Reflect & Connect | Surah Fussilat - Ep.11 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 11/19

Opening Supplications

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O Allah, send blessings and peace upon our master Muhammad and upon the family of our master Muhammad. Blessings and peace.

O Allah, open my heart and ease my affairs. And clear my mind from my tongue, so that they may understand my speech. Glory be to You, O Allah, we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. You are the All-Knowing, the All-Wise. O Allah, teach us what benefits us, and benefit us with what You have taught us. And increase us in knowledge and action.

O Allah, enlighten our hearts with Your knowledge. And use our bodies for Your obedience. And grant us what You love and are pleased with — speech, action, intention, and guidance. O Allah, You are All-Powerful. O Wahab, O Wahab, O Wahab. O Fattah, O Fattah, O Fattah. O Jabbar, O Jabbar, O Jabbar.

Beloved brothers and sisters, dear listeners, peace be upon you. We pray to Allah that He bless all of us here with the love of the Qur'an, with the understanding of the Qur'an, with the ability to connect the Qur'an with the real world. We ask Allah to allow us all to find the solutions to our problems and the problems of everyone around us in the teachings of the Qur'an as shown and explained to us by the Prophet ﷺ. We ask Allah to grant us all basira — foresight — so that we are able to understand what Allah wants from us and are able to follow and lead our life in a manner that is pleasing to Him. We ask Allah that whatever issues we've come with to this dars, that Allah, through His infinite mercy, allows us to find solutions and allows us to be cured of our own internal issues through the barakah of the Qur'an. Ameen.

Consoling the Prophet ﷺ — And Consoling Ourselves

Allah, here in this ayah, is speaking to the Prophet ﷺ and consoling him. He is mentioning to him that whatever has been said to you, to belay you, and to malign you, O Prophet ﷺ, is but that which has been said to all the messengers before you. And indeed your Lord alone is a possessor of forgiveness and the possessor of painful punishment.

Last week we covered this ayah. And what did Allah tell the Prophet ﷺ that has been mentioned to all the previous Prophets? Either it means that, just like all the other Prophets were guaranteed eventually that they will be victorious, similarly the same guarantee has been given to the Prophet ﷺ. Or it means that whatever they were told by their nations out of animosity and hatred — the most insulting of things — you are also faced with that.

You know, it is such that when a person gets emotionally hurt by someone, very quickly a person begins to think, man, the world is crazy, I can't believe I'm going through this. And you have to tell yourself, with beautiful verses like this: how special are you? Are you more special than a Prophet? Are you more special than all the Prophets? The Qur'an here is saying, every single Prophet — ya Rasulullah, you're not the only one. Every Prophet before you was verbally abused. And physically abused. And many of them were killed. This is part of life on this earth — that people will say things to you that are hurtful.

And even though you may be a very big well-wisher — there's no greater well-wisher, SubhanAllah, than the Prophet — but did they receive the Prophet with rose petals? Did they receive the Prophet with a red carpet? Did they receive the Prophet with, "Come on into our home, we're so honored"? Instead, SubhanAllah, they received the Prophet with thorns, with intestines, with the filth and feces of animals, with blood, with spit, with a barrage of insults. So it is a reminder that if you want to truly follow the footsteps of the Prophets, then you have to be ready — the more of a well-wisher you are for the nation, the more will be the animosity, hatred, attacks, and insults that you will face.

And so doing community service or community work, even raising good children — it's part of the job. The more effort that a person puts into his kids, how few are those parents who are genuinely appreciated by their children while they're still young. Many people appreciate it when they hit our ages. But which child is there who is 12, 14, 8, or 20 and says, "Oh SubhanAllah, I truly appreciate my parents." It's usually much later than that.

The Du'a of a Father — A Story of Yaqeen

Today I heard something which was really powerful. A brother was mentioning that his parents had passed away, and he was remembering his parents. And he started crying and said, talking about his father: "I would call my father and ask him sometimes for du'a. I'm stuck in an issue." And he said, his father would say, "Don't worry son, I'm grabbing on to Him and holding on to Him, and I will not let Him go until He gives me what I'm asking for." Who is he referring to? Allah. He said, "I'm going to keep on holding on to Him until He gives me what I want. What are you asking me? I'm not going to let Him go."

SubhanAllah, what words of yaqeen this is. What type of words of yaqeen. And he was mentioning beautiful, amazing stories — the fact that he was very, very sick. He told his son, "When I pass away, I want you to lead my janazah." And the son said, "I don't know where life will take me" — he was constantly traveling at that time.

So his father got ill for two months. In that process, the son became very ill himself. There was a surgery that got botched, and unfortunately it ended up putting the son in the hospital for many weeks. He began to think, SubhanAllah, little does my father — who is in a coma — know that I'm also here in the ICU. What's going to happen? And then SubhanAllah, he recovered eventually after some weeks. He came out of the hospital on Thursday. Friday morning his father passed away. They washed him, and he performed his janazah and buried him.

And then he started crying and said, "I just don't have anyone else to pick up the phone and call and say, 'Can you make du'a for me?' I've lost that. I don't know who is in the world that I can pick up the phone and say, 'Can you make du'a for me?'" SubhanAllah.

What a powerful piece of advice for all of us whose parents are still alive. May Allah put barakah in our mothers' and fathers' lives. And those whose parents have passed away, may Allah allow us to be an amazing sadaqah jariyah for them, every moment.

But really, the du'a of a father for his son is what Nabi ﷺ has said is accepted — even if it's a curse. He said:

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3862; also referenced in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1905 — Three du'as are not rejected: the du'a of a father for his child, the du'a of a traveler, and the du'a of the oppressed.)

One of them is the father's du'a for his son — and even his curse against his son, in certain narrations. Why? Because for a father to raise his hand against his own child, it rarely happens. It happens only when all limits have been broken. When the father has been patient and patient and patient, and now it's done. So when that level is reached, it's like Nuh alayhis salam's level — 950 years of patience. Now what? خَلَاص. Now he raises his hand and asks Allah, and Allah sent the sky and the earth and everything just pouring down.

So this is why a father's du'a is just so powerful. If it's accepted even when it's a curse — may Allah protect one and all from ever having to suffer the curse of anyone — then imagine how much more readily it will be accepted when it's for the benefit of their children. As fathers, we are reminded that this is the type of du'a we all need to make for our children every single day, and for the children of the ummah. And we need to make du'a for our parents as well, constantly.

Strength in the Face of Life's Trials

SubhanAllah, the world is such — and as I was just saying — how the most loving and caring relationship we have is that of a parent and child. Another incident happened recently. A person said to me, "I have a special needs child." And my heart goes out when I see such things, because I can't imagine how hard it must be. I said, "Ya Allah, may Allah give you the strength." And the person responded, "I don't worry about that. The special needs child, mashAllah, I'm so happy. He's so innocent, and whatever they do is expected. Yes, they have their tantrums and things of that sort because of special needs. But I know what to expect." He said, "It's the healthy ones I'm worried about." SubhanAllah. Because you do so much and then you still don't know what's going to happen. He said, "Those are the ones I'm worried about from my own children — not the special needs one." SubhanAllah.

But that's the relationship we're talking about — the love that our mothers and fathers shower upon their children, and the response is sometimes, so many times, just absolutely heartbreaking. This is the dunya. So we have to constantly prepare ourselves. If you're not prepared for this, you're going to get heartbroken. If you're not prepared, you won't be able to handle it. You'll break. But that's the issue — why are we going in unprepared? We must become emotionally strong. We must become spiritually strong. And we have to tell ourselves that we trust and put our relationship only with Allah.

Stories of Iman from Lebanon and Gaza

Recently I got a chance to meet some physicians who had come back just a month ago or so from Lebanon and Gaza. The stories that they shared with me were just unbelievable. I just can't imagine sitting there watching them share these stories with me. So many of them — beautiful, powerful stories that fill your heart with iman. Why I'm sharing this here is the fact that we have to become strong internally. When your relationship with Allah is strong, you and I can handle anything. But when our relationship with Allah is weak, then to find someone close to you cheating on you — a person will want to harm himself. To find your child doing something destructive — a person will want to, Allah forbid, take his own life. The only thing that can keep you grounded in these moments is your personal relationship with Allah.

One of the physicians was in a hospital in Gaza. He heard a rumbling sound, which he didn't know what it was. And they told him, "This is the sound of the rolling tanks." The entire compound became surrounded by about twelve massive tanks. Drones were flying overhead before they send in the jets — throwing sound bombs, purely for terrorizing people. Windows shattering. They were putting hospital beds against the windows so the glass wouldn't go everywhere. They were completely running low on everything.

In that moment — this is what you call iman — he said the entire hospital staff, ICU, and nurses were constantly taking shifts to pray all their salah on time. And he said, when he was making jama' — praying Zuhr and Asr together, Maghrib and Isha together — they were frowning at him, like, "What's wrong with you? You're here with us. Pray your salah on time. Why are you doing jama'?" He said the entire staff was taking shifts in turn to pray all their salah on time.

And then he said an argument broke out amongst some of them regarding watching the news — the famous news stations — because you're inside a compound, you have no idea what's going on, you get it from the news. So the discussion was: is it permissible to watch the news or not? Because there are women broadcasters who have their hair uncovered. He literally told me this. Look at the level of — يَقِين, وَرَع, and تَقْوَى — that "No, I don't want my eyes to fall upon an أَجْنَبِيَّة's hair." But this is life and death. Okay fine, maybe face the wall and just listen to it — we don't need to watch it. How do you handle this type of stress? It is through your personal relationship with Allah.

On the way back, he had to escort a mother with her children. One of the children — six or eight years old — had the entire kneecap completely destroyed. But somehow the leg survived. A pediatric hospital in the US was going to perform surgery. So as they were waiting to board their flight, the mother exclaimed, "SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah!" The brother asks, "What happened?" She said, "I got some great news." What's the great news? She said, "They have just found my husband's and my eight-year-old son's grave. And I'm so excited, I'm so happy, Alhamdulillah — as soon as the surgery is done, we can go back into Gaza and visit the grave and recite Qur'an at the grave and make du'a for them."

Imagine — just constantly repeating Alhamdulillah. This is what they're doing, constantly meeting individuals whose entire family has been slaughtered. One of them was speaking to herself — barely holding it together. The mom was talking about how she lost her kids. She said, "The eleven-year-old had memorized five juz. I miss him, but ya Allah, reward him." And then of the sixteen-month-old: "From all three that I lost, I used to worry about this one a lot — it used to bother me, how she'd eat. But khair, inshallah khair. Maybe it would have been more difficult for me to handle her had she grown up." She was convincing herself that there was goodness in Allah taking her sixteen-month-old back.

So the doctor mentioned — this is just a few of the many iman-inspiring stories he shared — he said, "I was just shell-shocked, trying to console them." And one of the brothers from Gaza said, "Don't worry, you don't need to console us. Allahu Akbar. Allah does not put upon anyone more than they can handle. Allah knew we can handle this — that's why He put it upon us. He spared you all from what we're going through, because Allah knows we can handle these types of things."

Allahu Akbar. Perspective, man. Perspective. That Allah is Kareem, Allah is Raheem, Allah is Just. He would never be oppressive.

Dear brothers and sisters, for all of us who think, "Why is this happening to me? I do so much and this is the response" — look at these stories. How these mothers who lost all of their children are able to say there is wisdom of Allah in it. There is rahmah of Allah in it. When Allah gave me these beautiful, smiling, cute children in my arms, He was merciful. And when Allah chose to have all of them taken from me, He is also merciful. When I had the company of my husband who took care of all my needs, He was merciful. And when my husband was brutally killed — and I am aware of how he died — that is also Allah's mercy hidden within it. That is perspective.

When a person is connected with Allah and his yaqeen is strong, then through the harshest and most difficult of situations, he will not only see Allah's hidden hand — he will see Allah's mercy. And that is something many of us honestly miss out on. We simply cannot fathom: how is this situation good for me?

Have good thoughts about Allah. Have good thoughts about Allah. That Allah will never let me down. Allah is always merciful. Allah is always kind. No matter how relentless the difficulties may be. How relentless the challenges may be. But Allah is Rahim and Kareem. And that's what we find Allah is doing — consoling His Nabi ﷺ. And we need to console ourselves by reading these verses. If Nabi ﷺ is being consoled by Allah and told, "I'm sorry you have to go through all this, but guess what — you're not alone. All the previous prophets had to go through that" — then ask ourselves, who are we to say we want a stress-free, remorse-free, difficulty-free life where everyone is just hugging us and being nice and saying, "You're the best"?

It's not going to happen. We have to get thick skin. We have to understand that this is part of living this life. You cannot be a happily married man, a happily married wife, a happy son, daughter, parent — unless we focus on these aspects. The world is filled with challenges. Some are small and some are large. Take each challenge as an opportunity to get closer to Allah. And the one whose relationship is tied with Allah — no matter who lets him down — understand that Allah will never let you down.

Letting Go of Expectations

I found something so amazing today. Someone had shared it on their status and I thought, SubhanAllah, I'll share it here. In Urdu it goes: the one who is looking for people to be loyal, to be honest, and to stand with you — the one who expects that from people in this era — is like the one who has picked up a bottle of poison and is looking for a cure in it. The only one who is never going to let you down is Allah.

As harsh and as pessimistic as that may sound, this is the reality. That's why the great scholar — beautiful statement — said: all the fights and arguments that happen in life, in marriages, business, relationships — it happens because of expectations. Get rid of the expectations. I know I am so far away from this. May Allah give me tawfiq and all of us to bring this into our lives. But simply don't expect anything from anyone. Easier said than done. But when you don't expect anything, then even the smallest gestures — as long as they don't harm you — make you happy.

Imagine you're driving on North Avenue and the guy at the stoplight, you expect him to roll down his window and give you $100 bills or smile and give you his lunch. No — as long as he didn't swear at you, Alhamdulillah, good man. I have no expectations. So imagine if you could live in this world saying, "I'm going to only take from Allah and I'm not going to expect anything from anyone." That's beautiful.

One elder scholar who had maybe twelve or fourteen children, and many grandchildren — he gave me advice. He told me one thing. He's a man of great experience. He said, "I'll tell you one piece of advice: don't have expectations from anyone, including any of your children or grandchildren. If they are able to help you in your old age, mashAllah. But don't expect it, because if you expect it and you don't get it, you'll be a broken man." How amazing. If you never expected it, you won't be broken. It's all about perspective. Just don't expect it. Say, "No one is going to do anything for me. I'm going to do everything myself." And then Alhamdulillah, if a stranger says, "Can I give you a ride?" — wow! "Can I get you a cup of coffee?" — wow! Anything they offer becomes something big.

When we train ourselves to say:

"I put my complaints only in front of Allah, not in front of any other creation" — then you will stand up. Look at the people of Gaza, wallahi, how the world continues till this very moment to abandon them. And if they sat there saying, "Oh you Muslims, oh you Arabs..." they wouldn't be able to survive. They would die of depression and sadness before anyone even harmed them. But they are pretty much like, "You know what? We don't need you. We know what's happening to us, and you can't do anything? Forget you." That's the mentality. That's the resilience. "I'm going to build to Allah. Send the invoice to Allah. I'll take from Allah. I don't need anything from you."

This is something we need to learn. May Allah remove and end this oppression. آمِينَ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ. And may Allah forgive us for not doing more than we should. And whatever du'a we're making, and whatever little efforts we're making, may Allah accept that. And may Allah allow us to change because of what we're witnessing — change our relationship with Allah — and through the barakah of that, let all of this reward go to them. آمِينَ يَا رَبَّ الْعَالَمِينَ.

Surah Fussilat — Ayah 44: The Qur'an as Guidance and Cure

Had We made it a non-Arabic Qur'an, they would have said, "Why are its verses not clearly explained? Is it a non-Arabic book and an Arab messenger?" Say to them: it is, for those who believe, a guidance — huda — and a cure — shifa. But for those who do not believe, there is deafness in their ears, and for them it is blindness. Such people are being called from a distant place.

In this ayah, Allah mentions that the disbelievers always have to come up with some sort of criticism against the deen. They say, "Why was it not sent down by an angel?" And Allah says, if I sent it down through an angel, they would say, "Well, how are we supposed to follow an angel? He has no biological needs." So We send down a human — they say, "Why was he not very wealthy?" And if We sent it to a very wealthy prophet, they would say, "What about the rest of us? He's in the top one percent — how are we supposed to follow him?" So whatever the situation may be, those who don't want to believe will come up with an excuse.

And that's the reality we find even today. Many people will say Islam is not practical anymore. Qur'an or Sunnah is not practical. And they'll give a ton of excuses. We have to remind ourselves that we cannot change Islam to fit the desires of people. If someone does not want to believe, we cannot reduce the salah to once a day for them. We cannot remove the obligation of Jumu'ah because of a class at 1 PM. Where there's a will, there's a way. If you want to find solutions, you will find them. And if not, then no matter what is provided, a person will not move forward.

The Rain and the Soil — An Example from the Qur'an

So here Allah is saying: if the Qur'an were revealed in Hebrew or some other language, they would have desired it to be in Arabic. Regardless of what language the Qur'an is in, Allah says, it's not about the Qur'an — it's about you. Such an important point. The Qur'an is meant to be huda wa shifa — guidance and cure. But for whom? It actually makes a difference. That same Qur'an that can be a guidance and shifa for some can lead others to grow in their ignorance and disobedience.

I'll give you an example that the Qur'an itself gives. Allah compares the Qur'an to:

Allah compares the Qur'an to rain that comes down from the sky. When that rain falls on fertile land — land that has seeds of roses, pomegranate trees, mango groves — what comes out? Beautiful plantations, vegetation, flowers, everything. And a few hundred feet away, you have a barren land, one that has never been tilled. When that same rain falls, you get thorns, thorny bushes, poison ivy, weeds — all sorts of things that become a nuisance. Same rain. The problem is not with the rain. The problem is what's inside the earth — each earth gives out what's in it.

So Allah gives this as an example of the human heart. Some hearts are such that when they hear a verse of the Qur'an:

Whenever a surah is revealed, some say, "Whose iman has increased after listening to this?" For those who have iman — their hearts are in good shape — their iman increases with every new verse they hear, every dars of tafsir they attend, every Salatul Isha or Fajr where they listen to the qari reciting. And they are taking on glad tidings, looking forward to great things. But for those who have filth, dirt, sickness in their heart — every time they attend the masjid, every time they hear Qur'an being recited, every time they visit the Haramayn, every time they look at the Ka'bah, every time they see the green dome, every time they pick up a book of tafsir, every time they listen to a lecture — their disbelief continues to grow, their doubt continues to grow. And eventually they will die in a state of kufr.

My dear friends, these men and women that Allah is speaking about were not attending my dars or yours. They were listening to the verses of the Qur'an being revealed fresh from the blessed lips of none other than the Prophet ﷺ. Yet due to the filth inside their hearts, these verses rolling off the tongue of the Prophet ﷺ were — as Allah says — making them deeper into kufr, deeper into their doubts. How? How is that possible? How could you be sitting in the company of the Prophet ﷺ, looking at his blessed face? How any of us would just be elated if once we could see him in our dream — just once, for a few seconds. Those of you who have, you know that is probably your best memory of your life. And to be able to see him for hours, to sit with him, to shake his hand, and then him calling you, "Come, let me recite to you a verse of the Qur'an" — and you listen with his beautiful voice — and Allah says, all it does is push these people further away from Islam.

The problem is not with the Qur'an or the Prophet ﷺ. The problem is with the hearts.

Leaving the Deen — A Spiritual Sickness, Not an Intellectual One

I want to link this with today. We hear about people leaving Islam. We hear about people leaving the masjid. We hear about people getting turned off from deen. We hear about people — after memorizing the Qur'an — leaving Islam. After memorizing the Qur'an, leaving the masjid. And what people don't understand is that the issue — yes, there might be one or two percent of something that needs to be corrected in the way we are dealing — but the larger, greater problem we need to understand is that this is a massive, massive spiritual sickness.

Brother, if a person has ten swords at their neck, Allah says, yes, if forced at gunpoint, you may say a statement of kufr:

As long as your heart is content with iman. A believer — once iman enters it — never shakes. How is it possible that someone says, "Brother, you disrespected me at the masjid, khalas, I'm leaving Islam"? Or, "The khutbah was in a language I didn't understand, I'm leaving Islam"? And the list goes on. Whoever talks about physical and emotional abuse — wallahi, ask yourself: how does that compare to what even a six-month-old is going through in Gaza? And are they leaving Islam?

So as we address issues we have to improve on, I want to hit on this: the biggest issue is a spiritual disease. The spiritual diseases of the heart. We have to stop blaming everything else, everyone else. We need to start blaming ourselves. For all those who have left, may Allah bring them back to the deen. But may Allah allow them to realize — every man goes into his own grave. Yes, someone shouted at you in a masjid. He's going to meet Allah for that sin. But how are you going to meet Allah with kufr? You're going to blame Allah and say, "Ya Allah, this guy said this to me, that's why I left Islam"? It makes no sense.

And this is why — going to the haram, is it possible for a person to go to the haram and leave Islam? Yes. To increase in doubt? Yes. Because these were people listening to the Qur'an in front of Rasulullah ﷺ, from Rasulullah's ﷺ own lips, in Madinah and Makkah. And Allah says they are getting further and further away from Islam. So the Qur'an is huda wa shifa — but what is it in you? You will take from the Qur'an based on what you have in yourself.

So anyone who says, "I've given Islam a chance, given the Qur'an a chance, but man, it's not hitting me" — ask yourself again: why? If we come to a deeni dars and we start falling asleep, or we feel irritated and want to get up and leave — the issue is not with the speaker. I've actually witnessed this, wallah, with my own self. If you're in a good spiritual state, you will benefit from anything you hear. And if you're in a bad spiritual state, then instead of focusing on the ninety-nine percent of the amazing things that the person has said, you will latch on to the slip of the tongue — a genuine mistake — and say, "What about that? Huh? What about that?"

So this is scary. That's why we should ask Allah: "Ya Allah, please do not allow me to be misguided and deprived from khair and barakah because of my sins. I know I've sinned. All of us are sinners. But please do not punish me further by making me deprived from benefiting from gatherings of knowledge, from benefiting from the houses of Allah, from benefiting from the ulama."

You had a bad experience with a doctor who defrauded you? What a fool would say, "I will never go to the hospital or see a doctor again." You can do a lawsuit, go ahead. But why would you say, "I'm bleeding to death but I'm never going to see a doctor. I'm not going to get stitches. I'm not going to the ER even if I have chest pain — because one doctor one day did something to me"? Similarly, if a person of deeni knowledge — a person who represents himself as a scholar, or just a righteous Muslim — does harm to you of any sort, that's between him and Allah, and you can take your grievances in front of Allah and in front of him. But to throw out the entire deen because of that individual — then in that case, this is a huge act of foolishness in which we are harming no one besides ourselves. May Allah give us the understanding.

