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

Opening & Intentions

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 a 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 hellfire. That's another type of punishment.

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

So 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 the occasion of a marriage and aqeeqah, 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: 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 through some various new technologies they have 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 ul-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.

Ammā ba'd.

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

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 — but inshallah, the remaining two weeks that we have, this week and next week inshallah, let's begin with the recitation of the first ten and the last ten verses together. And hopefully you will continue with it throughout the week.

Respected brothers and sisters, I'd encourage myself and all of us — those who have not memorized the beginning and end of Surah Al-Kahf — to work on this. MashaAllah, it's been about 15 weeks, so about 4 months. Some of you may have achieved that or are on your way to achieving it. And the rest of us, if we haven't been able to, 2 weeks is kind of hard to memorize the entire Surah Al-Kahf with work and everything, but I would highly suggest that these 2 pages — we do it. You can just clip this section of what I just recited, or I'm sure you'll find online many others who recite the first ten and last ten. Have it playing before you go to bed every night. And what I would suggest is once you have memorized it inshallah, you will incorporate it in your daily Salah — like the 2 rakat Sunnah after Isha, for example, or the 2 rakat Sunnah after Maghrib. And then you say, this is what I'm going to read every day. So that way you don't miss it. Whenever you pray your Sunnah, you've got those 2 pages down. So let's all make a firm resolve inshallah to have this memorized and start playing it. Let me know if it's not available, then I'll ask the brothers just to clip this and make it a separate file, so that people can inshallah listen to it on a regular basis.

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

Now we are inshallah going to be starting on our fourth and last story of Surah Al-Kahf. And this is the story of Dhul-Qarnayn.

And Allah says: They ask you as well, O Prophet ﷺ, 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 the 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 black turbid spring. And he found nearby it a people — but what type of people were they? They were wrongdoing people, they were disbelievers or they were 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 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 Concept of يَسْأَلُونَكَ — "They Ask You"

So Allah speaks about here Dhul-Qarnayn. And He says that they ask you about Dhul-Qarnayn. This type of asking is found in multiple places of the Quran — 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 — the Sahaba, the hypocrites, the Yahud, all sorts of questions — but more than ten have been mentioned in the Quran 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 — meaning "Say." So they ask you, and say to them this answer. They ask you, say to them this answer.

The Unique Ayah of Du'a — Allah Answers Directly

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

Whenever any of My servants ask you about Me — not now, it's not like they're asking you today — but rather whenever anyone, not today, yesterday, tomorrow. Whenever anyone asks you about Me. "Me" is referring to who? Allah. When anyone says, who is Allah? Who is my Lord? Who do I worship? Who did I grow up worshipping? I say لَا إِلَهَ 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 ﷺ, "say, this is the answer." Instead, He Himself starts answering the question. So this tells us that 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, what not — he says, who am I going to 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, He could have said: 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's a million things Allah could have answered when asked, what are You? Who are You?

Many brothers, they have multiple businesses and multiple educational backgrounds. So what are they going to do? They're going to 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're a businessman. Then you're an employee somewhere else. And then you're an investor somewhere else. And you're a teacher somewhere else. And you're a board member of somewhere else. There are so many different nisbah and so many different haythiyyat and so many different roles and hats we have. But on that business card, you want to put on there what you want to be known for.

So Allah, what attribute does He use? 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 قَرِيبٌ, it is that even if you are so weak, so tired, so depressed, so sad, so worried, 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 just your heart is 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. No matter what your situation — someone is on the guillotine, someone is getting hanged, what is he going to do? Someone's got a gun to his head, what is he going to do? You speak — 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 anything — 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. Yeah, you have to be willing to supplicate to Me. Don't act like this. You sometimes see, 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? So if He gives it to me, He should give it to me if He wants to. If He doesn't want to, then I don't need to ask. Hamaqah — Foolishness, right? 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, which the Quran also speaks about — using the means. Don't sit back and say, everything should happen magically for me. You have to use the means. That's a very big thrust of today's talk.

So the means of getting your needs fulfilled — Allah said, there's 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. If you don't put some effort, 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. Oh, make du'a for me — do you actually even mean it when you say make du'a for me? Do you really, really, really want someone to? 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 the situation 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 will say, you know what, today I'm going to dedicate twenty minutes praying for you? It's not going to happen.

But this is what we call taqiyah kalam — it's just something we say. Hey, how are you? If he says, I'm not good, I need your help — bye, as-salamu alaykum. Right? It's just pleasantries, comments we just share with each other. Hey, how are you? No one really cares, unfortunately — I'm not saying no one, but many people just move on. If he 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 fifty 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 say "just make du'a for me," sometimes I startle people — if anyone says make du'a for me, I tell them, what should I make? What du'a do you want? Whatever you want. What do you mean whatever you want? You know, I went to many restaurants to order food. I once wanted pizza. And I spent — one pizza which I'm going to finish eating in five minutes — you ask me ten questions. You want thick or thin crust? Is it hand-tossed? You want white sauce or red sauce? You want pepperoni? You want cheese? What type of cheese? How much? You want pineapple on the side, 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," and 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 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. You should have it in your mind. If it's hurting, if it really is hurting, you should know about it. Be it aafiyah, be it anything — it could be even general, it could be something 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.

So what's so beautiful here is that Allah highlights the aspect of being qareeb — I'm 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 دَارُ الْأَسْبَابِ — a place of means. Jannah is not like that.

In Jannah, you will see a bird and you don't even have to pray for it. You're like, I wonder how that tastes — and it will be roasted right in front of you, less than a second, it's in front of you. You would just eat it without even using your hands — it just flies into your mouth. Taste it. You spit it out with the bones and the bird flies back. Then you say, I wonder how that would taste with a peri-peri sauce. I wonder how that would taste with lemon and herb sauce. I wonder how that would taste 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 Quran 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 Jannah, it's all about Allah 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 we'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 why did the Prophet ﷺ say:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 1479; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2969 — declared Sahih)

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3371)

Du'a is the essence of ibadah. Du'a is the lubb al-lubabah 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 we're going to tell them? Allah wants to see you humble yourself in front of Him. Where's the humility here? This is arrogance.

Imagine you're trying to get people to sign up with you, invest with you and stuff. You say, hey, whoever wants to, they should — I'm not going to even go propose it, I'm not going to even ask, they should do it themselves. You're never going to get anyone to sign up. People say, look at this arrogant guy. What type of person is he? You have to ask. You must ask. That's how it happens.

This place is the world of means. You have to ask. And Allah will give you based on the effort you do. That's what it is.

One of the beautiful sayings: مَنْ أُعْطِيَ الدُّعَاءَ أُعْطِيَ الْإِجَابَةَ — whoever has been given the gift of du'a will be given the gift of his du'a being accepted. Some of you may get tired of this — every time you come to me about issues, I'll give you something to do, but I'll say make lots of du'a. I mean, what is this? Everything... 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 could go here, go there. But du'a is number one and number ten — beginning and end. Start with that, end with that.

And if you say, no, come on, give me something else — the reality is, there's some hollowness right now in the yaqeen. That's what it is. You want simply that Allah just give you means. It doesn't work like that.

Background: Why Were They Asking About Dhul-Qarnayn?

So over ten places the Quran speaks about this. There's only one place where Allah Himself answers, and that's the issue of du'a. Now, who is asking here? Do you remember, going back to the original story of the revelation — the mushrikeen went to Medina, they asked the Yahud, what should we do? They said, go ask Rasulullah ﷺ about the ruh, the soul, the people of the cave, and Dhul-Qarnayn. So they want 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 listen — the soul is the command of my Lord. That's it. What about some more details? No, it's not for you. 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 Quran completely avoids all of that. It tells us: you're wanting that, but I'm not going to give you what you want — I'm going to give you what you need. You don't need the Quran to be a history book. The Quran is a book of lessons. And you will not derive lessons from all of these historical details. You will derive lessons based on focusing on the qualities and the characteristics of Dhul-Qarnayn and what happened to him. Focus on that. So then you realize that if these characteristics come into me, then I can also have a similar ending, a similar life, a similar outcome.

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 that he could possibly have been a prophet as well. Allah knows. And why was he called Dhul-Qarnayn? Qarn — two horns. Some say it's because he had this mission and 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.

So if they're asking about him, tell him I will recite to you an account of him for your reflection. We're supposed to be learning and reflecting from the lesson of Dhul-Qarnayn.

Lesson One: Tamkīn — Power Comes From Allah Alone

Indeed, We have established ascendancy for him in the land. This is 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. And as soon as a person begins to think that he has this power on his own, then you'll see what happens.

SubhanAllah, I was just reflecting on this today over some news articles. My God — when you think you're a president, a minister, a congressman, a senator, a US senator, a governor — that's immense power. You call the shots. What do we see in our country? When they get caught up in a sting operation or some other anti-corruption scandal, their house is raided by the FBI, their offices are raided by the FBI. You're the governor. You're the ex-president. You're the current governor, the state senator — what's going on? 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 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 and do whatever you want. Where is all that power? Gone. As soon as that time — 12 o'clock, the four years ends — finished.

Everyday Allah is showing us this. And similarly, when you look at some of the African dictators — even many of them unfortunately Muslim dictators — they did a lot of zulm. Many of them took asylum in the Middle East and then died. And when they died, how did they die? I was looking at one of them recently who died — his body, mashaAllah, Allah gave him hidayah — 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 — there are random Indian-Pakistani people, African businessmen — they have no idea who he is. They just carry him, taking him from Masjid al-Nabawi to Jannat al-Baqi'. And then later on, they're saying this is who he was — Zayn al-Abideen, the longest-serving president of Tunisia. And who would have even known? They're like, let's just get the ajr, let's carry him. That's the ending, man. That's the ending. Everyone just goes — no one knows who, or from where it all started.

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

Say: O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty! You give kingdom to whoever You wish, and You snatch away kingdom from whoever You wish. And You honor whoever You wish, and You disgrace whoever You wish. All goodness is in Your hands. Indeed, You are All-Powerful over everything. Powerful, beautiful ayah. SubhanAllah.

It's amazing. I remember reflecting on this verse and sharing it with the community five or six years ago, when there was a lot of fear within the community. And in one of the Jumu'ah khutbahs, this ayah meant so much to me at that time. And I was able to reflect on it and take a lot of solace from this. That, you know, it's not the end of the world, man. No matter who comes to power — Allah is always the ultimate, always the most powerful. That's it. 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.

So مَكَّنَّا لَهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ — We are the ones who established ascendancy for him in the land. That's what you need to reflect on in this portion of the verse. The Quran 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 vicegerent, the khalifah on the earth, just as He made the prior nations the khalifah. And that same word — tamkeen, making space — Allah will establish them and make space for their deen — the deen of Islam which Allah has chosen for them and is pleased with. And then Allah will change their state of fear into peace and security and safety. They will be worshipping Me, and they will not be 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 are learning from here is that the tamkeen fi al-ardh — establishing the deen of Allah and power — will happen, but there are means to go about that.

Imam Al-Shafi'i رحمه الله was asked: أَنَدْعُو رَبَّنَا بِالتَّمْكِينِ أَمِ الِابْتِلَاءِ؟ — Should we supplicate to Allah and ask Allah for immediately giving us power? Or should we ask Allah to get us through some test first? Meaning, is power good? Or should we always remain in a state of being tested — being the underdog? The Makki life? The Madani life? What should we be asking?

So Imam Al-Shafi'i gave a beautiful answer. He said: لَا يَكُونُ التَّمْكِينُ قَبْلَ الِابْتِلَاءِ — 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 decide to ascend the top of the minbar just like that — run from outside and go all the way to the top. 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: 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 رضي الله عنها, our mother, openly said. 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 Quran. They were addicted to that. They were stuck in that. This was their life — 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 over there in Makkah, and some years in Medina to work on getting this stuff out, the love of this out of their hearts.

Then what happened? Our Ustadh, Mawlana Choksi, would mention this — he would give a nice description in Urdu, from a narration in Sahih Muslim if I'm not mistaken, of how when the ayah of prohibition of khamr was revealed. There would be like a party going on, and everyone in the party would be drinking. You got big kegs of liquor and wine, big jugs, cups, tumblers. Everyone is enjoying themselves in Medina. And there's a person walking through the streets of Medina, running and reciting:

O you who believe! Indeed, liquor and gambling, and all of this, is haram — it's dirty, it's najis. Stay away from it, so that you may attain success. He is just going around reciting this verse. Rasulullah ﷺ is not near that party — He's not in that village or that alley of Medina. Yet his one companion who heard it in Masjid al-Nabawi is walking around just reciting this. And if I'm not mistaken, Anas رضي الله عنه is the narrator.

And he said — the way he would describe it — that the wine and liquor that was in the big keg being poured into jugs, just halfway, midway stopped. And the jugs that were pouring into cups — midway stopped. And the cups being grabbed by the people, the tumblers — they midway stopped. And those that had put the cup to their mouth did not allow one tiny ounce to go down and they spat it out. And he said that day, Medina's streets were 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. سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا — We listen and we obey. You call the shots. You say jump, we will ask how high. Done deal. You don't need to explain — we're ready. You just have to tell us. 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 mashaAllah, 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, someone comes and says, give me 200 push-ups, run for me 3 miles right now — in this cold, you're crazy, if you give me $3,000 I'm not going to do it. 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 something. Give me 200 of this, give me a mile of that. He's in his sleep and he will do it. 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, what's the wisdom? Can we go in a car? Can we do this, can we do that? We ask 10 questions.

So this is the method — first, if we want to get tamkeen, we have to go through ibtila, we have to go through imtihan. And that's what we learn in this whole section as well — going through difficulty is important.

Lesson Two: Ittibā' al-Asbāb — Following the Means

And We endowed him with a way to nearly all the things he endeavored. And from this part is where you realize: اتِّبَاعُ الْأَسْبَابِ — following the means, taking the means.

My beloved friends, there are means for everything. You want to become a successful student of knowledge, you want to do well in your upcoming exams, you want to graduate top in your class, you want to go to a very good famous college that is competitive, you want to become wealthy, you want your entrepreneurial skills to flourish — whatever you want to do, you cannot sit down and say, I just hope this happens, and just make du'a. Most people don't even make du'a — they just sit on the couch. But even if you were to just make du'a, that is not how Allah has meant to keep this world — that you just make du'a and leave it. Instead, a person must use the means.

So what they say:

The hands move and the heart relies upon Allah. So this is the balance between tawakkul and tadbeer. What is tadbeer? Planning. We must plan. As one of our brothers always says: failing to plan is planning to fail. So this is true. We have to have our asbab and we have to plan things out.

You remember a couple weeks ago I shared with you a story where a companion came and he had an issue with another companion regarding some ownership of something, a claim he was making. And when the Prophet ﷺ asked for proof, one of them gave the proof, and the other one didn't have any proof. So Rasulullah ﷺ decided for the one who gave the proof. As he walked out, what did he say? Hasbiyallah — Allah is sufficient for me, I don't need this. We'll take it in the Hereafter. He walked out of the Prophet ﷺ's court saying this. The Prophet ﷺ 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 you're blaming me or blaming the system. Where is the effort for all of this?

Then he said: Allah dislikes and reprimands al-'ajz — being incapable, or being 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 100 miles away from the masjid, or he sits 10 miles away, but he has no way of getting to the masjid, and he has no ta'alluq and no relationship with ulama, no relationship with people of knowledge — and then he says, I want success — how is he going to get it? Success of the deen comes from the masjid. If we have no connection with the masjid, we have no connection with people of knowledge — who's going to guide you in difficult situations?

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 of getting that? 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 be saved. Okay, what are they doing? Have they studied any deen? Have they studied Quran? Have they connected to the masjid? No — none of that stuff. We don't have time. Just busy between this lesson and that lesson. So if they're not connected to the masjid, how do we expect them to all of a sudden come out right?

We're seeing today that people who are connected to their masjid — also as soon as they go to college and their connection loosens a little bit — they're out. So how do you expect to gain salvation for your children if they're never connected in the first place? Same thing here. You have to use the means of remaining firm on the deen. And in order to remain firm on the deen, you need environment. We need halaqat like this, gatherings like this. Our children need that. And we need good friendship. Our children need great friends who they connect with. Otherwise, all will be lost.

You throw your child in the midst of the ocean and you expect him to survive — I'm going to drop you from the helicopter, you should survive, we'll see you in two days back at home. That's foolishness. And then you also tell him, when I see you, you should come back dry. No, you're going to get wet. So when we throw our children out into school and we do not make effort of deen upon them, then that's exactly what we're pretty much doing. You're throwing them into the deep end and saying, come out unscathed and completely protected. It's not going to happen. You have to at least give them a life vest. You have to give them some swimming lessons before you throw them into the deep end.

So this is it — 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. Like this whole istikhara business. What is that? Istikhara is nowhere — in the du'a, read the translation if you haven't read — nowhere does it say, اللَّهُمَّ أَرِنِي فِي الْمَنَامِ شَيْئًا يُؤَمِّنُنِي. There is nothing that says, O Allah, allow me to see something in my dream that will make me at peace. This 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 what we're speaking about — the means. This is why salat al-istikhara and salat al-hajah is 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? The istikhara du'a is not only for marriage — it's for every single thing. 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 — turn to istikhara. Memorize du'a al-istikhara.

If I remember correctly, it's mentioned that the Sahaba say the Prophet ﷺ taught us du'a al-istikhara the way a surah is taught. So when you see asbab and means falling into your place, on your plate — that's a good sign. What did I say? As long as we are obedient to Allah. Because we covered in Mishkat Sharif the hadith that if you see a person whom Allah is giving dunya, material wealth and material means, even though he is a disobedient servant — then remember this is not a blessing, this is istidraj. This is entrapment.

