Surah Al-Ahzab | Part 7 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | Weekly Tafsir

Opening & Introduction

Amma ba'd, respected elders and brothers, dear students and beloved listeners, Assalamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu.

Alhamdulillah, we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for blessing us this gathering again, to be able to sit in His house at a time when not everyone gets this opportunity, at a time to sit in a gathering of ilm when this also, not everyone is gifted with this gift. And the fact that our heart yearns to be here is a huge gift of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

We may think it's natural, but it's not natural. You may think of your own life, how many instances in the past, when you were invited to a gathering of this sort, your heart said no. And today your heart said yes, and why was that? Because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala accepted you, that's why.

It's nothing — no greatness belongs to myself or yourself. Everyone is here because Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chooses us to be present for any type of dini gathering. And so our thanks should be to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, number one.

Number two, many of us are here because of a group of friends. We're here because our sibling, our friend, someone in our family texted us, messaged us or brought us here. So the second person after we thank Allah should be those group of friends because of whom we are present here.

Almost all of us are here because of some good influence in our life. And the type of people we hang out with, the type of people we spend time with — that is the type of jazba, desire, intentions we'll have. If you stick around with people who are more inclined towards the din, then that's the direction you'll be going towards. And if we hang out with people who don't have that, then they'll take us in every direction besides that of the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So we owe it to those people. You might be saying, well, today I came here completely on my own, no one encouraged me. Now the fact that you even desire to be in the house of Allah — it's because of some background work that took place on you. Somewhere five years ago, two years ago, a year ago, someone spoke with you. Because of their efforts, we're sitting here today.

So we thank Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and then we thank our parents, our teachers and our good friends who have facilitated our coming here today.

As we are reading through Surah Al-Ahzab — last week we completed ayah 24. InshaAllah we'll start from ayah 25 today and go till the end of the juz, which is another 5–6 ayahs, and maybe even do the first ayah of juz 22 inshaAllah.

Tafsir of Surah Al-Ahzab — The Conclusion of the Battle of Khandaq (Ayah 25–27)

The final ayat of the end of the incident of Khandaq and the Battle of Al-Ahzab that we've been covering for the past few weeks:

Thus it was Allah alone who turned back those federated clans consumed in their own rage — بِغَيْظِهِمْ. They came to no good. They were not able to achieve their mission. Thus Allah did relieve the believers from fighting. And Allah is ever powerful, overpowering.

Moreover He brought those down from the very ramparts of the people of the scripture — the Banu Qurayzah, the Jews, who in treason broke the covenants they had made with the Prophet ﷺ, and supported the non-Muslim federated clans — Ghatfan and Quraysh and others who came from Makkah. These insiders backstabbed the Prophet ﷺ and made an alliance with the disbelievers to eradicate the Muslims.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says He hurled horror into their hearts — وَقَذَفَ فِي قُلُوبِهِمُ الرُّعْبَ. Some of them you believers killed, and some of them you captured.

Thus He allowed you to become inheritors of their land, their dwellings, and all of their wealth. They were exiled and you became owners of all of that. And moreover Allah has promised you another land — Khaybar — which you have never before trodden. This was going to happen a few years later. Allah is already giving them the glad tidings — a land they haven't seen yet will come into their hands soon. An amazing prophecy. And indeed Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is all-powerful over everything.

This is where the story of Al-Ahzab ends.

The Ayah of Choice for the Wives of the Prophet ﷺ (Ayah 28–31)

Then the next section, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is mediating an issue between the Prophet ﷺ and his wives. They saw that so many spoils of war were coming, lands were being conquered, and so the standard of living at home needed to be a little bit higher than what it was before. They asked for more. And the Prophet ﷺ said, I don't have. And I feel bad to say no. I feel bad to have to say no to you, but you should be intelligent enough and be cognizant of my feelings to never ask for something which I don't have — which would then make me feel guilty, and go against the method of lifestyle that I want to lead as a Prophet.

O Prophet ﷺ, say to your wives: If it is the plenteous life of this world and adornment that you want, then come — I shall make provisions for you, and then I will release you with the most gracious release, meaning from my marriage, in a nice manner after giving you all that you want.

However, if you choose and you favor Allah and His Messenger, and you want the abode of the Hereafter — then remember, indeed Allah has prepared for those of you who excel in doing good a magnificent reward.

O wives of the Prophet, if any of you were to ever commit a flagrant indecency — a very open, lewd act of sin — your torment will be multiplied twofold. The punishment will be twice for any of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ who commits any major sin. And that for Allah is so easy to do — to change who gets what, how much reward, how much punishment.

But each and every one of you who remains devoutly obedient to Allah and His Messenger, and who does righteous deeds — to her shall We give her reward two times that of other women. So the punishment is twice, double, and the reward is also double. And We have prepared a generous provision for her in the Hereafter.

Two Great Stories from the Battle of Khandaq

Story One: The Islam of Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud

This is where the section inshallah we're covering today — two powerful incidents that took place in Khandaq.

The first is the Islam of Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud. Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud — a very intelligent person from the Quraysh. He finds himself outside of Medina, holed up in this battle against the Muslims, surrounded by his comrades from Makkah and from the tribe of Ghatfan. And he started having a very deep inner conversation.

You see, that's how intelligence is. Wallahi, intelligence is a double-edged sword. Some of the most intelligent people become the most closest to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Imam Bukhari, Imam Tirmidhi, Imam Ahmad, Imam Hanifa — when you read their stories, you realize these people had an IQ beyond what you see today. They were exceptionally intelligent people. And their intelligence, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allowed them to use for His closeness.

But then at times, people have the intelligence and they don't use it appropriately. And what happens? They end up —

They become the lowest of the low. What do you think — was Hitler not smart? Was Mussolini not smart? All these people are very intelligent. But the reason they cause so much harm to themselves and to the ummah was because they misused it. It's like the massive caterpillar bulldozer that you've got — you can build a beautiful home, build a masjid with that. At the same time, if it comes into the wrong hands, a very well-perfected home can be destroyed within minutes. That is what the brain is. We have to ensure that this brain is chained up properly.

I had this conversation recently with some mashallah students who came here during the retreat — very intelligent, going to some of the best universities of the country, in very beautiful, amazing programs. And I asked one of them, I said, why did you choose specifically this program, which is so hard? And he said, I just have a really amazing gifted brain, and I want to challenge myself.

So what I explained to that youngster, and I'm explaining to the many youth who are sitting here today and adults as well, is that our brain is a gift from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. There is no other gift like it. This is what separates us from all other makhluq of Allah. This brain — the angels don't have it. The animals don't have it. The plants don't have it. Even though every single thing in the heavens and the earth prostrates to Allah and worships Allah and does tasbih of Allah as mentioned in the Qur'an, the aql that Allah has given the human being — no one else has this.

And it's a double-edged sword. You can reach أَعْلَى عِلِّيِّين, you can reach أَسْفَلَ سَافِلِين. You can go above the angels, you can go below the worst of the worst. SubhanAllah — you become a shaytan yourself, such that you don't even need an external shaytan to help you. You will teach shaytan tricks. This is shayateen al-insi wal-jinn, as the Qur'an speaks about — the shayateen amongst the humans.

But what I was mentioning to this youngster — and I say to all the young brothers sitting here — is: value the intelligence that Allah has given you. Most of us think that in order to do the work of deen, what do we need? Money. Everyone says, I want to make money first, and after I make money I'm going to do great things for the deen. This is approximately the mindset of everyone today.

I said: this is the mindset that people think — that in order to serve Islam, you need money. And hence the next 10 years, I'm going to college to do a specific field. Then after that I'll start earning money. And after I've risen and earned the money — at least 20 years: 10 years of studies, 10 years of earning — 20 years from today, inshallah I'll serve the deen. By then, we don't know if our bones will have disintegrated in the soil or what. We don't know if we'll still remain a Muslim. We don't know what will happen to the world outside. We don't know if Dajjal is going to be around. This is wishful thinking, which Islam does not ask you to do.

Islam does not say: if you're poor, go become rich and then serve the deen. No. In whatever situation Allah has put you, serve Islam through that situation. So one thing that we all have is aql. Everyone here — we have different degrees of it, but we all have aql. If you start thinking: let me just use my aql for the deen, let me use my intelligence to see how I can connect people towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala — amazing things will happen.

There are people here who have great graphic skills, great journalism skills, great oratory skills, great IT skills, great culinary skills. If you use your talent to serve the deen, amazing things will happen. And that's what I was trying to explain to this youngster — that wallahi, your aql is worth millions. Where did Google and all these companies start from? They started from intelligent people sitting in their garage thinking about something. That is the value of aql. You cannot put a price tag on it. All of the major corporations and inventions of this world start off with aql.

And then Allah will inspire it — Allah will inspire that aql with the good and the bad. That's why the ulama of Sirah say that Rasulullah ﷺ was أَعْقَلِ النَّاسِ — the most intelligent of all people. That you put the entire intelligence of every single human being and jinn together, and you compare it with the aql of Rasulullah ﷺ — he was the most intelligent. The Prophet ﷺ not only received revelation, was the most beautiful and most handsome, but there was no one more intelligent than him. The way he raised this ummah, the way he utilized his intelligence — his siyasa, his statesmanship, his generalship in the army, how he used what we later call psychology to understand people, to choose people for the right positions, and to understand the politics between different tribes — this doesn't come just like that. This is amazing intelligence, along with wisdom, and along with the wahi that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave him.

So what we need to do, my beloved brothers, is start using the intelligence that we have for the deen. When was the last time we thought: Ya Allah, I've got almost a perfect score in SAT, I took APs, I'm an A student — but I didn't run 200 laps to get this. I didn't eat bottles of vitamins to get this. I didn't do 300 push-ups a day to get this. Aql came to me from Allah. What did I do to earn it? Zero, nothing. You didn't choose or dictate your genes. That aql came from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.

So the way we're using our aql to make money, to market our business, to find a deal online — why don't we start using our aql to see how we can get a friend to the masjid? These are friends I have, they don't come to the masjid, they don't come to the tafsir. Let me use my aql to figure out how I can get them here. That is how you use your aql — to figure out how to grab them and get them to the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. How often have we used our aql for that?

Our biggest problem right now is getting people back to the masajid. Weddings are packed. All the banquet halls are packed. The caterers are overburdened. Flights are overbooked. The place that is empty is the house of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. So we have to start using our aql to change that.

The second thing is: to become a professional, to earn a certain amount of money, that's fine. But use your aql along with that to see how you can also study ilm. And with ilm, you will free the people from the shackles of their nafs and from the shackles of shaytan. Knowledge rules.

The people of iman and the people who have been given knowledge — Allah says, I'm going to raise their status. Not only in the akhirah, but in the dunya as well. The nikah has to take place by the qadi, by the imam sahab. The wealthiest person, driving the wealthiest car, has to come and sit in front of the qadi to have his daughter's nikah done. Ilm is something that will bring the biggest of the big to your feet.

And this is why one of the khulafa, when he was doing tawaf, he saw one of the freed slaves who had become an allama — sitting with his back towards the Ka'bah. And the khalifa saw a long line of people waiting to ask this sheikh questions. When he found out this man was a freed slave, he said: SubhanAllah, this is why I tell my sons the princes that you need to study. You could be the king, but you're never going to have what he has. Even the khalifa had to go to the back of the line to ask his question. So he said, this is what I tell my sons the princes — you need to go study ilm. Because ilm rules. If you have ilm, you can help people. If you have ilm, you get everything.

So my humble advice to all our listeners is to use your intelligence in the highest return, which is to study ilm. Study the deen. When you study qira'at, when you study hadith, you'll realize this is not for foolish people. People sometimes say, I want to study X, Y, Z because I want to challenge myself. Come and sit in the library and challenge yourself. Come and study qira'at or ilm al-hadith or ilm al-rijal, and you'll push yourself — your head will hurt. You'll say, my God, I didn't even realize this is how deep this stuff is.

So this is the gist of what I want to say here — value the gift of aql, and use that for the service of deen. Do not think you need to have money first. Money will come. And guess what — if you have aql, you will take the people who have money and who are spending it in haram, and you'll use your aql to divert their money from haram towards halal. Without earning a cent, you could become a multi-millionaire in reward. What do I mean? Someone spending millions in haram — you go motivate him, use knowledge and hikmah and wisdom to change the direction of his life. Now 10 million a year he's investing in halal. You didn't earn one dollar — hence you don't have to give hisab — and yet you're getting the reward of 10 million being spent in good.

Abdurrahman ibn Awf radiyallahu anhu, yes, he was the best of the best. He spent his money on who? On the wives of the Prophet ﷺ after he passed away. Yet when he was seen in a dream, he was crawling, sweating — everyone else had gone ahead of him and he was one of the last to arrive. Because the money you earn, you have to give hisab — you have to give account for it.

So we go back to Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud. He was an intelligent person. This is where we started off from. He used his intelligence in a proper manner. He said: why am I sitting here fighting with Muhammad ﷺ, who is doing a good job in Madinah? Why did I leave Makkah to come here? Has he done any harm to me? Has he fought with me? Has he killed my children? No. Why am I here? Just because I'm with a bunch of non-Muslim friends who want to do this, they've got an agenda. What's my agenda? So he was smart, he had this conversation with himself. And he realized there's no reason for him to be here. This is the wrong place at the wrong time. Like a person who defects from the army when they realize this is a lost cause.

So what happened? He defected from the non-Muslim army. Through so many difficult barriers, he eventually got into the Muslim ranks. He came in the night, and he came in front of the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ looked at him and said:

He said: نَعَمْ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ. The Prophet ﷺ said: مَا الَّذِي جَاءَ بِكَ إِلَيْنَا فِي هَذِهِ السَّاعَةِ؟ What brought you to us at this hour? How did you even cross through the enemy lines? He said:

I came here to bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah, and that you are His Messenger and His slave, and that what you have brought is the ultimate truth. And then he said: يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ، لَقَدْ أَسْلَمْتُ، وَإِنَّ قَوْمِي لَمْ يَعْلَمُوا بِإِسْلَامِي، فَمُرْنِي بِمَا شِئْتَ — I've become a Muslim. My nation is unaware of my Islam. Tell me what you want me to do. I'm at your service.

As soon as he took his shahadah, he said: I'm an arrow in your quiver, shoot me as you wish.

My dear friends — he was a kafir. He was out there to kill the Prophet ﷺ and the Sahabah, in the worst and biggest battle the Muslims ever faced. And look how long it takes to change your life — one minute. And no one should think, oh brother, I've got too much baggage. Can you have bigger baggage than Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud? How instantaneously, as soon as he decided to give up his baggage — it takes one second to do a factory reset. How long does that take? You press the button, factory reset begins. That's it.

So as soon as a person makes the niyyah that I'm restarting my life, you can immediately start your journey towards Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And with afterburners — real fast.

So Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud told Rasulullah ﷺ: I'm ready. And the Prophet ﷺ began to use his aql — his intelligence. Not to say, let's go bring me a cup of chai. No — the man just came as a new Muslim, he's such a powerful personality, we have to use him. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3029; Sahih Muslim, Book 32, Hadith 4312)

War is deception. You're not smiling with roses — you're throwing an arrow at someone. So if you can deceive someone so that he leaves, great. War is deceptive. We had an amazing individual who taught courses at some of the most elite colleges and universities of the world, and he was saying that the coursework taught in air force and army academies like West Point for officers — a lot of that war strategy, even game theory, is coming straight from the Seerah of the Prophet ﷺ. And he said this whole concept of الْحَرْبُ خُدْعَةٌ is a principal component of modern war strategy. That they actually studied the moves of Khalid ibn al-Walid and those who came after him.

So Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud goes, and he goes first to Banu Qurayzah, to the Jews. And he says to them:

You all know me, you know how much I love you all, and you know how truthful I am in my well-wishing for you. They said: yes, definitely, we don't accuse you of anything. We trust you. What's going on?

Remember, Banu Qurayzah had access to Madinah from the back, and the Ahzab had come from the front. The goal was to crush the Muslims from both sides. So he told them:

Ghatfan and Quraysh, who've come from outside — don't think you all are on the same page. This Madinah is where you live. Your wealth, your children, your wives and daughters are all here. You cannot leave. Where are you going to go? And those who came from outside — this is not their place. If they win, okay, fine. But if they lose, they'll simply run away — and you'll get stuck here, and they'll come for your wealth, and you'll be destroyed. Quraysh and Ghatfan will run away back to Makkah. Did you ever think about it like that? They are actually using you — a war by proxy. You're like hired militia. They have nothing to lose. They don't care about you.

They said: Oh my God, we never thought about it like that. So what should we do? He said: You need to demand from them that they send some of the main men — the nobility of Ghatfan and Quraysh — to be with you. Maybe 50, 60, 70 people from amongst the 10,000 crowd, as collateral. If they dare run away leaving you to face Muhammad ﷺ alone, then you'll keep them as ransom. They said: This is a great idea. JazakAllah khairah. We'll work on this.

Then he goes to Abu Sufyan — back in the non-Muslim camp. They don't know he's a Muslim. He tells Abu Sufyan, who was the leader at that time: You know me, I wouldn't do anything wrong. I've got some news to share with you, but you have to make sure you never tell anyone that I shared this. He said: okay, what's the news? He said: Banu Qurayzah are very upset that they allied with you against Muhammad ﷺ. They feel really guilty about it. And they want to make it up to the Muslims. So what they have pledged with Rasulullah ﷺ is to take a strong group of the nobility from Quraysh and Ghatfan and hand them over to Rasulullah ﷺ so that his companions can behead all of them. I have insider news that Banu Qurayzah is going to come and demand that you hand them over. They'll come up with some story. But the real story is they're going to hand them over to Rasulullah ﷺ.

Abu Sufyan couldn't believe it. He sent his son to go meet Banu Qurayzah. His son went and said: my father is asking for a group of delegates from you to come visit us so we can talk. They said: Not so fast. We're not sending any delegates, number one. Number two, we're not going to even support you in this war unless you first send 60 or 70 people from Ghatfan and Quraysh to us as collateral.

His son went back to his father and said: this is what they're saying. He said: This news of Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud was so true! I can't believe it — this is what these people have planned. So they sat together and said: Absolutely not. We will not send even one person as collateral.

The sons of the swine and the monkeys — may they be destroyed! We will not even give a single sheep or goat to them.

Then Nu'aym ibn Mas'ud went to the Ghatfan tribe — the third tribe — and told them the same thing: Banu Qurayzah is going to ask for a group of people from amongst you, and they are going to hand them over to Rasulullah ﷺ to get killed.

SubhanAllah — within a few hours, he completely divided and conquered. He destroyed the alliances just by speaking between them and creating doubts. Isn't this exact same story, exact same theory, exact same war strategy being used against the Muslims today? All over — in the Middle East, in Southeast Asia — the exact same thing. Divide and conquer. Brother, arms are being sold to them, jets are being sold to them, ways of creating fights are being manufactured amongst them so they kill each other. This strategy is being played out in every part of the world. But SubhanAllah, we don't see that. We are the ones who came up with these strategies, and now they are being used against us.

Story Two: Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman and the Night Mission

The next major incident I want to share from the story of Khandaq is the story of Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman radiyallahu anhu. He says that they were sitting one of these nights around Rasulullah ﷺ. The wind was extremely bitter, extremely cold, and there was much, much hunger. The munafiqoon one after another were saying: إِنَّ بُيُوتَنَا عَوْرَةٌ — we need to look after our wives and our kids, the Jews may attack them in Madinah. They kept coming up with excuses to leave, and it ruined the morale. One after another, when people start leaving, it ruins the morale.

So as they started leaving, the Nabi ﷺ started walking around the Sahabah who were still there. And the Prophet ﷺ said:

Is there anyone who can go to the disbelievers and bring me news from there? No one stood up. They were too cold, too hungry, too weak. Eventually, the Prophet ﷺ came to Hudhayfah. Hudhayfah says:

He said: I was freezing cold and clinging to the earth. I had nothing except for a very thin shawl that only covered up to my knees. The Prophet ﷺ came to me as I was curled up on the ground, and said: مَنْ هَذَا؟ Who is this? I said: حُذَيْفَة — Hudhayfah. And then I clung to the earth even further, hoping I would not have to stand up due to the intense hunger and the intense cold.

My dear friends — these are not people like you and I. These are people who would gladly sacrifice their lives for Rasulullah ﷺ, would give their heart to Rasulullah ﷺ, would give their children and their wives. But it was just the sheer physical intensity of that moment. That's why Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said — that's why this surah is so long and talks about this:

It was a very, very, very tough battle. Over a month — it's not one day. We're doing tafsir for five weeks and we're still here! Brother, that was one month long — think about that. Over 30 days of hisar, surrounding Madinah.

The Nabi ﷺ said to Hudhayfah:

Something is going to happen in that camp right now. I want you to go swiftly, enter their ranks, and bring me their news. The Prophet ﷺ knew that some big plan was about to take place and they needed to be aware of it.

Hudhayfah says:

I left the gathering of Rasulullah ﷺ being the coldest and most scared I had ever been. And then the Prophet ﷺ made du'a:

Ya Allah, protect him from the front, from the back, from the right, from the left, from above, and from below.

He says: I swear by Allah, as soon as Rasulullah ﷺ completed this du'a, every ounce of fear was removed from my heart and every trace of cold was removed from his body.

When he turned to go towards the army, the Prophet ﷺ called him back and said:

Do not do anything when you go there until you come back to me. I'm asking you to simply go, watch, and come back. Don't make any moves.

And see how Hudhayfah radiyallahu anhu understood these words of Rasulullah ﷺ and followed them to the letter.

He says: I began to walk and crawl through the darkness until I entered the area of the Mushrikeen and became like one of them.

It was just a little while before Abu Sufyan stood up and said:

O men of Quraysh, I'm about to share with you a very big secret, and I'm scared it will reach Muhammad. Every one of you should look at who is sitting next to him. We've got to make sure there are no spies.

Allahu Akbar. Hudhayfah says:

As soon as he heard Abu Sufyan say this, he grabbed the man next to him and said: Hey, who are you? So now, what is that man going to think? He grabbed my hand, he's asking who I am — he's definitely not the spy. Look at the intelligence and wisdom that Hudhayfah radiyallahu anhu had at that moment.

According to some narrations, the man next to him was Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, who was not yet a Muslim. And on the other side was Amr ibn al-'As radiyallahu anhu — the second most intelligent man among the non-Muslims at that time. Of course, Allah later took great work from him in the conquest of Egypt.

Then Abu Sufyan gave a speech. He said:

Right now our situation is bad. The wind has come, our tents are being uprooted, our animals are running away, Banu Qurayzah has backed out, and we cannot handle this. فَارْتَحِلُوا فَإِنِّي مُرْتَحِلٌ — I'm going. That's it. I'm leaving. One month and we haven't been able to do anything.

He stood up to his camel, untied the rope, sat on it, and started moving — basically declaring: the war is over, I'm leaving. You all want to fight? Fight.

Hudhayfah radiyallahu anhu said: I had Abu Sufyan right in my vision, right in my scope. I could have easily taken an arrow and finished him. He was standing alone on his camel, it was dark, I was in the back. I could have shot an arrow and killed him. But all of a sudden I remembered what Rasulullah ﷺ had said: don't do that.

Think about that — think about Abu Sufyan and how Allah later took the work of deen from him. Had Hudhayfah killed him while he was on kufr, what would have happened? So you understand here about سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا — we hear and we obey — even when things don't make sense to us. When our elders tell us things, subhanAllah, we listen. If we have trust in them, we listen and we don't try to do our own thing.

So Hudhayfah radiyallahu anhu came back and shared the news with Rasulullah ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ was performing salah when he saw him. He became so happy, and eventually he gave him his thawb. If I remember the hadith correctly — as soon as he came back to the Muslim camp, all of a sudden the cold returned. And seeing him shivering, Rasulullah ﷺ gave him his shawl.

Mission accomplished. 007's mission is accomplished and all his tools are taken back. You're on a mission, Allah will give you all the tools you need. When the mission is over, you get the tools back. SubhanAllah.

When sometimes you might feel that you're not fit for something, but you're being asked to do it — remember:

Hudhayfah didn't even have clothing to cover his body. But Allah does not need to give you clothing to keep you warm. Allah does not need to give you arms to keep you safe. When you have the help of Allah, then Allah will give you protection — with means, without means, and against means. This is the iman that is supposed to be created from this story in our hearts.

Whenever there is an effort of deen taking place and you're being asked to make sacrifice, don't shy away as the majority will. Majority will say: my wife, my kids, my cold, my this, my that. You need to stand up like Hudhayfah ibn al-Yaman radiyallahu anhu and say: أَنَا مُسْتَعِدٌّ — I'm ready. If the deen is asking me, I am ready.

I remember the story I shared before — about the man who saw a dream in Madinah, that he had come wanting to live there. And then Nabi ﷺ came to him in the dream telling him that Allah will take the work from you — go back to India. He went back to his teacher and said: I stutter, I'm skinny, I don't have charisma, what am I supposed to do? And his ustad and sheikh told him: what did Rasulullah ﷺ say in the dream? He didn't say go do X, Y, Z. He said:

Allah will take the work of deen from you. He's going to take it — what are you worried about? You submit yourself to Allah, you say لَبَّيْك — here I am. And how Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala takes it? Let Him take care of it. That's not your problem. That's the mentality we should all have. Don't say: I can't speak, I'm too poor, I'm this and that. These are all shaytani excuses. Every single one of us is capable of doing the work of deen.

Submit yourself to Allah. And remember, Allah doesn't need you or I. If you keep on shying away, then Allah will say, okay. Allah says in the Qur'an:

You have to beg for it, you have to strive for it. This is an honor if Allah gives you the ability to serve the deen. So fight for it. Beg from Allah for it. Stop complaining and saying, I don't have this, I don't have that. You might think you're being humble — in reality, you are criticizing what Allah has given you.

What did our teachers tell us? قَبُولِيَّت مَانْگو، پَہلے قَبُولِيَّت، جَب قَبُولِيَّت آجائے تو قَابِلِيَّت خُود بَخُود آجائے — Ask Allah for acceptance. Once Allah accepts you, the abilities will come on their own. The first thing you have to ask Allah is to accept you. Once Allah accepts you, all the tools will start coming into place. Like a secret agent — you don't go buy equipment on the black market first and then say, can you please choose me? You first get accepted by the government as an agent, then the government provides whatever is required for the mission. Similarly, you first get accepted by Allah, then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will provide you.

Reflections on the Ayat: Allah's Power and Our Tawakkul

After we've covered all these beautiful stories, Allah jalla jalaluhu says: Thus Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala pushed back all of these people with their rage. Why were they angry? Because they were not able to fulfill their mission. They came to destroy Islam and the Muslims. Alhamdulillah, they were not able to do anything, any harm, and they went back towards Makkah — defeated and lost.

This is amazing. Allah says He relieved the Muslims from fighting. كَفَى — to be sufficient. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala took care of the responsibility of fighting. The Muslims were safe from fighting. What do we learn from this? That when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala wants to assist you, from beginning to end He'll take care of everything. You just need to ensure you get His assistance.

Husbands and wives are fighting today. Mom and dad are fighting today. Parents and children are fighting today. There's so much fire within our homes. What is the solution to this? The solution is that every partner, every person, every player in this relationship needs to turn to Allah. That's it. Ask Allah: Ya Allah, please — I'm tired of arguing, I'm tired of fighting. You ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala: Ya Allah, please end this.

If Allah can push away an army of ten thousand plus who came to destroy the Muslims — through what?

He sent down an army that you couldn't see — wind, and angels. Why cannot Allah remove the anger and the rancor from the husband, from the wife, from the mother-in-law, from the son-in-law, from the daughter, from the son? Of course He can. But the solution is to turn to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala asking for help.

If you want to invoke Allah's strength and power, use these two names: يَا قَوِيُّ يَا عَزِيز — Most Powerful, Most Overpowering. You're asking Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to protect you from the evil of those who harbor jealousy against you, those who harbor rancor against you, from the wrongdoers and the oppressors. These are beautiful du'as that have been passed down from the scholars.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala also says — and He made the Banu Qurayzah, the Jews, come down from their protective palaces. The long story of how they were all eventually exiled — some of them were killed and the rest were exiled out of Madinah for good, all the way to Khaybar. And then eventually even Khaybar came into the hands of the Muslims. So last week we talked about how Rasulullah ﷺ was in the khandaq, hitting the big boulder, and the three sparks came out, and he talked about the prophecies of future conquests. And the people were laughing — what are you talking about? Same thing over here. The Qur'an clearly telling them: you are going to conquer lands in the future.

When you read these types of incidents, your iman should increase. That is why it's important to read the prophecies of Rasulullah ﷺ. That is why it's a really good thing to read through the signs of the Day of Judgment. Not to come up with conspiracy theories, but instead to say: how did the Prophet ﷺ know about this 15 centuries ago? That means he is genuinely a Prophet of Allah. And the Qur'an is the true word of Allah.

The Company We Keep

One of the things that is mentioned over here is just something to think about — how we should constantly be surrounded by people who are going to give us good company. You see the incidents here, you'll realize there are two groups of people: the Sahaba and the non-Sahaba.

Allah created you into two categories — believers and non-believers. That's it. So wherever we may be today, we should always try our best to find people who are on higher ground and try to connect with them. Even though you and I may not be at that level spiritually, try to find yourself in the company of those people who when you speak about deen, they are interested — or rather they interest you in it.

You know, my friends, there are certain people — subhanAllah — you speak about Islam and deen, and all of a sudden they'll be on their phone. You speak about Islam and deen and they'll say, brother, I don't know what you're speaking about, and they will literally zone out. They'll say, oh, so what's for dinner? Or did you hear about the gas prices? It's sad. As soon as you speak about Islam or deen, they shut off. And as soon as you speak about the stock market or Bitcoin, they'll go for two hours. The hearts are turned away from the deen. And this type of company is very dangerous for us to keep.

Believe it or not, many times they're working on you more than you're working on them. And that's the reason why we have such a hard time having istiqamah. How are you going to get istiqamah and steadfastness on a'mal? It's through having the company of people who are going to encourage you. Find such people who will say: this dars on Tuesdays, we're never going to leave. And you won't miss it. Take something simple and small and stick to it. Your local imam has a Friday night tafsir — go attend that. Your local program on Monday night has something — stick to those things. And you're not going to be able to stick to it until you surround yourself with people who think like that. So that one day you're feeling lazy, they'll message you. And one day you're excited, inshallah you'll be able to grab them.

The Choice Between Dunya and Akhirah: Lessons for All of Us

Then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells the wives of the Prophet ﷺ: everyone of you has desires. We all have desires of dunya too. It's natural. Allah Himself says in the Qur'an:

Allah says all of the following things have been beautified for you — the love of lustful things: having sons, insane amounts of gold and silver, top-notch horses — what we would call today Ferraris — livestock, and farms. Allah says all of that is the small enjoyment of this worldly life. And with Allah is the best place to return.

The attachment to the dunya is natural. What are you doing to counter that so you don't become a slave of the dunya? You have to get yourself in an environment like this. You have to attach yourself to knowledge. Attach yourself to the masjid. Otherwise you will become fixated on dunya — that is exactly what is going to happen to anyone of us if we don't stay in this environment.

So now, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala teaches us — the whole ummah — through the wives of the Prophet ﷺ. It's as though Allah is telling the Prophet ﷺ's wives: you should feel bad about what you just did. He's your husband, not just your Nabi. He didn't say يَا نِسَاءَ النَّبِيِّ here — he said أَزْوَاجَك — your wives, meaning he's your husband. Make sure you do not ask him for something he cannot give, and do not put him in a situation where he feels bad saying no.

The Nabi ﷺ wanted to lead a life that is far, far away from the luxuries of this dunya. He wanted to give a beautiful example for the poorest of this ummah. Otherwise, if Nabi ﷺ, halal, lived it up, had a nice comfortable home — what would happen? Anyone below that level would immediately say, oh, Islam is for the rich. Now, no one in the entire United States can say they have less than the Prophet ﷺ. If you look at what Rasulullah ﷺ had and the type of household he lived in, SubhanAllah — none of us can ever say, oh, I have a difficult life. Whether you're on medical aid, on food stamps, or even under a bridge in America — we definitely have more than what Rasulullah ﷺ had in terms of belongings and things of this world.

So the Prophet ﷺ, when he saw that they were asking for new clothing and a bigger home — it's not haram. But he didn't want people to start thinking that through the deen you become rich. He said: you have to choose. Choose me, or choose the dunya. You can't have both. And who can put their foot down like that? The one who loves the akhirah to that degree.

It's mentioned regarding Sa'id ibn Amir radiyallahu anhu — his wife asked him for this and that. And he said:

O my wife — indeed in Jannah there are such dazzling beings that Allah has created, that if even one of them were to look upon this earth, the nur from her face would overtake the nur of the sun and the moon together. If she were to just peek behind a door opening into this world, the sun and the moon would be eclipsed. So I would rather sacrifice you to get to them than sacrifice them to get to you. Meaning — the akhirah. The pleasure of Allah. SubhanAllah.

When a person says, I want this desire fulfilled, but I don't have the money for it, let me get a haram loan, an interest-bearing loan — that's where the shahawat come in to all of us. And we have to know how to put our foot down and say: I love myself, I love my wife and my kids, but not at the price of bringing fire into my grave. Not at the price of losing Allah's pleasure. It's just not going to happen.

Who can say that? Unfortunately, most of us are losing this battle every single day. And it's not a battle against our wife and our kids — it's a battle against our nafs. SubhanAllah — I want to do that, but I don't want to miss my fardh salah. I don't want to miss my salah with jama'ah. I don't want to miss my fast. I don't want to miss my zikr. I don't want to miss my tafsir.

He talks about it a lot — he talks so much about attendance, weekly attendance. The whole idea is: you revolve your schedule around your commitment to Allah. I committed this day to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, this evening to Allah. Nothing is going to come between me and that. That's the way — when we start making these decisions, then Allah's nusrah will come.

So the Nabi ﷺ laid it out to his wives: you choose me, or you choose the dunya, but you can't eat the cake and have it too. And before you have this conversation at home, we have this conversation with ourselves.

You know one of the most misused and abused sentences out there? "Deen and dunya." We have to take our deen and dunya together — you didn't hear this? Brother, you have to balance the deen and the dunya. There's no balance — that's false. It's 99% dunya and just the name of deen on it. 1% deen and they call that a balancing act. That's not a balancing act. You're already drowned in dunya. Someone is trying to pull you out and you're saying, no, no, I'm gonna balance. The whole car, the rest is flooded into dunya, and you're trying to "balance" it.

SubhanAllah — look at the Sahaba. That's why Hayat al-Sahaba is so important for us to read. I advise all of us here who are going through a crisis of faith — pick up Hayat al-Sahaba by Sheikh Yusuf al-Kandhlawi rahimahullah. Read the stories of the companions. When you go through a situation, you pick it up and read Hayat al-Sahaba, and you realize: if any of the companions — forget the Asharah Mubasharah, forget the Badriyyeen, even if the more junior Sahabah — were to see me, would they seriously believe that I'm a Muslim? Or would they say: you're probably a munafiq? That's the question we all need to ask ourselves.

When you compare yourself to the Sahaba, if you don't think of yourself as someone far behind, there's something wrong. We're looking at the wrong people to compare ourselves with. Who do we compare ourselves with? To the Sahaba.

So this is what Sayyiduna Sa'id ibn Amir told his wife — and this is what you and I need to tell our nafs. You cannot get everything. You need to learn how to put your foot down, oh nafs. You cannot expect to fulfill all your lustful desires and then also have hur al-'ayn in Jannah. It doesn't work like that. If you want the wine of Jannah, the clothing of Jannah, you need to give up haram now. Stop looking at haram. Stop listening to haram. Stop dealing with haram money. Then please, stop dreaming about Jannah, because you've got your jannah right here and you're not going to get it over there — unless Allah sends you to hellfire first, or forgives you.

So this is what we learn from this story: even the wives of the Prophet ﷺ — Allah had expectations of them. The Prophet ﷺ had expectations. And of course they all chose to stay with Rasulullah ﷺ.

And then Allah says:

If you want Allah and His Messenger and the Hereafter — Allah has prepared for the righteous among you a great reward.

So we have to tell our nafs the story of Jannah. We have to tell our kids — you cannot just tell them this is haram, haram, haram, stay away. You also have to tell them there is beautiful Jannah. Give them the stories of Jannah. تَرْغِيبٌ فِي الْجَنَّةِ — so they get motivated. We cannot always be talking about the snakes and scorpions of hellfire. We must also speak about the beautiful things of paradise that Allah has prepared. One gaze — you control it — Allah will give you the halal of Jannah. It's give and take. Allah wants to give you. He's saying: give up the haram over here, and I'll give you great things over there.

The discussion of Jannah unfortunately is not very common in our homes. So this is a great thing to have at home — ta'lim and discussion of the stories that Rasulullah ﷺ shared about Jannah, and what the Qur'an describes in detail. Why is there so much description of Jannah? Because when you and I hear it, it creates within us the desire: I want that. It's supposed to. You're supposed to be excited for it. And then when you're excited for it, it becomes easy to make sacrifice.

The Lesson of Double Reward and Double Punishment for Leaders

Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells the wives of the Prophet ﷺ: if any of you does a very open sin, you're going to get the punishment twice. And for Me, that's not hard — وَكَانَ ذَٰلِكَ عَلَى اللَّهِ يَسِيرًا. And on the other hand, if you do ibadah properly, I'm going to give you double the reward.

What do we learn from this? We learn that if you and I are a leader — if we are the father, the head of the household, if we are a mother the children look up to for their tarbiyah, if we are a teacher in a classroom, if we are an imam of a masjid, if we are a person of some status — then remember: the reward for what we do will be double, and the punishment will also be double for what we do wrong, because we are facilitating it for others.

As a mother, if we lie — Allahu Akbar — to our kids about their father, or a husband speaking ill about his wife in front of the kids — you have not only done what was wrong, but also ruined the character and tarbiyah of the kids. They're going to pick up from the parents what they're doing wrong. If a person is a police officer breaking the law, or a scholar doing something wrong — you are facilitating sin. So the sin is double. On the other hand, as heads of household, as leaders in the community, if we do something good — we will inshaAllah not only get the reward for ourselves, but everyone who follows in our footsteps will get their reward too.

So there are some beautiful ahadith on this topic as well inshaAllah — maybe we'll touch up on these two ayats next week before we continue.

Closing Du'a

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala that He allows myself and all of us to be inspired with what we read today and what we heard today. May He grant all of us the qualities of the Sahaba. May He grant us the jazba, the iman, and the sifat of iman of the Sahaba. May He grant us tawakkul, and zuhud, and qana'ah the way the Sahaba were given. May He allow myself and all of us to subdue our nafs, and to prefer the akhirah over the dunya, and to prefer the enjoyments of the akhirah over the enjoyments of the dunya.

Announcements

For those listening online, just a reminder — inshallah this Friday evening we'll have a special guest speaker, Brother Stephen Jackson, here for a talk and roundtable discussion on his journey towards Islam. We'll have some nasheed and some dhikr as well. The program will be from Maghrib to Isha', open to the entire community. For those listening online, you can also visit in person if you're in the area.

And then there's going to be a sisters-only program all day Sunday, alhamdulillah — from 9am till 5pm. You can register for that. We'll have Sister Bilqis here, and there's going to be a basketball camp for girls and adult women as well who want to participate. This will be a good opportunity for many new sisters who have yet to come to the masjid inshallah to come and connect.

We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make these programs this weekend a means of hidayah for ourselves and all those who are coming inshallah.

I also wanted to share that today, many of us might not be aware of all the programs that are happening. We had a candy assortment class for sisters, a flower bouquet making class, a candle making class, fruit arrangements — these classes are happening on the women's side. And mashallah, it's amazing to see people coming from Indiana, from Naperville, from Aurora, from Plainfield, Morton Grove — people who've never been here before. They enjoyed it and immediately asked: what else is happening over here? Some of the sisters right then and there signed up for the Tajweed class, the Qur'an class. SubhanAllah — from a few sisters and their children, they got connected. The reason I'm sharing this is that there are so many various types of programs happening in the masjid besides our Tuesday night tafsir. It's a buffet — whatever is in the buffet, there's something to attract someone or another. Our job is to offer all of that and hope that one section of the community who is not yet coming will come through these programs — and then not just come for that event, but get completely connected to the rest of the programs and academic programs.

So our wives, if they're not aware, and our daughters — they should be aware there is a whole section of amazing programs happening over the summer for our sisters.

And additionally, SubhanAllah — you remember Brother Musa who came here during the retreat? His son fell in love with this place and benefited so much from the mahol, from the environment. So mashallah, he's going to be doing a one-week-long basketball camp — for adults post-Fajr, from 5am to 7am, Monday through Friday, along with workout. And then one for the kids from 5pm to 8pm, with limited seats of 30–40. The links have already been shared on the events WhatsApp group. If you're not on the events WhatsApp group, please let me know right after Salat and I can get you added.

Brother Musa is a professional Division 1 basketball player who plays for Qatar and Libya and other countries overseas — and an awesome da'ee. He'll be here with us this weekend too. And then Saturday there's a basketball tournament as well, with a bayan program. Everything is done with the purpose of getting people connected to the deen. It'll be a talk by him and one of us after Salat al-Duhr before the tournament starts, and we'll be breaking for all the salats during the tournament — Duhr, Asr — with short reminders.

This is a way to get many of the youth who may not yet be connected to any masjid — inshallah this weekend hopefully becomes a means of them connecting. I'm asking all of you to share this message any way you can with as many people as you can inshallah.

We ask Allah to accept all these programs that we're doing and allow them to become the means of more and more people getting connected to the deen inshallah. JazakAllah khair.