Surah Al-Kahf | Part 13 Ayahs 60-73 | Mufti Azeemuddin | Weekly Tafsir

Opening Supplications

Respected listeners, dear beloved brothers and sisters, السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ. We thank Allah عَزَّ وَجَلَّ immensely for giving you and I the opportunity to sit with the Qur'an today in our weekly تَفْسِير. الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ for allowing us to gather again. Last week you were blessed to have Mawlana Yusuf Ghawth who, alhamdulillah, beautifully covered an entire رُكُوع. So we'll be carrying on from where he left off — from verse, ayah number 60 onwards. And this is the third of the four stories of Surah Al-Kahf: the story of Musa and Khadr عَلَيْهِ السَّلَامُ.

Renewing Our Intention

A reminder to myself and all of us: that we renew our نِيَّة while we're sitting here. We're here to please Allah. We're here to use this opportunity to get closer to Allah. We're here to build our personal relationship with the Book of Allah. We're here to get our questions answered, our needs fulfilled — of both this world and the next. This is the house of Allah. Sessions of عِلْم and ذِكْر are the places where things happen. This is the place where a person fixes his issues and problems.

If we have problems and we're looking elsewhere, it is like the one who lost his camel and was looking for it — and after some time, the person inside the house heard a noise on the top of the roof. He went to go see who was on the roof, and he saw the same person there. He said, "What are you doing up on my roof?" He said, "I'm looking for my camel." How are you going to find a camel on the roof? That's the wrong place you're looking.

So we are — unfortunately, the Ummah today is going through so many problems — but the solution is in the house of Allah. We're looking for the solution everywhere but in the house of Allah. Hence, we're not going to find it. Where the answers are, we're not looking. And where the answers are not, we're sitting there sifting through page after page, knocking on this door, calling on this one, and we seem dejected, rejected, and can't find what we're looking for — because we're looking in the wrong place.

The solution to every single problem, my beloved brothers and sisters, is the house of Allah and a relationship with Allah. Sometimes people don't like this answer. But I want a solution to my problems. The first step is: whoever rectifies his relationship between himself and Allah, Allah will rectify his relationship between himself and all humans and all others. This is the reality.

Now you have a problem with a family member — a problem with a spouse, or children, or parents — and the answer is: what is the condition of my صَلَاة? What is the condition of my نَوَافِل? What is the condition of my فَرَائِض? What is the condition of my وُضُوء? What is the condition of us leaving حَرَام? What is the condition of us neglecting فَرَائِض? If we have fail, fail, fail, fail for all of this — what do you expect but a horrible relationship at home, with parents, with spouse, with children, business falling apart, education falling apart? All these problems are symptoms of a central problem, which is a ruined, fractured relationship with Allah.

This is something we all have to agree upon. This is basic 101 — Islam 101. But people don't like this answer. People want some other نُسْخَة, some وَظِيفَة, some other quick fix. There's no quick fix. It can be quick, but the proper way is: you have to fix your relationship with Allah. Once that comes in, when أَعْمَال come in, when فَرَائِض come in, when حَرَام comes out, when دُعَاء comes in — there you go, your problems will get solved.

So let's remind ourselves that the solution to everyone's issues is in building our relationship with Allah. And whoever you see is depressed, worried, stressed out about their issues — remind yourself and remind them: the answer to your issue is only in the hands of Allah. If you run around the world looking for answers everywhere except coming towards Allah, you will not find the answer — that could happen in a million years.

The Key to Our Locked Hearts

So let's renew our نِيَّة while we're here. We're here to find the key to our locked doors. And one of the beautiful du'as I love is:

"O Allah, open up the locks on my heart through Your remembrance." The ذِكْر of Allah is the key to open up the locks on our hearts. When a person feels like, "I'm not getting anywhere, it looks like a slate of iron is on my heart, nothing penetrates my heart" — I feel like I don't fear God, I don't fear death. I've heard people tell me this: "I don't fear God, I don't fear death, I don't fear anyone. What should I do?" This darkened, blackened heart feels locked. Well, the solution goes back to the ذِكْر of Allah.

You may say, "I don't feel anything happens when I'm doing لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ. I don't feel it." Don't worry about not feeling it. Every single time when you take a medication — we love to take medicines, right? When you take medicine, when you take vaccines, what happens? Do you all of a sudden feel something? No. It takes some antibiotic hours to act. Any type of medication you take, it takes hours to act. So we cannot expect that immediately something's going to happen. It is working, but it takes time.

So when a person says, "I attend a gathering of the ذِكْر of Allah, I said لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ a hundred times, I prayed Salatul Isha in the masjid, I attended a دَرْس of tafsir — I don't feel completely changed." By the way, alhamdulillah, I know for sure you do feel changed. But Shaytan may try to play even more tricks, to say: "No, you're not changing. So what's the point of coming? What's the point of praying? It's all fake. You're faking everyone. You are manipulating everyone. What is the point of all of this?" Because alhamdulillah you're achieving something, and he doesn't like the fact that you're achieving even that. So he creates doubt and despondency within a person and says, "Stay away from this."

My beloved brothers and sisters, don't fall for that. You are gaining something. You might not realize it, but you are gaining tremendous things. It just takes time. We do not do عِبَادَة for enjoyment. We don't do عِبَادَة for كَيْفِيَّة — you know, like emotional, extraordinary feelings. We don't do عِبَادَة to get a high. They say "get a spiritual high" — that's not what the purpose of our عِبَادَة is. This is important. So you might say, "I'm not enjoying it, I'm not feeling it." We don't worship Allah to feel things. Your heart is feeling it — trust me, your heart is feeling it. It just takes time, because there are so many layers of gunk. By the time you actually remove all of it, it may take four or five gatherings — four or five مَجَالِس. But the key thing is اسْتِقَامَة — steadfastness.

You know, when you have a big snowstorm, you hit it with a shovel — one round is done, second round, third round. By the third time, then you have to put the salt. If you do one round, say "I'm tired," and go back into the house, then come back and it's still snowing — you're back to where you were, maybe even worse. If you didn't clean it up the first round, didn't salt it properly, now with the second snowfall it will get even harder and even more challenging to remove. The smartest thing is you hit it as soon as it snows — you clean it right then and there, and you put that salt. That's your تَوْبَة and اسْتِغْفَار. And if we leave it halfway, it's only going to get worse. But do not expect solutions within the first try. So اسْتِقَامَة — please.

This is one weekly gathering you attend. Don't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how busy of a schedule you have, no matter how tired you are. I request you that this اسْتِقَامَة and this gathering, insha'Allah, will help all of us tremendously. Do not let excuses come between you and attending. And alhamdulillah, those who have been attending with اسْتِقَامَة are themselves witnesses to the transformation taking place within themselves. But you come once and disappear for the next four weeks — then yeah, you have a right to say "I don't feel a difference," because you did this to yourself by not showing up consistently. The one benefit that you got also gets erased, because the world is like that.

The Crisis of the Ummah — Looking in the Wrong Places

Mawlana spoke so eloquently after Maghrib and after Isha. What he said really hit the heart: the environment outside is so horrible, and everyone knows it. Then why aren't our masajid filled up? We keep on talking about school districts, LGBTQ, and all these various issues — everyone is speaking about this. But speaking about it is not the solution. Why are not our Islamic schools filled up? Our Sunday schools filled up? Our evening maktabs filled up? That's the strange part — our numbers have just dwindled in all of those departments compared to what they were before.

So it's strange — on one side we're saying the world is falling apart spiritually, and then the solution, no one wants, or very few people want. So then let's acknowledge that we're all part of the problem. We are promoting the problem; we're not solving it. By you and I speaking about, "Oh, things are like this, things are like that" — that's not the solution. We are tricking and deceiving ourselves, thinking that we're addressing the problem by talking about it. That's another tactic: by addressing it, by speaking about it, we are made to falsely think that we are protected from it. "Because I'm at least speaking about it." No, you're just speaking about it. But are you doing anything productive for your own family, for your own self?

And if the answer is "no" — I have not made any change, I haven't pulled my children from any harmful program, and I haven't included them in any Islamic program — then how can we say that we are solving the problem? My beloved brothers, this is a tangent, but subhanAllah, it hurts me, it worries me, it scares me. How many fathers I speak to — mostly born overseas — who will talk to me and say, "Yaar, the situation is like this, ya Mufti Sahib, the situation is like that. Have you seen this text? Have you seen this video?" Problems or solutions? And subhanAllah, you see their own children — not one, not two, not three — all of their kids are in the exact same problems that the father is speaking about. And it shocks me: what are you doing? Are you blind? You just gave me this whole speech, but look at what's happening in your own home.

Every single thing — you haven't pulled your son out of any problematic program, you haven't put your son or daughter in any Islamic program, you don't bring them with you to the masjid — and here you go speaking about all these issues. How are you not seeing this happening in your own home? This tears me apart — seeing dads on one side, moms mashallah, speaking about big things, but the children are completely off track, and no one seems worried about that.

We as Imams, for example, we don't have the bandwidth to take care of every family. We have to worry about our own family first, and then the Ummah's families. But we cannot take care of every child out there. You as moms and dads sitting here listening to me — at least take care of your own four, your own two, your own six, however many kids you have — and then work on your nephews and nieces. So whatever we are speaking about, start applying it at home. Whatever WhatsApp video you're posting and reposting about this agenda, this propaganda — how about we start looking at how successful has this propaganda been in my own home?

I don't think we have time for that. We're not looking at our own home. We don't realize how quickly our own children are changing. May Allah give you and I the foresight, the بَصِيرَة, the insight into these issues, and allow us to not simply sit and talk but rather take the necessary actions to protect our generations. Ameen ya Rabbal Alameen.

Introduction to the Story of Musa and Khadr

The next third story that we're covering is the story of Musa and Khadr — an amazing, outstanding, beautiful story filled with lessons of all sorts. I pray to Allah that He allows me to share, insha'Allah, in the next few lessons and the few دُرُوس, all that will be of benefit to all of us.

Translation of the Verses (Ayahs 60–73)

"Behold, Musa said to his young attendant: I will not quit my quest for knowledge until I reach the confluence of two seas, or I shall go on for ages."

"So when they reached the confluence between them, there they rested and forgot their fish — that they had brought for sustenance — which then made its way into the sea, slipping away wondrously."

"So after they had proceeded and left it behind — meaning, left the fish behind — he said to his young attendant: Bring us our midday meal. Truly we have encountered great weariness in this journey of ours."

He said: "Do you remember when we betook ourselves to the rock to rest? Indeed, I forgot the fish there — and none but Shaytan has caused me to forget to mention it to you — and it had made its way into the sea in a wondrous manner."

Musa said: "This is the sign that we have been seeking." So they turned back, retracing their footsteps to the rock.

There they found a distinguished servant from among Our servants. We had granted him mercy from Our providence and had taught him much knowledge from Ourselves — this is called knowledge from Allah without means.

Musa said to him: "May I follow you on the condition that you teach me whatever right guidance you have been taught by Allah?"

He said: "Indeed, you can never be patient enough to bear with me."

"And how can you be patient with an experience you do not comprehend?" — the reason not being that you have a weakness, but it's simply something you are not accustomed to; you're not going to be able to understand what I'm doing.

Musa said: "You shall find me, if Allah so wills, patient — nor will I disobey any command of yours."

Allah's servant said: "Then if you would follow me, do not question me about anything I do until I first make mention of the reason of it to you."

So they both proceeded, and at last when they embarked on the ship, he scuttled it — he tore a plank off of the ship. Musa said: "Have you scuttled it to drown its people? Truly you have done a grievous thing."

He said to Musa: "Did I not say that indeed you can never be patient enough to bear with me?"

Musa said: "Do not hold me accountable for what I have forgotten — this was a genuine forgetfulness — nor burden me with further difficulty in my endeavor to learn from you."

So we'll see how much we cover. Let's stop till here, insha'Allah. If we cover all these verses, we'll continue. This is where the story begins of Musa and Khadr.

The Hadith of the Story: Musa and Khadr

Let's go over one hadith. The details of this hadith are mentioned by both Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim — hadith related by Ubayy ibn Ka'ab. He says: Once Musa rose to address his people, Banu Isra'il. From amongst those who were present, someone asked: "O Musa, who is the most knowledgeable of people?" The response Musa gave was: Ana — "I am." Because he was a Nabi, he was a Kalimullah — he spoke to Allah directly — he received the Tawrah, and he is one of the Ulul 'Azm prophets, the five highest prophets from amongst all the rest.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 122; Sahih Muslim, Book 43, Hadith 170)

So Musa said what he understood to be the truth — that "I am the most knowledgeable." But Allah did not like this answer. Although from Musa's perspective this is true, Allah would have preferred that he answered something like "Allah knows best who is the most knowledgeable" — even if it becomes quite apparent that he is the most knowledgeable — but not to attribute that knowledge to himself.

Now, when you have someone close to Allah like a prophet, even the slightest mistake becomes a grave error. There is a saying:

"The good deeds of the pious are regarded as sins of those who are most close to Allah." So someone who is pious, mashallah, has a habit of performing four rakahs of tahajjud — he wakes up an hour and a half before Fajr, he's pious, he stays away from haram, does his fard — great. However, someone who has been brought close to Allah, like a prophet, if he were to do that, it's regarded as what? A sin. "How dare you just pray four rakah, and only in twenty minutes?" You see what I mean? By itself it's good, very good — but the fact that someone who has been brought close to Allah does something like this is not acceptable. "We have much higher expectations from you."

So now, the closer you are to Allah, even the smallest of mistakes get you in big trouble. He made a mistake like this. And he had to be corrected. This is one reason prophets get corrected — because they're very close. Another reason is that prophets must be corrected immediately because they are an example for others. If they're not corrected, then you're sending a wrong message to others. That's why a Nabi must be corrected immediately if he makes a mistake.

So he's been alerted. "You made a mistake." How is this to be remedied? Allah tells him: there's actually someone who knows something that you don't know. Look at the immediate humbleness of Musa: "I accept it. No problem. There's someone who knows something I don't know — sure. No problem. I acknowledge that. Now what?" "I want you to go learn from him." So he asks Allah, allow me to go learn. And Allah tells him: "Go to the meeting point of two seas." That is the precise GPS location — where two seas meet. Pretty obscure, actually. Go find it. This is called a knowledge hunt.

The Knowledge Hunt — Lessons for Seekers

Mufti Taha Karan, rahimahullah, from Cape Town — who passed away, one of the great scholars of this era, who passed away a few months ago — his student, one of his top students, is our teacher here at Darussalam: Murad Abdurrahman Ya'qub, head of the research department and head of the library, amongst many other things, mashallah. He was saying that whenever they would ask Mufti Taha a question in class, he would say: "Mashallah, that's a really good question. You know what? Why don't you find the answer for me? Go to the library, look for the answer, and let me know by tomorrow." That's how he would teach them — if you ask, then you're going to be asked to go find the answer.

Sometimes this is the best way to learn, because by the time you find the answer you have to look and spend — seriously, brothers and sisters who don't have experience in this — sometimes many times the assignment is given. I remember one question I had — all of us have questions when we're studying. Sometimes they're just so obscure and weird, you have no idea where to even start looking. If you say "does this invalidate salah," you know pretty quickly where to go check. But then you have these left-field questions — you don't even know where to start looking. Is it a book of tafsir? A book of hadith? A book of interpretation of dreams? Where do we start?

But the benefit of these types of questions is: as you're looking for this answer, you go through seriously thirty to forty books — minimum, minimum, minimum — thirty to forty books you're going to have to actually open up, and maybe sixty, seventy, eighty shelves. So in the process of that, what happens? You actually end up going through so many books you would have never otherwise picked up. You go through so many tables of contents, so many authors' works. So this is a great way of teaching students — when you actually throw them in the deep end and say, "Go search for the answer." And then after three days, sometimes you come back and say, "Ustad, I spent twelve hours in the library and I have no idea. Please give me some tip." And there were real situations like this.

This is reminding me of the egg hunt — subhanAllah, the عِلْم hunt. When you go and you have to search for stuff. But it's not a wasted three days or twelve hours — it's very beneficial, because through the process of that, you're picking up so many different books. So Allah told him to go find a place where the seas meet and find a servant of His. And the sign is: a fish that you have in your basket will disappear.

The Journey of Musa and Yusha'

So he told Musa to put a fish in his basket, and he set out with his attendant Yusha' ibn Nun. When they were traveling, they decided to take a rest somewhere by a rock and they fell asleep. Musa was sleeping, Yusha' was awake. All of a sudden the fish started to move and left the basket and went into the sea — it was a miracle, how this fish came to life and went into the sea. When Yusha' woke up, he simply forgot to share the story, and they kept on traveling — for how much? Another twenty-four hours — one whole day and one whole night. Then the next day Musa asked for some food. When they opened up the basket, they realized there was no food. He realized the food had disappeared the day before.

So at that time Musa said: "Okay, I am so tired. Let's start walking back." They walked all the way back to the rock. There was a man lying down with a sheet over him. So Musa initiated the conversation by saying: السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ. The person under the shawl said: "Where am I hearing salaam in this land of wilderness and uninhabited place? Who is saying salaam?" Musa said: "It's me — Musa — who came here to meet you." He said: "Which Musa?" Musa said: "Musa of Banu Isra'il." He said: "Yes. Okay, what do you want?" "I have come with the request of spending some time in your company so that I may learn from that which Allah has taught you."

And that's where he says that you won't be able to — actually, "I cannot accept you. You applied, but I'm going to have to reject your application. Why? Because you are accustomed to a certain set of things, and I'm going to be teaching a different set of things here. So it's not going to work, and you're going to keep on thinking what I'm doing is wrong, because based on your knowledge, everything I'm doing is going to be contrary to what you've been taught." But Musa says: "No, please, let me try my best not to speak up."

The first time — he saw the plank being broken and taken out of the ship. They came to the sea, and a person who was sitting on the boat recognized Khadr and said: "Come, come — you need a ride across the river? Take it for free." When they sat there, as they were traveling, Khadr quickly picks up an axe and breaks a plank — water is coming in, the boat is damaged. Musa is watching, like: "What is this? These people give us a free ride and you just broke a plank? This is something unacceptable!" He said: "Didn't I tell you, you're not going to be patient?" Musa said: "Okay, I'm so sorry. I know I shouldn't have, but I did. Insha'Allah, do not rub it in, and don't take me to task for something I genuinely forgot. Please. It's been a long journey. Don't make it harder for me than it already is."

He says: "Okay, we'll go on." Then as they're moving on and traveling, they see a child. Khadr calls the child and decapitates him — kills him. And that's too much now. Removing a plank with an axe is nothing compared to this. Musa told Khadr: "What is this? This is completely unacceptable! How dare you kill an innocent soul!" Khadr simply looks at him and says: "What did I just tell you? I told you — don't ask until I tell you things." It's not Musa's fault according to what he knows — according to the Shari'ah, this is completely haram; you can't do things like this. So he realizes this is above his level of tolerance. Musa tells him: "I'm sorry. If I slip one more time, you have the right to expel me from your madrasa."

Then they went traveling through a village. They asked the people: "Would you be willing to host us, since we're outside travelers?" Instead they said there was a hotel, a restaurant — "We're not hosting you in our home." That was not according to the customs of that time. What happened? Khadr did not get upset, and he said: "Okay, we'll move on." As they moved on, they came across a wall that was falling over. Khadr told Musa: "Come on, let's get to work." Musa said: "What do you mean to do?" He said: "We're going to fix this wall." So him and Musa together rebuilt this wall that was falling over. After that they were done. Khadr said: "Let's get moving." Musa said: "What about our food? What about money? We worked." He said: "No money, no food. We're moving." Musa said: "You're not going to charge them anything?" He said: "No, we're not going to charge them anything — it's free." Musa said: "At least you should have charged them! They didn't give us food. At least with the money you could buy food." "Oh — so you're criticizing and asking again? Why did I do what? Alright. This is the nail in the coffin."

"This is now the time of separation between you and I. I am going to inform you now the interpretation of those things that you were not patient enough to wait to hear." So now that he was leaving, Khadr explained all three incidents — why he did what he did. After narrating all of that, the Prophet said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 122; Sahih Muslim, Book 43, Hadith 170)

"I wish Musa could have remained more patient so that we would have come to know more about the two of them." The most knowledgeable of all human beings is saying: "I want to know more about this" — because this is not something he himself was fully aware of. Nabi has immense knowledge, but all the knowledge of Allah is obviously not given to him. Selected things from Allah's knowledge are shared with him. He is not عَالِمُ الْغَيْب — he doesn't know the entire unseen.

Two Types of Knowledge: Ilm al-Shari'ah and Ilm al-Haqiqah

Now let's focus on some specific lessons. One thing I would like to share here is that there are two types of knowledge. One is called عِلْمُ الشَّرِيعَة or عِلْمُ الظَّاهِر — the external aspects of following the dictates of the Shari'ah — what's halal, what's haram, what's allowed, what's mustahab, what's mubah, what's makruh. The other is called عِلْمُ الْحَقِيقَة or عِلْمُ الْبَاطِن — the inner workings, the hidden inner workings that happen behind the scenes. Another name for that is عِلْمُ التَّكْوِين — fulfilling the manifestation of Allah's will, where قَضَاء وَقَدَر comes in, pre-destiny — when, where, how everything is pre-ordained, and the wisdom behind Allah's actions.

Our actions need to follow the Shari'ah — the rules laid out by Allah and shown to us by the prophets. With regards to why Allah does what He does — that's not part of the Shari'ah to give you answers for. Shari'ah will tell you what you have to do. The wisdom behind these things — the secrets — that's not the realm of the Shari'ah. "Do as you're told. This is what it is, it's proven from Qur'an and Sunnah."

Musa was among the forefront of the prophets who had knowledge of the Shari'ah. And on the other side is Khadr, who, according to many scholars of tafsir, was a prophet as well — and some are of the opinion that he was an angel. Why does he have to be a prophet and not just a وَلِيّ of Allah? Because what he does is against the Shari'ah — breaking someone's boat, killing someone — at least these two incidents are completely not allowed in the Shari'ah. But he says: "I don't do this out of my own will. This is under the command of Allah." No وَلِيّ and no pious person can claim to be doing things against the Shari'ah and say "Oh, don't worry about it — I have the orders of Allah, I don't have to pray."

There are people out there today, in this day and age, who claim such things — fake sheikhs. Those type of sheikhs who claim they have some special type of knowledge that you all don't know about — because of which they don't need to read Qur'an, they don't need to pray salah, they don't need to do dhikr, they don't have to observe hijab from your wife. This is real stuff that happens. Anyone who says they don't have to observe hijab from your women, anyone who says "I'm allowed to sit separately with your women in a room — it's okay, because I'm your shaykh" — all this is bogus. We have to have some brains. Allah gave us عَقْل and Allah gave us the deen.

The Shari'ah cannot be bent for some shaykh — it can never happen. We have to bend ourselves to the Shari'ah; the Shari'ah doesn't bend for us. Anyone who claims to be above and beyond the divine law — you know for sure that person you need to stay far away from. So that's why there's no such thing as a وَلِيّ who says: "I have this knowledge and I'm doing something which I can do based on it." That's why Khadr cannot be just a وَلِيّ — he has to be higher than that — a prophet who receives revelation, or an angel who takes orders directly from Allah.

The Lesson of Humility

My beloved brothers and sisters, imagine how much humbleness and humility you and I need to have in our own fields. He is a Nabi, and he's being held accountable for saying he's the most knowledgeable. Whatever field you're best in — IT, cyber security, medicine, engineering, fiqh, Arabic — we must always show humility and never claim that we are the most knowledgeable. Allah says in the Qur'an, Surah Yusuf:

"Above every knowledgeable person is someone who has more knowledge." And at the very top is of course Allah, الْعَلِيم.

So this story — the Musa and Khadr story — is the reality of the meeting of external and internal knowledge. The meeting of a prophet of Shari'ah and a prophet of الْحَقِيقَة. That's what's so unique about this incident — you have a meeting of two titans, two powerful individuals from two different dimensions crossing paths, which we usually don't see.

And if you want to know the secret — the خُلَاصَة and the nutshell of this story — it is this verse from Surah Al-Baqarah:

"It is very likely that you may dislike something while it is beneficial for you, and it is also likely that you may like something while it is evil and harmful for you. And Allah knows, while you do not know."

That's the secret of predestiny. That's the secret of the wisdom of what's going on in your life. You don't know why what's happening in your life. And you are judging based on appearances — on what meets the eye. But you can't do that, because not everything meets your eye. There's a whole bunch of things happening behind the scenes based on the will of Allah, based on the knowledge of Allah that you and I are unaware of.

Submitting to the Will of Allah

My beloved brothers, there is so much to be learned from this story. Nabi Musa, he's so unaware and oblivious about what's going on that he ends up getting removed from this madrasa because he keeps asking questions — because he really doesn't know. And moreover, the most knowledgeable of all — Muhammad — is saying: "Oh! I wish this story continued. I would have gotten to learn so much." So how do you and I expect to know the wisdom behind what Allah is doing in our life? When we say: Why did this happen? Why did that happen? Why did this flood come? Why did this innocent one die? Why did a tornado hit over here? Why did the Muslim countries get hit again and again?

Why is this happening? I want to know. No! The Prophets didn't know — who are you to demand answers? Who am I to have this expectation that I need to know every single thing why it's happening? This is arrogance — to demand answers. The Nabi does not know. The greatest of the Anbiya, the greatest of human beings, does not know the answers to everything. We need to learn how to submit to the will of Allah quietly. Submit to it. Whatever is happening is happening based on what Allah knows and what Allah wills.

And the best way forward is for me to blindly submit to His will and say:

"I am pleased with Allah as my Lord." Whatever He wishes —

I am pleased with whatever Allah decrees. That type of attitude is pleasing to Allah. And He will make sure you will see the silver lining of what you're going through — and you will definitely see the أَجْر of that in the grave and the Akhirah if you don't see it in the world.

To be content and happy with Allah's decisions in this world — we just don't understand why things are happening. That doesn't mean you stop making du'a. No, of course not. You make lots and lots of du'a for your situation to improve. But deep down, you should know that whatever Allah wills is happening, and I don't know why this is happening.

That's why they say: لَا بُدَّ مِنْ حِكْمَةٍ — "There must be some wisdom." You're right. When your mom and dad do something at home, or your wife does something in the house — before you start attacking everything, why don't you just ask? We expect that a wife, a husband, a dad, a mom — their actions are going to be based on some sort of wisdom that you as an outsider or as a child may not understand. My beloved brothers and sisters, how can you expect and think that Allah's actions are free of wisdom? How can we ever think that Allah does things out of randomness, haphazardly? They say:

"The actions of a wise man are never void of any wisdom." A wise person will always do something based on some wisdom. You may not understand it, but there's wisdom behind it. So Allah is the most wise — الْحَكِيم — He's definitely doing everything based on some wisdom. Just acknowledge that you're not aware of what that wisdom is.

The No-Quitter Attitude in Seeking Knowledge

So this is the humility of Musa — that he's ready to learn and move forward. Musa said: لَا أَبْرَحُ — "I will not quit my quest." What does that tell you? If you are out to seek knowledge, you cannot be a quitter. You can't be a quitter.

I remember one day, many years ago, I gave a talk in Chicago. Then at the end I mentioned the one-year program. One kid came up to me and said: "Oh, I'm very interested in the one-year program." I said: "Mashallah. Where is this taught at?" "Darussalam." "Where is that at?" "It's at Lombard." "Oh, how far is Lombard?" "It's forty-five minutes." "Oh, it's too far." And he left. I was like — what? You're going to give up seeking knowledge because it's forty-five minutes away? This is a joke.

People come to me all the time and say: "How much does a one-year program cost?" And I say: "This is not an appropriate question." If I tell you it costs 100,000, what are you going to say — too much? If I say it's free, what are you going to say — oh, that's good? Knowledge can never be based on money. You cannot say "I'm ready to seek knowledge because it's cheap," and you cannot say "Oh, knowledge is too expensive, so I'm not going to take it." Every other material thing you can ask — "Oh, it's a $50,000 car? That's too much for me." But knowledge — no. Money has nothing to do with this.

So when people always ask me, "What's the tuition for something?" I say: "Don't worry about it. Why is that even relevant to you? Are you wanting to study? If you're wanting to study, then that's it." You have to have:

A sincere, firm intention to study. If you have that, then no one is going to stop you from studying. What you call "the absence of resources" is not going to stop you from studying. You will, insha'Allah, be able to complete your studies. But the issue is the will — do you have إِرَادَة? Do you have a fervor, an intention to study? That's the million dollar question. Don't worry about the tuition — the rest of the stuff will be taken care of. You have to have a no-quitter attitude: لَا أَبْرَح — "I will not quit."

And we are nobodies. He is one of the most famous, most knowledgeable of the prophets, and this is his attitude: "I will not quit." Where does my GPS say to go? مَجْمَعَ الْبَحْرَيْن — the place where the two seas meet. I don't know where to find this place, but we're going to go. And أَوْ أَمْضِيَ حُقُبًا — you know what حُقُب means? حُقُب means a very long duration of time. So Musa is saying: "I'm ready to walk for years."

My beloved brothers and sisters — those listening online, those listening afterwards, those who are here — if we have an idea and a knowledge of the benefit of knowledge, we will not look at the sacrifice we have to make for it. Sometimes we stop attending a دَرْس of knowledge — whether as a full-time student in a seminary, or as a part-time student attending a دَرْس of dhikr, tafsir, or hadith — for the smallest of reasons. "I have guests over. I'm tired. I had this appointment, that appointment." Smallest of reasons, we give up our quest for knowledge. And this is something we understand — why there's no barakah.

I spoke about it at the beginning of my talk today. The barakah comes when there is a strong نِيَّة — "I know the value of this. I cannot. Whatever happens — no sleep." SubhanAllah. The book Safahat min Sabr al-'Ulama — "Pages from the Stories of the Patience of the Scholars" — by Shaykh Abdul Fattah Abu Ghudda. If you read any of those pages of what he wrote — what level of sacrifice people did, it's unbelievable. How much traveling they did in order to seek knowledge. How much they put into it — everything, everything. They sold everything they had in order to gain knowledge. Because they valued it.

Traveling to Seek Knowledge — No Home Delivery for 'Ilm

We need to be willing to travel to seek knowledge. Don't expect — like we have microwave dinners and home delivery for everything — don't expect home delivery for عِلْم. It's just not the same thing. A fresh cooked meal that you go eat and enjoy compared to something pre-frozen, made with all sorts of chemicals six or nine months ago in a factory, warmed up in a microwave — how is that the same thing? When you go, leave your home, sit and benefit from the knowledge of a scholar or an institution — the barakah you're going to get in that عِلْم far supersedes what you get delivered to your home. This is something we need to understand.

One of the kings — if I'm not mistaken, Harun al-Rashid — one day went to see his son studying with one of the great scholars. He saw that the shaykh was doing wudu, and the son — who is the prince — was pouring water for the shaykh. What was the shaykh doing? He's washing his hands and feet. But at the end of the day, it's the prince. So the king called the scholar and said: "I'm upset at you." "Amirul Mu'minin, what did I do?" "I saw my son was pouring water for your wudu. Why did you not make him wash your feet with his hands? Why was he just pouring the water? How is he going to learn عِلْم if he simply sits there and pours the water over your feet? He should be washing your feet with his hands." SubhanAllah. The Amirul Mu'minin — and he wants his son to become something great. And he knows that to become great, that's what you gotta do. You literally have to wash the feet. SubhanAllahul Azim.

Do we have that attitude in front of knowledge? Or do we have an attitude of arrogance? "No, I pay tuition. I pay $20 an hour." That's why no knowledge comes into us. That's why we're such empty vessels — because of this whole attitude. There's no تَوَاضُع and humility in front of knowledge. In front of knowledge we have to melt. You have to say: "I'm this big CEO, CFO, whatever — but in front of the knowledge of deen, I'm a zero." If you want to become great, and if you want your children to become great, you have to be as humble.

So you have Nabi Musa — walking forever. "I'm ready to walk for years, because I want knowledge. I'm thirsty for this." So we can't wash the feet. We can't travel to a teacher's home. We can't travel to go to a masjid — "It's too far: thirty minutes, forty minutes. We need someone to come to our home." If we have true, true value for عِلْم, we will do all the traveling, we will make all the sacrifices. No pain, no gain. The more effort you put into this, the greater is going to be the output and the benefit you'll gain.

Tafsir of the Verses: Key Lessons

Tiredness After Surpassing the Goal

He says: "We've gotten very tired because we have surpassed our goal." The ulema make an amazing point here — based on the hadith and the tafsir — that he became tired and began to feel the tiredness once he had crossed the meeting place. Meaning: as long as you are journeying and going towards a مَقْصَد and a purpose, you don't feel the tiredness. It's as soon as you start wasting time and doing things that have nothing to do with your purpose that causes weariness and tiredness. As long as you are making an effort towards a goal, you won't become tired because the goal is in front of you. But as soon as you pass that goal in life and are just wasting time — that makes you more tired.

The Fish Coming to Life

When they reached the meeting place, they both forgot their fish. Some scholars say they had actually grilled this fish and eaten one side of it, and it was in their basket. When Musa was sleeping, this fish came back to life and jumped out of the basket and went into the sea. سَرَبًا — translated as "wondrously" — many tafsirs explain سَرَب as referring to a tunnel. Allah made the water become still — the waves stopped — and a tunnel-like funnel was created within the sea, and the fish went right into that funnel. He literally saw his lunch walking away into the sea.

Now, the question is: how do you forget something like this? One explanation is that Yusha' ibn Nun — who was Musa's maternal nephew — was just accustomed to seeing miracles. Some have said he was the great-grandson of Yusuf. So he was just accustomed to seeing miracles — "Oh, there's another miracle" — and he forgot to mention it. But the Qur'an gives the answer itself. He said: وَمَا أَنسَانِيهُ إِلَّا الشَّيْطَانُ — "None but Shaytan caused me to forget this."

Forgetfulness Attributed to Shaytan

Here we learn a very important point: نِسْيَان and forgetfulness have been attributed to Shaytan. We see the same attribution in the story of Yusuf — when the person whose dream he interpreted forgot to mention him to the king:

"Shaytan made him forget." So what do we understand from this? Allah has created good and evil in this world. But when we speak about evil, we do not attribute it towards Allah, out of etiquette and أَدَب. You don't say, "O Allah, the creator of calamities." Although Allah is the creator of all of those things. Instead we attribute good things towards Allah. You never say "Allah made me sin." We know that you and I cannot miss our prayer without Allah's permission. But you're not supposed to attribute evil towards Allah out of أَدَب.

Number two: Shaytan is our enemy. Allah has made him the reason why people are going to go to Hell — he does وَسْوَسَة to people, and then people fall into kufr. He made Adam slip, starting from there all the way to the last man. Shaytan is going to be alive till the last man dies. Then the trumpet will be blown. So whatever evil you see happening — kufr, shirk, nisyan — it is being attributed to Shaytan as one of its means.

The Story of Abu Hurairah and Shaytan with Ayatul Kursi

There was an incident during the time of Abu Hurairah, during the time of the Prophet, where Shaytan came and tried to take from the wealth of sadaqah. Abu Hurairah tried to stop him. Every single time he grasped him, the man said: "No, please, please let me go — I have children, I have this and that." He let him go. Abu Hurairah went and informed Rasulullah. Rasulullah said: "He's lying, he's going to come back tomorrow."

The second day he came again — tried to steal — and Abu Hurairah grabbed him and said: "I'm taking you to the Prophet." He said: "Please let me go." He let him go and informed Rasulullah, who again said: "He's lying, he's going to come back." Third day he came. Abu Hurairah said: "I'm not letting you go this time." He tied him. The man said: "Okay, for sure — I will not come back. I'll tell you one thing. If you don't want me to come back — read Ayatul Kursi. If you read Ayatul Kursi, you're safe."

Nabi said: "What did your prisoner say?" He told him. Nabi said: "He's a liar — but what he said is true." Then he told Abu Hurairah who he was. "That was Iblis who was coming every day. He's a liar, but what he told you last night was right: if you want to protect yourself or anything you own — read Ayatul Kursi."

My beloved brothers, I don't know if any of you don't know Ayatul Kursi — but please, if you don't, I implore you to make نِيَّة right now that you memorize it. It's one ayah of the Qur'an. The Nabi has mentioned that whoever recites this after every fard salah, the only thing between him and paradise is death. So ensure that every member of our household has memorized this, insha'Allah.

The point I was making is: out of etiquette for Allah, we don't attribute evil towards Allah. And at a secondary level, Allah has created Shaytan as a means for evil. Just as water quenches thirst — but water didn't quench the thirst in reality; it's Allah's command that quenched the thirst. Water is just the means. Similarly, Shaytan is the means for our suffering, and the biggest suffering is Jahannam.

So here we understand:

"Only Shaytan made me forget this fish." And that's why sometimes people think: "How did this happen? How did I forget this? My wife told me three times — don't forget this — and again you forgot, and it caused a big problem." Because Shaytan wants a fight to happen between you and your spouse. That's what it is. Forgetfulness and these small things.

One thing I've seen is that by attributing evil towards Shaytan, you give leeway for someone to correct themselves. If you say: "You're evil, you're wrong, you're horrible" — how does that person feel? What's the chance they'll change? Instead you say: "You fell to the temptations of nafs and Shaytan. You're a great person — but you fell into the temptations of nafs and Shaytan." And this is a message to all of us sinners: do not hate yourself. Don't think of yourself as lowly and disgusting and beyond any repair. Do we sin? Yes, we sin every day. We're very sinful. But understand that Shaytan has made our nafs a student of his — and they both, Shaytan and nafs together, teacher and student, unfortunately gang up on us. And that's why we slip and fall.

So when speaking to someone and trying to rectify them, do not point fingers and say "you're evil." Who's ever going to want to change once they hear that? Say: "Forget it, I'm a lost cause." No one is a lost cause. Shaytan is a lost cause — the Qur'an says he is finished, he's doomed. So he wants everyone else to feel they're a lost cause. But alhamdulillah — the day you decide to free yourself from Shaytan and say:

"I believe in Allah, and I absolve myself of kufr, shirk, and all sins." Alhamdulillah — that's the day you start fresh.

The Grammatical Point: نَبْغِ

Musa said: "This is exactly what we are searching — ذَلِكَ مَا كُنَّا نَبْغِ." For those who know Arabic صَرْف: notice there is no يَاء here. Normally it would be نَبْغِي with a يَاء — its absence is خِلَافُ الْقِيَاس, not according to the customary way of writing in Arabic. Mufti Allah Haqq mentions that this whole incident is all very unusual — the fish forgotten, the fish coming to life — so even the deletion of the يَاء from نَبْغِي reflects this departure from the norm.

The Greatest Status: Servitude to Allah

They returned retracing their footsteps and found a servant — a distinguished servant. Khadr is someone who has a lot of knowledge, and Musa is going to seek it from him. But what does Allah call him? A servant — عَبْد. There is no greater status than being a servant of Allah. The greatest status is عُبُودِيَّة. When a person understands Allah most properly, and then worships Allah most happily — then you will have the best life. Three things:

• مَعْرِفَةٌ كَامِلَة — complete knowledge of Allah
• عِبَادَةٌ طَوْعًا — worship Allah happily and willingly
• سَعَادَةٌ دَائِمًا — happiness forever

And he was an عَبْد. And Allah gave him رَحْمَة and gave him knowledge — a very blessed servant — and Allah taught him:

This type of knowledge is called عِلْمٌ لَدُنِّي. What does لَدُن mean? "From someone" — لَدُنِّي means it comes directly from Allah. Most knowledge we get is what we call عِلْمٌ كَسْبِي — the knowledge that you go earn: you open up books, you sit with scholars, you listen to lessons. Then there's knowledge that Allah inspires a person directly — revelation. That knowledge you can't find in the books. It comes directly from Allah.

Etiquette in Seeking Knowledge — Following a Teacher

Musa said to him, in ayah 66: "May I follow you that you may teach me something of what you have been taught of right guidance?" You have to have etiquette when requesting to seek knowledge. Musa could have had an attitude and said: "You know what? Allah sent me to study with you. So tell me what time you're giving me." But he didn't say: "I'm a Nabi, you heard of me?" No. He says: "Will you give me permission to follow you?" Look at the word — أَتَّبِعُكَ, اتِّبَاع — to follow you.

In order to seek knowledge, a person must follow a teacher. You don't find it just through books — books are just the means. The actual giver of knowledge is an individual. "The chest of the ulama." There was a whole talk given in the winter intensive — Mufti ibn Hajj gave on this topic — the books of knowledge, and then the people of knowledge, رِجَالُ اللَّهِ. You cannot become self-studied. Self-studied scholarship leads to complete misguidance.

SubhanAllah — one beautiful example: the adhan. When you say الله أَكْبَر — is it اللَّهَ, اللَّهُ, اللَّهِ? Is it أَكْبَرَ, أَكْبَرُ? How is it supposed to be? You're not going to find the حَرَكَة of this in books — how did we learn how to give adhan? By listening to others. If you don't go listen, and don't sit at the feet of a scholar to listen to hadith or Qur'an, you will not know how to recite it. We can't give adhan from books alone — the fatha, damma, kasra — someone who heard it from someone put it on. So we won't even know how to give adhan if it wasn't for this oral tradition. And that oral tradition comes not out of books, but from the chest of these scholars.

That's why if you ever get a chance, I would recommend you go up to the seminary classroom on the men's side, the top floor — the first classroom. You'll see a beautiful chain of سَنَد, chain of narration, from the teachers here back to Rasulullah. It was shown here on the day of the Khatm al-Bukhari, printed and placed in a nice frame. When I'm giving tours, I always say: this is the thing you need to take a picture of. Because this is what is unique about institutions like Darussalam. The knowledge you're getting has a chain that goes back to Rasulullah. And that is what is the main thing:

(Statement of Abdullah ibn Mubarak, as recorded in Sahih Muslim, Introduction)

"The chain of narration is part of the deen. And if there was no chain of narration, whoever wanted to say whatever they wanted would be able to say it."

So Musa is asking for اتِّبَاع — "I want to follow you." Many times you will learn so much knowledge, my beloved brothers and sisters, from simple companionship of your teachers — even while traveling or walking with them. Just while walking, outside of a classroom, so much is to be learned from their interactions. Students sometimes think that the education ends in the class. No, it doesn't. That's just the beginning. Outside of the class, many times some of the most powerful experiences happen.

Closing Du'a and Reminders

May Allah allow you and I to remain students of knowledge for the rest of our life. May Allah bless you and I with the company of righteous, pious, God-fearing, knowledgeable teachers who will teach us both the internal knowledge and the external knowledge — the knowledge of the Shari'ah and the knowledge of الْحَقِيقَة, the knowledge of external aspects of fiqh, and the knowledge of the heart and the diseases of the heart and the solutions to those diseases. Ameen.

Insha'Allah, we'll continue from ayah 67. There are a lot of beautiful details, insha'Allah, we'll be sharing in the next few weeks, bithillah ta'ala. And please try to invite family and friends to attend next week on Tuesday.

Team Fajr is still happening, alhamdulillah — enjoy great breakfast and great company here on Saturday mornings at 6:15. And we request everyone to please stick to wearing masks when you're here in the masjid. If you're feeling very sick, please avoid the masjid until you start feeling better.

Let's do some dhikr, insha'Allah.

Oh Allah, we ask You to accept this gathering — accept all those who came in person, those who are listening online, those who will listen afterwards. Oh Allah, accept the sacrifices of all those who left their home and drove in the cold from far and wide. Ya Allah, make every step of theirs a means of their forgiveness. Make it a means of them getting closer to You. Make it a means of their needs of this world and the next being solved.

Ya Allah, we ask You to grant us all the مَحَبَّة of the Qur'an — love of the Qur'an, deep understanding of the Qur'an, attachment to the Qur'an. Allow us all to become amongst those who recite it profusely, who make an effort to understand the language of the Qur'an, to understand its meanings. Oh Allah, enable us to practice on its teachings and propagate them. Ya Allah.

Oh Allah, we ask You to revive our dead hearts with Your remembrance. Unlock the locks upon our hearts through Your remembrance, Ya Allah. Oh Allah, we ask You to grant us all, through the barakah of Surah Al-Kahf, protection from the fitna of Dajjal — and from all the fitna leading up to Dajjal.

Ya Allah, make it easy for these brothers and sisters to memorize Surah Al-Kahf — for those who haven't memorized it. And oh Allah, make it easy for all of us to recite it every single Friday. Enable us all to recite it at least fully once a week, Ya Allah.

Oh Allah, we ask You to grant shifa to all those who are suffering from illness. Oh Allah — all those brothers and sisters from our students, our staff, our community members, our musallees, our patrons, and the general community — grant shifa to all those who are suffering from any illness. Make it a means of their forgiveness. Oh Allah, remove the symptoms of illness quickly. Allow them to be granted shifa. And make their sickness a means of them gaining closeness to You, Ya Allah.

Oh Allah, those who have passed away from the Ummah — grant them special forgiveness and mercy. Fill their graves with nur. Oh Allah, reward our teachers, our parents, and all those who became a means of deen reaching us, Ya Allah. Oh Allah, fulfill our needs of this world and the next.

Ameen.