Surah Al-Kahf | Part 16 Ayahs 83-92 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | Weekly Tafsir

If we can all, inshallah, kindly come closer together. Those of us who are at home as well, we just renew our intentions as we are gathering to sit and listen. May Allah grant you and I hidayah through this and guidance and nur.

And in this extremely bitterly cold night that you have driven out here and have come here, may Allah make this coming tonight a means of protecting all of us from the zamharir of Jahannam, which is the punishment through cold. The punishment through cold and the hellfire — that's another type of punishment.

O Allah, we seek refuge in You from the zamharir of hellfire. Ameen.

This is the du'a that we learn from our deen — that you're supposed to make du'a relevant to the situation you're in. If you're on an occasion of marriage and aqiqah, you don't want to be talking about death and dying in the grave. You want to speak about having the child having a long life and health and things of that sort. Similarly, if you're in a sad moment, you don't want to be making du'a about happy things at that time, you want to be making du'a for protection from difficulty.

So this is the beauty that we learn — that when it's very cold, one of the du'as should be seeking refuge, that this cold is nothing. I can brave this cold and come out to tafsir. What I'm very worried about is the zamharir of hellfire. That is going to be something that will be unthinkable in terms of its severity.

Just in this world, you see how severe it is when it becomes minus 10, minus 20. Imagine what must be the severity of the fire of Jahannam. I was just reading right now that they have, through various new technologies, created heat that is hundreds of times — hundreds of times — more intense than the core of the sun. Hundreds of times more. We're talking about billions of degrees. So if that is man doing it right now, before the end of time, still many more years for the Day of Judgment, imagine what will happen before this whole world falls apart, and imagine what will be in hellfire. Because whatever happens over here is nothing compared to what is in dar al-akhirah, in the Hereafter.

So just these are signs for us to think and reflect about what the Day of Judgment and the Hereafter is all going to be about. I ask Allah that He allows you and I to reflect on what we hear, what we say. May He inspire me to say that which is most beneficial to all of us, and that serves as solutions to our problems, answers to our questions. Ameen.

As I said last week, in order to keep us engaged and reminded of reciting the ayat of Surah al-Kahf on a daily basis — the first ten and the last ten — inshallah for the remaining two weeks that we have, this week and next week, let's begin with recitation of the first ten and the last ten verses together. And hopefully you will continue with it throughout the week.

Recitation of the First and Last Ten Verses of Sūrah al-Kahf

Respected brothers and sisters, I'd encourage myself and all of us — those who have not memorized these verses — to make that effort. Alhamdulillah, it's been about 15 weeks, so about 4 months, and some of you may have achieved that or are on your way to achieving it. For the rest of us, even if we haven't been able to memorize the entire Surah al-Kahf, I would highly suggest that these two pages we make the effort to do it. You can clip this section of what I just recited, or find it online — many others recite the first and last ten — and have it playing before you go to bed every night.

What I would suggest is, once you have memorized it inshallah, incorporate it into your daily salah — like the two-rakat sunnah after Isha, or the two-rakat sunnah after Maghrib. That way you say, this is what I'm going to read every day, and you don't miss it. Whenever you pray your sunnah, you've got those two pages down. So let's all make a firm resolve inshallah to have this memorized and start playing it regularly.

The Fourth and Final Story of Sūrah al-Kahf: Dhul-Qarnayn

Now we are, inshallah ta'ala, going to be starting our last and fourth story of Surah al-Kahf. This is the story of Dhul-Qarnayn. And Allah mentions:

They ask you as well, O Prophet, about Dhul-Qarnayn. Say: I will recite for you an account of him for your reflection.

Indeed, We established ascendancy, power for him in the land. Moreover, We endowed him with magnificent means to attain a way to nearly all things he endeavored.

So he followed a path — he started off going west. And at last when he reached the place of the setting of the sun, he found it setting, as it were, in the midst of a black turbid spring — عَيْنٍ حَمِئَةٍ — in the midst of a dirty, dark spring. And he found nearby it a people. But what type of people were they? They were wrongdoing people, disbelievers or sinners.

We said: O Dhul-Qarnayn, you may in regard to them either punish them right now, or treat them with goodness. You have the option now that you are empowered.

He said: As for whoever does wrong, we shall punish him. Then he shall be returned to his Lord in the Hereafter, and He shall punish him with a horrific punishment. Meaning, we will treat those who are worthy of good treatment nicely, and those who have earned Allah's wrath, we will punish them a small punishment here, and the real punishment we'll let Allah handle it. But for the one who believes and works righteous deeds, there shall be for him great goodness in reward. Moreover, in all that we shall decree for him of our commands, there shall be ease.

Then he followed a way eastward. And at last when he reached the place of the rising of the sun, he found it rising upon a primitive people for whom We had set nothing as a veil to keep them out of it. Meaning they were in open, barren land — no mountains, no forest, nothing to cover them from the harsh nature of the world.

That is so. For truly We comprehended whatever he encountered as an experience — whatever experiences, whatever new things, challenges that were going about in Dhul-Qarnayn's life, We had complete knowledge of that. Then he followed another way. We'll stop over here inshallah.

The Qur'anic Pattern of يَسْأَلُونَكَ — "They Ask You"

So Allah speaks about Dhul-Qarnayn here, and He says that they ask you about Dhul-Qarnayn. This is an interesting way of dealing with this idea of وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ — asking. What we see here is that this type of asking is found in multiple places of the Qur'an. I'm sure all of you have read this, heard of it previously as well — they ask you about such and such situation, here's the answer. More than ten places this has come, يَسْأَلُونَكَ, that they ask you. Of course they asked many more questions — both the Sahaba, the hypocrites, the Yahud, all sorts of questions — but more than ten have been mentioned in the Qur'an of the probably hundreds that were asked.

Allah says: وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْمَحِيضِ — they ask about the cycles of the women and their purity. يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْأَهِلَّةِ — they ask regarding the new moon and how we're supposed to utilize that for timing our months. يَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الْخَمْرِ وَالْمَيْسِرِ — they ask you about wine, liquor, and maysir and gambling. And all of these have قُلْ — say — so they ask you and say to them this answer.

