begin to lose appreciation for it. Those of us who live in comfortable homes, until you don't have to take a shower in a dingy bathroom or with cold water, you forget the value of what a hot shower looks like. Because we're so accustomed to it. So Allah, similarly, in our life, brings darkness and light — intentionally. For us to remember Allah in both times: in day and night, in your spiritual highs and in your spiritual lows.

You're not always going to feel like, okay, ʿIshāʾ is done, the masjid is empty, let me do 18 or 20 rakʿahs of nāfil. There will be moments you'll feel like that — māshāAllāh, those moments are awesome. But then there'll be moments when you'll say, brother, I don't want to even finish the dhikr, I want to run out of the masjid. I don't want to go to the masjid for ʿIshāʾ. It'll happen. So now we're being tested in that state of darkness. How do you handle yourself?

Similarly, you've got things going well and you're happy — just like, man, I just had a great day, māshāAllāh! And then there are moments you just feel like you've got the blues, you woke up on the wrong side of the bed, as they say. You're just not feeling it. That's fine — it's meant to be like that. If every single day you got up chirpy, then you won't value it.

Muftī Taqī حفظه الله — he mentioned in one bayān a few years ago that he was having a hard time doing a lot of things: reading, writing, teaching, getting out of the house, giving lectures, etc. He was going through a difficult time — I believe it was right before COVID. One day, he made it out to his weekly dars in the general public, which used to be, I think, on Fridays after ʿAṣr. He made it out there with much difficulty and spoke for about 8 to 9 minutes. And in it, he said — in a nutshell — Allah knows best how I made it out here today, after perhaps 8 or 9 months of not coming.

He said: I have been writing books, doing research, and writing since a young child — since my third or fourth year of the ʿĀlim program. I've been writing all my life for decades. He writes when he travels, in his hotel room, on his flights. He's always writing. He said: to come and speak to a general audience about some advice is one of the easiest things on my plate. But Allah knows best — that same person who has been able to write so fluently and so easily for years, I went through a test where I couldn't pick up a pen, couldn't pick up a pencil. Physically fine — but something else going on.

He said: so many times my students and companions said, let's go, Muftī Ṣāḥib, people are waiting for you. And I can't. I don't know what to speak about — someone who has studied so much and written hundreds of volumes. For him to speak for 30 minutes in front of the public. But he said, I go blank. I'd come to the entrance of the masjid and turn around and go back, saying, I just can't do this. And today, somehow, Allah brought me in front of you. And I want you to remember:

There is no power and no might to keep you away from sin, and there is no power and no might that can inspire you and give you the strength to do something good, except for the power and strength that comes from Allah. We're not staying away from sins because we're special. We're not doing good deeds because we're special. Whatever we stay away from, it's because of Allah's grace. Whatever we do good, it's because of Allah's grace. And if Allah chooses to pull that grace away from us, we won't be able to do anything. This was his message. What a powerful message. SubḥānAllāh. How humbling.

I'm sure what he got from those months of not being able to do what he normally does, he could not have gotten in years anywhere else. Because one of the key things we need to achieve is to recognize where we fall in our relationship with Allah — just recognizing our inability to do things without His permission. That whatever is happening is happening only because Allah wills.

I think about people who used to drive two hours straight from work to come for the Tafsīr. Two hours — and they made it. SubḥānAllāh. And there are people down the street who made it. Tawfīq was there. What happened? There are no checkpoints, no gunmen waiting outside, alḥamdulillāh. What happened to those who come from far and wide? Tawfīq is gone. That's all I can say. If tawfīq is gone, then you won't be able to make it. What you used to travel two and a half hours for, you can't travel two minutes for now. It's humbling — don't think you are doing something because you have the capacity. You and I might be next to disappear off the list. Just like that.

If you understand this — that whatever khayr I'm doing is only from Allah — then you have to keep on begging Allah: Yā Allah, please do not deprive me of tawfīq. Do not deprive me of being able to serve You and lead a life that is pleasing to You. When do you learn this? You learn this when you have your low moments in life. When you don't feel like going to the masjid. When you created a distance between yourself and the house of Allah, between yourself and giving ṣadaqah, between yourself and reading Qurʾān.

ʿAjīb ḥāl. We see people come and say, this was my history, this is my background, and this is where I am today — wallāh, you get goosebumps, you want to cry. How did you start from there and end up where you are today? But whatever you're seeing in someone, that can be you and me. Any one of us could fall in that same situation. That's why they say:

Keep on working hard while you are afraid of Allah, lest Allah takes away this tawfīq — or lest Allah throws it back on your face and says, I don't want this from you. It's very scary, my friends. May Allah allow us to recognize the importance of Allah's tawfīq in our life, and constantly keep on begging Him for more tawfīq, and making shukr for what we have achieved.

Qabd and Basṭ: Constriction and Expansion of the Soul

This continuous Ḍuḥā and Layl, back and forth, happens to all of us. Now let me take another explanation of Layl here. Layl does not just mean distance from Allah. It can also mean, for the Prophet ﷺ, less revelation. So Ḍuḥā — back to back, Jibrīl Amīn is coming, māshāAllāh, new revelation. And then Layl is when there is silence.

Silence is important if you want to benefit from what you just heard. The students here know that you have an evening takrār — the purpose of it is to take whatever you learned during the day, let it synthesize, let it mature, let it marinate in your mind. If you had class after Maghrib, after ʿIshāʾ, and after Fajr with no time to review, that wouldn't be very good. Similarly, Allah is telling His Nabī: you have times of bright sunlight when Waḥī is coming at you, and then you have these lull moments — which are also by design. Allah is not angry at you; they are by design. Those are moments for you to reflect on what you have achieved.

You may have heard the statement that those who cannot benefit from the silence of the ʿulamāʾ and the mashāyikh cannot benefit from their speech. We have to learn how to benefit from the silence as well. Sitting on our own and thinking — okay, what did I study the whole day? — and letting that marinate in your mind. That is a very powerful exercise. It will allow you to appreciate all the blessings that alḥamdulillāh, Allah has given us.

So when we see sadness, slow progress, and silence — these are not punishments. These are actually necessary for a spiritual reset. A brother I remembered recently had a need, and alḥamdulillāh that need was taken care of. But ever since that need got taken care of, I've never seen him. May Allah make it easy for him. But you realize that the test he went through was actually a very good test — because during that trial, he was always in the masjid, in the circles of knowledge, in the front row, begging and connecting with Allah. So difficulty was actually a blessing in disguise.

Some people understand with words. Some people don't understand until they get a wake-up call. Some of us understand: Yā Allah, You're so generous to me — let me get up and do what I'm supposed to do. And others don't come towards Allah until Allah sends them something their way, and then they come rushing. Let's not be from the second group. Let's be from the first group — someone who is an ʿAbdun Shākir, someone who comes to Allah purely out of gratitude, saying: I don't deserve this, hence I'm going to put my head down and thank You, and do whatever I'm supposed to do.

Beloved brothers, let's not wait for a calamity to befall us to reconnect ourselves with Allah. But if it so happens that Allah chooses to send something difficult towards you, understand that this is a hidden gift from Allah to motivate you to get where you need to be. You've heard the statement:

الْمِحْنَةُ مِنْحَةٌ خَفِيَّة — A difficulty is a hidden gift from Allah. Think of yourself — were you begging like this last week when you didn't have this problem? So then, this problem in reality is a gift from Allah.

In the realm of tazkiyah, you might have heard of qabd and basṭ. Qabd is when your soul feels constricted — you don't feel like doing anything. Basṭ is when you feel energized, excited — I'm ready to sit down with my dhikr until ʿIshāʾ. We all go through this. If you're going through qabd, does that mean Allah dislikes you? No. That is a test for you as well, and for you to appreciate your moments of basṭ. And sometimes we actually need qabd so we slow down a little in life.

Verse-by-Verse Reflections

Āyah 3: "Your Lord Has Not Forsaken You"

Waddaʿa yuwaddiʿu — to desert someone, to bid farewell to him. Allah says: "Your Lord has not deserted you, O Prophet, and has never abhorred you." Qalā means to dislike. Allah uses the word Rabb here — He does not use the word Allah. What does Rabb give us? The One who nurtures you, the One who takes care of you. Rabb is that Being who gives you exactly what you need at any given time.

Think about a mother — she does not look at her newborn baby and say, oh, we made some nice steaks in the backyard, let me give you some of that. No. The mother will give the child what they need at that given time. And this is the meaning of rubūbiyyah at its highest level in Allah — that Allah gives you what you need at any given time.

How many things we have today — if they were given to us 10 years earlier, what state would we have been in? We see people who got certain things from our age group or friend circle 20 years ago, and we can see where they are now. When Allah gives you money, health, marriage — there is a hidden wisdom in all of it. And that Rabb means Allah is giving you exactly what you need at that given time. So that Rabb did not desert you and did not abhor you.

The ʿulamāʾ give a beautiful example: when a teacher is teaching and then gives a class assignment — why is there silence in the room? The student asks, Ustādh Ṣāḥib, you explained the problem so nicely for the past 10 minutes — do you not like us? And the teacher responds: I'm giving you time to work on the problem, and I'm watching what you're doing. I can't always be speaking, I have to give you class time to work on the problem and figure out what you did right and what you did wrong. That is what Allah is saying — that Me backing off from you and not sending revelation does not mean I deserted you or disliked you. I am still your Rabb. I took a step back to see how you handle yourself in this situation. SubḥānAllāh. This is very deep.

The Prophet ﷺ said in a Ḥadīth:

(Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 151; also reported in related narrations in Musnad Aḥmad)

"I have been put through trials and difficulty for the sake of Allah like no one else. And I have been terrorized and intimidated for the sake of Allah like no one else." It was going to be tough — this is the 11th Sūrah being revealed, the early days. Allah was building Rasūlullāh ﷺ's endurance. To prepare him spiritually, mentally, and psychologically, Allah put him through what we might call hardcore training: there's no one closer to you than Allah.

Allah says: "I am closer to you than your jugular vein." And of course, the Prophet ﷺ's closeness to Allah is unmatched. Allah created a figurative distance — in terms of not sending revelation — to say: I need you to weather the storm. I need you to build internal strength and fortitude. If you can handle the decrease in revelation for 10 days, 15 days, or however many days — then when your own uncle, aunt, and relatives turn their backs to you and exile you from Makkah, it won't be as devastating. This is the training that Rasūlullāh ﷺ received through this incident.

I want us to think about this when we see our duʿāʾs not being accepted. People come and tell me: I've been making duʿāʾ and I haven't gotten married, what's the point of praying? My beloved brothers — you and I asking Allah repeatedly for something — that itself is qabūliyyah, that itself is acceptance. That Allah inspired you five times a day to beg for something, while billions of people in their entire lives have never begged Allah even once for anything. The fact that you're repeatedly asking — that itself is the biggest tawfīq you could ask for. Because you cannot speak to Allah unless He allows it.

Someone once said, I do all kinds of wrong things and I haven't seen any punishment. So he was asked: when was the last time you woke up at night for Tahajjud? He said, that I haven't done for decades. The response was: what greater punishment do you want than Allah depriving you from speaking to Him at night while others are sleeping? Depriving a person from speaking to Allah is the biggest punishment. And Allah allowing you and I to speak to Him is the greatest blessing.

So let's not allow this thought to come to our minds — that I've been making duʿāʾ for six months and I'm not getting it, what's the point? Remember this Sūrah. Remember the Prophet ﷺ and his relationship with Allah compared to ours — and the fact that Allah still created this distance between Himself and Rasūlullāh ﷺ for some time, as part of his tarbiyah. Similarly, what you might be going through right now could be, down the line, one of the most amazing things for your iṣlāḥ and your tarbiyah.

Āyah 4: The Ākhirah is Better Than the Dunyā

"And most surely, the last life to come will be better for you than the first." Two explanations here. Ākhirah — it could mean the Day of Judgement and the life after death: that the life after death will be better. Only Jannah, only Allah's pleasure — never to get hungry, never to get thirsty, never to get sick, never to worry about anyone harming you, and being able to see Allah regularly. That is Jannah.

But the ʿulamāʾ also explain that it's not just about Jannah being better than the dunyā. It also means that every later stage for a believer is better than the previous stage — because you learn from your mistakes, you grow older, you gain higher wisdom. This is one of the most beautiful āyahs to give us hope. We all know the famous āyah from the next Sūrah:

This āyah also gives us that beautiful hope — that most surely the last life to come will be better than the first. We're only progressing towards Allah. Every day is going to be better than the previous. This is the optimism that the dīn and the Qurʾān teach us. There is no space in our faith for despondency.

No matter how horrible life may seemingly be right now — your marriage, health, mental and psychological health, or your loved ones' finances are falling apart — always remember this āyah. I will definitely get through this by the will of Allah, and I'm going to come out much stronger by the will of Allah. Because what I'm going through is a form of purification. Allah is purifying me through these challenges. Do not let Shayṭān whisper anything that will create despondency.

Even physicians will tell you that optimism is a very powerful tool to become healthier. The mind-heart relationship is immense. One of the most powerful things we should have in our hearts is ḥusn al-ẓann — beautiful, positive thinking about Allah. Saying: Allah will take care of my problem. Why would Allah neglect me? Allah, You know me, I love You. I don't expect anyone besides You to take care of my life. You cannot forsake me. There is no other door — if You close this door, I have no other door to knock on. There is no other communication:

Yā Allah, You have to get me out of this mess. When a person has that level of conviction that Allah will take him out of his problems, then most definitely Allah will treat you based on what you expect from Him. Allah will give you what you want — or what you need. Maybe not what you want, but what you need.

The solution to your problem is the distance between your forehead and the ground. The distance between your forehead and the ground is the distance between you and your problem being solved. Ask Allah to make you and I amongst those people who never ever give up, who never ever become despondent. No matter how tough a night or day we are in, we are going to plow through it.

You have to speak with yaqīn. I gave the example: if my eyes are closed and I go to the light switch and turn it on, and you ask me, is the light on? I say — it's on. I have yaqīn that if I switch on the light switch, there is no possibility the light is not on. We have yaqīn in these little electrical outlets and electrical wiring. Why do we not have this yaqīn that when I ask Allah, my issue will be taken care of? If we're not there yet, at least start asking Allah to allow us to reach that point — where when we speak to Allah, we speak with conviction.

Imagine if someone asks your son, your dad didn't get you a jacket — do you think he will? And the son answers, yeah, I don't know if he's going to get me one or not. How insulting would that be? SubḥānAllāh — imagine how it must pain Allah when we say, yeah, Allah is going to do this or not, I don't know. I read the duʿāʾ, I'm not sure if it's going to work. These statements — as though Allah is some random person. When we say things like this, guess what happens? Allah will treat you just like that. You get what you expect. But when you change your attitude, then Allah will do it.

Āyah 5: Allah Will Give Until You Are Well-Pleased

"And most surely your Lord shall give you of His bounty and you shall become well-pleased." The Prophet ﷺ said in a Ḥadīth that he will not be satisfied until even one member of his ummah is in the fire of Jahannam — meaning, the gist of it is that he ﷺ will continue to intercede until Allah is satisfied.

The ʿulamāʾ said something very beautiful here. They say: it does not mean you'll get whatever you want or whatever you're asking for. It means Allah will put you in a state in which you are content with what you have. I love this explanation. True happiness is not the absence of problems. True happiness is satisfaction and riḍā with the Giver, with Allah. That's true happiness.

I remember a physician who, when he was in medical school, bought a $1,500 car that he had to enter through the back seat to sit in the front seat. Now he lives in a million-dollar home. But he told me: my favourite car of my life was that car. Because he came from poverty and difficulty, and with so much effort he saved up $1,500 and bought that car. He was very content. On the other hand, a person driving a $300,000 car pulls into a wedding and sees someone parked next to him with a $400,000 car — his competitor. Immediately he's become a pauper in his own mind. Comparing houses, jackets, purses, shoes, cars — fully, fully. So even though he's driving a $300,000 car, he is faqīr, he is miskīn, he is a poor man.

When you reach a certain level, Allah gives you what we should be aspiring for — a state of riḍā bil-qaḍāʾ — where a person is happy and satisfied with what Allah has given him. And this is the definition of true satisfaction. The true happiness, right at this point, is not the absence of problems — it is satisfaction and riḍā with the Giver.

Āyahs 6–8: The Three Proofs of Allah's Love

How do we know Allah loves Rasūlullāh ﷺ? Three proofs:

First: "Has He not found you as an orphan, and then sheltered you?" You lost your father before birth, you lost your mother at a very young age. Allah sheltered you.

Second: "And He found you lost, and He guided you." Lost — not misled or misguided, but: how do I worship Allah? I don't know. The Prophet ﷺ understood that Allah exists, that there is a Creator. But how do I worship Him the way He ought to be worshipped? He didn't know that. So Allah guided the Prophet ﷺ to what exactly He wants.

I met a new Muslim brother from Arizona in India, SubḥānAllāh. He had accepted Islam through reading things on the internet, with no Muslims for hundreds of miles around. He was praying — but until he met a Muslim three weeks later, he didn't know you were supposed to take the Shahādah. He didn't know how to formally accept Islam. He said, I'm a Muslim — but was he saying أَشْهَدُ أَن لَّا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ وَأَشْهَدُ أَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ? He didn't know. He met an imam who taught him. Think about that — that is what ḍāllan here means.

Third proof: "And found you needy, and He enriched you." Can we apply this to ourselves? Yes. All of us should think about this. If we were not literally orphans, we were figuratively so — we didn't know what to do, and Allah provided the care and sheltered us. Think about all those who migrated to this country in the 60s, 70s, and 80s — how many of our parents' generation came here literally with $50 in their pocket, a one-way flight to New York. And today each of their children lives in a million-dollar home. SubḥānAllāh.

And enrichment does not just mean money. Sometimes the wealthiest of people are the most stingy in giving. True wealth is:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6446; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1051)

True wealth is the wealth of the nafs — where you feel completely rich at heart. Alḥamdulillāh, I'm very happy with what I have, I don't need anything. That's a rich man. And the one who is constantly saying, by tomorrow I have to make more money, more, more — he is a very poor man, because he is always worried about how to enrich himself more.

Āyahs 9–11: Three Ways to Appreciate Allah's Blessings

These three commands are all connected to the three proofs of love. Let's connect them one by one:

First: "As for the orphan, do not suppress him." Were you not an orphan that Allah gave you shelter? Now you are able to have empathy. So when an orphan comes, treat him properly, do not suppress him, be kind. The Prophet ﷺ said, if you have an issue with a hard heart, wipe your hand over the head of an orphan. Go see people who have no mother and father. Go to an orphanage. Empathy is born from experience — you can empathize with those who had difficulty because you had a difficult life.

Second: "As for the beggar, do not rebuke him." You did not have wealth or knowledge before — poverty in knowledge, poverty in hidāyah, poverty in anything. Now that you have it, when someone needs it, don't rebuke them. Give it to them.

Third: "And as for the grace of your Lord, proclaim it." Since you and I did not have knowledge when we were growing up — and we are at a certain level now — when someone asks you a question, do not be stingy. Answer them. Remember when you didn't know stuff either.

I shared a story: one day I was complaining to my ustādh about my spiritual state. My teacher said to me — this was in Madīnah — do you not realize how blessed you are that you came all the way from America, from a non-Muslim country, and you didn't come alone, you brought people with you, and you're guiding them and teaching them the dīn? How many people who live nearby may not even be able to come for ʿUmrah? And how many of them won't be able to teach anybody? Allah is giving you all this. He said, go — and it was time for Ṣalāt al-Ḍuḥā. We both went to Masjid al-Nabawī. Those days, Riyāḍ al-Jannah had just opened, and we entered. As I was about to start my ṣalāh, an elderly man came to me speaking in Arabic, mumbling. And in Riyāḍ al-Jannah, he asked me:

"Where is the grave of the Prophet?" And I felt: Allāhu Akbar. What my teacher told me 15 minutes ago, Allah just proved it to me. I'm a kid born in Kankakee, Illinois, among cornfields. And here I am, year after year, Allah has given me an opportunity. And now I'm telling an 80-year-old man who is sitting 6 feet away from Rasūlullāh's grave where the Prophet ﷺ is buried. Those of you who have never even gone for ʿUmrah — you also know where the grave of the Prophet ﷺ is. That's the realization: think about where you were and where you are today.

It's good to push yourself and chisel your nafs — that's important. But let it not lead to being ungrateful for what Allah has given you. This is what you learn from teachers: that the way you're reacting is incorrect. You're just being ungrateful. And Allah showed it to me right there.

Say: Alḥamdulillāh yā Allah, You gave me so much — give me more. Instead of saying: Yā Allah, You didn't give me anything, can You give me something? Don't speak to Allah like that. Say: Yā Allah, You already gave me so much knowledge, so much wealth, so much health — can You please give me more? And can You please allow these blessings to stay with me?

As for وَأَمَّا بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ فَحَدِّثْ — share and speak about Allah's blessings. Do not go tell people exactly how much you earn, how much your monthly income is, how much your rental property is giving you. Because naturally, you're going to attract jealousy. Not everyone who hears your stories of success is going to be excited about it. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Al-Muʿjam al-Awsaṭ of al-Ṭabarānī; reported in various collections with similar wording)

"Fulfill your needs through the assistance of secrecy." So don't share all your successes everywhere, don't post it all on social media. One brother posted pictures of his brand new cars on WhatsApp. I messaged him and said, brother, what are you doing? He said, people think my business is not growing and I want them to know I'm doing well. I said: listen, you're not going to do so well after this — because all the people who are speaking ill of you, imagine when they see those posts, you think they're going to be happy? However, you can speak about Allah's blessing in the right way: say, I never did this, but alḥamdulillāh Allah blessed me with this. The point is that when people hear it, they say: if Allah can do it for him, He can definitely do it for me.

Reflections: Stories of Tawakkul and Yaqīn

We just went on a trip — five days, with about 25 brothers and sisters from this community and beyond, mostly senior Muftīs of our area — to Niẓāmuddīn in Delhi, to see the Markaz where the effort of daʿwah and tablīgh started a hundred years ago. I'm sharing one story, SubḥānAllāh.

We went to see the kitchen. They gave us a tour. The kitchen had a huge tannūr with rotis cooking. We asked: how many rotis do you cook a day? They said, we don't count rotis — we count flour. Approximately 950 kilos per day. Well over a ton — well over two and a half thousand pounds. About 250 kilos of rice per meal. And hundreds of pounds of meat per meal. On any given day, between 4,000 to 7,000 people are eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Someone naturally asked, so where's the donation box? There's no fundraising appeal after Fajr or ʿIshāʾ? Not only is there no appeal, there is no box here — and even if you want to give, no one will take it from you.

The Mawlānā giving the tour shared a powerful story. Mawlānā Ilyās' father, Mawlānā Ismāʿīl, was a very wealthy landowner. He didn't like the limelight — he ran away from it and went to live in a jungle as an imam in a small muṣallā next to this big estate, in the middle of nowhere. Eventually, he gave away all his money to the villagers of Mewāt and others who came. One day his money ran out, his flour ran out. He came out of his room and saw the women of the household and the children trying to sweep tiny remnants of flour from the bottom of the floor — to try to make even half a roti. There was genuine hunger in the household of Mawlānā Ilyās, whose father had been a big landowner.

When he saw this, he went into his room, did iʿtikāf in his small masjid for three days. He didn't come out. He just prayed, made duʿāʾ, and cried. All they could hear was his crying from inside the door. On the third day, he came out and said — in Urdu — that I have received the decision from Allah that poverty and hunger will never come here. That was in the late 1930s or early 1940s. And this is where we are today — however many people can come can eat as many meals as they like. SubḥānAllāh. What is that? This is that unbelievable, unwavering level of optimism with Allah. You are not going to let me down. I've never asked anyone and never will. I'm only asking You. And I definitely expect You are going to give.

Just like the Prophet ﷺ made duʿāʾ on the night of Badr, and Abū Bakr رضي الله عنه said: You need to rest, the battle starts tomorrow morning. But that ilḥāḥ, that insistence — Yā Allah, I'm not letting go. I remember a scholar who came here and spoke about his father. He said: I used to go to my dad and say, Bābā, I have this issue, can you make duʿāʾ for me? And his father would say: Son, don't worry. I won't let go until I get it done. He would tell his son: I'm not going to leave Him — leave Who? Leave Allah. I'm going to put my head down and Allah should pity me. How much are you going to make me cry? May Allah make us fathers like this. SubḥānAllāh.

Someone said, SubḥānAllāh, my wife is expecting, māshāAllāh, we're so excited — any advice? I said, brother, if you don't pray Fajr in the masjid, God have mercy on your son. Your dad prayed Fajr in the masjid — that's where you are. If you don't, what's going to happen to the next generation? You need to push yourself towards rūḥāniyyah and Sunnah. Become an ideal father. That's what your children need. The children don't need Benjamins. Wallāh, they need a father who can cry for his kids. They need a mother who says: Yā Allah, I'm not letting You go until You take care of my kids.

Ask yourself: are you that dad? Are you that mom? Or do we think that sending them to karate class, swimming class, Islamic school, and private tutors — alḥamdulillāh, I've done my job? Even if you did none of those things, but you cry to Allah for your children — because if you're crying at that level, you're obviously going to be doing the most amazing things too. You don't sit and cry in front of Allah for three hours and then neglect your kids. If you're crying like that, you're going to be inspired to do what's right. And today — if we cannot cry for ourselves, these young men who are not yet married, if you cannot cry for your own issues, if you cannot cry for your parents, what makes you think you're going to cry for your kids in the future? We need to cry about the fact that we don't cry. We're sitting like kings — like our names are written on Jannatul Firdaws with our addresses. SubḥānAllāh.

We're struggling to wake up for Fajr. Struggling to keep our eyes away from ḥarām on our phones. Struggling not to lie. Struggling to do our dhikr. Struggling to pray our Sunnah muʾakkadah. Struggling to recite Qurʾān every day. Struggling to be respectful to our parents. On what basis are we sitting there relaxed, as if everything is fine? The level of effort required to raise our kids to be even practicing Muslims requires tens of times more effort than what our parents put upon us — because the challenges are so much greater now.

Going back to this āyah — let it get rid of pessimism from our life. Say tawbah, Yā Allah, I seek forgiveness for every single time I thought my duʿāʾs were not accepted, or that there was no point in asking Allah. People love to just talk about their problems. Brother, I don't need to hear your problems — Allah needs to hear your problems. Are you speaking to Allah? One week you pray your Tahajjud, then come talk to me. One week you pray Fajr in the masjid, then come talk to me. That week never comes. I can't take care of my own issues, let alone yours. Allah is the only one who can take care of your issues. Why don't you get that you've got to put your head down in sujūd?

Shaʿbān is here. Second night of Shaʿbān has begun. Fasting, tilāwah of the Qurʾān, dhikr, ṣadaqah, and then begging Allah. Let's stop trying to find excuses for ourselves, saying "Shaykh, just make duʿāʾ for me." That is a Shayṭānī one-liner — because we are trying to absolve ourselves of all responsibility. On this recent trip, one of the ʿulamāʾ asked a senior scholar: Ḥaḍrat, please make duʿāʾ for barakah in my time. His immediate response was: brother, barakah in your time will come, number one, based on your own ʿazm — your own determination. If you are not determined, don't expect Allah to give you tawfīq. You have to be determined that this is what I'm going to do — then you'll see Allah will allow you to achieve it. Don't deflect. Take responsibility. Tawfīq and barakah in time will come if you first make a resolve.

So we should always be looking at this āyah and thinking that tomorrow, inshāAllāh, will be a better day.

A Story of Qurʾānic Healing: The Power of Yaqīn

Let me share a story. I met a child in South Africa — 9 years old — who SubḥānAllāh, until the age of 4, could not walk, could not talk, could not do anything. Just lying on a bed for the first four years of his life. Then COVID came, and his mother said, what are we going to do? And she started playing Qurʾān around him — all the time, Qurʾān, Qurʾān, Qurʾān. And she took olive oil, which is mentioned in the Qurʾān:

And olive oil is mentioned in Sūrat al-Nūr as well — اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ. It is very good for shifāʾ. She took that olive oil and started reading this āyah from Sūrat al-Isrāʾ and rubbing it on his legs and body:

"And indeed, We revealed the Qurʾān with the truth, and with the truth it came down. And We did not send you except as a bringer of good tidings and a warner." Sūrah al-Isrāʾ, āyah 105. She kept reading this āyah on olive oil and massaging it on him. And one day — the child got up and started walking. Started talking. I met this boy in November when I went to South Africa, and all the Dār al-ʿUlūm students who were with me met him too.

He came into the room and the vice principal said, I'm going to show you something, just watch. He brought this child — SubḥānAllāh, 9 years old. He said: take any Qurʾān, open to any āyah, read it to him — and he will tell you what Sūrah number it is, what āyah number it is, what's the āyah before it, what's the āyah after it, what page it's on. Is he a Ḥāfiẓ? He said: brother, he's learning how to read still — he goes 20 minutes a day to learn his qāʿidah. We witnessed this with our own eyes. He has done 60 programs, and not once has he been asked a question without responding to it correctly.

His father said: his mother is a very pious lady, I'm nobody. He said his mother read this āyah again and again on olive oil and rubbed it on him. And she used to make duʿāʾ: Yā Allah, do not make my child the laughing stock of society. Do not allow my child to be ridiculed. And how Allah accepted this duʿāʾ — an 8 or 9-year-old boy, there is a line of people waiting to say salām to him. Now he is being flown to different parts of the world, booked months in advance. This is the power of the Qurʾān. And this is the power of the good hope and good thoughts of a mother. The yaqīn that she had. Four years, no movement, no speech, nothing — but she said, I don't care. There is sometimes delay from Allah, but there is no darkness without a light at the end of the tunnel.

May Allah grant you and I this amazing level of hope in His power, in His qudrah. May Allah make us among those people who have beautiful thoughts about our Almighty Allah. May Allah grant you and I the highest levels of tawfīq to lead our lives in a manner that is pleasing to Him. And may He make every one of us pleased with the decisions He has made for us. Allāhumma āmīn.

Announcements

Just a couple of announcements before we conclude. Thursday night, we have a Salām Collective program for college students and young professionals. For brothers, it's a six-week program. Alḥamdulillāh, we are two or three weeks done, and this Thursday, January 22nd, we'll also have a guest speaker. Every single Thursday evening, we have guest speakers for the next four weeks.

And then our annual no-tech retreat starts this Saturday from Maghrib to Maghrib. I highly encourage all of us — as Shaʿbān has begun — to prepare for the blessed month of Ramaḍān by unplugging ourselves for 24 hours and sitting in iʿtikāf in the masjid. The program is open for sisters, for youth, and for adults. Shaykh Hāshim Aḥmed, a scholar for 50-plus years and a revert scholar, will be joining us inshāAllāh. The schedule includes: the daily routine of the Prophet ﷺ, lessons in time management; the body as an amānah — living a life as a healthy Muslim; murāqabat al-mawt — thinking about death with the end in mind; etiquettes of sleeping and dinner; waking up for Suḥūr; Tahajjud, duʿāʾ, and Khatm al-Qurʾān; early mornings and the barakah of the morning; Yāsīn and Qurʾān recitation; a workshop with Shaykh Hāshim on spiritual health; a session with Shaykh Munẓir, a psychologist, on mental health — building resilience in the modern world; and then physical health — caring for the body we live in. A 24-hour packed program for brothers and sisters. Alḥamdulillāh, please book your tickets and come through.

We also have our Taʿlīm weekend program that began this past weekend — Saturday track and Sunday track, both for men and women. For women, it's on-site only; for brothers, it's on-site and online as well. InshāAllāh, this week we have Shaykh Ikrām al-Ḥaqq speaking. Every Saturday morning, we have the team Fajr. We only have about three or four Fridays left until Ramaḍān, so we're still looking for some sponsors. InshāAllāh, after Ramaḍān you can also take a slot if you like.

Closing Duʿāʾ

We ask Allah to accept all of our sitting here and grant us ikhlāṣ in our sitting, and allow us to immediately implement whatever good we heard and to share it with others.

Oh Allah, make us amongst Your chosen servants. Oh Allah, make us amongst those servants who lead a life that is 100% pleasing to You, in line with Your will. Oh Allah, turn the direction of our hearts towards You. Oh Allah, turn the direction of our minds towards You. Yā Allah, do not allow us to spend a single moment in heedlessness. Do not allow us to spend a single day under Your displeasure. Oh Allah, allow our desires to go in line with the dīn of Rasūlullāh ﷺ. Oh Allah, allow our ambitions to go in line with the dīn of Rasūlullāh ﷺ. Oh Allah, we ask You to grant us complete conviction in Your powers, in Your attributes, in Your qualities.

Oh Allah, make us men and women of duʿāʾ. Oh Allah, make our parents people of duʿāʾ. Make our children people of duʿāʾ. Make our siblings people of duʿāʾ. Make our spouses people of duʿāʾ. Oh Allah, allow us to be able to pour our hearts out in front of You every single day and every single night. Yā Allah, instead of complaining to people, allow us to channel our energy towards You. And allow us to have the firm conviction that nobody can resolve our issues besides You.

Yā Allah, no matter how bleak our state may be, allow us to never ever become despondent. Oh Allah, allow us to always be filled with gratitude for the good we are enjoying from You. And allow us to be filled with excitement for what the future holds. Allow us to be optimistic, Yā Allah.

Oh Allah, have mercy upon the entire ummah. Allow the entire ummah to come towards the dīn, to come towards the masjid, to come towards following the teachings of Rasūlullāh ﷺ in their lives. Allow the men and the women, the parents and the children to come towards the dīn. Oh Allah, remove and extinguish the fires in our homes. Oh Allah, put muḥabbah and love between every member of the household. Oh Allah, allow dīn to come alive in our homes.

Yā Allah, save us from all of our major and minor sins. Oh Allah, save us from any and all addictions. Oh Allah, save us from any and all bad habits. Oh Allah, give us the strength to have strong willpower to say no to ḥarām, to say no to all the invitations of ḥarām. Yā Allah, grant us firm resolve. And Yā Allah, save us from ever faltering in our resolve to lead a life that is pleasing to You.

Oh Allah, whatever duʿāʾ anyone here is making, whatever duʿāʾ they are requesting — Oh Allah, we ask You to fulfill all of their needs — the needs of this dunyā, the qabr, and the ākhirah. Yā Allah, we ask You to grant us a life in which we live according to Your pleasure, and an ākhirah that is according to our pleasure.

Oh Allah, we ask You to reward our parents, our teachers, and all those who became a means of dīn reaching us. Oh Allah, protect this masjid and this madrasa, the property, and all of our students, staff, teachers, musallis, and well-wishers across the globe. Oh Allah, protect all of their health, their wealth, their īmān, and their children. Oh Allah, protect all of us from the evil that we see and the evil that we don't see, the evil that we expect and the evil that we don't expect, the evil of our own actions and the evil of other people's actions.

Yā Allah, we ask You to protect us from the evil of ḥasad, the evil of ʿayn, the evil of siḥr, and the evil effects of our own sins. Oh Allah, allow us to be able to see how our nafs and Shayṭān are playing tricks on us, and allow us to be protected from falling into the pits they are digging for us. Yā Allah, protect us from the continuous plotting and planning of Shayṭān and the nafs against us. Oh Allah, save us through Your faḍl and Your karam from their plots.

Āmīn. JazākumAllāhu Khayran.