Reflect & Connect: Surah Insan - Ep.03 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 04/22

Opening Supplications

I ask Allah that He allow us all to benefit from the blessings and the barakāt of the Majlis of Tafsīr. I ask Allah that He does not allow our own mistakes and sins to become a barrier and a wall between us and benefiting from the Book of Allah. I ask Almighty Allah that He allows every week that we come here to become a means of our inspiration — a means of our niyyah becoming cleansed, our hearts becoming cleansed, our mission and purpose in life becoming clear to all of us. And may Allah allow all of us to become muwaffaq with tawfīq to lead our lives in a manner that is befitting Allah's majesty and that is according to Allah's will. Āmīn, Rabbil 'Ālamīn.

Continuing from Last Week: The People of Jannah in Sūrah Al-Insān

Continuing from last week — we mentioned how Allah mentions just one āyah about the people of Jahannam, and after that it is about the āyāt of the people of Jannah. Allah speaks about the spring of Jannah, the drinks of the people of Jannah, and then the fact that these were people who fulfilled their vows and who were truthful with Allah.

Allah mentions the fulfillment of vows regarding the Ṣaḥābah. Allah says:

That from the Ṣaḥābah, there were those who fulfilled their ambition, their desire, and then there are those who are waiting — meaning the desire of every Ṣaḥābī and the vow that every Ṣaḥābī had made with Allah: "Yā Allāh, I am going to give everything I have for You. I am going to give up everything I have for You. I am going to sacrifice everything I have for You, and I want to see the dīn flourish more than anything else." So there are only two types of companions: those who fulfilled it and saw it fulfilled in front of their eyes, and those who are waiting for the opportunity to do so.

So these are the people — يُوفُونَ بِالنَّذْرِ — they are fulfilling all their vows and promises they made with Allah. Now in this dunyā, they are faced with fearing the Day in which the evil of that day will be flying far and wide. The one who prepares for the Ākhirah by fearing Allah in this dunyā will not have to fear Allah in the Ākhirah. A person has to fear in one of two places: if a person fears Allah in this dunyā, he will not have to fear Him in the Ākhirah. If a person does not fear Allah here, then a person will definitely have to be worried about what will happen in the Ākhirah.

The Āyāt of Sūrah Al-Insān: Descriptions of the People of Jannah

They feed with food — despite their own desire for it — the indigent, the orphan, and the captive of war, saying: "We feed you purely for the sake of Allah. We desire no reward from you nor thankfulness." Instead: "Indeed, we fear our Lord and His punishment on a day when faces shall be overspread with frowns and intense gloom." So Allah will shield them against the evil of that day and will confer upon them radiance and great gladness. And He will reward them for their patience with a garden of paradise and a clothing of silk. They shall be reclining therein on canopied couches, seeing therein neither the blazing sun nor the bitter cold. Moreover, so very near above them are its boughs of shade, and their fruit clusters lowered close in easy reach. And passed around amongst them are vessels of silver and cups bright as crystal — crystalline of silver — that they measure out with perfect measure. They are given to drink of a chalice of wine tinged with a mixture of ginger, from a fountain therein named Salsabīl.

May Allah grant us all this beautiful Jannah, and may Allah allow us to lead a life that will make us worthy of His mercy and then make us worthy of this paradise. Āmīn.

Īthār — Selfless Preference for Others

You will see the descriptions here — Allah speaking about the people who are going to be headed towards Jannah. Part of their ṣifāt is وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ — that they are those who feed. There are two explanations for عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ: "despite their own desire for the food," meaning despite their own need for the food they are giving it up; and the other explanation is that عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ means "because of their love for Allah."

Who are they feeding? مِسْكِين — someone who is poor and does not have the means to earn a livelihood. وَيَتِيمًا — an orphan whose parent or parents passed away when he was young. وَأَسِيرًا — and a non-Muslim captive of war.

So these people have one beautiful ṣifah: the aspect of Īthār — that even though they need something, they are willing to give it to others. This ṣifah is very beautiful because it means that a person's love for his fellow human being is so strong that he is willing to take upon himself difficulty in order for others to be in comfort. That is not an easy thing to do. The one big reason you do something like this is if you believe in the Day of Judgment — that okay, I will get paid in shā' Allāh, no problem, I will get paid afterwards. Right now you enjoy it; I am going to get the reward for it in the Hereafter.

The Story of Īthār at the Battle of Yamāmah

The stories of the Ṣaḥābah's Īthār that we hear about — a very well-known story from the Battle of Yamāmah — where many of the Ṣaḥābah became shuhādā'. One of the companions was dying out of thirst. It was a hot battlefield — heat from outside, heat from inside, sword wounds, and arrows. At that time, imagine the thirst. Even when we slaughter an animal, we all know that the etiquette is that we are supposed to give water to the animal before we slaughter it. So here is a human being about to breathe his last, and he is asking for water. The Ṣaḥābī goes to give it to him, and as he is about to breathe his last, he hears a sound somewhere else — someone else is crying and saying, "I need water." The Ṣaḥābī says, "Okay, go give it to him." This is unbelievable — at that time of most intense pain and most intense thirst, for a person to be willing to give up his water just for the sake of some random person he hears from somewhere else. "Go give it to him."

And then the second Ṣaḥābī does the same, because these were not anomalies — these were not just weird outliers. This was the environment of the Ṣaḥābah; this was the basic trait of the Ṣaḥābī. The second one also says, "Go give it to the third one." Eventually, all three of them passed away — none of them got a chance to drink. Allah honored them with the shahādah in such a situation.

This is what we are speaking about — Īthār. And in order for a person to do Īthār, he will have to believe in the Hereafter.