The Unique Ayah of Du'a in Sūrah al-Baqarah

The only place where this is not found is in Surah al-Baqarah, in Ayah 186. Allah says:

Whenever — not now, it's not like they're asking you right now, but rather whenever anyone, not today, yesterday, tomorrow — whenever anyone asks you about Me. "Me" is referring to who? Allah. When anyone says, who's Allah? Who's Lord? Who do you worship? Who am I supposed to worship? I say لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ since childhood — what is this? So if someone asks you, please introduce Allah to me, what should you tell him?

What is so amazing is Allah does not say قُلْ. He does not tell the Prophet to say this is the answer. Instead, He Himself starts answering the question. So He tells us there is no barrier, no obstacle, no intermediary between a servant and Allah. You want to get to Him, you can dial and get right through immediately to Allah. You don't need to go through anyone.

A person feels down, depressed — who am I gonna find? Yes, you can find someone to assist you, but remember you don't need anyone to speak to Allah. There is no middle man. No matter what type of color, race, ethnicity, gender, what type of job, wealth, background we have, Allah says: when anyone asks you about Me, فَإِنِّي قَرِيبٌ — Indeed, I am near.

This is such an amazing ayah. Every time I think about it and share this with all of you, it really just makes me start thinking about this again and again — that from all the things Allah could have said, that He wants you to know: I am your Creator, I am your Lord, I am the giver of life, I am the giver of death, I am the giver of sustenance, I'm the giver of honor, I'm the one who cures you when you get sick, I'm the one who fulfills your needs. There are a million things Allah could have Himself answered when asked, "What are You? Who are You?" — like your business card.

Many brothers have multiple businesses and multiple educational backgrounds. So what are they going to do? They're gonna put on their business card the most salient thing — the thing they want to be known for. You're a husband, you're a father, you're a son, you're a son-in-law, then you are a businessman, then you are an employee somewhere else, and then you're an investor somewhere else, and you're a teacher somewhere else, and you are a board member somewhere else. There are so many different nisbah, and so many different haythiyaat, and so many different roles and hats we have. But on that business card, you want to put what you want to be known for.

So Allah, what is the attribute He uses? What is it? قَرِيبٌ — Near. If He's near, okay, what does that mean? Oh, near — that means you're always watching. Every single time we're going to get in trouble! Because you know that's what happens with kids: they're like, oh man, mom and dad are on my back all the time, they're too near, we need to separate a little bit, it's too much focus on us.

So Allah says, no, no, no — that's not what I'm talking about here. قَرِيبٌ doesn't mean to intimidate you. أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ — I respond to the supplication of the caller. When I mean qareeb, it is that even if you're so weak, you're so tired, you're so depressed, you're so sad, you're so worried, you're so beaten up, that you don't have the himmah, the physical or emotional strength to speak up — and your lips are barely moving, maybe your lips are not even moving, maybe it's just your heart speaking — I can hear it. I don't need you to scream. I don't need you to speak loud. I don't need you to necessarily raise your hands in a certain manner. If you're just broken, and your spirit is broken, then you can speak with Me, no matter what your situation may be. SubhanAllah.

Someone is on the guillotine. Someone is getting hanged. Someone's got a gun to his head. What is he going to do? Speak your heart. Let your heart speak to Allah. You say whatever you need to say to Allah in that situation. Even if, Allah forbid, someone's mouth is taped up, can't say it — no problem. You don't need any of this to speak to Allah.

أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ — I respond to the caller's supplication when he chooses to supplicate to Me. You have to be willing to supplicate to Me. Don't expect — and unfortunately some people get deceived by Shaytan and they say, "Allah already knows what I'm going through. Why do I need to pray? Why do I need to ask? If He gives it to me, He'll give it to me if He wants to. If He doesn't want to, then I don't need to ask." Hamaqat — foolishness! This is what it is. SubhanAllah. May Allah protect us from falling into this type of deception. And may Allah guide those who have fallen into this deception.

Today's Theme: Using the Means (Ittibā' al-Asbāb)

Today's theme of Dhul-Qarnayn is about — one of the things I'm going to be speaking about, and the Qur'an speaks about it — using the means. Don't sit back and say, everything should happen magically for me. You have to use the means. That is a very big thrust of today's talk.

So the means of getting your needs fulfilled — Allah says there is du'a. That's how you want Allah's mercy, that's how you're supposed to do it. You say, Allah is merciful, He should give it to me. No, He can do it, but He wants you to put some effort in. If you don't put some effort in, how is this going to happen? This is such an important lesson for all of us.

We always tell each other, "Make du'a for me." Okay, how much du'a did you make? Let's stop right here. Do you actually even mean it when you say, "Make du'a for me"? Do you really, really, really want someone to do that? No one's going to believe you if you're not doing it yourself. Why would anyone make du'a for you more than you're going to make du'a for yourself? You know the situation, you know how horrible the situation is, you know how difficult it is. If you and I do not have the tawfiq to leave our bed for five minutes, or to stay put after salah for five minutes and make du'a, or to sit in our car on the way to work and keep the radio off and make du'a to Allah — if we cannot do that, why do we expect any random person in the masjid to say, "Today I'm going to dedicate 20 minutes praying for you"? It's not going to happen.

But this is what we call taqiyya kalam — it's just something we say. Like salam alaykum, how are you? — if someone says, "I'm not good, I need your help" — bye, salam alaykum. It's just pleasantries, comments we just share with each other. Hey, how are you? Many people just move on. If someone says, "No, I really need help, I need a ride, I need this and that" — how many people say, "Okay, no problem, here I am for you"?

Ask yourself on this cold night — how many say, "Okay, you need to drive 50 miles back home because your car broke down, I'm here"? You need to fill up a gas tank — "I'm here." Lucky individuals are those who are willing to give to others in a moment of difficulty. So when we cannot do this, when we say, "Just make du'a for me, pray" — and then what? Sometimes I ask people, "What should I make du'a for? What du'a do you want?" "Whatever you want." What do you mean, whatever you want? You know, I went to many restaurants ordering food — one pizza, which I'm going to finish eating in five minutes — you asked me ten questions. You want thick or thin crust, hand-tossed? White sauce or red sauce? You want pepperoni? What type of cheese? Pineapple on the side, a quarter, or half? Ten questions about something that's not going to last more than seven minutes on my plate. And now you're telling me to make du'a for whatever, but when I ask you what, you say, "I don't know, whatever you want." How about I come into your store and say, "Make a pizza, whatever you want"?

