Surah Al-Kahf | Part 3 Ayahs 7-13 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed | Weekly Tafsir

Surah Al-Kahf | Part 3: Ayahs 7–13

Weekly Tafsir by Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

Opening Du'as

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. O Allah, send blessings and peace upon our Master Muhammad and upon the family of our Master Muhammad. And bless and send peace.

O Lord, open my heart and ease my affairs. And release the knot from my tongue so that they may understand my speech.

O Allah, teach us what benefits us, and benefit us with what You have taught us, and increase us in knowledge and action.

O Allah, inspire us to be righteous in our affairs, and protect us from the evil of our souls.

Steadfastness: The True Miracle

Steadfastness is better than a thousand miracles. So if you want to see a living miracle today, then that is: be steadfast on any one action — whether it's Salatul Fajr in the masjid, whether it is a dars in the masjid, whether it is some dhikr that you're doing on a regular basis — make sure that you stick to it. No matter what the situation may be, no matter how challenging of a day you may have had, no matter what time you slept the night before, make sure you don't give up on that. That is the karamah — that's the miracle that we all need to manifest within ourselves.

And let us renew our niyyah while we're here. We're here to please Allah. We're here to learn how to get closer to Allah. We're here to build our relationship with the Qur'an. We're here to rejuvenate our faith. We're here to rebuild our connection with Rasulullah ﷺ. And we are here to not only listen, but to practice and to propagate whatever we hear.

And we also turn to Allah and we say: Ya Allah, this Qur'an is an open book of guidance for all of us. Indeed, the solution to my problems of today — not of yesterday, of today — whatever new problems I walked into the masjid with, the solutions to these problems lies in this book. Allow me to be able to find it. And so with that niyyah, let us all begin today's lesson.

Ayahs 7–8: The World as a Test

Ayahs 7 and 8 — I translated and covered briefly at the end of last week's session, but I said I was going to revisit them quickly before we start the story of the People of the Cave. Allah Azza wa Jal says:

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 deed.

What is the connection of the previous verse to this verse? The previous verse said: perhaps, O Muhammad ﷺ, you may consume yourself, you may destroy yourself, sorrowing upon their traces. You are so sad that they don't believe, that you may end up — remember what bukha' meant? That nerve in the back of the neck — when you're slaughtering an animal, that's the last thing left there. So bukha' is almost a complete decapitation. That's bukha'. So the Qur'an is telling us that if you are so worried about the ummah, you may end up causing yourself to die. Don't do that.

The next verse then says: We made whatever is on the earth as an adornment for it, to test them. And then indeed:

We shall certainly make all that is on this earth a barren plain of dust.

What is the connection? The ulema say the connection here is: these disbelievers who don't believe in you, and you are out of sorrow almost taking your life — it's not worth it. Because at the end, everything:

Whatever is on top of this earth will be going into the earth — will be dust. Turab is dust. Whatever is فَوْقَ التُّرَابِ is also turab. Whatever is on the earth is also part of the earth.

From it We created you, and into it We will return you, and from it We will bring you out once again.

There is nothing more powerful on this entire world than a human being. Think about it. An atomic bomb — where does it come from? An atomic bomb doesn't give birth to an atomic bomb. We just recently lost the father of the atomic bomb from Pakistan. A simple 5'9", 5'10", 6-foot person was given the credit of making the atomic bomb. The most powerful thing on this world is not material things. The most powerful thing is the makhluq — Allah Azza wa Jalla's insan — when that insan does what he's supposed to do. When he does what he's supposed to do, he will go further than the angels.

So Allah is saying: everything, O Muhammad ﷺ, that's on this earth — I'm going to destroy it, I'm going to make it one barren plain land. Including these Fara'ina of Makkah — Abu Jahl, Abu Lahab, and the likes of them who are being such a pain for you — they're all going down. Their palaces are going, their gardens are going, and they're going. Today, seriously, where can we find the grave of Abu Lahab or Abu Jahl? Who knows where his palace was? Who knows where his house was? Who knows where his plantations were? All completely gone.

So Allah is consoling the Prophet ﷺ: these people are enjoying their power for a few days. And at the end, everything is going to come to dust.

The Qur'an: A Living, Ever-Relevant Book

But for us, there's so much more. The Qur'an isn't just a story that we say, like kids say, "Baba, share a story." You share a story with them, and then what? There's no "then what." This is it:

Every single story of the Qur'an is a sign for people who have intelligence — Ulil Albab. Lubb means brains. The Qur'an says: indeed there is benefit, wisdom, and lessons to be learned for the intelligent people from the stories of the people of the past. It's not a storybook that we put away and say, "That was nice." None of this is just historical fact. The Qur'an is not meant to be a history book. The Qur'an is supposed to be a book that's very alive, and it's supposed to be constantly giving us updated new solutions.

Think about it. The same story — but the benefits keep on changing. We hear about the latest electric cars getting new versions downloaded automatically. If a human being is able to do that, what about Allah Azza wa Jal? Why can He not have that same Qur'an — that same book — with new software continuously coming in? The iPhone is not changing, the same one is in your pocket, but the updates are coming in. And none of us think it's weird. It's normal. Why is it then strange that the Qur'an — which is Allah's word — has its lessons continuously updated?

People say, "No, but this is an old book. How can it be relevant to us now?" Just like no one throws away a one-year-old car or a one-year-old phone — even though that's man-made. And the Qur'an is not even "God-made" — the Qur'an is not a creation of Allah. The Qur'an is an attribute of Allah, not a creation of Allah. So it is above and beyond any creation. It's very alive and its message is constantly refreshing, being updated, with continuous updates in its application.

You take the explanation of Rasulullah ﷺ and the Sahaba and use that as a framework — I'm not saying you go out of that framework — and then you apply the verses of the Qur'an to the modern context.

The World as Adornment: Zina and Zuhruf

So here, let's see what the Qur'an is telling us. Every single thing on this earth is a zina — an adornment. What is zina here? It is that attractive zuhruf, that attraction which catches the eye and distracts a person. But then after that, it disappears. That's zuhruf — the Christmas lights, any other lights that attract a person, the circus coming to town. All of this is zuhruf, zarakif. All of that is zina. There is no haqiqah to it, no reality to it.