Respected friends, how many times for the smallest of things are we arguing and fighting with our relatives, our siblings, our children, our parents — and then you ask yourselves honestly: how far behind are we from the Ṣaḥābah?

This Jannah — the dream — we are dreaming about Jannah. At least some of us are. But in order to get that Jannah, what is required? What price do we have to pay for it? Imagine someone who has no wallet, no money, no card, no cash — he goes to a very expensive car dealership. Someone says, "What do you want?" He says, "No, I just like this car." "Oh, mashā'Allāh, you like it? Come, I'll give you a test drive." Then after that they ask for the paperwork, and he says, "What paperwork? I don't have even a license. I don't have money. I was just walking by on the street and I saw a dealership, so I just came in." That is our example. We look at Jannah, we say, "I like this, I like that." Okay, we like it — but what is it that I have done that I can present to Allah that will make us worthy of His mercy, that will make us worthy of Jannah?

Lessons from the Company of the Scholars

When you look at the Ṣaḥābah, after everything that they had, they always thought they had done nothing. This past weekend, I travelled with some brothers from our community to California. We have programs here, alḥamdulillāh, and we regularly travel. So I got a chance to sit in the company of a great, great scholar. After Ṣalāt al-Ẓuhr in Irvine, I gave a talk on the importance of Ṣaḥābah, and we were talking about how to keep up the barakah of Ramaḍān. I spent an hour speaking about Awliyā' Allāh and the company of the pious, and the importance of searching out and seeking the company of the pious.

After that, I got to meet a great scholar — I had met him in 2008 and had not met him since then. I reached out to him the night before, and he said, "You're coming from all the way there — no, no, it's fine, I'll come see you as soon as my talk finishes." Even though he is walking with a walker and in lots of pain, he refused to allow us to come visit him. He said, "No, you're a traveler — I don't want to put more burden on you." And instead he asked his son to drive — I don't know how long, 40 minutes, 45 minutes or more — to come see us in the masjid.

He came to see us. He is the well, but the well is coming to the one who wants to drink — it is very different. So he came and sat down, and we sat around him. He is the khalīfah of Mawlānā Masīhullāh Khān — the book A Path to Perfection is a very common book here. Many of you know it from the bookstore. Path to Perfection is one of many books by Mawlānā Masīhullāh Khān, who was a khalīfah of Mawlānā Ashraf 'Alī Thānvī. This scholar graduated in 1967 from the 'Ālim course — and he is definitely one of the most senior 'ulamā' around today.

We asked him to share some stories from his days with Mawlānā Masīhullāh Khān and the mashāyikh. And the gist of all that he shared really comes down to one thing: humility. Every single one of the mashāyikh — that is all that they spoke about, and that is what they manifested: humility and tawāḍu'.

Mawlānā Ashraf 'Alī Thānvī and the Lesson of Fanā'iyyah

He mentioned that Mawlānā Ashraf 'Alī Thānvī — whose name you have heard many times, known as the Sage of the Ummah, who wrote over a thousand books and had a massive share in the tarbiyah of the 'ulamā' of recent and present times — was very old and weak in the final stages of his life. Mawlānā Masīhullāh Khān came to see him. When he was leaving, Mawlānā Thānvī tried to stand up to greet him, but he was too weak. So Mawlānā Masīhullāh put his hand around him and helped him stand up.

As he helped him stand up, Mawlānā Maḥtāb — as he was sharing this story — broke down crying and said: "Mawlānā Thānvī said that the way you have helped me to stand up, even on the Day of Judgment, if you see that I am stuck somewhere, then help me — just like you have helped me stand up right now when I needed it because of my weakness. I couldn't stand up; you helped me. Tomorrow on the Day of Judgment, when you see me stuck — Allāh forbid — somewhere, please give me a hand to get me through."

He was saying, as he was crying, that this type of statement you can only say if you actually regard yourself as nobody, as nothing.

He also mentioned that Sayyid Sulaymān Nadwī came to meet Mawlānā Thānvī as well. Before he left, he said, "I am leaving — can you give me some advice?" So Mawlānā Thānvī said, "What advice am I going to give you? You have already written a book on the Sīrah." He said, "Can you give me just one simple advice?" So he said, "One last advice" — and that was: annihilate yourself in front of Allah. Annihilate yourself.

This is possibly one of the most important pieces of advice that we need to hear and share right now, because our nafs has just gone out of bounds. Every single person is so entranced with his own nafs. And this is a sign of the Hour — the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Aḥmad; the hadith about the signs of the Hour appearing in various narrations)

Before the Day of Judgment, every single person will be awestruck by his own opinion. Everyone will be so mesmerized by his own opinion, everyone will love his own opinion. When you are awestruck with your own opinion, how are you going to listen to anyone else? You are going to think that you know it all. And that is the era we live in — where everyone thinks, "I have understood it better than anyone else."

We are not fully there yet, alḥamdulillāh, because there are still people who have humility and humbleness, or at least there are some people who have the ability to learn. But when it reaches that point, then it is basically too late. Then the Prophet ﷺ in that lengthy hadith says it is better to find a quiet spot and separate yourself from humanity — because no one is going to listen. You need to focus on yourself, so that in the process of running after other people, you do not lose yourself as well. Alḥamdulillāh, we are not there yet — people are still willing to listen, still willing to take heed and take advice.

Stories of Patience and Īthār from the Scholars

Mawlānā Masīhullāh Khān and the Cat

I heard a story of Mawlānā Masīhullāh Khān's Īthār — SubḥānAllāh. One day he came back from a bayān late at night to his house. As you know, the Indian houses are open — you can have a bird come in, a cat can jump in — like a courtyard, open on all four sides with rooms around it. He came back home late from a program and found that a wild cat — not a high-end pet, but a regular street cat that people over there do not particularly appreciate — was sleeping in his bed, on the charpā'ī made of straw mats. SubḥānAllāh, when he saw that, he said, "This is the makhlūq of Allāh, a creation of Allāh. How can I ruin its sleep for my sleep?" And he slept on the floor. Because it is not befitting that I disturb a creation of Allāh's sleep for my own sleep.

