Surah Al-Kahf | Part 17 Ayahs 93-110 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | Weekly Tafsir

Opening: The Virtue of Istiqamah in Seeking Knowledge

Respected brothers and sisters who are here, present, on site, and those who are listening online, congratulations to all of you for this steadfastness. I just met a brother right now who really made me happy. SubhanAllah, he told me just an hour ago he had a Tuesday meeting once a month, and he would not be able to come because he's committed there.

SubhanAllah, he just told me that, you know, I've done enough in that other — I've attended many of those meetings, I have a right once in a while to back out. And I didn't want to miss the ending of Surah Al-Kahf. And SubhanAllah, this is what — this istiqamah, this istiqamah is what gets us. The real test of it is on nights like this, when you hear about the snow and the sleet, and all of those things.

And then a person says, you know, we've driven through snow many times, for many other things, but to come to a dars, this is the best time for us to show our steadfastness to Allah. These ahwal, these conditions will come. Right now following the deen is becoming more and more challenging.

It's like a snowstorm, right? Every single night in the real world, it is white-out conditions every day, every night. And the ones who have this priority set right will be the only ones who will be able to survive. And they will be the only ones who will get Allah's assistance.

Naysayers will say things, the newscasters will say things, obviously. And I'm comparing it to the real world, where people always say, brother, if you wear a topi, something's gonna happen to you. You grow out a beard, something will happen to you. Your wife wears a hijab, something will happen to you. If you earn only halal, or let people know in your school that you're eating halal, something will happen to you. There's continuously this fear-mongering all around us.

And a person who says, no, I don't care, this is my deen, I'm gonna stay steadfast no matter what happens — then, alhamdulillah, Allah will open up onto his heart ma'arif, will open up onto his heart nur, will open up into his heart the secrets of everything he's involved in. His relationship with Allah will become so much stronger, so much purer.

So we ask Allah that He gives all of us here who are listening tonight online or on site, this level of istiqamah in all our affairs. And that whatever we take on, that we're committed to it no matter what happens. For the smallest, lamest excuses, we cannot allow ourselves to be disconnected from gatherings of ilm and dhikr.

The Scholar Who Taught Through Three Heart Attacks

SubhanAllah, just this last week I heard a story of a scholar, of a sheikh. In one of the darul-ulums here, in Darul Ulum New York, one of the ustads — someone was just mentioning how regular he was on his dars, no matter what happened, he was to teach. No matter what happened.

So one day, he came to class, and they told him that, you're feeling sick, you look sick. And he said, no, I'm okay. As he is going to class, he starts holding on to his chest, holding on to the wall. And then he comes back, and he manages to walk to class. He sits down, he does the same thing. They insist that he's not feeling well, he needs to go home. He says, no, I'm not gonna leave my dars. Whatever is my book study, I'm gonna teach.

After he finishes all of that, eventually they forced him to go to the hospital. And there they found out he suffered three heart attacks. Three heart attacks, back to back, within those few hours. Imagine the pain he was going through. But the idea was that, I'm not gonna give up my class. He was excused, completely excused — not like he's doing something wrong. But it's the commitment to ilm that this is not for a job. I'm not here for a job. I'm not here because I'm paid for. I'm here for the sake of Allah, and nothing will stop me from fulfilling what I need to fulfill.

Our Ustad Mufti Radhan Haq Sahib, and all my teachers, had beautiful examples of the same thing. Sometimes they'd fall down — he broke his back falling down on a flight of metal stairs, at the old age of 70 plus. And he broke one of his bones, and they told him specifically, you need to stay at home, you cannot move, you must stay here. And it's freezing cold at that time, you need the warmth of the room, because the classrooms are not heated. There's no insulation and there's no heat at all. You sit in the classroom with blankets or gloves — literally we used to take notes wearing gloves. Then after a while, you can't write much, you have to take off your gloves for as long as you can handle. Then after it gets cold, you put on your gloves again.

That's how it was. So imagine someone is suffering a broken bone, and for him to come down the stairs — he refused. The principal would come to his house and say, please, do not teach. We'll have the students come to your house. Nope, I'm coming to class. He would get mad. He's like, why are you being so stubborn? But that's what it is. He'd be very stubborn on these things, that no matter what happens, there's gotta be istiqamah.

We don't have a tenth or a thousandth of that. May Allah give me that tawfiq, and give all of us that tawfiq, that we value these gatherings, and we value any type of lesson that we have of ilm and dhikr with our teachers, with our students — that we truly value those moments. And we do not allow any obstacle of any sort to come in between.

And when I tell the students who miss class, I tell them, why don't you go home and ask your father, how many days he missed work in the past 15, 20, 30 years he's been working — how many days he called and said, I'm not feeling well. The physicians are sitting here, the business owners are sitting here — how many times did you call and sick your employees, that you guys go run the store, I'm not coming today? How many times you come back from 2 AM from a wedding, the whole house is sleeping, but you're the first guy out of the house? All business owners know this. All professionals know this.

Because we prioritize those things, we don't care how late we slept, we don't care how snowy it is outside, we're gonna go. Because loss of work means loss of pay. It means loss of things. So we value money, we value our time, we value our business. That's why we don't allow these obstacles to come in between. When are we gonna start valuing gatherings of knowledge and dhikr? What price tag are we looking for? You're looking for $150, $250, $300 — what price tag do we need? Whatever price tag you think you have attached to this, wallahi it is far beyond that. Far beyond that. These gatherings are worth millions. In one gathering, Allah Azza wa Jal can give a person a complete 180-degree change in his life. That money that was being spent in haram, earned from haram — all sorts of other obstacles that a person was doing — all of those things can, SubhanAllah, within one gathering, a person can make tawbah. And everything can change.

So this is a call to myself and all of us here to make this commitment that nothing will come between us and our attendance in gatherings of ilm and dhikr. Whether it's this gathering or elsewhere. Say inshAllah, and ask Allah for tawfiq.

The Verse of Istiqamah

Allah says to Rasulullah ﷺ:

I want you to have istiqamah the way you've been ordered. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3297)

Surah Hud and its sisters have made my hair go white. Why is he stressed? Because Surah Hud — this ayah — stressed out Rasulullah ﷺ. Imagine Rasulullah ﷺ feeling overwhelmed. Because Allah says fastaqim — He didn't just say istiqamah. He says kama umirt — I want istiqamah the way you've been asked to do. Where are we? How many times have we stressed out, saying, oh my, I'm missing a dars today?

Literally ask yourselves — whether this dars or any dars — how many times have you sat there and said, astaghfirullah, today I missed a dars, this is horrible? You feel guilty about it. Because we never even made a commitment in the first place. Take one program. One program, not ten. Be in any program in any masjid. But say, whatever happens, I will never miss this. Then you will see barakah. And if you hop around — one day this masjid, one day that masjid, one day this program, one day that program — there is no barakah in that. Barakah comes through istiqamah.

You don't need to attend ten programs a week. You don't need to attend three programs a week. Take one. But don't leave it. And that is what brings it to fruition. Imagine you have a bunch of trees in your home. One week you water this one, one week you water that one. After three, six months, all your trees are gonna be dead. But you took one tree and you watered it properly every week — then you'll see, mashallah, you'll have a fruit-bearing tree. That will give you many benefits. So these durus are like trees. They give you fruit, they give you shade, they give you much. But your presence is like watering it.

May Allah grant you and I tawfiq. Ameen. We ask Allah that He allow us in this final dars of Surah Al-Kahf to inspire us to hear that and say that which is most needed for all of us. That He allow my voice also to stay strong till the end.

Review: Dhul Qarnayn and the Principle of Means (Asbab)

I want to just mention a point from last week, so we continue on from where we left off. Last week we talked about فَأَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا — that Dhul Qarnayn in his final story followed the means. So this was the aspect that Allah is مُسَبِّبُ الْأَسْبَابِ — Allah Azza wa Jal is the creator of all means. And that there are two extremes.

One extreme is to depend upon means to the extent that you deny that there is a creator of means. And you attribute all success and failure only to means. And you forget that behind these means is the One who actually calls the shots. And the means are just like puppets. You have a puppet master. So you don't believe in the puppets — rather you have the belief that behind the puppet is the puppet master. So all of us are puppets. And all things in this world are puppets. And Allah Azza wa Jal:

Allah gives rizq to whoever He wants, constricts it for whoever He wishes, grants honor to whoever He wishes, grants failure to whoever He wishes. So one group of people trusted the asbab to the extent that they began to worship the means. They worship the place where those means come from. And that is the materialistic people, wherever they may be, in the east or the west.

Then you have the opposite — people who say, we don't need means. Because we're born Muslim, everything is gonna automatically fall into place. Because my last name is Ahmed, everything is gonna work out right. Allah has to make me succeed. That foolish mentality has made many of the Muslim countries failures when it comes to various aspects of science, math, technology, and healthcare. That zahniyyat — without naming countries — you see there's so much laziness.

Here, the contractors show up at 6 AM. Windsor traffic jam. Find me a Muslim country that has a traffic jam at 5:30 AM. 6 AM, traffic jam — that's how it is in this country, all across the West. Early morning rush hour. Hamare paas kya hai bhai? Bhi toh 11 baje chai aa rahi hai. At 11 o'clock you're having the chai, and then, araam se, doh pair ko, zohar ke baad, we show up.

There are many people in America who run businesses as though they're still overseas. You call them, brother, 9 AM, I'm waiting for you. Nahi nahi bhai, dukaan zohar baad khulegi. And then they're awake till 11 PM, 1 AM. Nabi alaihissalam has said, the barakah in this ummah has been placed where? In the morning hours:

(Sunan Abi Dawud, Hadith 2606; Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1212)

Barakah has been placed in the morning hours of my ummah. We have become lazy as a nation. And so what happened? We don't have asbab, and we don't have musabbibul asbab with us either. We don't have means, and we don't have the creator of the means on our side. So we have failed in almost every benchmark of the world. And the others are doing very good on means, so they don't have the akhirah because they're not connected with musabbibul asbab. But at least they got the dunya. Because they've got the asbab.

Imam Ibn Taymiyyah, rahimahullah, and scholars have said that Allah Azza wa Jal will give success to people who establish justice, even if they are non-Muslims. Even if a group of people are non-Muslims but they establish justice and rule of law, Allah will give them strength and power. Because that's what Allah loves — justice. Obviously they will not be successful in the akhirah, but they will be successful here. So we have to use the means of success. And we cannot have an attitude of laziness in trying to achieve anything.

There is no place in our deen for mediocrity and just leading a life of chalte naam kaari — easy, easy going. We're not supposed to be easy going. Why are we easy going?

All of these verses are telling us what? To run, to compete, to work hard. And what's the ayah in Surah Ad-Duha?

When you finish working all day — you thought, man, I had a hard day giving bayans, lectures, talks, teaching — mashallah, the great work you're doing — what is Allah telling Rasul ﷺ? Fansab — now it's time to work. The real work starts when people go to sleep. What work is that? Dua, tahajjud, crying, ibadah. Fansab means to put yourself through difficulty, hardship. When you finish the day of work, now you start doing the night shift.

So there's no such thing as rest. Even when we're sleeping, we're sleeping thinking about the akhirah, thinking about the deen. We're sleeping, practicing the sunnah. When we sleep, we say, ya Allah, I'm gonna sleep for 4 or 5 hours — make my sleep powerful, allow me to wake up tomorrow with the fikr of deen. So even our sleep is counted as ibadah. Even our meal — we're thinking, when I go purchase the food, or when I sit with someone at work, how can I utilize my meal to give dawah to someone? Isn't that what Yusuf AS did? The prisoners came to ask him something, and he said, the meal is coming, by that time I'll give you the interpretation of the dream, but in the meantime let me utilize this conversation for the sake of deen.

So that's how a da'i is, that is how a Muslim is. We're always thinking that the blessings Allah has given me — how can I use this for the furtherment not of my business only, not of my money only, but rather for the furtherment of the deen.

So this is what we learned from this chapter of Dhul Qarnayn — the importance of utilizing the means to earn Allah's pleasure. That's why ulama say, Allah gives a believer the means in this dunya to earn his akhirah. The reason Allah gave us all of this is not to show off and not to just enjoy this world, but the reason Allah gave us these means is to have this amazing paradise. So that's how a Muslim thinks. And a disbeliever thinks:

That I only have one worldly life — we live and we die. This worldly life is just the life we have it, just once. You only got one life, enjoy it. That's not how a believer thinks.

Ulama have said an amazing point — that we are used to seeing the relationship between sabab and musabbab, between means and the end result. All of us are used to seeing that. Hence, if I were to come home and see all the fans on, lights on, and something else on, without me entering the home — no one else at home — immediately my mind is going to think that a thief has broken into the house. Someone came and left. I cannot believe that the lights have turned on and the fan has turned on without anyone turning it on. There must be a sabab. That's how our minds cannot comprehend something happening without a reason behind it.

So Allah's hikmah is such — His wisdom was that if we begin to start seeing things without means, this human being may end up looking at the world and say, oh, nice world, but guess what — it doesn't really need a creator. Things happen randomly. Has the universe also come into existence randomly?

And we say, no, that cannot be true. Someone said, what is atheism? The belief that there was nothing, and nothing happened to nothing, and then nothing magically exploded for no reason, creating everything. And then a bunch of everything magically rearranged itself for no reason whatsoever into self-replicating bits which then turn into dinosaurs. Makes perfect sense, right? This type of nonsense, we refute it. Because we see from a very basic aspect of observation that everything in this world has a reason behind it.

Tafsir: Ayahs 93–98 — Dhul Qarnayn and the Wall of Ya'juj and Ma'juj

Now we move on to the final portion of Dhul Qarnayn's story.

Then he followed another way. And at last, when he reached a place between two mountain barriers — some ulama say he went to the far north area. He came to a place between two mountain barriers, and he found alongside them a simple people who could barely understand a word of any language but their own. Who could barely understand. So he came across some unacculturated people who hadn't developed a fully shared language. They were not cultured, they hadn't met with other civilizations, in a far-off northern region of the world. He could barely understand them.

So now, when you're speaking with someone in Umrah and Hajj and someone asks you for directions — they're speaking some language you don't understand. They're repeating it, showing you a card — Urdu, Punjabi, English, Arabic — what do you speak? He doesn't even know what words you're saying. That's a frustration. Do you just say, leave him? Make fun of him? Or do you sit there and say, no, let me figure out what this guy is saying. And help him find what he needs. That's a test. Patience.

So Dhul Qarnayn is being tested. He's traveling, he's bringing justice wherever he goes. Then he comes to a group of people who are speaking a language he has no idea about. Some ulama say, the question obviously arises — how did they even communicate? Qaloo, they said — so they spoke with sign language probably, some method of communicating.

They said, O Dhul Qarnayn, indeed the people of Ya'juj and Ma'juj — either they are two different tribes, or they are one tribe — mufsiduna fil-ard, they are sowers of corruption. They come here and they kill our children, they use up our crops, they take away our women. They do all sorts of things. Can you please protect us from them? May we offer you a tribute — kharjan, a gift, money, honorarium — on condition that you make between us and them a barrier?

The Lesson of Generous Wealth

Some people say, every single day I've got someone asking me for money. Listen, let me tell you one thing. If you earned money below the poverty level, that would not be the case. Why are people coming asking me for money? Because we have a certain lifestyle that people think we have money. So that's why, wherever there's honey, the bees are gonna come. So no, this is not a musibah. This is instead a ni'mah. If you have 10 people in a queue waiting for you, 10 organizations asking you for money — that's a good sign that Allah has used you as a preferred wholesaler. As a preferred agent of distribution of His blessings, not yours. Of His rizq, not yours. All you have are distribution rights. And in one second He can pull that off from you.

Allah sometimes blesses a wealthy person with wealth simply to fulfill the needs of His servants — and if he continues to fulfill the needs of His servants, Allah will continue to use them as a supplier. And as soon as he starts becoming arrogant and stingy and angry, why are these people lining up in front of me? — Allah has no shortage of distributors. Allah Azza wa Jal will take that badge away from him. And He will use someone else for that.

My beloved brothers and sisters, if you're one of those few preferred servants of Allah, you should thank Allah and you should be in sujood. By Allah, you and I do not give based on what we have, what we own. We give based on Allah's tawfiq.

The Story of Hatim Ta'i

Hatim Ta'i, amongst the Arabs, known as the most generous of the Arabs. What happened to him? He said something to upset the king. The king said, 100 camels for his neck, dead or alive. You've got to bring Hatim Ta'i to me. So he hid himself and started running away, trying to hide himself. He was known to be very generous and very wealthy.

Eventually, one person caught up to him, grabbed him, pulled him down to the ground, intending to tie him up and take him to the king. He knows 100 camels — like a million dollars. Hatim Ta'i begged him: please let me go. I'll double it up, I'll give you more. Just let me go. Slowly, this person starts untying the knots and backing away. He said, seriously, this is my address, this is my tent, this is where I live — come within X amount of days and I'll be there waiting for you. Trust me. Thank you so much for letting me go, you're going to get it.

That man looked at him and told him, he said, I don't want this. Okay, you want more? No, I don't want 100, I don't want 150, I don't want 200. I want nothing. He said, I did this whole exercise of catching up to you, bringing you to the ground, tying you up — and you thought you could buy me out with 150 camels. I did all of this exercise to tell you, O Hatim Ta'i, that you are not the most generous person. There are people who are more generous than you. I'm letting you go for free. SubhanAllah.

You just became famous on Instagram. Your wealth became famous on social media. So people think you're the richest, or the most generous, or the most scholarly. No! For every person that's famous on social media, there are thousands who are more virtuous, more pious, more knowledgeable, more wealthy, more generous. It's just some people become well-known through various means. But that's not the real criteria. Over every knowledgeable person, someone has more knowledge. Over every wealthy person, someone has more wealth. Over every generous person, someone has more generosity.

What does this story teach us? Generosity has no connection with wealth. The man is a Bedouin — he's got nothing. 150 camels is sufficient for him to become, not only to leave the village, but probably a governor of the whole area. But he gave it up. Simply to bring Hatim Ta'i to the ground and say, I want you to know you're not the most generous person. MashAllah.

So the key point is that we should never take giving as a burden. "Donor fatigue" — astaghfirullah — wrong words. Never say that. I'm fatigued. How about that — Allah gives and gives to you and He never gets tired, and you're getting tired of giving in Allah's path?

Nabi ﷺ told one of his wives:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1433; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1029)

Don't sit there and hoard, otherwise Allah will start hoarding from you. Don't start counting when you give, otherwise Allah will count when He gives to you. We want from Allah be hisaab — limitless rizq. Every youngster sitting here says, I just want to become a millionaire and I'm gonna give in Allah's path. But you start by giving a dollar.

Look at today's madrasa students — they raise their hands to buy a $100 ticket. I know their financial condition. They don't have money to purchase a meal plan. And how many sitting here with thousands couldn't raise their hand? The issue is: does Allah need our $100? No. But I want you to reflect on that. Every time we have a fundraiser here, it's the same people who raise their hand. What about the 95% of the crowd that's sitting there?

Allah doesn't need anyone's money. Nor does Darussalam need anyone's money if we're doing it with ikhlas. The issue is you and I — we need to give in Allah's path. And if we don't do that, we should leave crying: why didn't my money get accepted? Any opportunity of random stuff — $100 on a meal, we'll spend without thinking twice. $8 slice of cheesecake, $12 a meal, $15 one plate of chicken. And in the name of Allah — an orphan, a widow, a madrasa student, a well — a person says, $100, man, things have gone expensive. But we will never say that to our insurance company when they raise prices.

When the deen of Allah comes, we come up with excuses. This, my beloved brothers, is a social ill. Wallahi, when we do fundraisers — be it here or elsewhere — my heart goes out for the people who don't give. Not because we met the goal or haven't met the goal. My tears and my pain are for the people who don't give, who come every single day for every single salah, but don't get the tawfiq to give. And that tarawih crowd that shows up on the khatm of Quran night — 99% of them sit there looking at their watches while people are giving $50k, $10k, $1000. When is your turn gonna come? Why the stinginess?

Nabi ﷺ said one of the signs of the Hour is that stinginess will become apparent in the world. Allah will give more money than we ever had — the Muslim ummah today definitely has more money than they ever had, there's no doubt about that. But the bukhul is at an all-time high as well. So what do we need to do for this? We need to make morning and evening du'as:

O Allah, I seek refuge in You from weakness, laziness, cowardice, and stinginess. Every morning and evening we're supposed to be asking Allah's protection from stinginess, because this is a horrible disease — that Allah gives us the money yet He doesn't allow us to spend it on His servants. So may Allah make myself and all of us here and our generation super generous people, that before a person comes and asks, we see a need to give. And then we don't even expect a reward or a thank-you note from them. We say, our reward is coming from Allah.

Dhul Qarnayn's Response: I Need No Payment

He said, that with which my Lord has established me is far better than any tribute. I don't need it. Alhamdulillah, I've gotten enough. However, I'm not going to give out free handouts — why? It's going to create laziness within you all. I want labor from you. I want labor from you. I'll pay for it, but I want you to come and toil with me. So that you learn the value of work. And what else? You learn how to build a wall yourself — just now the wall breaks, something else happens, you want my warranty to show up.

I heard a real story about one wealthy person in a foreign country — a host of Ferraris and Lamborghinis. One time he called the dealership and they said, oh sir, yes, we'll have someone coming right out to you wherever you're stuck. And they went there and found he was simply out of gas. That's all it was. Because he didn't earn that wealth himself — it was probably passed down from the king or something like that. If he had earned it, he would have known he's out of gas. You see what I'm saying?

So here Dhul Qarnayn is teaching these people that you need to work hard. If you don't have the means of money, at least you have the means of kasb. And so the deen does not always need money, my friends. The deen needs hands. The deen needs knowledge. The deen needs fikr. Whatever you have, give. The deen is not for the rich and the wealthy. The deen is for everyone.

The Sahabah — they gave whatever they gave. Sometimes Nabi ﷺ would ask for sadaqah and they wouldn't have sadaqah. How can I let this opportunity pass? Some of them would go work for a wage — they would simply go and take out well water all day, half a day working. Putting buckets in, pulling them out. And with that money they would go give sadaqah.

Khadija, radiAllahu anha, when she consoled Nabi ﷺ initially — you remember the famous hadith of Bukhari — she said, don't worry. You're a great man. And she mentioned six qualities of him. One of the qualities she said was:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 160)

Not only do you give sadaqah and charity and take care of those who are in need, but when you don't have, you go earn to give. Imagine how blessed those people are. I heard a story in India — a person who drives a rickshaw. One day he was carrying an old Hindu lady who was crying, she didn't have the means. She sat in the rickshaw and said, I'm going to the hospital. My son is sick and I'm so poor that I can't visit him every day. I save up and try to earn, and every three or four days I go visit him.

He heard her sad story. When he arrived at the hospital, she got out and said, thank you for listening to my story, here's the money. He said, no, I don't want it. She said, you got affected by my story? He said, no — I have dedicated one day a month that whatever I earn, I'm going to give for the sake of Allah for free. This is how I work. Alhamdulillah, Allah is giving me rizq so many days of the week, but one day I said, ya Allah, whatever customer you send is for Your sake.

This is what it is — that even a rickshaw driver who earns so little can earn the highest levels of Jannah through simple small things. The munafiqeen would come and make fun of the Sahaba. They would say, does Allah need the small amount of money you're bringing? What would Nabi ﷺ do? He would take that small amount — not money, dates — and he would put it on top of the entire pile. He would say, this is ikhlas money. These dates have come with ikhlas. Why? The man went and worked for it. Don't look at how many zeros there are. It might just be one. But with what ikhlas and effort this person is giving — that is the value of it.

Building the Wall

He said, assist me with your manpower and I shall set between you and them a bulwark — a multi-layered wall. Bring me chunks of iron. Imagine how hard this job must have been. So they all worked and assisted him. Then he leveled up the passage between the two mountain cliffs. He covered up this entire mountain-area pass with chunks of iron. Then what did he do? He said, blow with your bellows — we need to make this iron go on fire. I cannot even imagine how difficult of a process this must have been. Huge wall, thousands of feet long, super high, made of iron blocks, and now you have to light the whole thing on fire. All manual labor. Then when he had set it on fire, he said, now bring me molten brass to pour on it.

Like you have mortar for bricks, the mortar here is molten brass. This is an unbelievable level of thickness, harshness, and durability. This molten brass serving as a connector between the chunks of iron will be an impact protector. When the Ya'juj and Ma'juj come with their spears and arrows and throw their stuff at it, this molten brass will cushion the wall from that. Number two, this molten brass is very slippery and slimy, so when they try to climb on it they will slip and fall.

Thus Ya'juj and Ma'juj were unable to scale it, nor could they tunnel through it. There are two ways to get past a wall — you scale over it or you make a hole in it. They couldn't make a hole into it because it's too thick, too wide. They couldn't scale over it because it's also too high and too slippery. So Allah protected these people.

Dhul Qarnayn Attributes Everything to Allah

Now you've got this mission accomplished. You built this most amazing wall. Protected them from Ya'juj and Ma'juj. Instead of patting himself on the back, he doesn't take credit for anything. Hadha rahmatun min rabbi — this is a mercy from my Lord.

My brothers and sisters, how many of us feel so happy after our accomplishments and want other people to recognize that? And when they don't recognize it, it hurts us. Can you imagine? I just finished giving this powerful speech — how come 20 people didn't come and say, mashallah, that was moving? That's what it is. We are so filled with insincerity. We love to be appreciated. We love to be praised. We love our efforts to be highlighted. Plaques, certificates, name being taken. May Allah guide us, may Allah grant us hidayah. May Allah grant you and I ikhlas. And may Allah save any one of us from thinking erroneously that we are sincere.

This thought comes to mind sometimes — I'm praying after everyone leaves. Alhamdulillah, I'm the most sincere. As soon as this thought comes into your mind that you're the most sincere, remember you're the most insincere. Because the guy who walks out in front of everyone says, I'm gonna go pray my sunnah at home. My advice to everyone is to pray your sunnah and witr, all your sunnah rawatib and sunnah mu'akkadah, in the masjid. And when Nabi ﷺ said, do not make your homes a graveyard, yes — pray nawafil at home. But pray your sunnah mu'akkadah in the masjid. Because when you go home, you forget, and you break your wudu, and it's very hard to make wudu again.

So, immediately he attributed everything to Allah. My beloved brothers, this is something we need to work on. All of us. Learning how to deflect fame. Learning how to deflect name. And you can't even overdo your deflection of it. Because overdoing the deflection will make people think that you are doing tawadu' — humility as a performance. This is very deep. That's why you must consult a mentor. You have to have a sheikh, you have to have a scholar, you have to have a mentor who focuses on these things and says, what I'm doing, is this tawadu' or is this riya? It's so dangerous.

Many brothers say, I was giving adhan, now I stopped giving adhan. Why? Because someone came and told me your voice is beautiful. Who cares what he said? If you're doing it for the sake of Allah, why do you care whether someone says your voice is ugly or beautiful? Yes, if he said your tajweed is incorrect, then work on that. Why are you getting upset if someone corrects you? If my face turns red and angry when someone corrects me in my salah or my tilawah, that means I'm insincere.

That is why the mashayikh — one of the good old days of training the people — would say: the sign that your islah is being done is that praise and ridicule and insult are the same. No sign should show up on your face. Sometimes the sheikh would tell them to do something, and after years, the sheikh said, start all over. I said, what happened? He said, because look, I just told you to do something and there's a frown there. Why does a frown show up on your face? It means you have a big nafs still, a big ego.

We need those type of trainers. Otherwise we have a big problem. Our nafs is huge, our ego is big. We need to reach a level where the nafs says, you praise me or you degrade me — it means nothing because I am nothing. You're praising me because you don't know who I am. And if you degraded me, you haven't degraded me enough. If you only knew how worse I was, you would have degraded me even more. And if Allah doesn't forgive me, I'm worse than what you have said about me. And if I am sincere, I will take what you have said and implement it so that I become the way others praise me.

So this is where our nafs is today. Smallest things, we get upset, we walk out. We get angry. And our children have become like that as well. I'm not saying use insults on other people. Of course not. Let's be super soft, super accommodating, super loving and caring to our children and to all others. But let us also become strong inside. No matter what people will say, I will not stop doing the effort of deen.

My beloved brothers, if you're active in a board, active as a volunteer, definitely the guy walking out of the parking lot will hurl a couple of insults at you and walk away. That is a test of your ikhlas. Are you going to get hurt and walk away? Are you doing khidmah because of the president of the board? Or are you doing khidmah for Allah? If you're doing khidmah for Allah, then no matter who says what, it will not deter you.

People say, if people don't appreciate, what's the benefit? I'm done. That is the biggest problem.

I do not want ajr from you — that is what the prophets said. Which prophet was appreciated? 99% of the people did not appreciate them. The real test of ikhlas is when the people you want to help, don't want your help.

Just today I had a meeting with our beloved teachers. I said, you know, all the people I work with or I'm working with — almost no one comes back and gives feedback. I'm the first one who has to go message them. But that's exactly what you have to do if you want to be a teacher or a mentor — you cannot expect, I'm helping here, how come you don't message me first? If you have that type of attitude, you'll never be able to serve the community.

Sometimes imams say, you have to come to the well. No. My Prophet was not a well. My Prophet was a cloud. And all my prophets, all of our prophets, were clouds. They went to people and gave them what they needed. Not to say, no, you come to me. We go to our kids. We go to the community. We go stand and meet people. Don't expect people to come to us.

Some of us say, no one listens. This pessimism. We're so pessimistic. You do a program, no one will come. Let's cancel this program, people don't show up. Why pessimism? You know why people are not showing up? Because I'm not doing enough work. If I had messaged 500 people today, alhamdulillah, it would have doubled. Whose fault is that? It's my fault. You want to do the work of deen, you have to have the fikr of the prophets. You have to make sure you're not here to take from people, but to give to people.

So my beloved brothers, don't expect people to reach out to you. Instead, say — this is رَحْمَةٌ مِّن رَبِّي — a mercy from my Lord — and I'm going to assist the groups of people. This is the humility of Dhul Qarnayn. Then he says:

We built this big mansion. We built this big masjid. We built this big skyscraper. Allah built it, and when Allah wants to destroy it, Allah will destroy it. Whether it's through a storm, whether it's through the Day of Judgment — it's gonna go down. And we know this wall will of course break before the Day of Judgment, when Ya'juj and Ma'juj will be given permission to destroy it. And the promise of my Lord is ever true.

If you look at this dome, all the way at the top, there's an ayah of the Qur'an written there. That is an ayah from Surah Fatir:

Indeed, Allah keeps the heavens and the earth from falling. And if Allah were to allow them to fall, who besides Allah can keep them up? Allah is all-forbearing, all-forgiving — that He does not allow the world to crash upon you, even though you deserve nothing better than that. That's why this is at the top of the dome — to remind us that our architectural feats are Allah's feats. Our beautiful architecture is nothing but Allah's rahmah. No one can claim anything. The only reason Allah allows our homes and masjids and institutions to run is out of His forbearance and forgiveness, not because of us being worthy of anything.

The Reality of Ya'juj and Ma'juj

So here you go — when the time will come, Allah Azza wa Jal will destroy it, as it comes in hadith. The Ya'juj and Ma'juj come every day with their leaders, and they start licking the wall. There are millions of them. They get to the end, they're like, oh, we're tired, let's go back to sleep and come back tomorrow. When they come back, it's exactly as it was. Then they work the entire day, and right before they come to the end, the leader says, that tomorrow we'll come back and finish it up, inshallah — going back to the ayah we read in Surah Al-Kahf:

Never say anything about what you're gonna do tomorrow, except you say inshallah. When they say inshallah — even though they're kuffar — Allah will honor the words they have said. They said inshallah, and Allah will allow that wall to remain in place. And they come the next day, it is as they found it, and they will be able to break through. And they will cause hell — that will be like the real storm.

There is a huge lake near Jordan, near Israel. When the first group of Ya'juj and Ma'juj will come, they say, we have some water here, let's start drinking. Each person comes, drinks, and moves on. By the time the last one comes, the entire massive lake will be completely dried, without a single drop of water. That's what's going to happen. It's unbelievable their numbers.

People say, what happened, where are they? That's not the point. Where are angels right now? We have this belief that this place is surrounded by angels, alhamdulillah. That's why you should come to the masjid. Because you're sitting in the company of angels. When you walk in here, you get sukoon, itme'naan, why? Because you're sitting with angels. You can't see them, but you and I believe they exist. So Ya'juj and Ma'juj are of a whole different species. Where they are, Allah knows. We don't need to worry about that. But when Allah Azza wa Jal wants to release them, He will release them.

And no — they're not the Chinese. The wall of China is not this wall. Whenever Allah wishes, they will come, and everything will break loose. They will destroy everything on earth, and kill as many Muslims as they can, causing chaos. What will they say? We have killed everyone. There will be a group of people — this Isa AS and this group of few people — they will escape. Where to? The top of a mountain. You cannot fight with this group of people. There is no way you can fight against them. So you run and you hide. That's the sabab you have to use. Muslims are supposed to be intelligent — you have to know what odds are worth it and what are not.

They will go hide on top of a mountain. And they will turn to Allah for help. And Allah Azza wa Jal will then create a sickness. Overnight, billions of them will perish and die. The next morning, you have the stench of billions of corpses. Then Allah is gonna send an army of birds. If there are a billion Ya'juj and Ma'juj, then there's gotta be a billion birds or more. They're gonna show up out of nowhere and pick up all the dead bodies and fly off somewhere. Then Allah is gonna send down rain, and the rain is gonna wash off all the filth of the earth.

So what I'm trying to say is: if you get into the habit that you must have a logical explanation for everything, you're gonna hit roadblocks. And then you're gonna eventually give up. Just say, amanna wa saddaqna — we believe and we obey. We trust Allah and His words. And I don't need to have an answer to everything. That's the whole point, right? Why are we reading Surah Al-Kahf? Why did we read the first 10 and last 10? It's so that we build a level of iman in the unseen. So that when the fitna of Dajjal — which has already arrived in its preludes — when it comes, through the barakah of these discussions and these verses of the Qur'an, our iman stays strong.

Remember we talked about the problem — why Dajjal has not been mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf? And Dajjal has not been mentioned in the Qur'an. And that's the whole point. That is part of the huge test. So that the Qur'anists who reject hadith can reject Dajjal. And they say, where? There is no mention of that. I remember one time I gave a bayan here locally, on Dajjal, and right after, one person came up to me mockingly and said, which verse of the Qur'an has the name of Dajjal? He's trying to say it's fake, a bunch of stories. I said, this is the fitna — you are maftoon. There you go. The fitna of Dajjal, you have already fallen into it. As the Qur'an says:

They have already fallen into fitna. The fact that you sit and reject Dajjal is the biggest fitna right here. What they say — the biggest trick Satan played on us is to make us believe that he doesn't exist. That's what most people say. So that's the trick and deception of Shaytan, to make you not believe in him. And similarly, that is the massive deception of Dajjal — to make us disbelieve in Dajjal. And to make us disbelieve in the system of Dajjal.

Tafsir: Ayah 99 — The Day They Will Surge Like Waves

And We shall let some of them on that day surge against others. What does yamuju fi ba'd mean? Like waves hitting one another. And then the trumpet of resurrection shall be blown, and then We shall gather them all together in one single gathering. The Qur'an is speaking about how on the Day of Judgment, all of these tribes — the ones in the east, the ones in the west, the Ya'juj, Ma'juj — all will be gathered, and they will be waves upon waves upon waves of people.

There is one hadith that talks about 999 out of every 1,000 being in Jahannam. When the Sahabah heard it, they lost their minds. They couldn't believe it, they got so scared. Ya Rasulullah, what are the chances of survival? Then it was explained to them that this includes Ya'juj and Ma'juj — that's why the numbers seem so off. What does that tell us? The sheer number of Ya'juj and Ma'juj is such that they make the numbers 999 out of 1,000 going to hell. There will be moj upon moj — waves upon waves of them, all over.

The Qur'an says in Surah Al-Anbiya, in the second to last page:

They are going to be from every high and low point, yansilun — they're just going to be pouring, like ants pouring down from an ant hill, from every direction.

And then on that day we shall bring the hellfire to the disbelievers on display. Allahu Akbar. We'll bring the hellfire.

And three durus from Dhul Qarnayn's story as a quick recap. Number one is that you have to use means for success while trusting not on the means, but on the creator of means. That's the first gist. If we want to become successful, learn from the experts — the universities, the think tanks, the corporate world in America. We need people who've got the background in the corporate world, who've got that background working as a faculty at a university. Bring the great things you've learned there to the deen. That's the issue today. There's a brain drain. Anyone who's got great intelligence leaves the deen and goes somewhere else.

I met one brother in Florida, and mashallah, he made my schedule. I was like, wow, this is the best schedule I've ever seen — minute by minute, everything so organized, weeks in advance. I praised him for that. He said, this is just my corporate job. This is a piece of cake for me, a thousand times harder than this I work every single day. I'm like, we need people like you.

This is my appeal to all of you who are listening right now. If you have a background in journalism, in art, in IT, in corporate management, in finance — we need you. Darussalam not only needs you, but every Islamic institution needs you. Please come with your talent. Say, I'm ready to give two hours a week to the masjid. Wallahi, we're in a massive need of volunteers. The same three or four people are doing everything. So I request you — whatever you can do, connect with us and say, I'm ready to participate in any way.

That was the first point of Dhul Qarnayn. Second is that he was ambitious, yet humble. Bringing ambition and humility together is the second lesson. And number three is that after he accomplished everything, he attributed everything to Allah. May Allah bring these three attributes within us.

Tafsir: Ayahs 100–106 — The Greatest Losers in Deeds

Allah says: We will present Jahannam on display for those who disbelieve. Who are the disbelievers? They are those whose eyes were shrouded in a veil of unbelief against seeing the signs of My remembrance in life — nor would they be able to hear them in Allah's revelation or from His messengers. Meaning, Jahannam has been prepared for the disbelievers who cannot look at the truth and cannot hear the truth. It's as though they have corks in their ears and veils over their eyes.

What is that veil? That is the veil of lust. That is the veil of desire for power, desire for money, desire for fame and name. Those veils come between us and recognizing who Allah is. Recognizing the great most important haqiqah of the world — the reality of the world is tawheed. The reality of the world is preparing for the akhirah.

My beloved brothers and sisters, this is the hijab we have to ask Allah to remove from our hearts. The Qur'an says there are certain people — the Rasul of Allah ﷺ recites the Qur'an, but:

There's a hijab between them — it's as though they have corks in their ears. It has no effect on them. The fact that you sit here every week for an hour — wallahi I want you to pray two rakats of shukr for that. Because there are people who cannot sit for a minute and a half. None of you are on your phones. None of you are on social media while sitting here. You're quietly listening. And you're all young people. SubhanAllah. That's not normal. That's only because there's no hijab on your heart. May Allah continue to keep us hijab-free — from the hijab on our hearts.

Say to them, shall we tell you about the greatest losers with respect to deeds? Akhsarin is what type of ism? Ism tafdhil — superlative form. The biggest loser. Guess what — if someone robs you of your wallet and your car, Allah forbid, you're still not the biggest loser. If you lost all your money in cryptocurrency — you still have your life, and hopefully you still have your wife. Losing your money is not the biggest thing. Who is the biggest loser? Allah says, I'm gonna tell you. Those whose striving goes astray in this life — they made effort, but their effort was in the wrong place. They climbed a mountain like the rest of us, but they climbed for the entire 50–80 years and ended up climbing the wrong mountain.

You know what happened with Umar RA? He was passing by a monastery and he saw some monks making ibadah. Poor monks — don't get married, don't eat this, don't eat that. They're doing lots of ibadah. He looked at them and he started crying. And he read this ayah and said, so much effort was made. They're depriving themselves of the enjoyments of this world, but in akhirah they've got nothing — because they're on the wrong deen. May Allah protect us from making useless efforts, and digging in a place where there are no wells.

These are the ones that have disbelieved in the revealed signs of the Lord, and who deny the resurrection and the inevitable meeting on the Day of Judgment and Hereafter. That is why ulama say this ayah is not referring to Muslims. Sometimes we use this ayah and apply it to Muslims as well, which is incorrect. We get excited and throw an ayah that's not in the right place onto our fellow Muslims who are doing sin. There are many ayahs for sinners, but this is not one of those ayahs. This ayah is clearly saying kafaru bi-ayati rabbihim — they disbelieved in their revealed signs, and they disbelieve in the meeting of Allah.

Fahabitat a'maluhum — thus their good works are utterly futile with Allah. Today people think you'll get rewarded by Allah in Jannah if you do good deeds even without iman. There's a huge movement in postmodern thought — it's about being a good citizen regardless of what your beliefs are. The Qur'an is clearly saying, fahabitat a'maluhum — all their deeds are going to be rendered utterly futile with Allah. In the dunya you'll get rewarded for it, but in the akhirah there's no reward. Guess what? There's not even going to be a scale set up for them on the Day of Judgment. Done. But all these good deeds — so much feeding to the poor, so much donation to this, so much helping of that — all of that was spent in the dunya. Today in akhirah you've got nothing.

That shall be the recompense — hellfire — for having disbelieved and taken My revealed signs and My messengers in mockery. These people made fun of the Qur'an, they made fun of the messengers of Allah. And now Allah says, that which they used to make fun of has come right in front of them. You used to laugh at Jahannam, right? You used to laugh at meeting Allah — guess what? That is exactly what you have to face.

Tafsir: Ayah 107–108 — The Gardens of Firdaus

What is the opposite side? The Qur'an is beautiful — it doesn't leave us always on a cliff in fear. For every mention of Jahannam, you have mention of Jannah. So we have to give hope to everyone. We cannot always just warn people about Jahannam — a little bit of that, and then we must end on a positive note. So mashallah, this surah is ending on a beautiful positive note:

As for those who believe and do righteous deeds — mashallah — for them are the gardens of paradise, awaiting as an everlasting hospitality. Nuzulan means hospitality, means welcoming. Meaning Jannatul Firdaus is going to be waiting. That's when the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2790)

When you ask Allah, ask for Firdaus. Don't say, I'm okay with a small spot in Jannah anywhere. No — why? You're not happy in dunya, dunya you want the best. Why in Jannah do we say, I'm okay with a small spot? That's not right. Ask Allah for the biggest spot. And then don't just ask — work for it. Ask yourself, are my actions consistent with the person who's asking for Jannatul Firdaus? Doesn't look like it right now. I need to do something about it.

The person asking for Jannatul Firdaus cannot be sleeping all night. He needs to be making at least a few rakats of nafil. Cannot be sitting all day in sin — he needs to make tawbah and try to stay away from sins. So we have to ask Allah for Jannatul Firdaus, and then act like people who will deserve the mercy of Allah that will get them into Jannatul Firdaus. They shall remain there forever — la yabghuna 'anha hiwala. Therefrom they shall never seek removal.

Any place in this dunya, after some time you get tired of it. No matter what type of vacation spot it is. Maldives is the big vacation spot — everyone wants to go there. But I read an article about a few couples who got stranded after Corona. And they're crying for help, they're stuck in Maldives. Please get us back home. We are suffering. The Jannah is such that once a person enters it, he will never want to leave.

Tafsir: Ayah 109 — The Limitlessness of Allah's Words

Say, O Prophet ﷺ, if the sea were as ink for the words of my Lord, most surely the sea would be depleted before the words of my Lord would be depleted. Even if we were to bring the like of it in replenishment. If you have a liter of ink, a liter of ink will be enough for a scholar writing from an ink pot for a whole year, two years. Imagine now — not a liter, not a jug, not a room full, not a house full, not a city full, not a country full, not a continent full, not a land full — instead the oceans, which are seven miles deep at certain spots, are made into ink. And what does the other place in Surah Luqman say?

If every single tree were to be made into pens — pencils already come from trees, imagine every single tree, all the trees of the Amazon jungle and all the other jungles made into pens — and all the oceans plus seven more oceans, the greatness of Allah will never be depleted. The jinns and the angels were to come and start writing — the humans and jinns will die, the ink pens will break, and the ink will dry up. But Allah's greatness will not end.

Now what is referred to by Allah's kalimat? There are two opinions. One is that this kalimat refers to the words of Allah — the Qur'an of Allah. What does that mean, it will never end? It means the explanation and the tafsir and the meanings of the Qur'an are endless. Come check the tafsir section in our library — come take a visit. 30 volumes, 40 volumes — one single tafsir. There's no repetition, brand new things. SubhanAllah, amazing, never ends. One scholar writes from this perspective, one scholar writes from that perspective. Tens of perspectives approaching the Qur'an, each one writing 30–40 volumes. They will never end. Till the Day of Judgment, tafsir will be written on this.

Number two is that you're speaking about simply the ilm of Allah. The ilm of Allah, of course, is infinite. And we can never, ever encompass the knowledge of Allah.

Tafsir: Ayah 110 — The Final Verse and Essence of Tawheed

O Muhammad ﷺ, tell them, tell all people: I'm only a human being like you. But I'm not — I'm a human being, but basharun la kal-bashar. That's what the great scholars mention. There's a beautiful poem:

Muhammad ﷺ is a human, but he's not like the rest of humans. Rather he is a jewel, while the rest of humanity is like stones. Jewel is a stone, but there's a huge difference between a jewel and a stone. The gemstone on top of a ring is equivalent to the entire store that's selling rocks. So Nabi ﷺ is definitely human. And what does that mean? He has emotions, he has feelings. Yes, he lost all of his children but one. He buried them one after another himself. He had to watch his grandson suffer. He had to watch his daughter suffer. He went through so much difficulty. He had to go earn, he suffered hunger. He was a human being who had emotions, who had feelings, who went through times of difficulty, sadness, sorrow, and times of strength. That is why he is a perfect example for all of us.

However, the difference between his humanity and our humanity — yuha ilayya — he says, I'm receiving revelation while you all don't. What's the most important revelation? Innama ilahukum ilahun wahid — indeed your God is only one God.

Faman kana yarjuliqaa rabbih — so whoever has hope for the meeting of his Lord — this is a powerful ayah. Whoever is expecting to meet Allah — first tafsir: expecting to meet Allah in this dunya. Whoever leads a life of ma'rifah, a life of mahabbah, a life of ittiba' of sunnah — he's already found Allah, he's already met Allah. You're not worshipping an unknown being. If you and I have mahabbah of Allah, if we say:

...a hundred times a day, morning and evening — haven't we already met Allah? If we put our head down in front of Allah five times a day and beg and cry in front of Allah — haven't we met Allah? Yes we have. Why are we staying away from sin? Why do we drive through this weather to come here tonight? Because we believe in Him, we believe in His existence, we believe in His power. So if you have hope in the meeting of Allah, that is one meeting of Allah in this dunya. Number two is the meeting of Allah in the akhirah.

Then what is Allah asking us to do? Falya'mal 'amalan salihan — then let him do righteous deeds. Wala yushrik bi-'ibadati rabbihi ahadan — and not associate in the worship of his Lord with anyone. Meaning if you want to meet Allah in a state that Allah is pleased to meet you, then, my beloved brothers and sisters, work on ikhlas. Good deeds and ikhlas.

Once a person came to Rasulullah ﷺ and said, ya Rasulullah, what if a person does an action for the sake of Allah and to make people happy — two birds with one stone? Is that okay? Rasulullah ﷺ kept quiet. And then after some time, he recited this verse. What is this verse telling us? You better not do shirk. Meaning this is a light form of shirk — shirk al-khafi, a hidden form of shirk, which is riya. If we do things to please the people and to please Allah — not acceptable. It must be only and solely to please Allah.

You say, but I'm trying to please my parents. That's good. Why are you trying to please your parents? Because Allah told you to please them. So that's fine. But you're not just trying to get popular. Instead you are trying to please people, or your relatives, or your spouse, and your children for the sake of Allah. So what is the khulas of all of this?

Summary: Three Pillars from Surah Al-Kahf

The khulas of Surah Al-Kahf in this final section is that the essence of knowledge is tawheed. If you are an expert or a specialist of any sort, but we missed out on tawheed, we're the biggest loser. Number two, we have to all work hard. But the essence of working hard is ihsan and ikhlas. Actions themselves will not get us anywhere if they are not filled with ihsan and ikhlas. And then lastly, that ihsan and ikhlas — we have to have istiqamah and steadfastness with them, till the very last breath.

We ask Allah to grant all of us, number one, tawheed. Number two, ihsan and ikhlas. And number three, istiqamah. So that we don't just come once a week or once a month or whatnot, but we are connected with the deen, and connected with Allah, and the house of Allah, on a regular regular basis.

This is a great attendance — 200 brothers and sisters, 250 maybe, showed up here tonight. We ask Allah that He judges us on any day that we showed up, on any day that we came. They said, whichever night you value, that's your Laylatul Qadr. Whichever day you came and we were able to listen to something that was a benefit — alhamdulillah, that's payday for you. That's your lucky day.

Announcements

So we ask Allah to grant you and I many many lucky days. And allow us, most importantly, to grant us the ability to practice whatever we have heard and shared. And I ask all of you to make dua that He does not make this knowledge I'm sharing with you as a proof against me, and as a proof against you. But rather, He makes you and I genuinely the most beautiful representatives of what we have studied in these 16 sessions.

And let's all make niyyah — now if you haven't already done so — to finish memorizing Surah Al-Kahf. Please say inshallah, and especially memorizing the first ten and last ten. I found it on YouTube by the way — just type in "first ten and last ten," you can hear it in beautiful, mashallah, melodious tones already recorded. Have that playing every day in your car, and for your children, so that they can also memorize it.

Additionally, inshallah next week we will start the tafsir, bi-idhni ta'ala, of Surah Al-Najm — from the 27th juz, inshallah. And on Friday nights we'll have the dars of Sahih al-Bukhari with Mufti ibn Hajj, as you know. MashAllah, those of you who have been attending — it's beautiful, it's great, very powerful. He's a great storyteller, and it's from hadith, and it's shorter than this one too. And team Fajr — we're having great durus and great breakfast as well, every single Saturday here. So please join us for that on Saturday.

I want to thank all those who are sponsoring our team Fajr, and those who are sponsoring our snacks over here as well, and those brothers who sponsored tonight as well. May Allah Azza wa Jal reward them and bless them, put barakah in their business.

As I mentioned earlier, our fundraiser is only less than three weeks away, and we are still 1,100 tickets away. So we cannot allow this to be a failure as a community. We have to make it happen. I ask all of you — please on your way out, purchase it yourself. On the way out, there are students there, they will help you. Please purchase yours before you leave, all of you. And even if you're not coming, make it sadaqah. All of you listening online right now, please go purchase it from your online portal right now. And please take with you 10–15 of them so you can sell it to other brothers and sisters as well.

We have all the du'a requests of people who have reached out for help. SubhanAllah, may Allah Azza wa Jal remove their difficulties. Specifically one of our community members, brother Sa'ad, whose mother just passed away — may Allah Azza wa Jal grant her the highest levels of forgiveness and Jannah. And for those brothers and sisters who are suffering from various cancers and various diseases — may Allah grant them all shifa, and make their sickness a means of their status being elevated. Ameen.

Brother Fahim, the owner of Shukrimar — his mother also just passed away.

Make dua for her maghfirah as well. And I request all the brothers and sisters here — do not walk away without taking a salawat card. Take a minimum of one card for your family. By next Tuesday, finish 10,000 salawat. If you can do more, take more. There's a donation box for salawat cards — you can drop it off once you're done. And if you're from out of state, go to masjiddeas.org/salawat. We have a 5-million monthly salawat goal. Please work towards this monthly goal and make niyyah also for the success of this upcoming banquet and whatever needs you have. Through the barakah of salawat, inshallah, rahma and mercy will overwhelm us in our homes, in our businesses, in our children's lives.

Sallallahu ala Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam — that is one form of salawat. Simple and short. Please make sure you take that salawat card and fill it up with 10,000 salawat, bi-idhni ta'ala.

Closing Du'a

O Allah, grant all of us a life of haya, grant us a life of modesty, grant us a life of taqwa. O Allah, grant us a life of ihsan and ikhlas and istiqamah. Ya Allah, we ask You to allow us to worship You every day as though we see You. Allow us to always be thinking of You wherever we may be. Allow our hearts to be beating with Your love. Allow our tongues to remain moist with Your name.

Allow us to die to meet the Rasul ﷺ. Bless us with his ziyarah in Madinatul Munawwarah again and again. Allow us to visit Your house in Makkatul Mukarramah again and again. And bless us with his vision in our dreams. O Allah, open up the Haramainul Sharifain and Masjidul Aqsa. Grant protection to the Muslim lands and allow us to become amongst those blessed with his visit again and again.

Ya Allah, we ask You to give us hearts that feel the pain of the Ummah of Rasul ﷺ. Allow us to feel the pain of the suffering of the Ummah in their deen and their dunya. O Allah, allow us to feel the pain and allow us to shed tears over the breaking of Your rules and the breaking of the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. And inspire us with the answers to bring the Ummah back to where Rasul ﷺ had left it.

O Allah, grant all of us the fikr and concern of the deen. Allow us to love the Ummah the way Rasul ﷺ loved us, and allow us to work for the Ummah the way Rasul ﷺ worked for us. O Allah, allow our health, our wealth, our children, our resources, our mindset, and all the faculties that You have given us to be utilized and sacrificed for the upliftment of deen.

O Allah, allow us all to become ambitious for the deen. Allow us to remain sincere for the deen. Allow us to remain humble for the deen. Allow us to utilize our knowledge and our know-how for the deen. O Allah, allow us all to become pegs of the masjid, pegs of the madrasah. Allow us all to become students of knowledge. Allow our children to become students of knowledge.

O Allah, we ask You to grant shifa to all those who are sick. Grant maghfirah to our parents, our elders, and all those who have died from the Ummah of Rasul ﷺ. Grant long life to our mashayikh, to our ulama, to the elders of our community and to the elders of the Muslim Ummah. Allow us to benefit from their kindness, allow us to benefit from their sohbah. Allow every one of us to find a mentor, to find a good companion to guide us in this difficult era that we live in.

O Allah, we ask You to grant complete protection to the madrasah, to the masjid, to the seminary, to every musalli, to every student, to every full-time, part-time student, every attendee of the tafsir and all other programs, to their families, to their loved ones. O Allah, protect us all from hasad, from sihr, from 'ain, from all evil effects of Shaytan, and from the evil effects of our own sins. Ya Allah, no one can protect us from those evil effects besides You. Ya Allah, remove all barriers and obstacles from our life.

O Allah, grant istiqamah to all of us. O Allah, grant special assistance for our volunteers. Special assistance to our patrons, donors, and well-wishers. Grant them all the ability to turn 180 degrees towards You. Grant all of us the ability to be focused on You. O Allah, let us live for You, let us die for You. Allow us to be raised in the company of Rasul ﷺ, amongst the sahabah, siddiqin, shuhada, and salihin. Allow us all to be gathered with them under Your throne on the Day of Judgment. Grant us entry to Jannatul Firdaus without any reckoning. And O Allah, allow us to enjoy Your countenance together with Rasulullah ﷺ.

آمين، آمين، آمين

جزاكم الله خيرًا، والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته