Surah Furqan - Ep.2 | Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته

We thank Allah for the blessing of Iman. We thank Allah for the ni'ma that He continues to grant us even though we are not deserving of it. And we ask Allah that He treats us and blesses us based on His benevolence and not treat us based on our own actions. And we ask Allah that He allow us to gain immensely from this gathering and whatever troubles, difficulties any one of us are going through in our lives.

We ask Allah that we find the solutions and the answers to that in the Qur'an and in the dars of the Qur'an. Ameen. Rabbil Alameen.

The Completion of Deen

It's coming across a verse of the Qur'an — the very famous verse of Surah Al-Ma'idah where Allah says:

الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ — Today I have completed the deen for you. And then وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي — And I have done itmam of the blessing, my blessing upon you.

This is the verse that was revealed in Hajjatul Wida'. And if you may remember, a Jewish person came and said to Umar رضي الله عنه that indeed you have one verse in the Qur'an that if this were to be revealed upon us Jews, we would have rejoiced and made the day of the revelation a day of celebration, a day of Eid. He said, which ayah is that? He said, الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي — that today is a day which I have completed your deen for you and I have made my blessing complete for you as well.

So Umar رضي الله عنه said, it is a day of Eid. Because I remember exactly when and where this was revealed. It was a day of Jumu'ah and it was the day of Arafat. It's what is known in our terminology as Hajjul Akbar — when Arafat matches up with Jumu'ah. But this is a blessing upon a blessing nonetheless. It's Jumu'ah and it's the ninth day of Dhul Hijjah, Yawmul Arafah.

Ikmal vs. Itmam — Two Profound Words

The ulema, the Mufassirun, explain these two words. Allah uses the word Akmala and Atamma. Ikmal — what does Ikmal mean? Ikmal means for something to be completed after it was incomplete. Something is mukammal, it's completed. So the deen was revealed through the Qur'an, which was revealed over a period of 23 years. The deen was explained over a period of 23 years until a day came when it became complete. That's why Allah says, I made the deen complete — that's Iktimal.

On the other hand, when Allah talks about blessings, He says أَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي. The word Itmam does not mean that something was incomplete. Instead, the word Itmam here is referring to the fact that Allah's blessings have never been incomplete. They're always present fully. Whatever time of the day or the night you can think, the blessings of Allah are continuous, constant, and complete. That's why Allah has used the word Itmam there. Ikmal would not be an appropriate word in Arabic for that.

It's just amazing — I was just reflecting on how every single word of the Qur'an is so appropriate for the topic that is being discussed, the theme that is being discussed. No word can replace that.

The Blessing of Being in the House of Allah

Just thinking about how blessed we are — blessed with Iman, Islam, sitting here, listening in peace and comfort, attending a dars of the Qur'an with tawfiq, with istiqama. These are just things that are outstanding. These are blessings that we cannot appreciate Allah enough for. And being connected to the house of Allah, and being connected to a group of Muslims that come to the masjid, is the greatest blessing we can have.

There is no reason for us to be upset, no reason for us to sit there and cry, and to be depressed, and be frustrated, be anxious — all these emotions — if Allah has blessed us to be in His house. This is the best place to be on earth. Any house of His. And then the best time is to be at the time of Salah. And the best thing to be doing after Salah is to be sitting in a gathering of knowledge and remembrance of Allah.

You can well imagine how the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ must have been. How after Salah he would sit with his companions and he would speak, and he would teach, and he would address them, and he would share with them, and he would remember Allah عز وجل, and the sahaba would be sitting and remembering Allah عز وجل. And that's why in one instance, Rasulullah ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3510)

"When you pass by the gardens of Jannah, then graze from it." رِيَاضِ الْجَنَّةِ — the gardens of Jannah. When you pass by the gardens of Jannah, then graze to your heart's content. Just enjoy. Take as much as you want. It's endless trees, plantations. Till the eye can see, you've got date trees. Go ahead, pluck them, graze, enjoy, eat from them.

So the sahaba knew he was speaking in a metaphorical way. They said, what is the رِيَاضِ الْجَنَّةِ? What do you mean when you say the gardens of Jannah? And the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3510)

He said, the gatherings of the remembrance of Allah. حَلَقَ, حِلَق — plural of حَلَقَة. Circles like this. Dhikr circles. So if you pass by a dhikr circle, that's a garden from the gardens of Jannah.

How can I or you be upset or frustrated or angry when right now — where are you and I sitting? Tell me. رِيَاضِ الْجَنَّةِ. We're sitting in رِيَاضِ الْجَنَّةِ. You and I have to feel that. We're sitting in a garden of Jannah right now.

So now that we're here, it's up to us how much we want to eat. We are the guest of the house of Allah, sitting in a gathering of the dhikr of Allah. We should expect nothing but the greatest things. But on the condition that our heart is connected with Allah. On the condition that we're asking Allah. You have to place your order — and you don't place your order by an app. You place your order through your heart.

For those of you listening online, from whatever situations — maybe you had a bad day at home, a bad day at work, a difficult day somewhere — say, Ya Allah, I'm so happy that my day is ending by attending a gathering of dhikr, in a house of Yours. So now these are my needs. Fulfill these needs of mine. And keep on asking, keep on grazing.

This is one of the best things, subhanAllah, that a person can be gifted with. So just wanted to remind myself and all of us how thankful and appreciative you and I need to be to Allah for the blessing of Iman, Islam, the blessing of the Qur'an, and the blessing of halaqas of dhikr.

Surah Furqan — Recap and Context

The previous ayat that we covered — six ayat last week — remember, this is Surah Furqan. In this surah, Allah is speaking about tawhid, the oneness of Allah; speaks about the Qur'an being a true revealed book of Allah; speaks about the Prophet ﷺ being a true messenger of Allah; and the Day of Judgment — which is going to be talked about today. And Furqan — this surah is called Furqan, and the entire Qur'an is Furqan, because Furqan is that which allows us to distinguish between right and wrong. When people are being misled, and their nafs has overtaken them, we have the book of Allah, and the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, to guide us and to help us distinguish what is acceptable and what's not acceptable. That's why the book of Allah is called Furqan.

The Necessity of True Conviction in the Qur'an

My beloved brothers, the thing is, it's easy for a person to say, I'm a Muslim — count me in the census, 1.8 billion, I'm one of them. It's nice, easy to say that for all of us. But what is Islam, and what is belief in the Qur'an, if a person does not follow it? Frankly speaking. If a person doesn't follow the teachings of the Qur'an, then why are we sitting there claiming anything? Our actions speak louder than our words.

How can a person read through the Qur'an, and then after that, try to find solutions to his problems elsewhere? Try to find a lifestyle that is completely contrary to the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ and say, that is a lifestyle I want for my son and daughter? We're deceiving no one besides ourselves. Because true conviction in the Qur'an would force you to lead a certain life.

This is why it is important upon every single one of us to have absolute conviction that the Qur'an is the word of Allah. This is not something that the kuffar said — which we covered last week:

That this is something that is penned by the Prophet, something that he doesn't know, but people come and teach him, and he just wrote it down, someone dictates it to him. Alhamdulillah, we don't believe that. We believe it's the book of Allah. Allah said:

Only the One who alone knows every secret in the heavens and the earth has revealed it. What's that telling us? It's telling us that we, deep down, need to have this conviction — all of us, on our own personal journey — that this is the book of Allah.

Usually we don't speak about this. Because alhamdulillah, we say, I grew up in a Muslim home, I'm a Muslim, alhamdulillah, that's good. Well if that yaqeen is strong, then that's fine. But if you have a problem, if inside you are not convinced, then please do the research. Go ahead and study. Come to a scholar and say, I am not fully convinced. No problem. Honesty is important.

If that is your waswasa and doubt — okay. Be honest, be forthcoming, and let's sit down and discuss it. But to sit there with what they say, chupa wachoor — the hiding thief inside the heart — inside the heart there is doubt, inside the heart there is uneasiness with the book of Allah. And that speaks volumes because the person's actions are not lining up.

Today, how many fathers are dragging their kids by their ears to the masjid? Dragging their daughters, dragging their kids — come to this Islamic school, come to this program. And the kids are like, no. You just look at them — it's like a goat being brought to the slaughterhouse. This is how it is when they bring the child to the masjid. The child doesn't want to come.

Why doesn't he want to come? Let's sit down and talk about it. Do you actually believe in Islam or not? Do you actually believe in the book of Allah or not? Do you actually believe in the Day of Judgment or not? Let's talk about it. Why is there this rebellious nature — against the Qur'an, against the masjid, against gatherings of dhikr?

If you actually have belief in it, why is this such a big burden? This should never be a burden. You should be excited, you should be looking forward. The reason is there's that chupa wachoor — there's a thief inside digging, saying, I'm not sure about whether this stuff is true or not. What I've been taught in school, what I've been taught in college, what I've been reading online — that seems to make more sense.

So this is a journey we must all take. We have to have our sons and daughters, our children, and ourselves — as moms and dads — even though you may look like a Muslim, dress like a Muslim, if internally you are not 100% convinced that the book of Allah is truly the book of Allah, we're not going anywhere. Lip service doesn't get us anywhere in the akhirah. Dressing doesn't get us anywhere in the akhirah. It's about iman. As the ulema have said:

Iman is not about dressing yourself in a certain manner, adorning yourself in a certain manner. And it's not about tamanni as well — that you just have this notion of, inshallah Allah will forgive me, I'll do whatever I want. That's not iman. Iman is مَا وَقَرَ فِي الْقَلْبِ — Iman is that which really seeps deep, deep, deep down into the heart. If that iman is not present, then this is what we call just a fool's paradise.

A Practical Approach — Building Yaqeen

So now school is starting, has started. People are going to advanced classes, AP classes, and mashallah, advanced science and math classes in college. Our community is mashallah very intelligent. But what we need to know is: to what degree have we taught our intelligent son or daughter to firmly have the ability to believe in Allah's existence?

Let's start really from there — then the book of Allah, and the risalah of the Prophet ﷺ, and then the Day of Judgment. There are courses available — Introduction to Islam courses — not just about the five pillars. We go right to the five pillars? No. Wait, hold on. We're not gonna go to the five pillars right now. We go to salah, wudu? Nope. We'll take one step back. We have to focus from the very get-go: why should I even believe in this stuff in the first place?

You can use logical means. Let's use all the logical proofs. Work your way about the necessity of a creator. And then the necessity of that creator being one. And then the necessity of that one creator communicating with us. And then that necessity of that creator communicating with us through the manifestation of prophets and their scriptures. So then you find — at last you made it to the Qur'an.

Now let's go through the Qur'an. Let's take any verse you want. Pick from the first to the thirtieth juz. Find a surah — let's go see what type of miraculous aspects of the Qur'an you want to start tasting, to start interacting with. There are so many different miraculous aspects of the Qur'an — whether it is the way the ayats are situated, the endings of the verses, whether it is the numbering, how many times certain words appear. How many times is the heavens mentioned as opposed to how many times the earth is mentioned. How many times water has been mentioned as opposed to how many times the land has been mentioned.

You start studying that. You start studying the consistency of the themes. You start seeing very clear patterns. You start seeing the fact that there are words chosen that no human being has ever used before. The Arabs were just shell-shocked when they saw such words being presented. When you start going into the depth of each one of those words — even if you don't understand Arabic — you have a language expert open dictionary after dictionary and show you what is the background of these words. You sit there and you say, this just cannot be man-made.

When you read about them — like I talked about last week about the Romans beating the Persians, eventually after some years — how do you come and make such a bold statement? When you see the Prophet ﷺ and Allah in the Qur'an giving prophecies of the future. When you see realities of scientific discovery, which no human being had ever figured out 500 years ago, much less 1,000 or 1,500 years ago, and the Qur'an addressing those issues.

There are so many different aspects of i'jaz of the Qur'an. That's why there's a whole science called I'jaz al-Qur'an — a whole science under Uloom al-Qur'an — in which we learn how the Qur'an is not replicable. How the Qur'an is mu'jiz. What does mu'jiz mean? It's miraculous in its nature. Or in other words, mu'jiz means it makes its opponent incapable of coming up and challenging it. Mu'jiz means to make your opponent aajiz — incapable. When you have to tap out. That's what the Qur'an is. It makes its opponent tap out.

The Qur'an is there for the most educated biologist, the most educated mathematician, and the most educated historian. So I think the issue, beloved fathers and mothers, beloved college students and high school students, is that our actions as a community are very weak. It looks like there's no Day of Judgment coming — like we got the memo and it's been cancelled.

Why? Because we haven't really spent time studying the Qur'an. I want to encourage all my listeners to please understand that we have to seriously dedicate some time learning the Qur'an to a degree where we can say — beyond any doubt, with full conviction — that this is, million percent, the book of Allah. That's it. And anytime I'm doing something and someone says the Qur'an says that, I should say, I can't believe I missed it.

That's why it is said about Umar رضي الله عنه: كَانَ وَقَّافًا عِنْدَ كِتَابِ اللَّهِ. Umar رضي الله عنه was literally standing — just standing by the Qur'an. What does that mean, standing by the Qur'an? Meaning, even if he would be super angry, but if someone would mention any verse that had even a slight implication for him, he would immediately forget everything and back down. Because how am I gonna face Allah with this verse against me? Done. He would completely back down. We have to become small little slaves in front of the Qur'an.

My beloved friends, instead of trying to force people or make people understand what's right and what's wrong, why aren't we getting them back to the basic of making them fall in love with and understand the book of Allah? Once you've understood it and you believed it, things will fall into place.

I give the example of when our mothers and wives and sisters cook. When they cook the biryani, they don't take big spoonfuls. They'll literally take one grain of rice, two grains of rice, pick it up from the side and just take it in their fingers and figure out whether it's cooked or not. That's what you need to do. I know all of you have full-time jobs, you're full-time college students — whatever the case may be. But spend enough time with the Qur'an where you get a chance to pick up one daana, one piece, one grain, one verse. Check it, see it. And when you find that subhanAllah, there's really something in this book that cannot be man-made — done deal, finish.

The Story of the Astrophysicist

I've mentioned before about one scientist who attended one Jumu'ah khutbah some years ago in another state. Afterwards, he came and he was acting as though he's a new Muslim. So I asked him, mashallah, you're a new Muslim? Where are you from? He said, I'm from Bangladesh. I said, if you're from Bangladesh, what do you mean you're a new Muslim?

He said, well, I was pretty much an atheist all my life. He was doing astrophysics. He said, I was an atheist pretty much my whole life. Recently I fell in love with and started believing in the Qur'an. And so now — imagine at the age of 50 — this man is taking all his music files, his CDs, and destroying them. He went and asked the imam sahib, is music permissible? The imam said no. He said, khalas, no problem. The imam was trying to be easy. He said, no, no, don't be easy. Just tell me what it is. Music — legit or not legit? He said, if you really want to know the real thing, it's not halal. He said, khalas, why? It's a done deal. Who am I to sit there and argue, trying to find a loophole? You're dealing with Allah. Come on. Why would I put my akhirah into jeopardy over something I want to listen to? It makes no sense.

That's exactly how you're supposed to be. How I'm supposed to be. One verse. Surah al-Dhariyat:

"And the heavens — We built it with strength, and indeed We are ever expanding it." وَالسَّمَاءَ — and the heavens. بَنَيْنَاهَا بِأَيْدٍ — We created it, built it. بِأَيْدٍ literally means hands, figuratively means with strength and power. وَإِنَّا لَمُوسِعُونَ — and indeed We are ever expanding it. Ism fa'il — مُوسِع, ism fa'il from أَوْسَعَ يُوسِعُ — it carries the meaning of istimrar, continuity. We are continuously expanding it.

He said, this ayah — I knew this cannot be مَا هَذَا قَوْلُ الْبَشَرِ — this cannot be the statement of a human being. Because the expansion of the universe was something we very recently learned about. There is no way that 1,500 years ago someone could have said that. He said, I studied other scriptures — no other scripture had any mention of this. This has to be divine. He said, this is it. Once I got this ayah, I said, the Qur'an has got to be haqq. I have to become a Muslim.

So my point is, we all — my dear students, my dear fathers and mothers — we all have to go through this journey. And then once you go through that journey, what does Allah say?

لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ — there's no compulsion in deen. There's no compulsion in accepting Islam. But once you've accepted Islam, you have to follow the rules. Like for example in this country, alhamdulillah, there's no compulsion for us to join the army, join the marines, join the navy. But if you decide to join, then you better follow the rules. Otherwise you're gonna get court-martialed, and you're gonna go to prison, and all kinds of stuff will happen.

So let us make a niyyah now, as this year begins, that we will — very immediately — begin to start studying the Qur'an with this intention: I want to have this unbelievable belief in Allah's kalam. Say inshallah. And get our daughters, get our sons, get our wives, get our husbands — whoever you are listening — siblings, get them all.

Otherwise it makes no sense. Why are people not waking up for Salah? Why are people not praying? Why are people committing zina? Why are people gambling? Why are people indulging in riba? Why are people, subhanAllah, being disrespectful to their parents? Because deep down, they don't believe in any of this stuff.

I remember one sister, one auntie, one day she came and said, can you please speak to my son — he's not waking up for fajr, he doesn't want to read Qur'an. And I said, okay. So I met him at one of the local universities where I was giving a speech. I asked him, what classes are you taking? He said, I'm taking philosophy classes and this and that. After a while, very clearly, he said — just like the Qur'an mentions here:

He didn't say it in Arabic, but he was saying: the Qur'an? This is the tale of the ancients. This is all made-up stories. Why should I sit there? My mom keeps telling me to read it, why should I read it? This is just stories. I mean, you have a major problem here — no wonder your son doesn't want to wake up for Salah. No wonder he doesn't want to read Qur'an — because he seriously doesn't believe in it.

How many moms and dads are willing to accept this idea — that maybe my son and daughter truly have lost faith in the Qur'an, even though they may have memorized a big chunk of it or all of it? How many brothers and sisters whose own siblings or spouses are not following the deen, and whenever you tell them, they say, leave it, leave it, leave it? Why is that? Because the belief is not there, possibly.

So I have a solution — no one is putting a gun to someone's head and saying you have to believe. No. You are so smart. Look at your degrees, look at all the time you spent. Just start spending some time with the Qur'an. Pick it up and say, I'm gonna study with a scholar. Go ask your questions. Don't go asking online on Reddit and stuff like that — that's not where you learn ilm. Humbly go to a scholar and say, I'm sitting here, I'm ready to give time. I'm ready to give time because this is my journey.

Who amongst you goes to school and puts a gun to the professor's head and says, make me a doctor by tonight? Who does that? You put in 10, 12, 15 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars to become that. So why for the Qur'an are you in such a rush? Be my guest, but don't rush in like that. Humbly, sit down and say, I would like to take a course. I will dedicate this entire next semester. But teach me that the book of Allah is truly His.

A Model From Turkey — Combining Deen and Dunya

We have the Tafim program that alhamdulillah just started. You can take any of those classes, or anywhere else in the country, wherever you're listening from. But just go. Go and take your sons and daughters.

From my trip overseas, one amazing experience I saw: I met a scholar who took me to a beautiful masjid that had been restored. It was originally a masjid that had been turned into a horse stable — to desecrate it completely. They revived it, alhamdulillah. And they revived a 700-800-year-old madrasa which was meant for the princes of the Turks. Each prince had his own beautiful room.

He said, what this school is dedicated for — it's a boarding school. We go to the divinity schools in Istanbul and other places. We offer the students in those schools who do not have dorms or food: you can come, you stay free for as long as you're studying in the college. Five years — free dorm, free meals. On top of that, we'll take you to England to learn English and become very fluent in it. We'll take you to Jordan to learn Arabic so you become fluent in that. Everything is done. But what's the catch? Three hours a day you have to attend the durus, lectures, and classes of ulama at this institution. Five pm to eight pm — every single day. The rest we'll take care of. And in order to do that, you have to maintain a top-notch GPA in your program.

In the past 10-11 years, 100 students graduated — they only take 10 a year. Out of those, he said, 70 are now associate professors, assistant professors, or professors in different universities. They know English and Arabic like no one else. They've got their PhD or master's in their divinity backgrounds. And on top of that, they've studied proper traditional deen for at least five years. So now you've got an educated professor who's got the traditional sciences under his belt, who's got the tarbiyah as well. Who can educate a bunch of students at the university level.

This is something we have to offer as a community. We have to tell our children: you wanna go study anything in university? By all means, we're there to support you. But along with that, you need to study the deen. If not, you'll become a liability. I'm gonna have to answer Allah on the Day of Judgment. You're my son — I made you the best professional. But if I didn't teach you deen, how am I gonna answer Allah on the Day of Judgment? So as a community, we have to make this the norm — that we're paying for the children's education, but you couple it with their deen.

The Objections of the Disbelievers Against the Prophet ﷺ

Allah عز وجل mentions — after speaking about the Qur'an's veracity — that the next accusation of the kuffar is about the Prophet ﷺ himself. The verse we recited at the beginning:

What's wrong with this Prophet? What's wrong with the messenger? يَأْكُلُ means to eat, طَعَام means food. He cannot be a prophet, because he eats food and he walks through the marketplaces. Not only is he not an angel — because angels don't eat — he's a human being. But he's not even a king. At least he should have lived a life like a king, with hundreds of servants bringing food for him and working for him. Instead, he's actually in the marketplace, buying and selling, or looking at the condition of the public. He's interacting with the average layman. The king doesn't do that.

So his lifestyle is not of an angel, and his lifestyle is not even of a king. لَوْلَا أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مَلَكٌ — if only an angel were sent down to him, فَيَكُونَ مَعَهُ نَذِيرًا — so that this angel could be a forewarner along with him. Meaning the angel should be walking in front, saying, listen, there's a prophet coming behind me — if any of you don't believe him, you're dead. That's what they're asking. Of course, then everyone would believe — because they'd be scared, because they see the angel right there and they see people dying for not following him.

The Humility of the Prophet ﷺ — The Mat and the Silk

Instead, the opposite — he is a human, and a very humble human. Rasulullah ﷺ was one day sleeping separately from his wives after being angry with them. Umar رضي الله عنه, after many, many tries, eventually got in to the house. And when he saw Rasulullah ﷺ, he saw that the حَصِير — the straw mat — had left behind very strong marks on the Prophet ﷺ's back, and in some narrations, on his cheeks.

Umar رضي الله عنه began to cry. Rasulullah ﷺ said:

"O Umar, what makes you cry?" Umar رضي الله عنه responded: "Ya Rasulullah, رَسُولُ اللَّهِ يَنَامُ عَلَى الْحَصِير — the Messenger of Allah is sleeping on a straw mat. And Kisra, and Qaysar, the king of Persia, the king of Rome — you are sleeping on حَصِير and they are sleeping on حَرِير." What's حَرِير? Silk. They sleep on silk, and you sleep on a straw mat. This is hurtful. How is this?

So the Prophet ﷺ, in one narration, says:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 4913; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1479)

"Are you still in doubt about all of this, O son of al-Khattab?" And when you have someone that honorable, then even the smallest statement gets you in big trouble. There's a saying:

The good deeds of the pious are regarded as mistakes of the ones who are very close to Allah. Meaning, a pious person who prays four rakats of tahajjud one day feels, alhamdulillah, I've really become amazing. But a مُقَرَّب — someone very close to Allah — is in trouble. Because the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ was at least eight. So why did you pray half? So you're in trouble. But for an average person, this would be a big Eid day.

And in another narration, the Prophet ﷺ said:

"O Umar, this is nubuwwah, this is not kingship." Why are you comparing apples and oranges? Those people are kings and they're kuffar. They have whatever they have in dunya. While whatever we have is in the akhirah.

'Adi ibn Hatim and the Lady on the Street

In another instance, it's mentioned that Adi ibn Hatim came to Madinah, and the Prophet ﷺ said, مَنِ الرَّجُلُ؟ Who is this man? They said, Adi ibn Hatim. He was one of the sons of the kings of Najd. So the Prophet ﷺ really welcomed him, stood up for him, welcomed him. Because he knew — and this is another thing we learn from here — أَنزِلُوا النَّاسَ مَنَازِلَهُمْ — treat people based on their level and what they expect. This is nothing wrong with this.

So the Prophet ﷺ stood up, welcomed him, and said, let's go — and they were walking. Adi ibn Hatim says, فِي الطَّرِيقِ — on the path — a lady stopped him, grabbed him, and said, I need to talk to you. فَوَقَفَ مَعَهَا طَوِيلاً يُكَلِّمُهَا فِي حَاجَتِهَا — the Prophet ﷺ stood there for a long time, speaking to her, trying to fulfill her need. And then Adi ibn Hatim said, فَقُلتُ فِي نَفْسِي — I said to myself: وَاللَّهِ مَا هَذَا بِأَمرِ مَلِكٍ — by Allah, he is not a king. Because kings don't do this. Kings don't get stopped by some random lady on the street and sit there and talk to her for a long time trying to sort out her issues. This man is different.

There was a man or a lady who came to the Prophet ﷺ, and they were awestruck by him — shaking, shivering a little. And so the Prophet ﷺ told them, do not be anxious. Remain calm. I'm nobody — in that sense, he spoke to them. He said, I am the son of a simple lady who used to eat dry meat. تَأْكُلُ الْقَدِيدَ — dry meat. We don't eat high-class food. Simple food. That's who I am. I'm not a king or a prince. And he was, subhanAllah, the greatest of all humans and all angels and all jinn and all creation of Allah. But this is the kamal.

A Lesson in True Ilm — Mawlana Rabi' al-Nadwi

Recently one person told me: he said, I visited Nadwatul Ulama in India, and I got a chance to meet Mawlana Rabi' al-Nadwi رحمه الله رحمةً واسعة — who just recently passed away, who was one of the most senior ulama of India in terms of age and in terms of his post as president and rector of Darul Ulum Nadwatul Ulama, and a nephew of Shaykh Abul Hasan Ali al-Nadwi رحمه الله.

He said, we went to go visit him — he's sitting on the chair, late 80s, maybe early 90s. He said, I literally sat at his feet. We would all want to sit at the feet of the scholar. So he said, Mawlana told me, please sit up here. And I said, no, no, I cannot sit up there. This is suitable for me — sitting at your feet on the floor is more appropriate for me. Mawlana said, listen, in this case I am the host and you are my guest. I have to honor you. And he said, if it weren't for my old age and the pain I feel in my bones, I would have literally gotten off and sat on the floor for you. But it's very painful for me to do that. And if you want me to do that, I'll do it for you. But if you don't want to give me that hardship, then kindly just sit up here.

SubhanAllah. He said, when I met him and I met these ulama, I realized what level of humility these people have. And that's exactly what ilm of nubuwwah is supposed to do to you. Because the Prophet ﷺ had the most ilm and the most tawadu'. The more ilm a person has, the more tawadu' and humility he has. Why? Because the more knowledge you have — knowledge of what? Knowledge of Allah.

The more ilm you have means the more knowledge you have of Allah. It forces you to become more humble. Because you realize how magnificent, how great, how powerful, how unimaginably great Allah عز وجل is. And you just say, I'm literally nothing. The more we learn about Allah, the more we regard ourselves as insignificant. An arrogant person seriously thinks he can take on Allah — أعوذ بالله. Because he doesn't know Allah. But the more you know Allah, you're awestruck. You just feel like you're nobody.

So this is the shaan of ilm. This is what ilm is supposed to do. And so dear friends, when you want to go seek ilm, make sure you go find people who truly embody tawadu' and humility. Those are the people you need to go seek ilm from.

The Disbelievers' Further Demands

أَوْ يُلْقَىٰ إِلَيْهِ كَنزٌ — "Or only if a treasure trove were cast down to him." He should have a lot of money, doling out cash and gold and silver. He should have tons of kanz, lots of treasures. أَوْ تَكُونُ لَهُ جَنَّةٌ يَأْكُلُ مِنْهَا — "Or he should only have a miraculous garden from which he could eat."

Two things here. One is they're talking about a miraculous garden — oh, you're all hungry? He puts his hand down and brings a whole ma'idah and people eat. Who's gonna do this? Dajjal will do all these type of things. And that is not the criteria of what's right and what's wrong. Or, the other explanation — jannah here simply means he should have a lot of land and gardens that he owns, meaning he should be wealthy. A prophet should be rich, powerful. That's what they wanted.

People like to follow rich people. Let's be honest. You have the paparazzi, you have all these magazines, dedicated YouTube channels that run around after famous and wealthy people. You have entire social media platforms just trying to follow the lifestyle of the rich and the famous. And millions follow.

Look what happens when a wedding takes place in the royal palace in England — the world stops. A baby is born in the king's palace — the world stops. Why? Because it's a rich, famous person. His child is born. You look at the newsfeed of any website — you'll have 95 people died in a forest fire, 700 migrants died trying to cross over to Europe, 500 people died by the cartels. And right there alongside it — who had a baby, who had a breakup, how much is the divorce settlement, who's getting married, which island this weekend. All in the same page. Isn't that how it is?

So disbelievers were like that too. We want our Prophet to be lights, camera, action. That's who we want to follow. And if he's a simple, humble person, we're not interested.

And then the oppressors said: indeed you believers follow nothing but a bewitched man. Anything he says that comes right — he's got a jinn on him. But this is not a jinn and he has not been bewitched. He is receiving revelation — that's why what he says is right. His prophecies are right. He's telling you through revelation.

The Celebrity-Centered Deen of Today

Let's apply this to today. We have made these artificial, incorrect measures of how we are going to measure what's right and what's wrong. Today, if one famous person says a fatwa — that you can eat food from any franchise anywhere in the world because it's the food of the Ahlul Kitab — and the person has one million TikTok followers, people say, it's gotta be right. What are you talking about? Dajjal will have billions of followers. How do followers make a person the criteria of truth?

You have one person, two people, five people, ten people — and yet, you have a huge massive group of millions of ulema saying something else. And you have a person who randomly comes up with a huge YouTube channel and says something. And what does our community do? On any issue, Brother Maulana Sahib, please do not cause disunity in the ummah. Why? Because Amirul Mu'mineen, so-and-so TikTok star said so. So 800,000 ulema from all the darul iftaas will have one fatwa. But they'll say, no — because he's got a million followers and TikTok says otherwise, so you are all causing dissension, fitnah, division.

Who's making the division? You have a new person who knows how to play with the YouTube algorithm. And now whatever he or she says is the law. And if that famous person comes, there will be no place to pray — we'll all be kicked outside praying in the parking lot.

I remember once, in Scotland, there was Jumu'ah. The news came out that Mike Tyson was in the area and might come for Jumu'ah. And the masjid was unbelievably packed. They waited. 12 o'clock, 12:15, 12:30, 12:45, one — still no news. At the end, because they were scared they'd miss the time, they started the Jumu'ah khutbah. When they started, over a third of the masjid stood up and left. He's not coming — what's the point?

May Allah keep him strong, continue to guide him, and make him a means of getting guidance to millions of other people. Say Ameen. SubhanAllah. But people saw the news that he's coming, so they stood there. This is not shocking. This is exactly what could be expected anywhere. We have such a celebrity-centered deen.

When I was in England, people were asking me, how do we fill up the masjids with youth? Should we call some famous speaker? I said, listen, you're playing into that same game. If you're gonna tell the public that anything a famous person will say is important and worthy of listening, and if that person is not famous on social media, then it's not worth your time to come to the masjid — what has happened? We're feeding the system. A system which allows the youth to say, we're gonna only take deen from influencers.

If an online influencer, subhanAllah, decides one day to take off her hijab, what happens? One influencer says, oh, I'm going through some issues, I decide to take off my hijab. What happens? You've got thousands of girls that same day taking off their hijab. We cannot have the children's deen connected to celebrities. We cannot.

If someone has got knowledge, has taqwa, has ilm, and happens to be famous — that's a different story, no problem. But if the reason you're calling him is only because he's famous and those other things he doesn't have — that's a problem. We are then telling the youth that whoever becomes famous, you have to follow them. And who's gonna be the biggest, most famous person in the future? Dajjal. That's it. Dajjal will be the order of the day, controlling. So this system we have to change in our mindset.

Allah says: "Look at how they have set forth malicious images for you." فَضَلُّوا — they have strayed off so far from guidance. فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَبِيلًا — they will never find a way back to Allah. These are things that no Prophet should be accused of. They have accused you of these things. They have expected you to be rich and wealthy. And all these things — these are malicious, wrong images of the Prophet ﷺ. And if they are going to remain so adamant on this, unfortunately, they will not get hidayah.

What the Prophet ﷺ Actually Asked For

You know what the Nabi ﷺ said about being wealthy? He said:

(Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1054)

"Indeed, that person is successful who became a Muslim, who was given just sufficient rizq, and then Allah makes him happy and content with what He has given him." قَدْ أَفْلَحَ — you're successful. And the Nabi ﷺ in another du'a said:

"Oh Allah, make the food of the family of the Prophet ﷺ just enough." Just enough. He didn't ask for abundance. Because the Prophet ﷺ did not want the ummah to make excuses to say, well, the Prophet was rich — that's why his family was able to follow the deen. We're not that wealthy, so we can't follow the deen. The Prophet ﷺ intentionally chose poverty. Intentionally chose simplicity over anything else.

So let us not think that simplicity means a person is not worthy of our time. We have this mentality — subhanAllah — that if someone is simple and humble, he's a waste of time. We need someone who's got shan and shawkat, wearing expensive clothing, driving an expensive car. Then all of a sudden people want to listen to his speech. This is not the way of our Prophet ﷺ.

We have to value our imams and ulama regardless of whether the masjid is paying them well or not, regardless of whether they're riding a bicycle or a BMW, regardless of whether they have a kurta and topi. Just because someone is simple and humble does not mean he doesn't have ilm or isn't worthy of our time. We have to set the stage.

I remember our principal would say, all of the asatidah, please come forward. And you would literally see grown men in their 50s hiding in the crowd, hoping the principal wouldn't see them. Because they're like, we don't want to be the front man, we don't want people looking at us. We're just fine right here in the back.

Even Hazrat Mufti Ridaul Haq Sahib — every single time, whenever a guest speaker would come, Hazrat Mufti Sahib would literally have his head down, sitting in the back of the masjid. You would never imagine who it is. Kids would sometimes be sitting next to him going, oh my God — ya Allah. Hazrat Mufti Sahib is just in the midst of the students, with his head down, just listening. I remember at times I saw Hazrat Mufti Sahib sitting in front of other guest ulama in the tashahud position — literally. And I'm like, wow. This is what you call ilm. You are this master Mufti, a master jurist, but the way you're sitting in front of a scholar who is far junior, simply because he's a guest and you want to show that appreciation — does our community, does our youth value this?

So in the next few weeks inshallah, we hope we will be welcoming a very great, honorable scholar from South Africa — Mufti Ibrahim Pandur bi idhnillahi ta'ala. Hopefully he will be arriving for a day here in a couple of weeks, for a Saturday night program. I want you to come. You'll see what I'm talking about. Because he has no shan and shawkat. If you Google him online, you will not find a single YouTube video of his. But I promise you, he is one of the greatest ulama out there. He was a khadim for decades of Hazrat Mufti Mahmud al-Hasan — the Grand Mufti of Deoband, a teacher of hadith for over 50 years, whose fatawa books are over 25 volumes. And Mufti Mahmud al-Hasan was the greatest khalifa of Hazrat Shaykh Zakariyya رحمه الله. Such a simple, humble person — you'll be shocked.

For a conference to be worthwhile today, it has to have an entertainment session. It has to have a mixed gathering. It has to have speakers who charge $10,000 per 45-minute speech. Otherwise it's not worth it. These are the standards the community has set. If it's free and they're giving you free food, how could there be anything worthwhile? And if the people are humble and simple and don't charge anything — how could it be worth my time?

We have created this system. And we continuously are making it more challenging. So now that's what you think — why should I come to my local Tuesday night tafsir, my Wednesday night dars of hadith, when there's no charge, there's no famous people, there's nothing? We're wasting our time there. So as a community, we have to make some changes. And understand: don't make the mistake that the people of Makkah did — coming up with absolutely incorrect ways of measuring what a prophet is.

I ask Allah to grant us the faham of this. آمين يا رب العالمين. Inshallah we'll start from the next ruku' — ayah number 10 — next week bi idhnillahi ta'ala.

Questions & Answers

On Zakat

Working for online orders — there's nothing wrong with that. These are fiqh questions. But for zakat: you don't pay it as soon as you meet the threshold. You wait for and choose a date of the year, and on that date you pay your zakat. If you didn't have money of nisab on that date, then the day you attain that amount, that's when your year starts. A year after that, you pay the zakat.

On Difficulty with Parents

I have a very hard time respecting my mother — I know Jannah lies at her feet, but we never see eye to eye and there's always fighting. May Allah make it easy for you, and make it easy for all those who have problems with their children or difficulties with their parents. These are tests. Allah says:

In reality, this is a test. Along with remaining patient, you should do isal al-thawab — like reciting Surah Ya-Sin or Surah al-Rahman, with the intention that the reward is dedicated to your mother or father. In sha Allah, this will become a means of softening that person's heart.

On Being a Spiritual Yo-Yo

I'm a spiritual yo-yo, going from high to low, and the lows are relapses into sin. It's natural — all of us are going to go up and down. But the main thing is, when you go low, you have to make sure you're not involved in major sins. We need to figure out the tell-tale signs that we're on our way to the lows. Before you hit rock bottom, get yourself help. Get yourself into a proper environment, connect yourself with a mentor, reach out to an older brother, a sheikh or imam, an older sister — depending on who you are. Reach out to someone and say, I'm going through some difficulty, can I come see you? And then hopefully they will keep you in their company, advise you to remain in a state of wudu, and do some dhikr. If there is a specific issue — a lot of times it's stress, a lot of times it's anxiety over something pushing a person towards sin — we have to address those sources of anxiety and stress.

On Feeling Disconnected from the Ummah

For me, Islam is more real than anything else, but I sometimes feel disconnected from the ummah. One way to get yourself connected back to the ummah is to make a du'a that Rasulullah ﷺ would make daily:

"Oh Allah, forgive the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ for all their past and future sins, for all that they have done publicly and all that they have done privately." Start making du'a for the ummah — inshallah, that will build muhabba for you.

On When to Stop Making Du'a

When do I stop making du'a? I've been making du'a for so long — how long do I have to wait? There's no such thing as stopping. When you do du'a, you're going to get one of three things: either you get what you're asking for, or a certain punishment or difficulty that was meant to come your way will be averted for every du'a that's not handed to you in cash. And the third thing is that in the akhirah, you will get such rewards for every du'a that was not accepted, that you will wish that none of your du'as had been accepted.

On Challenging a Scholar

How does a common person challenge a scholar who is misrepresenting the Qur'an and hadith in controversial subjects? In this case, you should resort to another scholar to do so — you should not do it yourself.

On Giving Da'wah to Disinterested Family

How do you begin to give da'wah to a family member who isn't really interested in being corrected? The best way is to simply bring them to good environments without making it known that that's what you're doing. You just kind of plant it — you happen to stop by for Isha, and it happens to be a short reminder; or you happen to stop by after Maghrib, and there happens to be a dars going on.

On Du'a for Ill Parents

Any du'a for the well-being of parents — my father is getting more ill as he's getting older. One du'a we should definitely all be doing:

There are six ayahs of shifa in the Qur'an — you can go and recite those. Another du'a is:

The Prophet ﷺ said, whoever recites this seven times upon a sick person, Allah will grant him shifa from every sickness besides death.

On Marital Difficulties

There are some questions about rights between spouses. Dear brothers and sisters, nikah should not be treated as just about rights and responsibilities only. We need to be more invested in the marriage — where sometimes it's not our responsibility, but we'll do it anyway. Sometimes it is our right, but we won't demand it. That will happen when a person is truly invested in the marriage.

If the rights discussion is coming up in the first place, that is a tell-tale sign that the marriage is not in optimal condition. We should try to figure out what the reason is and address those issues through counseling, through deeni programs, and through connecting ourselves with Allah.

Going and attending halaqas together, learning the fiqh of marriage and divorce together, spending quality time — not about what's my right, what's your right. All of you who are having difficulty with your spouse: remember that Allah is the One who controls the hearts. Spend your time crying in front of Allah. Say, ya Allah, this is a test. Soften my spouse's heart. Change the heart in the direction of deen, towards akhirah. And inshallah, we have hope that one day — whether tomorrow or next week — this du'a of yours will be accepted.

Announcements

Sunday school inshallah will be starting very soon for ages 6 to 16 — you can register online for that.

Additionally, the Tafim Program — the weekend intensive — alhamdulillah has already begun this past weekend. You can have access to the class recordings. Please consider joining the Tafim Program. It starts at 10 a.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. on Sundays, and goes until 1 p.m. We have an aqeedah class, a seerah class, and a class on diseases of the heart and their remedies. Mufti Nouman and Murafirhan Sharif are teaching those classes. It is a great way to connect with scholars and stay in the masjid on a Saturday or Sunday morning with your family and children.

If you are listening from another city, state, or country, you can benefit from the Tafim Program online — it is the only academic program that we offer virtually. It is a four-year program covering 24 subjects. You can join in any semester, anytime. You will receive the PowerPoints, the slides, the recordings, and you can attend live class as well. You'll get your questions answered by our mashayikh and ulama.

Additionally, this Friday night — Asr onwards — will be the Curriculum Night. All of you who are interested to know what a Darus Salaam Tanweer one-year student learns, what you learn in the alim course, what a graduate of a one-year or seven-year program does in life, and how tarbiyah is approached — please join with your family online or on-site after Salatul Asr at 6:30 p.m. There will be some light dinner shared on Friday night as well.

جزاكم الله خيراً. وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللَّهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