The Scholar Who Was Patient with a Harsh Wife

Then Mawlānā Maḥtāb mentioned another example of an individual who was a great scholar but had a lot of problems with his spouse — she was known to be extremely harsh-toned. One day he got busy in the masjid after 'Ishā', which is very common for an imām or a scholar. When he was on his way home, she sent a message: "You're coming two hours late — wherever you spent these two hours, you can spend the rest of the night there." It was actually a big insult. He comes home and finds the door locked. He put his sheet down and slept outside the door.

Then his students said to him afterwards, "We are seeing what's going on, we are seeing how you are being mistreated at home — the harshness of the language, and now you have been locked out of your own house because you were busy in the masjid. Why don't you divorce her? In shā' Allāh you will have many amazing women who would love to marry you." So the response he gave is mind-boggling — and we are not talking about the time of the Ṣaḥābah, we are talking about something from 60–70 years ago. He said: "If I divorce her, one of two things will happen — either she will get married to someone else, or she will not get married and will have to go back and stay with her parents and siblings. If she goes back home and does not get married, then now her own poor brothers and sisters and her elderly parents will have to be patient with her — because they have their own issues. And if she does get married again, then that poor new husband who does not know what he is getting into will have to suffer. As long as we are in this dunyā, someone has to suffer. I don't want to put my difficulty upon someone else. I will just be patient with this — life is short, and through this, in shā' Allāh, Allāh will give me a reward."

This is a real story. Just think — how do you make a decision like this? The only reason is because this person has some unbelievable level of yaqīn on the Day of Judgment. There's no such thing as a free lunch — and I am definitely not going to have this for free. This pain that I am suffering for 30 years — I am going to give the bill to Allah, and Allah is in shā' Allāh going to pay me for it handsomely.

We hear similar stories amongst the scholars. Another scholar was also patient with a harsh wife. His students would say, "Sheikh, why are you being patient with this? We would love for you to find someone better." He said: "You all have come around me because you think I have some spiritual benefit to share with you. I am grateful to my wife — as harsh as she is — because it is through the barakah of my patience with her that I am able to get something that you all are coming to get from me. I give credit to her that through my patience with the difficulties she constantly presents to me, Allah is giving me a chance to get close to Him and build my own spirituality, which I can then share with you."

So the lesson here is about us. No wife should think after listening to this story, "Oh SubḥānAllāh, now I am actually the sheikh of my husband, so I should continue oppressing him so his levels can increase!" Yes, his levels will increase in Jannah — while her levels will increase in Jahannam. And similarly for the husband who oppresses his wife — his wife's levels in Jannah will increase as his levels in Jahannam increase. There are darajāt in Jannah and darakāt in Jahannam — they are both levels, just one goes up and one goes down.

So we need to understand that in all these situations — if we remain patient in the face of what we are dealing with, then the rewards are just beyond our expectations.

Fanā'iyyah — Annihilating the Self Before Allah

The greatest attribute, and one of the most important ṣifāt that we all need to really work on, is fanā'iyyah — that a person belittles himself in front of Allah to a degree that he can no longer see himself. All he sees is Allah, all he thinks about is Allah. It is never about his own desires or needs or wants — it is about what does Allah want from me.

My beloved friends, when a person reaches that stage of "what does Allah want from me," then going through difficulty and hardship for Allah's sake will actually become enjoyable. Just like — what do you think when the Prophet ﷺ stood in prayer until his feet were swollen? What enjoyment the Prophet ﷺ received while standing in that state is more than the enjoyment we can get in our sofas — because your love for Allah becomes so intense that going through pain and difficulty for the sake of Allah actually becomes enjoyable.

You know the story of the Ṣaḥābī who was on guard in the night and was reciting the Qur'ān when an arrow of the enemy hit him — and yet the enjoyment of performing Ṣalāh was so deep that he did not break his Ṣalāh even though he was hit with an arrow. Let us think about it — if we have a little fly buzzing around us we get disturbed, or someone's cell phone buzzing near us, or someone with stinky socks in the third row — "Oh man, I can't concentrate, I've got a headache." SubḥānAllāh. But this Ṣaḥābī is being hit with an arrow and he is continuing to pray because he is enjoying something that words cannot describe. Eventually he remembered that the Prophet ﷺ had made him responsible for being a guard, and he said, "If I continue performing Ṣalāh like this and die in the process, the Nabī ﷺ's life will be endangered — how am I going to face Allāh like this?" So he broke his Ṣalāh, completed it, and went and alerted the army.

This type of love is possible. And then going through difficulty for Allah will become easy. So these people love to feed others.

The Sifah of Generosity: Stories from the Ṣaḥābah and Scholars

Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq on the Journey of Hijrah

We find this quality of Īthār in the story of Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq on the journey of Hijrah — travelling with the Prophet ﷺ, very hungry and very tired. They stopped by at a house and were received by a man and his wife, who presented milk to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ gave it to Abū Bakr, and Abū Bakr said, "Yā Rasūlallāh, you drink." So it comes in the hadith:

(Reported in the narrations of the Hijrah; see Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Kitāb Manāqib al-Anṣār)

The Prophet ﷺ drank and drank — because Abū Bakr kept saying, "Drink more" — ḥattā tawaytu — "until I became satiated." Abū Bakr is saying: "He drank and drank until I felt satiated." He didn't drink — Rasūlullāh drank — but Abū Bakr is saying, "I became satiated by simply watching my Nabī drink." This is Īthār. This is a quality that we are supposed to have within ourselves — simply trying to make other people happy, seeing other people enjoy — that makes us happy.

Afghani Hospitality

I was hosted at someone's home on the west coast. When I met the host, he introduced himself by saying, "I am the host, and I am Afghani — and I will give my life to ensure that you are taken care of." SubḥānAllāh — that is just an epic and proper definition of Afghani hospitality. It is true. They will literally give their life. And he had built a beautiful big home, but said, "I literally built this for guests — just me, my wife, and a couple of kids — but this is what makes me happy: seeing guests eating, drinking, and people coming." This is a beautiful ṣifah.

The Generosity of the Bedouins

Mawlānā Sajjād Nu'mānī — the son of Mawlānā Manzūr Nu'mānī — mentioned that when he was studying in Madīnah in the 70s, he went in Jamā'at to a small far-off village in the country. They passed by some kids standing by the roadside holding bottles of freshly milked milk — saying, "Please, please." One of the brothers in the car said, "You know, these kids are selling here — it's a hot summer day, let us give them some business." So they stopped and got some milk for all of them and gave the kids money. The kids looked at the money and said in Arabic, "What are you giving us?" "For the milk." "Astaghfirullāh! We're not here for selling — our mother milked the animals and gave this to us, and she told us to go stand outside and find travelers on the road and give them this milk."

Mawlānā was saying — this is the true generosity of the Arabs. It is part of their nature. In fact, the Bedouins would keep large fires burning in the desert so that any traveler would see that light and come — the way people attract mosquitoes with electric lights, the Bedouins would have these fires to attract people to come sleep at their abode, to come eat from their house. There is a lot of poetry in Arabic about this kind of generosity — they would compete with each other over who had the larger fire burning.

The Story of Ḥātim al-Ṭā'ī

There is also the beautiful story of Ḥātim al-Ṭā'ī, who is well known to be one of the most generous of the Arabs. It is mentioned about him that one day he got in bad terms with the Khalīfah, and the Khalīfah said: "Bring this Ḥātim al-Ṭā'ī, dead or alive — 100 camels reward." So Ḥātim ran for his life through the desert. After a long time running, he noticed that sand was swirling behind him — someone was getting closer. Eventually the man caught up with him. Ḥātim began to beg him: "Listen, please — whatever the king promised you, I will double it, quadruple it. I'll give you much more. I have wealth at such and such places — go take as much as you want. But let me go; you're doing this for money. I have much more to give you than 100 camels."

The man captured him — and then said: "O Ḥātim al-Ṭā'ī, I am not coming after the 100 camels promised by the king. Nor do I want to know where your money is kept. I did this entire exercise simply to let you know: although you are famous as the most generous person — you are not the most generous person. I just came to prove this point to you." And he left. "I'm not going after the king's money, nor do I want your money. I want you to know that for a man like me — a Bedouin — what is 100 camels compared to what you offered? I am giving all of that away out of generosity today. And I want you to know: there are people out there more generous than you."

Allāhu Akbar. These are the 'ajīb stories of the Arabs. What type of competition they had in generosity. May Allah make us like this. This is something we should be envious of — not money, but generosity with whatever we have. It is very easy to have a lot of money — you can be like Qārūn, Hāmān, or Fir'awn and compete with them and never win. But SubḥānAllāh, what we should be inspired by is to become people who enjoy giving to others more than spending upon ourselves.

Feeding the Creation — A Broad Obligation

Notice here that even a Mushrik has been mentioned among those who are fed. So our desire to feed — with all of the various efforts that are happening in the world — we need to understand that feeding the poor is one of the most important efforts as well. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 2363; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 2244)

In every living liver — every living creature — feeding that stomach, there is Ṣadaqah. Even for an animal. Yes, even an animal. Now that springtime is here, you see deer, you see birds — do not underestimate the power of putting some food outside for the birds, or a salt block for the deer. We sometimes think, "This is for the white people — it's not for us, we worry about roti at home." It's true — Allah does not need you to put bird seed for the birds. But you need the reward of being a means of feeding the creation of Allah.

Allah says — the Munāfiqūn say:

When the believers are exhorted to give in the name of Allah and feed from that which Allah has given them, the disbelievers say to the believers: "Shall we feed the one whom, if Allāh wanted, He could have fed Himself?" Sometimes I hear: "I've gotta worry about my own life. The masjid is the house of Allāh — He'll take care of it. There are a lot of wealthy people in the community; they'll take care of it. There are a lot of wealthy people to take care of this non-for-profit, that non-for-profit, this human rights organization." Well — who is giving what is not your problem. The problem is: how much am I giving?

So we are suffering from one of the signs of the Hour. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 1405; related narrations in Musnad Aḥmad)

Before the Day of Judgment, stinginess will become very common. And if you start studying the signs of the Hour, all of them are connected — one leads to the other. The stinginess of the Muslims will have huge ramifications on the type of dīn work that can happen and the type of humanitarian services that can be offered. So this is why we have to ask Allah: "Yā Allāh, do not make me a manifestation of the coming of the Hour."

Some of us say, "Brother, if the Prophet ﷺ said it is going to happen, then what can we do?" No, no, no — that is not how it is. No matter how bad the situation of the world becomes, there will always be outstanding people of spirituality. A time will come before the Day of Judgment, as mentioned in Kitāb al-Malāḥim, where there will be Muslims surrounding the walls of Constantinople — and they will do Tasbīḥ, say SubḥānAllāh — and the walls will fall through the Tasbīḥ of the believers. And another narration mentions that there will be people who will not have any food from normal resources, but they will be living through Tasbīḥ — their SubḥānAllāh and Alḥamdulillāh will be a means of providing them rizq. Imagine — what type of spirituality and rūḥāniyyat will these people have?