It is just like the topping on a cake. It is just like the candles on a cake — it's there, it looks beautiful. But after a while, you realize it's melting. They have ice carvings now at weddings — expensive ice carvings, made in the shape of a bride and a groom. How long does that last? As beautiful as it is, it will melt away. This is exactly what this entire dunya is.

Allah says: I made everything on this earth as a zina. Notice — Allah says everything on the earth. Why did He not mention other things? Because what's on the earth is closest to you. Even a toddler, someone who's just learning how to crawl, is focusing on the earth — picking up little things off the earth, playing with them, putting them in his mouth, interacting with the earth. The earth is that creation of Allah which we all interact with. The heavens may take a little age for a person to start reflecting on the sky. But the earth is something that everyone reflects upon and engages with. So the Qur'an is saying: even the earth — just look right beneath you — I have made everything on this earth a beauty for it.

Now let us understand why Allah made the earth beautiful. Why are people beautiful? Why are buildings beautiful? Why is the sunrise, the sunset, the plants, the animals — why is there beauty on earth? Why are we always wanting to pull out our phone and take a picture? Usually when a person enters a place and sees extraordinary beautification, he asks: what's the occasion? Is it a presidential arrival? A state dinner? A wedding night? So why did Allah make this earth so beautiful?

The purpose of all of it is to test you. This is all a big test. Every time you get caught off guard by the beauty of the things of this world — remember this ayah. Not just the natural beauty, but the man-made beauty as well. Think about it: this is a test. Similarly, the opposite gender is a beauty. But why did Allah Azza wa Jal place them all around? لِنَبْلُوَهُمْ — to test them. And what's the test about? أَيُّهُمْ أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا — who has the best of deeds? The scholars explain that the best of deeds here refers to those who will not get intoxicated in the materialistic world. Ahsanu 'amala are those who have the willpower to stay away from becoming enamored by worldly attractions.

If any of us say, "I like beautiful cars, nice cars, a beautiful home" — you're not irreligious. You're not a fasiq. You're not a sinner by saying that. You're saying what's natural. That's exactly what it's supposed to do — it's supposed to be attractive, it's supposed to be tempting. In the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2742)

Indeed, the dunya is sweet and green. And indeed, Allah has made you a khalifa in it — made you responsible for your dealings and the dealings of others in this earth. Allah is going to see how you go about your life.

Like there is a test where you tell a three-year-old, "Here are a bunch of jelly beans — wait two minutes, I'm coming, we'll eat after I come." And you see: will that child wait till you come back? Or will he start nibbling, going all out? They've done these tests on kids to see how strong their willpower is — which child has the ability to withhold and wait, and which child caves in. That same willpower is what Allah is referring to. You can enjoy life — no problem. Jannah has wine, jannah has milk, jannah has rivers of everything, jannah has hur, jannah has wildan, jannah has gold and silver. But you just have to wait. Some of us can do it, and some of us unfortunately fail to control ourselves.

So أَحْسَنُ عَمَلًا — Allah is going to see how you react with this green and sweet dunya. Allah Azza wa Jal says:

Allah Azza wa Jal Himself says: زُيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ — the following things have been made beautiful for mankind. You're not abnormal if you're attracted to these things. حُبُّ الشَّهَوَاتِ — the love of lustful things. What are those? مِنَ النِّسَاءِ — women. وَالْبَنِينَ — sons. وَالْقَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنطَرَةِ — not a little money, but tons of money. قَنَاطِيرِ الْمُقَنطَرَة means tons of it — insane amounts of money. مِنَ الذَّهَبِ وَالْفِضَّةِ — gold and silver. وَالْخَيْلِ الْمُسَوَّمَةِ — and not any horse, but the very best horses — the very best Ferrari. It's got to have that medallion, that logo right there. That's what الْخَيْلِ الْمُسَوَّمَة means. وَالْأَنْعَامِ — and livestock. وَالْحَرْثِ — and plantations and farms. After saying all of this, Allah says: ذَٰلِكَ مَتَاعُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا — this is mere enjoyment of the worldly life. وَاللَّهُ عِندَهُ حُسْنُ الْمَآبِ — the real reward and the best place to return is with Allah.

This is just starters. You know when you go to a dinner, the host brings out all the appetizers. The host may say, "MashaAllah, I'm happy you're enjoying the soup — but this is just the appetizers. You've got four or five main courses coming, then desserts, then tea." If you eat so many appetizers, what's going to happen to the rest? You have a limited amount of space. So if you indulge in the dunya, we're going to have nothing left in the akhira.

What does "indulge" mean? I didn't say "use." Indulge means to a level in which we forget our maqsad in this world — that at all costs, we prefer the dunya over the akhira, whether it comes from halal or from haram, whether it makes us neglectful of Allah Azza wa Jal. A deep-down desire for the sheer amassment of wealth is really a disease of the heart. It's a disease that many youngsters and adults have, and we may all have it at some time or another. The attraction is there. But let us ask Allah's protection from becoming an ashiq — a lover intoxicated with the love of it, saying "I must have more."

Instead we should ask Allah:

O Allah, make me content with what You have given me. And whatever I am missing in my life, make it up for me in a better manner. Whatever I want, whatever I desire, every day I'm making du'a — "Ya Allah, give me this, give me that" — and I'm not getting it, and You're not meant to give it to me. I'm not going to stop asking, I'm going to keep on asking. But the fact that I don't get what I want — I want You to replace that with something way better in the Hereafter.

Another beautiful du'a from Hizbul A'zam and Munajat Maqbul:

O Allah, whatever You have granted me from that which I like — allow me to use it in fulfilling what You like. I like money, I like cars, I like this, I like that. Okay — You gave it to me, I want it. A healthy body. Allow me to now utilize those blessings in a manner that befits Your ibadah, Your worship.

And: O Allah, what You have chosen to take away from me which I love — then make this empty spot in my heart be filled up with what You like. I want a son and I'm not getting it. I want a daughter and I'm not getting it. I want more children, or a well-paying job, or more honor and respect, or a promotion, or a healthy life — and I'm not getting it. There's an empty spot — a hasrat — and we're sitting there crying over something we didn't get. Oh Allah, whatever empty spot is in my heart from what I wanted and You didn't give me — make this empty spot be filled with what You like.

The bus moved on. You have an empty seat. Now what do we do on a long flight when we have an empty seat next to us? We spread out and sleep — we look forward to that. Your life is moving forward; you have empty spots in your heart, you're not getting what you want. Instead of sitting there crying over the empty spot, how about we ask Allah: "Ya Allah, fill this empty spot with something that You want."

Where do you get this from? You get this from the du'as of Rasulullah ﷺ. That is why we should all be reciting and going through his du'as. Have you ever thought about making a du'a like this? Our minds don't even go to that level. Just a job, food, drink — that's all we ask. But when you read the du'as of Rasulullah ﷺ, you see the depth. Munajat Maqbul, Hizbul A'zam — books available downstairs in the bookstore or online, wherever you want to get them. These are beautiful books that a person should make a habit of. They're divided over seven sections — a section to be recited daily — so in the course of a week you can recite the entire book. We did a maqra' here some years ago where we recited the entire Hizbul A'zam in one sitting, at the end of the winter intensive, alhamdulillah. And we gave ijazah to all the brothers and sisters who were present.

So this is what the Qur'an is saying: don't fall for the beauty of this world — it's all a big test. And what's going to happen at the end?

Every single thing that's on here will become a plain barren land. What is sa'id? Sa'id is that level of soil right on top of the earth in which there is no vegetation. And juruz is a plot of land that is free from any and all types of vegetation — perhaps a swarm of locusts or some natural disaster came and destroyed everything. That's called juruz. So you have sa'id which is empty, and then juruz which had something but was destroyed. Allah is saying: every single thing is going to come to an end.

Spending in Moderation

Our ustad gave us advice before we graduated. He said: when you get married, make sure your expenditure is equivalent to your paycheck. Don't go all out every single night — candlelight dinners, roses every day — and then the next week you can't afford anything. And your wife may begin to think the relationship is going downhill, not knowing you maxed out your credit card. The first month, make sure you spend in a manner that you can keep up with. Don't overdo it. This relates to one of the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ:

(Musnad al-Bazzar; also referenced in various collections of hikmah — attributed to the Prophet ﷺ)

Spending in moderation is half of your sustenance. When we overspend, there is no barakah in it. That's the issue.

Ayahs 9–13: The People of the Cave — An Introduction

Let's now move on to the next section and the big story of this surah. This story is covered in two sections: the first few verses are a synopsis of the story, and then after that, Allah repeats the whole story in detail over many, many verses. So let's do the short version first.

Now, O Prophet ﷺ, do you deem the account of the companions of the cave and the tablet recording the inscription to be amongst the most wondrous of Our signs? Do you think the story of the People of the Cave is the most amazing, most wondrous thing in the world? That's not true. The story of the People of the Cave is very unique, very wondrous. But guess what? Every aspect — the fact that you're sitting here alive and breathing, with all the bodily systems in your brain, your respiratory system, your nervous system, all the various organs running — do you think that's any less wondrous? That's what the Qur'an is saying. It's not just a story of the cave. Your existence and your breathing, in and out every single day, is a miracle that points towards Allah's greatness.

And that's why رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ — the word 'alam — where does it come from? 'Alam is the world. The word 'alam comes from عَلَامَة — a sign. And عَلَامَة also means sign. So the entire world is called 'alam:

Because the entire world is one big billboard pointing towards Allah's greatness. How can a person live in this world, breathe in this world, die in this world, and still not recognize Allah — when the entire world, which Allah calls 'alam, is all a 'alamah of His greatness? It's all a flag, a sign of Allah's greatness. So رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ — there's not just one world; all the worlds are pointing towards Allah. So the story of the People of the Cave is not just the most strange thing — there are many other wondrous signs.

Behold, there was a group of youth who took shelter in the cave apart from their people. أَوَى means to take shelter. فِتْيَة is the plural of فَتَى — a group of young people. كَهْف means a cave inside a mountain. They said: O our Lord, grant us from Your own providence mercy. وَهَيِّئْ means to furnish, to enable, to grant us. مِنْ أَمْرِنَا — in our present circumstances. رَشَدًا — right guidance. رَشِيد, رَاشِد — someone who is rightly guided. Ya Allah, provide us right guidance in our affairs right now.

So We struck a seal of sleep upon their ears in their cave for a great number of years. عَدَدًا means you have to sit there counting it — it's not a few years, it's many, many years. ضَرَبَ means to strike — that's why He says We struck it, sealed their ears in the cave.

Then We awakened them, the way you awaken people after death. That sleep was so deep it was like death — half of death. We awakened them after that so that We might distinguish which of the two parties among them would best enumerate the length of time they had remained in the cave. Of course, some of you might be thinking — لِنَعْلَمَ means "so that We may know." How can we translate this as "distinguish"? Because this is called عِلْمُ الظُّهُور — Allah already knows. Allah wants you to know it. He already has knowledge of everything. He is allowing the story to become a manifestation of His knowledge. That's why it is translated as: so that We might distinguish which of the two parties among them would best enumerate the length that they had abided in the cave.

حِزْبَيْن is the plural of حِزْب — a party. Which are the two groups? Within the People of the Cave, there are two groups, as we will see. One group said: we slept for a day or half a day. The other group said: I don't think we can sit and guess how long we slept — Allah knows best. That's one opinion. A second opinion is that the two groups refers to: the group of people who slept, who thought they slept for maybe a day or two; and the people outside who know that these people disappeared for hundreds of years. So there's now a difference of opinion that will get resolved at the end of the story.

Now We relate to you their tidings in truth. Indeed, they were young men who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.

This is now where the more detailed version begins. Let's first finish the shorter version before we move on.

