Reflect & Connect | Surah Taghabun - Ep.01 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | 12/03

Reflect & Connect | Surah Taghabun — Episode 1

Please kindly come close together. Brothers and sisters, insha'Allah, if you can please move forward and be mindful if there's anyone completing their sunnah. And sisters as well, insha'Allah, in the sisters' prayer hall, let's try our best to fill up the gaps and sit as close as possible to each other.

If you need to grab a chair, go ahead, but sit as close to the circle, insha'Allah. This is where the blessings will be, insha'Allah. Let's not sit where we can hear only, but rather, insha'Allah, sit close to the gathering. And this will bring about lots of blessings upon us, insha'Allah.

The Importance of Taking Notes

As we begin, alhamdulillah, we embark on a new surah today. For the month, as was announced, Surah al-Taghabun. Alhamdulillah, one of the kind anonymous brothers donated as a gift for those who are engaged in taking notes and trying to make the most of it. We got some beautiful brand new notebooks here and some great pens. May Allah reward the brother who's doing that.

And I ask you, insha'Allah, if you plan to come on a regular basis and take notes, please take one here and actually use it. And you will find it, insha'Allah, to be beneficial. When a person sits and writes, you're sitting with the right intention, right? You're saying, ya Allah, I'm gonna listen to something that's worth writing. When a person doesn't even sit prepared to write, it's as though we've already shut our mind off — they say, I'm probably not gonna hear something worth writing. Then what are we gonna get?

So Allah gives you based on what you are asking. The Prophet ﷺ said:

"I am as My servant thinks of Me."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 7405; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2675)

A person will be treated based on what he thinks of Allah. So, alhamdulillah, when we sit with the intention of writing, it is a talab — it is showing to Allah: ya Allah, please grant me knowledge from that which You have, and allow my questions to be answered. So, whether it's these notebooks that this brother gave, may Allah reward him, or your own phone, or whatever the case may be — any dars we are attending, or even a book that we are reading, we should take a habit of highlighting it, taking some sticky notes.

Or, as our Ustad Muftiullah Al-Haq would do — at the beginning of each book, he would write the page number of anything interesting found in that entire book. He would make it his own table of contents. Any book he was reading, he would write at the beginning: page 24, this story. Page 75, this story. Because you have a multi-hundred page book, and next time you look through it, you're gonna forget where you read what you read. Look at the front page and it's got your own specific table of contents of everything you found interesting and made note of. So these habits we pick up from our elders and scholars — if we implement that within our own lives, we'll find ourselves benefiting tremendously, insha'Allah.

Opening Du'a for This New Surah

As we begin this new surah, we ask Allah to allow us to benefit from the secrets of the Qur'an. We ask Allah to allow us to become amongst those upon whom the knowledge of the asrar of the Qur'an is opened up. We ask Allah to allow us all to become amongst those who find solutions to all of our problems — and the world's problems — in the book of Allah. We ask Allah to make us amongst those who are genuine lovers of the Qur'an, and who can make other people fall in love with the Qur'an. We ask Allah to make us amongst those who believe firmly with absolute conviction in every single revealed verse of Allah, and are able to apply it into our daily life as well. Ameen.

Introduction to Surah Taghabun

The surah we are covering today, Surah Taghabun, is a short surah. I don't know if it'll take three weeks or four weeks, or more or less, but the goal is definitely not to extend it beyond December — because alhamdulillah, we have a break coming, and then insha'Allah with the new year, we'll begin a whole new surah and new program as well.

Another thing is that this surah — many of the students know — whenever someone gets sick, we always recommend to them to read this surah multiple times for shifa. This is something I heard — actually, many of us heard — during COVID times, when subhanAllah so many of our close relatives, friends, family members, uncles and aunts, siblings, and others from our community became very, very ill. That was a time when we literally had nothing to do but watch, every single day holding our breath, waiting for the news to come. It was such a tough, horrible, difficult time that the ummah went through.

At that time when people would be sitting around asking what they should do, I remember some brothers and scholars mentioned: make a habit of reading Surah al-Taghabun 41 times and just sit and pray for shifa. Is this something from hadith? No, it is not. It was something from the practice of the scholars that they found beneficial. And so alhamdulillah, I benefited from it myself, practiced on it, shared it with hundreds of people — students, volunteers, community members, and all different groups. Alhamdulillah, I know so many people have begun to do that and have found it to be miraculous.

At the end of the day, it's the book of Allah, and Allah is all-Qadir. Every time, anytime. But His qudra becomes even more obvious when everyone else fails. His qudra is always there, but we just don't see it because we're focused on what others are doing. His qudra is what's allowing other people to do what they do. But then there are many times when Allah pulls back and cancels everyone else's accounts — their hands are tied, they can't do anything. And at that time a person truly focuses only on Allah. And that is when Allah shows His qudra. That's when you start genuinely seeing the power of Allah.

A Story of Tawakkul: The Physician Who Went to the Conflict Zone

Recently, when I was mentioning some physicians who went abroad — one of them was in the midst of this war and genocide — he said, when he spoke to his mom and dad, they vehemently said, absolutely not. His mother cried for one hour, begging him not to go. He had already purchased his ticket, made his plans to go, and people were waiting to receive him there. She said for one hour: put your hand on the Qur'an and promise me you will never go to the conflict zone. And he said, mom, I can't. He said she cried so much — I felt so bad. The father, similarly. He said: I love my parents, and I'm going to do something great, but I hate that I'm breaking their hearts. This feels so bad.

So he said, the next morning was his flight. What did he do? He got up for tahajjud, qiyam al-layl. He prayed tahajjud, recited whatever came to his heart, and then cried himself in front of Allah — the way his parents had cried. He said: ya Allah, I made this intention to serve Your creation. And here I have my parents, whom I also owe, and they are crying like this. I feel so caught in between. Ya Allah, make the best happen for me.

He said, he finished his tahajjud salah and began to recite some Qur'an. He opened up the mushaf and came across the story of Musa عليه السلام and how Allah saved him. He said: I just felt that Allah was going to bring a way out for me. And then after fajr that morning, he talked to his parents — subhanAllah, a complete 180. They said: go, we're excited for you. The father said: from every cell in my body, every atom, I support you. This is the best thing you could have done. And within a few hours, Allah changed their hearts.

What do we learn from that? That no matter how tough the situation may be, the world may give up. If you depend on the world, you should also give up — because the world has a ceiling for everything. But Allah has no ceiling. There is no such thing as an end, something that is finite. Allah is infinite in every sense. And so when a person connects himself with this infinite power, then every single obstacle becomes zero. Every single difficulty you are going through, you can overcome it — even though it may seem impossible. Even though everyone has given up. But when a person is connected with Al-Qadir, which we are going to see now in this surah, then you'll see Allah will allow you to become triumphant. But we have to connect ourselves once again with the book of Allah.

The Meaning of Taghabun — Mutual Loss

Taghabun has been translated as "the great loss" — or more precisely, mutual loss. غَبْن means loss, especially when you are deceived — you are deceptively losing. The Prophet ﷺ said in a famous hadith:

"There are two blessings which many people squander: health and free time."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6412)

مَغْبُون — from the same root as تَغَابُن. The majority of people are in great loss — and not just that they are losing, but the fact that they don't realize they are losing. When you don't realize it, you don't pay attention to it, and you don't address the issue.

The First Blessing: Health (Al-Sihha)

Number one: health — الصِّحَّة. What an amazing hadith of the Prophet ﷺ, which lays the foundation for a successful society, a successful family, a successful individual. A person can only worship Allah the way he would like to when he is capable of doing so. When a person loses that health, loses the ability to walk to the masjid, or travel, a lot of good that he could have done, he is no longer doing.

Yes, a person used to do it all his life and now he's become old — in old age he is not able to do it. What's going to happen? Insha'Allah, whatever reward he used to get for doing good in the past, Allah will continue to give him that reward. As the hadith states:

"His good deeds continue to be recorded for him as if he were still performing them."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2996)

A person who was sick and used to do a lot of good things, but now he has fallen ill and is not able to — because of his good habits, Allah will judge him based on his record. How was he doing? He will continue to get the reward the way he used to.

On the other hand, a person who is healthy but is not benefiting from that health — when are we usually healthy? The younger we are, the healthier we usually are. In the youthful years, if a person wastes his time in the hookah shops, on the streets, in the lounges, in the clubs, wherever else — then he makes tawbah when he grows older — subhanAllah, what a loss. Because he could have done so much when he was younger but he wasted it away. And now when one foot is in the grave, he wants to serve Allah. Yes, you can — but the amount you're able to do is far less than what you could have done.

This is where the ummah is lacking. Young people, healthy people, are completely missing the point that this is the time for us to earn our jannah — by sacrificing for the deen, by putting ourselves forth, by doing things which others can't do.

And similarly we understand from here: all harmful things to our health, a person needs to stay away from. Everything that will harm a person's physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health. Because when we talk about health, we're not talking about only physical health. Many times you see people who are physically very healthy but they're emotionally disturbed, psychologically disturbed — they're almost in a worse situation than someone who is physically unhealthy.

If a person has an amazing body but has fallen into critical depression, into some other type — Allah forbid — of psychosis, then subhanAllah, they aren't able to do anything. And you realize when you see someone who has lost their mind — a fully grown man who has everything becomes more incapable than a small toddler. So we understand that sihha is not only physical health — it is also mental and psychological health.

So alhamdulillah, if you are sitting here today — psychologically healthy, emotionally healthy, no depression, no excessive stress — this is the time to do things. Tonight. Because Allah forbid, tomorrow, if a person does not have full control over his mind, does not have full control of his emotions, you're just sitting there crying. Have you met someone who's just crying uncontrollably? I have. A grown man just sitting there crying. You ask him: is there a reason for crying? He says: I don't know why I'm crying. Just crying, tissue after tissue. SubhanAllah. It happens. May Allah protect all of us. But a person can't do anything in that situation.

So, sihha of your aql, sihha of your heart. What is your heart? Your ruhaniyya, your spirituality. A person who is connected with Allah. A person who is not following his desires all the time — that means you have qalbun salim. Your heart is clean. That is a huge blessing. Because there are so many people who have dirty hearts. Hearts filled with a desire for sin. Hearts filled with hatred towards one another. Jealousy. Hearts that have hypocrisy in them. Ostentation. Shirk. Those are sick people.

So we have to be thankful to Allah for a healthy body, a healthy soul, and a healthy mind. We need to do whatever we need to do to keep all three things healthy. And we need to stay away from anything that will cause sickness to all three — something that's gonna make you physically sick, something that's gonna make you emotionally and mentally sick, and something that's gonna make you spiritually sick.

Many boys and girls and adults have a habit of watching shorts, just following stuff on social media. What is that doing? That is poison for the heart. Every single time our eyes fall on something useless or haram — what does that do? That makes our heart sick. So just like we should stay away from harmful drugs and harmful food, similarly a person needs to ensure that they stay away from consuming that which will be harmful to the soul by watching it or listening to it.

They say: you are what you eat. And we'll say: you are what you watch. Not only are you what you eat — you are also what you watch. And you are what you listen to. So it is so important for us to value our sihha by staying away from those things that are going to be harmful.

The Second Blessing: Free Time (Al-Faragh)

The majority of people will be at loss regarding الْفَرَاغ — free time. Most of us think that we don't have free time. Students: between each passing period, you have seven minutes, five minutes. Sometimes a teacher may be speaking to another student — add another two minutes. Sometimes there's a teachers' meeting — you got another four minutes. Every single day between each period, if you got five minutes, that's 40 minutes right there per day. Easily. Beyond the time between adhan and iqamah, beyond the time between sunnah and the next period — you add all that up and just within the school day, you've got 50 to 60 minutes that are unaccounted for. Then you've got your time outside of class, from 6 PM all the way till next morning. For non-students — it's countless how much time we have. But may Allah forgive me and forgive you — we're honestly squandering it away.

So much of this time is just being wasted. And then last minute, when death comes — what does the Qur'an say? Surah al-Munafiqun. Allah says, in the last ruku:

"And spend from what We have provided you before death approaches one of you and he says, 'My Lord, if only You would delay me for a brief term so I would give charity and be among the righteous.'"

When the angel of death will come, he will say: why didn't You give me some respite for a little bit? We procrastinate. We all have a habit of this. He could have used his time for the past 70 years properly. But subhanAllah, Allah says — this is exactly what this person is going to do. When the angel of death is right there, he's going to see it. Allah says:

And in Surah al-Waqi'ah, Allah says:

"Then why, when the soul reaches the throat..."

The soul has reached the throat, the death rattle has begun. He's about to die. And you and I don't see — everyone at that time is maybe talking to someone on the phone, talking to the doctors, talking to the nurse. But he sees what you and I don't see. He's watching the angel of death. Where the nurse comes in from, the doctor comes in from — the angel of death is entering the room. And he's communicating with the angel of death, saying:

Please give me just a little bit more time — so that I may give charity and be from amongst those who are righteous. Brother, you had 70 years to give charity. You had 70 years to do salah and righteousness. And Allah says:

When the time comes, there's not going to be respite or delay for even a second. That's it.

And Allah is well aware of what you're doing. This is what الصِّحَّة وَالْفَرَاغ means. We are losing our time when it comes to health and when it comes to our free time. And unfortunately, we are going to pay the biggest price if we don't make tawbah from it. So every single day, we need to make tawbah. Ya Allah, I seek forgiveness from You for the time I've wasted in my life.

How many of us have made tawbah for the wastage of time? We've made tawbah from lying, from missing our prayer, from not paying our zakat, from looking at haram. But how many of us have said: ya Allah, please forgive me for the time I wasted scrolling, surfing, just doing nothing? We are not going to get tawfiq to use our time properly unless we start repenting from wastage of time. I want all of us to include this in our du'a every day. Because we're honestly the biggest abusers of our time.

Ya Allah, please forgive me for the time I've wasted today. If you do this every single day, a day will come insha'Allah when we will not be wasting time. A person will be given tawfiq — look at the sincerity of this person, that he wants to utilize every second. And insha'Allah, due to our sincerity, Allah will change us and make us efficient people.

The Solution: Dhikr and the Tasbih Counter

Beloved brothers, tasbih and dhikr are so easy. Get yourself a tasbih counter. And the idea is: whenever you have nothing going on, you're waiting for something — just pull it out. Because when we have nothing to do, what do we do? We pull out our phones. And then we say, I got 5 minutes, let me surf something. Instead of that, how about we say: every single day, I'm gonna do 5,000 istighfar. I promise you, if you start, you'll see all that free time you have — by Asr time you'll have finished 5,000. And you'll say: I need to increase my amount, I can do more than this. Imagine spending a day with 5,000 istighfar while doing everything else you're doing — how much more productive that day has become. So that's where we need to start being smart with our time. Simple dhikr of Allah.

The Opening Verses of Surah Taghabun

This is the last of the surahs in which Allah begins with tasbih. Let us now look at the first four verses of Surah Taghabun:

"Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth glorifies Allah. To Him belongs the dominion, and to Him belongs all praise, and He is over all things competent. It is He who created you, and among you is the disbeliever, and among you is the believer. And Allah is Seeing of what you do. He created the heavens and earth in truth and formed you and perfected your forms; and to Him is the final destination. He knows what is within the heavens and earth and knows what you conceal and what you declare. And Allah is Knowing of that within the breasts."

Why Is This Surah Called Taghabun?

We said this surah is about mutual loss. We talked about dhikr. The first thing in this surah begins with the dhikr of Allah. When we are missing out on dhikr, what's going to happen on the Day of Judgment? We're going to be in mutual loss. But why is this surah specifically called Surah Taghabun? Because in ayah 9, Allah says:

"The Day He will assemble you for the Day of Assembly — that is the Day of Mutual Deception."

I want to leave the more detailed discussion of this to the day we cover that ayah. But I just want you to think about how powerful this is — that Allah called the Day of Judgment "the Day of Mutual Deception." Everyone on the Day of Judgment is going to be in for a shock. All the people who thought they are going to be super ahead may find themselves at the back of the line. And all those people we thought were going to be at the back of the line, they're going to be at the front.

Think about that. The many people who think they've made it — on the Day of Judgment they'll realize they haven't made it anywhere. And the ones we made fun of, or thought less of because they did not have material success, because they didn't have fame, no name, no one cared for them, no one invited them for Eid, no one properly said salam to them — if they came, no one recognized them; if they weren't there, no one worried about their absence — in the eyes of Allah, these were extremely close people to Him. But communities and societies did not appreciate them. They said: look at this dervish, look at this faqir, sitting in a corner. Brother, in your eyes he may be a faqir, but in the eyes of Allah, he's the aghna — the richest of the lot.

And the ones that we all surround because they got the fanciest car, the fanciest house — if their heart was not connected to Allah, then even though in the eyes of the people everyone wants to be with them, they will be at the back of the line. Today, on the strength of his money and contacts, he's able to skip the line. But on the Day of Judgment, Allah will place him at the back.

This is what we're talking about — the mutual shock and awe, the mutual deception that's going to happen. Everyone saying: what? You're over here? I thought you were going to be there. This is such a telling ayah about what will happen on the Day of Judgment.

There are approximately 24 different names of the Day of Judgment in the Qur'an. And amongst those names, two of them appear in this surah: Yawm al-Jam' — the Day of the Ultimate Gathering, and Yawm al-Taghabun — the Day of Mutual Deception.

The Gravity of a Gathering Without Dhikr

People who do not do tasbih are missing out. The Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith:

"No group of people sit in a gathering in which they do not remember Allah and do not send blessings upon their Prophet, except that it will be a source of remorse for them on the Day of Judgment."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3380; graded hasan by al-Tirmidhi)

Brothers, I want you to listen to what I just said. Every single sitting, every single conversation, every single chat we have for hours — anywhere in which Allah's name is not taken and salawat upon the Prophet ﷺ is not recited — on the Day of Judgment, a person will be crying over the fact that why did I waste that one hour? You might have made a million-dollar deal. But if tasbih was not done in that majlis, if salawat was not sent, then no matter how beneficial it may have seemed, it will be a source of remorse on the Day of Judgment.

Now you're going to say: I'm sitting with three non-Muslims, what am I supposed to do, pull out my tasbih? Who said tasbih has to be done publicly? Who said it has to be done by moving your lips out loud? You could do it in your heart. You could say: I'm a Muslim and we begin with a prayer. Let me begin this important meeting with a prayer — if you don't mind, I'll do it out loud. How can he not like this type of du'a? He never even thought you could speak to God like this. SubhanAllah, you've given him amazing dawah and connected him with Allah through the power of du'a. And insha'Allah he'll be inspired.

All of our meetings — even if you're going to meet someone for the purpose of marriage — we begin with hamd and salat al-nabi and we end with that as well. And if a person cannot verbalize it, then at least do it in the heart. Otherwise, beloved brothers, this is a very serious hadith — this majlis will be a source of remorse for us on the Day of Judgment.

Kaffaratul Majlis — The Expiation of a Gathering

That is why at the end of every gathering, we should say the kaffaratul majlis:

"Glory be to You, O Allah, and all praise. I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except You. I seek Your forgiveness and I repent to You."

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3433; graded sahih by al-Tirmidhi)

We're supposed to say it at the end of every gathering. Notice the beautiful shift here: you say سُبْحَانَ اللَّهِ وَبِحَمْدِهِ — praising Allah in the third person. Then it shifts: سُبْحَانَكَ اللَّهُمَّ وَبِحَمْدِكَ. You're now speaking directly to Allah — the first person. Why the shift? Because when you start praising Allah, you start getting closer to Him. And when you start getting closer to Allah, you shift from third person to first person. When you say "all praises belong to Him" — after you've been praising Him, He's brought you closer. And now you can say "all praises belong to You."

Tafsir of Verse 1: Everything Glorifies Allah

"Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth glorifies Allah. To Him belongs the dominion, and to Him belongs all praise, and He is over all things competent."

مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ is the terminology of the Qur'an to refer to anything and everything besides Allah. Because Allah is not in anything — Allah is above everything. Allah cannot be inside His creation. So this phrase means: everything besides Allah.

Now, beloved friends — when you look at the galaxies, when you look at the sky and the heavens, for a human being, it's practically infinite. We can't even fathom how big this is. With the latest satellites and imagery, we're finding things hundreds of millions, or even billions, of light years away — which hurts your mind just thinking about. So for the human being, it's virtually non-stop, infinite. But for Allah, of course, it is finite. For Allah, all of it has a limit. And Allah is saying: every single thing in the heavens and the earth is doing tasbih.

What does tasbih mean? It is comprehensive. Part of it is tanzih — saying Allah is free from all blemishes. Part of it is tamjid — saying Allah has all sorts of beautiful attributes. Part of it is tahmid — thanking Allah. All of that is included in tasbih.

And مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ includes our own human existence, our human body. The Qur'an says — as we covered in the previous surah, Surah Fussilat — that on the Day of Judgment, the body will speak. The skin will start talking. The person will say: Oh skin, why are you speaking against us? And the skin will say:

"Allah has made us speak — He who has made everything speak."

That means there is a certain life that exists within our skin — not just cellular existence, but a level of existence that has shu'ur, that sensibility that Allah exists and must be praised. So our human body is also doing tasbih of Allah.

Now, if I tell one of the students: everyone did the homework — and you come to me and say you didn't do it — what does that mean? It was obviously assigned and clear. You simply did not want to do it. So when Allah says يُسَبِّحُ لِلَّهِ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ — one explanation is that Allah is honing in on the human being. How dare you not do tasbih when the entire existence, everything besides Allah, is praising Allah, glorifying Allah, declaring Allah free from all blemishes? How can this one human being be the sore thumb?

Especially when Allah says:

"He has subjected to you whatever is on the earth — all of it."

Everything is serving the human being. And this human being does not want to serve Allah. Every single thing Allah created:

"He created for you all that is on the earth."

It's all for you to enjoy. And you couldn't say thank you? That's all. This entire creation that your eyes fall upon was made to serve you. And all we need is for you to say: thank you, ya Allah. What does the Qur'an say?

"What would Allah do with your punishment if you are grateful and believe?"

What will Allah do to you? How does Allah benefit by harming you, by punishing you, if you do two things: be grateful — شَكَرْتُمْ — and have iman — آمَنتُمْ. Two things Allah wants from us: shukr and iman.

Husn al-Dhan — Having Good Thoughts About Allah

My brothers, this is an important point. We have to have good thoughts about Allah — husn al-dhan billah. Part of having good thoughts about Allah is not thinking that Allah created me to punish me. Not thinking: what if I'm predestined to go to hell? These are bad thoughts. A person should never think: I might work 70 years serving Allah and He might just throw me into hell — because وَهُوَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ, He can do whatever He wants. That type of concept is not what Allah is. That is from shaitan. Say أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ and do not allow this thought to come into your mind.

Instead, remind yourself that Allah loves us. He Himself is saying: what will I do by punishing you? All I'm asking you to do is be grateful and have faith.

My beloved friends — they used to say that when you're young, the fear of Allah should be dominant. And as you grow older, hope in Allah should be dominant. Because when you're young, the fear of Allah hopefully will keep you away from sin. And as you grow older, the hope in Allah will keep you motivated and will not allow you to feel too down and depressed.

But I also think nowadays, with the way people's mentality is, we have to focus a lot on mercy — even for young people. Because people have sinned in 20 years what people would not have sinned in 70 years. And now they feel so depressed because of their sin. They can't keep their tawbah together. They do tawbah and they break it. They do tawbah and they break it. And so it becomes this catch-22. They say: what's the point? Whatever I repented from last Ramadan, I'm back into that. Whatever I repented from last Umrah, I'm back into that. I give up. I guess I'm meant for hell.

I've heard this. And I think it's so important nowadays that we focus on giving hope to people. When someone comes and says they've fallen into XYZ sin and feel like there's no place for them in Islam — even the person in the worst crisis — you have to give them hope. You have to say: Allah will get you out of this mess. You repent to Allah — you beg Allah and ask people how to get help. Allah will get you out of this.

Sin Weakens Spiritual Immunity

Sin is like something that weakens your immune system. When you sin a lot, your soul becomes extremely weak and your immunity goes down. So now even a small waswasa can send a person out of the fold of Islam. When a person commits a lot of sin, a small wind of doubt can take him out — like a small cold can be deadly to someone with a severely compromised immune system.

If you're writing — write this point, because it's very important. You wonder: how come the elders never got these waswasas about Islam? Or if they did, how come they never left the fold? Why is every other young person nowadays saying, "I'm not sure about Islam anymore"? One of the many reasons is that sin has become too common. And the abundance of sins — الذُّنُوب — brings darkness to the heart. And when the heart does not have the spiritual strength to push back a waswasa, even one waswasa will come and cling to the heart.

And when a person has sinned, his relationship with Allah is weakened. So anything that has a dual meaning — if one meaning can be a negative meaning — the waswasa will take him to that negative meaning: that Allah doesn't like you, Allah hates you, Allah is out to destroy you. So if you want to protect yourself from waswasas, beloved brothers and sisters — part of that is, of course, studying Islamic aqeedah and kalam. But number one, even before that, is to protect yourself from sin. Sin is what opens up our mind to doubts about Islam.

If you're going through a lot of doubts about Islam, or objections arise about a hadith of the Prophet ﷺ — before you go Google it, what should you do? Make istighfar. Pray two rakat Salat al-Tawbah. And say: ya Allah, please forgive me — I don't know what sin I have done because of which this doubt has come into my mind.

I'm serious, students of knowledge. Remember that. When you get stuck on something, when objections come to you about a Qur'anic verse or hadith, the first thing we need to do is istighfar. Imam Abu Hanifa, rahimahullah — he would say that when there are things that he was stuck on, he would immediately turn to Allah seeking forgiveness. And it was Fudayl ibn Ayyad, I believe, who started crying when he heard this. And he said: the fact that Imam Abu Hanifa recognized that he was not able to reach an answer was because his sins were so few in the first place:

"He recognized that because of the scarcity of his sins."

And he cried and said: how many people are in a similar situation, but cannot figure out their obstacles because of how abundant their sins are? Many times we hit roadblocks — in solving a problem at work, in our marriage, in our business, in understanding a verse of the Qur'an, in understanding a page of usul al-fiqh. These roadblocks are coming because of sins. So any time we are finding problems in our life, let us do Salat al-Tawbah and Salat al-Hajah together and say: ya Allah, I seek forgiveness from You — I probably don't know what I have done, but what I'm faced with may be because of my sins.

We should have husn al-dhan with Allah and su' al-dhan with ourselves — good thoughts about Allah, critical self-reflection about ourselves. The Prophet ﷺ said:

"A man is indeed deprived of sustenance because of a sin that he commits."

(Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 4022; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22251)

Tafsir of Verse 1 Continued: The Magnificence of Allah's Ownership and Praise

Allah says: everything in the heavens and the earth is doing tasbih. Ya insaan — how can you not do it when everyone else is doing it? And why should you not do it when all the kingdom belongs to Him and all praise belongs to Him?

This is a very interesting point. Some people own things, but they are not praiseworthy — because they're mean, they don't want to give, they don't want to share. You don't benefit from them. And there are other people that everyone loves because they're very nice, but they don't own anything and can't give you anything. Allah is the only one who owns everything — and He's the only one who is worthy of all praise — because He gives everyone whatever they need, in a manner that is best for them in His knowledge.

And when you're waiting in line for something, guess what — He's the only one you should be contacting. He can give it to you when all other doors are closed. There is no ceiling when you're dealing with Allah. His qudra means that He created you from non-existence. And:

He is the one who gives life to the dead — and He gives life to the dead earth every single spring.

Tafsir of Verse 2: Believer and Disbeliever

"It is He who created you, and among you is the disbeliever, and among you is the believer. And Allah is Seeing of what you do."

Allah only makes two distinctions between the people of the world: some are believers, some are disbelievers. There is no كَافِرٌ عِرَاقِي, كَافِرٌ أَمْرِيكِي, or مُؤْمِنٌ فِلَسْطِيني. None of that. It's either مُؤْمِن or كَافِر. If you're a believer, it doesn't make a difference what country you're from, what your ethnicity, culture, or language is. You are a mu'min and that's it — that's all that matters.

Allah has given each one of us ikhtiyar — the choice. He has given us the ability to be good or bad. You cannot look at a child and say: this kid is so naughty, he's going to hell. Astaghfirullah. And you can't say that about yourself either.

Some people use the question of qadar as an excuse: if Allah already knows what I'm going to do, what's the point? Brother — can you show me a screenshot of the لَوْحُ الْمَحْفُوظ? Show me the screenshot of Allah's knowledge. You don't know what's written. Why bring this issue? All of this is just an excuse not to do what you need to do. And you never bring this excuse when it comes to dunya — you work hard for the world as though you own it. As soon as the issue of deen comes, you pull out the taqdeer card. Only in the matters of deen. This is pure shaitan.

When you don't know what's in the knowledge of Allah, why don't you just do what you can do? Allah created within all of us the ability to do good or bad. And we will be punished or rewarded based on our choices. So Allah made us, number one: mukhayyar — people of choice. Number two: He gave us a dual personality — we can do good and bad. Number three: He gave us cognitive abilities to recognize what is right and wrong. Number four: He gave us a mizan — a scale. That mizan is our fitrah salima, our uncorrupted nature. And if our nature gets corrupted, there is shari'ah. So we have to weigh our options — just like we do in business and investments, we have to weigh our choices in matters of deen as well.

And the Nabi ﷺ said:

"Do deeds, for everyone will be facilitated for what he was created for."

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4949; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2647)

Each one of you — keep on working. Allah will allow you to do the work that you have been facilitated for.

And the hadith also states:

"Kufr is one religion."

No matter what color or form it comes in — it is one religion. And Islam is supposed to be one deen. So we need to learn how to overcome our internal differences.

A Personal Reflection and Call to Action

My beloved brothers, today — on this Tuesday — ask yourself, and I ask myself: how has my Tuesday been spent since fajr until now? Was it spent the way someone going to jannah spends their day? Or was it spent otherwise? If the former — make shukr. If the latter — make istighfar. And take responsibility. No one can help us if we don't want to help ourselves.

The Story of the Du'a for MIT

One scholar mentioned a story of a brother who always gave generously to Islamic causes — always the first to raise his hand. The scholar asked him why. He said: I'll tell you — it's a personal story. I made du'a all my life that my son should get into MIT. And Allah eventually accepted my du'a. He went to MIT. But when he came back home after that first semester, he said: Pops, I've got some news. MIT is going great, but one small detail — I'm no longer a Muslim.

He cried so much. And he said: subhanAllah, I realized I've been making the wrong du'a my entire life. I should have at least added: ya Allah, get my son into MIT if it's good for him. Ya Allah, get him into MIT if he'll be able to protect his deen. I should have said: ya Allah, if it's good for him. I didn't add that. I said: at all cost, just get him into MIT. And now I ended up with an atheist in my house. And now I'm trying to pay back by doing something for someone else's children — maybe Allah will guide my son.

This is what we're talking about. Don't make a specific du'a and say: how come You're not giving me this? You don't know if it's good or bad for you. Qualify your du'a. Say: ya Allah, if it's good for me. And that's exactly what you find in du'a al-istikhara:

(Du'a al-Istikhara — Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1166)

O Allah, if you know that this affair is good for me — in my deen, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affairs — then decree it for me and make it easy for me, then bless me in it. And if you know that this affair is bad for me — in my deen, my livelihood, and the outcome of my affairs — then turn it away from me and turn me away from it, and decree for me what is good wherever it may be. That is the power of du'a al-istikhara.

The Story of Khawaja Khan Muhammad and the Flight

I'll share a story of Khawaja Khan Muhammad, who is my sheikh's sheikh. When his mother passed away, he was in England. They said: there's only one flight, and it's fully booked. They got to the gate — the flight was full, the gate had already closed and the flight had left. His sons said: sheikh, let's leave. But Khawaja Khan Muhammad said: no, we're not leaving. I'm going to sit and do dhikr here. So he sat at the gate and kept doing dhikr of Allah.

What happened? An announcement was made — six people had gotten sick on the flight and the flight was coming back. The flight returned. Six people deboarded. And the sheikh, his children, and those traveling with him boarded. Allahu Akbar.

So when I say the flight has taken off — even after that, things can happen. The point is: look at his tawakkul. Why did he not stand up even after the flight had left the gate? Because of his trust in Allah. His husn al-dhan with Allah. That is the point. When you have that level of relationship with Allah, then Allah genuinely takes care of your needs.

Connecting the Muslim Community — A New Initiative at Darussalam

Sad as it is — in corporate America and elsewhere, people from certain communities always look out for one another and uplift those who share their identity. But among Muslims, may Allah forgive us, Muslim identity has been weakened. As soon as a person gets a little bit of power, a little bit of promotion — that's it. He doesn't want to know any Muslim brother. Because he says: if I say السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُم, I'll lose everything I have. That mentality is destroying us. Instead of Muslim brothers helping one another, we're seeing Muslim brothers unfortunately harming one another.

That's one of the things we want to address — part of our Tuesday night tafsir here every week, but also through a new program starting at Darussalam: a monthly Friday night social. A gathering where brothers and sisters who care about Islamic identity come together — not for a bayan or a lecture, just over tea and connection. If you're in cybersecurity, find someone in that field. If you're in journalism, find someone in that field. If you're a 30-year practicing physician and you find someone who wants to get into a residency program — connect. We need a platform in the masjid where the only criterion is: you're here, you're a Muslim, and you want to be identified as a Muslim.

Insha'Allah, through the barakah of this, good marriages will happen. Good businesses will start. Good partnerships will form. What we genuinely want to see is a Medina community — from the time of the Prophet ﷺ — where not just religious things, but actually everything, is religion for us. Your job is religion. Your business is religion. Your marriage is religion. Everything is deen — it starts and it ends with the masjid.

This is where the tahniq happens for a newborn baby — when you get the date and place it on the palate of the newborn, the sunnah. And this is where the janazah happens. From the time you're born till the time you die, the masjid is the place — مِنَ الْمَهْدِ إِلَى اللَّحْدِ. From the cradle to the grave. And that's what we want with these Tuesday night tafsir gatherings and the new social initiative.

Announcements

Today is also Giving Tuesday. If you haven't had a chance to donate to your local charity — including Darussalam — please do so. We spent over ten and a half billion dollars on Black Friday, the largest amount ever spent in this country. A big chunk of us have spent something or other. Alhamdulillah — it's a great opportunity to give some sadaqah as well. On the way out, please consider doing so.

Please stop by at the bookstore today. We're highlighting two books: Path to Perfection, which focuses on spiritual health — the main diseases of the heart and their remedies, written in the past century by Shaykh Masihullah Khan — a great book for starters. And then Imam Ghazali's Ihya 'Ulum al-Din, a summary of that known as the 40 Principles of the Deen. That one goes back a thousand years.

Alhamdulillah, we have our winter intensive coming on marriage. For those previously married, currently married, wanting to get married, or who have children that need to get married — every single section of our society must attend this. The amount of crises we deal with every single day is mind-boggling. I encourage every one of you sitting here to please make niyyah to attend this three-day, 10 AM to 6 PM conference for both men and women. We have female speakers and male speakers. Separate retreats for sisters and brothers. We have psychologists, therapists, ulema, and muftis traveling from different parts of the country to join us insha'Allah.

Topics include: Strong Men and Noble Women — Islamic Roles in Marriage; Love in the Sunnah — Finding Your Path to a Blessed Union; The Sacred Contract and the Blessed Wedding; In-Law Insight; Intimacy in Islam; Enduring It Together — Safeguarding Marital Bonds; Islamic Guidance on Divorce; The Juggling Act — Balancing Work, Kids, and Your Marriage; Raising the Next Generation in the Era of Digital Media; and Mastering Marital Communication. Even if a person has been married for 20 or 30 years — this applies to you. Please, before you leave, sign up.

Remember: marriage is supposed to be لِتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا — solace and comfort. If you don't have solace and comfort, you have a problem. Address it. Don't say: life is short, I'll just handle this for 50 years. Because you're ruining your children's life. All those kids who have to sit and get traumatized every day watching their mom and dad fight — it's destructive. There's no reason any child should be subjected to that. And no matter what age you are — take this message to those moms and dads and ask them to join insha'Allah.

We also have our Thursday night Urdu program for bayan, Abdul Basit, and Seerah. And we have new hoodies available at the bookstall. If you do not receive messages about our programs, please join our WhatsApp group insha'Allah to stay connected.

And every Saturday morning after fajr, we have a talk on one of the 99 Names of Allah, followed by dhikr, du'a, and a hot breakfast. Please consider sponsoring one of those mornings and coming with your family and friends, insha'Allah.