Surah Al-Kahf Part 1 Ayahs 1-4 Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed Weekly Tafsir

I just want to remind all of us here that Alhamdulillah, a couple of weeks ago we started trying to make this environment of the Tafsir session a little bit more intimate for all those who have a habit of attending, and wanted to make sure that we all can be part of it, get a classroom feel so we can register for it, and then that way you can share feedback if there are polls asked. If you have questions you can also anonymously or with your email ask things related to the Tafsir. So I request all those who have already registered — there'll be a check-in, there'll be a clipboard that'll be passed around so you can just check in inshallah — and those who are coming here tonight for the first time and who have not registered, if you can just take a minute please and in the lobby just register there, they'll appreciate that inshallah.

One of the other goals I've had is that people — we love to be appreciated and acknowledged when we're there and to also feel missed when we're not there. But when you have a continuous group of people every single week in and out coming through — and this is what I've noticed — I always have a good group of brothers and sisters coming but there's always change, they're not the same group of people. We want to make sure that we can continue to grow, but at the same time those who've come once can continue to be encouraged to come as well. So I hope one day we can reach a level where you can receive a personalized message inshallah when you're not present — a reminder that we missed you today — because we do miss our attendees and we do miss our students when they are not present.

The Importance of Consistency in Seeking Knowledge

The biggest ingredient — one of the biggest ingredients — for barakah in any ilm is consistency. If we're consistent with even something simple and small, it will eventually lead up to something great. But if we are on and off — a couple of weeks we attend one program, then the next two or three months we disappear — this type of inconsistency in any type of work of deen will not allow us to grow. It may seem like we're growing; we're taking two steps ahead, three steps back, two steps ahead, three steps back. Net loss over time doesn't really get us anywhere. So we should all make niyyah inshallah for istiqamah. Take hold of one program. We're not saying attend ten programs a week or ten programs a month. Take a couple of programs that you can — maybe a program a week — and say that this is inshallah something I am going to attend with my family every single week no matter what: snow, sleet, sunshine. In all conditions I will not give this up.

That level of istiqamah is such that even if it's a twenty-minute program, a half-hour program, you will gain great ilm, noor of ilm, closeness to Allah through that istiqamah. The most beloved actions in the eyes of Allah are those that are done on a continuous basis, even if they are small or minute, but done continuously can give you something.

Our teachers have taught us that one class — one day of class that a student misses — he is deprived of barakah for the next forty days. For the next forty days. This is something they ingrained within us. They said, no matter what happens, never ever miss class. And you see that — I see that — I tell this to the full-time students. Those who have missed one, I say, okay, that's it. You missed one. Shaytan will tell you: now you missed already one, it's okay, you can miss a second one and a third one. Before you know it, you're missing one day a week, and then subhanAllah, a whole year goes by and you've missed three weeks' worth of ilm. How is that barakah going to come?

So especially with the winter coming up, for our full-time students it's important to remember that in no case should we miss class unless it is an extreme situation — a contagious disease, fine. We've been taught that even if you are sick and need to use the bathroom regularly, come to class. The bathrooms are available, you can sit in the back of the classroom, but don't miss class. Because what you will be deprived of is barakah. And barakah cannot be quantified, barakah cannot be felt with your hands, but it is one of the most powerful things that we have.

Someone recently told me that when a scholar was speaking to Sheikh Hamza Yusuf — he told him that Imam Siraj was saying this — he said that you need to start thinking like a Muslim, we need to have a Muslim way of thinking. So what is Muslim thinking? He said the difference between a Muslim and a disbeliever is that a Muslim believes in barakah while non-Muslims don't have that concept. We believe in barakah — that's huge. Barakah in wealth, barakah in ilm, barakah in everything.

So my beloved brothers and sisters — those who are listening online and on-site — barakah will come through consistency. So I ask myself and I ask Allah to keep me consistent. I ask all of you to make dua for yourself: ya Allah, I've started something simple and small, allow me to be consistent.

Beginning the Tafsir of Surah Al-Kahf

So here we are, starting the tafsir of Surah Al-Kahf. I hope at the end of this series — it might be four or five months; the last one we did was 20 sessions, Surah Al-Ahzab, about five months or more — we can expect the same or more for Surah Al-Kahf. Let us make niyyah at least that inshallah we will not miss a single session.

When at the end of this semester, whenever we ask — brothers, let's raise our hands, who has not missed a single session — we want to be able to see a large number of hands of brothers who say alhamdulillah and sisters say alhamdulillah, I've never missed it.

MashaAllah, when we graduated from the Alim program after seven years, they gave certificates and awards to students who had never missed a single day in the seven years — not a single period in the seven years. Imagine all sorts of things happen in your life over a period of seven years. But subhanAllah, these individuals were consistent.

Mawlana Abdul Hameed, the principal of Darul Uloom Zakariyya, one of the great leading ulama of South Africa, has a habit of doing tafsir after Salatul Fajr — a seven-minute tafsir, like we here now have a seven or five-minute tafsir after Salatul Maghrib, which was inspired by that same practice that I had seen in South Africa. Seven-minute tafsir after Salatul Fajr, every single day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. And subhanAllah, I happened to be studying there when they had their graduation of the tafsir class. They completed the entire Qur'an in 11 years — the entire Qur'an. There were about 3,000 people there for the graduation; it was an amazing environment. They actually handed out certificates and honored those who attended consistently. And there were many whose sons came and took the certificates because their fathers had passed away in between — it's 11 years, subhanAllah. Their sons came and took it on behalf of their fathers. So what can consistency do? It's wondrous. And the lack of it also causes great harm.

A person is 50 years old and he still hasn't achieved much in his life, even though he has attended tens of programs. Why? Because he was never consistent. Started studying Arabic for one week, then left it. Started studying Fiqh for two weeks, then left that. Started attending a tafsir session for three weeks, then left that. Now a person is in his 50s and says, really, I haven't achieved anything. Why is that? It's because we're not consistent. Had we just taken one class a week but not given it up for the past two decades, we'd have achieved something tangible.

I don't want to demotivate anyone. I want to motivate you to take it to the next level. Alhamdulillah, what you're doing is great. But let's make a niyyah. We're never going to be consistent if we don't regard this as important. That's the issue. Why is it? Because it's just an open majlis. No one's going to notice if I'm here or not here. I'll come one day, I will not show up the next day. What difference does it make? That inconsistency translates to no value. We're not valuing what we're getting. And if you don't value what you're getting, why will Allah value your presence? It's as simple as that.

If we value our presence here — because we value, not me, but the majlis of ilm, the majlis of tafsir, the majlis of angels in the house of Allah — then you will achieve such gifts from Allah that are mind-boggling. So the niyyah has to be made within ourselves: ya Allah, I am a student of knowledge. I'm not just a random person, a drive-by student. No. I'm a student. I'm a Tuesday night class student. That's it. And I'm going to be here to my level best — unless I'm traveling from out of town, I'm going to be here every single Tuesday. And when you make that niyyah, then Allah will make it easy for you to fulfill it.

Last time I asked about Surah Al-Ahzab, we didn't see a single hand of those who had attended every session. Why is that? Because we never in our minds even made niyyah that we have to be here every week. So that's the first step. First step is niyyah that I will never miss a class unless it is beyond my means. And then you ask Allah for istiqamah.

The Niyyah Before Each Dars

My dear friends, like we say at the beginning of every dars, when you come for a dars of tafsir or you're listening online — those of you who are mashaAllah very punctual and listening online too — you begin the dars with this niyyah: Ya Allah, I am a servant and the one who is speaking is a servant. You are our Lord, You are the Lord of the Book, You are the Lord of all of us. Ya Allah, inspire the speaker to share those words that will be meaningful to me in my life — that will give answers to the questions I'm going through right now, that will remove doubts that I'm going through right now, that will become a source of inspiration for me so that I can overcome any type of emotional difficulty, any type of spiritual difficulty I'm going through.

Every single Tuesday, make this niyyah. And I want all of you right now to make this niyyah in your heart. Turn to Allah and say: Ya Allah, allow us to hear what we need to hear. Allow us to hear that which will become a means of our islah, of our rectification. And allow us to find the answers that we're looking for. And inshallah, that is exactly what will happen.

Opening Khutbah

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. All praise is due to Allah. We praise Him, we seek His help, we seek His forgiveness, and we seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our souls and from the evil of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides, none can misguide him. And whosoever He misguides, none can guide him. And we bear witness that there is no deity other than Allah, one and only, there is no partner for Him. And we bear witness that our Master, our Beloved, Prophet Muhammad is His servant and Messenger.

As for what follows, Allah Almighty has said in the glorious Qur'an — after I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Shaytan:

Ayahs 1–4: The Opening Verses of Surah Al-Kahf

All praise belongs to Allah who has sent down upon His servant the Book, and has not placed in it any crookedness. [He has made it] upright, to warn of a severe punishment from Him and to give glad tidings to the believers who do righteous deeds that they will have a good reward — wherein they shall remain forever. And to warn those who say, "Allah has taken for Himself an offspring."

Allah is warning who? Who is in need of a warning? The disbelievers, the sinners. They are being warned of a mighty chastisement. Where is it going to come? It may not come in this world, but it will definitely come in the hereafter. And who is this chastisement coming from? From Allah Himself.

وَيُبَشِّرَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ — And the second reason why this Qur'an has been revealed. First reason: to warn people who need to be warned, forewarned. And number two: to give glad tidings of the everlasting delight in paradise. Who will receive this delight? The believers who do righteous deeds. And for them, there is an excellent reward awaiting. Allah is calling it excellent, so you may imagine how excellent it will be.

مَّـٰكِثِينَ فِيهِ أَبَدًۭا — It's not going to be like the worldly enjoyments that come and last for a few minutes and are gone. Instead, they shall remain there forever.

And then Allah repeats this warning for a specific type of sinner — the one who is committing shirk, who is ascribing a partner to Allah, who is ascribing a son to Allah. Moreover, Allah is warning. The Qur'an forewarns those who say, "Allah has taken for Himself offspring."

Why Surah Al-Kahf Is So Important

So this surah, my beloved brothers and sisters and dear listeners, is one of my favorite surahs. And definitely something that inshallah, I pray Allah will allow you and I to spend the rest of our life with. This is a really important surah. And I'm so happy that many of you — most of you, actually — when I asked what is the next surah you want to do, the majority asked for Surah Al-Kahf. And I'm happy, alhamdulillah, we're on the right track. The fact that we start realizing the importance of Surah Al-Kahf.

I shared with my teachers — may Allah reward them and grant them long life and health and allow us to benefit from them — some of the work that I'm involved in, the programs I do when I'm traveling and so forth. Alhamdulillah, they made lots of dua and were very happy. And they reiterated — I've always told you that my teachers say to attach yourself to Surah Al-Kahf. But this was completely separate. Another teacher who usually doesn't say that told me: I want you to make sure you hold on to Surah Al-Kahf regularly. Read it every single day. And this will assist you in doing the work you're doing, which is warning people from the fitan of today that most people may be completely oblivious to. He said, Surah Al-Kahf will give you that light by which you will continue to be able to see right from wrong, will be able to see darkness from light, will be able to distinguish those things which the majority are not able to distinguish.

This is not something specific for me. This is for all of us. So I'm passing on their message to you. My asatidha, my teachers: make a habit of reading Surah Al-Kahf. Attach yourself to Surah Al-Kahf. Make it a focus of your study. Listen to this tafsir and all other tafasir you have access to. Read the books that have been written on Surah Al-Kahf. If you read Arabic or Urdu, you have so many resources available. In English as well — of course Ma'arif al-Qur'an is there, Tafsir Ibn Kathir is there, Fi Dhilal al-Qur'an is there. There are a number of tafasir written by traditional ulama, amongst our teachers and from across the globe — from the Arab world, from the South Asian world — who have written tafsir in English, or been translated from Arabic or Urdu into English, which you can access and read.

Memorizing Surah Al-Kahf

I know a good number of us already recite it on Jumu'ah. But we have to take it to the next level. We have to not just read the first ten and last ten, but make a habit of reading the entire surah. And then it's not sufficient like that — we need to make a habit of reading it, believe it or not, every day. When I say regularly, what my teachers are asking us to do is every day. And you say, how am I supposed to do that every day?

One of the best things, my beloved brothers and sisters, is to make niyyah right now. Between now and Ramadan we have a lot of time — six months. Rabi' al-Awwal started last Friday. We have exactly six months from last Friday. It is definitely sufficient, I think, for anyone of us — even those who are not very good at memorizing — to utilize the next six months to memorize Surah Al-Kahf. It's very possible. And you can do it along with the tafsir — memorize five or six ayahs a week.

One of the brothers, right before I started my dars, sent me a message. He said, I want to share my story — maybe it will be an inspiration to others. He said, I'm in my mid-fifties, and I have been an average student all my life in academics, not necessarily excelling in various sciences. But he said, alhamdulillah, with the mercy of Allah, Allah has allowed me to memorize Surah Al-Kahf. And inshallah, if I've been allowed to memorize it, I think everyone else can do so. So he said, this is an encouragement for everyone who has not done so to say Bismillah and make niyyah now — that on this blessed day, we are going to begin our journey of memorizing Surah Al-Kahf.

All of you at home also who have not memorized it — make niyyah inshallah that you will join us in this journey for the next five months. Our goal will be till next Ramadan. Make this resolution: if you have not memorized it, that you will. And those of you who are so blessed and have already memorized it — now you have a bigger sabaq: recite it every day. It will take you 15 minutes, 12 minutes, 20 minutes — whatever it may be. But you are blessed. Why not make this niyyah now that you will not allow a day to go by without reading it?

And inshallah, I promise you, within weeks you will message me to say: I've already started feeling the difference. Within days, you will start seeing the difference, if you make a habit of reading Surah Al-Kahf.

I am so happy, alhamdulillah, that there are many brothers — and possibly sisters as well — who have told me that they've heard in these previous tafasir about the importance of reading Surah Al-Kahf daily. And alhamdulillah, they have started that — for a year or two years they've made it a daily wird. Like we read Surah Yasin every day, alhamdulillah, they made a wird of reading Surah Al-Kahf every day. So let's all make this niyyah today.

The Fitnah of Dajjal and Our Times

My dear friends, you say this is challenging. What do you think? To save yourself from Dajjal is going to be a piece of cake? For anything that you say is challenging — oh, this is hard, this is too hard — what are you thinking you're up against? What type of fitnah? What type of enemy? Do you even recognize and realize where we're headed? If you're not willing to work, if you're not willing to excel, if you're not willing to push yourself, then we're in very bad shape.

We're talking about the spiritual death. And when a person dies spiritually, he's headed to hellfire. So why put the nail in the coffin and say, I'm a sinner, but I'm not even going to attempt. We're all sinners. But just start with this — even if you have a habit of listening to music, looking at haram, missing your prayers, giving back answers to your parents, using foul language, being impressed by materialistic things, having wrong value systems — no matter what those sins we may be involved in, just start with this: Surah Al-Kahf. And say: Allah, I can't change overnight, but I can take one medicine, and that's called Surah Al-Kahf.

Our mindset has become shaitani. It all starts off with that. Why are people listening to haram, looking at haram, dressing in ways contrary to our deen? Because the mentality has changed. The view of life has changed. This is what we're struggling with. This is our jihad — to change the way we think. It's not just about the way we dress, or the way we eat, or the way we sit. More fundamental than that is the way we think. That has become completely anti-Islamic, against the Shari'ah, against the ways of Rasulullah ﷺ. And we are more impressed with the ways of others than the ways of Rasulullah ﷺ.

How do we get that germ out of our brain? That is something we have to submit to Allah and beg: Ya Allah, through the barakah of Surah Al-Kahf, remove this virus from me. Because this is a virus. When you see a certain type of haircut, a certain type of dressing — women or men — following influencers, where is this coming from? Our moms and dads never heard of this. Where is this style coming from? Where are these ideas coming from? And moms and dads are scared.

We send them to madrasa, to hifz school, to alim school, to Sunday school, to Islamic school — where are they learning this? It's in the air. No matter where you send them, you cannot avoid this. It's in the air, it's in the water we drink. This is the dajjali era we're in. It changes the way you think. You can wear a turban, you can wear a niqab, you can wear a big thawb. But subhanAllah, it does not make you immune to this style of thinking. And that style of thinking is so dangerous that it will eventually come out — sometimes in a change of hairstyle, in the way we speak, in our disinterest in deeni gatherings. But then eventually this wrong mentality can lead all the way to kufr. And this is what worries me.

The various types of isms that are on the rise on a daily basis. Where do we run to? There is no place that is safe anymore. A brother called me for a masa'ala a few weeks ago. I answered his question. I said, where are you right now? He said, I'm in Turkey. I said, what? What are you doing in Turkey? I know he's not a person who can afford vacations. He said, I ran to safety with my family. He said, my daughter who came from the Muslim school — we raised her in a very beautiful, conservative home — and now she has LGBTQ ideas and she's going towards that direction. We're so scared. We have no idea what to do. We packed up overnight, we left the country, and we're sitting in Turkey.

I told him: you're really going to a different country — it's not going to save you from this problem. Because whatever fitnah you have here is exactly the fitnah in the entire world. Internet is everywhere. Instagram is everywhere. Facebook is everywhere. YouTube is everywhere. Reddit is everywhere. That mentality is spreading like wildfire — not through the actual interactions we have with humans, but through a virtual world. It's what we call شَبَكَة الْعَالَمِيَّة — the worldwide web. And it's called a web because it catches you inside it. These ideas are constantly being pushed through popular culture, videos, music videos, video games, and things of that sort.

I told him seriously: I said, you should have made hijrah to Darussalam. Because what you need is scholars and ulama who understand where she's coming from and who can address this issue. We have, alhamdulillah, medical experts within our community, psychologists within our community that we deal with on a regular basis, and great ulama here who deal with this on a regular basis.

We have to have an environment where our sons and daughters, if they start slipping and falling, are not shunned away, are not told that they've really lost their mind, are not treated harshly, but instead are dealt with in a very delicate, welcoming, loving way. It's like when a child cuts his finger — the parent yells at him for trying to cut the apple himself. But he's bleeding right now. This is not the time to scold him. But that's our style sometimes.

If a person is on the verge of leaving Islam or has completely unorthodox, un-Islamic ideas, they have to be dealt with in a very delicate manner. The example I give is: it's like someone is dangling from a bridge saying, I'm going to jump. You don't get mad at him. You say, what do you want? What do you want? Just get off the bridge. We'll do anything and everything for you. Just get off. You have to speak to him in the most kind and supportive manner. Because if you say the wrong thing, something will trigger in him and we lose that person forever.

SubhanAllah, this phone call came from one of the most conservative, practicing, religious, loving, caring families I know of the entire area. So I'm saying if that is the situation in one home, what I'm speaking about is not some stray, weird situation. This fire is raging within all homes. It's just a matter of time when it will come to my home or your home. May Allah protect us.

You know, people do not understand. If you were in my shoes, you would understand why I'm saying this — how severe this situation is. The one who's going through this will realize: I wish we had done this differently. Sometimes it's too late. One of the ways of protecting ourselves is reading and analyzing Surah Al-Kahf. Allahu Akbar.

The Virtue of Ayat al-Kursi

Someone will say, by Ayat al-Kursi, if you recite it, it protects you from Shaytan. We know this hadith. The Prophet ﷺ said: whoever recites Ayat al-Kursi after every fard salah, then between him and Jannah is only death. As soon as he passes away, he will go to paradise.

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 9928; also reported in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir of al-Tabarani)

And then there is the beautiful story of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه, who was given the responsibility of guarding the wealth of zakat. A person came to steal that money. Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه picked him up and said, hey, what are you doing here stealing this money? He said, please, let me go. I'm sorry. I'm a poor man, I have a lot of kids. He gave an excuse and left. The next day, Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه met the Prophet ﷺ. He said, ya Rasulullah, last night this is what happened. The Prophet ﷺ told him: he will come back tomorrow. He's a big liar, he'll come back tomorrow.

The next day, this person showed up again with the same excuses. The Prophet ﷺ said, this man will come back again. And the third day he showed up again. Now Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه said, that's it, I'm not going to let you go. Three strikes, you're out. The man said, I beg you, I swear I will never come back again. I will give you something. He said, what is that? He said, recite Ayat al-Kursi before you go to bed and you'll be protected from Shaytan. So he let him go.

The next day Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه told the Prophet ﷺ what happened. The Prophet ﷺ said: he's a liar, but what he just said was true. That was indeed Shaytan himself coming every night. But he ended up giving Abu Hurairah this advice just to get away. Imagine Shaytan being scared of Abu Hurairah! SubhanAllah. He said, I'll give you one thing — recite Ayat al-Kursi and you can be safe from me. SubhanAllah.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2311)

So how foolish it would be for you and I, after listening to this, to not make a habit of reading Ayat al-Kursi after every salah and before we go to bed. And to make sure every single member of our household does the same — the boys and the girls, the husband and the wife.

So alhamdulillah, many of us have this habit. Now you say, what is the connection between Ayat al-Kursi and the fitnah of Shaytan? Ayat al-Kursi is powerful — that's it. Look at the translation, it's powerful. If Rasulullah ﷺ told us that it protects us from Shaytan, it does. If Rasulullah ﷺ said it's our gateway to paradise, it does. Similarly, the answer for the fitnah of Dajjal is Surah Al-Kahf. The main answer is that Rasulullah ﷺ said so, and that is enough. If Ayat al-Kursi, which is a small verse, has been called the most powerful verse, imagine a surah that has tens of ayahs with so many beautiful stories — why can it not protect you from Dajjal? And who is Dajjal? At the end of the day, Dajjal is an agent of Iblis, Shaytan. He reports to Iblis. He's his most powerful general, but at the end of the day he's still under Iblis.

The Fitnah of Dajjal: The Greatest Trial

Dajjal is such a big fitnah that the Prophet ﷺ said: no prophet has left this world without warning his nation from Dajjal. No prophet. We're talking about Nabi Nuh, Nabi Idris, Nabi Ibrahim, Nabi Musa, Nabi Isa, Nabi Dawud, Nabi Sulaiman. Those prophets who came thousands of years before Dajjal will come, yet they're warning their nations: you better be afraid of this. That's how big this fitnah is.

The Prophet ﷺ explained to us that there is no fitnah, no trial, no tribulation that was ever faced by any ummah — not just the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ, but any ummah — that is harsher, harder, and more difficult to pass than the test and trial of Dajjal. So every single aspect of it is a test.

Imagine if I say there's a really hard test — the questions are not going to be very straightforward. The LSAT, the MCAT — most of them have multiple choice. But are they easy? No. Just because they're multiple choice doesn't make it easy. The questions are such trick questions that you really have to know your material to answer properly. Similarly, the aspect of Dajjal. What does Dajjal itself mean? Dajjal means tamwih — misrepresentation, camouflaging, saying and seeing that which is not there. So every aspect of it involves deception, multiple levels of test. If it's hard, the test questions are not going to be straightforward. Similarly, the solution to the fitnah of Dajjal is also not going to be obvious.

It is through recitation of Surah Al-Kahf. But the one whom Allah doesn't protect will say: but Dajjal is nowhere mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, so why would this protect you from Dajjal? This actually happened — not too far from here. I gave a khutbah on Dajjal over a decade ago. And right after my khutbah, when I was walking out of the masjid, an uncle came mockingly and asked me: okay, but which surah is Dajjal mentioned in? Which verse of the Qur'an mentions Dajjal? He said it in a very mocking manner — basically rejecting the whole concept of Dajjal. And subhanAllah, in my eyes it was just so clear:

The Qur'an says: indeed they have already fallen into fitnah. There you go. If you say, where is Dajjal mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, hence there is no Dajjal — you've already fallen. Dajjal is not here yet, but you've unfortunately already fallen into the pre-dajjali fitnah.

That's what Mawlana Shabir Sahib, our ustad, asked us: how come Dajjal is not mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, and where is it mentioned? We went and searched. But the ultimate real answer he gave, which really settled with us, was this: if Dajjal's name were mentioned clearly in Surah Al-Kahf, then it would be too easy of an antidote. The whole point is: do you have an unbelievable level of faith in the unseen or not? That's the question. Do you believe in hadith or not? There are so many rejecters of hadith today. They've already fallen into the fitnah of Dajjal.

How many people today in our community say things like: you're just trying to scare people. You say Dajjal and the masjid fills up — this is just a way to get people riled up. This is exactly what we're speaking about — the fitnah. Many individuals find it below their dignity, below their intellectual level, to hear a talk on Dajjal. That's not for me. I've got a PhD, MD, JD. What do I have to listen to this about? That's the concept — how this Dajjal works. Every single aspect of it is misrepresentation, is confusion. The solution is right there in front of you — the people are not seeing it. And what's the solution? The solution is in Surah Al-Kahf.

What is the reason that Surah Al-Kahf does not mention Dajjal by name? Number one: Allah says so and Rasulullah ﷺ says so, and so we believe it, period. But besides that, what is the second reason? This is to increase the test for all of us. If you don't believe in hadith, if you are going to rely solely on logic, you will never be able to get out of this mess.

You cannot become what we call aqal-parast — a slave of your intelligence. Everyone says, I'm smart and I have a smart phone. Why would I need hadith for guidance? Why do I need the ulama for guidance? The one who follows his aqal, and the one who follows his hawa — his desires — will most definitely fall into the fitnah of Dajjal. No one is saying don't be intelligent. But in front of Allah, you cannot act like a smart aleck. When the Qur'an says something, when the hadith says something, you say:

We hear and we obey. I'll show my smartness in the lab, I'll show my smartness in my business. But in front of Qur'an and hadith, I'm the most humble, simple person you could ever see. I know nothing. And that's what the Qur'an wants you to acknowledge.

And what does Surah Al-Baqarah start with?

What is the meaning of it? You don't know. You have a PhD in Arabic sciences — no, I don't know. You have a PhD in history of the Qur'an — no, I don't know. You're a mufti doing ifta work for 20 years — I don't know what it means. اللَّهُ أَعْلَمُ بِمُرَادِهِ بِذَلِكَ — Allah knows best what it means. That is the humility and humbleness that the Qur'an is demanding from us when we approach it. And that is exactly what Surah Al-Kahf is teaching us through its stories. From the very get-go, the reason why Dajjal's name is not mentioned in it is the very first lesson — the most important lesson: learn how to put reins around your aqal.

There is a place to use your aqal. Not everywhere are you supposed to use your aqal. They say: what is dhulm? Oppression is وَضْعُ الشَّيْءِ فِي غَيْرِ مَحَلِّهِ — to put something in a place where it doesn't belong is dhulm. Putting the handkerchief on the shoes, putting the shoe on the head — that is dhulm. Similarly, putting aqal in a place where it doesn't belong is dhulm. Putting aqal in front of Allah and in front of the commands of Allah is dhulm. And this is what the dajjali fitnah is about — that you become worshippers of your nafs, living a hedonistic life. Do whatever you want to do. And you don't need revelation, you don't need God in your life because you're smart. This is the age of progress — we've reached Mars, and you're still talking about the miswak?

Why are you bringing that and making it a contradiction to following the deen? That is the approach of others — that religion and science don't match. For us, it matches perfectly well. You can be anywhere. We'll have a whole fiqh on how to perform salah in space, how to fast in space. Already ulama have written — believe it or not — on this topic. They have already written fatwas on this. How to pray and how to fast in space. SubhanAllah. And it will continue to happen if it's meant to happen.

But this type of obedience to the aql is what today's education teaches us. And we need to protect ourselves and our children from that. Say: son, I'm sending you to school to learn how to make money — that's what it is. But you will learn how to become a human being through the deen. You become a man or a woman or a human through deen. You're not going to become a human being by going to university, much less a Muslim. Ethics and morals and values — those must be taught in the madrasa, in the home, in the masjid.

Virtues of Surah Al-Kahf

What are some of the virtues of this surah that the Prophet ﷺ mentioned?

Whoever memorizes ten ayahs from the beginning of Surah Al-Kahf will be protected from the fitnah of Dajjal. And in the narration of Sahih Muslim: "from the end of Surah Al-Kahf." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 809)

Whoever recites the first three verses of Surah Al-Kahf will be protected from the fitnah of Dajjal. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2886)

So if we're going to start, the first thing we should all do is memorize the first ten and last ten immediately. Once you finish with that, then move on from the beginning, from the eleventh verse. But the first thing is the first ten verses and the last ten verses.

Historical Background of Surah Al-Kahf

This surah was revealed in Makkah al-Mukarramah, and the Prophet ﷺ named it Al-Kahf. This surah was revealed after Surah al-Ghashiyah and before Surah al-Shura. So we should know that the way the Qur'an is in order is not the way it was revealed. The Qur'an was revealed in what we call tanzeel — the revelation of the Qur'an based on need over a period of 23 years. That's the beauty of the Qur'an. It wasn't that there's a funeral taking place and the Qur'an is being revealed about being happy. Whenever Rasulullah ﷺ or the sahaba needed to hear a message, that's when they received that revelation.

That's why, my beloved brothers and sisters, no matter what type of emotional state you're going through, you will find a solution to that in the Qur'an. No matter what type of difficulties or happiness you're experiencing — how to handle that — the Qur'an will teach you, so that you don't become too haughty over your achievements, and so that you don't become too depressed and anxious over your difficulties. Whichever situation of life you and I are in, no matter what crossroads we're at, the Qur'an's got the answer. Because the Qur'an — ulama call it kitabun hayy — it is a book that is alive, that speaks to you.

This is called tanzeel — to be revealed over 23 years, munajjaman, in sections, in verses, in surahs, as needed. And then inzal — إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ — is when the entire Qur'an was revealed on the Night of Qadr, in one night, from the sacred Lawhul Mahfuz, from the preserved tablet, to the first heaven. That took place overnight. But then from the first heaven to Rasulullah ﷺ, and thereby to the sahaba, it happened over a period of time.

When it came to the tartib — the order — we say the tartib is tawqifi. The Qur'an was revealed at different times, but the way it's in order — Surah Fatiha, Baqarah, Al-Imran, Nisa, Ma'idah, etc. — this is something the sahaba received from Rasulullah ﷺ. The scribes of the revelation — the kuttab al-wahy — were taught by Rasulullah ﷺ, and the sahaba were inspired, and they laid it out in a manner that was chosen by Allah. That is our belief.

So Surah Al-Kahf was chosen to be right in the middle of the Qur'an. Although it was not revealed in the middle — it was revealed in Makkah, after Surah al-Ghashiyah in the 30th juz and before Surah al-Shura in the 25th juz — but it is placed in the middle of the Qur'an. And also there is a letter in Surah Al-Kahf that marks exactly half of the Qur'an. I know many of us have the 13-line Qur'an — it says وَلْيَتَلَطَّفْ there on the side. Some of the books have written that that is exactly halfway — in the ta or the ta'. Others have mentioned that it's instead towards the end of the 15th juz, in the word لَقَدْ جِئْتَ شَيْئًا نُكْرًا — the ta' of لَقَدْ جِئْتَ.

SubhanAllah — look at the meticulousness of every single letter being counted, from the Hamzah of Alhamdulillah all the way till the sin of al-Nas. They have counted how many Hamzahs there are — how many Hamzah Wasl, how many Hamzah Qata', how many sins, how many shins, how many dotted letters, how many non-dotted letters. Way before artificial intelligence and computers. It's amazing how Allah has used this ummah to serve the Qur'an. Every aspect of the Qur'an — including the letters — counting it to the minutest detail. Amazing.

Nazm al-Durar: A Tafsir of Connections

There is a huge tafsir that we have in our library here:

It's about 30 volumes. الدُّرَر means pearls. نَظْم means to be able to place the pearls beautifully, the way a poem — a nazm — places beautiful words appropriately. فِي تَنَاسُبِ الْآيَاتِ وَالسُّوَرِ — with regards to the placement of the surahs and the placement of each verse. So this 30-volume tafsir by Allama al-Biqa'i, rahimahullah, details the connection between every single verse and the next one. Every single verse — why is it here? Why is the next verse there? Why didn't that come 30 verses later? It's amazing, right? How much ilm Allah has given this ummah. Allah is the teacher, and through Rasulullah ﷺ, through barakah, has given our ulama this ilm and they have written it. It's waiting for us to read.

SubhanAllah — at least make ziyarah. My brothers and sisters, come visit the library. Our teachers used to say: the way you come visit mashaikh and ulama, you should also go make ziyarah of books and libraries. Shaykh Effendi, one of the most senior ulama of the entire world — subhanAllah, he has thousands and thousands of students. When he performed Umrah — you can see it on YouTube, maybe ten years ago — there were about 50,000 people, his students, filling the Masjid al-Nabawi. It's an amazing sight.

Alhamdulillah, we had the opportunity to go visit him when we visited Turkey with our students a few years back. We climbed up and they said, we don't usually allow anyone, but because your teacher called, we'll make an arrangement. We had no idea how this meeting was going to take place. But we went in, and literally he was in his late 90s or perhaps 100 years old, just sitting on a chair with a shawl, with his tasbih, quietly in a room. And they have this thick glass wall — you literally just come and stand in front of the wall and make ziyarah. He's alive, of course, alhamdulillah. You just sit and look at him for a few minutes. They don't want him to be able to meet with people because he is so frail. But people from far and wide try to come and see him. May Allah grant him long life and health and allow the ummah to continue to benefit from those in his status.

This is called ziyarah of ulama. How many of us have gone sightseeing of deeni institutions — of madrasas, of scholars? This is part of Islamic tourism. Now what do people usually do? They go to Spain and cry that Spain is empty — look at our history. They're not meeting those who are alive. Those who are alive, they don't go see. Those masajid and madrasas that are full, they don't go see. I'm not saying don't go to such historical places, but benefit from that.

One day I was sitting in front of Muhammad Dudhat Sahib, Adamallah fuyudahu ala, may Allah give him a long life, one of my teachers. He told a story about Mufti Mahmood al-Hasan and then asked: did you ever meet him? I literally missed him by maybe a couple of years. He is buried in South Africa — he was the mufti of the Darul Uloom there for 50 years, one of the great ulama. He passed away while on a visit in South Africa, and his wasiyya was that he should be buried amongst children. So literally, alhamdulillah, I had a chance to go visit his grave. He is buried in a section of the Muslim graveyard amongst the children — the newborns who passed away. That's where he's buried. He said: on the Day of Judgment, I want to be raised amongst the ma'sum, the innocent children. Allah will have mercy on me if all those around me are sinless little ones.

The person who was the mufti for 50 years of the most notable institution — he said, I want to die and be buried amongst the children. May Allah allow us also to be granted a beautiful death and a beautiful resting place. A death of martyrdom in the city of Madinah al-Munawwarah, and a place to be rested amongst the children and the sahaba of Jannat al-Baqi. Ameen, Ya Rabbil Alameen.

He said, did you meet him? I said, no. So Mawlana Sahib, he can't see something wrong without correcting it. He said: brother, you're not benefiting from those who are alive but are expressing sadness over those who have passed away. What is the benefit? Benefit from your living ustad in front of you. Immediately, he got me. Another occasion with Mawlana, he asked about some scholar — did you meet him? I said no, and I was expressing sadness. He said: instead of sitting there crying over what you don't have, benefit from what you have. Your example is like one who is at night, crying over the fact that there's no sun, but refusing to turn on the light. Use the light that you have to get your work done. Although a lamp is not as bright as the sun, it does the job. Benefit from those ulama that are still alive before they will also be taken away and you'll be in complete darkness.

So just as you make ziyarah of scholars, you should also go make ziyarah of libraries and books. I want you to go next time — you're more than welcome to come visit the library, brothers and sisters. You can make an appointment and come. Go check the tafsir section. See what these ulama have written. You might not be able to read a single line of Arabic — no problem. Just pick it up and appreciate what ulama have done for the Qur'an. And how Allah has protected every single aspect of this Qur'an. InshaAllah there'll be barakah in that as well.

A Story of Barakah: The Convert and the Quran

Mawlana Yunus Palampuri, the son of Mawlana Umar Palampuri, who has Aaj Ka Sabaq — a daily lesson he records and sends. I heard this story from him live. He mentioned that in California, he was traveling in jama'at some long time ago, and then he came to a certain masjid again later on. When he arrived, he remembered that there was a convert who used to be present in that masjid. So he asked where that brother was. They said, oh, from last time — he said yes. They said, he passed away. But now that you mentioned, Mawlana Sahib, we want to share a story about him.

He was an elderly person who had accepted Islam but could not read Qur'an. He could not learn how to recite Qur'an in Arabic — he was maybe in his 60s. It was very hard for him to learn the Qur'an in Arabic. But he did not give up. Every single day he was still attached to the Qur'an. When he passed away and was buried, for a very long time the community smelled the fragrance coming from the soil of his grave — here in California. They knew: إِنَّ لَهُ شَأْنًا — he definitely has a status with Allah. This is not normal, to smell a beautiful fragrance coming from the grave.

So they went to his widow and asked her: can you please tell us about him? There's something most definitely he was doing because of which Allah gave him this status. What did he do? She said: my husband, simple man, after Salatul Fajr he would come home and pick up the mushaf. And although he could not read Arabic, he would still pick up a Qur'an in Arabic, put his finger on it, take it from one side to the other, and say: O Allah, I believe in this. O Allah, I believe in this. O Allah, I believe in this. This was his habit — page after page, for ten or twenty minutes, however long. He would sit there and read in his own manner. Simply saying: Ya Allah, I'm too old to learn the Arabic, I wish I could, but I will tell you what I can say: I believe in every single word of this.

Allahu Akbar. SubhanAllah — how much hope there is with Allah. No matter how old we are, no matter how far behind we may feel — if you are sincere in your relationship with Allah, Allah will give you a status that even the most well-known people will be envious of on the Day of Judgment. So it starts off with talab — go show your humility and humbleness to Allah: I'm ignorant, Ya Allah. I have every degree out there, but in front of the Qur'an I know nothing.

When I was studying in Darul Ibn Zakariyya, I remember once we had a Tunisian businessman walking through the madrasa. I was on a break outside and I saw them — foreigners, definitely not connected to the madrasa, which was away from the city. I introduced myself and asked how I could help. They said, no, we came here for a date fair, out in Johannesburg. And they were flabbergasted by the environment of the Darul Uloom — a 25-acre campus filled with students. They were obviously very wealthy people, so they asked, can we donate, how can we help?

I took them for a tour. The students had just finished eating lunch and were all coming out of the dining hall. The kids had curry, daal chawal, various spices and things like that still on their hands. Now this big businessman, wearing an expensive suit, went to stand there and greet them. And I remember seeing the humility in this person — that I'm nobody. And if this hifz kid gives me so much as the leftover salaam from his hands, that's barakah for me, because that's the closest I'm going to get to the Qur'an right now.

It was such a powerful image from 18 to 20 years ago. SubhanAllah, literally there are people outside who might not be students of the Qur'an, but I promise you — the dedication, the love you have for the people of the Qur'an, for the books of Allah, and for the scholars — that may end up getting you way ahead of the students themselves. It comes down to respect and love from the heart. So we need to, inshallah, ask Allah to grant us this same connection with the Qur'an the way our salaf had.

Tafsir of Ayah 1: Alhamdulillah

So every single verse, as we're talking about, is placed in the most appropriate place. We will go through the ayahs of today, inshallah. One of the tafsirs I will be reading through — and I encourage you to benefit from it — is a book written by Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali al-Nadawi, rahimahullah. One of the groundbreaking books. It has been translated into English as well. It's called Faith vs. Materialism. In Urdu it's called Qur'ani Ifadat. I have the PDF in Urdu, in English, and in Arabic. It's an 80-page book that you can find online. It's a very dense read — 80 pages, but it has what 8,000 pages may not have. Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali al-Nadawi will tell you why Surah Al-Kahf is the most important surah right now for all of us to be focusing on. He wrote this book probably about 40 years ago. But now, post-COVID, this book is even much more relevant. And its relevancy will continue to increase.

The Four Stories of Surah Al-Kahf

He will talk about the fact that this surah is divided into four stories:

Story One: The story of the People of the Cave — this represents the fitnah of kingdoms and powerful people, the ruling class, the fitnah of government.

Story Two: The story of the People of the Two Gardens — this represents the fitnah of wealth.

Story Three: The story of Musa and Khidr — this represents the fitnah of knowledge: having the wrong knowledge and missing out on the right knowledge.

Story Four: The story of Dhul-Qarnayn — this represents the fitnah of asbab and means. Amazon Prime is one of the most powerful fitnas of today. What I mean by that is that means creates within you a feeling of: I don't need any God in my life. I can get whatever I want in the next five hours. When you get engrossed with means, you stop thinking that you need Allah.

So the four stories: fitnah of governments and kings, fitnah of wealth, fitnah of knowledge, and fitnah of means. These four stories combined together give you the khulasa and gist of this surah.

The Meaning of Alhamdulillah

All praise belongs to Allah who sent down upon His servant the Book and has not placed in it any crookedness.

All praise is due to Allah — the one who reveals this Book. We are all benefiting: kuffar and Muslims alike. But the disbeliever attributes success to himself or to his educational system or to the country he lives in. We attribute our success only and solely to Allah. Although Allah may have made our education a means, Allah may have made our parents a means, Allah may have made the country we live in a means — the actual one worthy of our praise is none other than Allah. That's why Allah says Alhamdulillah.

Allah doesn't say: praise Allah. Allah doesn't say: I'm asking you to praise Me. He didn't say it in the past tense. He didn't say اِحْمَدِ اللَّهَ. He didn't say احْمَدُوا. He didn't say حَامِدُون. He didn't say تَحْمَدُون. He says الْحَمْدُ لِلَّه. This is what we call Jumlah Khabariyyah, not Jumlah Insha'iyyah. It is a nominal sentence that informs us that: whether you like it or not, you accept it or not, you believe it or not — all praise belongs to Allah. The reality is that all praise belongs to Allah. Whenever you praise anyone, the actual one receiving that praise is Allah. It only belongs to Allah.

Five surahs have begun with this ayah, Alhamdulillah. SubhanAllah:

Number 1 — Surah al-Fatihah: You are thanking Allah for Him being your Rabb, your caretaker, nourisher, and provider.
Number 2 — Surah al-An'am (the 7th surah of the Qur'an): You thank Allah who created the heavens and the earth.
Number 3 — Surah al-Kahf: Right in between — think about that. There are 5 surahs that begin with Alhamdulillah, and Surah Al-Kahf is once again right in between. This is your praising Allah for revealing the Qur'an.
Number 4 — Surah Saba':

All praise belongs to Allah, to whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth.

Number 5 — Surah Fatir:

All praise belongs to Allah, the Originator of the heavens and the earth. Allahu Akbar.

One of the ulama said something so beautiful. He said: Allah has made the creation of the heavens and the earth, the creation of day and night — can you imagine a world without day and night? Can you imagine a world without heavens and the earth? There is no world. Allah says: just as Allah is worthy of praise for that, equivalently He is worthy of praise for having sent down the Qur'an. Meaning — the revelation of the Qur'an is a blessing equivalent to, or greater than, the creation of the heavens and the earth.

My dear brothers and sisters, let's look at Surah al-Rahman. Al-Rahman — what's the next ayah?

Allah says: out of the mercy of me, what did I do for you? عَلَّمَ الْقُرْآنَ — I taught you the Qur'an. Then He mentions the creation of the human being. Meaning: the creation of a human being is the secondary blessing, and the first blessing is the fact that you are a Muslim and you have received the Qur'an. We might think the fact that we're alive is the greatest blessing — ni'mat al-ijad. Could there be any blessing greater than being created? Well, guess what? Yes, there is. And that blessing is that you have the Qur'an. Because if you are created and were not given the Qur'an or didn't follow it, then wallahi, not being created would be an infinite number of times better than being created without the Qur'an in your life.

The fact that we have the Qur'an in our life, and we're reciting it here tonight and every day, is a blessing that far supersedes the creation of the heavens and the earth. So Allah created a manual before He created the machine, if you want to understand it like that. They say something beautiful: the bigger the machine, the greater the benefit, and the greater the harm if it's used inappropriately. If I have a fork that I use inappropriately, the harm is limited. If I have a knife, the benefit is great — I can cut greater things — but the harm if used inappropriately is greater. Take that to the next level: a bulldozer, an excavator — it can do an unbelievable level of good that you can never do with a knife or a spoon. But on the other side, if this bulldozer is used improperly, the harm, the death, and the havoc it can create is unmatched.

So there is no bigger machine than the human being. If this human being comes right, the benefit he will give to the entire creation — including the fish in the sea, the angels, the plants, the earth — will be unmatched. And unfortunately, on the flip side, if this human being does not have the Qur'an in his life — wallahi al-'azim — the harm that will come upon this earth is unparalleled. No dinosaur, no whale, no jinn can bring that level of havoc on earth the way this human being can do so. And that is what we see today. Look at the pollution. Look at global warming. Look at how many animals are going extinct. Look at the pollution in the seas, deforestation, plastic in the sea. SubhanAllah. Who did this? We as a human race. When the human race does not have deen, when the human race does not have connection with and the Qur'an in their lives, this is what happens.

Ayah 1: Walam Yaj'al Lahu 'Iwaja

And has not placed in it any crookedness. You know when you have an introduction to a book, and it says: if any mistakes are made, please overlook them and contact the publisher so we can correct in the next edition. The Qur'an has no such disclaimer. There is nothing wrong in here. There is no phone number to call to say, there's a mistake in this edition. There's no punctuation mistake, no grammatical mistake, no contradiction. There is none, my friend. There's something wrong with your eyes if you think you saw that. There's nothing wrong in the Qur'an. That's what the Qur'an is unapologetically telling us.

وَلَمْ يَجْعَل لَّهُۥ عِوَجًا — there is no crookedness in it. Only a King can say this, subhanAllah. Is there anyone in the world who can ever say that? The challenge of Allah:

Say: if all of you humans and jinn come together and become one big army working together to bring something similar to this Qur'an, I guarantee you will never be able to do so.

And Allah also says:

If a fly were to come and take away some food from your fake idol, that idol would not be able to take it back from the fly. How weak is the worshipper and how weak is the worshipped! What a weak idolater and what a weak idol. This is the challenge of the Qur'an — from 1,400 years ago and beyond. Bring it on, and no one can. Today, for a person who goes to college and takes a philosophy of religions class and thinks they can challenge the Qur'an — that is just shaitaniyyah. It's not enlightenment. There's no way he's enlightened. It's like a person who says, I have a way to see the sun at night — you all just don't see it. We'd say to him: we're not missing anything, you're confused. Similarly, the one who finds fault in the Qur'an is just as mistaken as that.

Ayah 2: Qayyiman — Upright

Allah then says the purpose of it is two things — upright, in order: Number one, to warn the disbelievers. Number two, to give glad tidings to the believers.

Sometimes something is straight, but upon closer inspection you realize it's not straight. You need a meter, a device to figure out whether the tile is actually laid out flat, whether the carpet is straight, whether the beams are straight. That's why the Qur'an added emphasis. It's not just that Allah didn't put any crookedness. Qayyimah — I'm telling you, it's upright. An added layer of emphasis: there is absolutely no crookedness.

One of the ulama mentioned something beautiful: a straight line is the quickest way to get from point A to point B. Similarly, the quickest way to get from here to Jannah is the Qur'an. Because the Qur'an is Siratul Mustaqeem — a straight line. Number two: we live in a world where we are all interdependent. The doctor depends on the engineer, the engineer on the lawyer, the lawyer on the landscaper, the landscaper on the cook, and so forth. It's like traffic on the street — all sorts of cars going in all directions. If you do not have traffic signals and traffic rules, you'll have accidents upon accidents. That is why — is a husband and wife fighting today? Why is a mother fighting with her son? Why are business partners fighting with each other? Simple reason: the Qur'an is not in the life. If the Qur'an is in the life, these type of interactions will become much more beautiful and enjoyable. We're not meant to be leading a life as an uphill battle fighting with everyone. We will learn how to handle that through the barakah of the Qur'an.

Ayah 3: Makathineen Fihi Abada

Therein they shall remain forever. The benefits of this world — no matter how amazing a vacation any of us are going for, it's going to last for one week. But the reward of the akhirah is there forever. In the dunya, if you do some beneficial work, the reward of it is also temporary — because you did a temporary good. You're working, you'll get $100 an hour as long as you work. After you stop working, why would you get it? The akhirah is not like that — it's there forever.

Now someone may say: I get tired of vacations after some time. But Allah clearly mentions in the Qur'an:

People in paradise will never be asked to leave. And the people in Jannah will always be getting new things — never bored, continuous tanawwu', continuous change, so that they continuously enjoy their stay in paradise. We ask Allah to allow us all to become worthy of His mercy, whereby we would be allowed to enter into Jannah.

Ayah 4: Warning Those Who Ascribe a Son to Allah

Moreover, Allah forewarns those who say: Allah has taken for Himself an offspring. Assigning a son to Allah is a bigger sin than the normal sin, so that is why it has been mentioned separately.

Take-Home Lessons and Closing

So our take-home lesson for all of us, inshallah, is to begin memorizing. Don't say, oh we did four ayahs so we just do four ayahs. Because there may be times when I get to the story of the cave and we'll have long ayahs and I might do a page or two. So we should pace ourselves — three or four lines a day. I would like one person to help us as a coordinator: someone who is going to be memorizing Surah Al-Kahf and can help track the weekly lines and have a systematic way of monitoring progress.

How many of you made niyyah to memorize Surah Al-Kahf? Raise your hand high — a sincere niyyah, a firm niyyah. Alhamdulillah. So now we're going to do it — not just talk, but action. We need action. Omar will come up with the weekly goals for it. We'll share it and we'll have a tracker so all of us can continue to track our own progress. It will keep us motivated to see how many others are also doing it. And anytime you have any suggestions or comments, most definitely share with us. We want to make this as beneficial and enjoyable for all of us.

Announcements

I have a couple of announcements before we end. One is, alhamdulillah, we're going to be starting a new program — restarting a program. And I'm very, very excited. After a long time, we've been working on this. That is going to be a Friday night program — Friday nights at Darussalam with our teachers. So many of us have been asking to benefit from the asatidha of Darussalam. We have an amazing group of talented ulama that most who are not seminary students are unaware of, and they have immense amounts of knowledge to share with the community.

So inshallah, Friday nights we'll be starting a program where scholars of our seminary, by rotation, will be covering various different topics and books. We'll be starting off next Friday night — October 22nd inshallah — with Mufti bin Hajj. And he will be starting a dars, once a month, on Sahih al-Bukhari. This will be an amazing opportunity for non-seminary students to be able to benefit from the most famous and most authentic book after the Book of Allah. We have the Book of Allah on Tuesday nights, and we'll have the most authentic book after that on Friday nights. That will be starting on October 22nd, 2022, inshallah.

Additionally, November 11th and 12th is going to be our annual Seerah conference.

Du'a

Oh Allah, hundreds of people — many who are listening online — Ya Allah, You have brought together on this weeknight those who have come together out of Your love, out of a desire to protect themselves from the fitan. Oh Allah, nothing besides the love for You, the love for the Qur'an, the fear of Your anger, and the fear of the fitan of today have brought these brothers and sisters together. Ya Allah, we ask You to grant them what they are hoping for, and grant all of us protection from what we are scared of.

Ya Allah, make every single one of us steadfast in this dars. Oh Allah, please remove all obstacles from our steadfastness. Grant us conviction and yaqeen in the Qur'an. Grant us conviction and yaqeen in the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. Oh Allah, for those who made niyyah to memorize — make it easy.

Oh indeed You have said: the Qur'an has been made easy for taking heed from — allow it to be easy for all of us to not only take heed from Surah Al-Kahf but to memorize it. And Oh Allah, those who have memorized it — allow us all to become daily reciters of it.

Ya Allah, the one whom You make it easy for, it becomes easy. Oh Allah, make it easy for all of us to become reciters of Surah Al-Kahf. Oh Allah, make us lifelong students of Surah Al-Kahf. Ya Allah, protect our youngsters and our adults from falling into the trials and fitan of today. Oh Allah, please save the young minds and the innocent minds from falling prey to all the various new isms out there. Oh Allah, allow all of the youngsters and the adults to be able to differentiate between right and wrong. Grant us the noor of iman to be able to see in these days of darkness.

Ya Allah, grant acceptance and qubuliyya to all of those who made effort to invite people today for this program, for tonight's tafsir. Oh Allah, many students made lots of effort to personally invite people. Ya Allah, grant all of those who had any share in organizing tonight's program — those who made the PowerPoint slides, those who made the chai, those who contributed anything and everything — Ya Allah, grant them the full ajr of this tafsir. And Oh Allah, grant all of us qubuliyya and ikhlas. Grant the speaker ikhlas, grant the listeners ikhlas.

Oh Allah, make this a sadaqah jariyyah for our parents and our teachers. Ya Allah, fulfill whatever permissible desires and needs any one of us have. Whatever issues any one of us is going through — allow us to get shifa for our physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional problems, and allow us to find solutions through the barakah of the Qur'an.

سُبْحَانَ رَبِّكَ رَبِّ الْعِزَّةِ عَمَّا يَصِفُونَ وَسَلَامٌ عَلَى الْمُرْسَلِينَ وَالْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ

Wassalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.