Reflect & Connect | Surah Ahqaf - Ep.01 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 01/14

Opening: Surah Al-Ahqaf — Ayat 1–6

Allah said — after seeking refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

Respected brothers and elders, mothers and sisters, dear listeners, assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.

We ask Almighty Allah that He grants every one of us tawfiq to benefit from His words. We ask Allah that He allow this gathering to be weighty in our scales. We ask Allah to allow this gathering to shine on the dwellers of the heavens. We ask Allah that He allow us all to leave this gathering in a state far better than we were when we entered it. We ask Allah that whatever issues and troubles we're going through in our personal lives and the lives of our family members, that we find the solutions to those problems in the house of Allah.

We find answers to the questions in the book of Allah. We ask Allah that He do not allow our sins to become a means of us becoming deprived from His book and from benefiting from His book. We ask Allah that He grants us all istiqamah and steadfastness in our good deeds, including our salah with jama'ah, including our attending a dars of tafsir.

We ask Allah that He make us amongst those who are able to benefit tremendously from the upcoming Rajab and Sha'ban, and allow us to peacefully, with aafiyah, reach Ramadan. Amin Rabbil Alamin.

Introduction to Surah Al-Ahqaf

Alhamdulillah, we will be beginning now a new surah — Surah Al-Ahqaf. After a few weeks of break — the last surah that we covered was four weeks of Surah Al-Taghabun — then Alhamdulillah we had a break for the holidays, and Allah has now allowed us to gather once again.

This surah is found in the first quarter of the 26th juz, followed by Surah Muhammad, Surah Al-Fath, and Surah Al-Hujurat. This is one of the beautiful surahs wherein the main gist — as we'll see in the first few lines we're covering today — is to establish our relationship with the book of Allah, to establish our trust in the book of Allah, that this is from Allah and that whatever is in it is absolutely true.

Three Key Takeaways from Today's Lesson

Three main things we can take away from today's lesson:

One — Allah has created us all for a purpose. Two — Allah has created us forever, meaning after we move on from this world to the next, we are not simply dying; death means we are moving on to the next existence. It doesn't mean we disappear and it's ended — instead, every one of us will move into the next realm. There is an everlasting life of the hereafter. Three — this world that we're in, in which we have an opportunity to act, is very limited. It has a set time.

So: one, we have a very specific goal — Allah created us for a specific goal, Allah revealed the Quran for a specific goal. Two, our life is eternal — throughout the akhira there is no ending. Three, our life on this earth itself is mahdud — for a very specific time.

Alhamdulillah, we have a brother here who has brought in beautiful journals for us to take notes so that we can retain whatever we're learning. There are some pens and some notebooks here. If you are from amongst those who plan to be consistent over these next two months taking notes of Surah Al-Ahqaf, please take a book and pass it to those who want one. All we ask is that insha'Allah you benefit from it and actually use it properly. May Allah reward the brother who brought it in and allow him to benefit from all the notes that you're taking and the actions that will come into your life and your family's life.

The Broken Letters (Huruf al-Muqatta'at) — حم

The surah begins with Hameem. Allah knows best its meaning — these are the broken letters, the حروف المقطعات. Throughout the Quran, Allah begins various surahs with broken letters, reminding us that there are things in this world that we will never really know.

I think this discussion of broken letters is really important for our era, because we have an issue — we love to know the secrets of everything. All the little kids nowadays ask "why?" Whatever you tell them, they want to know why. It's not simply "mom said so," "dad said so," "teacher said so" — that's not the mentality anymore. Everyone wants to know why. We think that's always good, but it's not always good — because there are certain things in this world that you will simply never understand why. And there are certain things that if you were to find out why, you wouldn't like it.

So once it's established that this is a rule from Someone whose rules you and I have to obey, then we have to train ourselves to listen and not keep questioning why — because eventually, Allah forbid, you'll come across a day when you'll say "this doesn't make sense to me," and that's the day a person leaves the fold of Islam. That's the day a person leaves the fold of Islam — when we become a worshipper of our intelligence and intellect. Sooner or later our intellect is going to have a rude wake-up call when someone says, "the deen says this, Allah and His Rasul said this," and you'll say "I don't understand." It's okay not to understand. But now if the person says, "I don't understand, and I will only believe if I understand," then it becomes a problem.

I know we say Islam is very rational, and I believe that — and definitely rationality is a very strong assistive proof for us in our deen, because the injunctions of Allah and the injunctions of Rasulullah ﷺ are for the most part something our logic can comprehend. I didn't say it's always simple — Allah's commands are all things that make sense and are logical; it's just that not everyone's logic is able to reach the depth of the command of Allah. But when a person thinks that the world rotates around his logic — if it makes sense to me I will believe it, if it doesn't make sense to me I won't believe it — my beloved friends, this is very dangerous. Frankly speaking, it's just a matter of time before such a person will leave the fold of Islam.