Allah says: those people who don't have iman — فِي آذَانِهِمْ وَقْرٌ — there is deafness in their ears. That's why no matter how much Qur'an is being recited, it doesn't get to them. And for them it is blindness. Even though the Qur'an is full of light. But these people, when they read the Qur'an, it's all dark.

أُولَٰئِكَ يُنَادَوْنَ مِن مَّكَانٍ بَعِيدٍ — Such people are being called from a distant place. Meaning, imagine if you're listening to this tafsir from North Avenue — you can't even hear anything. This is what happens to people who listen to the Qur'an or talks of the deen without a right perspective — it's like they're sitting at the very outer end and say, "Oh yeah, I heard some murmuring." That's it. A murmur doesn't change you.

That's why the Qur'an says:

You have to have a heart. You have to listen attentively — أَلْقَى السَّمْعَ. And you have to be present — وَهُوَ شَهِيدٌ. When you're present, and you have a proper heart to receive it, then you'll see the benefit that comes.

The Haram — Not a Magic Pill

Just this morning, one of my, mashAllah, beautiful past students messaged me. He said something about how the haram changes people's lives. And I encouraged him — and I encourage all of you who have never gone to the haram to make niyyah now. In this day and age, where else are we going to go? We need to go to the haram. We should make niyyah to go to Masjid al-Aqsa. Alhamdulillah, as you all know, we went a month ago. On the way to the haram, stop by al-Aqsa, wear your ihram, and go — even for a few hours. On the way to whichever country you're going to on that eastern side of the world, do a stopover in Amman and transit over to Al-Quds. May Allah protect it and bring it back fully into the hands of Muslims.

But once we go to the haram, understand — don't think: "My son is really leaving the deen, so I'm going to grab him by his ear, book him a ticket, and take him to the haram." Don't do that. Because if a person is not in the right state, instead of benefiting, Allah forbid, he can actually harm himself. All of that filth can get removed instantaneously — on the condition that you're sincere and you want to remove it. But if a person does not want to remove it, and he is adamant and stubborn, then guess what? Makkah and Madinah are the same place where Ubay ibn Khalaf was, where Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt was, where Abu Jahl was, where Abu Lahab was, and thousands of others — from the munafiqun, from the Yahud, from the Nasara, from the mushrikun — while Rasulullah ﷺ was alive and the likes of Abu Bakr and Umar, radiyallahu anhuma, were alive.

So there's no magic pill — "I will look at the Ka'bah and done. I will look at the Prophet ﷺ's grave and done." This is an internal effort that a person has to make. It has to start with yourself. You have to say, "Done. I want to change, ya Allah, I'm looking for it." And guess what? Then you don't have to even travel all the way there. For today, you go to your local masjid, and Alhamdulillah, you can sit in a corner after Isha or Maghrib, after Fajr, and cry for twenty or thirty minutes, and you will see — التَّائِبُ مِنَ الذَّنْبِ كَمَنْ لَا ذَنْبَ لَهُ — the one who repents from his sin is like the one who never committed a sin in the first place.

I've shared this story many times. One day I was in Madinah, and a brother messaged me. He said, "Oh SubhanAllah, I wish I could have been in your place." I said, "Oh where are you?" And the brother, SubhanAllah, was right here. He prayed Fajr over here — at Darus Salaam — and then he messaged me. He said, "I just spent an hour chilling with Allah." Right? And I was like, SubhanAllah, what did he mean by that? It's like when you're stressed and you go out with friends and you just let it all out — this is what you do. You pour out your heart in front of Allah for an hour. And I was like, SubhanAllah — you're not in Madinah, but I promise you, you're probably far ahead of many who are there. Because of that relationship you've built with Allah from your local masjid.

So it's not about a magic pill. But should we go there? Yes, definitely. Just make sure we cleanse our hearts before we go. And as we go, we make tawbah. There are so many, mashAllah, Alhamdulillah, who are going for Umrah — may Allah accept all of their ziyarah, those who are leaving today, yesterday, this Thanksgiving weekend. Hundreds of thousands from across the globe, especially from America, are going. And in the December break also. Alhamdulillah, we are very happy for them. We ask Allah to accept it.

But this is just a reminder to myself and to all — that before we depart, please use this opportunity to prepare internally, asking Allah: "Ya Allah, do not make me from amongst those — as it comes in certain narrations — who come to the Hajar al-Aswad and it becomes like a stamp." The Hajar al-Aswad is like a stamp, and when a person stands in front of it, you get stamped with whatever you came with. Allah forbid, if a person came with sin, going to the Hajar al-Aswad without seeking forgiveness from Allah is a foolish act. Because on the Day of Judgment, in some narrations, the Hajar al-Aswad will be given a tongue to speak, and it will testify in front of Allah — for or against every single person that came and kissed it or raised their hands in front of it. So this istighfar has to happen well before our journey begins, and throughout our journey.

Surah Fussilat — Ayah 45: The Torah and Dispute Among People

Very truly it is, We have given Musa alayhis salam the Book — the Torah. But there was also dispute about it. Whether the Torah is entirely from Allah, whether it has been added to by other people — the people differed. Yet were it not for a preordained word that had preceded from your Lord, judgment between them would have been decided at once. Meaning, O Prophet of Allah, if it wasn't for Allah deciding that this world is a place of imtihan and test, Allah would not have waited a single moment to destroy the oppressors and the disbelievers. And indeed they remain in much perplexed doubt about it — شَكٍّ مُّرِيبٍ — shak meaning doubt, murīb meaning a perplexing, unsettling doubt.

In this ayah, Allah is consoling the Prophet ﷺ and telling him — like the first ayah we covered today — ya Rasulullah, you're not the only one who has found opposition in his community for the book revealed upon him. Even Nabi Musa, with all that he did for his people, and the fact that they were delivered from slavery through him — yet when it came to the Book of Allah, the Torah, they still couldn't agree. So if Musa alayhis salam had to go through this difficulty concerning his book, then O Muhammad ﷺ, expect that you will also go through difficulty for the Book of Allah.

My beloved friends, feeling down, feeling not in your zone — this is part of human nature. If it were not part of human nature, Allah would not have allowed the Prophet ﷺ to go through that himself. And Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ:

"And most definitely We know — نَعْلَمُ, indeed We know — that you feel very constricted, يَضِيقُ صَدْرُكَ, because of what they are saying about you." Nabi ﷺ is having a very hard emotional time because it's so painful. Most of us have never felt this level of emotional abuse. And of course, not to the level of Rasulullah ﷺ, because he himself said:

(I have been harmed in the way of Allah as no one else has been harmed. — Referenced in Musnad Ahmad and related collections.)

So going through a natural down phase, where you're feeling overwhelmed and hurt — no one said you're not allowed to do that. It's part of human coping. But you can't stay there. You have to turn to the Qur'an, turn to the Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, and utilize the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah to get yourself back up.

So when we talk about depression — this is the balance we have to have. Clinical depression is real. There are people who need medication. There are people who need therapy. We have to be careful when we say, "Brother, all depression is un-Islamic" — because you don't want to hurt people who are actually going through things that seem beyond their control. Alhamdulillah we have therapy, different types of it, and sometimes medication as well. And of course there are adhkar to assist with it. But we're not speaking about that group of people. We're talking about the average person today — the average youngster in this part of the world — who, with all the luxury he has and all the blessings he has, says, "I'm angry, I'm bored, I'm upset, I'm depressed." Brother, the reason all this is happening is because your heart is empty of what needs to be there.

Knowledge Without Practice — The PhD Who Never Went to the Dojo

We have memorized the verses of the Qur'an, but it's not present within us. An example that was shared earlier today: someone who is an expert — a PhD — in a specific martial art. He has studied the history of it, has written an encyclopedic book on it. But he has never gone to the dojo. He has never actually trained. And he goes out into the street, and a high school student who is built and doesn't know anything academic about it, but has learned some basic street-fighting moves — if they get into a fight, this PhD professor won't stand a chance. Even though the professor can speak for four hours on this topic, because he has written a hundred-page thesis on it, he knows exactly when and where and how it started, all the techniques — he has written about it, studied it, lectured on it. But he doesn't know it because he doesn't practice it.

Practicing knowledge is one thing. Knowing knowledge is another. And the same goes for the deen and the Qur'an. Me being a hafidh of the Qur'an, or you being a hafidh — why is it that Khalid ibn al-Walid, radiyallahu anhu, to our knowledge was not a hafidh of the Qur'an? And thousands and thousands of sahaba were not huffadh of the Qur'an? But you know, if even one of them were alive today, even one of them, the world would not be the same. Either he would be dead, or the world would be different.

And now we have thousands and thousands of people who have memorized the Qur'an, thousands who have memorized its translation, who have written and read tafsirs, done PhDs on tafsir. Why is there no change in the world, or even within their own lives? It's because they're memorizing the words, writing about the words, lecturing about the words of the Qur'an. May Allah forgive me, and may Allah not allow our speech to become a proof against any of us. But it's a different thing to practice on the Qur'an. And that's what Allah wants — not for us to simply become experts on the words or memorizers of the words, but to get the meanings into our lives in practice.

The Previous Generation — Recitation With No Memorization

I commonly think about our previous generation — our parents' and grandparents' generation. All those sitting here, there are many huffadh. And all of you probably have multiple huffadh in your family. Think about the previous generation where we come from. Most of us come from a family in which there was not a single hafidh for many generations. Those who were born in the sixties, fifties, and forties — they will have to look right side, left side, front, back. They cannot find maybe one amongst fifty or sixty or eighty cousins. And now within one house you have six, four, three.

But ask yourself — during the sixties and the fifties, ask your mom and dad, ask your grandparents: how much Qur'an was recited in the house? What used to happen at 4 AM or 5 AM? Every single elder sitting here — guaranteed, ask them — will tell you this: "We didn't have a hafidh in our house. But an hour and a half before Fajr, we'd hear the water running, or the bucket from the well being poured. There was no tap water in many places. And mom and dad were waking up for tahajjud."

One of my colleagues, SubhanAllah, his parents are elderly — his father has already passed away, Allah yarhamhu. He said, "Every morning my mom and dad would wake up — husband and wife — and do tahajjud together. And every single night my father would read one manzil — meaning seven juz — in tahajjud with my mom." And then eventually his father passed away a few years ago. When did he pass away? كَمَا تَحْيَوْنَ تَمُوتُونَ — the way you live your life is the way you die. He died while doing wudu for tahajjud. He slipped and fell, and he passed away. SubhanAllah — what a father. Because this is how they lived their whole life.

So the benchmark for all of us: to what degree is the amal of the Qur'an in our lives? And how much of it is being recited at night? I know my own weakness. Everyone look at their own selves. Are we growing in the right direction or not? Because it's very easy to say, "We graduated this many huffadh, we have this many Quran memorization classes here" — and pat ourselves on the back for that. But honestly, is that what's going to save the ummah? Just graduating huffadh? Or is it even just one person who genuinely lives like a sahabi of Rasulullah ﷺ — who brings that Qur'an into his life?

I remember once I was in Makkah al-Mukarramah. We passed by a car with the windows rolled down, music blaring. One of my teachers said to me, out of the blue: "I ask you — if Khabbab, or Khubaib, or Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah, or Umar al-Khattab, radiyallahu anhum, any of them was here — what do you think they would have done right now?" We were walking in the streets of Makkah in Aziziyyah. He said, "Where is that courage?" Everyone is just so quiet, minding their own business. Right next to you, a foot away, some major sin is happening. But can we stand up and say, "Brother, stop it"?

That himmah — the ability to prohibit sin within our own immediate surroundings, from people we have authority over or who will listen to us. How many husbands simply cannot encourage their wives to wear the hijab? How many cannot encourage their daughters to dress appropriately? The issue is not them — the issue is with us. If we had the true love of Islam and the ghayra of deen, we would not be able to watch these things. We'd come up with a way. You don't use a stick — you know that's not going to work. The maqsad is not getting angry at people. The purpose is to bring change. You would pray two raka'at every night and cry: "Ya Allah, forget my business, forget everything else — I need my wife in hijab. I need my daughters in hijab. I need them wearing modest clothing. I need haya within them. Ya Allah, I'm not letting You go until You change my spouse."

And for those women whose husbands don't pray, or who — Allah forbid — are alcoholics, or involved in other horrible sins: "I'm going to stay with my husband. But there won't be a night where I don't get up early and spend an hour on the musallah, begging Allah: 'Ya Allah, I can't speak to my husband — he gets upset, he gets angry, he throws a tantrum. But Ya Allah, You are the Controller of his heart. Ya Allah, please get him out of riba. Ya Allah, please break his gambling habit. Ya Allah, please bring him back.'" Imagine that du'a — how it will touch the Arsh of Allah. When a husband or wife are praying earnestly for each other. Where are those days where husbands and wives make long du'a for each other, instead of saying, "It's not my problem"?

Where's the love, man? Where's the love? If you know that your spouse is going towards Hellfire by committing haram — how can you claim to love them while buying them a diamond ring and yet not caring about their akhirah? That's no love. The love is that you genuinely try your best — not for one day or two days or one month, but as long as you live with them in that house. As long as you're married, your fikr and your ham — your concern — is: how can they shun sin and come towards the Sunnah? And not only them — yourself as well. This is the love that is missing today.

I remember so vividly my grandmother, rahimahallah, and my grandfather, rahimahallah. The pages of the Qur'an — literally the para, the individual juz — would be torn because of constantly reading. They had to keep buying new sets. Because those thin pieces of paper would just tear from so much reading — 6, 8, 10 juz. That ishq and love of the Qur'an. They didn't know a single word of its meaning. But my grandfather, SubhanAllah, in maybe his last fifteen or twenty years of life, he read the tafsir of Mufti Muhammad Shafi' — Ma'arif al-Qur'an — and practically memorized it. He would always, whenever he met us, immediately ask: "Volume 8, Mufti Shafi' says this — what's the answer to that?" Not to challenge us, but genuinely wanting to understand. His level of memory of every single ayah of the Qur'an was very advanced because of this love he developed in his final years.

So brothers and sisters, we don't need just rote memorization — that alone is not going to change the ummah. What we need is to bring it into our own lives. And this is where Allah mentions the fact that people differed about the Torah. But what is revealed is what it is, and Musa alayhis salam is who he is. Similarly, the people may differ about the Qur'an — forget it. What has been revealed is untouched, and the Nabi ﷺ's status is what it is. Let us not be emotionally broken by how people react to it.

The Last Ayah of the Juz — Every Soul Reaps What It Sows

Anyone who does a righteous good deed — فَلِنَفْسِهِ — in this life, he does it purely for the good of his own soul. What an amazing connection to our previous topic. You try for your wife, try for your husband, try for your son, try for your daughter, try for your parents — and at the end, every man is for himself. You tried, but no one else's sin will harm you as long as you tried. Their sin is not going to harm you as long as you tried.

And don't think you're doing something good only for your parents. Whatever your mom and dad encourage you to do, remind yourself that you're doing it for your own benefit. It is your benefit. Allah reward them — they're encouraging you to do good. The husband is encouraging the wife, the wife is encouraging the husband. Don't get upset at them. Don't say, "Mind your own business." Thank Allah that you have someone who actually cares — in an era, wallahi, where people don't care about anyone.

If you have someone in your life who says, "Wake up for Fajr, stop sinning, stop smoking, stop vaping" — if you've got someone saying that to you, you're one of the luckiest people. Because honestly, today no one says anything, no one cares about anyone. So the fact that you have someone you think is annoying — thousands of people would cry to have someone in their life say that to them. Sort it out, get right. Most people don't have anyone in their life to look out for them. All of our relationships are unfortunately based on selfish needs, selfish desires, money. It's not about, "SubhanAllah, let me help you become a better person."

If you have someone in your life who is trying to push you towards good deeds, please do not shove them away. Please do not give them a cold shoulder. Please do not get angry at them. Instead, appreciate it. Yes, many times they may not have the best way of saying it. True. But I swear it's still far better. Imagine if you had a scorpion, Allah forbid, climbing on your back, and I scream at you, "You shameless person, look — you've got a scorpion, you don't realize it!" — and the rest of the people around you are just busy doing their own thing and don't tell you. Yes, I shouldn't have called you shameless. That's wrong. But aren't you grateful that I warned you of a scorpion while the rest were quiet? Think about the big picture. If someone in your life speaks to you and guides you — even if he does it without hikmah, without wisdom, even harshly — control your emotions. And think: at the end of all of this, am I in net benefit or net harm?

وَمَنْ أَسَاءَ فَعَلَيْهَا — And anyone who does an evil deed, does it only in detriment against himself. Not only are you not harming others — some people say, "I'm going to sin to hurt my parents." I know people who say, "I left Islam because I want to hurt my parents. Because I know they want me to be a good Muslim. So I'm going to..." — Astaghfirullah. Look at the shaitan, how he deceives people. He's committing kufr to hurt someone. Brother, you're not hurting your parents the way you're going to hurt yourself. And you're definitely not hurting Allah.

فَعَلَيْهَا — You have to face your own repercussions. And the repercussions for sin and leaving Islam are going to be tough. Is Allah being oppressive? وَمَا رَبُّكَ بِظَلَّٰمٍ لِّلْعَبِيدِ — Never does your Lord wrong His servants in the least. Don't blame Allah — it's not going to work. Allah is not oppressive. You are instead oppressing yourself by sinning.

Like I said earlier, the people of Gaza — even in the most difficult of circumstances — all they are witnessing is Allah's mercy. Even in the most difficult things. So we should never say, "Why did Allah do this?" or "Allah is not merciful with me." Allah says — if you believe in the Qur'an, which you do; if you believe in Allah's existence, which you do — then you have to believe in every verse, even if you don't have full comprehension of it. And this verse clearly states: Allah is not an oppressor. Allah is Just. Does it always make sense to you? Maybe not. Maybe we don't have the spiritual or academic capacity yet. But once a person works on both his academic and spiritual knowledge, SubhanAllah, he reaches a level of complete rida bil qadar — complete contentment with whatever Allah decrees — and will never find anything in Allah's decisions to object to.

But that's a higher spiritual state. Otherwise we're constantly going to play the blame game. "Why did Allah do this? I was such a good person." What a beautiful, SubhanAllah, ending to this verse. We have of course another ruku' remaining for the conclusion of this juz. InshaAllah, next week we will have the concluding ruku' of Surah Fussilat.

Closing Du'a and Reminders

Any one page can change my life and your life. And I ask Allah that if we're here for the first time, that He doesn't make it our last time. And if we're here on a consistent basis, may Allah grant us istiqamah. And may He make myself and all of us amongst those who — whatever was shared — not only implement it within our lives, but take it outside and bring change wherever we go. Ameen, ya Rabbal Alameen.

Q&A Highlights

Q: When something bad happens, how do you maintain the perspective we discussed? What if we ourselves are the bad ones and Allah is punishing us?

Exactly — that's what you're supposed to say. "Ya Allah, please do not punish the ummah because of my sin. Ya Allah, from this crowd, I'm the worst. Ya Allah, please forgive me. I don't want these beautiful people here to suffer because of my sin." That's how. We don't blame other people — we blame ourselves and say, "Ya Allah, please forgive me." We lead our lives begging Allah for forgiveness every day. Istighfar needs to be done seventy times a day, or a hundred times a day, or as much as you can — regardless of whether you recognize what you have done wrong or not. You say:

"O Allah, I seek forgiveness from You for the sins I did knowingly and those that I did unknowingly."

Q: How do you love someone and have a relationship without expectations?

You say: this person's heart is in the control of Allah. As long as Allah puts love in their heart for me, this person will take care of me. And if Allah chooses to pull that love from their heart, this person won't be able to do anything. That's it. How do you see people who spend three or four hundred thousand dollars on a marriage, and then within weeks or months are spending the same on lawyers and courts? How does that happen?

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2654 — The hearts of the children of Adam are all between two fingers of the Merciful, like one heart — He directs them however He wills.)

Love comes from Allah, and attachment is in Allah's hands. Turn towards Allah.

Q: Is it safe to go to Jerusalem without a group like Helping Hand?

I did not go with a group. Helping Hand was not involved. Actually, the people on the ground said they absolutely do not recommend going. And I said, "Okay — we're going anyway." It was very straightforward and simple. From Jordan — from Amman — you take a bus or taxi to the border crossing into Jerusalem. You'll go through a small terminal, get your passport stamped, and sit on a bus. The bridge opens around 9 AM and you cross through no man's land — beautiful scenery — and get dropped off at the Israeli side. Carry very light. You go through X-ray, scan your passport at the kiosk, and most likely you'll just be waved through. If you're stopped for further questioning, you simply say, "I'm here to visit my place of worship." Worst case, they ask you to wait an hour for a background check, and then they let you go.

As soon as you're out, there are taxis and buses available. Tell the driver, "Take me to Al-Aqsa." It's about a forty-five-minute drive. Asr, Maghrib, and Isha are easy to get in for. Fajr is very difficult. If you arrive by 10 AM or 12 PM, you can be back at the border by 4 PM. If you choose to spend a night, there are many Muslim-run hotels. And please use your credit card to spend money there — in bakeries, restaurants, taxis, hotels — because their economy is suffering enormously. There are no foreign visitors coming at all. Support our Muslim brothers there.

I definitely encourage this, especially for those who have US passports, as long as the opportunity is available. We don't know how long this window will remain. So please benefit from it. Make du'a there, and SubhanAllah, come back with your heart full.

Announcements

This past Friday we had an outstanding workshop — I implore all of you to please take an hour and listen to it. It's on our YouTube channel. Dr. Ahmed Huwaidi and brother Arfan Qureshi came and presented on Digital Deceptions — a book and presentation available on our website. It completely changes your perspective on how to engage with technology. I truly hope all who are listening will take an hour and benefit from it. InshaAllah it will be transformative.

We have about thirty days left for our annual Winter Intensive. This year's topics are on Harmony Within — cultivating love and unity in the modern Muslim household, covering relationships between husbands and wives and between parents and children. We are hitting all the relevant, hot topics — topics you won't hear being openly discussed elsewhere. We have two separate parallel winter retreats: one for sisters, taught by females, and one for men, taught by males. We have not only ulama but psychologists and therapists bringing loads of experience to the program. Visit masjiddeas.org/winter to register. The schedule will be shared this week, inshaAllah.

The 99 Names of Allah discussion every Saturday, followed by breakfast, is continuing. We need sponsors — two brothers or sisters per week to donate $250 each, which will cover the cost of the hot breakfast for approximately 100 to 150 people. The masjid will make all cooking and ordering arrangements. A sign-up sheet is outside. If you're listening online and would like to be a sponsor, please text or email the masjid office. It's not just about the money — it's about inviting your family and friends to Fajr at 6:15 AM at Darus Salaam. Instead of going to a restaurant, invite them to Salatul Fajr and breakfast. May Allah reward all who intend to do that.

If you are here for the first time and do not receive text messages for our events, please scan the QR code. Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim.