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

Surah Al-Kahf — Part 17 | Āyahs 93–110

Tafsir by Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed — Final Session of Surah Al-Kahf

Opening Remarks: The Virtue of Istiqāmah

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 he's attended many of those meetings, he has a right once in a while to back out — and he didn't want to miss the ending of Surah Al-Kahf.

And subhanAllah, this istiqāmah — this steadfastness — is what is truly tested on nights like this, when you hear about the snow and the sleet and all of those things. And then a person says, 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 ahwāl — these conditions — will come. Right now following the deen is becoming more and more challenging. It's like a snowstorm. Every single night in the real world, it is whiteout conditions every day, every night. And the ones who have their priorities 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 is continuously this fear mongering all around us. And the 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'ārif, will open up onto his heart nūr, 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 — those listening tonight online or on-site — this level of istiqāmah in all our affairs. And that whatever we take on, we are 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.

A Story of Commitment from Darul Uloom New York

Just this last week I heard a story of a scholar, of a sheikh — in one of the darul ulooms here, in Darul Uloom New York. One of the ustads: someone was mentioning how regular he was on his dars, no matter what happened. One day he came to class and they told him, you're feeling sick, you look sick. He said, no, I'm okay. As he was going to class, he started holding on to his chest, holding on to the wall. He managed to crawl to class. He didn't walk — he crawled to class. He sat down, did the lesson. They insisted he was not feeling well and needed to go home. He said, no, I'm not gonna leave my dars. Whatever is in my books today, I'm gonna teach. After he finished all of that, they eventually forced him to go to the hospital. There they found that he had 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: I'm not going to give up my class. He was excused, completely excused — not like he was doing something wrong. But it's the commitment to ilm: this is not 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.

I was taught by Mufti Radha al-Haqq Sahib, and all my teachers had beautiful examples of the same thing. Sometimes they'd fall — he broke his back falling down a flight of metal stairs at the old age of 70-plus. He broke one of his bones, and they told him specifically: you need to stay at home, you cannot move. 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 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's request to stay home. 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'd say, why are you being so stubborn? But that's what it is. He'd be very stubborn on these things. No matter what happens, there's gotta be istiqāmah.

We don't have a tenth or a thousandth of that. May Allah give me that tawfīq, and give all of us that tawfīq — 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.

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 sitting here, the business owners sitting here — how many times did you call your employees and say, you guys go run the store, I'm not coming today? How many times did you come back from 2 a.m. from a wedding, the whole house is sleeping, but you're the first one 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, 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? 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 of those things can, subhanAllah, within one gathering, cause a person to 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.

Ask Allah for tawfīq. Allah said to Rasulullah ﷺ:

Allah said to Rasulullah ﷺ: "Have istiqāmah the way you have been ordered." And the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Surah Hud and its sisters have made my hair go white." Why was he stressed? Because this āyah stressed out Rasulullah ﷺ. Imagine Rasulullah ﷺ feeling overwhelmed — because he says, I don't think I can do istiqāmah the way Allah wants me to. He didn't just say "istiqāmah" — He said, كَمَا أُمِرْتَ — "the way you have been asked."

Where are we? How many times have we stressed out thinking, "Oh my, I'm missing a dars today. This is horrible"? We never even made a commitment in the first place. My dear friends, 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. If you hop around — one day this masjid, one day that masjid — there is no barakah in that. Barakah comes through istiqāmah.

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 going to be dead. But you take one tree and water it properly every week, then you'll see — mashaAllah — you'll have a fruit-bearing tree that gives you many benefits. So these durūs are like trees that give you fruit, that give you shade. But your presence is like watering them. If you are not present, they wither. May Allah give us tawfīq. Ameen.

Recitation of the Final Āyahs of Surah Al-Kahf

We ask Allah that in this final dars of Surah Al-Kahf He inspires us to hear and say that which is most needed for all of us, that He allows my voice also to stay strong till the end.

Continuation from Last Week: The Lesson of Asbāb (Means)

Last week we talked about فَأَتْبَعَ سَبَبًا — that Dhul Qarnayn in his final story followed the means. This was the aspect that Allah is مُسَبِّبُ الْأَسْبَابِ — the Creator of all means. And there are two extremes.

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

— grants honor to whoever He wishes and grants failure to whoever He wishes. And

Allah gives rizq to whoever He wants and constricts it for whoever He wishes. So one group of people trusted asbāb to the extent that they began to worship the means. They worship the place where those means come from. Those are the materialistic people — wherever they may be, in the east or the west — they have become worshippers of means.

And 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. If I as a Muslim don't succeed in school, who will? This foolish attitude has made many Muslim countries failures when it comes to various aspects of science, math, technology, and healthcare. The zahniyyat — the mindset — you see there's so much laziness.

SubhanAllah — here, contractors show up at 6 a.m. in Windsor traffic. Find me a Muslim country that has a traffic jam at 5:30 a.m. In the West, early morning rush hour. Hamāre pās kyā hai, bhāī? Abhi toh 11 baje chai ā rahi hai. At 11 o'clock you're having chai, and then leisurely after Zuhr, we show up.

There are many people in America who run businesses as though they're still overseas. You call them at 9 a.m. — Nahi nahi bhāī, dukān Zuhr ke baad khulegi. And then they're awake till 11 p.m., 1 a.m.

Nabi ﷺ has said: 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 asbāb, and we don't have Musabbibul Asbāb — the Creator of means — with us either. We have failed in almost every benchmark of the world. The others are doing very well on means. They don't have the ākhirah because they're not connected with Musabbibul Asbāb. But at least they have the dunyā, because they have the asbāb.

Imam Suyūti and Ibn Taymiyyah, rahimahumallah, 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 is what Allah loves: justice. Obviously they will not be successful in the ākhirah, but they will be successful here. So we have to use the means of success. There is no place in our deen for mediocrity and just coasting along —

All of these verses are telling us: run, compete, work hard. And what does Allah tell the Prophet ﷺ in Surah Al-Inshirah:

When you finish working all day — giving lectures, teaching, whatever great work you're doing — Allah is telling the Prophet ﷺ: فَانصَبْ — now it's time to work. The real work starts when people go to sleep. What work is that? Duʿāʾ, tahajjud, crying, ibādah. فَانصَبْ means to put yourself through difficulty and hardship. When you finish the day of work, now the night shift starts. So there's no such thing as aimless rest. Even when we sleep, we sleep thinking about the ākhirah, thinking about the deen — sleeping according to the sunnah. Even our sleep is counted as ibādah. Even our meal is an ibādah — we're thinking, how can I utilize this meal to give dawah to someone? Isn't that what Yūsuf (a.s.) did? When the prisoners came to ask him something, he utilized that conversation for the sake of deen.

That's how a dāʿī is — that is how a Muslim is. We are always thinking: the blessings Allah has given me, how can I use them for the furtherment not of my business only, but for the furtherment of the deen. This is what we learn from the chapter of Dhul Qarnayn: the importance of utilizing the means to earn Allah's pleasure. The ulamā say: Allah gives a believer means in this dunyā to earn his ākhirah. The reason Allah gave us all of this is not to show off and not just to enjoy this world — the reason Allah gave us these means is to earn that amazing paradise. That is how a Muslim thinks.

And a disbeliever thinks:

"I only have this one worldly life — we live and we die, you only got one life, enjoy it." That is not how a believer thinks.

The ulamā say an amazing point: we are all used to seeing the relationship between sabab (means) and its result. Hence, if I were to come home and see all the fans on and lights on without me entering, and no one else at home — immediately my mind thinks: a thief has broken in, someone came and left. I cannot believe the lights have turned on by themselves. There must be a cause. That is how our minds work — we cannot comprehend something happening without a reason behind it. And this is Allah's hikmah: He created this entire world of means so that the human being, when he looks at the universe, cannot say it came into existence randomly. Because just like everything else has a cause, this has a cause.

Someone defined atheism as: 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 turned into dinosaurs. Makes perfect sense, right? This type of nonsense we refute — because we see from a very basic aspect of observation that everything in this world has a reason behind it.

Āyahs 93–98: Dhul Qarnayn and the Building of the Wall

Then he followed another way. Until, at last, when he reached a place between two mountain barriers, he found alongside them a simple people who could barely understand a word of any language but their own. Some ulamā say he went to the far north area. He came across some unacculturated people who had not even developed a common language. They had not met with other civilizations in that far-off northern region of the world. He could barely understand them.

This is a test of patience — when you're speaking with someone and he's speaking a language you don't understand. At Umrah and Hajj — someone asking you for directions, and he's repeating himself again and again, showing you a card, speaking in a language you've never heard — do you just leave him, make fun of him? Or do you sit there and say, let me figure out what this person is saying and help him find what he needs? That's a test of patience. Dhul Qarnayn is being tested. He's traveling, bringing justice wherever he goes, and then he comes to a group of people speaking a language he has no idea about.

Some ulamā say they communicated through sign language. They said: Yā Dhul Qarnayn — indeed the people of Gog and Magog (Yājūj wa Mājūj) — either they are two different tribes or one tribe — mufsidūna fil-ard — they are sowers of corruption. They come here and kill our children, use up our crops, take away our women, and do all sorts of things. Can you protect us from them? We'll offer you tribute — kharjan — on the condition that you make a barrier between us and them.

Responding to Need Without Expectation: A Lesson in Generosity

So Dhul Qarnayn responded. And some people say: every single day I have someone asking me for money. Now listen. If you earned below the poverty level, that would not be the case. Why are people coming asking you for money? Because you have a certain lifestyle that people think you have money — that's why they come. Wherever there's honey, the bees are gonna come. So no, this is not a musibah — this instead is a niʿmah. If you have 10 organizations asking you for money — that's a good sign. That is Allah using you as a preferred wholesaler, as a preferred agent for the 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 from you.

If you have an exclusive distribution deal — say for Coca-Cola in a country — what's the value of that? You try to make sure you retain it. Because if you lose that product, you're gone. Similarly, the Prophet ﷺ — and I am paraphrasing a hadith — said that Allah sometimes blesses a wealthy person with wealth simply to fulfill the needs of His servants. If he continues to fulfill the needs of His servants, Allah will continue to use him as a supplier. And as soon as he starts becoming arrogant and stingy, Allah has no shortage of distributors — He will take that badge away and use someone else.

So sometimes we may say: why am I always being approached? Why is it always me being asked? My beloved brothers and sisters, if you're one of those few preferred distributors of Allah, you should thank Allah and you should be in sujūd. By Allah, we do not give based on what we own — we give based on Allah's tawfīq.

The Story of Hātim al-Tā'ī

Hātim al-Tā'ī — known among the Arabs as the most generous of men. One day he said something to upset the king, and the king put a bounty of 100 camels on his head. He hid himself and started running away. Eventually one man caught up to him, brought him to the ground, and intended to tie him up and take him to the king. Hātim begged — please let me go. I know 100 camels is like a million dollars. I'll give you double, just let me go. Slowly this person started untying the knots and backing away. Hātim gave him his address, said: come within so many days, I'll be there waiting, you'll get it. Thank you so much.

The man — a Bedouin — told him: I don't want it. What do you mean? 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 — catching up to you, bringing you to the ground, tying you up, we were this close to you being handed over to the king — and you thought you could buy me out with 150 camels. I did all of this exercise to tell you, O Hātim Tā'ī, that you are not the most generous person. There are people who are more generous than you. But I'm letting you go for free.

SubhanAllah. You became famous on social media. Your wealth became famous on social media. So people think you're the richest, or the most generous, or the most scholarly. But for every person that's famous, there are thousands who are more virtuous, more pious, more knowledgeable, more wealthy, more generous — and more in everything — than those who are well-known. As the Qur'an says:

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 how much we own. This is from Allah. And this is the key point: make sure we never take generosity as a burden. Never say you have "donor fatigue." Never say, "I'm tired of giving." How about instead: "O Allah, I'm tired of giving in Your way — You also stop me now. I'm tired of giving in Your path — You also get tired, don't give to me." We want from Allah without reckoning, and we should give without reckoning.

The Prophet ﷺ told one of his wives: don't hoard, otherwise Allah will start hoarding from you. Don't start counting when you give — otherwise Allah will count and give to you. We want from Allah without reckoning — unbelievable amounts of rizq. Every youngster sitting here says, I just want to become a millionaire and then I'll give in Allah's path. But you start by giving a dollar. Look at today's madrasa students — they raise their hand for a hundred-dollar ticket. I know their financial condition. They don't have money to purchase a meal plan. And how many people here with thousands couldn't raise their hand?

Allah doesn't need anyone's money. The issue is, you and I need to give in Allah's path. Any opportunity for random spending — a hundred dollars on a meal, eight-dollar slice of cheesecake, fifteen-dollar plate of chicken — and we spend without thinking twice. But in the name of Allah — an orphan, a widow, a madrasa student, a water well — we say, a hundred dollars, man, things have gotten expensive. My beloved brothers, this is a social ill. When we do fundraisers, my heart goes out for the people who don't give — not because of the goal, but because of the tawfīq they're missing.

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 — and the Muslim ummah today definitely has more money than ever before. But bukhul — stinginess — is at an all-time high as well. We need to make morning and evening duʿāʾ against it:

"O Allah, I seek refuge in You from incapacity, laziness, cowardice, and stinginess." (Sahih al-Bukhāri, Hadith 6367)

Every morning and evening we are supposed to seek Allah's protection from stinginess — because this is a horrible disease: that Allah gives us money yet does not allow us to spend it on His servants. So may Allah make myself and all of us here super generous people — that before a person even comes to ask, we see the need and give. And we don't expect a reward or a thank-you note from them. We say: our reward and thanks is coming from Allah.

Dhul Qarnayn's Response: "I Need Your Labor, Not Your Money"

He said: "That with which my Lord has established me is far better than any tribute. Assist me with your manpower, and I shall set between you and them a bulwark." — a multi-layered wall. He didn't need their money. He said: I want labor from you. I want you to toil with me. So that you learn the value of work. And you learn how to build the wall yourself — so that when the wall breaks or something happens, you're not helpless. This is what Dhul Qarnayn is teaching these people: you need to work hard. The deen does not always need money. 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.

Look at the Sahāba — they gave whatever they gave. Sometimes the Prophet ﷺ would ask for sadaqah and they wouldn't have it. How can I let this opportunity pass? Some of them would go work for a fee, drawing water from wells all day — and with that money they would go give sadaqah.

Khadīja (r.a.), when she consoled the Prophet ﷺ initially — you remember the famous hadith of Bukhāri — she mentioned six qualities of him. One was:

Not only do you give sadaqah and take care of those in need — but when you don't have, you go and earn in order to give. Imagine how blessed those people are.

I heard a story from India — a rickshaw driver carrying an old Hindu lady who was crying. She said: my son is sick in the hospital, and I'm so poor I can't afford to go visit him every day. When they arrived at the hospital, she tried to pay him. He said: I don't want it. She said: how is that? He said: I have dedicated one day a month — whatever I earn, I give for the sake of Allah for free. Alhamdulillah, Allah is giving me rizq so many days of the week. But one day I said: yā Allah, whatever customer You send me, it is for Your sake. Even a rickshaw driver who earns so little can earn the highest levels of Jannah through small sincere acts. Imagine how her heart must have changed towards the deen of Allah.

Construction of the Wall

He said: bring me chunks of iron. They all worked and assisted him. He leveled up the passage between the two mountain cliffs — the mountain pass through which Yājūj and Mājūj would come — and filled it entirely with chunks of iron. Then he said: blow with your bellows — he needed to get this iron blazing with fire. Huge wall, thousands of feet long, super high, made of iron blocks. All by manual labor. Then when he had set it on fire, he said: now bring me molten brass to pour on it. Like mortar for bricks, this molten brass acts as a connector between the iron chunks. Why? Because molten brass will serve as an impact protector — when Yājūj and Mājūj come with their spears and arrows, the molten brass will cushion the wall. And second, the molten brass is very slippery — when they try to climb, they will slip and fall.

Thus Yājūj and Mājūj were unable to scale it — فَمَا اسْطَاعُوا أَن يَظْهَرُوهُ — and nor could they tunnel through it — وَمَا اسْتَطَاعُوا لَهُ نَقْبًا. There are two ways to cross a wall: scale over it or make a hole through it. They couldn't make a hole — it's too thick and wide. They couldn't scale over it — it's too high and too slippery. So Allah protected these people from the Yājūj and Mājūj.

Tawāḍuʿ: Dhul Qarnayn Attributes Everything to Allah

Now Dhul Qarnayn has accomplished this most amazing mission. Did he pat himself on the back? Did he say, "Look at my power, whatever you need I'm here for you"? Instead he said: هَٰذَا رَحْمَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّي — "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 them? 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, mashaAllah, that was moving? That's what it is. 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 ikhlās. May Allah save any of us from thinking erroneously that we are sincere. This thought comes to mind sometimes: I'm trying very hard, and now I'm praying nafl after everyone leaves — alhamdulillah, I must be the most sincere. As soon as this thought comes to mind, remember: you're the most insincere at that moment.

This is very deep. You can't even overdo your deflection of praise, because overdoing the deflection will make people think you are mutawāḍiʿ — falsely humble. It's so difficult to remain sincere. You have to ask Allah. That is why consult a mentor. You have to have a sheikh, a scholar, a mentor who focuses on these things, and you ask: is what I'm doing tawāḍuʿ or riyāʾ? It's so dangerous.

Many brothers say: I was giving the adhān, then I stopped. Why? Because someone told me my 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? If he said your tajweed is incorrect, then work on that. Don't give up. That is why the mashāyikh of old — one of their signs of your islāh being complete was that praise and ridicule become the same to you. No sign shows up on your face. Sometimes the sheikh would tell them to do something, and after years he would start them all over. They'd say: what happened? He said: because when I just told you to do something, there was a frown on your face. Why did that frown appear? It means your nafs is still big, your ego is still big.

I need those types of trainers, and you need those types of trainers. Otherwise we have a big problem. Our nafs is huge. 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 — you don't know who I am. You've degraded me — you haven't degraded me enough, if you only knew how bad I was, you would have degraded me even more. And if Allah doesn't forgive me, I'm worse than what you said about me. And if I am sincere, I will take what you said and implement it so that I become the way others praise me. That is where we need to be.

The smallest things and we get upset and walk out, become angry, become so sensitive — in need of continuous praise. We have become like that, and our children have become like that too. Let us become strong inside and say: no matter what people will say, I will not stop doing the effort of deen.

My beloved brothers, if you're active on a board, active as a volunteer — definitely someone in the parking lot will hurl a couple of insults at you. That is a test of your ikhlās. Are you doing khidmah because of the president of the board? Because of the leader of the volunteer group? Or are you doing khidmah for Allah? If you're doing it for Allah, then no matter who says what, it will not deter you. The question of "what's the benefit if people don't appreciate my work?" — that is the biggest problem. Why are you doing it for the appreciation of people?

"I do not want ajr from you." That is what the Prophets said. Which Prophet was appreciated by 99% of the people? None of them were. The real ikhlās — the real test of ikhlās — is when the people you want to help don't want your help. Just today we had a meeting with our beloved teachers, and I was sharing with them: subhanAllah, almost no one I work with comes back and gives feedback. I'm the first one who has to go message them: did you do what you're supposed to do? Did you follow up with your adhkār? That's the reality of doing dawah and serving the community. You cannot expect people to come to you. Instead, say:

This is from my Lord's mercy — I'm going to assist the people. All my prophets were clouds, not wells. They went to the people and gave them what they needed. That's how it works. We go to our community, we go stand and meet people. Don't expect people to come to you. Some of us say, no one listens — this pessimism is exhausting. You do a program and no one will come? The fact that people are not showing up may mean I didn't do enough work. If I had messaged 500 people today — by the grace of Allah we have a beautiful crowd tonight, alhamdulillah — it would have doubled. Whose fault is that? My fault. You want to do the work of deen, you have to have the fikr of the Prophets.

When you see a car in the ditch in the snow, do you sit there and laugh? Instead you say, alhamdulillah — Allah saved me from this today. Let me try to give this person some help. You're so much happier having a warm car, calling AAA, getting the person out of the ditch — wouldn't you rather do that than be in the ditch yourself? So when you see people who cannot show up to the masjid, or who are far from the deen — those are brothers and sisters who are in the ditch. Just because today your car is not in the ditch doesn't mean you'll never be. That's foolishness.

One brother told me: Sheikh, last night I had a really hard night. I was driving and I ran out of gas. In 10-degree temperature, he had to push his van 0.8 miles to the gas station because no one stopped. Then he immediately told me: I never stop for anyone on the highway. But today I make tawbah — I will never pass by any car that is stranded. He learned his lesson. At the very least, call 911. But how can we just pass by without doing anything? So, when we see people far from the deen, remind yourself: I could be exactly like that. Thank Allah you're not in that state. How do you show appreciation to Allah? By working on others.

Āyah 99: The Day of Judgment — All Surging Together

And then he says: فَإِذَا جَاءَ وَعْدُ رَبِّي جَعَلَهُ دَكَّاءَ — when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He shall turn it into rubble. We built this big mansion, this big masjid, this big skyscraper — and when Allah wants to destroy it, He will destroy it. Whether through a storm or the Day of Judgment, it's going to come down. And we know this wall will end before the Day of Judgment — when Yājūj and Mājūj are given permission to destroy it. وَكَانَ وَعْدُ رَبِّي حَقًّا — And the promise of my Lord is ever true.

And on the Day of Judgment, all of these tribes — the ones in the east, the ones in the west, the Yājūj and Mājūj — all will be gathered, and they will يَمُوجُ — like waves hitting one another. There is one hadith that speaks of 999 out of every 1,000 people being in Jahannam. When the Sahāba heard it, they lost their minds. Yā Rasulallah, what are the chances of survival? Then it was explained to them that this includes Yājūj and Mājūj — that is what makes the numbers seem so overwhelming. The sheer number of Yājūj and Mājūj.

Another āyah on Yājūj and Mājūj, in Surah Al-Anbiyāʾ:

Allah says: from every high and low point they will pour — like ants pouring from an anthill, they will swarm from every direction. And then:

And on that day We shall bring the hellfire on display for the disbelievers. Allahu Akbar.

What Happens When the Wall Falls — Signs of the Hour

We know from the hadith that Yājūj and Mājūj come every day with their tools and begin chiseling away at the wall. By end of day they reach near the end. They say: we're tired, let's go back to sleep and come back tomorrow. When they come back, the wall is exactly as it was when they started. This happens every single day, and every single day they fail. On that day when Allah wants them to come out — when they chisel the wall down and come towards the end — the leader will say: tomorrow we will come back and finish it up, insha'Allah.

Going back to the āyah we read in Surah Al-Kahf:

Never say about what you're going to do tomorrow, except that you say insha'Allah. When they say insha'Allah — even though they are disbelievers — Allah will honor those words they have spoken. They will come the next day, and they will be able to break through. And they will cause havoc. That will be the real storm.

I'll just mention one thing about what happens then: there is a huge, massive lake near Jordan — near Israel. When the first group of Yājūj and Mājūj comes and they see it, they begin drinking from it, one by one. By the time the last of them arrives, the entire massive lake will be completely dried up without a single drop of water. That's the scale of their numbers.

People ask: where are they now? Where are angels right now? We have the belief that this masjid is surrounded by angels — that's why you feel sukūn and itmiʾnān when you walk in here. You can't see them, but we believe they exist. We believe in Allah, we believe in jinn — just because you can't see something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Yājūj and Mājūj are of a whole different species. Where they are, Allah knows. We don't need to worry about it. And no — they are not the Chinese. The wall of China is not this wall.

When Allah wishes to release them, they will destroy everything on earth. A group of people — with ʿĪsā (a.s.) among them — will escape to the top of a mountain. You cannot fight against this group of people — there is no way. So you run and hide. That is the sabab you use. Muslims must be intelligent — you have to know which odds are worth fighting and which are not. From the mountain top they will turn to Allah for help. And Allah will create a sickness overnight — billions of Yājūj and Mājūj will perish and die. The next morning, the stench of billions of corpses. Allah will then send an army of birds that will carry away the bodies. Then Allah will send down rain to wash the earth clean. If you insist on having a logical explanation for everything, you will hit roadblocks. The whole point is: āmannā wa saddaqnā — we believe and we obey. We trust Allah and His words. We don't need an answer for everything.

This is why we have been reading Surah Al-Kahf for 16 weeks — so that we build a level of imān on the ghayb. So that when the fitnah of the Dajjāl arrives — and the prelude to Dajjāl is certainly already here — our imān stays strong through the barakah of these discussions and these verses of the Qur'an. And we don't become materialists or people who worship means.

Remember we discussed: why is Dajjāl not mentioned in Surah Al-Kahf, and not mentioned in the Qur'an at all? That is part of the huge test — so that those who reject hadith can reject Dajjāl. I recall I once gave a talk on Dajjāl locally, and right after, someone came up mockingly and said: tell me, in which verse of the Qur'an is Dajjāl mentioned? He was trying to say it's all made up. I said: this is the fitnah — you have already fallen into it. As the Qur'an says:

They have already fallen into fitnah. The biggest trick Shayṭān played on people is to make them believe he doesn't exist. And that is the massive deception of Dajjāl — an agent of Shayṭān — to make us disbelieve in him and in his system, and to say: everything is fine and dandy.

Three Lessons from the Story of Dhul Qarnayn

Before we proceed, let me give a quick recap. Three lessons from the story of Dhul Qarnayn:

First: You must use means for success — while trusting not the means, but the Creator of means. If we want to become successful, learn from the experts. The corporate world, universities, and think tanks have some amazing minds doing amazing things. Islamic institutions need people who have that background. Anyone who's got great intelligence and leaves the deen for the corporate world — that's a brain drain the deen suffers from. I met a brother in Florida who made the most meticulous schedule I've ever seen. He said: this is what I do at my corporate job — this is a piece of cake. We need people like you. Every one of you has amazing blessings from Allah — don't only use them to earn money and climb the corporate ladder. Use them for the deen. If you have a background in journalism, art, IT, corporate management, finance — we need you. Text or email the masjid and say: I'm ready to give two or three hours a week. There's a massive need for volunteers. The same three or four people are doing everything. Whatever good talent you have — even if it's making chai or baking brownies — bring it. Serving the students who are pulling all-nighters for their exams is serving the deen.

Second: Dhul Qarnayn was ambitious, yet humble. Bringing ambition and humility together — that is the second lesson.

Third: After he accomplished everything, he attributed everything to Allah. May Allah bring these three attributes within us.

Āyahs 100–102: The Disbelievers Whose Eyes Were Veiled

Then 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 — veiled from seeing the signs of His remembrance in life. And they would not be able to hear them in Allah's revelation or from His messengers. 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? The veil of lust. The veil of desire for power, for money, for fame. Those veils come between us and recognizing who Allah is — recognizing the great most important haqīqah of the world. The reality of the world is tawḥīd. The reality of the world is preparing for the ākhirah.

My beloved brothers and sisters, this is the hijāb we have to ask Allah to remove from us. The Qur'an says that when the Rasul ﷺ recites the Qur'an to certain people:

It is 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 — wallāhi al-ʿaẓīm — I want you to pray two rakʿāt 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. You're all just quietly listening, and you're all young people. SubhanAllah — that is not normal in this day and age. Everyone tells me: you need 30-second clips, 5-minute clips. Look at this — week after week, an hour and 15 minutes you sit here. Who should we thank? Allah. You're only sitting here because Allah is allowing you to sit here, giving you the ṣabr to benefit. May Allah continue to keep us free of this hijāb of the heart.

Āyahs 103–106: The Greatest Losers

Say: shall we tell you about the greatest losers with respect to deeds? Allah says: you want me to tell you who is the greatest loser? أَخْسَرِينَ is the superlative — the biggest loser. 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 a bad investment, you're still not the biggest loser. Why? Because you still have your life, and hopefully your imān. Who is the biggest loser? It is those who strive and stray from Allah's way in this life.

They made effort — maḥnat kī — but their effort was in the wrong place. They climbed a mountain for 50–80 years, but they climbed the wrong mountain. This happens in real life too — you're going, going, going, and after five miles you realize you went the wrong direction. This happened to me once. I was in Boston, going to visit Harvard, then had to give a talk at Maghrib somewhere else. My old TomTom GPS disconnected from the satellite — I didn't realize it. It was saying: go right, go left. And I found myself in the middle of nowhere, no road ahead. I eventually ended up at a gas station in a place that didn't look safe. I got out and did what we used to do — stopped and asked for directions. The man said: where are you trying to get? And he said: man, you are so far off. He gave me directions and I arrived over an hour late, having gone in completely the wrong direction.

SubhanAllah — so many times our internal compass is completely wrong. If we don't stop and ask directions from a knowledgeable, religious person, our whole life can come to an end and only in the ākhirah will we realize our GPS took us the wrong way. Our satellite needs to be on. Our GPS needs to be connected with the people of Allah.

Allah says: they are making effort — وَهُمْ يَحْسَبُونَ أَنَّهُمْ يُحْسِنُونَ صُنْعًا — and they think they're doing excellent work, but they're not. You know what happened with ʿUmar (r.a.)? He was passing by a monastery and saw monks making ibādah — poor monks, not getting married, not eating this or that, lots of acts of worship. He looked at them and started crying, and read this āyah. He said: so much effort was made. They're depriving themselves of the enjoyments of this world, but in the ākhirah they've got nothing — because they're on the wrong deen. May Allah protect us from making useless efforts and digging where there are no wells.

These are the ones who disbelieved in the revealed signs of the Lord and who deny the resurrection and His inevitable meeting on the Day of Judgment. That is why the ulamā say this āyah is not referring to Muslims — this āyah is clearly speaking about those who disbelieved in the signs of their Lord. فَحَبِطَتْ أَعْمَالُهُمْ — thus their good deeds are rendered utterly futile with Allah. Today people think that good deeds alone get you rewarded in Jannah, even without imān. The Qur'an is clearly saying: all their deeds will be rendered utterly futile. In the dunyā you get rewarded, but in the ākhirah there is no reward. فَلَا نُقِيمُ لَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ وَزْنًا — there isn't even going to be a scale set up for them on the Day of Judgment.

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, made fun of the messengers of Allah. And now: that which they used to make fun of is right in front of them. Allah says this in multiple places in the Qur'an — what they used to mock has now come to face them. You used to laugh at Jahannam, you used to laugh at meeting Allah — and that is exactly what you now face.

Āyahs 107–108: The Gardens of Firdaws

The Qur'an is beautiful — it doesn't leave us only on a cliff of fear. For every mention of Jahannam, there is a mention of Jannah. So we have to give hope to everyone. This surah is ending on a beautiful positive note. As for those who believe and do righteous deeds — you're not just getting into any corner of Jannah. For them are the Gardens of Firdaws awaiting as an everlasting hospitality. Nuzulā means welcoming, hospitality — meaning Jannatul Firdaws is going to be waiting for them.

That is what the Prophet ﷺ said:

When you ask Allah, ask for Firdaws. Don't say, I'm okay with a small spot in Jannah anywhere. No — in the dunyā you want the best. Why is it that for Jannah you settle for less? Ask Allah for the biggest. Then ask yourself: are my actions consistent with someone who asks for Jannatul Firdaws? I need to do something about that. A man who asks for Jannatul Firdaws cannot be sleeping through the entire night — he needs to be making at least a few rakaʿāt of nāfil. So ask for Firdaws, and then act like someone deserving of the mercy of Allah that will get them there.

خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا لَا يَبْغُونَ عَنْهَا حِوَلًا — They shall remain there forever and shall never seek removal therefrom. We've talked about this before — any place in the dunyā, after some time you get tired of it. No matter what vacation spot. But Jannah is such that once a person enters it, he will never want to leave.

Āyah 109: The Infinite Words of Allah

This is one of the most powerful āyahs of this surah — it holds the very essence, the maghz, of Surah Al-Kahf. 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.

What does this mean? If you have an ink pot, a liter of ink is sufficient for a scholar writing from it for a whole year or two. Now imagine — not a liter, not a jug, not a room full, not a house full, not a city, not a country, not a continent full — but the oceans, which are five times or more the surface of the land, seven miles deep in certain spots, made into ink. And what does Surah Luqmān say:

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

What is referred to by kalimāt here? Two opinions among many: one is that these kalimāt refer to the words of Allah — the Qur'an. The Qur'an is 30 juz, so what does it mean it will never end? It means the explanation and tafsir and meanings of the Qur'an are endless. Come see the tafsir section in our library — 30 volumes, 40 volumes for a single tafsir, with no repetition, brand new things. One scholar writes from this perspective, another from that. Tens of perspectives, each writing 30–40 volumes. Till the Day of Judgment, tafsir will be written on this. The second opinion is that you are speaking about simply the ʿilm of Allah — which is of course infinite. We can never encompass the knowledge of Allah.

Āyah 110: The Final Āyah — Tawḥīd and Ikhlās

The final verse speaks about tawḥīd. O Muhammad ﷺ, tell them: I am only a human being like you. But — as the poet says:

Muhammad ﷺ is a human, but not like the rest of humans — rather he is like a precious gemstone while the rest of humanity is like stone. A gemstone is a stone, but there is a huge difference. The gemstone on a ring is worth more than an entire store of regular rocks.

Nabi ﷺ is definitely a human being — he has emotions, he has feelings. He buried all his children but one. He watched his grandson suffer, his daughter suffer, his wife suffer. He went through times of great 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 ours is: يُوحَىٰ إِلَيَّ — I receive revelation. And the most important revelation is: إِنَّمَا إِلَٰهُكُمْ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ — Indeed, your God is only One God.

فَمَن كَانَ يَرْجُو لِقَاءَ رَبِّهِ — This is a powerful āyah. Whoever is hoping for the meeting of his Lord — there are two levels of this meeting. The first is in this dunyā: the one who leads a life of maʿrifah, of maḥabbah, of ittibāʿ of the sunnah — he has already found Allah. If we have maḥabbah of Allah, if we say lā ilāha illallāh a hundred times a day morning and evening, haven't we already met Allah? If we put our forehead down in front of Allah five times a day, begging and crying — haven't we met Allah? Yes we have. That's why we drive through this weather tonight. Because we believe in Him. The second meeting is of course in the ākhirah. Then what is Allah asking us to do? فَلْيَعْمَلْ عَمَلًا صَالِحًا وَلَا يُشْرِكْ بِعِبَادَةِ رَبِّهِ أَحَدًا — Let him do righteous deeds and not associate anyone in the worship of his Lord.

Meaning: if you want to meet Allah in a state where He is pleased to meet you, work on what? Ikhlās. Good deeds and ikhlās. Once a person came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: Yā Rasulallah, what if a person does an action both for the sake of Allah and to make people happy — two birds with one stone? The Prophet ﷺ remained quiet. Then after some time he recited this verse. What is this verse telling us? You better not do shirk — meaning this is shirk al-khafī, hidden shirk, which is riyāʾ. If we do things to please people and to please Allah — not acceptable. It must be solely and only to please Allah. You say: but I'm trying to please my parents. That's good — why? Because Allah told you to please them. You say: I'm trying to please Allah and He'll make my wife and children happy. That's great — because that is the sunnah. But you're not just trying to get popular.

Summary: The Khulāsah of Surah Al-Kahf

The khulāṣah — the conclusion — of Surah Al-Kahf, in this final section, is:

First: The essence of knowledge is tawḥīd. If you are an expert or specialist of any sort but have missed out on tawḥīd, you are the biggest loser.

Second: We all have to work hard. But the essence of working hard is iḥsān and ikhlās. Actions alone will not get us anywhere if they are not filled with iḥsān and ikhlās.

Third: That iḥsān and ikhlās we must maintain with istiqāmah — steadfastness — until the very last breath. We ask Allah to grant all of us: number one, tawḥīd; number two, iḥsān and ikhlās; and number three, istiqāmah — so that we don't just come once a week or once a month, but remain consistently connected with the deen, with Allah, and with His house on a regular, regular basis.

This is a great attendance — 200, maybe 250 brothers and sisters showed up tonight. We ask Allah that He judges us on the days we showed up, on the days we came. As we said — whichever night you value, that's your night of Qadr. Whichever day you came and listened to something that benefited you — that's payday for you. That's your lucky day. So we ask Allah to grant you and I many, many lucky days, and most importantly the ability to practice whatever we have heard and shared.

I ask all of you to make duʿāʾ that He does not make this knowledge a proof against me — and not a proof against you. But rather that 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 — if you haven't already — to finish memorizing Surah Al-Kahf, especially the first ten and last ten āyahs. You can find a beautiful recitation of just the first ten and last ten on YouTube. Have it playing every day in your car for yourself and your children.

Additionally, insha'Allah, next week we will begin the tafsir of Surah Al-Najm from the 27th Juz. And on Friday nights we will continue the Dars al-Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhāri with Mufti Ibn Hājj — mashaAllah those of you attending, it is beautiful and powerful. And every Saturday, Team Fajr continues with great lessons and breakfast — please join us.

Closing Duʿāʾ

Oh Allah — we have been entrapped by the evil Shayṭān. Oh Allah, please pull us out of this entrapment. Oh Allah, it is as though our wheels are spinning in a ditch. Oh Allah, we need to be pulled out of this ditch, and no one can pull us out but You.

Oh Allah, pull us out of the ditch of missing our prayers. Pull us out of the ditch of looking at ḥarām. Pull us out of the ditch of listening to ḥarām. Pull us out of the ditch of thinking of ḥarām. Pull us out of the ditch of earning ḥarām. Pull us out of the ditch of spending ḥarām. Pull us out of the ditch of speaking ḥarām. Oh Allah, pull us out of the ditch of ḥarām relationships. Oh Allah, pull us out of the ditch of ḥarām business investments. Oh Allah, we ask You to pull us all from the ditch of ribā and interest. Oh Allah, pull us out of the ditch of any and all forms of zinā. Pull us out of the ditch of any and all forms of lying. Pull us out of the ditch of disobedience to our parents. Pull us out of the ditch of any and all forms of oppression to our spouse or to our children.

Oh Allah, we ask You to improve our character, improve our akhlāq. Oh Allah, please allow us to focus on the rectification of ourselves. Oh Allah, allow us to see our own mistakes and sins as bright as the sun. Oh Allah, cover up the faults of others from us and allow us to focus on our own faults.

Oh Allah, allow us to curb our desires. Allow us to curb our lustful thoughts and desires. Yā Allah, grant all of us a life of ḥayāʾ — grant us a life of modesty, a life of taqwā, a life of iḥsān and ikhlās and istiqāmah. Yā Allah, 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 beat with Your love. Allow our tongues to remain moist with Your name.

Allow us to die yearning to meet the Rasul ﷺ. Bless us with his ziyārah in Madīnah al-Munawwarah again and again. Allow us to visit Your house in Makkah al-Mukarramah again and again. Bless us with his vision in our dreams. Open up the Ḥaramayn al-Sharīfayn and Masjid al-Aqṣā. Grant protection to the Muslim lands.

Yā Allah, give us hearts that feel the pain of the Ummah of Rasulullāh ﷺ. Allow us to feel the pain of the suffering of the Ummah in their deen and their dunyā. Allow us to shed tears over the breaking of Your rules and the breaking of the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. Inspire us with the answers to bring the Ummah back to where Rasulullāh ﷺ had left it. Oh Allah, grant all of us the fikr and concern of the deen. Allow us to love the Ummah the way Rasulullāh ﷺ loved us, and to work for the Ummah the way he worked for us.

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

Oh Allah, grant shifāʾ to all those who are sick. Grant maghfirah to our parents, our elders, and all those who have passed from the Ummah of Rasulullāh ﷺ. Grant long life to our mashāyikh, our ulamāʾ, the elders of our community and of the Muslim Ummah. Allow every one of us to find a mentor, a good companion to guide us in this difficult era.

Oh Allah, grant complete protection to the madrasah, the masjid, the seminary — to every muṣallī, to every student, to every full-time and part-time student, every attendee of the tafsīr and all other programs, to their families and their loved ones. Protect us all from ḥasad, from siḥr, from ʿayn, from all evil effects of Shayṭān and from the evil effects of our own sins. No one can protect us from these evil effects except You.

Oh Allah, grant istiqāmah to all of us. Grant special assistance to our volunteers, our patrons, our donors and well-wishers. Grant all of us the ability to turn completely towards You. Let us live for You, let us die for You. Allow us to be raised in the company of Rasulullāh ﷺ, among the Ṣaḥābah, Ṣiddīqīn, Shuhadāʾ, and Ṣāliḥīn. Gather us with them under Your Throne on the Day of Judgment. Grant us entry into Jannatul Firdaws without any reckoning. And allow us to enjoy Your countenance together with Rasulullāh ﷺ.

Āmīn, āmīn, āmīn. Jazākumullāhu khayran. Wassalāmu ʿalaykum wa raḥmatullāhi wa barakātuh.