That tells us that even in an era of immense fitnah, there will be certain individuals with immense spirituality. For every Abū Jahl and Abū Lahab there was also an Abū Bakr and 'Umar. We do not judge the Prophet's era by Abū Jahl and Abū Lahab — instead we speak about it through Abū Bakr and 'Umar. Similarly, the future will have the Abū Jahls and the Abū Lahabs, but understand — there are also amazing, righteous, pious people right around us that we may not even know. And we should all desire to become like that. "Yā Allāh, make me a man or woman of spirituality and rūḥāniyyat, that I am able to have the ṣifāt and good qualities of the Ṣaḥābah — including generosity."

Ikhlāṣ — The Power of Sincerity

Indeed, when asked why they are doing this, they say: "We feed you purely for the sake of Allah. We desire no reward from you nor thankfulness." This is the power of Ikhlāṣ — that Ikhlāṣ is such that even the smallest action done with Ikhlāṣ will be more powerful than large actions done without sincerity.

There are many believers who have actions the size of mountains and no one knows about them — it is just them and Allah. And those are the actions we are all encouraged to have a stock of. They say we need to have stocks of food, or gold, or something else for when tough times come. Actually, more than anything else — there is no tougher time than the Day of Judgment. And on that Day of Judgment, what should we be banking on? Such deeds that we have done only for the sake of Allah, that no one knows about.

Every single day, every week, we should be investing in this account — certain good deeds that our spouse does not know about, our parents do not know about, our siblings do not know about — and we do not even dwell upon them. Because when you start thinking about some of your good deeds, Shayṭān pops up and starts putting thoughts in your mind. We do not want to be in that situation. It does not take more than a second for intentions to get ruined — it is so quick. That is why once we have done the good deed, do not dwell upon it. As you may have heard the saying: karo, pānī mein phenko — you have done the good deed, now throw it away in the water. Meaning: the thought that "I did it and I am something" — no, khalāṣ, I am not even going to think about it. It is like I have never done it.

And this is what is manifested in the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 1423; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 1031 — from the seven who will be shaded on the Day of Judgment)

The right hand gives while the left hand does not know — meaning that a person gives in charity so quietly and so discreetly that no one should know, to the extent that his left hand should not know. SubḥānAllāh. So that is what then becomes the thamān — the price of Jannah.

The Ṣaḥābī Who Brought Dates

When we look at the Ṣaḥābah, they were not all Ḥuffāẓ, and very few had the luxury of spending years studying formally. How come they are where they are and we are where we are? Their actions may have been fewer, but what was really powerful is their Ikhlāṣ — whatever they did was done so sincerely that it was more valuable than our Mount Uḥud. That is why, when the time of an expedition came and the Prophet ﷺ was asking everyone to bring whatever they had, one Ṣaḥābī came and said, "Yā Rasūlallāh, I don't have the means — I have nothing to give. But what I did do is go and earn with my labor — I toiled taking out buckets upon buckets of water from a well, and the owner paid me my wages in dates. I don't have money, I don't have a sword, I don't have anything to bring — I brought dates." The Nabī ﷺ took that and placed it on top of the heap of everything else, because he knew that in these few dates there was Ikhlāṣ that would become a means of barakah for the entire heap.

Allah says in the Qur'ān:

The hypocrites are the ones who make fun of those Ṣaḥābah who are trying to give in charity — those who have nothing to give besides their own manual labor. The hypocrites were saying, "You think Islām needs this? Bring the cash — what is this?" They were making fun of them. Allah says: they are making fun of the Ṣaḥābah — sakhira Allāhu minhum — now Allah will make fun of them. Allah says: how dare you make fun of my poor Ṣaḥābah? Allah will put them in a situation where everyone will pity them — and Allah will not pity them.

So the quality the Ṣaḥābah had was Ikhlāṣ — that made everything so much more powerful. And that is under attack right now. We are being attacked from all directions, and so Ikhlāṣ is also under attack. Actions are very few, and those that we do are muddled with so many ulterior motives. When we have Ikhlāṣ, the amount of work we may do may be less — but the long-term effects will be huge in shā' Allāh.

The Mukhliṣīn — The Sincere Ones in Times of Fitnah

There is a beautiful hadith about the mukhliṣīn. The Prophet ﷺ on the authority of 'Abdurraḥmān ibn Thābit ibn Thawbān, the freed slave of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, says: "My grandfather mentioned: Shahidtu ma'a Rasūlillāhi ﷺ — I was present with the Prophet ﷺ one day in a gathering. The Prophet ﷺ said: 'Glad tidings to the sincere people! Glad tidings for the sincere people!'"

He said they are the lanterns in the time of darkness — every dark fitnah comes to light through them. Look — if this room is dark and there is a snake and a scorpion, Allāh forbid, how can you protect yourself when you cannot see? You do not know where your enemy is. You do not know what is a stick and what is a snake. That is kind of the era we are living in right now — an era of darkness in which it is hard to know who is your friend and who is your foe, who is a hypocrite and who is sincere, who is trying to build Islām and who is trying to destroy it. In an era of fitnah, what you need is someone to turn on the light. These mukhliṣ people — the Prophet ﷺ said — are the lanterns of darkness. Every dark fitnah will come to light through their presence. When they are around, you will be able to tell who is who and what is what.

He also said that ʿĪsā was asked by the Ḥawāriyyūn: "What is Ikhlāṣ for the sake of Allāh?" He said: "The one who does an action and does not like that anyone praises him for it."