The Story of the People of the Cave: Context and Lessons

The Qur'an Is Not a History Book

Allah Azza wa Jal says here that this group of youth are living at a time — and as we said, the Qur'an is not a history book. So we're not going to go through all the different opinions about which city, which era, which time, or the names of the king. That's not really the focus here. What's relevant are the lessons we can derive from the story. So we're going to stick to that.

This is the time before Rasulullah ﷺ, and more than likely during the time of the Bani Isra'il, perhaps even before Isa ﷺ. Because the Jews had meticulously preserved this story. And that's why — if you remember from last week — they told the mushrikeen of Makkah to go ask Rasulullah ﷺ about it, because they were familiar with it.

During that time, there was a town whose king was a mushrik. He invited people to worship idols and did not want people to follow the deen. In that era, these young men — Allah Azza wa Jal guided them towards Islam, towards their true deen. And the news reached the king. The king called them into his court and asked them: "What is it that I'm hearing about you, that you are trying to practice a religion not acceptable in our society?"

SubhanAllah. As you go through this story, think about what's happening in China today. That's what I mean — it's real. This story is alive in this day and age. Look at what's going on in China. Read at least a few pages. And ask yourself: I have such a hard time remaining a Muslim when no one says anything to me — my parents, my family, the masjid, the text messages, the WhatsApp, the Facebook posts — all pushing me toward the deen. Yet I have such a hard time fulfilling my basics. Imagine, la qadarAllah a million times, may Allah not make it happen — if I were in the situation that Muslims in China are faced with. They just made a decree that all domes are to be removed from masajid. Every single thing to completely destroy every aspect of sha'a'ir ul-Islam — the symbols of Islam.

So the king called them and said: "What is it I hear, that you're following this deen? Give this up." And they said: "No, we're not." And so they had a discussion. He said: "Who is this Allah?" And so they started giving the da'wah of Allah in front of the king. He was shocked that these young people had the audacity to speak like this. He said: "Okay, fine. I'll give you some time. You're young; you might not be thinking appropriately." According to some narrations, these young men were actually well-connected family members of the noble class — they had access to the palace, to the luxuries that the palace afforded people of the royal family. So he warned them: as royalty, you are saying these things — I'm going to strip you of these royal robes, make you lose all access to the palace. Instead of enjoying what you enjoy today, you'll be in the dungeon if you choose not to give up this faith.

And they said: "Give us some time." When they were allowed to go, they left. They went home, packed their bags, and they ran.

Now there are different narrations. Either these young people were together when they faced the king — he spoke to them all at once, gave them respite together, and they all left together. According to many other narrations, however, they were not all connected. These young people were different people from that time who were all Muslims — with one common denominator: they were Muslims when no one else was allowing them to be Muslim. So it happened that one day they were all out and about from the village and the town, and they saw each other. When they saw each other, they said: "Who are you? Why are you here?" No one was speaking. Then they said: "Let's take an oath that we all speak up to each other with our stories — on the condition that if our purpose of leaving town is the same, we will become one group and work together. And if our purpose is different, at least we won't rat each other out. We'll keep it quiet. If we can help each other, mashallah, good. If not, let's not harm each other." Go ahead — why are you here? Why are you here? Why are you here? So they all shared their story. And it became quite apparent that they had all left town because of trying to protect their deen.

Apply It to Your Own Life

My dear friends — apply this to your life. You have your mom and dad, your grandparents, your own home, your own car, your favorite gym, your favorite restaurant, your favorite drinks and food, your favorite sports, your favorite group of friends. And the only issue is there's pressure for you not to follow the deen. Which one are you going to keep? Which one are you going to give up? All of us should ask ourselves this question: what price are you willing to pay to remain a Muslim? What price are you willing to pay to be steadfast and to be able to perform your salah?

It hurts me thinking about a youngster I once saw who was growing out a beard. And then the next week I saw him, he had shaved it. I said, "What happened to your beard?" Instead of just saying, "Sheikh, please forgive me, make du'a for me," he says, "10 bucks." I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Well, I got a $10-an-hour job, and they don't want me to have a beard." This was about 15 years ago. I said: do you realize the gravity of what you're saying? What kind of filth is this. Instead of a person sitting there crying and saying, "I had to give up my beard for my job" — sometimes those types of tests come in a person's life.

As a brother once mentioned to me: "I grew out a beard but never thought much about it. But the real value of the beard came when I was going for an interview and someone said, 'You're going for that interview — you gotta trim your beard.'" There are still many people living who didn't realize colonialism is over. They're still thinking it's ongoing. If you walk out in a shalwar kameez or a kurta, they say — they're still living under colonial rule. Having a beard, wearing a thobe — they think the British are going to knock you out. So they have to be reminded: it's a free country. Alhamdulillah, we're able to practice.

One day I was giving a khutbah in another state. Afterwards, an elderly uncle came to me at the booth outside. He says: "Are you the khatib?" I said: "Yes." Usually it's either very good news or bad news when someone asks you that. So then he started going off on me. And why was he going off on me? Because I was wearing a turban. He said: "I cannot believe you — you're in America and giving a khutbah looking like a terrorist." And he himself was from one of the Muslim countries. I said: "What? Do you mean if wearing a turban is terrorism, then all the 5,000 angels plus the 3,000 that came at Badr were all terrorists? Because the Qur'an says:

Those angels were descending in the Battle of Badr wearing turbans. Rasulullah ﷺ entered Makkah wearing a turban. Rasulullah ﷺ was never seen with his head uncovered. As much as people want to make this into a desi thing, it's not a desi thing — it has nothing to do with India or Pakistan. Covering the head is part of the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. If Allah uses a certain group of people to revive it, good for them. But don't ever think this is coming out of some village in India — this is the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. So revive it, my friends.

There was a time in India and Pakistan where you would enter a masjid and not find a single person with their head uncovered. And now I've actually looked out from the minbar and could barely find even one person with their head covered in the entire masjid. It's a sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. Yes, it's not fard — yes. But it's one of the symbols of a Muslim. As Imam Zaid once mentioned: "If you have no other motivation, just do it to show solidarity with your wife, your daughter, and your mother who wears the hijab. They're out there, targets of Islamophobia."

Nonetheless — this is part of the colonialism. It's not a war of land; it's the war of hearts and minds — which they have won. A person is sitting at the age of 70 in a free country, and if you see someone wearing shorts and purple hair and a hundred tattoos, no problem. But you see someone wearing the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, he says, "Why are you dressed like a terrorist?" This is it. This is what's inside. There is no imtihan from Allah — you're already saying things like this. Allah forbid, when the imtihan comes from Allah, where are you going to be? When Allah Azza wa Jal, Allah forbid, puts you through this test — you choose Islam or you choose this — what are you going to do, my friend? In a free country, where no one tells you anything, you are afraid?

One brother many years ago came here — he's a refugee from Iraq, just walked into the masjid. He saw me after the salah and said: "I heard it's illegal to — I'm just a new person to this country — is it illegal to pray outside? That's why I came here." I said, "What? What did you say?" He said: "Yeah, I was praying — it's time for salah — so I'm praying outside." And a Muslim came up to him and said, "No brother, this is not the Middle East, this is America — this is illegal for you to pray outside, you have to go inside." This is where the deen gets hurt — by unfortunate people in whose hearts the greatness of Allah is not present, but the greatness of other things is.

Whoever does not fear Allah — Allah will make them afraid of everything else. Remember that. If you submit yourself to Allah, Allah will make you free from the fear of anyone else. And if a person is not afraid of Allah — look at what's happening in the world today. Everything is about the chair, who's in charge. People are so scared, and they're willing to go to extreme lengths — unbelievable amounts of oppression, to killing millions of their own people — because of this fear of losing power. Why? Because they're not afraid of Allah. So Allah, wallahi, has made them more scared of losing their power than any of us can imagine. And that's what makes them do the crazy things that they do.

Finding Our Cave

So where were we? These young men realized that the environment was not conducive. So what are you going to do? If we're asked why we are not practicing the deen — "By America. This is 2021. This is a university town. This is a Fortune 500 company that I'm working for. This is what's expected in the medical career." Whatever. The question is: is that really an answer that's going to pass in the grave? Is this what we're going to say?

That's why they say: الْعُذْرُ أَقْبَحُ مِنَ الذَّنْبِ — the excuse is worse than the sin. Imagine someone comes in late to school and says, "I was late because I was finishing my cigarette." The excuse is worse than the sin. So if a person is not practicing the deen and then gives the excuse of "circumstances" — my friends, a deen that's based on circumstantial factors will never last. COVID showed us that. COVID lockdown showed us that. If your deen or my deen was based on circumstances, then we are out. If the masjid is not open, I'm not going to pray. If the masjid doesn't have a program, I'm not going to attend. We've lost hundreds of millions of people in these past two years. We've lost them because the deen was based on environment and circumstances. And when the environment and the circumstances changed, they lost it.

Think about it again and again. This past two years is a great example of what happens when deen is based on environment and circumstances. That if Allah Azza wa Jal overnight chooses to switch them — the way He did for us in the second week of March 2020 — then we may lose everything.

When Dajjal shows up, the entire environment is going to be 100% absolutely anti-following the deen. It will be absolutely not conducive. So if we are having a hard time going against the flow today, what will happen 20 years from now? What will happen 30 years from now?

My dear friends, I want you to think about this. We're leaving our young children — the corona babies, as they call them — that entire generation will always be called corona babies. We're leaving them in a world that is thousands of times more challenging than the world you and I were born in and are living in right now. They will never know the pre-corona lifestyle. They have never seen it before. And for them to be able to practice the deen firmly will be an even much, much greater challenge than it is for us or our 18-year-olds right now. So we have to up the game. We really have to take it to the next level if we want to simply save ourselves.

When the car is slipping into the ditch — do you turn the steering wheel with one finger? No. You put your two hands and all your strength and turn the entire thing to the opposite side. That's exactly what you need to do right now. Because the entire deen is going toward the ditches. The ummah is falling off the deen. If you want to protect yourself and your family, you can't say: Jumu'ah once a week, alhamdulillah. We send our kids to Sunday school. I'm sorry, I'm being honest to God — it's not going to cut it. Sunday school, once-a-week Jumu'ah, Eid, cultural gatherings — it's not going to cut it. It's just a matter of time before we completely lose our generations to atheism.

If you want to protect yourself, you have to make an extra correction. And you really have to go all out. And people around you may say: "What are you doing? Why are you overdoing it? You're becoming an extremist." You send your kids to Islamic school, you send them to a madrasa, you send them to study, you go to the masjid more than once a day — people call that extremism. When your family starts calling you "too religious," understand that you are slowly getting in the right direction. Otherwise it's a problem.

We need to stop trying to play the game of being the most popular person on the block. Everyone must love our home. Everyone must love us. And if we don't go to their party, we lose that popularity contest. Understand that if you run on this popularity contest, you will become popular with Iblis and his army. If you want that, that's the way to do it. When the people who are not following the deen say, "This guy is becoming too religious" — that's a good sign. I'm not saying compromise on your character and your akhlaq. Send gifts to their house, no problem. Put money in an envelope — no one's saying don't do that. But we have to make sure that we are not compromising our deen in order to win over their approval.

So these young men said: we don't need the approval of society, and we don't need the luxuries the palace affords us. There's nothing more important to us than our deen. So let's go. And when they left, they didn't go for camping purposes. They went long-term to preserve the deen, and they took with them their books.

What is the Raqeem?

Some ulema have said Raqeem was the name of the dog. Some have said Raqeem is the name of the valley. Some have said Raqeem is the tablet in which something was recorded. رَقَمَ — they say رَقَمَ الحُرُوف — you've heard this before? Raqeem is one who wrote. رَقَمَ is to write. So Raqeem is a tablet in which something is written. What was written on there? Multiple opinions. One is that it was the Torah, or excerpts of the Torah, written on the Raqeem — what we might call their ta'leem book — that they took with them. This is what Maulana Abul Hasan an-Nadwi writes in his tafsir.

A second explanation of Raqeem: the names of the people who disappeared — these young men — were written and kept in the palace of the king when they found out that they had gone missing. Like missing-persons records — their names were written there.

The Fitna of Our Times and the Need for a Cave

So when they went to the cave, they made a powerful du'a. My dear brothers and sisters, you've heard us speak many times about the fitna we're living in right now — the era of isms. In this era, an average student who goes to high school and college — I kid you not — I don't know how he is going to protect his deen. When I walk by these high schools here and look at the tens of Muslim guys and girls walking out, I sit there and think: how are they protecting their deen among 2,500 non-Muslims — 99% of whom, according to statistics, are involved in sin before marriage, if they ever get married? And right now, the latest articles show that due to various factors, married people will soon become the minority. And it's not just cohabitation — other things are going on and that's going to increase.

To send our sons and daughters to a normal public school and expect them to come out clean and protected — it baffles me. And if your son or daughter is going through that, I'm telling you as well: I don't know how you do it. I myself would feel haya — I would feel ashamed to walk through a high school right now, because of what goes on there. Why would I ever put my kids through something like that? But we never walk through ourselves. How many of you have actually, without telling your son or daughter, gone during the day to take permission from the superintendent and just walked through — looking at what happens in recess, behind the stairs, in the hallways, when class gets out? And then tell me you'll send your daughter there the next day.

But we think like a pigeon. Before it's killed, a pigeon closes its eyes — because it thinks if it can't see the threat, it won't be harmed. We have become like pigeons: if I don't know about it, it won't harm my kids. And that foolishness is going to come back to haunt us. We are living in an unprecedented level of fitna, my friends.

We are in another whole level of fitna from when many of us grew up. Second graders — you know what's going on in this area. The entire LGBTQ agenda being pushed in first grade, kindergarten, right here in this district as we speak. The books in the toddler section of local libraries — I've seen it just this week. My papa and my daddy — those ones they use for a two-year-old to teach, with the big two words on each page, an eight-page book. It's the full-scale agenda. Did that happen when you were growing up? No. So why do you think it's the same thing? And you just say, "No, I'm so proud my son is getting a 4.0 GPA, my daughter is getting a 4.2." At the cost of what? Let's leave the grades, leave the APs, leave all the fancy colleges. Let's talk about the deen. And this is what scares me — the fact that no one seems to be caring about the deen of their kids, just because we have an Arabic-sounding name. We think this is going to save our children.

So what do we need now in this era of fitna? We need a cave. All of us need a cave. I need it for my kids and for myself. You all need it. We're all living in an era like these young men. We just pray and beg to Allah a billion times that He never allow us to see Dajjal. We can barely survive now — what's going to happen then?

If you look at the statistics of promiscuity and alcohol usage within Muslim youth, it's almost equivalent to non-Muslims. Just within this city, many of the young adults who come to this masjid — I interacted with them 15 years ago, 10 years ago, when they were in engineering, medical school, dental school, in the various universities here. It was a norm: almost three days a week I would be visiting one of the universities, we'd have a dars, then a late-night session in someone's apartment. One week myself, one week others — a constant environment, a constant mahol of people who had graduated from overseas, came back, and were constantly visiting all the major universities of the Chicagoland area from 2006 to 2012. And now, I don't know what's going on there. Have you recently spoken at a university? No. Have you? No.

There was a time when if you graduated from the universities here, you had to know the ulema of the city. You'd hear them at Jumu'ah, at an MSA event. But just within this city, there's been massive change within the Muslim community on campus. No more knowledge events — all social events. And when I occasionally see pictures of what's happening on campus, under the banner of Muslim students, it shocks me. It's better we don't do it under the name of Muslim — at least we don't tarnish the name of Islam. The ulema say: drinking wine is haram. But if you say بِسْمِ اللهِ and drink it, that's kufr — because you are making fun of Allah. A person who misses his prayer — major sin. But if he says, "I'll just pray without wudu," that's an act of kufr. So many of the Muslim events happening on our campuses — they are under the banner of Islam but have nothing to do with Islam. Complete haram.

Where's the fikr for the deen of these kids? My dear friends, wake up. Wake up yourself and wake up others. It's not worth it. For a $200,000 or $300,000 salary — like that young man who sold his beard for $10 an hour — we're saying $100,000 for all our iman?

One person told me, after Jumu'ah: "My son has left Islam." I said, "Oh, what happened?" He said: "When he was at home for undergrad, he was fine. When he went to medical school, far away from home, I don't know what happened." I said, "Brother, we'll meet again" — and he said, "Peace be upon you" and just walked away. And I'm trying to absorb the sadness. I want to console you. I want to give you some solutions. I want to set up a meeting, bring him over, maybe we can meet for coffee and talk. And he just says, nonchalantly, "Peace be upon you, we just move on." The kid has left Islam. Where did he leave it? Medical school. He got the degree. At the cost of that, he left Islam.

And you know this better than I do. How many people have lost their deen at college? And their parents don't really care because they're doing well in their career. If that's the condition of the parents, what do you expect of the kids? And what do you expect of the grandkids?

So our biggest problem right now is coming from within the Muslim community. That is why you need to build a cave of like-minded people who have similar principles, similar expectations from themselves, and a similar desire to sacrifice. What did these five or six young men do? They said: let's discuss why we all left. If it's the same reason, we stick together. If not, we part ways but we don't share what happened. You can't just say "come, everyone, under one umbrella." We have to be with people who really have this concern — that I cannot afford my children, myself, or my spouse losing the deen. That is something I will never give up. And when you find people like that, hold on to them, just like these men did. This is why we're studying this story — to learn from it. This is how you save your deen. You've got to stand up. You've got to take shelter in a cave.

Now this cave does not have to be a physical cave. This can be a spiritual cave. And that's what the Qur'an speaks about:

When you separated from them. The mufassirun wrote: اعْتِزَالٌ مَعْنَوِيٌّ وَاعْتِزَالٌ جِسْمِيٌّ — they separated from their people physically, leaving the town, and they separated from them through their soul and spirit and mind — figuratively speaking. So what we need to do is separate ourselves from society — not physically necessarily. Go to work tomorrow, go to school wherever you need to go. But at least our soul, heart, and mind needs to be in a separate place. And there is no better place than the masjid. There is no better place than the zawiyah, the khanqah. There is no better place than the madrasah and the seminary. Wallahi, this is our lifeline.

Kids graduate from the hifz class here. Then when that boy graduates and he doesn't come for Isha or Fajr after school — whose fault is that? It's the father's fault, the mother's fault. I tell this to the parents on graduation day: MashaAllah, thank you for the mithai. But make sure your son or daughter comes here at least once or twice a week. And if you live nearby, at least for one salah. This hifz is not going to save him, my friend. This hifz is not going to save him.

And those of you studying the one-year program — this one-year program is not going to save you either if you don't stay connected. The seven-year won't save you. Fifteen years won't save you. Nothing saves you unless you remain connected with the people of ilm, the people of taqwa, and the environment of taqwa. And then on top of that you have to have the fadl and the grace of Allah.

So we all need to make this commitment today: that we will regularly continue to take shelter in a cave of ilm, of spirituality, of ruhaniyya, of tazkiyah, of da'wah. And we will invite our family and friends with this pain that I'm trying to share with you.

We cannot save ourselves if we don't stay connected to the masjid. No matter if your son memorizes the Qur'an in seven qira'at — it's not going to work. That's exactly what's happening tens of times every week here, throughout the United States — kids are leaving Islam. Huffadh. Because their dads and moms don't bring them to the masjid. How many names could I mention — a beautiful innocent hafidh of the Qur'an that Allah gave you — and then you mess it up with your own hands and make him into an atheist. Whose fault is that? Seriously, it's so upsetting. Just because you're lazy and don't want to come to the masjid? Or you say, "We have to worry about high school homework, soccer practice, we can't come to the masjid." That's exactly what our ummah is doing. And that's why our kids are leaving the deen.

So my dear elders, and my dear brothers and sisters who are not yet married and one day will become parents — remember that when you become parents, the world will be much tougher than it is now. And you will have to take even more extreme measures. You never know — a time may come where you might have to sleep with your son and daughter in the house of Allah. Or you may have to lock yourself in the house, not even leave, because as soon as you step out, what nonsense will be happening outside.

The Du'a of the People of the Cave

These young men made a powerful du'a. Memorize this du'a, highlight it:

O Allah, grant us mercy from Your own providence. And in our present circumstances, grant us right guidance.

This is the du'a we need to be making today. What was the rahmah of Allah? The ulema said, amazingly — sleeping was the rahmah. Imagine that! When fitna gets bad, it's better to sleep. That's what I learned from my teachers. He said: "In your youth, what did you do?" He said, "I slept." He said: "Alhamdulillah. At least you didn't sin. As long as you got up, prayed, and went back to sleep — it's very good that you slept 12, 15, 20 hours. Because the alternative is haram. Sleeping is much better." Allahu Akbar.

So Allah Azza wa Jal provided them mercy by putting them to sleep. Because right now it's too tough for them to survive there. And if we are all in that situation right now, we need Allah's mercy. This is the du'a we should be making. And from where will that mercy come? مِن لَّدُنك — from You. The ulema said: they are going to a desolate cave, leaving the town behind them, and they're asking for mercy. This mercy is not going to come through the creation of Allah — it's going to come directly from the Creator. Because the creation — they left it behind.

And what was the hijrah like? They didn't go for higher pay or a more comfortable place. They went from luxury to the floor of a cave. But they had trust that Allah would not forsake them:

Whoever makes hijrah in the path of Allah, he will find much abundance and much barakah in the earth. When you leave something for the sake of Allah, Allah will give you ten times that — not only in the akhira, but in this dunya. But we must learn how to give up things for the sake of Allah.

When sending our son or daughter to a university — look: is there an imam in that community? Is there a strong Muslim community? Is there a good masjid? Can my son or daughter have a good, practicing, muttaqi roommate? If not, then move. Give up your own job and move there if you care about that university. We cannot just pack them on a plane and send them. We have to learn how to give up things, and then Allah will give us ten times that.

Oh Allah, inspire us with the most correct way in our affairs. إِلهَام means inspiration. This is a sunnah du'a that corroborates with this Qur'anic du'a. Oh Allah, inspire us with the most correct path in our affairs. And save us from the evil of our nafs. The nafs spoils the matter. We want to do something good, and the nafs gets in the way. Keep on saying: Oh Allah, let not my nafs come between me and the best decision for myself and my kids. Let me not allow the nafs to take over.

The Miracle of the Ears

So We struck a seal of sleep upon their ears. What is interesting about the ears? From all the senses, the first sense Allah awakens for a person is the ear. The baby does not see inside the womb — but the baby can hear. The baby gets accustomed to listening to the mother's voice. That's why mothers who are expecting should recite Qur'an, because the child can hear inside the womb. And as soon as the child is born, it takes perhaps 10 to 13 days for the child to start seeing properly. But the child hears from the very beginning.

Similarly, when a person goes to sleep, all the senses are shut — eyes, nose, tongue. But the ears stay open; that's how we hear the alarm clock. Allah Azza wa Jal wanted to put them to sleep, and He knows, of course, that this is the one sense that remains on when sleeping. So He shut this sense off so that they could actually have the capacity to sleep for 309 years. This is the powerful sense of hearing that Allah decided to turn off. ضَرَبَ — He struck a seal upon it. And then they ended up sleeping for a long time.

Then Allah Azza wa Jal says: We raised them — just like after death someone is raised, similarly they were raised. So that it will become apparent: how many years, and which group of people is right? The correct answer, obviously, was that they didn't sleep for a couple of days — they slept for 300 plus years.

Summary of Today's Lessons

So the gist of today that we learn is: everything on this earth is an attraction and a distraction. The purpose of it is like the cones in the parking lot when you go to get your driver's license — they're not there for beauty. You're supposed to navigate around them. That's exactly what the beauty of this dunya is. You're supposed to look, fine — but don't indulge. Navigate around it. That's the whole test — you get your license or you don't. If you run over the cones, you're not going to get your license. So this entire dunya has millions of beautiful cones — much nicer and more beautiful looking than orange and yellow. And the idea is: do you fall for it, or do you just look and move on, move on, move on? That was the first part.

The second part: we spoke about the shorter version of the story of the People of the Cave — the key thing being that in order to protect your deen, you have to be willing to make a sacrifice, leave to a place where you find a conducive environment of like-minded people, willing to make sacrifices like you have, and willing to practice the deen like you have.

So my dear friends — come. Make hijrah within America. Find a spot. Your local masjid should be your cave. If your local masjid is closed four out of five times a day, what are you doing there? If your local masjid doesn't have an imam, what are you doing there? If it doesn't have programs for kids, for women, in a language you understand — then my friends, the masjid in this day and age cannot be just a place to come, pray two rak'ahs, and leave. No, it won't last. You have to have a vibrant masjid with a vibrant community that will serve you in all aspects — like a department store that has everything. You cannot live off a gas station alone.

Build those vibrant masajid in your community. No one's going to come from overseas and say, "We'd love to build a masjid for you." That's your job. I just recently came across a beautiful masjid online — gorgeous. And it also said: "Imam opening — vacancy." What is the point of those millions if you also don't have an imam? What is a beautiful masjid going to do for us or for our kids?

Every masjid must become alive. Every masjid must have a vibrant community. Every masjid must have not one, but multiple imams serving multiple needs. This is not the job of one person — look at how many things are happening here. One person doing it? Of course not. There's a whole team of ulema, scholars, and volunteers. Masjids need paid resources for multiple positions. Before you choose to spend money on renovating whatever you want to renovate, the first thing is to focus on human resources.

So my dear friends — find a cave in your area and stick to it. Come to it once or twice a week at minimum. And if you're local, go every single day. And don't come alone. Bring your spouse, bring your kids. Allow them to adjust, allow them to fall in love.

Just like an elderly father before he dies gives his children the number of his lawyer and accountant — I want us as fathers and mothers to make sure that before we leave this place, our children know very well how to get to the cave. Because if you didn't teach them that, you're going to suffer. If you didn't teach them the path to the cave, we will be receiving terrible news in the grave about what happens to the future generations. So this is the time — while they're still young, while they're still in our homes. Bring them with us.

And we ask Allah that He allows you and I to not only allow this institution — Darussalam — to remain a powerful cave for millions of people across the globe, but beyond that, may Allah Azza wa Jal make this a place, a cave-maker, that will take the lantern of hidayah and nur and light up thousands of other masajid and madaris across the globe — so that cities everywhere, in every area, also have a cave available for them.

It will be based on our niyyah. If you make the niyyah, and all of you who are attending here — every one of you plays a part in it. Wallahi, every one of you. Those who are listening now or listening afterwards — if you're listening, that means Allah wants you, insha'Allah, to play a part in reviving and building caves across the globe that will serve as protective places in this Dajjali era, and in the future, during the actual time of Dajjal. These caves will be the only places that people will find shelter in.

Announcements

Before we complete the dhikr and du'a, the tafsir books are available — please send them to the sister site as well. Please do enjoy the tea, coffee, and biscuits before you leave. May Allah reward our dear beloved students and ansar who are making the effort every week to prepare these snacks for all of us and our IT team.

May Allah Azza wa Jal also give us tawfiq to spread the word. If you came here and benefited today, please bring another ten next week. The cave — if you understood anything of what I said — wallahi, if you understood, you won't just say "I'll show up next week." What about your beloved neighbor? Your beloved sibling? Your spouse? If you believe what I said was true, then make sure you work on your siblings, your friends, your neighbors, your cousins, your WhatsApp groups. Connect everything. One of us needs to become a da'i, an ambassador. And insha'Allah, they will take from here something and go light up somewhere else. This is the effort.

Saturday Fajr Program: After Fajr, Maulana Ihsan, alhamdulillah, will be speaking. Please join us at 6:15 for Salatul Fajr — live stream as well as live here — followed by a talk, dhikr, and a hot breakfast.

Monthly Khatmul Qur'an: This Thursday after Salatul Isha — we have salawat, then the monthly khatmul Qur'an du'a. If you are working toward that goal, please try to finish up in the next couple of days. Every month, on the last Thursday, we do a khatmul Qur'an du'a. There's a link on the events group where you can put your pledge of how many khatms you completed and your du'as. If you're not on the events group, please reach out and join us.

Seerah Conference: Coming November 12th and 13th — please mark your calendars. We have a great lineup of ulema and scholars from across the country, plus a complete parallel session for kids — an entire day with a separate program for children, babysitting, and childcare.

Winter Intensive: December 25th to 28th. This is something insha'Allah we can all be a part of.

7 Million Salawat Campaign: We have made an effort as a community toward the goal of 7 million salawats. There are salawat cards outside — each card represents 10,000 salawat. Please take those cards, put them on your fridge, and have your whole family participate. Deposit the completed card in the box outside. If you're listening from out of state, you'll find the link on our website. You can join that effort online.

Youth Night: For boys and girls ages 4 to 18 — this is an alternative to what's happening on October 31st. From Asr to Isha, this Sunday. There is no on-site registration — only online at darussalam.org/youth-night. Limited spots remaining.

And how many of us recited Surah Al-Kahf this week more than once? Alhamdulillah. How many recited it once? Alhamdulillah. And how many of you have a habit of reciting the first ten and last ten now every day? MashaAllah — we need to keep increasing this number. How many have memorized the first ten? MashaAllah, alhamdulillah.

The classroom link was sent out for those who would like assistance throughout the week for memorization — someone to listen to your recitation. For today, the goal was to reach ayahs 1 to 10, and next week's goal will follow from there. If you have not registered for the tafsir class, please do so at the registration tablet. You will then receive the weekly assignments for memorization. What a beautiful part of our tafsir — if we can get all these brothers and sisters to become reciters of it. Insha'Allah.

My father is doing better from last week but he is still hospitalized. We hope insha'Allah through everyone's du'a that Allah Azza wa Jal grants him complete shifa and he is able to be discharged soon. Insha'Allah.

Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh.