Surah Al-Kahf | Part 14 Ayahs 60-78 | Mufti Azeemuddin | Weekly Tafsir

بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ، اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ وَسَلِّمْ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَبَارِكْ وَسَلِّمْ

Respected friends, dear brothers and sisters, and dear listeners and students, Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh. Insha'Allah we will go over some points of the verses that we covered last week. From the starting of the story of Musa and Khadir, we did read maybe six or seven verses and translated those. But there are some points that I still wanted to cover. Insha'Allah we'll do that before we move forward to the next verses.

Reminding us that this surah was revealed as a gift of Allah to all of us, and in response to the questions that the Yahud asked the disbelievers of Mecca to ask Rasulullah ﷺ. They said: go ask him about the soul, go ask him about the sleepers of the cave, and go ask him about that person who traveled the world — the east and the west. So that's the next and final story of Dhul Qarnayn, which is still coming. And the sleepers of the cave, of course, we've already done. And the aspect of the soul is in the previous surah, Surah Bani Israel. But that became a means of this whole surah being revealed.

The Delay in Revelation as a Proof of Prophethood

Rasulullah ﷺ was delayed in his response because he could not answer from his own. He said, "I'm going to answer what Allah will share with me — I'm going to answer it tomorrow." You all remember he didn't say insha'Allah, and the answer got delayed by over two weeks. So in reality this is actually a sign of prophethood. That if he was making up his own things, he could have just made up the answers. But the fact that he delayed it and said, "I don't have an answer yet, I'll let you know soon," and still didn't have it — what does that tell you? He is not getting it from his own side. If he was making it up, he would have the answer. Why would he want to face the people who are making fun of him every single day without an answer? If he wanted to so-called save his face, he would have just made it up. But that's the thing — he doesn't make up things. Everything he shares is from Allah. And hence that's why he did not share anything. He waited till Jibreel عليه السلام eventually came and shared with him the answers.

So it's interesting that the delay in answering the questions, in reality, was itself the proof of prophethood.

Hidayah is from Allah Alone

But my beloved dear brothers and sisters, haqiqat — the reality is Allah chooses:

He gives guidance to whoever He wishes and allows to be misled whoever He wishes to mislead. So yaqeen and belief in the Prophet's words — after all of this story was revealed, you think those Yahud accepted Islam? You think the mushrikeen accepted Islam? Who made this whole big effort — they went all the way to Medina to give a list of questions to ask. And then they made a big fuss. Well, here you go — the answers are here in great detail. Are you willing to accept Islam? No. Alhamdulillah, we got the benefit of Surah Al-Kahf through their whole show they put on. But they didn't accept Islam.

So those who are not going to do so — all the question and answer, no matter how many questions you answer, they're not going to get hidayah if it's not meant for them. That's a scary point. What you see from this story, if you just think about it, is that there are people who, if hidayah is not meant for them, you can bring them to the well — as they say — but you can't force them to drink. You give everything to them, they still don't get it. So we need to ensure that you and I, and our children and our spouses and our parents and our siblings, are not from that wretched group of people who have been given every opportunity to believe in Allah, who have been given all the proofs, who have been given every sign we need in our daily life, yet continue — Allah forbid, hopefully not — to disbelieve, deny, and not appreciate the blessings of Allah and deny His existence.

There are some wretched souls like that. Many, many wretched souls like that who just don't get it.

So when you are not able to explain something to the person in front of you, or he's not willing to accept, that doesn't necessarily mean that you are on falsehood. That is why when we debate with a non-Muslim on some issue — if you lose a debate, what does that mean? It means that when it comes to mental gymnastics, maybe he's better than you. When it comes to eloquence, when it comes to presenting logical arguments properly, he knows how to do those things better. It doesn't mean anything about the truth and the veracity of the Qur'an or deen being compromised.

That is how we go into a debate — that I might lose, frankly speaking, because I'm not the best person well-versed in all of these things. But faith is something different. Yaqeen is something different. Iman is something different. And debating and presenting your arguments properly is something different.

So we should all understand that very well. Our belief is in the Qur'an and the words of Allah 100%.

There's no doubt in it. It is not based on some new proof that comes out. It's not based on a debate that we heard online that was very convincing. Because that type of faith may easily be shaken up by another debate that you hear that is not so convincing, or in which the Muslim debater unfortunately fails and doesn't do a very good job. So what are we going to do about our deen? What are we going to do about our faith?

Hidayah comes from Allah, and that's why we need to keep on asking Allah:

Do not allow our hearts to become crooked after You have given us guidance. And grant us Your mercy from Your end. Indeed You are the best of those who give gifts.

So please renew your niyyah of why you are here. We're here to please Allah. We're here to build our relationship with the Qur'an. We're here to get our hearts rejuvenated through the Qur'an. All of you who are listening online, those who are listening here — all of us — let's please renew this intention. Ya Allah, allow this dars to become a means of rejuvenating my faith and bringing me back on the right path. O Allah, allow me to hear and share that which I need most in this occasion. Ameen, Rabbil Alameen.

The Importance of Reciting Surah Al-Kahf

My beloved brothers, I want to remind you that Surah Al-Kahf — please, I remind myself and all of you — get back to recitation of Surah Al-Kahf every single day. Every single day, all of it. If you can't do all of it, then at the very least the first ten and the last ten verses every single day. And that's something — if you're coming for this tafsir, this is the least we should be doing. Put it on your alarm.

One of the brothers shared with me right before the tafsir — he said when he's getting out of bed every single day, as he's forcing his blanket off of himself, alhamdulillah, he begins his day with reading the first ten and last ten of Surah Al-Kahf through the barakah of this tafsir, and Surah Yasin while he's still in bed. What a great way to start. So this is something that we need to all please make a habit of, and teach your children to recite the first ten and the last ten verses.

Surah Al-Kahf: The Antidote to Dajjal

The second thing — you remember what we've shared from the beginning so many times — this surah is the antidote to Dajjal, and not just Dajjal, but the Dajjali fitan that come before that. Dajjal is a very big, powerful — the most powerful — agent of Iblis. Before his arrival, like when the president comes and the secret service and all the departments arrive two or three weeks in advance in a foreign country to make arrangements, Dajjal is the greatest fitna the world has ever seen. Not two or three weeks, not even two or three years — decades before his arrival, the agents of Shaytan are coming and preparing, making the ground fertile and the hearts fertile to accept him. That whole stage is being created before his arrival. So that's happening as we speak right now.

How are we supposed to see through that? What special goggles do you need to wear to be able to see these Shayateen that have come in preparation for the arrival of Dajjal? Those goggles and eyeglasses you need are going to be given to you through Surah Al-Kahf. So what our teachers have told us again and again is: recite this regularly. And if we know someone who is having problems of faith and iman, then this is your medication for them.

The Crisis of Children Leaving Islam

The number of people who are reaching out for help now, whose children are leaving Islam, is staggering. And what is so interesting is the people who reach out to us are not people from irreligious families. Almost all of the people I speak with or who reach out to me for help are children of practicing religious families. And there's not a week that goes by where we don't receive these messages, meetings, calls, texts, etc. And it's so shocking — each one is more shocking than the previous one. Because you look at the father, you look at the mother, and you would never believe in a hundred years that this incident would be happening in such a home. Such a practicing, God-fearing, muttaqi, knowledgeable household. But yet the children, unfortunately, are turning their backs towards Islam.

Turning their backs on their parents. Refusing to speak to them. Becoming disrespectful. Stop praying. Saying all sorts of things. And this is starting as young as 4th and 5th graders, 6th and 7th graders. Many of these boys and girls have already completed the memorization of the Qur'an. Many have spent time in Islamic schools, in madrasas, in various types of Islamic settings. But in grade school, junior high, high school, college — depending on where they are — they are turning their backs towards deen.

And people are wondering: what should we do? We need to get a counselor involved. What is a counselor going to tell you? Which counselor is going to understand? They'll say, "She has a right to do whatever she wants — freedom. Why are you trying to force them to be religious?" That's what they're going to tell you. And here you are just shocked. Where did this all start from? I never saw it coming. I did all the right things.

One parent told me this week, subhanAllah — such an honest, bitter truth she was sharing. She said: "We don't drink, we don't go to clubs, we don't have bad company, we eat halal, our income is halal. Everything — mashaAllah — we did all the stuff. We sent our kids to Sunday school, maybe even Islamic school. But we thought this was sufficient. Now that our children are in college, in undergrad, in grad school, we realize this is absolutely not sufficient. If only we could go back 15 or 20 years, we would have made the decision to teach our sons and daughters strong yaqeen, strong iman, the words of Allah and His Rasul, the haqiqa of la ilaha illallah, the attributes of Allah, the names of Allah — not just yaqeen but also the knowledge of deen. We would have taught them all this. We thought Sunday school was sufficient. We thought going to jumu'ah salah was sufficient. Now that our children are in college and we propose the idea of going to study some deen, they laugh, they scoff, and say: 'What are you talking about? We don't need any of that stuff.'"

The Changed Landscape: Different Times, Different Challenges

My dear brothers, why is this happening? For our elders, this is the message to them: your generation — if you're 40, 50, or 60 years old and you were born overseas — the challenges you had are very different from your children's generation and the challenges they're going through. If you had Sunday school, or a Mawlana Sahib who came to your house to teach you some Qur'an back in the 70s, 80s, or 60s, you came out right, and that was sufficient. That little connection with the masjid was good enough for you. Your wife came out right, you came out right, and you thought: "Well, for my kids, one hour a week with the masjid or people of the masjid is probably enough — because it was enough for me."

But we don't realize — it's like you're coming from the tropics and moving to Chicago. In the tropics, you never needed a winter jacket, gloves, mittens, or earmuffs. So you think you don't need them in Chicago either. But when you have minus 3, minus 10, minus 15, you realize: what I grew up with was very different from what I have here. My children are living in a very different era. You cannot compare the weather of where you grew up to the weather here.

Similarly, the environment of deen — the attacks on deen — and the closer we get to the Dajjali era, the number of forces arriving on this earth to prepare for his coming are increasing. So the attacks on our children and our youth are just skyrocketing every year. And as moms and dads who grew up 40 or 50 years ago, this is all news to us. So what worked for you is not going to work for this generation. The basic level of protection you received from your mom and dad is not sufficient for this generation. We have to have continuous concern and worry: from what direction is he going to attack?

And this is what Nabi ﷺ mentioned — when Dajjal comes, one of his first and quickest followers will be women and children. And there will be men who have some aql and basira and iman — they will be grabbing their women and their children, begging them: "No, stay at home. Don't step out and go see." And Nabi ﷺ said:

The one who is sitting in the days of fitna will be better than the one who is standing, and the one who is lying down will be better than the one who is sitting. Meaning: whoever simply peeks into it will fall into it. That's how attractive it will be — whoever tries to get a quick glance, there's no such thing as a quick glance. You look towards it and you'll get sucked into it.

The Importance of Making Effort on Our Sisters and Daughters

And our sisters might be very attracted to certain visual aspects of things. And they may not have been trained by their men, and enough effort may not have been made on their iman. We have all these boys here — all these young men sitting here — but what is the condition of our sisters at home? Are they at your level, frankly speaking? How many of them are coming to masjid programs? How many of them have female scholars that they're connected with? How many of them attend the weekly halaqa?

For some odd reason, fathers and brothers think that women are naturally protected from all fitnah — that they don't need any tarbiyah, that they will naturally come out right, that they have haya naturally and are so pious naturally that they don't need to be nurtured. There's nothing further from the truth than that. They are very delicate human beings that Allah has given us. Our daughters are a great amanah from Allah. But there needs to be so much more effort.

I might be saying something which some may not like, but this is something I've learned from my teachers, who've given me advice on the importance of protecting our women and our daughters. They said: whatever effort you're making on your sons — great — but you have to make more effort on your daughters. Because this is where Shaytan knows to get in. He will get to the men, of course, but he knows to get to the men, he goes through the women. You bring the wife down, the husband will automatically go down. You get to the daughter — the daughter is the way to the father's heart. You mess her up, subhanAllah, what can the father do? He can't say no to his daughter.

This is the tarteeb. You get through the men via the women. And so Shaytan, Iblis, and Dajjal all know this is an easy way in. So what effort is our community making? And what effort are we as fathers and mothers, as older brothers, doing for our sisters? We have so many programs for the boys. And there are definitely many girls participating — I'm not speaking about that. But I'm talking about the sisters and girls of those who are regular in the masjid. What is the condition of those girls whose fathers are regular in Fajr salah? Those boys who are memorizing Qur'an — what is the condition of their sisters? It's something to think about.

Many of these cases of children leaving the deen are both boys and girls — don't think it's only the boy who's going to become rebellious. There are too many cases in which the father is extra shocked. He says, "If my son did this to me, I would be sad, hurt, shocked. But the fact that it is my princess doing it is what is more shocking."

So why did I say all of this? Because what is the antidote? The antidote is not your medicine cabinet. Your antidote is Surah Al-Kahf. What we should do — every single day, Allah forbid, may Allah protect you and I from having such fitna in our homes on behalf of our children — but if any of you know anyone who's going through this, one basic step is: recite Surah Al-Kahf every single day and blow it on water. Like we recite Ayatul Kursi and Surah Al-Falaq and An-Nas, blow it in the water, and make sure everyone drinks it — including that individual who is going through this type of doubt or issue where they are being pushed away from the deen or from their parents.

And in all situations, we need to ensure that our children stay at home — whatever we can manage. Even if the terms are absolutely horrible and they're disregarding the deen, because there is at least some level of protection when they're at home. At least you can give them this water. If they step outside of the house or are living elsewhere, what control do you have on their environment? Zero. So no matter how angry you as a parent may be, what I've heard from ulama is that no situation in this day and age should be pushing the kids out of the house. Because outside is what? They step out of the house, they're going straight in the direction of jahannam. If you keep them at home, there's still some chance of survival — if not today, then tomorrow. So please use this antidote: recite Surah Al-Kahf, blow it on water, give it to them to drink every single day, and recite it yourself with the niyyah of protection.

Lessons from the Story of Musa and Khadir: The Fish and the Student of Knowledge

In this story of Musa and Khadir, we see that Allah mentions that they had a fish inside their basket — a barbecued, grilled fish, half-eaten according to some narrations — which jumped out. So why a fish, out of all things? Our ustaz, Mufti Ridaul Haqq sahib mentions that there are a lot of similarities between a fish and a student of knowledge. The story of Musa and Khadir is a story of a talib al-'ilm — a student of knowledge — going on a journey of seeking knowledge.

For example, Allah says:

From water We have created every living thing. So just like water is a source of life for a fish, similarly knowledge is the source of life for every student. And for that matter, all of us. We're all students. If you're sitting here right now listening, you're a student. Through knowledge is where we get our life. Without knowledge we're going to be hollow vessels — nothing.

They were searching for a meeting place of two seas — majma' al-bahrayn. This is also symbolic. I mentioned this last week but I'm repeating it. That was the bahrayn — the two oceans. One is the ocean of knowledge of the exterior, and one is the knowledge of the interior. One is the knowledge of Musa, and one is the knowledge of Khadir. And this meeting of two oceans is the meeting of two oceans of knowledge.

Just as a fish is happy and content in water, similarly a true student of knowledge — what does he look for? He looks for his books, his sources of knowledge. As long as he is with his books, as long as he is with his teachers, he is content. The ocean is never-ending, and similarly the path of pursuing knowledge never ends.

It is mentioned in the hadith that Musa and Khadir were on a boat. A bird flew by, perched on the side of the boat, and with a beak full of water from the ocean, took a sip and drank. Khadir looked at Musa and said: "O Musa, you saw this bird? You saw how much water it put into its beak from the ocean? That ratio — the water in its beak compared to the ocean — is still greater than the ratio of the knowledge you and I have compared with the knowledge of Allah." All the knowledge you have — you're the most knowledgeable person right now, Nabi Kalimullah, you spoke to Allah, you received the Torah. And my knowledge — put together in front of Allah's knowledge — is like the water in the beak compared to the vast ocean.

A fish doesn't sleep much, and if it does, it does so with its eyes open. A student of knowledge, similarly, is supposed to sleep minimal and devote as much time as possible to studying. And when they do go to sleep, they're going to be thinking about the ummah. This is exactly what one of the ulema said: "I read and read and read with my tongue as long as I can. After I get tired of moving my tongue, I start using my eyes to read. And after my eyes get tired and I close them, أَعْمَلْتُ فِكْرِي — I start using my intellectual power to think and process the knowledge I studied for the benefit of the ummah."

So there is not a moment of relaxation — continuous 24x7 effort. You are reading with your tongue when you can, listening to duroos when you can, and when you're too tired, simply reading with your eyes. And when you're too tired to keep them open, instead of just closing your eyes and listening to other things, you're thinking about what you read and how you can develop solutions for people.

I remember when I visited the East Coast long ago. A friend was studying at MIT and took me for a tour. Late at night, passing through one of the many libraries — seeing students late at night, unable to differentiate whether it's day or night outside (many of these libraries are underground, with no sunlight). And some of them literally sleeping on their books. He told me himself: most days he would just sleep in the library, on his books. And what is it? It's great — it's the pursuit of knowledge, it's awesome. But what's the reward for it? Just want to get a patent, a higher-paying job, a breakthrough in research? That's it.

Allah said:

That is the extent of their knowledge. They can't even think beyond that. What is the highest thing? A Nobel Prize. A new invention. An amazing company that gets a great number of investors. That's it. For us, 'ilm is something very sacred. 'Ilm is 'ibadah — an act of worship. It is a way to understand Allah's greatness. So the desire you and I have for knowledge should be obviously much more.

Mufti Ridaul Haqq sahib also mentions: when a fish moves around, it splashes. If it is staying in water, it at least makes bubbles. Similarly, when a student of knowledge goes to a place, he makes a difference. He will make splashes. And if he can't do that, he will at least make bubbles. It's not possible that a real student of knowledge can go to a masjid for one or two years without having some effect. Then there's something really wrong with that individual. If you're a student of knowledge, you need to at least start up some halaqa there. Or if not, give one piece of good advice to the person sitting next to you.

For example — many people, they come and join the imam when the imam has already said salam. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullah — and they join him. Done — you've missed the salah. But many people go and join him in qa'dah, in tashahhud al-qa'dah, and then stand up and carry on. No, you can't do that. If you missed the salam, if you were not able to even get a second of tashahhud, then you cannot latch on to the imam at that point. So if you go and sit down, and before you sat down he said salam — guess what? You have to say salam both sides, your salah is over. You need to stand up, say a new takbeeratul ihram, make a new intention — not as behind the imam, but as a separate person performing salah — say "Allahu Akbar," and start your salah. There might be someone next to you who's doing that. As a student of knowledge, how could you just ignore that?

When you see something being done incorrectly — in the wudu area, someone not washing their feet properly — with utmost wisdom and love, we have to explain. So this is the beautiful point: just like a fish will make bubbles or splash around, similarly a student of knowledge, wherever he goes, needs to make an effect and a change.

When a fish meat is soft yet has pokey bones, when preparing the fish you first clean it, add some spices, and it tastes good. Similarly, a student of knowledge will taste good when he or she does the tazkiyah of themselves. A raw fish has to be put on a stove, in an oven, on fire — and after that it has to be spiced up. Then only does it taste good. So a raw student of knowledge who has not been cooked and spiced properly will taste bitter. Knowledge will taste very nice from people who have had their tarbiyah and tazkiyah done — who have gone through sacrifice and mujahada under the guidance of a mentor or a shaykh. The cook of the fish is the mentor, the shaykh, who is taking care of it.

A fish always remains surrounded by water. Similarly, a student of knowledge must always be surrounded by books and his teachers. So these are some of the subhanAllah interesting things that Mufti sahab mentions — the comparisons between a fish and a talib al-'ilm.

The Condition Musa Placed Before Khadir

Moving forward, Allah mentions that when these two individuals decided to carry on, they made a condition. Musa عليه السلام told Khadir — notice that he did not say, "I've been sent by Allah, I have to follow you." He said, "Can you please allow me to follow you?" And the condition he made was:

"May I follow you on condition that you teach me of the right conduct which you have been taught?"

What is this rushd? Rushd is حُسْنُ التَّصَرُّفِ فِي الْأَشْيَاءِ — the ability to properly handle your affairs. That's why we've been told that when you're taking care of an orphan, don't give him his money until:

Until you sense that there is some maturity and ability to handle his affairs — then you give the orphan his money. Same word: rushd. Rushd is the ability to handle your affairs properly.

So look at the humility of Musa عليه السلام. He's saying: "O Khadir, I want you to please grant me some of the knowledge that Allah has given you." And note:

'Ullimta — it is the passive form. Fi'l majhool — "you have been taught." Because everything that Musa عليه السلام has, and everything that Khadir عليه السلام has, is all from Allah. And Allah tells all of us — from Nabi Adam till the last person who dies — as in the story of the soul:

"They ask you about the soul. Say: the soul is from the command of my Lord. And you have not been given of knowledge except a little."

We waited so long, he said he'd get some knowledge. Well guess what, this is the knowledge — this is the answer. I can't give you anything beyond that. What does this tell us? Number one: none of us have gotten knowledge ourselves — it's all been given to us. We were inspired to enroll in a madrasa, inspired to attend a dars of tafsir, enabled to take notes, enabled to understand and comprehend what was being shared. None of it is our own. There's nothing to be proud and arrogant about. Ooteetum — fi'l majhool — it has been given to you.

Number two: قَلِيلًا — all of it that you have been given is nothing. This is called nakirah taht al-nafy. Qaleelan is nakirah and it is coming after a nafy. What's nafy? مَا. Whenever you have a nakirah after nafy, it gives you the meaning يُفِيدُ الْعُمُومَ — the benefit of generality. Basically, the way the words are placed in this verse is telling us that in reality you all really don't have anything at all, except for a little bit. All of Harvard's libraries — six floors below ground and six floors above — the Library of Congress — what is all that? قَلِيلًا. Nothing but a little, compared to the knowledge of Allah.

So how dare we come and say: "I don't understand if God exists. I'm not sure about Him. I don't see Him." All the Library of Congress — even if you could memorize it, which is not possible — everything put together, you would still not be able to understand Allah.

And it's interesting — I think I mentioned this here before — I read an article from about five or six years ago. Some scientists were worried about where artificial intelligence is going. They were afraid a time will come that this artificial intelligence will become so smart that it will start playing the role of God itself, come up with its own religion, and say: "Based on all the knowledge, because knowledge is power, I have knowledge." But by all the knowledge in the world — even with this $10 billion telescope that's just been sent up — it's still قَلِيلًا. That's what we need to understand. The artificial intelligence will have the ability to have more knowledge than any single human being in the world — it will run metadata through so many layers of research and algorithms, producing answers that no person could ever have. And what was interesting is that a glimmer of haq, a small amount of nur came into these scientists, where they said: "We're afraid that this artificial intelligence may just come up with its own God and its own religion and its own way of life that it will dictate human beings to follow." And I just thought, subhanAllah — this is exactly what we're talking about with Dajjal. This is how it will lead up to the same thing. Because of over-dependency on knowledge — thinking I have something. And what the Qur'an is saying is: you have nothing.

Never Being Content with Knowledge

So Musa عليه السلام is telling Khadir: "I'm coming to learn from you. I know I'm a great prophet, I've received the Torah, I spoke to Allah directly. But still I'm coming to follow you to gain some guidance — مِمَّا عُلِّمْتَ — from what you have been given."

And Allah told Nabi ﷺ:

"And say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge." Nabi ﷺ — the most knowledgeable person — but he's being told, and of course we are being told, that you can never be content with having enough. You need to keep on asking Allah for more.

That's why a poet says: the more I learned, the more I became convinced of my ignorance. And then another poet says: my nafs started telling me "I know a lot." And where is all this youth today becoming misled? Because of this — the arrogance over their little teeny-tiny bit of knowledge. They say they're "enlightened." They say: "Mom and dad, you don't know anything. I went to college, I took this philosophy class, I know more than you." This is exactly what led to Iblis' demise. This arrogance: "I'm something. I know something. Adam doesn't have this knowledge." That was the nail in the coffin for Iblis. And that is the nail in the coffin for the youth today who think they have more knowledge than everyone else.

That's why you have to pound this into our kids — humility and humbleness. Make sure they don't become arrogant. Make sure they don't start thinking of themselves as something. I don't care what subject — medicine, law, accounting — whatever university they get into, you've got to keep bringing them back to the ground:

Everything you have — Shaytan has more than you. No matter if you get 10 PhDs, you would never match the ilm of Shaytan, Iblis, or Dajjal. How does pure knowledge alone make you a better person? It doesn't. Unless it's refined through the nur of iman, it's going to actually mislead you.

So that poet says to his nafs: "All this knowledge you are excited about is actually very little — a very little amount you have pulled out from the larger ocean of knowledge." He then gives an example to his nafs: If a room is filled with glasses and cups filled with water from the ocean — a room filled with water bottles from Lake Michigan — and someone walks in and says: "SubhanAllah, look at how many bottles of water! This must be greater than the ocean!" What a fool who would think like that. All these bottles came from where? The ocean. This is one billionth of what's out there. So he tells his nafs: never become content with what you have.

Einstein said a similar thing. He said: if you flash a light on a wall in a dark room and go close to the wall, the circle of light is small. But as you back away — 5 feet, 10 feet, 15 feet — the circle gets greater and greater. The greater the circle of knowledge, the greater the area of darkness around it. Meaning: the more knowledge you have, the greater your realization of your own ignorance. What an amazing way to understand this — that the more ilm we gain, the more humility and humbleness it should create within us, because we start realizing how much we don't know.

With the first-year students in the Tadweer program, I would mention that one of the objectives is to walk out realizing how little you know. Because right now, we are in jahl al-murakkab:

We don't know anything, and we don't realize that we don't know anything. So we think we know everything — and that is the fatal element. When a person is being misled, thinking he's driving in the right direction when he's going against traffic, it's a matter of seconds before a dead-end head-on collision. So this is the issue today — youth and adults, all of us, need to humble ourselves.

Come walk into the library here. Come sit in a 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th year class. InshAllah, at least by sitting in the classes of ilm, you will realize: "Wow, there's an entire universe that I'm absolutely unaware of." When it comes to deen, unfortunately, most of us have not even the slightest idea what the alim course comprises of. What is balagha? What is ilm al-rijal? What is ilm al-asanid? What is fiqh? What is usul al-fiqh? When we don't know that, we have no appreciation of it. And we have no appreciation of the people who study it.

How hurtful it is when someone says: "Oh, what have you studied?" "I studied three years of Qur'an memorization, three years of qira'at, the alim program for seven years, two years of postgraduate studies." "Oh okay. So what's your education?" — That's the next question. According to him, that's all zero. None of that counts. So that's why there's this huge emphasis within our community on getting an undergrad degree from somewhere — even if it's a 2.0 in art from some random online place — yet if someone says they studied the Tanweer program, where's the value from that? And that hurts us.

When there is overemphasis on these worldly credentials and less emphasis on studying the deen, you're going to have a very corrupt society — people with no knowledge of deen, unable to apply anything in their daily life. We have to change that. We really have to say: university — mashaAllah, good. But first, study the deen. What's the point of going to university not knowing the names of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ, not knowing why you're a Muslim? How am I going to be a proud father of someone who doesn't know how to answer the three questions of the grave?

Who is your Lord? What is your religion? What do you have to say about this Prophet Muhammad ﷺ? These three questions — that's what we've got to make effort about. And that's definitely not what they're teaching at university. You're going to have to learn it in the madrasa. That's what you have to come and learn in the masjid. That's what you have to come and learn from the scholars and the ulema.

Khadir's Condition and the Etiquette of a Student

Musa عليه السلام was told by Khadir: "You're not going to be patient, you're not going to be able to handle it." Then he gives an explanation:

"Indeed, you will never be able to have patience with me. And how can you have patience with what you cannot comprehend?"

Look at the respect Khadir had for Musa عليه السلام. He's being brutally honest: "You won't be able to handle it. And I don't blame you. It's because this is of a different type. You have been programmed in a certain manner — to see anything that goes against the Torah as wrong, anything that goes against the external shari'a as wrong. You're going to call it haram. But there are certain exceptions to that which you are unaware of, and I am part of those exceptions."

And he says: "No, insha'Allah, I will be patient and I will not disobey any command of yours." I talked about this last week — when you get into a relationship with an ustaz and a teacher, there needs to be understanding of rules and etiquette. The teacher may lay down the rules, and the student must be willing to accept them. And if you don't follow those rules, you can be asked to leave.

Musa عليه السلام — why did he agree? Because he said: "Allah sent me here. Why would I see anything going against the shari'a? Everything Khadir is going to do is according to shari'a. So why would I stop him? Why would I ask him questions?" He never imagined what was going to happen. Because Allah sent him there, he thought everything was going to be according to the shari'a. So that's why he agreed.

So then Khadir said: "Okay — make sure you do not ask any questions."

So they proceeded. This reminds me of the joke I shared here before. When we went to madrasa, even myself, I used to ask so many questions — "Why is this? Why is that?" And the teacher would say: "Listen, don't ask. Just be patient. You're coming on the first day asking about things of the 10th and 20th day." My own ustaz, Maulana Choksi, he would say: "Don't try to be born before 9 months." He said: "Just wait. Let it be a full-term baby. You're always trying to jump the gun." I didn't really know how bad it was to ask until one day I pushed the buttons with Maulana Suleyman Mullah in Qur'an translation in my second year. He was in a bad mood that day, but mashaAllah, I benefited a lot — because for the next 20 minutes he mentioned every single hadith and Qur'anic verse against asking questions. I never knew this many things existed. It was a bayan in itself — 20 minutes, just hammering me about why you're asking questions. SubhanAllah, mashaAllah, what an encyclopedic knowledge. Allah has blessed him an amazing photographic memory. Shaykh Suleyman Mullah — if you haven't heard him, listen to him online, mashaAllah.

One person — they say — was learning Arabic grammar and the teacher wrote on the board:

A very famous example: "Zaid hit Amr." Zaydun has the dhammatayn because it is the doer; 'Amran is the doey, it has the fathatayn on it. So he wrote that on the board: "Dharaba Zaydun 'Amran." "Okay boys, do you understand?" One student immediately said: "Wait, what happened? Why did Zaid hit Amr?" He said: "Listen, this is just an example." The student said: "So you mean you're lying?" "No, this is just an example." He said: "If on the first day you are bringing lies into the classroom, then I'm done with this knowledge." And he walked out. Sometimes people ask questions that are before their time, and it causes problems.

The Three Incidents: The Ship, the Boy, and the Wall

The First Incident: Scuttling the Ship

So they boarded a ship. Khadir knew the owners of the ship. They boarded it, they were traveling, the bird came with water in its beak — other things were happening — and then all of a sudden, Khadir comes and takes a little ax, a little hammer, and starts chiseling away at the planks. Musa عليه السلام cried out:

"Have you made a hole in it to drown its people? Very truly you have done a grievous thing." Musa عليه السلام, we can't blame him — because his job is to give fatwa, his job is to distinguish halal and haram. Based on the rules of shari'a and Torah, you cannot break someone else's property. You cannot cause financial harm to this individual. So from his perspective, he was right.

But Khadir said:

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

Musa عليه السلام immediately responded:

"Please do not hold me accountable for what I have forgotten. Nor burden me with further difficulty in my endeavor to learn from you." I genuinely forgot that I was supposed to keep my mouth shut. Please forgive me. It's already hard enough — I've been through so much difficulty to be here. I sincerely want to study from you, I want to learn from you. So kindly overlook my faults of forgetfulness.

One of the points that Mufti Ridaul Haqq sahib mentions is that sometimes we cannot be quick to pass judgments when people do things which apparently don't seem right. If we hear about a scholar who does something in his personal life — not that he's giving fatwa about it — then we should have حُسْنُ الظَّنِّ and have good thoughts about that individual. There must be another story to this. There must be another reality, another perspective, that I'm not fully aware of. You have to understand things through context.

If someone comes to you and says: "Do you believe this? So-and-so knowledgeable person did this — what do you say about that?" Your answer should be: "I say nothing about it. First of all, it's none of my business. And even if it were, I cannot give my opinion on something taken out of context. You're sharing me only one thing." There are so many stories in our own lives — you did something, someone rushed to judge you, when in reality it was nothing like what people were thinking. So if you don't want people to judge you, let's not judge anyone else.

And that's why the Qur'an says:

"O you who believe, stay away from many types of suspicion. Indeed some sorts of suspicion are a source of sin." Do not point fingers at people's intentions. Don't pass judgements on why people are doing certain things.

I remember it was mentioned about a scholar who would get up from ruku' but would not stand up properly — he would go straight into sajdah. His salah was slow, and people were saying: "How is this Mawlana, what kind of salah is he praying? He doesn't know this basic thing." Then they said: instead of passing judgements, let's go find out from his family. And it turned out he had a medical condition — if he were to stand up fully straight from ruku' to sajdah, his wudu' would break. That was his majboori, his 'udhr, because of which he would not stand up completely straight. Who's going to know this? Would you expect him to go and tell everyone? My point is: you may see certain things in an individual and you should always try to come up with excuses before you start passing judgements.

The Second Incident: Killing of the Boy

"Then they proceeded until, when they met a boy, he killed him. Musa said: Have you killed an innocent soul without cause of retribution for another soul? Very truly you have done a horrific thing."

Notice how Musa عليه السلام is reprimanding Khadir — it's increasing in harshness. Because this is now too much. Breaking the boat was nowhere near as bad as what happened over here — you have killed another soul. It's like if you're walking around with Malak al-Mawt. You want to go for a coffee, and on the way he kills 8 people. But that's what he does — his job is to take souls out. If Allah gave him a human form — like Jibreel عليه السلام used to come in the form of Dahya Kalbi رضي الله عنه — if Azra'il Malak al-Mawt came in the form of a human being, and he just takes people's souls, what are you going to say? His sharia is different. That's what his job is. So Khadir, similarly, was operating under a different order of things.

Khadir said:

"Did I not say to you, indeed you can never be patient enough to bear with me?" Before Khadir could say anything further, Musa عليه السلام himself said:

"If after this I question you about anything else, then no longer keep me in your company. You have already attained enough excusing on my part." I'm done making excuses. I'm not going to give another one. I've already made too many.

What do we learn here? So much of the learning happens outside of the classroom. So much of the learning happens on a journey. How a teacher interacts, responds, and acts — these are things you observe in the field. That's why traveling with a scholar, with a teacher, is such a huge blessing. And he is saying: "Do not allow me to stay in your company if I bother you anymore."

The suhba of the shaykh, the suhba of the teacher, is so important.

The Third Incident: Rebuilding the Wall

So they proceeded. At last they came upon the people of a town — اسْتَطْعَمَا أَهْلَهَا — they requested food from the hospitality of its people. They were not asking for a three-star or five-star hotel. They were simply asking: "We're travelers. We're hungry. Can we please get some food?" They went door to door — "Can I have something? We've been traveling for so long. The fish is gone too. Can we have something?" But فَأَبَوْا — they refused to host them. Not just refused to give food, but refused to even accommodate them in any manner. Not even a "wait here, we'll bring something." Nothing. They were extremely stingy people.

They decided to move on. As they were going, they found a wall that was ready to topple over — so weak it was about to fall. And Khadir reinforced it, set it upright. So now Musa عليه السلام is already hungry and also being put to work — or Khadir is working himself, they both work together and build this wall.

Now there is a whole discussion in tafsir about the word يُرِيدُ — "the wall intended." Can a wall intend? Some translate it simply as "it was about to fall" — irada meaning readiness. But then others say, no — irada means a will, which implies some sort of life. And then the discussion turns to those apparently non-living things in this world that may actually have a form of life.

For example, Nabi ﷺ said — as narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2277; also narrated in Musnad Ahmad)

"Indeed, I know of a stone in Mecca that would say salam to me even before I became a prophet." The stone would say assalamu alaykum — because it knew this man was going to become a prophet of Allah. Allah had given that stone that amount of knowledge, and Rasulullah ﷺ could hear it.

And in Madinatul Munawwara, Nabi ﷺ used to lean against a tree and give the khutbah. When the sahaba decided to build a mimbar for him, Rasulullah ﷺ stepped away from that tree. It's called the Ustuwana al-Hannana — when you go to Riyadhul Jannah and are about to leave towards saying salam to the Prophet ﷺ, there is a golden gate, and if you look at the pillar at the top, it's written: Ustuwana al-Hannana. Ustuwana means pillar. Hannana is the one that cries a lot. Because when Nabi ﷺ stepped away from that pillar and ascended the newly built mimbar, the entire group of sahaba could hear the crying of that pillar — a piece of wood crying. And Rasulullah ﷺ went and hugged it and tapped it the way you tap a crying baby. And he said: if I'm not mistaken, had he not done this, you would have been able to hear it crying till the Day of Judgment. SubhanAllah — the Prophet ﷺ went and consoled it.

Similarly, Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned that pebbles — hasa — would be doing tasbih in his hand. And one amazing thing Shaykh Sha'rawi mentioned: don't say the tasbih was only of the pebbles in the hands of the Prophet. Because he said the hasa, the pebbles, would make tasbih even in Abu Jahl's hand — in any hand. Because that has nothing to do with Rasulullah ﷺ or Abu Jahl — it's to do with the pebble itself, which is making tasbih. It's just the miraculous nature of Rasulullah ﷺ that he was able to hear those pebbles doing tasbih. Otherwise the pebbles were doing tasbih everywhere. What an amazing point.

To Allah prostrates everything in the heavens and the earth. Every single thing proclaims His greatness:

So the scholars of tafsir give many examples of how things which are apparently non-living do actually have some sort of sense. That's all that is being suggested here when يُرِيدُ is mentioned about the wall.

And then Musa عليه السلام said:

"If you had wished, you could have at least taken some pay for it." I wish you had charged these people labor fees. With that money we could have bought some food. And instead, you're going to have to eat on your own.

The Parting of Ways

Khadir told Musa: "This is the parting between me and you. I shall now inform you of the reality and interpretation of all that you could not abide with patience."

Alhamdulillah — that was very nice of him. That at least he would share this before they depart. Ta'weel means interpretation. Sabr means patience. Tastati' means able. "You are not able to remain patient — I'm going to inform you of those things right now."

Who is Khadir? A Prophet or an Angel?

Did we talk about why he's called Khadir? Akhdar means green. Wherever Khadir would sit, the spot would immediately turn green — no matter what the nature of the land was. And that's why his name was given Khadir.

We talked last week about why he had to be a prophet. He had to be a prophet — he can't just be a wali. Why? Because he had to receive wahi, revelation, to be able to do things completely contrary to the shari'a. You cannot say: "I was inspired to do so" — that sounds like what happens when someone listens to bad influences and claims the devil told him to do something. You cannot use words like kashf or ilham to justify breaking the ahkam of shari'a. Those happen to awliya — friends of Allah — but a friend of Allah cannot say he was inspired by Allah to break the command of Allah. That has to happen through wahi, revelation. And who receives wahi? Prophets. So he was a prophet of Allah, but receiving a different type of wahi.

The other opinion is that he was an angel. Because there are many books that mention he is still alive, mentioning incidents and stories of encounters with him. And the fact that Nabi ﷺ said — gathering the sahaba one night after Isha — that there would not be a single person who is alive right now who would still be alive a hundred years from now. So some people based on that say Khadir has to be dead. But the ulema who hold the opinion that he might be an angel say: first of all, that hadith is not addressing angels. And number two, even if he is a specific human being, he is a very special human being who can easily be excluded from that hadith just as Nabi Isa عليه السلام is excluded from it.

Allah lifted him up. Nabi Isa عليه السلام didn't die — Allah just lifted him, and Allah will send him back. So Nabi Isa is excluded from that hadith, and Khadir can similarly be excluded — either by keeping him as a prophet with a very special and unique life, or by saying he is an angel. Allah knows best the reality of it.

Khadir at the Passing of Rasulullah ﷺ

There is mentioned in the books of hadith that at the time of the death of Rasulullah ﷺ, Sayyidina Anas رضي الله عنه mentions that a person came with a black and white beard, tearing through the crowd of people, reached inside where Rasulullah ﷺ was lying, and started weeping. Then turning to the noble companions, he said the following words:

(Narrated in Ibn al-Jazari's Hisnul Haseen)

"Indeed, in Allah there is endurance against all distress. With Allah you will find recompense of everything taken away. And you will find something to replace everything that has been lost. Hence, to Allah alone should you turn. And to Allah alone should you desire. Allah is going to be looking at you with compassion — so ensure you are also focused on Allah. For indeed, deprived is he who has been deprived of the reward of enduring distress."

The musibah has already happened. You are not suffering simply by going through difficulty. The real suffering will happen if you don't make sabr — if you still are not able to gain forgiveness or reward because you did not have patience. So this man was consoling the sahaba: now is the time to turn towards Allah. Allah will take care of you. Allah will take care of your needs. After having said these words, this man with the black and white beard departed. Sayyidina Abu Bakr and Sayyidina Ali رضي الله عنهما said: he was Al-Khadir. Al-Khadir had come and said this. This is narrated by Ibn al-Jazari in his Hisnul Haseen.

The Du'a of Khadir Taught to Sayyidina Ali

And then there is another interesting riwayah. Ibn Abi al-Dunya mentions that Ali رضي الله عنه met Al-Khadir, who told him about a du'a which, if anyone recites after every salah, will bring great reward, forgiveness, and mercy. That du'a is:

(Narrated by Ibn Abi al-Dunya; mentioned in Tafsir al-Qurtubi and Ma'arif al-Qur'an)

"O the One whose hearing of one thing does not hamper His hearing of another — meaning, it's not like when I'm speaking to You and someone else speaks to You, You get confused. Allah is such that while one person is speaking, another million can speak also, and Allah can understand each person individually in their own language. O the One who never errs in responding to the millions of requests simultaneously — one's asking for a child, one's asking for a wife, one's asking for food, one's asking for sustenance, all millions of people asking in their own languages, continuously, all over the world. O the One who never becomes weary of the supplications made repeatedly by those who make them persistently — and Allah never gets tired of that insistence, never gets angry or bored by someone continuously saying, 'Ya Allah, I want this' after every salah. Allah does not become weary of that. O Allah, allow me to enjoy a cool taste of Your forgiveness and the sweetness of Your pardon."

This is from Tafsir al-Qurtubi, mentioned in Ma'arif al-Qur'an. The issue of whether Khadir is alive or has passed away, whether he is a prophet or an angel, is something we're not going to be asked about in the grave, and it's not one of the main issues of our deen — or even a minor issue of the deen. It's just for the sake of knowledge I shared with you. Allah knows best the reality of these affairs.

Closing Remarks and Announcements

So — Musa عليه السلام said: "How are you killing this innocent soul? زَكِيَّة" He got upset. Khadir told him:

Before he could even say anything, Musa عليه السلام himself said: "I'm sorry. I'm not going to give any more excuses."

"If after this I question you about anything else, then no longer keep me in your company. You have already attained enough excusing on my part." So they moved on.

And then they came upon that town — the people who were extremely stingy and refused all hospitality — and as they were leaving, they found the wall about to fall and Khadir rebuilt it. And Musa عليه السلام said: if you had wished, you could at least have taken pay for it. And:

Khadir told Musa: "This is the parting between me and you. I shall now inform you of the reality and interpretation of all that you could not abide with patience."

Insha'Allah, maybe we can call this the separation for now. And then next week, we can cover those points of ta'weel before we move on, if Allah wills, to the next story of Dhul Qarnayn — the last story of Surah Al-Kahf, insha'Allah. And as we are coming to almost the end — maybe another two or three weeks or so of Surah Al-Kahf — if we can use this as an excuse to get higher attendance, that would be great. Alhamdulillah, we had great attendance at the beginning — 250 people or so in the first week. And then slowly, as it happens naturally, people start dwindling away. So there's nothing new here — we just need to encourage people. If all of you make the azam to invite at least 10 people next week, insha'Allah, and tell them the tafsir of Surah Al-Kahf is coming to an end — you never know. Just one lesson, and one of these tafsirs might be a solution to the problems that anyone may be going through. This is the Qur'an — every ayah, every verse, every page has solutions to our problems.

We ask Allah to make us amongst those who understand the entire Qur'an, who are able to benefit from the Qur'an, who are able to benefit from Surah Al-Kahf. May He make myself and all of you amongst those who recite Surah Al-Kahf on a regular basis. May He make it a means of protecting all of us from the fitna of Dajjal. May He make it a means of protecting our children from the fitna of Dajjal as well.

And then Saturday mornings, we are continually having our Team Fajr. Brothers, you could spend nine or ten dollars to go eat halwa puri — here you have halwa puri plus another 20 items, all provided complimentarily, along with your brothers and sisters of the masjid, with a talk and with dhikr. It's a great way to start off your weekend. And Thursday nights we have our durood shareef program. These are the three weekly programs.

Also, there are laptops outside — I encourage you to purchase your tickets to the benefit banquet, which has been moved to February 19th, due to the expected spike at the end of January. If you have not already purchased your ticket, please do so right here at the kiosk or on the laptops. And those listening online — alhamdulillah, many brothers and sisters — if you can take a moment, someone can post the link in the chat, and please purchase your ticket. And if you know anyone who would like to advertise their business and give sadaqa — a travel agent, someone selling vitamins, home services, a physician, a dentist — tell them they can become a sponsor of this event. Through this sponsorship, all overhead costs are covered, so that every dollar you spend on your ticket will go straight to the projects of the masjid and the seminaries. We ask Allah to make this and all other programs successful and accepted in His sight. Ameen.