So really, when it comes to du'a, how can we just expect people to randomly start praying for us? Unfortunately, we're not really serious when we say, "Please make du'a for me." Because if we were, we'd have it at the tip of our tongue: "This is what I need you to pray for me." If it's hurting, if it really is hurting, you should know about it. Be it aafiyah, be it anything — it could even be something general, it could be hidayah. But it's got to be something in your mind that you want people to be making du'a for you. And similarly, you'll be making du'a for them.

What's so beautiful here is that Allah highlights the aspect of being qareeb — I am very close. And then He says, this qareeb means not to punish you, but qareeb to accept your prayers, all the time. But the condition is you have to be willing to ask. If you don't ask, you're not going to get it. Because Allah has made this place as dar al-asbab — a place of means.

Jannah is not like that. You will see a bird and you don't even have to pray for it — you'll just think, I wonder how that tastes, and it will be roasted right in front of you in less than a second. You just eat it without even using your hands, it probably just flies into your mouth. You taste it. You spit it out with the bones, and the bird flies back. Then you say, I wonder how that would taste with peri-peri sauce, with lemon and herb sauce, with honey barbecue sauce. Whatever you want, keep on tasting. You don't have to make du'a, you just desire it. That's why the Qur'an says:

Whatever the nafs desires, you're going to get. You don't have to make du'a there. That's because Allah has made that place without means — you just get. You've done all your using of the means in the dunya, and now in the akhirah and in Jannah, it's all about giving, giving, giving to you. But in the dunya, it's not like that. You're going to get what you ask for. If you're not going to invest time asking, then you're not going to get it.

So this is a reminder to myself and all of us that we have to spend time making lots and lots of du'a. And this is why the Prophet said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 1479; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3247)

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3371)

(Al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim, Vol. 1, Hadith 1816)

Du'a is the essence of ibadah. Du'a is the lubb al-lubaabah of ibadah. Du'a is ibadah. Because the purpose of ibadah is humility and humbleness. When someone says, "If Allah wants it, He'll give it to me" — what do we tell him? Allah wants to see you humble yourself in front of Him. Where is the humility here? This is arrogance. Imagine you're trying to get people to sign up with you, invest with you. You say, "Hey, whoever wants to, they should — I'm not going to even go propose it, I'm not going to even ask." You're never going to get anyone to sign up. People say, "Look at this arrogant guy." You have to ask. You must ask. That's how it happens.

Whoever has been given the gift of du'a, will be given the gift of his du'a being accepted. So some of you might get tired that every time you come to me about issues, I'll give you something to do, but I'll say, "Make lots of du'a." Because in reality, that is the number one sabab you have to use. Number one sabab. You give your sadaqah, you pray your two-rakat salah, you perform Hajj, you fast, and you make lots of du'a — and then of course you call whoever you need to, you go here, you go there. But du'a is number one and number ten. Beginning, end — start with that, end with that. And if you say, "No man, give me something else" — the reality is, there's some hollowness right now in the yaqeen. That's what it is.

Why Was the Question About Dhul-Qarnayn Asked?

Now, who is asking here? Do you remember — going back to the original story of the revelation — the mushrikeen went to Medina and asked the Yahud: "What should we do?" They said, "Go ask Rasulullah about the ruh, the soul, the people of the cave, and Dhul-Qarnayn." So they wanted to know details. Isn't it amazing? When it comes to the ruh, Allah says, "I'm not going to give you any details":

Just tell them: the soul is the command of my Lord. That's it. What about some more details? No — it's not meant for you to get any more details. What about Dhul-Qarnayn? We want to know where was he? What type of king was he? What's his name exactly? Why was he called Dhul-Qarnayn? Which part of the world did he rule? How long? Which century? The Qur'an completely avoids all of that. It tells us: you're wanting that — I'm not going to give you what you want. I'm going to give you what you need. The Qur'an is not a history book. The Qur'an is a book of lessons. And you will not derive lessons from all of these historical details. You will derive lessons by focusing on the qualities and characteristics of Dhul-Qarnayn and what happened to him. Focus on that. Then you realize that if these characteristics come into me, I can also have a similar ending, a similar life.

So that's why Allah gets right into speaking about what Dhul-Qarnayn did. Some have mentioned that he was definitely not Alexander the Great, because he was a Muslim — to the extent that some have even mentioned he could possibly have been a prophet as well. Allah knows best. And why was he called Dhul-Qarnayn? Qarn — two horns. Some say it's because he had this mission and this desire to go conquer two sides of the world, the East and the West. And so that was the reason why Allah gave him the title Dhul-Qarnayn — because he wanted to take the message of the deen to the East and to the West and bring justice in the world. That's one of the many reasons mentioned.

Key Lessons from the Story of Dhul-Qarnayn

Lesson 1: Power Belongs to Allah — Tamkīn fil-Ard

Indeed, We have established ascendancy for him in the land. Okay, this is called tamkeen fil-ard — a very important point. Allah says, "We established ascendancy for him in the land." He didn't get it himself. All people of power get power from the ultimate King. No one has power intrinsically. The ability to rule, the ability to own, the ability to amass wealth — all of that comes from Allah. And if a person recognizes that, he will never become arrogant. As soon as a person begins to think that he has this power himself, then you'll see what happens.

SubhanAllah, I was just reflecting on this today over some news articles — when you think you're a president, or a minister, or a congressman, or a senator, or a governor, that's immense power. You call the shots. But what do we see in our country? When they get caught up in a sting operation or some anti-corruption scandal — their house is raided by the FBI. Their offices are raided by the FBI. You're the governor. You are the ex-president. You are the current governor or state senator. What has happened to your izzah right now? Right in front of us, Allah shows that no matter how powerful you are, you cannot be above everyone all the time. And that power is also very limited. The person who is sitting in the position calling all the shots — when his term ends, done, finished. Now you're just like a normal citizen. You go stand in line and get your groceries. Where is all that power? Gone. As soon as the four years end, finished.