We're like a four-year-old. Everything your dad or mom does is probably very logical — but a four-year-old cannot comprehend that logic. When a child says "that doesn't make sense to me," does that mean it's wrong? You're still too immature, still too young. Just because it doesn't make sense to you does not mean it's illogical. It's illogical according to your four-year-old's brain, but it is very logical according to the brain of a fifty-year-old who has traveled the world, studied different ideas and different societies and cultures, and has set up a rule. So Allah's commands are all things that are understandable and logical — it's just that not everyone's logic is able to reach the depth of the command of Allah.

The New Era of Questioning and the Danger of Arrogance

As you know, I was traveling overseas. I went for Umrah — Alhamdulillah, blessed with Umrah — and got a chance to go visit some friends in Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, and went on to South Africa to go visit my teachers. I was speaking to one of my Asatidha and I was telling him that we have entered a new era of questioning and objections against the deen — such objections which were not found in past generations and hence are not addressed in the books. These objections are of a new genre, a new type which the books of tafsir, hadith, and commentaries usually do not address because these questions were never around before.

These are new questions of the new era. I'm not saying they are coming from some greater enlightenment that we are enjoying — they are not coming from some greater development of humans. Rather, it is more of a regression. Humans have unfortunately become followers of and slaves to their intellect and slaves to their desires. This is a very dangerous cocktail — when you live for your desires and the only guiding force you have is your own intellect, and when an individual doesn't look towards revelation, doesn't look towards Allah's book for inspiration and guidance, then a lot of bad things are going to happen.

Then we gave examples of the types of questions that today's university students, high school students, college students, and sometimes even primary school students ask. These are things that our parents' generation never thought of and would get very stumped by. Honestly you are right — they are crazy questions. But what can we do? You can't say that to the person who is asking, because it's not going to help them; it will push them further away from the deen.

These objections are also coming against fiqh. There are websites that comb through books of fiqh and come out with very unique and extremely rare statements and ibarat and texts from our books of fiqh. What are books of fiqh? They are books of law — where fuqaha and jurists sat together a thousand years ago or more and thought of all possible hypothetical situations that may come about in a person or in society's life, and came up with possible solutions based on Quran and Sunnah. Those are questions that didn't happen then and may never happen ever — they are hypothetical scenarios. Those hypothetical scenarios are not the things I sit and go to bed reading every night. But these websites and these types of people go and search for these things, and they start sharing them on various websites and forums on Reddit and other places for young people to look at, get shocked, and after that start doubting their deen.

Unfortunately some people suffer their own trauma and then take out their vendetta against Islam. SubhanAllah, it's a really sad situation. I just came back last night, and already this morning I had one instance of this — a person sharing a sad story of their immediate relative who used to be very involved in the deen, very religious, and then flipped. Now not only did he leave Islam but is trying to convince every member of the family to leave Islam, forcing nephews and nieces into arguments and debates — little kids. SubhanAllah, this is how we begin our day and how we end our day, unfortunately — with people leaving the fold of Islam.

In this particular case, Allah knows best — every case of irtidad is unique — but one of the things that possibly led him to leave the fold of Islam, according to his relative, was very harsh and sarcastic comments by a religious figure he was connected with. His sarcastic, aggressive comments really pushed him over the edge. I told his brother, "Did you tell that person?" He said, "No, man, who's gonna go tell him?" I said, "What do you mean? How many casualties does he already have? How many people has he pushed out of the fold of Islam?"

The brother who was telling me this story said, "I'm a victim of it too. One day I was helping my dad cut the lawn, and this uncle shows up to the door and says, 'Come to the masjid — worry about cleaning your heart before you clean your yard.'" He said, "I got hurt by this. How do you know what's in my heart? And who said that just because I'm cutting the lawn means I have a dirty heart? Why can't I do both? Why can't I go to the masjid and clean my heart and also clean up the lawn?"

These types of comments — a person saying them doesn't realize what kind of evil effect they can have on the person hearing them. In the past, maybe such statements did not have that level of bad repercussions, but this is the era we're in, where people are very sensitive. Shaytan has made people very sensitive. SubhanAllah — especially when something comes from someone representing the deen, Shaytan makes the fall even worse. A person hears something at work and says, "Man, what are you gonna do? It's work." He hears it in school, in college, on the football team and he makes sabr. But that same thing, at half the intensity, said by someone in the masjid, and the person says, "Forget it. I'm done with Islam. I'm done with the masjid."

What made us all super sensitive in the masjid? What made us all super sensitive when dealing with people who are externally religious? I think it's just Shaytan, who says you cannot have thick skin with anyone who is a practicing Muslim — anything they say, you need to take it out of context. But everyone else outside, you just stay quiet and suck it in and say, "This is life, man. You gotta earn, you gotta climb up the ladder, you gotta make sabr." The world is not for people without thick skin. You can't say corporate life is easy — ask the brothers who work there. They'll tell you all the horrible things they have to face, the amount of oppression they face. I had a doctor who mentioned that some of the highest suicide rates are within physicians. Every doctor we speak to privately — besides the fancy cars and the fancy house — will tell you what kind of politics there is in the hospital, in the medical group. It's sickening. But what do they do? They make sabr because the money is coming.

How is it that when we hear something harsh from a representative of Islam, we cannot make sabr? And Shaytan says, "That's it, you gotta leave Islam." Shaytan makes us super sensitive when dealing with Muslims, when dealing with religious Muslims, when dealing with people in the masjid — so that we cannot handle it.

So going back to Hameem — these حروف المقطعات, these broken letters — this reminder throughout the Quran is super important for us as young Muslims in this day and age. We need to constantly tell ourselves: we can read volumes and volumes of tafsir, but when it comes to Hameem and when it comes to the broken letters, we can only speculate what they actually mean. It could be a secret between Allah and His Prophet ﷺ. It could be a secret that Allah keeps to Himself. But it is simply to be read — Hameem — and that's it. We don't say beyond that. We say Allah knows best what is intended by that.

If a person cannot get beyond Hameem or Alif Lam Meem, he will not be able to finish the rest of the page, the rest of the surah, the rest of the juz. So this is a reminder for us: when approaching the Quran, leave all the suffixes and prefixes you have with your name out the door, and approach the Quran with absolute humility.

The Ottoman Madrasa Doors — A Lesson in Humility

This is interesting — you remember we talked about the Turkish madrasas built in the Ottoman Empire? When many brothers go to Istanbul and visit the masajid, you see the schools, the classrooms built around the masajid in Turkey — the doors are very short, like hobbit doors. Those doors are short on purpose. A person who wants to enter that classroom door has to bow down. You cannot walk into the classroom upright. You're not bowing down to the teacher — the teacher is somewhere inside the classroom. You're bowing down to ilm, to knowledge. When you come and approach the book of Allah, you cannot approach it with a sense of haughtiness and arrogance and "I know it all." You have to bow down with absolute humility.

The Humility of the Scholars

One of the things we noticed on our trip — our teachers who have been teaching hadith, who have been teaching in the madrasa for 40, 45, even 50 years — what do we notice when we meet with these people? They are all humble. They are super humble. That's exactly why Allah has kept them in that place — because they're humble in front of everyone, including their students. SubhanAllah.

Our honorable ustad was mentioning to the students when we were there on Saturday — he said he considers students of knowledge to be guests of Rasulullah ﷺ. This framing comes from various incidents — like the story of Abu Talha Al-Ansari and other Sahabah — where Rasulullah ﷺ would ask who would go and host those who came from outside of Medina. Why would you come to Medina? You'd come to meet Rasulullah, to listen to hadith, to learn about the deen. As soon as anyone came to Medina to learn about the deen, they became the guest of Rasulullah ﷺ. So all the tullab al-ilm who are coming to Darul Ulum Zakariya, to Darus Salam, to any institution to study — and all of us who are sitting here on Tuesday nights insha'Allah — we are all what? Tullab al-ilm. We are students of knowledge. We are guests of Rasulullah ﷺ.

So Hazrat Mufti Sahib was saying that sometimes he enters his classroom and there is a shoe rack for the students and a small pad right in front of the classroom door for the teacher's shoes. He said sometimes he sees a student has his shoes there, so the Mufti Sahib can't put his shoes there — there's only one spot. He said, "I think about removing the shoes and putting my shoes there, but then I remember that these are the guests of Rasulullah ﷺ, so I decide to leave it." He said students should still put their shoes where they need to be, but he doesn't want to fix it because he doesn't want to disrespect the guests of Rasulullah ﷺ. Think about this humility — that you are being humble with the shoes of students — why? Because your humility is in front of Allah and His Rasul ﷺ, and hence your humility extends to anything and everything connected with that.

We also saw that one of our asatidha — we were eating together, seated on a dastarkhwan, and after we finished eating he leaned over and said, "Ijazat hai?" — he was asking permission to leave. "Can I leave? Do I have permission to stand up and leave the dastarkhwan?" And I just looked at him — I froze. But he said, "No, I'm seriously asking. I don't want to leave just like that. I want to take permission before I stand up." This etiquette, this humility, this humbleness — SubhanAllah — I can give you ten other stories like this. Each one of these is why a person is accepted to be in the khidmah of ilm.

And there's a statement often attributed to thinkers about knowledge — that knowledge is like a circle of light on a dark wall. As the circle of light increases, the area of darkness surrounding it also increases. So the more knowledge a person has, the more he will be aware of his ignorance. And the more you become aware of your ignorance, the more humble you will become. So when a person is not humble, that means he genuinely is not truly knowledgeable — because if he were truly knowledgeable he would be aware of his ignorance, and if you're aware of your ignorance, how could you be anything but humble?

So this is the connection between ilm and humility. The sign of a true scholar and a true student of knowledge is that we are always humble. And going back to one of the main reasons why people are leaving the fold of Islam all over — it goes back to arrogance. When people think they know it all and that their knowledge and their aql should be the decider of all things, they come across a hierarchy which doesn't fit with that. Allah doesn't accept arrogance. The Sharia doesn't accept arrogance. Instead, it says that if a person has an iota, a dot, a speck of arrogance, he cannot enter Jannah until he goes to Jahannam and gets that all scrubbed out. A small speck of arrogance is not accepted in Jannah.