Sometimes when we push away praise, we end up attracting even more. So if you want to deflect praise, just ignore it. The key thing is not what people say about you — the key thing is what do you feel in your heart. You can have the entire crowd praising you, but inside your heart you say, "Wallāhi, if they knew who I was, they would spit on my face. They can continue praising — they are misguided, they have no idea who I am." Then you are okay. You can have all the praises of the world and it will not harm you. But if no one is praising you and inside your heart you are resentful — "I'm the one who did all the work and someone else is getting the praise" — even though no one is praising you, you have lost everything, because you have a desire for praise.

So he said: Ikhlāṣ is that you do an action and you do not want anyone to praise you. This is what these people say: "We feed you purely for the sake of Allāh — we do not even want a simple Jazākallāhu Khayran." As you heard about 'Āishah that when she would give ṣadaqah to a poor person she would say: "We do not even request a du'ā from someone to whom we give, because we do not want to receive anything in exchange for what we are giving." SubḥānAllāh — what an amazing level of Ikhlāṣ.

The Three Foundations: Belief in Allah, Accountability, and Punishment

Beloved friends, the main thing that motivates these people to do what they are doing is the fear of reckoning. Three things a person has to internalize: first, believe that Allah exists. Second, believe that Allah will hold him accountable. And third, believe that Allah will punish those who deserve punishment.

اَللهُ مَوْجُودٌ، اَللهُ سَيُحَاسِبُ، وَاللهُ سَيُعَاقِبُ — Allah is present, Allah will hold us accountable, and Allah will punish the one who deserves it. The person who has this yaqīn — his life will be completely different.

If you think about all the ẓulm that is happening today across the globe — even right now, what is happening in Palestine has not stopped. For the past 50 days they have put in a full embargo — no food, no gasoline, nothing is able to enter. And right now, SubḥānAllāh, some machines that Egypt had donated to take out sewage, clean out rubble, and recover bodies — or people who may still be alive — were just destroyed. You are seeing all of this taking place and you say: "How? How do you do this? How do you kill?" SubḥānAllāh.

The only reason a person can commit such atrocities is when a person has no khawf — no fear of a day in which the faces will be overspread with frowns and intense gloom. The one who has that fear in his mind — my beloved brothers and sisters — will not even without reason kill an ant, much less a human being. Because the idea is: what if I am held accountable in front of Allah for this?

The Rewards: Naḍrah, Surūr, and the Blessings of Jannah

Because of that fear — it all paid off. Allah shielded them against the evil of that day — وَقَى يَقِي — and will confer upon them radiance and great gladness. Naḍrah is radiance, greenery. Just as the Nabī ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2657; Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Hadith 3660; Ibn Mājah, Hadith 232)

May Allah make that Muslim believer's face radiant who hears my hadith, memorizes it, and then passes it on to someone else — for indeed, someone who receives the hadith may be better at understanding it than the one who delivered it. So the Nabī ﷺ made du'ā for the students of hadith. All of us in shā' Allāh are students of hadith — if you write things down, listen, try to memorize and jot down the hadith and sayings of the Prophet ﷺ. So that is naḍrah — may Allah give them a radiant face on that day.

How does that compare? The opposite of عَبُوسًا قَمْطَرِيرًا — other people have frowns and intense gloom — on the flip side, it is radiance and great gladness. In another place in the Qur'ān:

And in another place:

Faces that will be radiant on that day — and those are the faces that will be looking at Allah. May Allah grant us that day where we are bestowed with the vision of Allah.

So Allah is saying: because you feared Me in the dunyā, I protected you from having to fear Me in the Ākhirah. And then:

Because you were patient with the difficulties that came your way. What does patience mean? Being patient in the face of loss of life, loss of wealth, loss of health — that is صَبْرٌ عَلَى الْمُصِيبَةِ. Then there is صَبْرٌ عَلَى الطَّاعَةِ — being patient upon good deeds, like making Ṣalāt al-Fajr on time even in winter, and making sure you have completed the six days of Shawwāl. And the third type of ṣabr is صَبْرٌ عَنِ الْمَعْصِيَةِ — being patient in the face of sin, controlling your eyes, your ears, your tongue, your emotions, your heart, and your thoughts. All of this requires ṣabr.

Allah says — in lieu of all three forms of ṣabr — Allah is now giving them a garden of paradise and a clothing of silk. Silk was not allowed for men to wear — he made ṣabr on it — and now in the Ākhirah, Allah is mentioning specifically that yes, every single thing you were not allowed to have, you are now being given in the Ākhirah.

The Incomparable Pleasures of Jannah

My beloved brothers and sisters — when we talk about Jannah, we say that the only resemblance between what we have in this dunyā and the Ākhirah are the words. Do not think: "Oh, this is how I sit in my back porch in spring." There is no comparison between sitting on the couches of Jannah and sitting on the couches of the dunyā. But what can we do? We are humans — we cannot fully understand what happens in the Ākhirah, just like a baby in the mother's womb cannot be explained what this whole world is about. No matter how much you tell him, he can never understand what it means to hold a mango in your hand, or to see the Rocky Mountains, or the Pacific Ocean, or the moon. It is a completely different world.

Similarly, the world of the Ākhirah is a world we cannot understand. We spoke about this last week — that right before death, sometimes Allah opens up veils of the Ākhirah and you see things that people in this world can never understand. So when we read these descriptions of Jannah, I just want to remind myself and all of us that the reality of this is something which we cannot comprehend.

Even when you are enjoying yourself in this dunyā — you are sitting in nice sunlight, but after a while the sunlight becomes too much. Then you want shade, and the shade becomes too cool. You put on the AC and it becomes too cold. In the dunyā you are always worrying about being too hot or too cold. Allah says in the Ākhirah: complete temperature control. You do not have to worry about being too hot or too cold. Zamharīr — bitter cold — that is why the du'ā when it is bitterly cold:

"Oh Allāh, I seek refuge in You from the zamharīr of Jahannam" — zamharīr of Jahannam is that portion or method of punishment through which Allah will punish through cold. There is punishment through heat and there is punishment through cold as well. May Allah protect us from both types of punishment.

As they are reclining on their couches, surrounded by all the luxuries, the beautiful branches of the trees of Jannah hang above them. Now they have fruit clusters of every fruit you can imagine — and every single morsel of every single fruit tastes different. Every single crunch is a different taste. There is no worry about digestion. A person sees a bird flying by and thinks, "I wonder how that tastes" — and as soon as he wishes it, it is grilled, barbecued, spiced up, instantaneously in his mouth. He eats it, spits out the bones, and the bird flies away. This is Jannah. How can you compare with this dunyā?

And then Allah will bring different rounds of drinks — some of wine, but not the wine of the dunyā. Because the wine of the dunyā stinks. The wine of the dunyā gives you a headache. The wine of the dunyā makes you lose your mind and say crazy things. That will not be in the wine of the Ākhirah. As Allah says:

No headache, no rubbish talk. And the vessels of silver and cups bright as crystal are measured out with perfect measure — there is no over-spilling. Whatever amount is given is given with exact measure.

And then Allah talks about a wine mixed with ginger — and this mixture will come from a fountain named Salsabīl. Allah is mentioning this because the desire for this should come into our hearts. Sometimes people say, "Oh brother, I desire Allāh — not Jannah." That may be the level of some, but this is not for us. Allah talks about Jannah so much in the Qur'ān because He wants us to desire it. So we have to ask: "Yā Allāh, please allow me to start desiring Jannah and allow me to be afraid of Jahannam."

What is Jannah and what is Jahannam? Jannah is a place where you manifest Allah's raḥmah, and Jahannam is where you manifest Allah's anger. Allah doesn't show His pleasure by giving you a hug, and Allah doesn't show His punishment by hitting you with a rod. There is a place called Jannah and Jahannam — Jannah is where Allah shows who He loves and how much He loves them, and Jahannam is where He shows who He dislikes and how much He dislikes them. May Allah make us from the dwellers of Jannah.

The Upcoming Retreat: Revivers of Islam

This weekend you will be attending the retreat starting from Friday. You will be listening to the stories of the Revivers of Islām — from Ḥasan al-Baṣrī, Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Imām al-Ghazālī, Ṣalāḥuddīn Ayyūbī, Shaykh Aḥmad al-Sirhindī, Malcolm X, Mawlānā Ilyās, and the 'ulamā' who established Dārul 'Ulūm — as well as the women Revivers of Islām: from Fāṭimah, 'Ā'ishah, and Khadījah, as well as Hājar, and all the way to even more recent women who established institutions from which some of our senior female teachers have graduated.

One common thing upon all of these people — they may have been from different ethnicities, different colors, different regions of the world, and different methods of revival. The way Imām al-Ghazālī brought revival is different from the way Ṣalāḥuddīn Ayyūbī did; the way Imām Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal brought revival is different from the way Ḥasan al-Baṣrī did or the way Malcolm X did. But one common thread you can see for all of them: Ikhlāṣ. That is it. If they were not mukhliṣ, they would never have been mentioned today. If they were not mukhliṣ, their efforts would never have taken off. If they were not mukhliṣ, books would not have been written about them and gatherings like this would not be taking place 1,100 years after their demise. That is a sign of their Ikhlāṣ — that Allah accepted them and the work they did.

I want you to attend this weekend's retreat with the idea of those mountain ranges you see when flying over the Rockies — you are mesmerized at the beauty of those mountains whether you are at the base or at 35,000 feet above sea level. These Revivers — each one of them was a huge mountain range. And unlike physical mountains that erode over time, their legacy did not erode — it actually got built up further. Their legacy spread even more. Each one of them — I cannot imagine the Ṣadaqah Jāriyyah they must be receiving. How Allah sent them at such important times and saved the course of Islām from going off track.

So when we listen to these stories, let us not just listen as though it is story time. Every one of us should be making du'ā in his heart: "Yā Allāh — whether it is Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, or Imām al-Ghazālī, or Ṣalāḥuddīn Ayyūbī, or Shaykh Aḥmad al-Sirhindī — at the end of the day, they were not angels. They were not prophets. They were not even Ṣaḥābah. They were human beings. But You chose them. You chose them to do the work of dīn. And Yā Allāh, that is my request — accept me. Choose me to be from amongst the Revivers. Yā Allāh, give me all the traits that are required to become a mujaddid. Give me all the traits required to become a walī, a friend of Yours. Give me all the traits required to do accepted work in this world." Can we make this du'ā in shā' Allāh?

That is the problem — if our ambition is not there, then how will our du'ā be there? If our du'ā is not there, why will Allah give it to us? This is a very good opportunity. Just as some people look at the stock market going up and down and say, "This is the time for me to get in and make lots of money while everyone else is crying" — similarly, as the fitnah around the world is increasing, and the difficult times upon the Muslims and upon non-Muslims are increasing — this is the time for us to say: "Yā Allāh, I want in. I want to become a Reviver at this time. Give me all the attributes and qualities required to help the Ummah in this difficult stage."

SubḥānAllāh — we only have a few years left. How much are you going to live? Not beyond a hundred, if that, if ninety, if eighty. So if the few years that we have left can be used and utilized by Allah in a manner that is pleasing to Him — our job is done.

So what do we need now? Our teachers have told us: we need mukhliṣīn. We need mukhliṣīn. And the Prophet ﷺ mentioned the traits of these sincere people at the end of times: they are fuqarā', they are poor. They are not known anywhere. They are not appreciated anywhere. In one hadith it is mentioned that when they come to a gathering, they are never pushed forward, never asked to come to the front. And when they do not show up, no one misses them. And in another narration, if they were to go to someone's house, they would not open the door for them. Their words mean nothing — no one values what they have to say. But they have Ikhlāṣ.

This hadith mentions, on the authority of 'Abdurraḥmān ibn Thābit ibn Thawbān, the freed slave of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, that he said: "My grandfather mentioned: 'I was present with the Prophet ﷺ one day in a gathering. The Prophet ﷺ said: Glad tidings to the sincere people! They are the lanterns in the time of darkness. Every dark fitnah will come to light through their presence.'"

The need right now is not about anything else — the first thing we need is mukhliṣ people. If we have mukhliṣ people amongst us, we will be able to figure out what needs to be done.

Questions & Answers

Q: When someone has wronged another person but is unable to contact them, what actions can be taken?

There is a du'ā of the Prophet ﷺ:

"Oh Allah, I am just a human being — whichever servant of Yours I have hit, or I have cursed, or I have hurt in some manner — Yā Allāh, allow that pain he is suffering to become a means of his forgiveness. Allow that pain he is suffering to become a means of him getting closer to You." So make a du'ā like this, give Ṣadaqah on his behalf, and do du'ā for him. In shā' Allāh, Tabāraka wa Ta'ālā, this will reach him and will be a means of your forgiveness.

Q: My little brother constantly misses prayers but wants to criticize me on things or debate with me on Islamic topics. What should I say to him?

SubḥānAllāh — so not only is he missing prayers, but he also lacks good character, and the poor boy actually thinks he is on the right path. We have to guide him. But at the same time, if he is telling you something that is genuinely wrong with you — take it. Say, "Okay, you know what? Thank you for bringing that up; I am going to work on this. How about we both work on self-improvement? We are brothers — I am going to look out for you, you look out for me. Thanks for looking out for me. How about we both start praying our Ṣalāh?" We talked about nafs, we talked about Ikhlāṣ, we talked about humility — this is the basic level of humility: when someone corrects you, even though they have their own major mistakes, you tell them, "I appreciate what you said and I am going to implement it." And if you think it is appropriate, you can let him know what you observe in him as well — but only if he is open to it.

Q: Advice on how to encourage the husband to go to the masjid for Fajr and 'Ishā'?

Reading books together — have a book club together. Read about the importance of Ṣalāh. When you read about the importance of Ṣalāh, the importance of jamā'ah will also come. You can start off with some Ḥadīth book or some ta'līm book at home. The barakah of that — the sister who is asking will hear things that will be of great benefit to her, and her husband will also hear things that will be beneficial for him. I am glad you are asking this and that you have concern for him — alḥamdulillāh, it is a beautiful thing. May Allah grant all of our spouses concern for our own Ṣalāh in the masjid.

But do not underestimate the power of your du'ā also. Read Sūrah Yāsīn, Sūrah al-Raḥmān, and Sūrah al-Ikhlāṣ and dedicate them to him — through the barakah of this, his heart will soften. Wake up for Tahajjud and make du'ā for him. And additionally, maybe see if you can go to the masjid once in a while together — say, "Let us go together." That will hopefully become a source of encouragement for him.

Q: How do we gain connection back to Allah?

One easy way: spend some time after each Ṣalāh making du'ā. Start making du'ā — even if you do not move your lips or your tongue, just raise your hands and make du'ā to Allah. You will see your relationship with Allah being built up. The power of du'ā — you will build your relationship with Allah through it.

Q: Is a wealthy believer who donates in the path of Allah better than one who does not have money but follows the deen at the same level?

Were the Ṣaḥābah all wealthy? Of course not. But look — whoever is asking this question: are you giving from your labor and hard-earned earnings, even a few cents? That is the question. It is not about how much you are giving; it is about what percentage you are giving. All of us need to focus on the percentage, not the amounts. As long as you are giving something, alḥamdulillāh. And if a person cannot give because he literally has no food to eat, then his desire to give will also in shā' Allāh give him the same reward — as the Prophet ﷺ said, the reward for both of them will be the same.

Q: A brother keeps asking how to stop his brother from being a Dayyūth?

A dayyūth is the person who does not have ghayrah — who does not have any sense of possessiveness over those gifts of Allah that are his only — for example, over his wife or his daughter. He does not mind his wife meeting with other men and greeting other men.

I was just thinking about this today — a brother told me this afternoon that a friend of his comes over and hugs his wife. He said, "Man, I feel so uncomfortable when he is hugging my wife." This is today's conversation. This is what you call dayyūth — where a person has absolutely no sense of shame over his spouse. And honestly, the ghayrah is found even within the animals of the jungle. The lion has ghayrah over his lioness. How sad it is that a man does not have ghayrah over his daughter or his wife.

This is unfortunately becoming too normal in our society. So we have to go back to the fiṭrah — by coming to dīnī gatherings like this regularly, involving ourselves in the dhikr of Allah, getting good ṣuḥbah and good companionship. Bit by bit, the rust of the heart will fall away, and in shā' Allāh the proper Islamic etiquette will come into our lives and his life. Āmīn.

Closing: The Recital of Sūrah Al-Kahf

We will now in shā' Allāh recite the first ten and last ten āyāt of Sūrah al-Kahf. We encourage everyone in our community to make this a habit. As has been mentioned by my teachers and as I have been sharing with the community — because we are entering an era of what you call the Dajjālī fitan, with lots of confusing and challenging things happening to our faith — we should try to read Sūrah al-Kahf every single Friday. And if possible, every single day. If we cannot read it every single day, then at least once a week read the entire Sūrah al-Kahf. And then every day, just read the first ten and last ten āyāt in shā' Allāh.