Every day Allah is showing us this. Similarly, when you see the king — you look at some of the African dictators, even many Muslim dictators unfortunately. They did a lot of zulm. Many of them took asylum in the Middle East and then died. I was looking at one of them recently who died in Jeddah but his body is, mashallah, Allah gave him hidayah — I guess he wanted to be buried in Medina. May Allah forgive him, and reward with immense rewards those he punished and tortured throughout his life. But look at it — random Indian, Pakistani, African brothers were carrying him, with no idea who he even was. They just took him, running, carrying him from Masjid al-Nabawi to Jannat al-Baqi'. And then later on, they were told this is who he was — he was Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, probably the longest-serving president of Tunisia. Who would have even known? They were like, just go, we want the ajr, let's carry it. That is the ending, man. That's the ending. Everyone just goes — no one knows where they started from.

So this is the idea — that tamkeen, the fact that someone is ruling, is because Allah has allowed him to rule. Do not allow yourself to become overwhelmed with awe. Do not allow yourself to become overtaken by fear. Because what goes up must come down.

Say: O Allah, Owner of all sovereignty. You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. All goodness is in Your hands. Indeed, You are over all things powerful. What a powerful, beautiful ayah. SubhanAllah. It's amazing. I remember reflecting on this verse and sharing with the community five or six years ago in one of the Jumu'ah khutbahs. It was this ayah that meant so much to me at that time — that you know, it's not the end of the world, no matter who comes into power. Allah is always the ultimate, always the most powerful. These are like substitute teachers coming and going — they're there for a little bit, and then they're gone. Everyone's reign must end.

The Qur'an also mentions that Allah has promised the believers that He's going to give them ascendancy on earth as well:

Allah has promised the believers amongst you — those who do good deeds — that He will make them the vicegerents on the earth, just as He made the prior nations vicegerents. And He will establish for them their deen, which He is pleased with — which is Islam. And then He will change their state of fear into peace and security and safety. They will be worshipping Me and not ascribing any partners with Me. And whoever sees all of this, yet chooses to reject Allah — those are the ultimate rejecters, those are the ultimate sinners.

So what we learn from here is that tamkeen fil-ard and establishing the deen of Allah and power will happen, but there are means to go about that. Imam al-Shafi'i rahimahullah was asked: anaad'u Rabbana bil-tamkeen am bil-ibtila'? — should we supplicate to Allah for immediately giving us power? Or should we ask Allah to get us through some test first? Is power good, or should we always remain in a state of being tested — the makki life, the madani life?

So Imam al-Shafi'i gave a beautiful answer. He said:

You will never get leadership. You will never get power. You will never be able to rule without first being tested. First Mecca comes, then Medina comes. You have to make the effort of Mecca, then Medina comes. That's for all our personal lives as well — in your business, in your home, in your community. We cannot just ascend the top of the minbar like that, run from outside and go all the way to the top. Hey, everyone listen to me! It doesn't work like that. You have to build your way up. Even at home — if we want tamkeen at home, that people listen to us, appreciate us, value what we say, it needs to be built up. What we call the street credibility — that needs to be built up everywhere we go. Otherwise it's not going to happen.

I remember hearing a statement once: without making the effort of Mecca, the talks are of Medina. Without making the effort of Mecca, the talks are of Medina — meaning, do this, don't do that, this is halal, this is haram, stay away from this, stay away from that. But without making the effort of the Meccan era, if you give talks like that, who's going to believe you? Who's going to listen? Who's going to obey? No one will.

That's what Aisha radiallahu anha says — she is our mother. What did she say? She said: if the prohibition of wine were to have come about in the early stages of Mecca, no one would have listened to the verse. No one would have obeyed the verse of the Qur'an. They were addicted to it. This was what their life was revolving around — wine and liquor. They have hundreds of words in the Arabic language for different types of things connected to drinking khamr. But it took 13 years in Mecca and some years in Medina to work on getting the love of this out of their hearts. Then what happened?

Our Ustadh, Maulana Choksi, would mention this — in Sahih Muslim, if I'm not mistaken, the riwayah of how when the ayah of prohibition of khamr was revealed. He would give a vivid description — there would be a party going on, everyone drinking. You've got these big kegs of liquor and wine, big jugs, cups, tumblers. Everyone is enjoying themselves in Medina. And there is a person walking through the streets of Medina, running and reciting:

O you who believe! Indeed, liquor, gambling, and all of this is haram, it's dirty, it's najis. فَاجْتَنِبُوهُ — stay away from it, so that you may attain success. He's just going around reciting this verse. Rasulullah is not near that party, he's not in that village or that alley of Medina. Yet there's one companion who heard it in Masjid al-Nabawi and is walking around reciting this. And if I'm not mistaken, Anas radiallahu anhu is the narrator. He said that the wine and liquor that was in the big keg being poured into the jugs — just halfway, midway, stopped. And the jugs that were pouring into the cups — midway stopped. And the cups that were being grabbed by the people and the tumblers — they midway stopped. And those that had put the cup to their mouth did not allow one teeny tiny ounce to go down and they spat it out. And he said, that day Medina saw its streets filled with rivers, streams of wine and liquor being poured out. They didn't say, "Can we sell it to the non-Muslims? Can we deal with the Yahud on this? Can we find a halal way to deal with this?" No. One ayah — they heard it, they were ready. The effort of Makkah was made on their hearts:

We listen and we obey. You call the shots. You say jump, we will ask how high. Done deal. We're ready. You just have to tell us. Aisha radiallahu anha says, look at what happened — because their hearts were plowed upon, fertilized, they were ready. But had this happened in Makkah, they would have refused to accept it. They would have rejected this verse. So they were prepared, and mashallah, instantaneously, people did not ask any questions and poured it all out. This is the example of a heart that has the nur of iman in it — it's just waiting to be told what's next.

The example is: you tell a random person here — give me 200 push-ups, run 3 miles right now in this cold — you're crazy, I wouldn't do it for $3,000. But now you have a recruit who has gone through basic training, who is a soldier in the army. His superior comes in and tells him, give me 200 of this, give me a mile of that — he'll do it in his sleep. Because he's been trained and he's ready. He knows not to ask questions. And we are untrained people — we're going to say, for what, why, what's the hikmah, the wisdom, can we do this another way? We ask ten questions. So this is the method. First, if we want tamkeen, we have to go through ibtila, we have to go through imtihan. And that's what we learn over here in this whole section as well — going through difficulty is important.

Lesson 2: Using the Means — Ittibā' al-Asbāb

And We endowed him with a way to nearly all the things he endeavored. And from this part you realize — ittiba' al-asbab — following the means. Taking the means. My beloved friends, there is a means for everything. You want to become a successful student of knowledge, do well in your upcoming exams, graduate top in your class, go to a very competitive college, become wealthy, have your entrepreneurial skills flourish — whatever you want to do, you cannot sit down and say, "I just hope this happens." And just make du'a. But most people don't even make du'a — they just sit on the couch. Even if you were to only make du'a, that is not how Allah has meant to keep this world. Instead, a person must use the means. So they say:

The hands move, and the heart relies upon Allah. The heart relies upon Allah while the hands are moving. This is the balance between tawakkul and tadbeer — planning. We must plan. As one of our brothers always says, failing to plan is planning to fail. It's very true. We have to have our asbab and we have to plan things out.

You remember a couple of weeks ago I shared with you a story where a companion came and had an issue with another companion regarding some ownership claim he was making. When the Prophet asked for proof, one of them gave the proof and the other didn't have any proof. So Rasulullah decided in favor of the one who gave the proof. As the other walked out, what did he say? حَسْبُنَا اللَّهُ — Allah is sufficient for me. I don't need this. He walked out of the Prophet's court by saying this. The Prophet got upset, he called him back, and the gist of it is: you don't do the effort and you're saying Allah is sufficient — how is that? And then he said, Allah dislikes and reprimands al-'ajz — being incapable or unprepared. Instead, take all the means you have to use them, and then trust in Allah.

So if we want to become successful, we have to utilize all the means possible — success in studies, success in business, success in dunya, in deen as well. If someone is sitting a hundred miles from the masjid, or sits ten miles away but has no way of getting there, and has no relationship with ulama, no relationship with people of knowledge, and then says, "I want success" — how is he going to get it? Success in deen comes from the masjid. If we have no connection with the masjid, who is going to guide us in difficult situations?

Similarly, you're not using the means. You're saying, "Make du'a, I want to go to Jannah. Make du'a, I want to get successful." But what are the means? You have to study ilm. You have to come into the environment of the masjid. People say, "Please make du'a for my children that they'll be saved." Okay — what are they doing? Have they studied any deen? Have they studied Qur'an? Have they connected to the masjid? Nobody, none of that stuff. We don't have time, just busy between this lesson and that lesson. We're seeing today that people who are connected to their masjid — even after they go to college and their connection loses a little bit, they're out. So how do we expect to gain salvation for our children if they were never connected in the first place?

You have to use the means of remaining firm on the deen. And in order to remain firm on the deen, you need an environment. We need halaqat like this, gatherings like this. Our children need that. And we need good friendships — our children need great friends who they connect with. Otherwise, all will be lost. You throw your child in the midst of the ocean from a helicopter and say, "You should survive — see you in two days back at home, and you should come back dry." That's foolishness. You have to at least give them a life vest. You have to give them some swimming lessons before we throw them into the deep end.

So this is Dhul-Qarnayn — Allah gave him asbab, Allah gave him the means. Another thing is: when Allah wants you to achieve something in life — as long as your heart is connected with Allah, you are performing all your a'mal, you are not committing any major sin, and the asbab and the means start falling into place — this is a very good sign. Someone says istikhara. What is istikhara? Nowhere in the du'a — read the translation if you haven't — nowhere does it say, "O Allah, allow me to see something in my dream that will make me at peace." That is not part of the du'a. Instead, the du'a says: Ya Allah, if it's good, make it happen for me. If it's bad, then turn me away from it. This is why salat al-istikhara and salat al-hajah are great for every occasion, not just for marriage.

Many of you say, "I got married 50 years ago, so what's the point of me memorizing the istikhara du'a now?" Istikhara is not only for marriage — it's for every single thing. And it's not only for your children's marriage either. It's for anything and everything you want to do in your deen and your dunya. If I remember correctly, it is mentioned that the Sahaba say: Rasulullah taught us du'a al-istikhara the way a surah is taught. So when you see means falling into place on your plate, that's a good sign — as long as you are obedient to Allah.

Because we covered in Mishkat Sharif the hadith that if you see a person whom Allah is giving dunya and material means even though he is a disobedient servant, then remember this is not a blessing — this is istidraj. Entrapment. If we are missing our prayers, involved in haram dealings, not able to guard our gaze, not able to guard our ears, and yet things mashaAllah seem to be falling into place — this is not mashaAllah, this is audhu billah. You say, why is Allah giving me so much when I'm upsetting Him by breaking all these orders? This cannot be a blessing. This is a punishment in disguise. So we need to be wary of that.

Many times people want to read wazaif — this du'a, that du'a, my grandmother used to read, my grandfather used to read, it's been passed down. There are great du'as, but I was reading one book and it mentioned one famous wazifah — Hizb al-Bahr — and it clearly states therein: if you're committing major sins, stop reading this right now. We don't give you ijazah to read this. Only read this if you are actually watching yourself. Until you do not get yourself right at the basics, forget about wazifas, forget about special dhikr and special du'as. The first and most important thing is: stay away from haram. That's the most important dhikr. That's the most important wazifah. That's the most important action we have to do — stay away from haram. Haram earning, haram spending, haram looking, haram hearing, haram thoughts, haram food — all of that. And then Allah will open up ways.

So, let's take on salat al-istikhara, take on salat al-hajah, and ask Allah for the means to fall into place. You've got to pray, you've got to do the work, keep on trying. You say, when do I stop? Do I keep on pursuing this? Keep on praying istikhara, and keep on pursuing it. When there's a complete roadblock and you're trying and trying — realize, okay, this is not meant for you, let's turn around, let's go in that direction. But until the roads keep on opening, like pavers, you have to cross to the other side — you won't see the whole path laid out in front of you. Many times it's just filled with ice and snow and sleet and mud and dirt. How am I supposed to get there? Don't worry. You keep on making effort, keep on doing salat al-istikhara, keep on doing salat al-hajah, and you'll see Allah will keep on putting pavers in front of you. You'll keep on stepping on them until you get to your final destination.

So to those of you who are saying, alhamdulillah, everything is falling into place — go for it. If you're staying away from haram, following your Sunnah, and things are falling into place, move forward with whatever that is.

The Journey Westward and the People He Found

So he followed a way westward. And at last when he reached the place of the setting of the sun — what does that mean? It means that, like Uqba ibn Nafi when he went and conquered northern Africa, he went all the way to the western part of the African continent up north, where there was nothing further — just the ocean. He couldn't go any further. That's where he went and stopped. So when you go there, you see the sun setting right there at the ocean. So probably Dhul-Qarnayn went to the most westward populated area. And he saw it, the sun setting, as it were, in the midst of a black turbid spring, like a dirty spring. He found nearby it a group of disbelieving or wrongdoing people. Allah said, "O Dhul-Qarnayn, you can punish them or forgive them, what do you want to do?" So Allah gave him this option.

Some have said — and I told you this is a weak opinion — that since يَا ذَا الْقَرْنَيْنِ, "O Dhul-Qarnayn," has been mentioned, that's why some have said he is a prophet. But this is not the strongest of opinions.

One thing that comes to me now is that in order to achieve great things in the world and leave behind a legacy, you don't need to be famous. Can there be anyone more successful than a prophet? Cannot be. They're going to be the highest of the people in the akhirah. There is absolutely no wealthy person, no educated person, no philanthropist, no humanitarian who can ever dream of getting even close to the status of prophets. And what does the Qur'an say about the prophets?

Some of the prophets We mentioned their story, and some of the prophets We did not mention their story. Only 25 have been mentioned in the Qur'an — we have no idea who the rest of the 100,000 plus were. So there are amazing prophets who are going to be treated with the highest love, but we don't even know who they are, we don't even know their names. So don't worry about being known. Don't worry about people being appreciative of what we're doing. Many times a person says, "My deceased parent — I want to name this thing after my dad, I want to name this thing after my mother." You don't have to name anything after your parents for the sawab to get to them. This is some wrong misconception we have.

Naming rights is a huge thing for the non-Muslims, and our Muslims follow behind that too. How many masajid I've visited actually have dedicated rooms named after individuals. Our library is named after people. All sorts of stuff — they're taking it from other places. How about based on their donation? Instead, Allah, based on your sincerity in what you're giving, will grant you the reward based on that sincerity. How do we know? Maybe naming something after us will affect our sincerity. Just something food for thought. But the idea is that you don't need to be well-known to be successful. You don't need to be well-known to have an impact in the world. You can do great work, change people's lives, Allah can accept you, and after you die, no one knows.

Kitab al-Riqaq from Mishkat Sharif — I've been teaching this in class and I hope one day we can do ta'leem of the whole thing. It's eight, nine pages of such powerful hadith. An apple a day keeps the doctor away — I feel like a hadith a day from Kitab al-Riqaq will keep materialism away from our hearts. What does al-Riqaq mean? The book of softening — meaning these are hadith that are supposed to soften the hearts. And you learn: who are the chosen servants of Allah? The description is: the ones who no one knows about, who get pushed around, who no one will accept their intercession. When they're present, no one acknowledges them. When they're absent, no one misses them. When they come, no one points fingers and says, "Oh mashallah, so-and-so is here." They come and they go — unknown people. They are pushed away from the doors. They ask for someone's daughter's hand in marriage and no one gives it to them. They say, "Can I intercede on someone's behalf?" — "No, forget it, who are you?"

These are the super chosen people — they die with their desires and their ambitions in their heart. They went into the grave with all their wishes, their desires, their plans: "Oh, my daughter's marriage, my son's marriage, inshallah one day I'll have my retirement home be like this. I'm having a very difficult life but inshallah I'll have comfort later." No. All of those things come to an end. They die and leave this world as unknown people, and those are going to be the ones who are going to be the most known in the akhirah. When you read this stuff, you realize we're all chasing the wrong things — fame, name, wealth, prominence. This is going to set us back in the Hereafter. No one will even look at us there. We're going to be at the back of the line. If you want to be in the front of the line, take out the love of fame and name from your heart. And if Allah gives it to you, fine — but don't desire it, don't wish for it, don't think it's a blessing. Think it's a test from Allah: the fact that I have prominence, or wealth, or say — this is an imtihan, a musibah. Allah is testing me.

Lesson 3: Do Not Allow Power to Corrupt

So Dhul-Qarnayn goes to the most westwardly place and Allah addresses him: "Okay, you can choose whatever you want." Now what does Dhul-Qarnayn do? He says, "I'm going to use my wisdom and my rahmah. I'm not going to punish all of them, and I am not going to forgive everyone. I'm going to give an opportunity." Some said this means he's going to give an opportunity to the sinners to repent — and if they don't repent, he'll punish them. And then the rest of the punishment, he'll leave it up to Allah on the Day of Judgment.

So what do we learn from here? When Allah gives us some prominence, some power, some fame — you get a promotion — let's not use our power over others in an oppressive manner. Let's not start using our wealth and power that we have. You're a grown man, your little kids are at your mercy — it is horrible to utilize that power differential against them. A person is a powerful, well-known individual, a manager in a company — it is unfitting that he uses his power to terrorize lower-level employees and make their lives horrible. This is exactly what corporate culture is, we know that. But this is not what our deen teaches us. The higher you get, the more humble you become, the more loving and caring you are for every person working with you and under you, reporting to you. You start putting yourself in their shoes and say, "Alhamdulillah, ya Allah — even though this person made a mistake, I'm forgiving him so that You may forgive me. Because my power over him is nothing compared to Your power over me. And You forgive me countless times for the craziest, huge, most bold mistakes that I make. And I'm sitting here screaming and getting upset for the smallest human errors this person makes." It just makes no sense. We have forgotten the power and the qudrah that Allah has upon us.

Power corrupts — we know that. So when we get a little power as a husband, as a manager, as a principal, as a teacher, as a business owner, we cannot allow this to ruin our relationships with our subordinates. And there's soft power too, by the way. That soft power usually is with the women of the household. They don't have the six-pack, but they have something called soft power, which is more powerful than the six-pack — it's the password to everything. And this is something also important, that women need to realize they need to use that power in a positive manner, not in a wrong manner. What do I mean? A person wants to follow the deen — he wants to give sadaqah and charity in the path of Allah, he wants to go to the masjid more regularly, he wants to take his kids to deen classes — and now to emotionally blackmail that person, yell and scream at him, threaten him, to say, "No, if you do this..." Allah is watching. You have that power, sisters. You have that power, mothers. You have that power, wives.

The great example of this soft power is found in the story of who? Asiya, the wife of Fir'aun — the man who killed hundreds of thousands, whom people were afraid of, who claimed divinity. Yet if there's anyone who could bring him down, it was his wife Asiya through love and muhabba. She said, "Can we please adopt him?" And he couldn't say no to that. That is the power she had — even though she had no spear or sword in her hand, and no army reporting to her. But the husband-wife relationship she had was so important. Asiya sitting in the back, not the king — yet she is far superior to all of us. And Allah mentions her final words before she died:

Ya Allah, please build for me a house next to You in Jannah, at the highest of stages, by You in Jannah. And save me from the evil of my husband, Fir'aun. And save me from the evil oppressive people. And Allah mentions that. She was this amazing lady that Rasulullah said in a hadith that she was amongst the best of women that have come on the earth.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3411; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2431)

But what actual role did she play? She controlled her husband, invited him and he accepted to adopt Musa, and then slowly worked on him. It didn't work — he didn't accept. But SubhanAllah, she was the means of Musa getting into the palace. And she is far superior to all of us. So SubhanAllah — if we have this soft power, do not use it in an inappropriate manner to twist a husband's arm, or a son's arm, or a brother's arm, to spend in haram, to not spend in good things, or to not go to the house of Allah, or to not seek ilm. All of these things, my dear sisters and mothers, are going to be questioned about. Instead, utilize this soft power for the great things that Allah has endowed you with and blessed you with.

So Dhul-Qarnayn has been given power here. What is he doing? Is he oppressing the people? No. He says: "Ya Allah, I'm going to establish justice. Those who are not righteous, I'm going to invite them towards Islam and give them a chance. Those who are righteous, I'm going to be super kind to them."

Umar ibn al-Khattab radiallahu anhu was one day walking in the street — Allahu Akbar. Just thinking about him, doesn't it strike awe when you go say salam in front of him? I know many of you have shared that when you go to say salam to Umar radiallahu anhu — and may Allah take you and I to Madinah al-Munawwarah again and again, and to Makkah al-Mukarramah again and again for accepted Umrah and accepted ziyarah, Ameen — when you feel the haybah and the awe of Umar al-Khattab radiallahu anhu, there's nothing odd about that. Rasulullah was telling the people: "Umar, when you walk in a valley, Shaytan looks at you and then walks away, he runs away." Shaytan sees you walking and says, "I'm getting out of here," and goes somewhere else. That is the awe he had struck into the hearts of people, including Shaytan himself.

So Umar al-Khattab radiallahu anhu was walking, and some children who were playing all ran away when they saw him — all except one child who stood there looking at him. So Umar al-Khattab was interested. He said:

O boy, why did you not run away with those who ran away? The child said: O Ameer, you are not an oppressor that I should be afraid of your punishment, nor have I committed any sin that I should be afraid of you. And the path and the road is wide enough for you and I. What a young man, what a courage! SubhanAllah. You're a just person, and I'm an innocent person — and the road is wide enough for both. Why should I run away? And I say this to madrasa students who try to run away when they see me too. By running away, SubhanAllah — it literally has happened to me. One day driving on the road, one student was walking and literally saw my car, ran and hid behind a bush. I turned the car around, came back, I was worried about him. He said, "No, I just saw your car." I said, "Listen, had you not done that, I would have just said salam to you and gone my way. Now you've made me turn around. What is this? Have you done anything wrong?" He said no. "Then why are you hiding?" So sometimes this type of attitude actually makes you more suspicious. We should have husn al-dhann with each other. I haven't done anything wrong, so there's nothing for me to hide. What is respect and adab? Standing there, greeting, and moving on — that is respect and adab. Running away is not.

So this is Dhul-Qarnayn's justice that you see he showed here.

Lesson 4: Be Ambitious

The second important point I told you is the importance of justice and not allowing power to corrupt us. So remember we talked about four stories and four themes of this surah. Surah al-Kahf covers the four great fitnahs: the story of the People of the Cave represented the fitnah of preserving iman in a difficult time. The story of the two friends in the gardens represented the fitnah of wealth. The story of Musa and Khadr represented the fitnah of knowledge. And this story represents the fitnah of power. Power is where — when we get a little bit of promotion, a little bit of say — a person can end up losing his deen. Just remember those four fitnahs and the four stories that speak about them.

The third take-home from this story is: be ambitious. Be ambitious. Don't be happy with a mediocre life. I encourage students who finish the one-year program to continue if they're the right fit for the second-year alim or alimah program. Those who say, "No, I'm leaving, I want to go back to college" — I say, okay, no problem. What do you want to do? I want to become an accountant, a physician, go into the medical field, become a nurse. This is my conversation usually with those students. And I say: listen, if you're going, then you better make it out there. If you're going to leave this environment, then you better go all the way there and do something great. Don't simply settle for mediocrity.

If you want to start up a business, make this ambition: inshallah, I'm going to have one branch in every state. Because in every state, that branch is going to have a musalla next to it. And that branch is going to serve halal food. Or it's going to have free copies of the Qur'an. Or it's going to offer Islamic services. So make niyyah of how you can use the expansion of your business as a means of serving the deen. Or say, from every single branch and every store, a certain dedicated percentage I want to give in sadaqah. MashaAllah, I've heard recently of multiple business people who have dedicated a percentage of their business proceeds and profits to go to various non-profits. That is a great niyyah — I want to go big.

I would rather be sitting and studying Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, and Tafsir — but I'm not. Allah chose me another way. Okay, fine. If I'm going to go elsewhere, then I'm going to go big. And Muslim brothers — why do some of them have one-star reviews? Why is it that so many physicians, engineers, builders, and IT professionals have one out of five? This is not acceptable. We have to have ihsan — excellence — in whatever field we're in. We like to stay in five-star hotels. Why is our business one star? When we leave this environment of the masjid and work in the world, our idea should be perfection — ihsan, excellence — so that people get inspired and ask, "Where did you get this excellence from?" Say: it's the principles of our deen. We use mashwara every single day. We include and honor the employees.

I know one business brother, mashallah, who has Muslim employees and has a Qur'an teacher brought to his business — paid for — so that all employees get free Quranic lessons for an hour every single day. Then they have fard and sunnah salah together, then ta'leem together. He says, "It's not just about taking care of them monetarily. I have to worry about their deen." And then he says, "I always look — if they're having a wedding in the family, whatever it is, here's a bonus. Here, take an extra 5K or 10K. You've got a big event happening in your family — take this." Because he wants to make sure his employees are all well taken care of — from a material perspective, an emotional perspective, and a spiritual perspective. This is what it means to be ambitious when you go out into the world.

And inshallah, tabarak wa ta'ala, we will stop over here with Ayah 92 — ثُمَّ أَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا — about going towards the east. We'll continue this next week.

Announcements

A few announcements before we do the dhikr.

Number one is Thursday night, inshallah, will be our dhikr after Isha. This Thursday night is also the last Thursday of the month, so we have our goal of 5 million salawat on a monthly basis. It is more than enough — the hundreds who listen online and the hundreds who attend here can all achieve this for sure. This would be something we should be so thankful and proud and grateful to Allah for. So I request every one of you to please make niyyah between now and Thursday to push yourself and your whole family. Go home and tell yourself that between now and Thursday night, we're going to do 10,000, 15,000, 20,000 salawat. Every member of the family — give them 5,000, 2,000, 3,000, whatever. Then go to majjadiyah.org/salawat and you can put in your number of how much you've completed. For those of you on site, there are salawat cards on the way out — pick them up. Those of you online, please go to majjadiyah.org/salawat and participate. Please, let's not fall behind.

And what is the barakah of salawat? There are endless books written on this. But one key thing is that Allah's name is mentioned therein — so you're taking Allah's name as you send salutations upon the Prophet. And there is no other dhikr in the Qur'an that Allah says He Himself does:

Indeed, Allah and His angels send salutations upon the Prophet. O people, why don't you join Me in doing this? Send salutations upon him and salute him with a worthy salutation. Nowhere else in the Qur'an do you ever find anything like this — where Allah says, "I'm doing this, I want you to join Me." So what could be better than this? You're suffering tension, anxiety, difficulty, you can't sleep — whatever the issue may be — make niyyah, say: Ya Allah, I'm going to dedicate 10,000 salawat for this. Alhamdulillah, this is mujarrab — something experienced and attested to. All the mashayikh from every background and every continent have said that one of the best ways to take care of your needs is through salawat.

Number two is that we have started our new weekly program — alhamdulillah, last week was the inaugural program Mufti Mihaj is doing: a dars of hadith from Sahih al-Bukhari, right after Salat al-Isha on Friday nights. Please listen to the first week's session and inshallah join here, and get others to join as well on Friday nights.

Number three is our Team Fajr on Saturday mornings — we're continuing with the book on the 40 wisdoms behind difficulty. If you cannot be here on Saturday morning, please join online. And we have, alhamdulillah, great breakfast, which is not offered online — it's only on site. So you have to take the means of sitting in the car and coming in the cold for Fajr to enjoy a big feast. Alhamdulillah, every week we have different sponsors from different ethnicities. One of the brothers told me yesterday, "Man, I don't want Indian or South Indian food, I'm Arab." I said, "Exactly why I'm talking to you — I want the rest of them to enjoy your Arab food." So that's why we have different ethnicities — each taking responsibility for one Saturday. You bring your ethnic food and invite people from your ethnicity. On one day everyone is speaking Malayalam, on another day everyone is speaking Maghrebi, on another everyone is speaking Nigerian, mashallah. That's my goal and my niyyah — that at every Team Fajr we have different people from different ethnicities bringing their friends to Salat al-Fajr on Saturday mornings.

Tafheem classes have begun, Saturday and Sunday, online and on-site. This is great because many of you may know relatives and friends across the country and across the world who would like to enroll in English classes on Islamic studies and may not have anything available in their own area. Alhamdulillah, it is available online as well as on-site. Please visit the website and figure that out.

Lastly, on February 19th we have our banquet. We have about three weeks left and we need you all to please spread the word and put it in your calendar. February 19th, 5pm at Shalimar. On your way out, there are tickets available — you can purchase them and spread the word as well. If you know any business people who want to sponsor the event and market their business, please have them reach out to us. This is a great way for their sadaqah and for showing support within the Muslim community. This is like our version of Muslim Yellow Pages — Muslim businesses who care about the deen. So when you want to give your business, why not choose a business that cares about the deen? This Friday and Saturday is the deadline for sending things to print, so please do not delay.

Closing Du'ā

O Allah, we ask You to accept this gathering. Accept those who are here in person, those who are listening online, those who will listen afterwards. O Allah, make these words a means of changing our lives. O Allah, we are most in need of islah. We are most in need of rectification. We are most in need of tawfiq. O Allah, protect us from the fitnah of wealth. Protect us from the fitnah of knowledge. Protect us from the fitnah of power. Protect us from the fitnah against our iman. O Allah, allow us to take lessons from Surah al-Kahf and implement them within our lives. Allow us all to become regular reciters of this surah and those who ponder on its meanings and reflect over its teachings.

O Allah, we ask You — through the barakah of this gathering — grant all of us shifa from spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental illnesses. O Allah, grant all of us respite from whatever type of difficulty we're going through. O Allah, bring khas barakah and rahmah upon this entire institution — the masjid, the madrasah, and all aspects of it — the students, the staff, the volunteers, the musalees, the donors, the patrons, and well-wishers across the globe. O Allah, allow it to become surrounded by angels. O Allah, allow our work here and the effort of all the asatidah and all the ulama here, male and female, to become a means of hidayah for thousands of people across the globe. O Allah, we ask You that whatever niyyah anyone has made when they attended here, allow them to be able to fulfill their niyyah and fulfill their intentions. Allow their needs to get fulfilled — O Allah — of the world, of the qabar, and of the akhirah.

Inshallah, next week will be our final session on Surah al-Kahf, bi-idhni ta'ala. I request you all to try your best to bring as many people as you can and attend in person. Additionally, if there's any request for our next surah, those of you listening online can post it, and our brothers handling the live stream can share it with me afterwards. And perhaps we can do a poll like we did last time for those who are here on site, or you can come up to me and share with me any specific surah you have in mind that I should cover inshallah.