This is why, my dear brothers, fathers, older brothers, older sisters, mothers — we need to work on humility within our new generation. This should be a very, very important thing. Inquisitive nature is good, but constant objections, ishkal, criticism all the time is not good. We have to understand that if we answer every single question of every single person every single time, this creates a problem. That's what ChatGPT, that's what Meta, that's what Google does — which is really making our problem much worse. Because we are becoming accustomed to searching up an answer and finding it within less than a second. Then a person wants to have answers for the akhira, answers for taqdir, answers for predestiny, answers for everything — things you're not supposed to get. Even Musa alayhis salam was not given all the answers. Kalimullah — in the story of Khidr and Musa in Surah Al-Kahf, there were just three scenarios, and he didn't have all the answers. And Khidr said:

"This is the parting between me and you. I will inform you now of the interpretation of those things over which you could not be patient."

Rasulullah ﷺ said: if Musa had been a little more patient, we would have gotten to know a lot more things. I want you to think about this — here is Rasulullah ﷺ, the best of the best, the closest to Allah, the one who receives direct revelation, the one without whom we cannot enter Jannah, the one whose door of Jannah opens first — and he is saying: "I don't know the answers for these things. It would have been interesting to find out, if Musa alayhis salam had been quiet, we would have learned a lot more things."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4726; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2380 — on the authority of Sa'id ibn Jubayr from Ibn Abbas)

So if Musa alayhis salam doesn't know, if Rasulullah ﷺ doesn't know — what makes you think you are entitled to know why something is happening? Let that sink in. What makes you and I think we are entitled to know the secrets of the universe, why this thing happened to that person, how come this person suffered and that one didn't? Those are things Allah has not made public even for the Prophets. And that's why Allah says — tell the Prophet to say:

"If I knew the unseen I would have gathered lots of goodness — I would always be winning, every single move of mine would be advantageous. And I would have never been afflicted with any harm. I am only a warner and a giver of glad tidings, and I am a human being."

We have to remind our young children and our youth of this. Let's not discuss this only when an issue comes about — we should discuss it before an issue comes about. We would rather have them think about this ayah and this concept of humility — the concept that we're not going to be able to get to the bottom of everything — while they are young, before any objections come to their mind. So that they are accustomed to hearing this answer. So that when Allah forbid Shaytan comes and attacks them at the age of 12 or 14, they can think: "Ah, my dad, my mom had taught me this. My older siblings had taught me this already — that there are times when questions will come about."

Nabi alayhis salatu wasalam also forewarned us of a time when a person will be sitting on his couch and will say the book of Allah is sufficient for us — we will take what is from the book of Allah and besides that we reject everything. Meaning the Prophet ﷺ prophesized of the rejecters of hadith — because there will be things in hadith that force us to become humble, that give us an explanation of the Quran that we don't like. All of the modern and progressive interpretations of the Quran have one purpose: how can I mold the Quran to fit my lifestyle? How can I mold it to fit the 21st century? And that is completely against the temperament of the deen. The temperament of the deen is: you mold yourself to the Quran, not the other way around.

May Allah save our generations from leaving the fold of Islam. May Allah make us all humble in front of the Quran. May Allah grant us the ability to utilize our intellect and harness it so that it serves us and we don't serve it — and that we use this intellect to get into the depths and the deeper parts of the Quran.

The Miracles of the Quran — I'jaz al-Quran

Hazrat Mufti Sahib was also mentioning while we were there that this is a very important time for us to discuss the miracles of the Quran — I'jaz al-Quran — the science of how the Quran cannot be imitated. Finding secrets of science, secrets of embryology, secrets of astronomy spread throughout the Quran. We say: possibly this verse alludes to this — and I say "possibly" and not "definitely" because science is always changing. Mufti Sahib said one important thing: science is based on mushahada, on observation. So what you observe has a very high standing, and it is not against our deen to find a correlation between the book of Allah and that which we observe. This is important in instilling yaqeen in the Quran in the hearts of people today.

Now, the ulama have mentioned: why did Rasulullah ﷺ not himself give us scientific explanations from the Quran? Because if Rasulullah ﷺ were to share something that, based on today's knowledge is true, the Arabs of that time would have said, "What is this man saying?" They were nomadic Arabs far from the reach of today's science. That would have become harmful rather than beneficial. And on the other hand, if the Prophet ﷺ were to explain a verse based on the research of people of that era, latter-day people like us would say, "We cannot believe this is the book of Allah, because the messenger gave such explanations which according to today's research are completely wrong."

Now we understand the wisdom of why Rasulullah ﷺ did not explain things in a purely scientific manner. But now, since we are quite advanced and far from the Prophet's ﷺ time, when explaining to college students and others on these issues, we can say: here is a scientific phenomenon, and here is a verse of the Quran that alludes to it. For example:

"The heavens — We have built them with strength, and indeed We are constantly expanding it." The expansion of the universe — something astronomers confirm is true — is mentioned here. Something only known within the past few centuries, yet mentioned in the Quran.

"All celestial objects moving in their own orbits" — unheard of before a few centuries ago, yet mentioned in the Quran.

And when Allah speaks about human creation in Surah Al-Tariq:

The human being is created from a fluid that comes from between the ribs and the backbone. When you look at the formation of the baby, you can see how SubhanAllah Allah allows what was all the way up in the body to slowly drop down as the body forms — it originates up from the chest and then makes its way outward. This is mentioned in the Quran. SubhanAllah.

So my friends, if you are in any field of research — whether IT, AI, medicine, law, zoology, botany — I would recommend you also look for similarities between what you're studying and the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah. Gather that together. You don't know which comparative study — Quran and AI, Quran and medicine, Quran and law — may become a means of someone accepting Islam. Three years ago I read an article about the benefits of giving something sweet to newborns to control their blood sugar, and then you see the aspect of Nabi ﷺ doing tahnik — putting a sweet date on the palate of a newborn baby. How many such things can we find? If we do the research in our own field, we'll find something beautiful in the Sunnah, something beautiful in the Quran that aligns with what we're studying. And that one statement of yours may actually bring back faith to a person who is unfortunately losing it.

This all comes under the chapter of I'jaz al-Quran. And that is connected to Hameem — that the Quran cannot be imitated. This is the strongest proof that the Quran is the book of Allah.

If you ask people — and I'm repeating something very important — why are people leaving Islam? It comes down to one thing: we have our whole lives been told to believe that the Quran is the book of Allah. But that's what Christians believe too, and Jews believe too, and Hindus believe too, and Sikhs believe too. How do I know this is true? So instead of them going on this journey on their own at age 22 in college and then leaving Islam, why don't we do this journey for them when they're young — when they're 4 and 5 years old? Why don't we actually logically make them understand why Islam is a true religion, why the Quran is actually the book of Allah? Instead of just saying "listen and obey," every single child of this Ummah should be able to say: "I have sat with my parents, I have sat with my teachers, and I have gone through this logical journey of understanding how Islam is a true religion and how the Quran is a true book of Allah."

Updating Our Approach to Maktab Education

When I was asked about maktabs in South Africa — one of my teachers out of his humility asked me: "I'm giving a khutbah on the importance of maktab — do you have any comment to share with me?" I said yes, I have lots of comments. One is that the maktab traditionally is where children come and memorize things — Iman al-Mujmal, Iman al-Mufassal, the kalimat. That's what usually happens in maktab all over the world.

On this trip I went to Malawi as well. 60% of the people there live under $2 a day. It's ground zero. Villages with no electricity, no running water, no shoes, no roads, just dirt, thatched roofs, mud homes — no smartphones. It's very old school. What do you need in that era and that area? A lean maktab. Those kids are not going to say "this doesn't make sense to me." You've got to teach them the kalima, how to do wudu, how to do ghusl. Teaching them the traditional maktab is exactly what you need there.

But now you go to the modern era here or in South Africa, where people as young as 2 years old are surfing the net, watching things. By the time they're 4, a bunch of ideas are coming through their minds. We cannot just depend on memorization — it doesn't work. It used to work in the past. If we don't change our ways, our maktab will be of no benefit. What it will do is create people who memorize things without believing in them.

The Day of Judgment is not a Quran competition. The Day of Judgment is not a kalima competition. The grave and the Day of Judgment is a test of your faith, and faith doesn't come through memorization alone — faith is much deeper than memorization. So our makatib, our methodology of teaching young kids across the globe in the modern world has to adapt. We have to change. Memorization has a portion, definitely — but now, more than ever before, we have to have our children logically understand why Islam is a true religion, why the book of Allah whose tajweed rules they're memorizing truly is the book of Allah.

My dear friends, don't depend on any madrasa or maktab alone to teach your kids this. This is the tarbiyah that has to happen within our own homes. I know most of us as dads have never had this tarbiyah ourselves. Some of us are feeling nervous — "Man, I don't even know. I've never gone down this path of logically figuring things out myself. How am I supposed to take my kid down that path?" That's why it's important for all dads and moms to become students of knowledge. Tafsir is great, but becoming a proper student of knowledge — Alhamdulillah, now we have online classes, we have the Talim weekend classes. These are opportunities for you on weekdays or weekends to take an online or onsite class. Once you get back into the classroom, get used to taking notes and studying — this is not rocket science. You will definitely be able to teach your 4-year-old or 14-year-old and guide them through this journey.

If we just regurgitate whatever we were taught when we were little kids, unfortunately that more than likely will not be sufficient. And sadly to say, will not be enough to keep them Muslim. That's why we see today's murtads and today's atheists — a big chunk of them are huffadh of the Quran as well. If memorization of the Quran cannot save a person's Islam, how do you think maktab alone is going to save them from leaving Islam?

That's why I'm very happy that our hifz class here, under the guidance of our teachers at Darus Salam, MashaAllah has a very good and robust Islamic studies curriculum. Part of that curriculum — on a daily basis — includes logical proofs of the existence of Allah. Even 8-year-olds and 9-year-olds are studying this, and they're very thought-provoking kids. Their questions are insightful. Alhamdulillah, the syllabus is up to date. You have to give them logical proofs of the existence of Allah, logical proofs of why the Quran is truly the book of Allah.

Tafsir of Surah Al-Ahqaf: Ayah 2 — The Revelation from Al-Aziz, Al-Hakim

The revelation of this book is from Allah — Al-Aziz, the overpowering one — Al-Hakim, the all-wise. Allah is saying it, and you and I have to believe in it. Now, if you can't believe in it just by this ayah, look deeper. Start thinking — why is Allah saying this? Look at the attributes: Allah is overpowering, all-wise. Everything that you see in this world is happening by the will of Allah.

Then the immediate question comes: "Okay, but why is this oppression happening? He's Aziz, He's overpowering — why does He allow oppression? The burning of fires on the West Coast, masajid being burned, innocent people being killed — what about what we're seeing in Sudan, in Masjid Al-Aqsa, in Palestine?"

He's Al-Hakim — the all-wise. You can't understand why He does what He does. That is something He, out of His wisdom, does. We do not have that wisdom. We cannot expect to understand it. We know one thing:

Fi'l al-Hakim la yakhlu 'an al-hikmah — the actions of a wise person are never void of wisdom. When the most wise Allah, the Creator of wisdom, is doing something, we have to have the conviction that there is genuine benefit in it.

Notice how Al-Hakim is so beautifully placed here: this revelation is from the one who is all-powerful and all-wise — hence every injunction of the Quran is going to be filled with wisdom. Allah is not out there to make your life miserable. Allah is not there to make your life difficult. Whatever teachings there are in the Quran, they are there for your own benefit.

Tafsir of Surah Al-Ahqaf: Ayah 3 — Creation with Purpose

"We have not created the heavens, nor the earth, nor all that is between the heavens and the earth, except إِلَّا بِالْحَقِّ — in accordance with the very essence of all truth" — this is the first takeaway point for today. Everything has a purpose. The creation of man, the creation of the heavens and the earth, and whatever is in between them — all with a purpose. Every single difficulty in this world is with a purpose. Every luxury and enjoyment is with a purpose. The vast expanding universe has a purpose. The heavens, the lakes, the mountains — everything is with a purpose.

وَأَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى — "and for a stated term." Every single thing will have an ending in this world, and then a never-ending term in the akhira.

وَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا عَمَّا أُنذِرُوا مُعْرِضُونَ — but those who disbelieve are ever turning away from that which they have been divinely forewarned. Allah is saying that those who disbelieve have a problem — that problem is called ghafla, heedlessness. They are heedless to everything they have been forewarned. They take it easy, they take it light, they make it a joke — and that's the biggest harm they're doing to themselves.

Ghafla and heedlessness is a killer. It will destroy a person's dunya and akhira. That's what the kuffar do — they do not take the warnings of Allah seriously. And unfortunately, Muslims today also say such things: "Brother, don't worry about reminding me. I'll sort it out with Allah on the Day of Judgment." This is not a joke. People start making fun of the Sharia, start making fun of the ulama, start making fun of the teachings of the deen — why? Because they simply don't believe in it the way they ought to, and they are suffering from heedlessness.

When a person is heedless, he says such crazy things. This is what happens with the kuffar. A lot of the ex-Muslims say, "Oh, I'm sick and tired of the warnings." But Allah does not enjoy punishing you. When a doctor tells you, "Take this medicine or you will get harmed" — is he looking out for your best interest or trying to kill you? Allah is warning you because He loves you. He's saying, "Don't do this — I'm telling you this is going to destroy you." Why does this turn into hate against Allah? Why does this turn into hate against Rasulullah ﷺ? This is the ajeeb time we live in.

Allah says:

"Whoever obeys Allah and whoever obeys His Rasul — indeed he has gained great success."

Nabi ﷺ said in one hadith:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 2611; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3086)

"12,000 believers will never be overpowered due to their numbers being less." 12,000 is more than sufficient to win a battle. Brothers, do you know there are more than 12,000 people — probably more like 30,000 — performing tawaf on the first floor at any given minute of the day? If you include the second and other floors, we're looking at hundreds of thousands on any given moment of any given day doing tawaf around the Ka'bah alone. How many people are in sujud at any given moment? More than 12,000. Performing Zuhr? More than 12,000. Isha? More than 12,000.

What's going on? Nabi ﷺ is saying if you've got 12,000 you will never be vanquished. What we have is the veneer of Islam — the external appearance of Islam — but the haqiqah and reality behind that is absolutely lacking. Numbers do no good in this state. Our honorable ustad would mention: imagine you have a check with nine zeros — a billion dollars — and another check with ten dollars. Obviously which is better? But imagine the billion dollar check has nine zeros and someone forgot to put the "1" in front. And the other check has a "1" and one zero — that's ten. Which one will you take? You'll take the ten, because the "1" in front is everything. The Ummah today is a billion without the One — Allah — in front of them. That's why they're struggling. That one Allah is not truly in the lives of the believers because of ghafla — because of heedlessness from that which we have been forewarned.

Tafsir of Surah Al-Ahqaf: Ayah 4 — The Challenge to the Disbelievers

"Say: Have you considered all those false divines that you call upon apart from Allah? Show me — Aruni — what have they created of the earth? Or do they have any share with Allah in the creation and sovereignty of the heavens? Bring me a heavenly book revealed before this Quran, or bring me any trace of knowledge — if indeed you are truthful."

Allah is asking for a logical proof — either a logical proof, or a proof passed down through a book, through tradition — a naqli proof. You have to have one of the two: either a proof that makes sense logically, or a narration or tradition passed down. Show me where is the proof that there is another deity besides Allah?

Allah is saying there is no one more lost, no one more astray, than those who call upon these false gods. Even after calling upon them, they realize that they don't fulfill any of their needs, yet they still continue to call out to them. Today people resort to all sorts of intoxicants and other things to fulfill their needs, their desires, their happiness. On this trip, someone said to me, "You can't vape, you can't use e-cigarettes, you can't smoke — how am I supposed to get rid of my pent-up stress?" So I told him: "Do you really think Adam alayhis salam was vaping? Where did this come from? Are we hard-wired to smoke to release stress?" He said, "No." I said, "This is something you learnt. This wasn't from before. This is something you decided to make yourself addicted to and incorrectly use as a way to get rid of frustration. Now you have to unlearn this and learn what the Quran says:"

"Verily, with the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest."

These are learned things that are harmful to us. We unlearn them and learn the correct thing. What is the correct thing? Allah will give us sukoon and itminan through the Quran. Allah will give us peace of mind through the recitation of His book. There is nothing more peace-inducing than sitting there holding a mushaf and reading the book of Allah. It will change our lives. Whatever type of problems we're going through — we now have Rajab and Sha'ban before Ramadan, about 50 days left. If we want to prepare for Ramadan, we need to start from now: say, "This Ramadan I'm going to read more than I've ever read before." It doesn't start the first of Ramadan — it starts right now. Start with a page or two a day, three pages a day. Don't worry about how much you're reading; look at how much time you're taking — 15 minutes, 20 minutes, then move on.

And if we do not know how to read, this is the time right now to find a Quran teacher. You have all sorts of online resources available. If you don't have one, you can come ask me and insha'Allah I'll put you with someone you can connect with — teachers from all different countries, men and women. Having a teacher — or even just a tilawat buddy — will assist you in being consistent with the book of Allah. That is where peace will come into our life. How many of us are complaining of various problems — can't fall asleep at night, suffering from depression and sadness? Reciting the book of Allah will be one of the most powerful ways of treating ourselves from all of these problems.

Allah says:

"Indeed, with difficulty comes ease." Every single verse — whether you read that one or some other verse of the Quran — it will give us solace and comfort in the most difficult of our times.

So Allah is telling Rasulullah ﷺ to ask these people: what proof do you have for worshipping a god besides Allah? Do you have a book? A logical proof? These idols have created something — show me. But they've got nothing to show. So today we don't worship idols per se, but SubhanAllah, Rasulullah ﷺ spoke of a sign of the Hour — that the لَاتَ وَالْعُزَّى would return to the Arabian Peninsula. And right now these idols have actually been brought back into museums in Riyadh. You can see it. It's ajeeb how the signs of the Day of Judgment that Rasulullah ﷺ prophesized — things people in the past probably thought would never happen — are coming true. This is another way for those who are doubtful about Islam to connect: when you start studying the signs of the Hour and what's happening throughout the world, it doesn't take any deep knowledge to make the connection. Read a book on the signs of the Hour and just read the news — search it and you'll find the answers. Whatever Rasulullah ﷺ said, the vast majority has already happened. Only the major signs remain — all the minor signs of the Hour are already here.

We hope that this also becomes a means of strengthening our iman. And this is where we will conclude today's tafsir insha'Allah.

Questions & Answers

How to be humble without feeling worthless?

How to not become so humble that you forget what Allah blessed you with and think of yourself as nothing and feel useless? This is a balance. In front of Allah, we should think of ourselves as nothing — but at the same time we should not forget the blessings Allah has given us. The way to strike this balance is to be filled with gratitude: "Ya Allah, I've got so many blessings, but I do not attribute those blessings to myself — I attribute them to You." As long as a person is constantly attributing his blessings back to Allah, that will not lead to arrogance.

How to learn who Allah is and develop love for Him?

You learn about Allah through the verses of the Quran. You learn about Allah by studying His names. Alhamdulillah, our Fajr program every Saturday covers the different attributes and names of Allah — please attend that or listen online. We've already covered a whole bunch of them. When you listen to each one of those names, you fall in love once again with Allah. They say there are four ways to the heart: the eyes, the ears, the tongue, and the mind. Look at the creation of Allah and think about Allah. Speak about Allah's greatness. Think about Allah's greatness. Listen to Allah's greatness. All of those things will make a person understand who Allah is and fall in love with Him.

Is the fire in Los Angeles a sign of the Day of Judgment?

From the signs of the Day of Judgment are huge fires, red smoke. This is not the only fire — there have been many fires like this. So this is one of many signs that are happening.

How to become truly humble?

"Fake it till you make it" is true to a degree. Additionally, focus on your mistakes and sins. Anytime a thought of arrogance comes into your mind, think of your mistakes that no one besides Allah knows — and hopefully that will bring us back down to where we should be.

I want to be used for the deen — any advice?

Well, you have the answer yourself — please make du'a. Allah uses whom He wills. When a person genuinely wants to be utilized for the deen, make du'a and tell Allah: "O Allah, use me."

Why am I always bored?

That's a problem. If a person is always bored, we don't have time management skills and more than likely we don't have a goal — a mission in life. That was one of the gists of today's tafsir: Allah created us with a purpose. If a person does not know his purpose, he's going to be in big trouble. Knowing our purpose and reconnecting with the Quran is important for you to know your purpose in life. Then there's no concept of boredom — because time is running. Just like ice melts away, our life is melting away. Before we know it, we'll be gone, and there'll be no opportunity to make up for anything.

How to do business the Islamic way for barakah?

That's where the fiqh of finance and the fiqh of business comes in. Barakah comes in many times through following the Sunnah. Nabi ﷺ said: whoever cancels a transaction because someone is unhappy with it, Allah will cancel his sins on the Day of Judgment. Think about that — return policy. If you just do that: say, "I know based on the contract you have no right to cancel this transaction, but you are upset and unhappy about it — I'm going to do it for you." Rasulullah ﷺ is saying Allah will cancel your sins. Barakah comes with these small things that we do in following the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in business.

What is your opinion on free-mixing events?

We need to stay away from such events. Alhamdulillah, Allah has given us many Islamic events where the proper setup is maintained. When the setup is proper, you attend those events. When the setup is not proper, we stay away from it.

I've noticed that if you argue with people about this at that type of event, they will never understand. But when they come out of that event and come to a proper Islamic event where the rules of hijab are followed — after a few weeks, they themselves will tell you: "Man, I don't like that type of event. I feel much more spirituality when I'm sitting with my own gender. I'm not being distracted." That happens because the fitra is there. That fitra will come out — but they need to taste the fitra again. They need to go to an environment where they can taste it. To remove the darkness, we have to show them the light. You don't fight darkness with darkness — you fight it by turning on the light. Bringing such people to gatherings of knowledge or gatherings of dhikr, where proper setup is made, will allow them to make their own proper decision.

And we have to ask: what's the purpose? What's the intention? What are you trying to achieve? Ruhaniyat comes through the Sunnah. Ruhaniyat comes through guarding the gaze. I was just reading one statement of a scholar who said that staying away from one dirham of haram is more important than doing 80 nafl Hajj. Misusing our eyes — when our eyes fall on someone from the opposite gender who is young and attractive — the harm that comes from that completely outweighs any goodness you might get from the gathering. The ulama have said that one wrong glance is sufficient to take away decades worth of nur from tahajjud. Imagine for an hour a person is casting a lustful glance — what will it do? Whatever little ruhaniyya we had will go out the door. So a person should be worried about himself. If we become people of taqwa, the people around us will also change. May Allah make us great examples for others as well.

Closing Dhikr

When you do dhikr of لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّه, focus on everything besides Allah leaving the heart and only the love of Allah entering. Then we do salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ — imagine our salutations being presented to him with the names of our parents, and we are receiving a response from the Prophet ﷺ as well. Lastly, we seek forgiveness from Allah doing istighfar, with absolute conviction that Allah will forgive us. Our istighfar should be filled with nadama and remorse.

Closing Du'a

O Allah, we ask You to accept this gathering. O Allah, reward all those who participated. O Allah, forgive all of us. Allow us to leave this gathering in a state where our sins have been completely forgiven and have been replaced with good deeds. O Allah, reward all those who have done khidmah for this event and all other events. O Allah, all those who bring snacks and all those who serve and all those who make any and all khidmah related to this program — O Allah, allow them all to have a share of the goodness that happens here.

O Allah, allow the barakah and the khayr from here to spread across the entire globe. O Allah, allow whatever is being shared here — O Allah, allow its effect to spread across the globe. O Allah, we ask You to grant us all istiqamah and steadfastness in any and all deeni efforts that we're involved in, including our attendance in our Tuesday halaqas. O Allah, we ask You to bring khayr through us to our entire extended families. Hidayah to come through us to our entire extended families. O Allah, allow all of our extended family members to truly repent and repair their relationship with You, Ya Allah.

O Allah, we ask You to grant us the sweetness of iman. O Allah, grant us the ability to keep our gazes, our ears, our hands, our feet, our minds, and every limb of our body protected from engaging in any sin, Ya Allah. O Allah, allow us to become engaged in good deeds. Allow us to do that which You want us to do, Ya Allah. O Allah, we ask You to bring ease in our businesses and in our sources of income. Allow our sources of income to be 100% halal. O Allah, protect every limb of our body from committing any and all haram.

Wassalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.