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

Surah Al-Kahf | Part 2 | Āyāhs 5–8

أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ

There is no knowledge for them, nor for their fathers. A great word it is that issues from their mouths. They say nothing but a lie. So perhaps you will consume yourself with grief over their traces if they do not believe in this discourse, alas.

We have made what is on the earth an adornment for it, that We may test them as to which of them is best in deed. And indeed, We will make what is on it a barren plain of dust.

Ṣadaqallāhul 'Aẓīm. So these are āyāhs 5 to 8, and today we are discussing them. I will do the full translation in a little bit.

Background: The Occasion of Revelation

I wanted to go over the revelation — I don't think we covered last week the story of the revelation of this entire sūrah. Nabī ﷺ, upon him this entire sūrah was first of all revealed collectively. The entire sūrah, as mentioned in the hadīth, was revealed at one time, and 70,000 angels attended the revelation. They came with the revelation — 70,000 angels came with the sūrah — to show its majesty. This is mentioned in Tafsīr Rūḥ al-Ma'ānī on the authority of Sayyidunā Anas رضي الله عنه.

Virtues of Sūrah Al-Kahf

Some of the virtues of this blessed sūrah 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 the Dajjāl, the imposter. In some narrations it mentions the first 10 verses, in some narrations it mentions the last 10 verses.

Then we see Sayyidunā Sahl ibn Mu'ādh رضي الله عنه narrates that the Prophet ﷺ said: one who recites the first and last verses of Sūrah Al-Kahf, for him there is light from his feet up to his head — there will be nūr 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 sūrah, then for him there is light from the earth up to the sky.

So obviously reciting the entire sūrah is much more rewarding — that a person will have nūr from the earth all the way up to the heavens. What will this nūr do? This light, besides helping him differentiate between right and wrong in this dunyā, will also serve him well on the Day of Judgement. And every sin between this Friday and the last Friday that he recited Sūrah Al-Kahf — through the barakah of reciting Sūrah Al-Kahf — Allah will forgive all those sins committed from last Friday till this Friday. So every single Friday that we recite this sūrah, the sins will be forgiven.

Speaking about the nūr, the Qur'ān says:

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

To the extent that the hypocrites will say, as mentioned in Sūrah Al-Ḥadīd:

The hypocrite men and women will tell the believers, "Wait for us, please wait — انظُرُونَا نَقْتَبِسْ مِن نُّورِكُمْ — we would like to take a little bit of your nūr, because we can't see anything. We need you to stop here so that we can see forward." And Sūrah Al-Ḥadīd mentions that a caller will call out: go back, oh hypocrites — you want nūr? Go look for nūr over there. Don't come and beg 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 of it, facing the believers, will be filled with mercy. And the side facing the disbelievers will be filled with عَذَاب. They'll start calling out from the other side of the wall:

They will say, "Were we not with you?" — "Why is this wall between us? Now we can't see anything, we're in pitch dark. Were we not together in the dunyā? We were together — why are we separated here?" The answer will be: "Of course you were. But you put your own selves into fitnah. You chose evil over righteousness. You chose to put yourself through fitnah. And you were always waiting for difficulties to befall us Muslims. And you were always in doubt — you never really actually believed the promises that Allah made. You were thinking, maybe, maybe, but you were never fully on board. And the long drawn-out plans of the future life deceived you. And the ultimate deceiver — Shayṭān — deceived you."

The long drawn-out plans — الْأَمَانِيُّ. We'll do this, just wait a little bit. SubḥānAllāh. Allah forgive us, Allah protect us. But when are you going to start reading Qur'ān? When are you going to start taking Islamic studies classes? When are you going to start coming to the ṣalāh? "InshāAllāh, let me just get my business settled. It's been just only one year now. Just one more year." 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." And it will never finish. This is just part of the big deception of Shayṭān — these drawn-out plans. Not yet, tomorrow. One day I'll start. And Allāhu Akbar, death comes to us and we haven't started anything.

So nūr is something so valuable that Sūrah Al-Kahf gives us, and amongst other good deeds, this will be a source of helping us on the Day of Judgement, along with all the other a'māl that a person does.

The Story Behind the Revelation

Now when it comes to the actual background of the revelation, I wanted to share that as well. The Mushrikīn had sent two of their individuals to Madīnah al-Munawwarah. They said, "We would like you to go to the Yahūd and ask them some questions. Based on what answers you get, we will know what to do." So they went ahead to Madīnah and met these tribal leaders, and asked them what they said about Rasūlullāh ﷺ.

It was Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and 'Uqbah ibn Abī Mu'ayṭ — these two went to the Ahl al-Kitāb. The Jews of Madīnah, before Rasūlullāh ﷺ had come, used to always tell the tribes of Aws and Khazraj, as well as the idolaters:

"The time has come for a Nabī to come whom we shall follow, and we will assist him, and we will destroy you the way 'Ād and Iram were destroyed." So the people of Makkah said, "You are always talking about a prophet. Now we have a man over here — let's go ask about him."

So 'Uqbah ibn Abī Mu'ayṭ and Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith went to Madīnah to ask them. They said, "If you want to know the reality of Muḥammad ﷺ, then ask him about three things. If he answers them, he is truthful. And if he doesn't, then you know." According to some narrations, they said if he answers two of them he is correct, and if he answers all three, he is not a prophet.

They said: ask him about that nation that went by in the past centuries and had a very interesting story — who were they and what was their story? Number two, what was the name and the story of that individual who traveled extensively throughout the world and conquered lands in the east and the west? And number three, what is this concept of rūḥ?

So these two individuals went back to Rasūlullāh ﷺ and asked these three questions. Nabī ﷺ said:

"I will answer your questions tomorrow." The next day they showed up, and Nabī ﷺ did not have an 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 cannot make up an answer — he has to wait for the answers to come from Allah. And he is not receiving any answer.

You cannot imagine what Rasūlullāh ﷺ went through. How difficult it must have been — he made a promise, and his honour is on the line. More importantly, Islam's honour. The belief in Allah depends on this. They are saying whether you are a liar, an imposter, or a true prophet. And you said you would have the answers. It has been fifteen days, and you have not given an answer yet.

Eventually, after fifteen long days, all of the answers came. When it came to the rūḥ, that is mentioned in Sūrah Al-Isrā', the sūrah immediately preceding Al-Kahf:

They ask you about the reality of the rūḥ. Tell them: the rūḥ is an order from my Lord. That is it — I cannot tell you beyond that. In some narrations it mentions that the Jews said, "If he answers you all three questions" — meaning, if he starts getting into the intricacies of the soul — "then he is a liar. A prophet would not say that." So this is exactly the type of answer he gave. He said: rūḥ — I do not know the reality of the rūḥ. SubḥānAllāh.

Then the way that verse ends: وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا — "You all have been given nothing but a small amount of knowledge." أُوتِيتُمْ is the passive form — مَجْهُول. All of you have been given — you did not even achieve anything yourself. All the knowledge that this room has, all the hours and years of studies that we collectively have — and then think about your families, your children, your parents and grandparents, all the hundreds of millions of books, all the libraries of the world, all the multi-billion dollar research centres across the globe in any field — all of that is called أُوتِيتُمْ. All has been given to you, not something you achieved yourself. Allah has given you the ability to get to those secrets.

Number two, there is an explanation in Arabic called نَكِرَةٌ تَحْتَ النَّفْيِ — when you have negation, and you have a نَكِرَة, which is an indefinite word, after a negation, it means absolute generality. وَمَا أُوتِيتُم مِّنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا يُفِيدُ الْعُمُومَ — that you have been given nothing at all, except a tiny little bit. Instead of saying, "You were given a small amount" — Allah first denies it entirely, and then says, "fine, you got a little bit." So that tells you that that little bit is seriously very, very, very, very little.

So from amongst those little things, you cannot expect to know the secrets of the rūḥ. You cannot expect to know the secret of pre-destiny. These things — especially taqdīr — are very slippery slopes. You do not want to go in that direction. If Allah knows about my future... do not even go in that direction. Practice on what you know. You know Fajr is necessary — let us do that. We know 'Ishā is necessary — let us do that. We know guarding your gaze is necessary — let us do that. What we do know, let us focus on that.

What Shayṭān does is he makes us neglect what is necessary and known to all of us, and makes us run around things that we do not understand and which are of absolutely no benefit in reality. Practicing on the Sharī'ah — the external aspects of Sharī'ah — is what makes you enlightened. Practicing on the sunnah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ is what makes us enlightened.

So this is the explanation of rūḥ that Nabī ﷺ was asked to give — the rūḥ comes from Allah. And then the story of the people of the cave was mentioned in detail. And that individual who conquered the lands — his name is Dhul Qarnayn, whose story comes towards the end of the sūrah.

The Lesson of InshāAllāh

It comes in narrations that the 'ulamā say the reason why this waḥy was delayed was because Nabī ﷺ did not say InshāAllāh. This will be addressed in Āyāh 23 and 24 of Sūrah Al-Kahf:

Allah says: do not say about something "I am going to do it tomorrow" without saying InshāAllāh. So the benefits of saying InshāAllāh are immense. Oh, by the way — that is not to evade responsibility. That is unfortunately a misuse. People say if InshāAllāh could sue you, you would be in court, because we have misused it so much.

But one of the greatest benefits is complete submission and humility in front of Allah. "Come on, we are going to have chai and biscuits after the tafsīr — what is the big deal? Why do you have to say InshāAllāh?" Brother, I will not even be able to walk out of the masjid alive without the will of Allah. If Allah does not will it, this water bottle cannot be lifted in my hand. Nothing will happen. That is why for anything and everything we say InshāAllāh — letting us know, we cannot control anything of our life. That continues to show Allah how humble we truly regard ourselves: "I cannot 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 cannot do anything. You cannot lift a bottle of water, and you cannot win any election. Only Allah can give you that. An "I can" attitude without referencing Allah — that is un-Islamic. Yes, you work super hard, and you say, "Our leader is Allah. I am part of the Ḥizb of Allah, the army of Allah as mentioned in the Qur'ān. Allah is my leader — if Allah wants, I will achieve it." But me, myself, without Allah being present in that team, is not going to work.

Reflecting on the 15 Days of Silence

Now I want you to take a moment to reflect on how difficult these fifteen days were for the Prophet ﷺ. Allah could have revealed the verse, man. I want us to think — because you and I go through a lot of hardships in life. All of us go through hardships. And we say, "Wait, why did it happen like this? I just wish it would happen like this instead — it would have been so easy and simple. Why did it have to happen like this?"

My friends, think about this story. Fifteen days. The whole of Makkah wants to break down your home and call you a liar. And you have to sit there — go to the Ḥaram, pray your ṣalāh, and come back home with the whole city taunting you. Everyone is speaking against you: "We knew it. You are a liar all along." إِنَّا لِلَّهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ. And who is this? He is not just a righteous person. He is the ultimate Nabī of Allah — the greatest human being. For him this is so difficult — unbelievable.

And Allah is watching His Nabī go through this difficulty. That is what I want you to think about — Allah is watching His Nabī go through fifteen days of unbelievable emotional torture and pain, and He did not send the revelation. There is a ḥikmah: it will come after fifteen days. You can cry as much as you want — it will come on the fifteenth day, not one second earlier.

And once, Jibrīl عليه السلام did not come on another occasion — and Nabī ﷺ said, "O Jibrīl, I am missing you. Where have you been?" — as mentioned in Sūrah Maryam. Jibrīl عليه السلام 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 did not give us permission, so we could not come."

I want us to reflect on this emotional pain. Every time you and I go through difficulties, think about what Rasūlullāh ﷺ went through. And you realize there has got to be some wisdom here. I cannot expect Allah to run the universe the way I want it. Maybe because I prayed two rak'āt ṣalāh and gave $100 in ṣadaqah, I think my problem should be solved immediately. No — it may take you fifteen days, it may take you fifteen years. But you cannot give up trying. Whatever the issue is — if you want to have a child and it has been sixteen years — just do not give up. Keep on making du'ā. Keep on using all the means that are there. Do not complain about why Allah is putting you through this — just think about the life of Rasūlullāh ﷺ.

Many times a person says, "Brother, you do not know what I am going through." Brother, you do not know what Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ went through. Why do you not pick up a book of Sīrah and read how Allah chose to make the life of Rasūlullāh ﷺ happen — with so much challenge and difficulty? After all of that, of course his status is the highest of the high. But Allah made him go through so much difficulty before he arrived at that great status.

So these are the three incidents upon which the sūrah was revealed. Last time I spoke about the four themes: the fitnah of faith (Ahl al-Kahf), the fitnah of wealth, the fitnah of knowledge, and the fitnah of power and kingship.

Translation and Tafsīr of Āyāhs 5–8

Āyāh 5 — No Knowledge, Only Falsehood

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.

There are two ways that a person gets knowledge. One is ذَاتِي — where a person himself is able to acquire that knowledge. Or number two, inherited from his elders — inherited from his fathers, mothers, elders, teachers, and so forth. So Allah is saying: they have no knowledge of this at all. Notice — مِنْ عِلْمٍ — عِلْم is a نَكِرَة, and you have مَا نَفْيِيَّة there as well. So Allah is very exhaustively saying: they have absolutely no trace of knowledge — not from themselves, not from their forefathers.

There is a reason why a person may not know something. One reason is that something is present but you are just not aware of it because it is hidden from you. A second reason you may be unaware of something is because it simply does not exist — and that is why you do not know about it. So Allah's partner does not exist. Allah's son or daughter does not exist. Allah's wife does not exist. As the final verse of Sūrah Al-Isrā' states:

Allah has absolutely no partners, no wife, no children, no one to be with Him.

So Allah is saying: without any knowledge, you are speaking such heinous things. كَبُرَتْ كَلِمَةً تَخْرُجُ مِنْ أَفْوَاهِهِمْ — كَلِمَة in Arabic is a word, but it does not just refer to a single word — statements are also called a word. Like لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ is an entire statement yet it is called كَلِمَة. Similarly, Allah says in Sūrah Al-Mu'minūn:

When death will come to the disbeliever, he will say, "My Lord, send me back so that I may do some good deeds." Allah says, "Absolutely not. 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, especially the disbelievers: "Yā Allah, send us back." But no one is going to listen. He is going to get punished, and in front of him is waiting the barzakh — that life between this dunyā and ākhirah — until he is raised up on the Day of Judgement.

So Allah is saying: how heinous of a statement — كَبُرَتْ meaning عَظُمَتْ — that is emanating from their mouths. Why does Allah specify "from their mouths"? Where else do statements come from — not from our fingers or eyes. This is added emphasis to how heinous it is, how shocking — one thing is to have evil thoughts, and another is to verbalize them. Verbalizing such thoughts is really bad.

A group of companions came to Rasūlullāh ﷺ and said, "Yā Rasūlallāh, sometimes we go through such feelings, emotions, 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 — as soon as we say Allāhu Akbar, crazy thoughts come to mind. As soon as we go into sujūd, crazy visions come. This is just Shayṭān trying to stop you from your prayer.

If someone is going through these waswasas, you seek refuge in Allah from Shayṭān excessively. Do wuḍū, freshen your wuḍū again. Read the āyāt of ruqyah. Make a habit of reading the manzil — the thirty protective verses — and blow on yourself regularly. Read أَعُوذُ بِاللَّهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ, and then try to ignore the thoughts. The more you focus on them, the more you embolden the shayāṭīn. Do not let them grab your attention.

So the ṣaḥābah said there are things they would never ever want to utter. What did Nabī ﷺ say?

(Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Book 1, Hadīth 211)

In one narration it says: تِلْكَ مَحْضُ الْإِيمَانِ — "That is the absolute true īmān." What does it mean that these thoughts are a sign of true īmān? The fact that you are so scared of uttering those words — forget about uttering them, you do not even want to think them — and you are coming to me worried about this: this is the sign of your true īmān. This is the more famous opinion.

And there is another opinion I heard from our ustādh, Mawlānā Sulaymān Choksi Ṣāḥib — where does a thief attack? Where there is something inside. At a bank, at a wealthy person's home. Shayṭān attacks where there is some spiritual wealth. When Shayṭān comes and starts putting waswasas in your mind, that means he is afraid of you. He sees you have a lot of potential, so now he wants to push you off. He makes you think of the most horrible things, and then makes you believe, "Maybe that is who I am." No — that is not who you are. You have a lot of goodness in you. But Shayṭān is afraid that your ṣalāh, your 'Umrah, your tahajjud will get you so close to Allah that it will ruin all his efforts against you.

Now the Qur'ān also says:

Allah says in Sūrah Qāf: there is not 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 خَوَاطِر — the thoughts that come through your mind — you and I are not responsible for that, as bad as they may be. But if you write it, tweet it, speak about it, make a meme about it — then you are going to be responsible for it. This is why we should train our children in this concept as well.

Āyāh 6 — The Prophet's Grief for His People

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

This is a very powerful verse of the Qur'ān. In this verse, Allah is mentioning to Rasūlullāh ﷺ: "You need to take it easy. Because you have taken the responsibility that I have given you to such heights that you are now harming yourself. I am worried about your health. You are taking too much stress." So Allah is now calming Rasūlullāh ﷺ down.

Imām al-Zamakhsharī says: بُخَع is actually a vein in the back of the throat — the last vein. When a person is slaughtering an animal, that is the last thing. After that, there is no life left. He said, "That is what بُخَع is." So بَاخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ means to utterly and completely kill yourself. The Qur'ān is telling the Prophet ﷺ: not that you are just going to get stressed out, but that you are actually going to fully kill yourself at the level of stress you are taking over the Ummah.

This is something on this blessed Rabī' al-Awwal night we should be contemplating and thinking about. Think about the greatest sunnah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ — his whole lifestyle, his mindset — worry, worry, worry about people. Love people. Genuine care for people. Interest in the needs of the people. Empathize with people, sympathize with people, be with them in their moments of happiness and in their moments of sorrow. Always look out for their best interest even if they do not understand where their best interest lies. That is the sunnah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ for the entire Ummah — Ummah al-Ijābah and Ummah al-Da'wah. The Ummah that accepted his call, and the Ummah that had not yet accepted his call — non-Muslims — they are called Ummah al-Da'wah. Nabī ﷺ retained the same level of love, care, and concern for all of them.

This word بَاخِع is also mentioned in Sūrah Al-Shu'arā':

Allah says the same thing: "Perhaps you may end up killing yourself — مُهْلِكٌ نَّفْسَكَ — 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."

Let us read the story of Abū Ṭālib. Ibn 'Abbās رضي الله عنه says:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadīth 3884; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Book 1, Hadīth 24)

When Abū Ṭālib became ill, a group from Quraysh came — amongst them Abū Jahl. They said, "Your nephew curses our gods and he does this and that." Abū Jahl feared that if Rasūlullāh ﷺ and Abū Ṭālib sat together one-on-one, Abū Ṭālib would soften for him. So Abū Jahl jumped up and inserted himself into the gathering. The Prophet ﷺ could not find a place to sit next to his uncle, so he sat next to the door.

Abū Ṭālib said, "O my nephew, why is your nation complaining about you to me?" The Prophet ﷺ said: "O my uncle, I want them to say one kalimah. If they say this one kalimah, the entire Arab world will bow its neck down to them, and the non-Arabs who do not accept the belief will pay jizya to my nation." The people were shocked:

"One word?! By your father, bring us ten — we will say ten! If by one statement the Arabs will come to our feet?" Then they asked, "What is it?" The Prophet ﷺ said: "لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ — just say this." They quickly stood up in anger, dusting off their garments, saying exactly what Sūrah Ṣād records:

"Have you made all the multiple gods into one God?! This is very surprising!" And yet, Nabī ﷺ continued on his mission.

It comes in another narration that in Minā, Nabī ﷺ would go from tent to tent among the mushrikīn who had come for Ḥajj, inviting them towards Islam. And as he did so, his own uncle would walk right behind him saying, "Do not believe in this liar, do not believe in this magician, do not believe in this madman." Imagine: you have a person with a bullhorn walking behind you, telling everyone you are a madman. Not even a ten-year-old could handle a younger sibling doing this. Yet Nabī ﷺ did not stop — he went tent by tent.

And the narrator of the ḥadīth says — this narrator was not a Muslim at that time — when he saw this, he said the people of the tribe would mock and ridicule Nabī ﷺ so badly that even as an outsider you would feel pity. After that, for you and me, we would say, "I will never invite anyone to the masjid again. Did you see how he spoke to me?!" Then Nabī ﷺ would go to the next tent. Why should I deprive the people of the next tent because of how the first ten people reacted? Think about this — if you have been dealt with inappropriately, you should not stop doing the work of deen. It is not fair to the people. If you really care about the Ummah, you would not let your ego get in the way.

And this narrator says: what shocked me most was that the very next day, Rasūlullāh ﷺ went to the same tent again — and if you were to look at his face, his emotions, and his speech, you would think he had never met these people before. He went with so much hope, so much excitement, so much desire for their hidāyah — as though he did not know who they were. But he had been there. He knows what they said. Yet his concern for them would not allow him to step back.

Another narrator says that Nabī ﷺ would spend entire days in Makkah going around the valleys saying:

"Say, Lā ilāha illallāh, and you will be successful." There were three responses: some spat in his face — مِنْهُمْ مَنْ تَفَلَ فِي وَجْهِهِ. Some threw soil and mud on his face — وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ حَثَى عَلَيْهِ التُّرَابَ. And some cursed him — وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ سَبَّهُ. Cursing, spitting, and throwing soil on his face — every day, for hours on end.

One day it was midday — hot summer of Makkah, 120 degrees — and Nabī ﷺ was still going around. A young girl came with a bowl of water. He washed his mubārak face from that dirt and spit of the disbelievers, and washed his hands. The girl looked at him, very worried. And then he addressed her and said:

"Do not be afraid of your father being disgraced or ambushed. 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 honouring those worthy of honour, or disgracing those worthy of disgrace. But it will happen." The narrator says he then realised that this girl was Zaynab, the daughter of Rasūlullāh ﷺ — a very beautiful young girl who had come to see her father suffering like that, so worried about his safety. And he is telling her: "Do not worry about me. There is a great maqṣad ahead. Islam needs to flourish."

My dear brothers and sisters, every one of us needs to think about how honourable it is to go through sacrifice for Allah and for the deen. If we do not have anything to show Allah, we will be in trouble. We have to have something in our account — I suffered for your deen to spread. If we are true ummatis of Rasūlullāh ﷺ, we have got to feel that.

That is why Nabī ﷺ has been described as دَائِمُ الْأَحْزَان — consistently grieving, consistently thinking, consistently worried about the Ummah. And yet at the same time, certain companions said: every single time we saw Rasūlullāh ﷺ, he would be smiling at us. We saw no one with a better smile than him. And he ﷺ said that one of the best forms of ṣadaqah is to make someone happy — to bring a smile on someone's face. Internally crying, internally worried for everyone, and yet he knows how to cheer people up. This is the amazing balance he ﷺ struck.

No matter what type of difficulty he went through, what did he say?

"O Allah, guide my people, for they do not know better." He is sitting there, bleeding. And the companions said: كَيْفَ يُفْلِحُ قَوْمٌ شَجُّوا وَجْهَ نَبِيِّهِمْ — "How can a group of people ever be successful who have bloodied the face of their Nabī?" And yet he still does not curse them. Rasūlullāh ﷺ's character — as Allah says:

He was always able to keep himself calm and collected. How? Because Nabī ﷺ had a maqṣad — a purpose. His 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 fulfil that purpose, I need to do whatever must be done.

Nabī ﷺ illustrated this in a beautiful hadīth:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadīth 6483; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Book 43, Hadīth 65)

"My example and your example is like the person who has lit a lamp and a lantern. And moths, flies, and light bugs fall into this lantern at night — dying. They do not know that this fire, besides giving light and warmth, is actually going to kill them. That is the example of the Ummah running towards ḥarām. They see dunyā, materialism, shahawāt, and say, 'this is too good, we need to go here' — not realizing that behind this beautiful appearance is a poison that will destroy. I am holding on to you by your waist" — the strongest grip — "and you are pulling yourselves away from my grip and falling into Jahannam."

This is speaking about leaving the sunnah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ. As one brother was mentioning about a wedding he attended — he said, every sunnah you can imagine, every act of obedience of Allah and His Rasūl at that wedding, they packed it up and buried it. We are happy for this occasion of a husband and wife coming together, so we will destroy every sunnah in the process.

Why are people doing this? Rasūlullāh ﷺ wants us to get married — he said, "All the prophets get married. This is my sunnah. If you do not follow the sunnah, you are not following my way." So much emphasis on marriage. Who said do not get married? Who said do not treat your spouse properly? But follow the sunnah of marriage — do not bring ḥarām into it, do not bring dancing and music into it.

Some people have their weakness in weddings and events. Some people have their weakness in ṣalāh. Some people in both. They are all the Ummah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ — we have to worry about this and speak about it. And the discussion should not happen at the event when it is too late — this planning has to be done beforehand. Go speak to the host, the father and mother of the groom and the bride, and explain to them nicely.

I want to tell all the brothers and sisters who are listening and who are looking to get married: if you are sincere in your du'ā and your desire to stay away from ḥarām in your wedding, Allah will accept your du'ā. It will happen. In this month of Rabī' al-Awwal, when people speak about the sunnah, let us really make this commitment. The real thing is: where is the sunnah in my life? To what degree is the sunnah reflected? That is what you will be judged by.

So this group of brothers and sisters — make this niyyah today that your own weddings and your daughter's weddings and your son's weddings will follow the sunnah. InshāAllāh. If you are writing the check, if you are paying for it, say: I will not put a dollar into ḥarām. Who is going to pay the bill in the grave? It just really is not worth it.

Concern for the Ummah — The First Step

We need this group of brothers and sisters to make the niyyah that we will start loving the Ummah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ. The first step? Du'ā. 'Ā'ishah رضي الله عنها narrates that Rasūlullāh ﷺ said to her, "Yā 'Ā'ishah, shall I make du'ā for you?" She said, "Yes, Yā Rasūl." He made du'ā: "O Allah, please forgive 'Ā'ishah for all her past sins and future sins — whatever she was supposed to do she did not do, and what she was not supposed to do she did — forgive all of this." 'Ā'ishah began to laugh with such happiness that her head fell into the mubārak lap of Rasūlullāh ﷺ.

He looked at her and said, "Yā 'Ā'ishah, are you happy with this du'ā?" She said, "Yes, my Nabī, my husband, I am so happy." So Nabī ﷺ said, "O 'Ā'ishah, I make this du'ā for my Ummah five times a day." Let us all read this together:

"O Allah, forgive the Ummah of Muḥammad for all their past sins and future sins, their hidden sins and their open sins." If you make this part of your du'ā daily, SubḥānAllāh — the rewards will be immense, and this will be the first step in fulfilling the sunnah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ.

We need people who care for each other. If you are coming for 'Ishā namāz, stop by your next door neighbour who you saw gardening and say, "Come on." If you really think about what is awaiting people over there in the ākhirah, you would not feel uncomfortable inviting them. The same focus we put into marketing and sales — bring that mindset to the deen. How can I get this brother who is going far from the deen to come back? Invite him over for snacks, take him out for tea, build a relationship, and then, "Hey, let us just go for 'Ishā." Build it up. If you think about how to do it, Allah will inspire you with the answers.

One of the simple requests I ask you: you become a dā'ī to this programme every single week. If you benefit, there are people who may benefit much more. We do not write off anyone. How do you know where the quality lies? لَا تُزَكُّوا أَنفُسَكُمْ — do not claim piety for yourself. هُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِمَنِ اتَّقَىٰ — He is the One who knows who has the most taqwā. Why do we think that when you have quantity, you sacrifice quality? In the deen, the more the merrier. There are hidden gems everywhere. They are all gems — it is simply the pollution of the outside world that has covered up their shine and luster. If they all come, bring anyone and everyone to the deen and the atmosphere of the masjid — they all will shine.

Make du'ā for the Ummah, and make a niyyah that every single week you will come. And if you cannot make it in person, listen online. Make a habit of inviting people. If we cannot do this, ask yourselves: to what degree do I love the Ummah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ?

Today people do not even have concern for their own spouse. If your wife is not praying, when is the last time you made earnest du'ā for her, shed some tears at night in tahajjud, and asked Allah for her hidāyah? If your husband is missing his prayers — you cannot just stay quiet. If you cannot speak with him directly, let your heart speak, let your tears speak. The way we make du'ā for our kids, make du'ā for each other. Start with fiqh at home and then, InshāAllāh, extend that concern to the rest of the Ummah of Rasūlullāh ﷺ.

Āyāhs 7–8 — The World as a Test

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

The entire world is one big exam. Every single aspect of this world is continuously testing us. Remember this. Shahawāt are a test from Allah — every single desire. I have a desire to drink: water is in front of me, I drink and say alḥamdulillāh, and I am successful. Allah forbid, wine is offered to me — I say no, I do not drink this. I made ṣabr from it, and I am successful again. Every single desire — to drink, to eat, to look at something, to have relationships — all of those in reality are a way to get closer to Allah, believe it or not. If you fulfil them in a proper manner, it takes you closer to Allah. And if you refuse the wrong route, it also takes you closer to Allah. Shukr and ṣabr — do what is right and give shukr. When ḥarām is offered to you, do ṣabr — and you will also get reward.

For example, a person is attracted to the opposite gender. His gaze goes towards it — he looks down. That is reward for that. If someone is attracted to the same gender — that is also 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. Every single aspect of our life is a test. And the end result? أَيُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا — to see who amongst us has the best of deeds.

InshāAllāh, we may share a few more points on this next week, and then we will move on to the next āyāh — which begins the story of the actual People of the Cave.

Memorisation of Sūrah Al-Kahf

We had our request last week — make a niyyah for all of us to start reciting Sūrah Al-Kahf. So I want to see, this past week, how many of us recited it? Alḥamdulillāh for those who have. And those who recited all of it or a portion of it every day — this is where we are trying to get: the first ten and the last ten, at least, every single day. And slowly on our way to memorising all of it.

The two-week goal is ten verses. InshāAllāh, there is going to be a Google Classroom link shared for all those who registered. For those wanting assistance in memorisation, we will arrange someone to listen to your ten verses throughout the week.

One of the easy ways: go to a Qur'ān app on your phone that has a voice qārī with it. Choose someone who recites slowly — like Shaykh Mishārī Rāshid, Shaykh Khalīl al-Ḥuṣrī, or Shaykh al-Minshāwī. Put the first verse on repeat ten or twenty times. It will come with colour highlighting per portion of the āyāh. Make a habit of listening to each verse going back and forth to work, and InshāAllāh you can easily memorise those ten verses over two weeks. It is less than a verse per day — very doable. InshāAllāh.

Dhikr and Du'ā

We will now conclude with some dhikr and du'ā before we head out. When we do the dhikr of لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّه, make a niyyah with لَا إِلَه of breaking all the false idols in our heart, and with إِلَّا اللَّه, only the love and muḥabbah of Allah penetrating our heart. Then we will say الله الله, stamping our heart with Allah's love. Then we will send ṣalawāt upon the Prophet ﷺ. And lastly we will seek forgiveness.

As we gather now and make du'ā for each other, I also kindly ask all of you to remember my father in your du'ā, as he was just before Maghrib diagnosed with COVID and is also suffering from pneumonia while traveling overseas. Please make du'ā for his shifā' — InshāAllāh.

Announcements

May Allah reward all of those who are bringing in the snacks tonight. May Allah reward and bless immensely our students who are making effort — even though they had exam preparation this week and exams next week — in making the snacks and taking care of all the livestream and other arrangements. May Allah reward them and give them barakah in their studies. Āmīn yā Rabb al-'Ālamīn.

A couple of announcements:

1. This Friday night will be the first programme at Dārus Salām for the Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī Dars, InshāAllāh. Please look out for the text message and WhatsApp message — just a few finer details still to be finalised.

2. Every Saturday, Team Fajr at 6:15 AM — Dars, Dhikr, Ṣalāt al-Ishrāq, and a full hot breakfast. Please join us — 6:15 AM on-site and online (breakfast is on-site only at the moment).

3. The Sīrah Conference is November 12th and 13th. We have Muftī Mudaththir coming from California, Mawlānā Shu'ayb Wardak coming from Toronto, Mawlānā Ḥamzah coming from St. Louis, and many of our local Chicago 'ulamā and Dārus Salām teachers speaking, InshāAllāh. Babysitting and food arrangements are made. Many brothers are coming from out of town. If any of you are listening from out of state, please plan to come — tickets in November before Thanksgiving weekend are very affordable.

4. The Ṣalawāt goal — please pick up your cards on the way out and participate. Get your families involved. We are trying to reach the goal of 7 million ṣalawāt by the Sīrah Conference. InshāAllāh, with Allah's will, we will achieve it and even exceed it. Say InshāAllāh. For those out of state, there will be a Google link to pledge your count — just as we have for the monthly Khatm al-Qur'ān. Those listening online can also participate InshāAllāh.