So if we are missing our prayers, we are involved in haram dealings, we are not able to guard our gaze, not able to guard our ears — and yet things mashallah happen to fall into place — this is not mashallah, this is audhu billah. That's what it is. 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 waza'if — you know, this du'a, that du'a, my grandfather used to read, and daddy used to read, and my parents used to read, etc. — it has been passed down. There are great du'as, lots of great du'as. But I was reading one book, I was looking through one of the waza'if — a very famous wazifah by Hizbul Bahr. And he clearly mentions in the book: 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. And until you do not get yourself at the basics, don't worry about waza'if. Forget about some special dhikr and special du'a. 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. That's all you've got to do. You have to pray, you have to do the work, keep on trying. You say, when do I stop? Do I keep on pursuing this? This is what I've heard from my teachers: keep on praying istikhara and keep on pursuing it. When there's a complete roadblock and you can't move forward, you're trying and trying — realize, okay, this is not meant for you, let's turn around, let's go that direction. But until the roads keep on opening, keep moving. Like pavers — you have to cross over to the other side, and it's like pavers one after another coming in front of you. That's how it happens.

You won't see, oh mashallah, here's the clear path to the other end. No. 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. And you'll keep on stepping on them until you get to your final destination. So this is a great sign: when Allah wants you to achieve something, He will give you the asbab.

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

Dhul-Qarnayn Goes West

So he followed the way westward. And at last when he reached the place of the setting of the sun — what does that mean? It means that, like Uqbah ibn Nafi' when he went and conquered northern Africa — he went all the way to the westernmost part of the African continent up north, which was as far as he could go, with just the ocean after that. He couldn't go any further. When you go there, you actually see the sun setting. When you go to the ocean, right to the end, you see the sun setting there. So probably Dhul-Qarnayn went to the most westward populated area.

And he found 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 people or wrongdoing people. We 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, since Allah addressed Dhul-Qarnayn directly — "O Dhul-Qarnayn" — that's why some have said he is a prophet. But this is not the strongest of opinions.

You Don't Need to Be Famous to Be Successful

One thing that came to me right now: in order to achieve great things in the world and to leave behind a legacy — as we say — you don't need to be famous. Can there be anyone more successful than a prophet? Tell me. Cannot be. They're going to be the highest of the people in the Akhirah. The highest of the people. There is absolutely no wealthy person, no educated person, no philanthropist, no humanitarian individual who can ever dream of getting even close to the status of prophets.

And what does the Quran say about the prophets?

Some of the prophets We mentioned, and some of the prophets We didn't mention their story. Only 25 have been mentioned in the Quran. 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, or wanting people to get to know about us. Many times a person says, let my deceased loved one — 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. Let me build a well or a masjid and name it after someone. Naming rights is a huge thing for the non-Muslims, and our Muslims follow behind that too — Allah protect us, we just do what others do. So how many masjids I've visited actually have dedicated rooms named after individuals. Our libraries are named after people. All sorts of stuff. They're taking it from other places, based on donations and so on. Instead, Allah, based on your sincerity of what you're giving, will grant you the reward based on that sincerity. How do we know? Maybe that will affect our sincerity if something is named after us — 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. Let's remind ourselves of that. You can do great work and you can change people's lives and Allah can accept you — and after you die, no one knows.

Kitab al-Riqaq from Mishkat Sharif — I've been teaching this in class. I hope one day we can do ta'lim of the whole thing; it's eight or nine pages, such powerful hadith. A hadith a day from Kitab al-Riqaq — you know how they say an apple a day keeps a doctor away? I feel like a hadith a day from Kitab al-Riqaq will keep materialism away from our hearts. It has a powerful effect. What does 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? And this is the description: 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 at them and says, oh mashallah, so-and-so is here. No. 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? They say, no, forget it, who are you to even intercede?

These are the super chosen people — they die with their desires and their ambitions still in their hearts. They didn't even fulfill one of their wishes. SubhanAllah. They went to the grave with their wishes. They went into the grave with all their wishes, their desires, their plans. Oh, my daughter's marriage like this, my son's marriage like this. Inshallah one day I'll have comfort in retirement. 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 most known in the Akhirah.

When you read this stuff, you realize we're all chasing the wrong things. Fame, name, wealth, prominence — all these things. But this is going to actually set us back in the Hereafter. No one will even look at us and we're going to be at the back of the line. If you want to be in the front of the line, those are the things we take out — the love of fame and name from our hearts. And if Allah gives it to you, okay fine — but don't desire it, don't wish for it, don't think that this is a blessing. Think that this is a musibah. Allah is testing me. The fact that I have prominence, or wealth, or say — this is a test from Allah.

Lesson Three: Justice and Not Letting Power Corrupt

So he goes to the most westwardly place, and Allah addresses Dhul-Qarnayn. He says: 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'm not going to also forgive everyone. I'm going to give an opportunity. Some said this means: I'm going to give an opportunity to the sinners to repent. And if they don't repent, I'm going to punish them. And then the rest of the punishment, I'll leave it up to You, Ya 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, our power. You're a grown man — your little kids are at your mercy. It's a horrible way to utilize that power differential against them. A person who is a powerful, well-known individual, a manager in a company — it is unfitting that he uses his power to terrorize the lower-level employees, to make their life 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 humbler you become. The more loving and caring you are for every person working with you, working under you, reporting to you. And 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, over the craziest, boldest mistakes that I make. And I'm sitting here screaming and getting upset for the smallest human errors that this person makes. It just makes no sense. We have forgotten the power and the qudrah that Allah has upon us.

So when power corrupts — power corrupts. When we get a little power as a husband, or as a manager, or as a principal, or as a teacher, or 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. So 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 — that 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. And now to emotionally blackmail that person — yell and scream at that person, threaten them, say, no, if you do this, you do that — 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'awn. The man who killed hundreds of thousands, and who people were afraid of, and who claimed divinity. Yet if there's anyone who could bring him down, it was his wife Asiya, through love and muhabba. And 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 not a spear and a sword in her hand, and no army was reporting to her. But the relationship she had — the husband-and-wife relationship — is so important.

Asiya, sitting in the background, she's not the king. Many times women will say, but I want power, I want to serve the deen, I want to be able to do this and that. This goes back to my earlier conversation — you don't have to be known in the community to be accepted by Allah for doing the khidmat of deen. How come my name is not on a flyer? How come I'm in the back seat? You're not in the back seat — you're in the front seat. This is called soft power. You can earn your Jannah like Asiya did. Her position — Umrat-e-Fir'awn — without ever ascending the throne, without ever commanding an army. But Allah mentions the final words she said before she died:

Ya Allah, please build for me a house next to You in Jannah — the highest of stages. And please save me from the evil of my husband Fir'awn. And save me from the evil oppressive people. And Allah mentions that. She was this amazing lady that the Prophet ﷺ said in a hadith that she was amongst the best of women that have ever come on the earth. 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 — seriously, far superior.

SubhanAllah, this is something to think about. 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, to not go to the house of Allah, to not seek ilm. All of these things, my dear sisters and mothers, are going to be questioned about. Instead, utilize the soft power for the great things that Allah has endowed you with and has blessed you with.

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

'Umar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and the Boy

Umar ibn al-Khattab رضي الله عنه was one day walking in the street. Allahu Akbar — just thinking about him, doesn't it strike awe when you go and say salam in front of him? I know many of you have shared — when you go and say salam to Umar رضي الله عنه, may Allah take you and I to Madinah al-Munawwarah again and again, and to Makkah al-Mukarramah, inshallah, again and again, for accepted Umrah and accepted ziyarah, ameen.

When you feel the haybah and the awe of Umar al-Khattab رضي الله عنه — and there's nothing odd about that. The Prophet ﷺ was telling the people: when you walk in a valley, Shaytan, he looks at you in that valley, he walks away, he runs away. Shaytan sees you walking — imagine that — and he says, I'm getting out of here. That is the awe he had struck into the hearts of people, including Shaytan himself. Who could ever imagine, a person like that — SubhanAllah.

So Umar al-Khattab رضي الله عنه was walking, and the kids — obviously Shaytan is running away, who are the children of then? So the children were playing and they all ran away. One child 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? He 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 me. What a young man. What courage this boy had. 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 tell this to madrasah students who try to run away when they see me too. By you running away, SubhanAllah, it has literally happened to me. I'm sometimes driving on Swift Road and one kid, SubhanAllah, he's walking — and he literally saw my car and he ran and hid behind a bush. And I turned the car around, I had to come back, I said, what's wrong? I mean literally 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 — I would have gotten to school on time. Now you made me turn around and you're just saying you saw me. What is this? You haven't done anything? No, I haven't done anything. Then why are you hiding? SubhanAllah.

Sometimes this type of attitude makes you more suspicious, is what I'm trying to say. So alhamdulillah, we should have husn al-dhann with each other. I haven't done anything wrong, so there's nothing for me to be afraid of. What is respect and adab? Running away is not respect and adab. You stand there, you greet, and you move on.

