Surah Al-Kahf - Part 2 Ayahs 5-8 - Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed - Weekly Tafsir

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

Surah Al-Kahf — Part 2: Ayahs 5–8

The Revelation of Surah Al-Kahf

I wanted to go over the background of the revelation — I don't think we covered last week the story of the revelation of this whole surah. Nabi عليه الصلاة والسلام, upon him — this entire surah was first of all revealed collectively. The entire surah, as mentioned in the hadith, was revealed at one time, and 70,000 angels attended the revelation. They came with the revelation; 70,000 angels came with the surah. So you can see that this was an entire entourage of angels descending with the surah to show its majesty. And this is mentioned in Tafsir Ruh al-Ma'ani on the authority of Sayyidina Anas رضي الله عنه.

Virtues of Surah Al-Kahf

Some of the virtues of this blessed surah we spoke about last week. One being the fact that the one who memorizes it and the one who recites it, Allah will protect him from the ill effects of Dajjal, the imposter. In some narrations it mentions the first 10 verses, and in some narrations it mentions the last 10 verses.

Then we see Sayyidina Sahl ibn Mu'adh رضي الله عنه narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said: one who recites the first and last verses of Surah Al-Kahf — for him there is light from his feet up to his head. There will be nur from his feet till his head for a person who recites the first 10 and the last 10. And the one who recites the whole surah — for him there is light from the earth up to the sky. So obviously reciting the entire surah is much more rewarding; that a person will have nur from the earth all the way up to the heavens.

What will this nur do? This light, besides helping him differentiate between right and wrong in this dunya, will also serve him well on the Day of Judgement. And every sin between this Friday and the last Friday that he recited Surah Al-Kahf — through the barakah of reciting Surah Al-Kahf, Allah will forgive all those sins that were committed from last Friday till this Friday. So every single Friday that we recite this surah, the sins will be forgiven.

Speaking about the nur, the Quran says:

On the day when you will see the believing men and women, they will have nur moving forth in front of them and to their right. The angels will say, "Glad tidings of paradise be for you." So the nur will be what a person will be able to walk with on the Day of Judgement. Without that nur, it will be in complete, utter darkness.

To the extent that the hypocrites will say:

The hypocrite men and women will tell the believers: Unzuruna — wait for us, please wait. Naqtabis min nurikum — we would like to take a little bit of your nur because we can't see anything. We need you to stop here so that we can see forward.

And Surah Al-Hadid mentions: a caller will call out — "Go back, oh hypocrites, you want nur? You'll find it over there." Faltamisu nuran — go look for nur over there. Don't come and beg from the Muslims, from the believers. So as soon as they turn around:

A wall will be thrown right in between the believers and the hypocrites. Two sides to this wall: one side facing the believers filled with mercy, and the side facing the disbelievers filled with 'adhab. They will start calling out to them from the other side of the wall:

"Were we not with you?" Now we can't see anything, we're in pitch dark. Were we not together? Were we not in the dunya together? Why are we separated here? The answer will be: "Of course you were. But you put your own self into fitna. You chose evil over righteousness. You chose to put yourself through fitna. And you were waiting for difficulties to befall us Muslims. And you were always in doubt — you never really actually believed the promises that Allah made with us. You were thinking maybe, maybe — but you were not fully on board. And the long drawn-out plans of the future life deceived you. And the ultimate deceiver deceived you." The ultimate deceiver is shaitan. A master in deception. He deceived you. And who else? Amani — long drawn-out plans.

We'll do this — just wait a little bit. Just wait a little bit. SubhanAllah, Allah forgive us, Allah protect us. But when are you going to start reading Quran? When are you going to start taking Islamic studies classes? When are you going to start coming to the salah? Insha'Allah — let me just get my business settled. It's been just only one year now. Just one more year, then everything will be fine. I just acquired a new business. I just hired two more employees to help me out. How many times I hear this on a weekly basis from people: "I'm just getting there, don't worry. We're on the same page. But I just need to make sure. Now I got these two employees to help me." But you train them. Now what happens? "Oh, you know how it is — you can't trust anyone besides yourself. Now these guys, they're just like that." When is this going to finish? It will never finish. It will never finish. This is just part of the big deception of shaitan — these drawn-up plans. Not yet. Tomorrow. Tomorrow — not yet. One day I'll start. One day I'll start. And Allahu Akbar, death comes to us and we haven't started anything.

So Allah says that this is what the believers will tell the hypocrites: "That's why you are where you are, and we are where we are. Although we used to associate together, we used to live together, eat together — but you had a different wavelength you were going with. These were your problems." So nur is something so valuable that Surah Al-Kahf gives us. And this will be a source of helping us on the Day of Judgement, along with all the other a'mal that a person does.

The Background of the Revelation

Now, when it comes to the actual background of the revelation, I wanted to share that as well. The mushrikeen had sent two of their individuals to Madinah al-Munawwarah. They said: "We would like you to go to the Jews and ask them some questions. And based on what answers you get, we will know what to do." So Nadhar ibn al-Harith and 'Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt — these two went to the Ahl al-Kitab.

The Jews of Madinah, before Rasulullah ﷺ had come, used to always tell the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, as well as the idolaters:

"The time has come for a nabi to come whom we shall follow. And we will assist him, and we will kill you the way Aad and Iram were killed." Who used to say this? The Jews used to tell the idol worshippers and the tribes of Aws and Khazraj. So the people of Makkah said: "Oh, you're always talking about a prophet. Now let's talk — we have a man over here. Let's go ask about him." So 'Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt and Nadhar ibn al-Harith went to Madinah to ask them.

So they said: "If you want to know the reality of Muhammad ﷺ, then ask him about three things. If he answers them, he is truthful. And if he doesn't, then you know." And according to some narrations, they said: "If he answers two of them, then he is correct. If he answers all three, then he is not correct." So they said: "Okay, what should we ask him?" They said: "Ask him about that nation that went by in the past centuries who had a very interesting story — who are they and what was their interesting story? Number two, what was the name and story of that individual who traveled extensively throughout the world and conquered lands in the east and the west? And the third: what is this concept of ruh?"

So these two individuals went back to Rasulullah ﷺ and asked these three questions. Nabi ﷺ said:

"I will answer your questions tomorrow." So the next day they showed up, and Nabi ﷺ did not have an answer. The next day after that they showed up — no answer. Third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day — fifteen long days. Over two weeks, the Prophet ﷺ does not have an answer. Because he can't make up an answer — obviously he has to wait for the answers to come from Allah. And he is not receiving any answer.

So you can imagine — and no, you cannot imagine — what Rasulullah ﷺ went through. How difficult it must have been that he made a promise and his honor is on the line. More importantly, Islam's honor. The belief in Allah depends on this. They're saying: "We're not going to ask if you're a good person — we want to know if you're a liar, an imposter, or a true prophet. And you said you'd have the answers. It's fifteen days and you haven't given an answer yet."

So it was a very challenging time for Rasulullah ﷺ. Eventually, after fifteen long days, all the answers came. When it came to the aspect of the ruh — obviously Surah Al-Kahf mentions two answers, and the ruh is mentioned in Surah Al-Isra, the previous surah:

Allah says: "They ask you about the reality of the ruh." Qul al-ruhu min amri rabbi — "Tell them the ruh is an order from my Lord." That's it. I can't tell you beyond that.

This is mentioned in some narrations — that the Jews said: "If he answers you all three questions, that means he is a liar." Meaning, regarding this third question — if he starts getting into the intricacies of the soul, then a prophet wouldn't say that. So this is exactly the type of answer he gave. He said: "I don't know the reality of the ruh." SubhanAllah.

Then the way the verse ends: wa ma utitum min al-'ilmi illa qalila — "You all have been given nothing but a small amount of knowledge." Utitum is passive form — majhul. "All of you have been given." So you didn't even achieve anything in your life — it's all been given to you. All the knowledge that this room has, all the hours and years of studies that we collectively have — and then talk about your families, your children, your parents and grandparents, and all the hundreds of millions of books, all the libraries of the world, and all the multi-billion dollar research centers across the globe in any field — all of that is called utitum. All has been given to you. Not something you have achieved yourself, but Allah has given you the ability to get to those secrets.

Number two — there is an explanation in Arabic called nakirah tahta al-nafi: when you have negation, when you have a nakirah (an indefinite word) after a negation, that means absolute generality. Wa ma utitum min al-'ilmi qalilan yufid al-'umum — "You have been given nothing, nothing at all, except for a tiny little bit." Instead of saying "you were given a small amount" — that's one way of saying something. But Allah doesn't say that. Allah first of all denies it entirely: "You got nothing" — okay, fine, you got a little bit. So that tells you that that little bit is seriously very, very, very, very little.

So from amongst that little amount, you cannot expect to know the secrets of the ruh. You cannot expect to know the secret of pre-destiny. People push that all the time — randomly walking out the door, saying: "But what about taqdeer? I'm confused about this. I'm confused about that." And of course the answers that we have are very limited. These things, especially taqdeer — those are very slippery slopes. You don't want to go in that direction.

Practice on what you know. You know Fajr is necessary — let's do that. We know Isha is necessary — let's do that. We know guarding your gaze is necessary — let's do that. What we do know, let's focus on that. But what shaitan does is he makes us neglect what is necessary and what is known to all of us, and makes us run around things that we don't understand and which are of absolutely no benefit in reality.

Practicing on the shari'ah, the external aspects of shari'ah, is what makes you enlightened. Practicing on the sunnah of Rasul ﷺ is what makes us enlightened.

So this is the explanation of the ruh that the Prophet ﷺ was asked to give. It comes from Allah. And then the story of the whole cave was mentioned in detail. And that individual who conquered the lands — his name is Dhul-Qarnayn. His story comes in afterwards, towards the end of the surah.

The Lesson of Insha'Allah

Now it comes in narrations that the ulama say the reason why this wahy was delayed was because he did not say Insha'Allah. Ayah number 23 and 24 of Surah Al-Kahf will come:

Allah says: "Do not say about something you're going to do tomorrow — don't say about it 'I'm going to do it' without saying Insha'Allah." So the benefits of saying Insha'Allah are huge. Oh by the way, that's not to evade responsibility — that's not one of the benefits. Unfortunately, even Biden caught on to that — he said Insha'Allah in his election. That's why I ask people: anytime people say Insha'Allah, I say — is that a Biden Insha'Allah? Which Insha'Allah are you speaking about? These are ideas that we have misused.

People say: if Insha'Allah could sue you, you would sue us. Because we've misused it so much. But there's a lot of benefit, subhanAllah, in the word Insha'Allah. And one of those greatest benefits is complete submission and humility in front of Allah. We say: let's have chai and biscuits after the tafsir. Array bhai, it's right there, what's the big deal? Come on, we'll have chai and biscuits. Why do you have to say Insha'Allah? Array bhai, nothing — I won't even be able to walk out of the masjid alive without the will of Allah. Everything you say, you say Insha'Allah. Letting us know we can't control anything of our life. If Allah doesn't will it, then this water bottle won't be able to be lifted in my hand. Nothing will happen. That's why anything and everything we say — Insha'Allah.

And that continues to show Allah how humble we really regard ourselves — that I can't do anything in my life without Your will and power. Instead of saying "I'm gonna win the election, we can do it, we can do it" — no, you can't do anything. You can't lift a bottle of water, and you cannot win any election. Only Allah can give you that. So a "we can" and "I can" attitude is not good. That's un-Islamic. Yes, you work super hard — and you say: our leader is Allah. I'm part of the army of Allah. Allah is my leader, and if Allah wants it done, I'm going to achieve it. But me, myself, without Allah being present in that team is not going to work.

Reflecting on the Fifteen Days of Difficulty

Now a little moment for you to reflect on how difficult these 15 days were for the Prophet ﷺ. Allah could have revealed the verse right away. I want us to think, because you and I go through a lot of hardships in life. All of us go through hardships. And you say: "Wait, why did it happen like this? I just wish it would have been so easy and simple. Why did it have to happen like this? And my life now has become so much more difficult." For example, someone gets married — it didn't work out, and they suffered so much in a divorce. And now, alhamdulillah, they got remarried and it's beautiful. Why didn't this happen in the first place? Or sometimes someone doesn't get remarried, or someone's spouse passes away, someone's child passes away — and a person says: "Why did it happen like this?"

My friends, think about this story. Fifteen days — you've got the whole of Makkah wanting to break down your home, saying "you liar, we told you, we knew it." And you have to sit there, go to the haram, go pray your salah, and come back home with the whole city taunting you. Everyone is speaking against you. Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un — imagine. And who is this? He's not just a righteous person. He is the ultimate Nabi of Allah, the greatest human being. For him this is so difficult. Unbelievable.

And Allah is watching him go through this difficulty. That's what I want you to think about. Allah is watching His Nabi go through 15 days of unbelievable emotional torture and pain — and He didn't send the revelation. How long would it take Allah to send it on the first or second day? I'm telling you — you've cried enough, let me send it on the third day? No. There's a hikmah. It's going to come after 15 days. You can cry as much as you want — it will come on the 15th day, not one second earlier.

And on another occasion, when Jibreel عليه السلام didn't come, Nabi ﷺ said: "Oh Jibreel, I'm missing you. Where have you been?" So Jibreel said — as mentioned in Surah Maryam:

Jibreel said: "We cannot come down without the permission of your Lord. We cannot just pop in. We have to come with the permission of Allah. Allah didn't give us permission, so we can't come."

So I want us to reflect — every time you and I go through difficulties, think about what Rasulullah ﷺ went through, and you realize there's got to be some wisdom, there's got to be some hikmah here. I can't expect Allah to run the universe the way I want it. Maybe because I pray two raka'at salah and give $100 sadaqah, my problem should be solved immediately. No — you may not get it. It may take you 15 days, it may take you 15 years. But you cannot give up. Whatever the issue is — you want to have a child, it's been 16 years, you don't have a child — no problem. I know people who have gotten one in the 70th year of marriage. No problem, just don't give up. Why did you stop making du'a? Keep on making du'a and keep on using all other means that are there.

For any issue you have in your life, don't complain: "Why is Allah putting me through this?" Just think about the life of Rasulullah ﷺ. And this is what is discussed during the month of Rabi' al-Awwal, when we talk about the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ. Many times a person says: "Brother, you don't know what I'm going through." Brother, you don't know what Prophet Muhammad ﷺ went through. Why don't you pick up a book of seerah and read — how did Allah choose to shape Prophet Muhammad ﷺ's life, with so much challenge and difficulty? After all of that, his status is the highest of the high. But Allah made him go through so much difficulty before he arrived there.

So these are the three incidents upon which the surah was revealed. I talked about the themes last time — the four stories and the fitna of kings, fitna of wealth, fitna of knowledge, and fitna of means.

Translation and Tafsir of Ayahs 5–8

"They do not have any knowledge for this, nor do their forefathers. It is a heinous word that issues from their mouths. They say nothing but a lie."

"Yet perhaps, O Prophet ﷺ, you would consume yourself sorrowing upon their traces, if they will not believe in this divine discourse."

"Know that indeed We have made all that is on the earth as an adornment for it, only to test them as to which of them is best in deeds."

"For certainly, at the end of time, We shall most surely make all that is on it a barren plain of dust."

Commentary on Ayah 5: No Knowledge, No Forefathers

So Allah is continuing from the previous verses. Allah is warning those people who say Allah had offspring. And those who are doing misdeeds, Allah is warning them. Now He says: "They do not have any knowledge for this, nor do their forefathers."

There are two ways that a person gets knowledge. One is dhati — where a person himself is able to acquire that knowledge. Or number two — inherited from his elders, fathers, mothers, teachers, and so forth. So Allah is saying they have no knowledge of this at all. Notice: min 'ilmin — 'ilmin is also nakirah, for students of the Arabic language. 'Ilmin is nakirah, and you have ma of negation there as well. So very exhaustively, Allah is saying: they have absolutely no trace of knowledge. Not from themselves, not from their forefathers.

There's a reason why a person may not know something. One reason is that something is present but you're just not aware of it because it's hidden from you. A second reason you may be unaware of something is because it simply does not exist — that's why you don't know about it. So Allah's partner does not exist. Allah's son or daughter does not exist. Allah's wife does not exist. What are the final verses of Surah Al-Isra?

Allah has absolutely no partners. Allah has no wife, no kids, no one to be with Him. These are the final verses of Surah Al-Isra.

So now Allah is saying: without any knowledge you are speaking such heinous things. Kaburat kalimatan takhruju min afwahihim — kalima means a word. Now in Arabic, kalima is a word, but it doesn't just refer to a word. Statements are also called a word. Like la ilaha illallah Muhammadur Rasulullah is an entire statement, it's called kalima.

Similarly Allah says:

When death will come to the disbeliever, he'll say: "Rabbi arji'un" — please send me back — "la'alli a'malu salihan fima taraktu" — so that I may do some good deeds in the past life that I left behind. Allah says: kalla — absolutely not. Innaha kalimatun huwa qa'iluha — it is simply a word he had to say. Everyone is going to say this. Everyone who is leaving this world will be begging Allah. But no one is going to listen. No one is going to say, "Oh, really you want to go back? Come back." Absolutely not. He just had to say it because that's what everyone says when they get here. And in front of him waits the barzakh — that life between this dunya and akhirah — till he is raised up on the Day of Judgement.

So Allah says: kaburata — meaning a'zumat — how heinous of a statement this is. Takhruju min afwahihim — that is emanating from their mouths. Where do statements come from? They don't come from our fingers or eyes. Why is Allah saying that it's coming from their mouths, from their lips? This is added emphasis to how heinous it is.

We say that in English as well: "I can't believe what you just said from your tongue." Things of that sort. That's one explanation. Number two: Allah is saying how shocking it is — one is you have evil thoughts, one is you have heinous thoughts, one is you have unacceptable thoughts. But one is to verbalize those thoughts — that is really bad. Verbalizing the thoughts that you have is not acceptable.

Like a group of companions came to Rasulullah ﷺ and said: "Ya Rasulullah, sometimes we go through such feelings and thoughts that we would rather be flung into a fire than utter those statements. What should we do?" And I know many brothers have asked me the same question — that as soon as they say Allahu Akbar, crazy thoughts come to mind. As soon as they go into sujood, crazy visions come. This is just shaitan. This is shaitan trying to stop you from your prayer. Some brothers as soon as they say Allahu Akbar, they start suffering physical pain; some suffer waswas.

So you have to do the ilaj of that. Of course, you seek refuge in Allah from shaitan — a'udhu billahi min al-shaytanil rajim — excessively. Do wudu, freshen your wudu again. And then read the ayat of ruqya: Qul Huwallahu Ahad, Qul A'udhu bi-Rabb al-Nas, Ayat al-Kursi. Last week also I told you the manzil — make a habit of reading the manzil, the 30 verses. You can download it and recite it. And then try to ignore the waswas. Don't sit there and say "I wonder what this means, why is this happening?" Just ignore it. Don't pay attention to it. The more we focus on it, the more we embolden these shayateen. They see they've grabbed your attention. So you don't want to give them that. I'm doing what I was told to do in the tafsir — reading the manzil — not because I'm intimidated.

So the Sahaba said: "There are certain things we feel that we would never ever want to utter, but when these thoughts come, what should we do?" What did Nabi ﷺ say?

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 132)

In one narration it says tilka mahdu al-iman — "That is the absolute true iman." What does that mean? So there are multiple explanations. One explanation is: the fact that you are so scared of uttering those words, and you are so worried about these thoughts — forget about uttering them, you don't even want to think about them. You're saying: "I would rather be flung into fire than utter these thoughts." This is the sign of your true iman. This is the more acceptable, more well-known opinion.

And there's another opinion I heard from our ustadh, Mawlana Sulaiman Choksi sahab: a thief attacks where there is money. He will go attack a wealthy person's car, home, or a bank. He's not going to go try to steal from a street peddler or someone living under a bridge. So when shaitan comes and puts waswas in your mind, that means he is afraid of you — because he sees you've got a lot of potential. So he wants to push you off by putting waswas in your mind. And then you get so caught up in these waswasas that you forget your real purpose.

So if someone is going through a lot of thoughts, they should not feel: "Maybe I am a horrible person." Because that's part of the plan of shaitan — to make you think the most horrible things. And a person is praying salah, they're in front of the Ka'bah, and they're saying: "How? Where is this coming from? Why am I thinking about this most disgusting thought?" No — that's not who you are. You have a lot of goodness in you. But shaitan is afraid that your prayer or your umrah or your tahajjud will bring you such closeness to Allah that it will ruin all his efforts against you. So he wants to derail you and make you actually think these whispers are from you. Understand? So if you know anyone going through this, give them this advice: "By mashallah, you're great. Don't worry. Nabi ﷺ said — that is real iman."

The one who is a mushrik, a disbeliever — what waswasa is he going to get? He's already gone. Shaitan feels safe about him. He feels threatened by a true believer. So this is what the Quran is saying: how dare you had the audacity to not just think about these statements, but actually mention them on your tongue.

Dear brothers and sisters, this is why we should train our children as well — to explain to them this whole concept of waswas and thoughts. Not every single thought that you have, you need to go post on Twitter. Because some of these things, if spoken, constitute kufr. If you're thinking about it yourself while eating your bowl of cereal — after that, go pray two raka'at and ask Allah for protection. But you don't have to share this with the world. Because if you write it, tweet it, speak about it, make a meme about it — then you're going to be responsible for it.

Allah says in Surah Qaf: "There isn't a single statement that comes out of the human mouth except that there is an angel waiting, writing down everything. Every single statement." When it comes to the khawatir — the thoughts that pass through your mind — you and I are not responsible for that, as bad as they may be.

In yaquluna illa kadhiba — Allah says: "This is nothing but a lie." That's all it is — the lie that Allah has a son.

Commentary on Ayah 6: Do Not Consume Yourself in Grief

The next ayah:

This is a very powerful verse of the Quran. In this verse Allah is mentioning to Rasulullah ﷺ that you need to take it easy. Because you have taken the responsibility I have given you to such heights that you are now harming yourself. As we would say: "I'm worried about your health. You're taking a lot of stress." So Allah is now calming Rasulullah ﷺ down.

What does bakha'a mean? Imam al-Zamakhshari says: bukha' is the deepest vein in the back of the throat — such that when a person is slaughtering an animal, that is the last thing. After that there's no life left. He said: the deepest extent of a slaughter is when you hit the bukha'. All the way till basically the skin of the neck at the back. So bakhi'u nafsaka means to utterly and completely kill yourself. The Quran is telling the Prophet ﷺ: at the level of stress you are taking over the ummah, you are going to fully kill yourself.

This same word bakhiun appears in Surah Al-Shu'ara. Allah mentions right in the beginning of Surah Al-Shu'ara:

Allah says the same thing: "Perhaps you may end up killing yourself — muhliqa nafsaka — over the fact that these people are not accepting your message, are not becoming believers, are not willing to believe in the message you have brought."

The Love of the Prophet ﷺ for the Ummah

Let's read the story of Abu Talib. It is narrated by Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنهما: when Abu Talib fell ill, the leaders gathered and said: "Your nephew curses our forefathers and our gods. If you were to send a messenger to him to stop him, that would be nice." So he sent a messenger to the Prophet ﷺ, and Rasulullah ﷺ came and sat with Abu Talib. So Abu Jahl got scared:

He said: "If Rasulullah ﷺ and Abu Talib sit together one on one, maybe he will convince Abu Talib and soften him up towards Rasulullah ﷺ." So Abu Jahl jumped up and rushed into this gathering where Rasulullah ﷺ and Abu Talib were, and he sat there, so that Abu Talib would not be affected. The Prophet ﷺ could not find a place to sit next to his uncle, so he sat near the door of where this meeting was taking place.

Abu Talib said: "Oh my nephew, why is your nation complaining about you to me? They claim that you curse their gods." So Rasulullah ﷺ said:

"Oh my uncle, I want them to say one kalima. If they say this kalima, the entire Arab world will have its neck bowed down to them, and the non-Arabs — if they don't want to accept the belief — will be paying jizya to my nation." So they were shocked and said: "One kalima?! We take an oath on your father — bring us ten, we'll say ten. If we can become the leaders of this? By one statement? We won't say one statement, we'll say ten. Whatever you need us to say, we'll say it." And then they said: "But what is it?" Even Abu Talib got interested and said: "What is this statement, my nephew?"

Rasulullah ﷺ said:

"Just say: La ilaha illallah." So they quickly got up, angrily, and started dusting their clothes — and the Quran says in Surah Sad:

"Has he made all the multiple gods into one god? This is very surprising." So Nabi ﷺ continued on his mission.

It comes in another narration that Nabi ﷺ, in Mina, when the mushrikeen were coming for hajj, he would go from tent to tent and invite them towards Islam. And what would happen when he went to invite them? His own uncle would be walking right behind him saying: "Don't believe in this liar, don't believe in this magician, don't believe in this madman." Imagine — you have a person with a bullhorn walking behind you telling everyone he's a madman. A four-year-old could not handle a younger sibling doing this to him. Yet here we have the Nabi of Allah — his own relative uncle standing behind him — and Nabi ﷺ does not stop. He goes into tent by tent.

The narrator of a hadith says: when he saw this — and he was not a Muslim at that time, narrating this afterwards — he said: the people of that tribe would mock and ridicule him so badly that you would feel pity as an outsider. And then Nabi ﷺ would go to the next tent. That is himmah. Why should I deprive the people of the next tent? It's not fair. Think about this for the ummah: if you have been dealt with in an inappropriate manner from someone, you should not stop doing the work of deen. It's not fair for the people. If you have a great talent and you are serving people in any capacity, and someone said something to upset you — why should you deprive the rest of the people who could benefit from your expertise?

This narrator says: what shocked me was that the very next day, Rasulullah ﷺ went to the same tent again. But if you were to look at his face, his emotions and his speech, you would think that he had never met these people before. He went with so much hope, so much excitement, so much desire for their hidayah — that you would think he does not know who these people are, that he must be mistaken. But no — he's been there. He knows who they were, he knows what they said last week. Yet his fikr for them does not allow him to step back.

Another narrator says: Nabi ﷺ would wake since morning time, and after doing his own things, he would go into the valleys of Makkah and just go around to people, saying:

"Say La ilaha illallah and you'll be successful." So this narrator says there were three responses. Number one, there were those who spat in his face. Number two, there were those who threw soil and mud on his face. And number three, there were those who cursed him. Three answers — cursing, spitting, and throwing soil on his face. How long? Every day, for hours on end.

Eventually, he says: one day I saw it was midday, the hot summer of Makkah — 120 degree temperature — and Nabi ﷺ was still going around. Then a girl came with a bowl of water, and the Prophet ﷺ washed his blessed face off of that dirt and spit of the disbelievers, and washed his hands. And this girl looked at him and was very worried. Then he addressed this girl and said:

"Do not be afraid of your father being disgraced, or of your father being ambushed and assassinated. Allah will make this deen reach wherever the night and the day reach. Wherever the sun rises and the sun sets, Islam will reach there — by honoring those who are worthy of honor, or disgracing those who are worthy of disgrace. But it will happen." And this narrator says he realized then that she was Zaynab, the daughter of Rasulullah ﷺ — a very beautiful young girl who had come to see her father suffering like that.

Imagine the love any daughter has for her father. And then imagine the father is Muhammad ﷺ. To see your father being disgraced like this every day — being spat at, facing the accusations, the insults of the people, so worried about the safety of your father. And he is telling her: "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." Allah wants me to go through this — because there is a great maqsad ahead. The maqsad is that Islam needs to flourish. And in the process of Islam flourishing, if we have to suffer and make sacrifices, then this is our honor.

That's something, my dear brothers and sisters, every one of us needs to think about: how honorable do I think I become by going through sacrifice for Allah, for the deen? Is there some type of genuine happiness — alhamdulillah, today my back is hurting so much for the sake of Allah. Today my feet are hurting so much because I did something only to serve the deen or serve the people. My dear brothers, if we don't have anything to show Allah, we're going to be in trouble. We have to have something in our account to show Allah — to say: I suffered for Your deen to spread. I went through difficulty for people to gain salvation. If we are true ummati of Rasulullah ﷺ, we've got to feel that. We must feel that.

And that's why Nabi ﷺ is described as da'ib al-ahzan — consistently grieving, consistently thinking, consistently worried about the ummah. At the same time, Nabi ﷺ did not create a bad mood around him — instead you see how he was able to do this great balancing act. Certain companions said: "Every single time we saw Rasulullah ﷺ, he would be smiling at us. We saw no one had a better smile than him." And they compared — there's a moon, and then there's this face. And they said: "By Allah, his face is more beautiful." So even when he was internally crying and worried about everyone, he knew how to cheer people up.

Nabi ﷺ also said:

To make someone happy — to bring a smile on someone's face — is one of the best forms of sadaqah. So that's one side. And the other side is Rasulullah ﷺ sitting there, crying, crying for the ummah.

What do we need right now? We need people who are sincere in their desire for khair for the ummah. Muslim or non-Muslim — luq achhe hain — people are good. Shaitan and nafs have ruined people. But people are good. They don't know any better. Nabi ﷺ, no matter what type of difficulty he went through, would say:

"Oh Allah, guide my people, because they do not know better." He is sitting there bleeding, and companions say:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3900; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1792)

"How can a group of people ever be successful who have bloodied the face of their Nabi?" Yet still he doesn't curse them. Nabi ﷺ's character — as we know:

— was the very best character. And no matter what the situation was, he was always able to keep himself calm and collected. How? The secret is that Nabi ﷺ had a maqsad — a purpose. And the purpose was: "How can I become the means of saving this entire group of people — billions till the Day of Judgement — from Jahannam?" And in order to fulfill that purpose, he needed to do whatever was required. I don't know if I gave this example last time or not, but I'll repeat it — the example of someone wanting to jump off a bridge. If he says "I want a green, blue, pink ice cream," you don't know where to get it, but you go figure it out. Because you want to get him off that bridge and save him from death. You will bear with whatever nonsense he puts forth. Whatever tantrum he shows, you will deal with it. Because you want to save him. That is how you stay calm and collected when you have a maqsad in front of you.

Nabi ﷺ had the purpose of saving humanity from Jahannam. He saw Jahannam. He understood what Jannah was and what Jahannam was — and he knew people had no idea what they were going towards. He mentioned in a hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6483; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2284)

"My example and your example is like the person who has lit a lamp and a lantern — and then there are moths and flies and firebugs that are falling into this lantern at night. They're dying. They don't know that this fire, besides giving light and warmth, is actually going to kill them. They're running toward it, thinking 'there's light over here.' Little do they know — behind this light and warmth — is death." That is the example of the ummah running towards haram. They see dunya, they see materialism, they see the shahawat, and they say "this is too good, we need to go here." What they don't realize is that behind this beautiful greenery is a poison that will destroy.

Nabi ﷺ said: "I am holding on to you by your waist" — that is the strongest hold — "but you are pulling yourself away from my grip and falling into Jahannam." This is speaking about leaving the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Sunnah in Our Lives — Especially at Weddings

As one brother was mentioning — he went to a wedding and said: however many janazahs of the sunnah you can take out, they did. Every single sunnah you could imagine, every single obedience of Allah and His Rasul in that wedding — they packed it up as a janazah. "We are happy here for this occasion of a husband and wife getting together — hence we will destroy every sunnah we've ever known." Why are people doing this? Rasulullah ﷺ wants us to get married. He said all the prophets get married. "This is my sunnah. If you don't follow the sunnah, you're not from amongst me." So much emphasis on marriage. Who said don't get married? Who said don't treat your spouse properly? But follow the sunnah of marriage — don't bring haram into it, don't bring dancing, don't bring music.

This is an issue we could talk about every single week. People perform their salah properly, they are regular in their masjid, regular in their zakat, regular in other things. But when it comes to marriage, you cannot differentiate between Muslim and non-Muslim — no difference. It's shocking. The deen is completely out of these events. Reading Quran daily, even tahajjud regularly. But when it comes to weddings and occasions like this, every single haram thing is happening. This is our weakness. Some people have a weakness at weddings and events. Some people have weakness in salah. They're all the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ. We have to worry about this, we have to speak about it, we have to highlight these things.

And when is the discussion? Don't do the discussion when it's already happening — it's too late. This planning has to be done beforehand. You go speak to the hosts, to the father and the mother of the groom and the bride, and ask: how is the wedding going to take place? And then sit there and explain to them nicely. If you care about the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ, you want to do this planning beforehand.

And I want to tell all those men and women who are to get married or looking to get married: you say you want to get married according to the shari'ah, but your mom and dad want a cultural wedding. Remember — if a person is sincere in their du'a and their desire to stay away from haram in their wedding, and they want to have sunnah in their wedding, Allah will accept their du'a. It will happen — trust me.

Today we're really good at saying no to things we don't want. How come when it comes to the deen, when it comes to the sunnah, everyone caves in? When it comes to choosing the spouse, people say "it's my way or the highway." But when it comes to the occasion, everyone will follow everyone's ways except the way of Rasulullah ﷺ.

In this month of Rabi' al-Awwal, with people speaking about the sunnah — the real thing is: where is the sunnah in my life? I'm addressing myself, you address yourself. To what degree is the sunnah present? The sunnah will speak louder than anything else. If you never sang a nasheed in your whole life, you never heard a naat in your whole life — you're still a solid Muslim. What you will be judged on is: what part of the sunnah is reflected in my life?

This group of brothers and sisters — make this niyyah today: that your own weddings, your daughter's weddings, your son's weddings — you will follow the sunnah. Say Insha'Allah. No matter how challenging it may seem. If I'm writing the check, if I'm paying for it, I will not put a dollar into haram. I'm not going to be paying the bill in the grave. As an adult, as a father — why should I be paying the bill in the qabr for the sins you all made me do? You have to refuse. Plan it all from beforehand — weeks, months in advance. Zehn banana padta hai. You have to create a mentality. This is the khushi ka mauka — how can I bring happiness to my spouse and my marriage if I make Allah and His Prophet angry?

They say in India, Pakistan, and other countries: when big shots get married, they send gifts and clothes to thousands of people — the people cleaning the streets, the guy who cleans the bathrooms, the next-door neighbor's cleaner — everyone is getting a gift, because it's khushi ka mauka. The only one they forget is Allah and His Rasul. You pray, mashallah — you all are musalli-type people, you come to the masjid. Why is it that this group of people, when it comes to these issues, forgets about everything?

If you have a private weakness — that's between you and Allah, and let's pray Allah removes our sins and allows us to do tawbah. But collectively doing something is another whole ball game. You say "I listen to music" — that's between you and Allah. But why do you want to make a thousand people witnesses to that sin? Why do you want to involve a thousand people in that sin? Nabi ﷺ said: the biggest fool is the one who ruins his akhirah for someone else's dunya:

The one who ruins his own akhirah to please someone else. Because what do we say? "We want to please people — khushi ka mauka hai, people get happy." I understand certain types of people get happy. But who's going to pay the bill in the grave? It's just really not worth it.

Caring for the Ummah — Action Steps

So this comes back to the concern Rasulullah ﷺ had for the ummah. We need this group of brothers and sisters, mashallah, to make the niyyah that we will start loving the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ. What's the first step? Du'a. Du'a is the start.

Aisha رضي الله عنها narrates: Rasulullah ﷺ said: "Ya Aisha, you want me to make du'a for you?" She said: "Yes, Ya Rasulullah, please make du'a for me." So he said:

"Oh Allah, please forgive Aisha for all her past sins, her future sins, what she did privately, and what she did publicly." So Aisha رضي الله عنها began to laugh — so much laughter out of happiness, her head fell into the blessed lap of Rasulullah ﷺ. Then Rasulullah ﷺ looked at her and said: "Oh Aisha, are you happy with this du'a?" And she said: "Yes, my Nabi, my husband, I'm so happy." So Nabi ﷺ said: "Oh Aisha, I make this du'a for my ummah in every salah."

So the du'a we should be doing for the ummah — read with me:

"Oh Allah, please forgive the ummah of Muhammad for all their past and future sins, what they did privately, and what they did publicly." If you don't want to say it in Arabic, you can say it in English, Urdu, whatever your language is. If you make this part of your du'a daily, subhanAllah — the rewards that you'll be getting will be the first step in fulfilling the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

We need people who care for each other. And part of that care is: you're coming for Isha prayer and you see your next-door neighbor gardening — just stop by and invite him. "Come." I feel uncomfortable — but if you saw the hellfire, you would not say this. The reason why we feel uncomfortable inviting our own children, our own next-door neighbors, our own relatives to the deen, is because our minds are not even thinking of what's awaiting us over there. If you care about your neighbor, if you care about your loved ones, then worry about their deen, my friends. Become a da'i. Invite them towards khair. Whatever you're learning from this class or any other class — share it personally. Talk to them. Invite them.

Like one-on-one sales — if you're in sales, you figure out how to get this customer. Marketing. That same mentality of marketing and customer service — we've got to bring it to the deen. How do I get to this brother who's going far away from the deen? Let me think. How about I invite him over for snacks? How about I take him out to tea? And then build a relationship. And then say: "Mashallah, today let's just go for Isha." Build it up. But if you think about how to do it, Allah will inspire you with the answers.

One of the simple requests I ask you: become a da'i to this program every single week. You think — however much I benefited, there are people who may benefit much more. Let me increase my profits by working on ten other people, five other people — including those who are very far away from the deen. No problem. We don't write off anyone. We don't write off anyone. Recently a student said: "We want to have a small group — quality over quantity." But how do you know where the quality lies? On what basis are you deciding quality?

Don't claim piety. He is the one who knows who has the most taqwa. How do you know where the taqwa lies? In the deen, the more the merrier. There are hidden gems everywhere. We say they're all gems — the pollution of the outside world has simply covered up their shine and luster. So if they all come, bring anyone and everyone to the mahol of the masjid — they all will shine.

Make du'a for the ummah, and make a niyyah that every single week you come. And if you can't make it, you listen online. And for sure make a habit of inviting people. If we can't do this, then ask ourselves: to what degree do I love the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ?

Today people don't have concern for their own spouse. The husband is in the masjid, and his wife is not praying. When is the last time there was some genuine effort — with hikmah — to help her? At least there should be two raka'at of prayer and some tears shed. You want yourself to be in paradise and her to be somewhere else? You call her "my love, my dear," you buy this and that for her — but if she's missing her prayers, where is she headed? If she's not wearing her hijab, where is she headed? Who's going to worry about that if you don't, as a husband? Similarly for all wives — if your husband is going in a different direction, if you can't speak, then let your heart speak, let your tears speak. Wake up at night and make earnest du'a for your husband. The way we make du'a for our kids — make du'a for each other. This is another problem: today people care about their kids but don't care about their spouses.

We have to start with islah at home. And then insha'Allah ta'ala start including the rest of the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Commentary on Ayah 7: The World as a Test

"We have made everything on this earth as a test." Basically, the entire world is one big exam. And every single aspect of this world is continuously testing us. Remember this. Shahawat are a test from Allah. Every single desire. I have a desire to drink — I'm thirsty. So now there's water in front of me. I drink one glass and say alhamdulillah — I became successful. Allah forbid, wine is offered to me. I say "no, I don't drink this" — I made sabr, and I've gotten successful.

So shahwah — the desire to drink, the desire to eat, the desire to look at something, the desire to have relationships — all of those shahawat, in reality, every single one of them is a way to get closer to Allah, believe it or not. Because if you fulfill them in a proper manner, it will take you closer to Allah. And if you refuse to go the wrong route, it'll also take you closer to Allah. Shukr and sabr. Do what's right and do shukr. And when haram is offered to you, do sabr — and you'll also get reward.

For example, a person is attracted to the opposite gender. His gaze is going there, and then he looks down — that's ajr for that. If someone is attracted to the same gender — that's a test. Just like attraction to the opposite gender is a test, attraction to the same gender is also a test. In both cases, Allah is watching how you respond to that. Every single aspect of our life is a test. And what's the end result?

"To see who amongst us has the best of deeds." So insha'Allah, we'll share a few more points on this next week, and then we'll move on to the next ayah, which begins the story of the actual People of the Cave.

Memorization Request and Announcements

So we had our request last week — make niyyah to start reciting Surah Al-Kahf. I want to see how many of us recited it this past week. Those who recited it at least once — raise your hand. Mashallah. And those who recited it more than once this week? Alhamdulillah. And those blessed individuals who were able to recite all of it, or a portion of it, every day? Alhamdulillah, alhamdulillah.

This is where we're trying to get: a portion of the first ten, last ten — at least. Let all of us get on that routine. First ten, last ten, every single day. And slowly on our way to start memorizing all of it.

So we said our goal over two weeks is ten verses. We are now at verse six or seven. There's going to be a Google Classroom link shared for all of those who registered. On the way out, please register on the iPad so that we have your email and we'll send you the Google Classroom link. For those who would like assistance in memorization — so that you have someone to listen to your ten verses — insha'Allah we'll arrange that. If you're memorizing on your own, alhamdulillah.

One easy way: go to a Quran app on your phone that has a voice reciter with it. Choose someone who recites slowly — like Shaykh Mishary Rashid, Shaykh Khalil al-Husary, or Shaykh al-Minshawi. Put the first verse on repeat — ten times, twenty times — and it will come with a color per portion of the ayah. If you make a habit of listening to each verse going back and forth to work, you can easily memorize those ten verses over two weeks. Less than a verse per day — very doable, insha'Allah.

We will conclude with some dhikr and du'a before we head out for chai and snacks. May Allah reward all of those who are bringing in these snacks. May Allah reward and bless immensely our students who are making effort even though they have exam preparation this week — they're making the snacks and taking care of all the live stream and other things. May Allah reward them and give them barakah in their studies. Ameen, ya Rabb al-'alamin.

A couple of announcements: Friday night will be the first program we will be having at Dar al-Salam for Sahih al-Bukhari Dars. Please look out for the text message and WhatsApp message for final details. Saturday: Team Fajr — 6:15 AM, every Saturday — we have dars, dhikr, Salat al-Ishraq, and a full hot breakfast. Please join us, 6:15 AM, on-site and online (breakfast is only on-site at the moment).

And the third announcement: the Seerah Conference is November 12th and 13th. We have Mufti Mudathir coming from California, Mawlana Shu'ayb Wardak coming from Toronto, Mawlana Hamza coming from St. Louis, and many of our local Chicago ulema and Dar al-Salam teachers will be speaking, insha'Allah. We request all brothers, sisters, students, and children to come. There's going to be babysitting, food, and all arrangements are made. We have many brothers coming from out of town. So if any of you are listening from out of state — please plan to come. Tickets are very cheap in November, off-season before Thanksgiving weekend — $40 round-trip tickets, subhanAllah.

And the salawat goal — please pick up your cards on the way out and participate. Get your families to participate. We are trying to reach the goal of 7 million salawat by the Seerah Conference, bi-idhni ta'ala. If you're out of state, we'll set up a link for you to put in your pledge — just like we have the monthly khatm al-Qur'an, similarly we'll have it for salawat. Say insha'Allah.

When we do dhikr of la ilaha illallah, make a niyyah of breaking all the false idols in our hearts through la ilaha — and then through illallah, only the love and muhabbah of Allah penetrating our heart. Next we will say Allah Allah, stamping our heart with Allah's love. Then we'll send salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ. And lastly, we'll seek forgiveness from Allah.

As we gather and make du'a for each other, I also kindly ask you to remember my father in your du'a — he was just diagnosed right before Maghrib with COVID and is also suffering from pneumonia while traveling overseas. Please make du'a for his shifa, insha'Allah.

Closing Du'a