So this is Dhul-Qarnayn's justice that we see here — Allah says that he said: For those who believe and do righteous deeds, there shall be for them great rewards. And moreover, in all that We shall decree for them of Our commands, there shall be ease.

Summary: Key Lessons from the Story of Dhul-Qarnayn

So my beloved friends, to recap the main points we've covered so far. First — I told you — is using asbab and means. You have to use means to achieve what you need to achieve in this world. Along with du'a, but you've got to use the means. And by the way, du'a is also a means. But it's not the only means — you have to use other means as well. Why do I say that? Because what if Allah doesn't accept your du'a? Okay, then your sabab didn't work. That's fine. Du'a is also a sabab. Allah wants you to use that sabab. And then making the effort is also a sabab as well.

And additionally, the second point we learn here is the importance of justice and the importance of not allowing power to corrupt us. So remember — we talked about four stories and four themes of this surah. Surah Al-Kahf represents four fitnas:

The story of Ashab al-Kahf represents the fitna of preserving your iman in a difficult time. The story of the two friends in the gardens represented the fitna of wealth. The story of Musa and Khadr represented the fitna of knowledge. And this story represents the fitna of power. And this is how it relates — power is where, when we get a little promotion, we get a little say, a person becomes some senior — SubhanAllah — he ends up losing his deen at times. So the four fitnas and the four stories that speak about them — just remember that.

Lesson Four: Be Ambitious — Have Thumūh

And the third thing I'll add for this story as a take-home is: be ambitious. Be ambitious. طُمُوح — Be ambitious. Don't be content with just having a mediocre life.

I encourage students who finish the one-year program to continue if they can, if they are 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 in college? I want to become an accountant, a physician, a nurse, whatever. So this is my conversation usually with those students. 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 and do something great. You don't want to simply settle.

If you want to start up a business, make this ambition: inshallah, I'm going to have one branch of this in every state. And in every state, that branch is going to have a musalla next to it, that's going to serve as the musalla of that area. And in that state, this branch is going to serve halal food. Or it's going to have free copies of the Quran. Or it's going to offer some Islamic services. So make a niyyah of how you can use your expansion of your business as a means of serving deen.

Or you say: from every single branch, from every store, a certain dedicated amount — I want to give sadaqah. I've heard recently multiple business people mention this — that they have dedicated a percentage of their business proceeds and profits to go to various non-for-profits. So that is a great niyyah: I want to go big. I would rather be sitting and studying Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, Tafsir. But I'm not. Allah chose me to go another way. Okay, fine. If I'm going to go elsewhere, then I'm going to go big.

Muslim brothers who have reviews of 1 out of 5 — like seriously, why? Why do so many physicians have 1 out of 5? So many engineers, builders, IT people — why is this? This is not acceptable. We have to have ihsan and itqan. Whatever field we're in, we've got to have 5 nujoom — five stars. We like to stay in five-star hotels — why is our business one star? That's what I'm trying to say. When we leave the environment of the masjid and work in the world, our idea should be perfection. Ihsan, itqan — excellence. So people get inspired and say, you're so great, mashallah, where did you get this excellence from? Say: it's the principles of our deen.

We use mashwarah every single day. We include the employees. We make ikram of the employees. I know one business brother, mashallah — he has Muslim employees, and he has a Quran teacher brought to his business, paid. They are getting free Quranic lessons for an hour for every single person in his office — all the employees. Then they have fardh salah and Sunnah salah together. Then they do ta'lim together. He says: it's not just about taking care of them monetarily, giving them a salary. I've got to worry about their deen. And then he says: I always look — if they're having a marriage in the family, whatever it is, here's a bonus. Alhamdulillah, it's giving me a lot — so here, take an extra 5k, 10k. You've got a big event happening in your family? Take this. Because you want to make sure your employees are all well taken care of — from a material perspective, emotional perspective, and spiritual perspective.

So this is what it means to be ambitious when you go outside in the world, wherever we are. And inshallah ta'barak wa ta'ala, we will stop over here. We'll continue with حَتَّىٰ إِذَا بَلَغَ مَطْلِعَ الشَّمْسِ — about going towards the east — next week.

Announcements

A few announcements before we do the dhikr:

Number one is Thursday night, inshallah, will be our durood sharif after Isha. But this Thursday night is the last Thursday of the month. So we have our goal of 5 million salawat on a monthly basis. It is more than enough for the community — the hundreds who listen online and the hundreds who attend here — we can all achieve this for sure. And this would be something that we should be so thankful and proud and grateful to Allah that He allows us to do that. 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 inshallah between now and Thursday night, we're going to do 10,000, 15,000, 20,000. Give every member of the family 5, 2, 3, whatever. Then go to majjiddeas.org/salawat and you can put in your number of how much you've completed. So we want to be able to accomplish that goal. You have salawat cards on the way out — pick them up for those of you who are on site. Those of you who are online, please go to majjiddeas.org/salawat and inshallah there you can participate.

Please, let's not fall behind. It's horrible not to meet goals. It's horrible. You know, we wouldn't allow ourselves to fall behind in our business — why do we fall behind in our salawat goals? You have problems in your business? Then turn to salawat. Someone asked, what is the barakah of salawat? There are endless, endless books written on the barakah of salawat. But one of the things is: Allah's name is also mentioned there — so you're sending salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ and you're taking Allah's name.

Number two: there is no dhikr in the Quran that Allah says He does Himself. This is the only amal where Allah says:

Indeed, Allah and His angels send salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ. O people, why don't you join Me in doing this? Nowhere else in the Quran do you ever find anything like this — where Allah says, I'm doing this, and I want you to join Me in doing this. So what could be better than this? You're suffering tension, anxiety, difficulty in your life, you can't fall asleep — whatever the issue may be, business issues — pray, make niyyah, say, Ya Allah, I'm going to dedicate 10,000 dhikr for this. Alhamdulillah, this is mujarrab — people have experienced it. All the mashayikh, from every background, from every continent of the world, have written and 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 Salatul Isha on Friday nights. Please listen to the first week's one, inshallah join here, and get others to join as well on Friday night.

Number three is of course our Team Fajr on Saturday mornings. We're continuing with the book on the 40 Wisdoms of 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 offered on site. So right now 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 and different people from different ethnicities. One of the brothers told me, man I don't want 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 why don't you take a day? So that's why we have different ethnicities taking responsibility for one Saturday each. You bring your ethnic food and invite people from your ethnicity. One day everyone's speaking Malayalam, one day everyone's speaking Maghribi, one day everyone's speaking Nigerian. MashaAllah. That's my goal — that at every Team Fajr we have different people from different ethnicities bringing inshallah their friends to Salatul Fajr on Saturday morning.

Ta'lim classes have begun, Saturday and Sunday, online and on-site. This is great because many of you may have relatives and friends across the country and across the world who would like to enroll in English Islamic studies classes and may not have anything available in their area. Alhamdulillah, it is available online as well as on-site. So please visit the website and look into that.

Lastly is our February 19th banquet. We have about three weeks left only, 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 allow them to reach out to us as well. This is a great way for their sadaqah, and allowing us to show the Muslim community which businesses support the masjid. This is like our version of Muslim Yellow Pages — Muslim businesses who care about deen. There are unfortunately many people who don't care about the deen — those people who are putting in an ad, these are people who care about the deen. So now when you want to give your business to someone, why don't you choose a business that cares about deen? This is a great way of alhamdulillah building our own community of business people. So I request you — if you are here and you want to advertise, reach out inshallah. This Friday and Saturday is the deadline — we have to send it for printing this Saturday.

Sorry for a whole bunch of announcements. InshaAllah next week will be our final session on Surah Al-Kahf. So I request you all to try your best to bring as many people as you can and attend in person. Additionally, if there is any request for our next surah, those of you listening online can just post it, and our brothers who are handling the live stream can share it with me afterwards. And I think maybe we can do a poll like we did last time as well for those who are here on site, or you can come up to me and share with me any specific surah that you have in mind that I should cover inshallah.

Closing Du'ā

Oh 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. Oh Allah, make these words a means of changing our lives. Oh Allah, we are most in need of islah, we are most in need of rectification, we are most in need of tawfiq. Oh Allah, protect us from the fitna of wealth, protect us from the fitna of knowledge, protect us from the fitna of power, protect us from the fitna against our iman. Oh 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.

Oh Allah, we ask You through the barakah of this gathering — grant all of us shifa from spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental illnesses. Oh Allah, grant all of us respite from whatever type of difficulty we are going through. Oh 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 musallis, the donors, the patrons, the well-wishers across the globe. Oh Allah, we ask You to allow it to become surrounded by angels. Oh 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.

Oh Allah, we ask You that whatever niyyah anyone has made when they attended here, allow them to be able to fulfill their niyyah, fulfill their intentions, allow their needs to get fulfilled — Oh Allah, of this world, of the grave, and of the Akhirah.